A/N: Hey guys this is my first Harry Potter Fic. ONE-SHOT! Reviews would mean a lot. Thanks! Hope you like it :)

From Hermione's perspective this is set during the Half-Blood Prince. Fair warning this is a little dark.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own anything

Let Me Go

It was late at night and I was walking down the corridor from the library heading towards the Gryffindor tower. The only light was from the torches mounted on the walls and the only sound was my own footsteps against the stone floor. I had fallen asleep in the library trying to prepare for the potions exam next week. Hopefully memorizing the procedures will help with the execution, of course staying awake through them would probably help too. Any other year I would have been worried about being out of my room this late but being a prefect has its privileges and not being questioned was one of them.

Stifling a yawn I rounded the corner just in time to see a glint of blonde hair entering a room not to far away.

"Shit," I mumbled under my breath. I was tiered and the last thing I wanted to do was go yell at some first year to go to bed. I walked to the door though and pushed through, expecting to find a couple or some small group, but instead all I saw was one person standing alone in the corner, staring out the window. I opened my mouth to say something but before the words came out I recognized the form standing in front of me, seemingly unaware of my entrance. His platinum blonde hair reflected the moonlight, making it appear almost white, but still it was unmistakable. Malfoy.

I started backwards not looking for a confrontation. He was a prefect too and frankly I was to tiered to care about the lurkings of the Slytherin Prince. Unfortunately though, the dim light had hidden one of the desks from view and I bumped into it with a bang. For the second time that night I cursed under my breath.

"Who's there?!" Malfoy said. The surprise was clear in his voice and his wand was already drawn and pointing in my direction.

"Hermione," I replied slowly reaching for my own wand in my robe. I hoped it wouldn't come to that but with him you never knew. He was a loose cannon on his good days and right now he seemed more off center than usual. "You shouldn't be in here," I said, watching him carefully, "You're on duty tonight by the dorms."

"What makes you think you can tell me what to do, filthy little mudblood?"

By now the words no longer hurt, at least not the way they used to. To be honest, tonight they almost sounded half- hearted, like he was just trying to get me to go away. Normally I would have. I would have walked away and forgotten about it, taken the high road, but not tonight. Maybe it was because I was tiered, or stressed, or sleep deprived. Whatever the reason I took the bait, completely ready to enter into a verbal sparing match.

"I wouldn't have too if you did you job, but you're too spoiled to understand the concept of responsibility," the words came out and the effect was immediate.

"Don't talk to me like you know me Granger. You don't know the first thing about me," Malfoy said his voice defensive.

"Oh yes I do. You're so simple it's almost sad." The setting was perfect. There was no one else around to hear us and I felt myself caving in to all the things I held back while trying to set a good example for the younger students, not to mention keep Ron and Harry out of trouble. I was always the calm one, the logical one, but not tonight

"STOP!" he shouted raising his wand. I mirrored him but didn't stop.

"Bullying your way around here, tricking people into believing you're something great when all you really are is some pathetic prat," I had wanted to say that since the day I punched him in the face during third year.

"And you're just an ugly little know it all who's only friends are a freak and a blood traitor," Malfoy spat out.

"At least Daddy didn't have to buy them for me"

"Jealous Granger?"

"Of you're stupid family?! Never. I'm glad I didn't have everything handed to me. Unlike your easy life"

"Stupefy" Malfoy cast the stunning spell but I was ready. Waving it off I almost laughed. That just seemed to anger him more, "Easy?! You don't know anything about my life. I've been through more than you or your precious friends."

"You? Been through more?" a sarcastic laugh ripped through my teeth as I said it, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Malfoy's face went dark, "Maybe you're not looking hard enough." It's just a game I told myself, but with his eyes fixed on me it didn't feel like a distraction tactic. Standing there with our wands still pointed at each other I allowed myself to look at him, studying his features methodically. His cheeks looked hollow and the cheekbone was mode even more prominent by the shadows cast by the room. His eyes were flat. He had always been fair skinned but now it looked bleached against his dark robes and what little fat he had had was gone completely. This was not the Slytherin boy I had come to expect, in fact if I hadn't know better I would have thought he was already dead standing in front of me.

He pulled me out of my thoughts by taking a step towards me saying, "Tell me Granger, when was the last time you had your life threatened, were forced to do things that you didn't want to? What does it feel like to watch someone calculate the value of your life while the ones who are supposed to care about you, protect you, just stand there?" His voice started to change the defensiveness was gone and a new emotion was taking its place, one I couldn't recognize yet.

As he was talking Malfoy had worked his way forward so he was now only standing a few feet from me. He was close enough that I could see the redness of his eyes. This wasn't just a fight anymore. "You don't know me," he said taking a step closer still, "no one knows me," one more step. Now he was to close. Close enough that I could smell the fire whisky on his breath and see a small vile clenched in his other hand.

"Expelliarmus," I cast the spell but it came out as a whisper. It took him by surprise and his wand flew out of his hand. He did not seem to care though and instead he just turned away and walked back towards the window. I watched his back from where I stood waiting for something, for him to turn around and say something hurtful, for him to yell at me to go away. He didn't though and for some reason I was disappointed. I thought about turning and walking away, letting myself believe it was the whisky talking. But somehow I knew that wasn't true, at least not totally, that is when he took the small vile he had been holding and brought it up to the light.

I almost couldn't believe what I saw. I raised my wand and tried to keep my voice level, "Malfoy give that to me."

He looked at me as if he had forgotten I was there, "I don't think so Granger," he said. His voice sounded tiered and almost sad. He was no longer willing to fight. His shoulders were slumped and his back curved making him look almost a foot shorter than he was.

"I know you've been through a lot," I say inching my way forward, "but murder isn't the answer."

He tries to laugh but it turns into the beginning of a sob instead. Trying to stop himself, he turns his back to me further, rotating the Draught of living Death between his fingers so it reflected the moonlight coming in through the window. "Wrong again Granger," he said so softly that I almost questioned whether I had heard it at all.

"Draco," I started, "please just let me help"

He turned towards me; tears were forming in his eyes and one was already falling down his cheek. "You can't help me," he said, "no one can." All bravado was gone and with it went the last trace of the arrogant boy that I was used to. Tears usually make people look younger, but not him. For the first time he looked like a man. A man who was lost, who had seen things someone his age never should. "This," he whispered, holding up the bottle, "is the only thing that can help."

I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. My heart was breaking watching what he had become, but I couldn't let him keep that. I had no idea what Voldemort was making him do, but I knew it would be detrimental to him and us. "Malfoy," I said reaching out my hand, hoping he would put it in, "that is enough to make sure someone never wakes up."

"I know," he said and took out the cork.

That is when everything clicked in to place. The reason he had been crying, the reason he though it was the only way out, the potion was not for someone else. It was for him.

"NO!" I shouted, lunging forward with my outstretched hand to grab it away from him. My actions surprised him and he stumbled backwards away from the window, but the potion was still in his hands.

Draco shook his head taking small steps backwards. He looked away from me, dipping his head so his hair covered his eyes, "I can't do this anymore. I don't want to live like this. I can't live like this!" The sobs were wracking his entire body now. They were so violent that he dropped to his knees. I kneeled in front of him but all I could do was watch and wonder how I never saw it before. I had let my own hatred blind me to the pain and the humanity of others. Sitting there on the classroom floor I began to cry too.

We stayed like that until the tears ran out, just two people. When it was over and the silence settled his eyes met my own and he did something I never though I would see a Malfoy do. He begged, "Please Hermione. Let me do this. Let me go."

I shook my head, "No." Even in that one word my voice cracked. In his eyes was more pain that I had ever seen but I could not let him go. Not like this. Maybe it was selfish but sitting in front of me was a man that I had never known and I was not going to let him leave me now that we had finally met.

Slowly I reached my hand out and put it on top of his, on top of the open vile. "No," I repeated just loud enough so he could here me, "I will not let you go, not now not ever. I promise."

He looked away from my eyes and down to where my hand covered his. Watching him closely I began to wrap my fingers around the bottle. "Hermione…" he started.

"It's going to be ok Draco," I answered. My voice was clear and certain because I knew I was not going to let anything happen to him, not anymore.

His eyes found mine again, "Ok."

"Ok."

I pulled the bottle away.

A/N: Thanks for reading. PLEASE REVIEW. Just two words, or one! Special shout out to anyone who leaves a smiley face