Draco

Draco left for patrols. Hermione right behind him. They passed the ROR. Hermione stopped.

"Malfoy," she said.

Draco stopped, but he didn't turn around.

"What?" He said gruffly.

"Why are you being like this?"

Hermione's footsteps echoed in the empty hallway as she made her way over to Draco. She put a hand on his shoulder. He was warm.

"Go back to the room Granger," he ordered.

"No."

"I SAID GO BACK!" He yelled in frustration as he turned around.

Hermione looked down.

"I was just trying to help."

"I don't need your damn help, mudblood."

She looked up into his eyes, unshod tears in hers. She glimpsed a bit of regret. Her eyes widened in shock. He looked away.

"Even the most poised people are broken inside." She whispered as she walked away, "Just remember, I'll be here if you need me."

Draco was left thinking about her words. How true they were. The one thing his father had constantly reminded him of was the rules of being a Malfoy.

He must never associate with people of the lower class, unless it was to mock them.

He must never develop a mental illness like depression or anxiety or bipolar disorder.

If by chance he did, he was not to express his emotions or to ask for help.

He was never to cry.

There were more, but those were the only ones relevant to him.

He had been in a spiral down ever since the war finished. He was broken, and he definitely needed fixing. No one wanted to associate with him after all the trouble he had caused. But he was in desperate need of the one thing he never truly had; a friend. A true friend.

After patrols, he went straight to the ROR instead of the dorm. The door opened up to a dark room with a window through which the moon's light came in. The was a double bed with black sheets and a desk with stationery items on it.

He jumped onto the bed and lay sprawled out. Staring up at the canopy of the bed he saw a fake sky filled with stars. Tears threatened to escape, but he did everything he could to keep them in. But he failed. One tear escaped. And another. And another. His chest hurt because of all the emotions he had kept hidden. They were bursting to escape, but he held them in. He yelled and punched the pillows, but that didn't fix anything. Eventually he decided to try something new. He walked over to the desk. Browsing through all the items, he noticed some safety scissors. His hands were shaking, but he picked it up and pressed it to the tip of his thumb. He could feel the cool blade against his skin. He added more pressure. He moved it sideways. It stung. Just for a second. Then all of the pain in his chest slowly began channeling out of his body through the cut. It was blissful. The blood formed a dotted line on the cut. He smiled a tiny sadistic smile while watching it drip. Why didn't he try this back in sixth year when he was given the task by Voldemort?

Taking a deep breath, he made another cut on his thumb. He didn't dare do it on his wrist because he didn't want anyone to notice. He did his best not to look age the Dark Mark that would forever mar his otherwise pure skin, but he did. He threw the scissors away from himself as he realised what he had done. His breathing because ragged and fast as pressure built up inside him again. To calm himself, he stared at the black wall opposite him. No all he had to do, was to make sure Granger didn't suspect anything.

He returned to the common room to find her reading on the sofa. His heart began to pound as he worried about what he would say to her.

"Malfoy? What took you so long?" she asked, looking up.

"Some stupid fifth year Ravenclaws making out in the dungeons."

He sighed in relief inside.

"What did you do?"

"Took them to McGonagall."

Hermione nodded and went back to her book. Draco ran to his room and leaned on the door. He just lied through his teeth to the one person who was trying to be nice to him. He was panting. He stared at is thumb. The once crimson blood had turned brown and was crusty.

He sighed and changed into his shorts for the night before falling asleep in the cold of November.

Hermione

She woke up to a room fill of darkness. It was still night. She heard a sound. It was coming from Malfoy's room. She waited for a minute but the sound continued. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she tiptoed through their shared bathroom and pried open his door. He was on top of his sheets in nothing but loose shorts and he was tossing and turning around like he was having a nightmare. Hermione sighed. It was probably about the war. She had a lot of nightmares about it too and she really wished someone would just wake her up, but no one ever did.

She walked over to his bed and noticed he was sweating. His bare chest was dotted with drops of sweat. She sat on the edge of his bed and gently touched his shoulder causing him to gasp in shock and bolt up. He ran a hand through his now damp hair and turned to face her. His dull Grey eyes filled with worry and hint of fear.

"Malfoy..." Hermione whispered softly, lifting a hand to touch his arm.

He simply stared at her with a blank expression.

"Malfoy?"

No reply.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed.

Still no reply. She was getting scared now. He hadn't even blinked. She moved her hand subconsciously to his cheek. Feeling how cool it was, she yelled and began to shake him.

"Draco!"

After a while when he still didn't move, she stopped.

"I'm a monster..." came his soft broken voice, "I'm a damn monster..."

"Oh Draco! Thank god! You scared the hell out of me!" she burst out enveloping him in a hug which pushed them both onto a lying down position on the bed.

He didn't move. He was as stiff as board. His eyes were empty, duller than usual and rather lifeless. A stray tear made its way down his immaculate cheek only to be wiped by Hermione's thumb.

"Draco?" she whispered.

He was silent for a few minutes, but Hermione didn't speak as she felt that he was thinking of something to say.

"Please don't leave me..." he said so softly it was almost as if he was just mouthing it.

"I won't," Hermione said, happy she would not be alone when she experienced the nightmares.

So, this is my first story. It's very dark, but I promise it'll have a happy ending. Please review for more chapters! And I think I can handle criticism (as long as it's constructive). Thanks!