Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to JKR; I own nothing. Sadly.

A/N:Updates will be slow; be prepared. Sorry.

Also, as are not able to host fics with song lyrics in, they have been removed from my fics but you can find the full versions on the site listed in my bio profile. :-P

A Bruised Heart

Part One

"Where the hell have you been?" he yelled at Hermione the very second she stepped in the door. "I've been up all night worried sick about you!"

"I can imagine" Hermione muttered under her breath. He did this every time she stayed out, which to be honest, was very, very rare. And yet, here he was having a go at her, when in fact he was the one that stayed out regularly.

"Well? Where were you?" Draco continued to rant on.

"I went out for a drink with the girls and we got a bit drunk so I crashed out at Ginny's place."

"Drunk?" he stared at her, expecting some sort of apology. However, when he got no response he decided to continue: "I expect you home when you say you will! What's a marriage if you're not going to tell your husband where you are?"

"I told you, it was Ginny's birthday so we were going clubbing!" Hermione snapped at him. Why the hell did he have to be so possessive?

"Ginny?" Draco questioned her. He didn't really suspect she would stay out all night because of that red-haired Weasel. He doubted she would even be able to afford to go clubbing!

"Yeah, you know- my friend!" Hermione raged back at Draco, "or am I not allowed to have friends now that I'm married to a tight-ass git?"

Draco's lips tightened. "I just don't like the thought of all those muggle blokes leering at you while you're out of your head!" he told her.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"But then I suppose it's not muggle men I have to worry about; it's him I should be watching!" Draco scowled.

"Aarghh! How many more times, Draco, I'm not having an affair, least of all with Harry!" Hermione told him for what felt like the millionth time that month. Okay, so Harry liked her, but that didn't mean she liked him, least not in that way. "Now, I'm going for a shower! Is that okay with you?" Hermione continued to yell at Draco, but she didn't wait for a reply.

She stormed through the bedroom towards the ensuite bathroom, but not before Draco could grab her arm and pull her back towards him.

Hermione knew what was coming but she let him get on with it. She was used to it by now; it happened every time. Every time they argued, no matter whose fault the argument was, Hermione always seemed to take the blame for it.

His strong hands struck her flawless body, making marks to replace those that had just faded. She bit her lip, not wanting to show her weakness- that was the trouble with her: too dignified to show when she was hurting. She didn't cry out though. She just lay on the floor, numb with the pain that the man she loved injected her with, time and time again. She let him get on with it. It was easier than trying to fight back. She knew afterwards they could move on and forget, rather than have them ignore each other for days due to a shouting match, at which neither of them would have given in to.

His aggressive hands struck once more across Hermione's perfect skin before Draco noticed the blood that stained the cream carpet that matched the bedroom walls. He looked down at her, curled up like a child on the now scarlet carpet, and a rush of disgust swept over him.

He stared into her normally warm chestnut eyes, and all he saw was hurt. She wasn't angry at him; he couldn't help having such a temper- it came from growing up with a Death Eater as a father- but the hurt in her eyes was all that filled his mind as he strode out of the room, out of the apartment and down the road to the muggle bar where he would immerse in the smoky surroundings of drunks, whores and lusting old men.

Whilst Draco was marching down to the pub, Hermione was managing to pick herself up off the cream/crimson carpet. She managed to stand up, pulling herself up by the bed that stood in the middle of the room. She struggled through to the bathroom, where she locked the door and sank down to the cold marble-effect floor. She sat crouched with her head in her hands for several minutes. She jumped suddenly as she heard a knock on the front door.

She picked herself up again and headed for the door, but suddenly stopped when she noticed the red bloodstain on her hands and carpet. She made her way back to the bathroom, ignoring the repeated knocks at the front door, and she looked in the mirror.

There was a large gash across her forehead where she had crashed into the corner of the bedside cabinet. Blood continued to flow freely down her face and onto her hands. Why had he done this to her? He knew that she loved him, she'd turned down a proposal from Harry just so she could stay with Draco- even before them two were engaged. What more did he want from her? She'd waited a year for Draco to propose, and when he did she did not delay in answering with a firm "yes".

As she reminisced happily about their wedding day, she got undressed and turned on the shower. As she stepped into the cubicle, she gasped as she did so, as she had forgotten the heating did not yet work in their new apartment -they had only moved in three days ago and so hadn't found an appropriate charm to fix the hot water tank. Even so, she continued to withstand the freezing water that ran over her.

She let the icy water fall across her damaged body as she tenderly washed the blood from her body. She didn't understand how somebody that could be so loving, could be so hurtful. Yet again, she didn't understand a lot about Draco Malfoy.

As she stood in the shower, thinking about her estranged husband, her vision became blurry and she fell down into blackness.

As Hermione lay unconscious in the bathroom, her husband had become somewhat drunk. He had done from bar to bar, having just one or two drinks in each place before moving on to the next. It had been hours now since he had walked out. He wondered what Hermione was feeling. Little did he know she was passed out in their home, awaiting his arrival to save her. He looked at his watch, five thirty five. She would be cooking his tea right now if they had not argued.

Why did he always spoil things? Why did she get him so angry all the time? He felt slightly guilty when he remembered the blood that stained her face, but he soon shrugged that off. He wasn't going to feel guilty about what she drove him to do. If anyone should be feeling guilty it was she. She was the one who always got him so angry, and she was the one who stayed out all night without letting him know where she was. He was not going to apologise to a stupid Mudblood; he was a Malfoy.

He stepped outside of this last 'pub', as the muggles liked to call them, and took a deep inhale of the cold November air. He looked around; the street lamps were already on, giving this quiet street an orange glow. He headed down the street, the opposite direction to where he came from.

88888

"W...where am I?" Hermione managed to mutter to the person in whose arms she was held.

"You're safe now, you're with me." said a friendly and familiar voice.

"Dr… Draco, is that you?" she asked the man.

"No, it's me." Hermione's heart sank. Trust Harry. "You didn't answer earlier so I came back a while later and made my own way in to check if you were okay. It's lucky I did really; who knows how long you'd have been lay there." Harry told her. He sounded somewhat agitated, as if angry at somebody, but not wanting to show it.

"What's wrong with you?" she finally asked him. He paused for a moment before answering her.

"I just can't believe Malfoy!" he suddenly exclaimed. "How dare he treat you like this! I mean, okay, I know couples have fights every now and then, but there's never any need to go round hitting women! Least of all your wife!" he burst out with.

Hermione was so perfect, so special, how dare he treat her the way he did! Harry could never see a reason why Hermione had chose Draco over himself anyway. Okay, so he may have been slightly better looking, but Harry would never have hit Hermione and he knew more about her than that twat did! After everything he'd done to her, to them, back in Hogwarts, and she still chose him! He just couldn't see it. "He is such a fucking bastard! I swear, the next time I see him he won't live to hit you again!"

As Harry said these words about her husband, she immediately jumped in to defend him- a natural response after so many years- sitting up on the sofa and out of Harry's arms, pulling the robe around her tighter as she became aware of what was going on.

"That's my husband you're talking about! How dare you break into my home and start slagging him off! He may not be perfect; but-" she was suddenly cut off by Harry, who scoffed at this remark.

"But what, Hermione? What, is he that good in bed?"

"Excuse me?" she replied. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Well, I can't see why else would you put up with him? I suppose that's the only reason you got married though hey, just so you could get a little action without feeling guilty for being out of wedlock! I'm sure Malfoy only agreed to get married to have power over you. Sex toy and a punch bag in one! Very appealing to the Slytherin kind!"

"You bastard!" Hermione shouted at her friend. "Is that all you think this is about? Sex! Look Harry, you may not be able to accept the fact that I chose Draco over you, but that's the way it is, ok? You have no right to come over here and start accusing me AND the man I love of being something we're not!" she shouted at him. How dare he say this to her, did he think that was the only thing involved in their relationship- sex and violence?

"Look, you might want to get down from that pedestal you seem to be on and take a look at the real world Hermione! He's using you! He doesn't love you! Okay, so he might have liked you to begin with, maybe fancy you, but that's all it is. You just need to wake up and see it because pretty soon, there won't be anyone to come around and take care of you whenever you pass out after getting beaten to a pulp!"

"Get out." Hermione resigned herself to saying quietly after moments of silence.

"What?" Harry asked her, in disbelief.

"You heard me, Harry. I'm sorry, but if you're going to carry on the way you're acting now, then we can't be friends anymore. That's just the way it is. You can either say you're sorry and take back everything you've just said, or you lose me forever... So, what's it going to be?"

Harry just stared at her for a moment, before he picked up his things, gave her a small kiss on the forehead and headed for the door. Just as he was stepping out he turned to the beautiful woman standing before him, wearing nought but a towel which he had wrapped around her when he picked her out of the shower and lay her on the sofa, and he said: "I'm sorry Hermione, I am really, but I can't take back what I said. That's what I believe and God damn me if I'm wrong, which I pray I am for your sake, but that's what it looks like as far as I can see."

They stood looking into each other's eyes for what felt like eternity. Hermione's best friend since the beginning of her life in the magical world was walking out of her life. He turned back to the door. As he headed out, he whispered to her: "Goodbye Hermione, I'll miss you."

88888

Draco continued to wonder the forgotten streets until he noticed a solid brick wall at the end of a street he had never noticed before. He walked forward, uncertain of why he was heading towards a solid brick wall that blocked his way; he should just turn back. But Draco's curiosity got the better of him, as always, and he got out his wand as he approached.

"Seesee helmin overam rickostab!" he muttered and the wall in front of him slid open, like the automatic doors Draco had seen in those muggle shops, for all those lazy people who couldn't be bothered to open doors themselves.

He stepped forward and walked through the gap into what seemed to look like... Nocturn Alley! As soon as he stepped through the gap, it closed up behind him and remained to be a solid wall.

He wondered down the dark alley until he came to an opening, which led to Diagon Alley. He ventured down the path and stopped outside The Three Broomsticks. He took a deep breath before entering. He pushed open the door to face rather too many familiar faces from the past. 'It's been a while' he thought, taking in the face of a dear old friend.

88888

As soon as Harry had left, Hermione just burst into tears. He was right; she knew it. But she could never bring herself to face the truth - Draco didn't love her. He cared for her, she knew that, but he didn't love her. She'd always told herself that she didn't need him to love her, just to know he cared was enough, but now it just didn't seem worth it. She'd lost her best friend through sheer selfishness and her inability to face reality.

She'd made her way over to the bathroom, where she found her clothes laying in a pile in the floor, right where she'd left them. If it was anybody else who had found Hermione in the shower, naked, she would have been very embarrassed and probably would have made a big deal about it, but it was Harry. It wasn't the fact that she wanted him to see her with no clothes on, but she was glad it was him in the end. Anybody else would have probably commented on her body, the anorexic look she had about her, the freckles on her chest. But Harry wasn't like that; she knew he wouldn't have looked at her like that- as if checking her out. He just dealt with the matter in hand.

She noticed her hair still had bubbles in, so she stepped back into the shower and washed herself properly, trying not to cry any further. As the shower gel seeped into the various cuts across her body, she flinched slightly and yet more tears managed to escape her chocolate coloured eyes and wash away with the almost glacial water that fell down her.

She tended to her wounds- where there had been scars and bruises fade only a week or so ago, there were now new ones in their place. She went numb again. Whether this was due to the pain or just the sheer coldness of the water, she wasn't sure. Either way, she just wanted Draco to come home...

TBC