He ran. Fast.

He ran thinking of only one thing.

Her.

He had to get to her. As soon as possible.

He heard the rumours.

"Muggle-born, Hermione Jean Granger, has reportedly been found dead. She is now currently with family and friends who want to hold a proper funeral for her tomorrow morning. A statement of what had happened could not be collected from either of her two best friends, Mr Ronald Weasely or the famous Harry Potter. By the looks of things her mysterious boyfriend has not been warned of what has happened as he has not appeared by her side as of yet. Can't help thinking if maybe the reason is that he doesn't really care. The rumours of her mysterious boyfriend describe a former death eater. Maybe it was all a hoax and her 'boyfriend' is the reason she is now dead."

Draco Malfoy had fired the radio at the wall after the broadcast about Hermione had finished. He had destroyed everything he could get his hands on in the small little house he currently lived in. There was only one thing in his house he had not destroyed. A picture of Hermione and himself. He had sat for over an hour staring at the laughing faces in the photo they waved out to him.

He stood up and placed the photo on the kitchen counter which he had been leaning against and then he ran. He wanted to get to Hermione. He didn't know what house she was in. The Burrow or her own home. He decided to try her own house first. He didn't want to apparate there. He felt that he needed to run to help get the anger out of him for when he arrived. Even though Hermione's house was an hours drive away he wanted to run.

He was terrified. The radio reports were always true so he could do nothing but believe them. He didn't know what he would do now without her.

She was the one thing that brought him happiness. That brought him the tiniest speck of hope. But now, the hope was gone. He didn't care about anything anymore and he knew he wouldn't ever again.

Hermione had brought out the good in Draco. Without her he felt evil. He felt like a bad person. With her he felt good. He had still always had those words in the back of his telling him he was evil, telling him that he wasn't worthy of her, he wasn't good enough for her, but the more time he spent with her the softer those voices in the back of his mind sounded.

But now they were screaming at him. They were all he could hear. Everything was soft background noises compared to the voices.

When it started to rain Draco dropped to his knees. He couldn't recall for how long he'd been running but his legs felt slightly sore and he could barely breathe. The rain beat of him with force. It was raining so heavily.

He just sat there. On wet ground, crying. He remembered how the first time he'd kissed Hermione it had been raining.

They were at a festival in Muggle London when the rain had started. It was nearly as heavy as how it was now. Everyone had ran for cover wherever they could get but the music kept playing.

Hermione had watched the rain in awe.

"I love when it rains like this. It sounds and looks beautiful. I can't explain it but it makes me feel.. happy somehow." she had explained to Draco.

Draco had just looked at her like she was mad. The rain always made him feel depressed.

"How can it make you feel happy?" he had asked.

"I don't know." she had replied. "Like I said, I can't explain it. When I was little I would have always went outside and danced around in it."

Draco was shocked by this. He didn't know how someone could want to dance in the rain.

Hermione turned round and smiled at him. She held out her hand and took a few steps backwards to the edge of the stalls cover they had hid under for cover.

"Come on." she had said to him.

"No way!" Draco had replied.

"Come on, Draco. You only live once." she gave him her sweetest puppy-dog eyed smile and Draco had to give in.

He took her hand and she pulled him out into the middle of the square.

"Dance with me." she told him.

Draco stopped still. He looked at Hermione and then at the musicians and then at the people who were watching him and Hermione stand out in the rain.

"No. We're going to look like idiots."

"Come on, Draco. Maybe more people will join on. Pleeease." she whined. Draco just couldn't give into her. He looked at her for a moment. She looked so beautiful. She was absolutely drenched with the rain but she still looked beautiful.

So he took her hand and he began to dance. Hermione's smile was so big she looked slightly goofy.

"I suppose your pride is being hurt most terribly by doing this." she had joked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is." he had replied.

She laughed and looked over to the left.

Walking towards them was another young couple. They smiled at Hermione and Draco and began to dance. Soon everyone had entered out into the rain and was dancing.

"This is the best festival ever!" Hermione had cried throwing her arms in the air, putting her head back and leaning back slightly, Draco's arms around her waist holding her up.

When she brought her head back up that's when it had happened. Draco had captured her mouth on his. He didn't know how long they had stood there but it had felt like forever. His heart had lifted and he smiled during the whole kiss.

"Yeah, it is." he said once they had finally broke apart before he once again captured her mouth on his.

Draco couldn't wait to see her any longer and he couldn't run anymore. Instead he stood up and apparated to Hermione's house. There was nobody there so he apparated to the next possible place they could be. The Burrow.

When he arrived he could hear shouting coming from inside the house. He ran over to the door, into the house and right into Tonks.

"Where is she?" he asked before Tonks could realise what had hit her.

"She's upstairs-" She began but was cut off because Draco ran past her and straight up the stairs.

When Draco reached the top of the stairs he caught a head of red hair.

"Where is she, Weasley?" he rushed. "Which room?"

"You can't go in yet-" Ron began.

"I don't care! Which room?" Draco yelled.

"That one." said Ron, pointing to the third door on the right and stepping aside to let Draco past.

Draco knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again. He heard a woman's voice and then a man's. Then the door handle turned and Lupin poked his head round the small opening.

"Why can't I see her yet?" Draco demanded. "I want to see her."

"Not yet. Maybe in a couple of hours." Lupin replied calmly.

"I don't want to wait a couple of hours! I want to see her now!" said Draco his voice rising with each word.

"Just be patient." said Lupin.

"Patient?" Draco scoffed but he didn't persists. Instead he sat down outside the door.

Two hours passed and still he wasn't allowed in. Lupin had once again denied entrance to the room.

While he waited he thought about how he and Hermione began to get close.

It was in his sixth year. Hermione had found him in the library. She noticed how pale he had looked, saw his bloodshot eyes and how skinny he had become.

She had shuffled over to him. He had watched her coming. He noticed the genuine concern on her face. When she had reached the table she set down her books. She looked to the chair and back at him.

"What do you want, Mudblood?" He saw her flinch slightly by the words. She could tell there was nothing behind the words though. He had felt to weak to force any meanness into them.

"May I sit?" she had asked.

Draco was so taken aback by her question that he sat speechless for a minute. He looked up at Hermione and then at his hands.

"Sure." he said.

He hadn't taken his eyes of his hands as she sat down.

He could feel how nervous she was radiate of her. He looked over and saw her fiddling with her hands. He knew she wanted to say something.

"What do you want, Granger?" he asked. He had noticed how weak he sound when he spoke.

"Are you ok?" she asked and shuffled her feet.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Draco, you don't look fine."

That was the first time she had ever called him by his first name.

"And why do you care?"

"I.. I don't know. I just do. You.. you can tell me if you like. I'll listen to all you have to say. I won't judge and maybe I can help."

Her voice was so soft and sounded so kind. He couldn't understand how she could talk to him like that. Him. Draco Malfoy. Her sworn enemy. Someone who had called her a 'Mudblood' only 30 seconds ago.

"And why would I tell you my problems?"

"Because.. umm.. 'cause.. Oh, I don't know, Malfoy, but I want to help. You look.. weak and helpless this term."

He glared at her for calling him 'weak and helpless' but he knew it was true. He looked dreadful.

Hermione looked at him with kind eyes and a worried expression on her face. Draco had felt slightly warmed that she wanted to know what was wrong, she wanted to help him.

He was itching to tell her. He wanted to tell someone but he was just keeping it all bottled up. It wasn't as if there was anyone he could tell anyways.

"Please, Draco. Just tell me. Forget who I am. Forget I'm a Mudblood. Forget it all. Just tell me." she reached out her hand and set it on his. He pulled his hands back quickly like they had been burned by her touch and set them on his knees.

Even though he had moved his hands, that one simple gesture of comfort broke him. He buried his face in his hands. He just couldn't hold it in any longer. He just began to cry.

At the back of his mind he felt ashamed crying in front of her of all people, but at the same time he didn't care. He was to weak to care.

Luckily it was late and they were the only two in the library and they were to far in the library for Madam Prince to hear them.

"Shh.." Hermione had said to try and comfort him. But it only made him worse and he began to shake. What really got to him was that she cared. She really cared.

They had both sat there. Draco crying. Hermione whispering soothing words. She sat there with him until he calmed down and stopped crying.

"My father wants me to become a Death Eater. He wants me to serve the Dark Lord." he had begun as soon as he had calmed down enough. He didn't look at her. Just kept his eyes on his hands. He hadn't told her the truth exactly. He hadn't wanted her to know that he was already a Death Eater and had been ordered to kill Dumbledore.

"But?" she had asked softly. So softly he barely heard her speak.

"But.." he said. "But I don't want to be a Death Eater."

"Draco.. Are you a Death Eater now? Harry thinks you are. Please tell me the truth. Are you?"

He hesitated. He wanted to tell her. And she said she wouldn't judge.

He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Instead he lifted his right hand and pulled up his left sleeve.

Hermione left out a small gasp. He had expected her too. Hermione reached out a hand to touch the mark but he put his sleeve back over it quickly.

"Ok." she said. Instead she shuffled her chair closer to him and put her hand on his sleeve just above the mark.

Draco hadn't moved this time. He liked the comforting gesture.

"It's ok. You don't have to do this." she had said trying to reassure him.

"Yes. I do. You don't understand. If I don't he'll kill me. He'll kill my family." A tear rolled down his cheek and onto Hermione's hand. She didn't move to wipe it away. Instead she just let it sit there. She looked at it for a moment.

"I'm going to go to bed now." Draco said but he didn't make to move.

"Granger?" he asked. "Don't tell Potter or Weasley about this."

Draco looked at her from the corner of his eye. She was about to object but he stopped her.

"Please." he said moving his hand to sit on his covered mark.

"Ok," Hermione whispered. "I won't. I promise."

"Thank you." Draco said and he got up and left.

From then on Hermione met Draco in the library nearly every night just to talk. She had always made him feel better. Hermione would send him small smiles in the corridor and he had always felt warmed by them.

And that's how it started. Hermione had found him at one of his weakest moments and slowly began to make him feel stronger.

Finally, six hours later, Draco was allowed to see Hermione. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go in anymore. He didn't want to see her lifeless body lying there on the bed. Probably dressed, ready for the funeral tomorrow.

His heart was beating so fast. He felt sick. Once again he wanted to destroy everything in his reach but he couldn't. He couldn't destroy other peoples possessions even if they were just the Weasley's. He was scared. More scared than he ever was before.

Finally he stepped up to the door. He opened it slightly and the first thing he seen were Hermione's parents. They walked towards him and gave him weak smiles. Mr Granger took the door handle and opened it fully.

"Draco!"

Draco's head moved from Mr Granger to the only bed in the room so fast you couldn't even see it move when he heard a weak voice say his name.

He stared at the person on the bed who owned the voice.

Hermione.

She was alive.

He couldn't believe it.

She was covered in cuts all over and had bandages up her right arm and on left hand.

"Your.. your alive!" Draco stated.

"Of course she's alive." he heard Tonks say from behind him. "Draco, didn't you get our letter? We owled you as soon as Hermione, Ron and Harry got back here to assure you she was alive."

"No. I never got a letter. All I got was a stupid radio broadcast!"

"We thought you may have heard that. We hoped our owl would have gotten there first. We don't know who started that rumour"

Draco still couldn't move. He never took his eyes away from Hermione once even though he was having a conversation with someone behind him. He felt so happy and relieved. He felt happier than ever before. He even felt at peace for the first time in his life.

She was alive.

Tears filled his eyes. Hermione smiled at him with tears filling her own eyes. He finally found his feet and started to walk towards her. Everyone else left the room quietly.

"Your alive." he said the tears finally leaving his eyes and falling down his cheeks.

"Yes, I am." Hermione laughed weakly.

Draco threw his arms around her and pulled her as close as possible.

"I'm so glad your alive. I don't know what I would have done without you. Your my happiness, my strength, my peace, my everything."

Hermione was crying so much. She pulled Draco tighter.

"I love you, Hermione." Draco said.

"I love you too, Draco." said Hermione.

AN: Hope you like this one shot.

Please review. Thanks.

~NickyB~