Long brown curly hair lay there on the hard wooden marble floor. The beautiful angelic face of a girl in pain, desperate to save what was there left to save. Hermione Jean Granger was probably the most courageous girl in the world, and he, Draco Malfoy was a coward. How he longed to make her pain go away as he watched his dreadful aunt Bellatrix carve "mudblood" on her arm.

Shivering and writhing beneath her grasp, he watched as her fragile body slowly gave up. Tears rolled down her cheeks and he so desperately wanted to hold her in her arms and tell her everything was going to be okay, but deep down inside he knew that it was probably the most pathetic lie. Nothing was "ok", never was never will be.

"STOP!", he screamed in his mind, but he couldn't, of course. He was a coward. He'd done his part when he didn't betray Potter, so he shouldn't be feeling guilty now should he?

"Auntie… please stop. You're killing her, don't. She's important remember?", Draco tried a new tactic. Bellatrix Lestrange stared at her nephew coldly.

"What's the matter little Draco? 'Fraid of a few droplets of blood?"

Then she continued her torment.

"Lestrange, Malfoy, the Dark Lord has some news to spread", Pettigrew re-entered the room, his ugly face giving the whole room the chills.

Lucius and Bellatrix left. "Remember to look after her, we cannot let her escape, do you understand?"

And with that they left the room.

Narcissa burst into tears, she had never been the type to get emotional, but she had never been the type to just leave a young girl lying there in agony and not help her, either.

"Shh shh mom, we're dead if they hear us crying. It's alright, it's gonna stop."

His mother looked at him and tried to stifle her cries. Satisfied to have at least set someone to a bit of comfort, he walked over to Hermione.

"Granger", he acknowledged, trying to seem cold and uncaring, but he knew himself that his eyes had betrayed him and he wanted to kick himself for that.

"Malfoy, please help…" she really sounded desperate. "Please help Ron and Harry, they can't die, they're too important!"

"And you aren't? Darn it Granger, can't you just stop playing the hero for once?"

He knelt to the ground next to her. Pulling out a handkerchief, he slowly started to soak up her sweat. Astonished by his sudden affection she tried wriggle away from him, but he held her firmly.

"Hold still!" he ordered and he muttered a spell to heal her. Her injuries disappeared but she was still too exhausted to move.

"Why are you so nice to me?"

He sighed, how he wanted to tell her that he had had a crush on her since the day he laid eyes on her on the Hogwarts Express, but too much was here at stake to admit something as trivial as his feelings.

"Shut up Granger."

His snide remark seemed to have the desired effect, she immediately remembered all their fights and differences. She didn't dare ask him more, but her eyes still asked the same question over and over again.

She wanted him to tell her he desired her, she wanted this war to end. She wanted to be able to make Draco see, that no matter under what circumstances, he was the only one who had been able to hurt her, and no matter how masochistic it sounded, those fights were the only thing that kept her satisfied all these years. The only thing that kept her sane.

But trivial things such as little crushes were inappropriate in dire situations such as these.

"Dobby" he whispered. Immediately a *plop* could be heard.

The house-elf stood there, confusion written all over his face.

"Save Potter", was the only thing he said.

Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and just as her mouth opened to thank him, the three adult Deatheaters came back in.

Draco immediately sprang back to his feet and Bellatrix strode over to her and snarled in her face.

"Little girl, you're as good as dead."

Just then, Harry, Ron and Dobby rushed back into the room. Chaos ensued and as Bellatrix held her there with a knife to her neck, he could've sobbed. He had been so close to saving Granger's damn life. But then thanks to Dobby, she was suddenly standing there next to her friends, and as Dobby tried to disapparate away from this dreadful house, only then did he dare to breathe again.

And as her petite figure started to vanish, he could swear she mouthed "I love you" to him, but he was probably just getting fucking mental.

Dear Malfoy,

I thank you sincerely from all my heart. May you be blessed and I swear to Merlin I WILL HELP YOU OUT OF THIS.

I love you, and I always will.

Hermione Granger.

She read the letter over and over again, as if it were a masterpiece from Shakespeare himself, and with a sigh she erased the last sentence.

But even then she dare not send him this, for he might come to the conclusion one day, that what she felt for him was the opposite of hate.

And with that, the letter was tossed to the pile of letters, she had never had the courage to send to him, to Draco Malfoy.