The Sweetest Escape

Chapter 1

Author's note: I'm sorry if there are any characters that aren't in character. My reasons for this are that I feel like characters can grow and expand and after the war I feel like a lot of people would have changed. There is a lot of Draco and Hermione in this chapter, yay (:
Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review after you've read the chapter informing me on whether you liked it or not. Any changes I could make, etc.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I claim that I do.

Somebody save me

It was the third month back at Hogwarts. The snow storm raged on outside as this year's Head Boy finished his rounds. Draco Malfoy was Head Boy everybody knew how immensely proud he was to become Head Boy after his past. Some people were confused and some were angered that they would let a former Death Eater back into the school and give him the title of Head Boy but they didn't know the full story of what made him become a Death Eater or who forced him to become a Death Eater. If they knew his story they'd probably name him a hero in his own way for his braveness, for his loyalty to his mother.

Draco walked up to his and Granger's shared Common Room, it wasn't a surprise that she was Head Girl; even Draco himself had to admit that she was amazingly smart. He'd never say it to her face or to anyone's face for that matter. Everyone sort of assumed that they would be hexing each other within minutes and he wasn't surprised. Given his and Granger's history with each other everyone would be mad to not think that they would but surprisingly they didn't. They oddly got along with each other after about two weeks after they had talked about their past together and what they could do to stop themselves from losing their positions of the Heads. Shockingly enough they actually stopped being enemies and turned somewhat civil towards each other and that had gradually turned into a sort of friendship between the two Heads and on his part it had turned into romantic feelings, he didn't know how she felt for him past the friendship zone. Everyone seemed shocked to learn that he and Hermione were friends; especially a certain red headed Weasel.

Draco found it coincidental that for the first time he was a friend or possibly-in-love with a muggleborn, it would also be the first time he gets pulled into all sorts of crazy shit.

Draco heard a loud banging coming from near the Head's Common Room that wasn't coming from outside. It had come from the portrait, and it was nearly 12 AM. He heard an annoying voice that sounded familiar. He sped up his steps and growled under his breath, whoever was disturbing his quiet hallways and banging on his and Granger's portrait would pay the price. He neared the portrait door which was a lion with a snake wrapped around it. Draco peered around the corner, his hand moving to rest on his wand in his pocket and he was genuinely shocked to see Weaselbee banging against the portrait frantically, screaming 'Let me in Mudblood, I'll show you real pain, you stupid bitch!"

Draco clenched his jaw hearing Weasel call Granger a mudblood, even he didn't associate her with that term anymore, and here stood one of her 'best friends' calling her it. Draco didn't understand why he felt so angry when it came to Weasley calling her that vile term.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Weaselbrain with his knickers in a twist," Draco snickered as he rounded the corner, striding down the empty corridor and over to Weasley, making sure to keep his distance so he wouldn't have to burn his robes due to infection from the Weasel.

"Shove off Malfoy, stay out of this, it doesn't fucking concern you," he roared before stomping away in a fit, his face almost as red as his face.

Draco smirked. He loved pissing the two males of the Golden Trio, mostly Weasel-balls. What? Just because he was slightly friendly with Granger didn't mean he couldn't have fun messing with Potter and Weasel. Only now, he was confused as to what happened between the latter and Granger.

He shook his head to empty his thoughts for the time being. He'd just find out from Granger what happened. He'd claim to her that it was entertainment and that he didn't care.

'Liar,' his mind screamed at him. 'You know you care for her Draco, you just don't know how much you do care," it screamed at him again.

Draco ignored his thoughts and said the password which was 'Redemption', the portrait opened and he stepped inside. "Granger?" He called out, looking around the room in a clockwise direction. He heard muffled sobs coming from the green couch with silver cushions. His couch.

He swaggered over to the couch and saw a small figure lying on the couch. The tiny figure was obviously Granger. Cautiously Draco stepped further towards the couch, holding his hands up as if to say 'I am not going to harm you, Granger,' he waited for her to scream at him to get away or punch him for coming towards her, but it didn't come. She just laid there with the effects of the sobs causing her body to shake.

Draco felt uncomfortable watching Granger break down in front of his very own eyes. It wasn't like when his mother cried to him, what he was witnessing this very moment was much, much worse. She was completely losing it, crying harder than he'd ever seen anyone cry. He was alarmed at the very least.

"Granger, what did he do to you?" He asked quietly. He didn't want to startle her. He might have been a major arse to her in the past but tonight he had a strange urge to hold her until she stopped crying or until she felt safe in his arms and with him. Draco didn't know why he felt like this but he blamed it on the crying.

Yes, that's all it is, it's because she's sobbing, it's making you go crazy, relax you do not want to see Granger naked,Draco thought to himself then mentally slapped himself. Who said anything about seeing Granger naked!? Where did that thought come from? Do not think of Hermione naked in your bed, I repeat; do NOT think of Hermione in your bed, screaming out your name.

Draco shuddered at his thoughts. They had done a complete 360 and all he could think about was Granger. He hadn't even realised he was saying her first name even in his thoughts. He glanced down at Granger when he heard her mutter something that sounded like 'I'm fine'.

Draco scowled at her stubborn trait and lifted up her legs slightly so he could sit down on his couch, he then dropped her legs onto his lap. He tried to calm down slightly before he made her state worse. "Stop lying to me and yourself. You aren't fine. You could talk to me about it, you know."

"Talk about what, Malfoy? I already told you that you will always be a ferret," Hermione spoke through her cries, still not glancing at him.

All Draco wanted to do was to stop her from crying, he wanted to comfort her, he wanted to talk to her about what happened and finally he wanted to make her feel better. He sighed and ignored the jab, knowing she hadn't meant it; she just wanted to stop him from asking what happened.

"Talk to me Hermione, tell me what happened." Draco demanded. Hermione angled her body so she was lying on her back; she then looked up at him in surprise. "You called me Hermione," she gasped out in shock, trying not to blush at the way her name sounded a million times better when it was coming from his mouth.

She stared at Draco with her widened, beautiful, brown eyes. His lips twitched upwards slightly in a small smile. "That's your name, isn't it? I feel like I should start calling you Hermione, for inner-house Unity and all that jazz," he said after a few seconds of silence between the both of them. He was partly lying and partly telling the truth, he was lying about his reason for calling her by her first name, it wasn't for Inner-house unity it was because he wanted to know what her name sounded like coming from his lips and he liked it, apparently she did too.

However the small smile soon disappeared when he looked over her face, his jaw had clenched in surprise and the obvious anger that Hermione could tell he was feeling.

"Bloody hell, what happened to your face?" Draco questioned, not trying to mean and she knows it.

Her jaw had turned black with bruises; dried blood had mounted on her chin, her left eye was black and blue and finally a giant gash marked her right cheek. As he looked further down her body he noticed that her shirt was ripped at the shoulder on her right arm, hanging off her slender frame, he could see a scar resting there that must've been from the war. He looked at her bloodied and bruised hands and he knew that she had put up a fight, he felt proud that she had fought so hard that her knuckles had bled.

Draco inspected the rest of her body and he saw red when he saw that he jean button had been popped. "He didn't, did he? Fuck, Hermione, tell me he didn't do that to you," he said angrily, not at her, never at her. He felt sick at the thought of Weasel raping Hermione and then redressing her in her jeans, he felt sick at the thought of anyone doing that to Hermione.

She shook her head looking fearful and he silently sighed in relief. She opened her mouth to speak but before anything could leave her mouth she broke down into another set of tears, her hands reaching out to grip his shoulders, she winched in pain when she bent her knuckles but she didn't let go, she kept her grip on his shoulders. Draco stared in shock but that quickly faded as he pulled her gently into his arms, not wanting to bring her anymore pain. His body relaxed slightly with Hermione being in his arms, he didn't understand the feelings at all.

Did he want to be more than friends with Hermione? Did he want to love this girl? He hadn't a clue but he wouldn't leave her alone again, not with Weasel around. He would talk to McGonagall tomorrow and ask if she could be paired with him for every patrol and either be paired up with me or Potter. He didn't think Potter knew about what had happened because he noticed that Potter and Weaselbee had fell apart in the past few weeks.

Draco held the sobbing girl closer to him. He decided right then and there that he might possibly like her more than a friend but he would wait until she felt better before he made a move on her. He was an arse but he wasn't about to force a girl to be with him, he had morals.

Draco whispered a few healing spells but they didn't work. The spells only worked on her black eye. The bruises and the gash remained. He frowned in confusion but felt his anger grow towards Weasel-brain.

"What did he use on you?" He all but growled out.

"He used his fists for my eye, a baseball bat for my bruises and a knife for my cheek and my chin," she sniffed and then she looked up at him with her brown eyes, sparkling with unshed tears. "He said he charmed the bat and the knife so magic couldn't heal them, so I would know that he was the one in charge." She added, blinking back more tears that threatened to fall.

"The muggle way it is, then," He said, picking her up in his arms as he stood up then he gently placed her back down onto the couch. "Where's your first aid kit?" He asked her.

"In the bathroom, it's under the sink," she replied. Draco nodded and walked into their joint bathroom; it was connected to their rooms but had a door that opened from the common room. He quickly found the first aid kit, thankful that she had one for emergencies. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he walked over to her with the first aid kit and offered it to her. She took it with shaking hands, her eyes looking anywhere but at him.

"Accio Firewhiskey," he said and the bottle appeared in his hands, he passed her the bottle and took the first aid kit back off her.

He expected her to shout at him for offering her alcohol, that's what he was aiming for, he wanted to gain a reaction off her, only it didn't come, she just glanced at him with her sad eyes and raised the glass bottle in the air before she took a long swig, her eyes dropping to the floor again.

He kneeled down in front of her and opened up the massive first aid kit, pulling out the supplies that he would require.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he brushed her slightly tamed curly hair off her face and over her ears, pressing a moist cloth to the cut on her cheek. "Ow, fuck, that hurts!" she cursed, shocking Draco.

"Sorry…" He whispered, blowing surprisingly softly on the wound to alleviate the sting caused by the hydrogen peroxide. He took her chin in my hand, turning her head side to side, as he took stock of her injuries. Not once did she fight him, it seemed like she didn't have the energy to fight him. Her eyes were exhausted and radiated with emotional pain. She looked dead inside.

He was watching her silently for a moment, studying her; he decided he would rather have snotty, know-it-all Hermione then a broken and quiet Hermione. Weasley had broken her! He could only hope that she turned back into her old self. He'd do anything to get her to respond to him like she used too. With witty remarks that could only match my own witty responses and she always wore a smirk on her face when we bantered that reminded him of a Slytherin.

"When did you learn how to do all this?" she asked him as he continued to look after her injuries.

He shrugged, unable to tell her why he had learnt how to use all of this muggle medicine.

Hermione noticed that he didn't say anything and as she studied his face, searching for something that would tell her how he was feeling right now but he had an expressionless face. Her eyes dropped to the floor again.

"Drink that. You're gonna need it." He said and she lifted up her eyes to see him looking at her.

"Why?" She asked. His hand reached out, his fingers stopped below the gaping wound on her right cheek.

"Because this needs stitches," he replied.

Hermione froze but let him keep his hand on her face. "I am not letting you come at me with a needle, Draco, definitely not," she said seriously.

Draco hid a smile when she called him Draco, it felt magical when she said his name and he wished she would have said it to him months ago. He shrugged. "It's either me or Madam Pomfrey. Who will ask questions, and probably file a report."

Hermione sagged, defeated.

"I'll try to make it as painless as possible." He said honestly, his hand patting her knee reassuringly. She took a deep breath and nodded after she realised he was telling the truth, rather liking this Draco, the nice and redeemed Draco. Hermione realised she was staring at him; she tried her hardest not to blush as she watched him prepare the curved needle and stitch thread.

"He beat the shit out of me, Draco," she said softly, after a few moments of silence. Draco's eyes rose up to meet hers.

"Why did he?" he asked softly. Her eyes flicked back down to the carpet, not wanting to answer the question. She felt his hand on her knee again and he spoke in a low, hypnotizing tone. "Why did he hurt you Hermione?"

She stared at him for a moment with those beautiful eyes of hers that he was quickly starting to enjoy seeing them all the time, especially when they were looking into his eyes.

"I wouldn't have sex with him and he didn't like that I told him no…I wasn't ready..." She responded and by the time she had finished talking she started to cry again. "What do I do? I can't stay here if he's here, I..." She trailed off as she cried harder. She was crying so hard that she suddenly started gasping for air.

"Calm down! You're gonna hyperventilate!" Draco cautioned, but she couldn't calm down. He couldn't help but feel powerless. Finally Draco did the only thing that he could do; he pulled the sobbing girl against his chest and wrapped his long and strong arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head. "It's okay," he whispered. "You're gonna be fine. You're safe now. I got you," he whispered, not caring that he was starting to act and sound like a pussy. He needed for her to understand that he wouldn't let her get hurt again.

Eventually she calmed down and pulled away slightly, looking up at him. She sniffled. "I got blood on your shirt," she pointed out. He shrugged and gave her a look that said he didn't care about his shirt.

"It's okay. But I need to deal with that gash on your head or you're gonna get blood everywhere," Draco explained. She sighed and nodded.

"Okay..." She said and took a few large gulps of the Firewhiskey before holding the bottle out towards me before she pulled it back, looking apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't realise I'd held the bottle out towards you, I wouldn't want you to get muggle germs," she laughed darkly and he flinched at what she had said. He didn't realise that she was still hurting from what he used to say to her, about her being filthy.

Draco swiftly pulled the bottle out of her hands and took a swig out of the bottle. She gasped in shock. "I don't care about blood status anymore, you aren't filthy Hermione and neither is your blood," he said truthfully. She nodded and smiled a little. It wasn't much but it was progress.

Ten minutes later, Hermione had a slight buzz, and was silent as Draco sat there holding the ice cube to the skin around the gash, trying to numb the area before he stuck a needle in it.

"You could have got a needle that's not all bent out of shape," she commented, picking up the needle. Draco rolled my eyes.

"I heard that curved needles make stitches easier." He said as he put down the ice cube and took the needle from her hand. Her eyes flicked up to his. "Ready?" He asked. She took a deep breath and nodded.

She gritted her teeth to stop herself from moaning with the pain. "This hurts like hell," she muttered through her gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Draco replied stoically. "I'm almost done. Only three more left."

He was sure she was in a great deal of pain, but Hermione was tough and held out to the end. She sighed in relief as he raised the scissors to her head and they both heard the quiet 'snick' sound.

"There, all done."

"Since you seem to know all about looking after wounds with muggle equipment do I get a lollipop?" she asked, sounding a little more like her former self.

"No," Draco said after a moment of silence. He paused momentarily. "You get to tell me what happened though."

She looked at him terrified at this prospect. "I can't. I can't talk about it."

His eyes narrowed when she said that. "You got any more injuries on you?"

"What?" She asked, swallowing. "Why would you ask that?"

"You know why. You said he beat you because you wouldn't shag him. What'd he do to you?"

Hermione sighed and looked down at her hands, her fingers brushing over the cloth wrapped around her bloody knuckles. "Well, I mean, he didn't get that far," she said, holding up her wrapped up hand. "He was going to but first he said that he was going to make me pay…He started to hit me and he wouldn't stop. I thought he would stop after a while, only he didn't, he accio'd his baseball bat that I gave him and a knife and he turned more abusive…" she breathed out and started to cry again. She didn't want to talk about what had happened to her. It made her feel weak.

Draco's fists clenched in anger and his breathing came in harsher breaths. His anger had reached the limit. Weasel had beaten her because she didn't want to have sex with him, and that made Draco feel like torturing Ron until he begged for his death. He'd do that later right now he had to help Hermione.

He opened his mouth to say something but she stood up and interrupted him. "Well, I should head to bed. Thanks for fixing my head."

He watched her walk across the room and over to her bedroom. She opened the door and looked back at him for a second before she walked inside her room and shut the door behind her. He stood up to follow her and growled out when he heard the locking sound of the door. He didn't just want to barge into her room not after what she had been through tonight. He decided he'd get the information off her tomorrow.

Draco stayed in the living room for a little longer, waiting to see if she would come out of her room. He sat in silence for the entire time he was waiting for an appearance from her and now the bottle of Firewhiskey was half empty. He'd have to get more bottles as he was nearly out of the stuff. He sighed and looked at the magically clock that was on the wall, it had dragons that flew around at the start of every hour. It was now 2am. He had spent the last 2 hours looking after Hermione, worrying about Hermione.

He stood up and switched off the lamp on the table. He didn't know why he had let Hermione put a lamp in here for they didn't need it, they could just light up their wands, but Hermione had insisted that they have one in here and after some convincing on her part he had agreed to get the damned lamp, she had grinned and went to hug him that day only she realised who she was about to hug. Now, he wished that she would have hugged him; he rather liked having her in his arms.

Draco had been in bed for about twenty minutes before Hermione come creeping into his bedroom like a little girl. He instantly sat up, alarmed, grabbing his want off of his bedside table.

"What's wrong?" He asked her, trying not to show her the panic he felt.

"I...well...I..." she sighed, as if trying to force the words out. "I really don't want to be alone right now."

Draco looked at her, studying her for a moment before he pulled back the green covers so she could climb into his bed. She slowly edged herself into the bed, laying on her side, back turned to me. She backed up a little bit closer to Draco, and he instinctively wrapped one arm around her, trying to calm her down.

He knew right in this second he would have given ANYTHING to have the circumstances changed, to have Hermione in my bed unharmed and happy. And naked. Shit. Not again. Snap out of it, Malfoy.

"Please don't give me shit about this tomorrow," she remarked, half asleep already. "I'll just blame it on me being drunk."

"I know," He responded, slightly amused. "Besides, giving you shit about anything is pretty much suicide." He chuckled as her elbow hit him in the rib. He remembered that time she punched him in third year. She was a feisty thing but he doubted Potter and Weasel saw that side of her, not like he did. She always managed to show a darker, fierier side of herself to him, not just the bookworm everyone thought of her to be.

"Oh shut up," she yawned and then sighed as her eyes fluttered open and looked over to the door. No. No one would be hurting Hermione again tonight. Tonight she had my protection. He tightened his hold on her and ran his fingers through her thick brunette hair. She shivered a little.

"I got you," he whispered in her ear. "No one's gonna hurt you, I got you."

He heard her sigh in relief and all the tension leave her body. Pretty soon, the only sounds in the room were his and Hermione's breathing. Draco closed his eyes and drifted off, trying to forget everything that had happened, concentrating on Hermione's soft breaths to lure him into a light sleep.

He had failed to notice that she was wearing his favourite Quidditch shirt.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Hermione woke up in Draco's bed with a massive hangover, alone, in his Quidditch shirt that was too big on her. His shirt smelled delicious. Whatever cologne he wore, it was brilliant and Hermione loved it just because he wore it. It was rich and woodsy and crisp and smelt just like he did.

She sat up and rubbed at her sleep-filled eyes and the memories of last night hit her like a brick; the fight and the attack. The blood, God, there had been so much blood. Hermione was amazed that she had managed to limp to the Common Room from the library without passing out. But then Ron had followed her and luckily she had already made it inside of the Common Room before he could reach her. Just barely.

And then there was Mal-Draco.

Hermione was amazed at how calmly he had handled the situation. Bloody hell, he even sewed her skin back together! Then she remembered the Firewhiskey. She knew that they hadn't slept together as she had pulled his Quidditch shirt on after she had locked her bedroom door. She knew he could have opened the door with a simple spell but he didn't. She remembered that she had tried to sleep for a while but she couldn't, every time she closed her eyes she kept on seeing Ron and what he had done to her

She wouldn't have had sex with Draco anyway, not after the worse beating she had ever had. No, she wanted to be completely happy, in the moment, sober, and naked with a naked Draco. That sounded yum. Hermione's stomach growled and she looked down, perplexed. Maybe her brain was truly messed up; she didn't mean that kind of yum.

Moments later, she recognized the scent of bacon and sausages wafting through the room. Oh, her brain was still working fine. She pulled the covers back and got out of bed, cautiously walking into the living room. She could see Draco in the kitchen, his back to her and him fussing over something at the stove. I laughed at the sight of seeing Draco Malfoy trying to use a stove properly; she thought she'd never see the day. She wished she had a camera on her at this very moment. Hermione blinked as the bright light hit her eyes, she stumbled into the kitchen, holding her head between her hands, groaning. She never wanted to drink again.

"You're actually cooking…What happened to Draco Malfoy? Are you sick?" She asked as she sat down at one of the chairs at their kitchen table.

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny. I wanted to surprise you, I figured you could use one, but I've never used a stove before since I usually demand that a house-elf makes me my food…but this stupid thing won't cooperate with me," he rambled. "I can tell you are hung over. Don't worry the first time is always the worst."

"You have no idea," Hermione groaned.

"I'm a little under the weather myself," he replied, walking over to the table and sitting a mug of coffee down on the mat in front of her. Hermione immediately picked up the hot cup of heaven and took a swig, she didn't even care that it burned her hands and tongue. Once she had finished the coffee she stood up and walked over to the sink, dropping the cup into the bowl of warm, soapy water. She knew she could have used magic but doing chores the muggle way reminded her of home so she didn't mind doing her chores without magic. She didn't realise Draco walking up behind her and taking her chin in his hand. God, how she loved his strong, steel-like hands.

"Let's see, Hermione" he murmured, tilting her face back and forth. Hermione avoided making any eye contact with him. She didn't want his gorgeous grey eyes staring into her soul right now.

"How do the stitches look?" I asked.

"Pretty badass Granger," he responded with a smile that was contagious and beautiful. He paused like he had just realised he had just smiled. "Food should be done in a second"

She nodded and walked back over to the table and sitting down again. She already missed his hands.

"So are we gonna talk?" Draco asked. Hermione's eyes skidded up to his.

"You promised you wouldn't give me shit last night, Malfoy." Hermione said and then searched his eyes. "We didn't, you know…" She mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

"Hell no, we didn't! You think I'm gonna shag a girl that's just been beaten up? I'm a bloody arse at times Hermione, a total prat but I wouldn't do that to anyone, ever." Draco snapped.

She nodded because she didn't know how to respond to that. She knew that she just didn't have the Gryffindor courage to tell him that there was little from stopping her from pouncing on him most days. She didn't know how long she had been crushing on him for but once they had become the Heads she realised that she liked him more than she had thought. But she kept up appearances and pretended to hate his guts. Last night that had been thrown out of the winder, she had just wanted to feel safe for a change. That's how Draco made her feel.

He thankfully changed the subject. "You'll have to tell me what happened eventually."

"I know, but I just can't yet." Hermione responded.

He placed a plate of food in front of Hermione and she started to eat the food on it. She moaned as she ate her last piece of bacon. Draco smirked at her and she realised she had just moaned out loud and in front of him. She finished chewing the piece of bacon and swallowed. She lifted her eyes up to his, brown eyes meeting grey eyes.

"Thanks for the food, it was delicious, "she sighed. "And thank you for helping me last night," she said softly.

"How could I not?" He responded. "I've never seen you like you were last night. It honestly scared me."

Hermione nodded. "It scared me too."

An awkward silence filled the room and after a few moments Draco stood up and walked over to the kitchen island and picked up a glass and poured something into it. Whatever it was, it looked nasty! It was a green, thick liquid and it smelt awful.

Draco turned around and noticed her staring at the drink with a look of disgust. He smirked and poured another glass of it out, his nose twitching from the smell. She could tell that he hated it almost as much as she knew she was going to.

"It's a hangover potion," he explained, handing her a glass. He ran a hand through his messy, blonde hair that wasn't slicked back with gel today. She liked it.

He gulped back the potion and wiped his lips. "Bloody hell, that stuff is vulgar."

He nodded at Hermione to drink it and she obediently gulped down the hangover cure. After she had drank it all, her face twisted in disgust.

"I am never drinking again," she declared. Draco laughed and picked up the glasses and said an incantation that cleaned the dishes and dried them, putting them away in their respectful places. She pouted but never said anything about him doing the dishes by magic.

"It's still storming outside. If you want we can just hang out here all day, we can do that. I have heard of some muggle movies that I wanted to watch." Draco's lips twisted into a smile as he said this. She figured that this was the most she had ever seen him smile. He looked younger and more care-free when he smiled. "Sounds like a plan, Malfoy."

He smirked and rolled his eyes at her before he got up to get his own plate of food.