Explanation:
It is the year 1996, Christmas Holidays.
Harry Potter is tired of his friends refusing to speak to each other, he can't help lusting after his best friends sister, and he has been set the task to proclaim a certain memory from Slughorn.
Ron is getting a little overwhelmed at the continued presence of Lavender Brown, his girlfriend who apparently thinks they should be together at all times.
Hermione is drifting further and further into her own world. She is lonely and misses Harry and Ron, though she refuses to admit this to herself. Ginny tries to talk to her every now and then but the two just don't have that much to talk about.
Draco Malfoy has his task, but he's struggling, his friends are also turning against him as he has become too secretive for their liking. He is lonely and feels he has no one to turn to, although Snape persistently offers him his help.
Chapter one.
It was the first Saturday back from the holidays, and Hermione had spent the afternoon in the library. She had been completing an essay on human transfiguration and tried researching the half blood prince again, but with no luck. She was making her way back to the Gryffindor tower to return her books so she could head down to dinner, when she heard the noise. Someone was chocking, coughing roughly and dragging in their breath, seeming to struggle to get the air into their lungs. Hermione stood frozen in her footsteps searching, where was the noise coming from? She was finding it hard to tell.
Suddenly she jumped as something banged against the tapestry behind her and it swung forwards, revealing a hidden passage. But what was frightened her even more was the hand she could see on the floor, covered in blood.
She reached out and pulled the door properly open looking into the passage. There, on the floor lay Draco Malfoy, his white blonde hair speckled with blood, unconscious.
She was running as fast as her legs would carry her, she didn't know where she was going, but it was just to find someone, anyone. She raced around the corner and slammed into Professor Flitwick, they both toppled to the floor. Hermione jumped up again in a second apologizing over and over to Flitwick who seemed very disoriented as he tried to get up.
"Professor please, we have to hurry. Someone is hurt, he's bleeding I don't know what happened…" Hermione trailed off as she marched ahead of Professor Flitwick .
"Miss Granger please, what is going on?" He asked baffled jogging to keep up with Hermione's hasty stride.
"I'm sorry Sir, but honestly I don't know. I just found him there." Hermione stopped pointing to the door, which was still ajar with Draco's hand lying between the door and doorframe. The bright red blood dripping from his hand made his skin seem even more pale than usual.
"Oh my goodness!" Flitwick screeched, without hesitation however he summoned a stretcher and hovered Draco onto it.
"We need to get him to the hospital wing. Miss Granger if you wouldn't mind it would be very helpful if you were to summon Professor Snape, please."
"Yes, I will. But, but sir you don't think he's, dead do you?" Hermione asked timidly as she looked down at Draco's body, covered in blood, although now she really looked she saw no wounds.
"No, I don't. He's just unconscious and hopefully Poppy will be able to get him up and about in no time." Flitwick said, as he hurried off to the hospital wing.
Hermione let out a big sigh, she hadn't thought twice about helping Malfoy, but now she wondered if the roles were reversed would he do the same? She liked to think he would.
Since it was already around 6 o'clock Hermione thought that Snape would probably be heading down to dinner so she hurried off to the dining hall to find him. But she needn't go far since she spotted him in the entrance hall.
She quickly recited what had happened and told him he needed to go to the hospital wing.
"Very well then Miss Granger, but you should come with me." Snape said, and he marched off giving Hermione no more explanation as to why she needed to come with him.
In the hospital wing Hermione spotted Draco lying down on top of the covers on one of the beds. His face was clean; Hermione could see a purple bruise already beginning to form on his right cheekbone. But his blonde hair and white shirt were still splattered with blood.
"Draco. What happened, who did this to you?" Snape started to fire questions at him as soon as they walked through the door.
"How is he Poppy, is he alright? Is he injured?" Snape said giving Madame Pomfrey a stern look.
"He's recovering Severus, he needs to rest." She said, stepping in front of Draco who seemed to be trying to sit up.
Snape bristled rounding on Hermione.
"Where did you find him Granger? Did you see anyone? What do you know? Tell me!" He barked at her.
Hermione took a step back from him taking a deep breath as to steady herself.
"Well it was on the fourth floor, by the tapestry of the centaurs. There's a passage behind the tapestry you see, and I heard the thud as Draco passed out. But I didn't see anyone around, then when I saw him, Draco I mean, I ran to get Professor Flitwick." She said hurriedly cowering under the look Snape was giving her.
"Very well Granger, you may go. But if I find out you're not telling me the whole truth you're going to be very sorry." Snape said, gesturing for her to leave.
Hermione didn't need to be told twice, she spun on her heel and marched out. Once in the corridor she let out a big breath. That had been extremely awkward and not to mention weird. Who had done that to Malfoy, and why had Snape reacted so over the top. She knew Snape favored Malfoy but he had seemed terrified at the thought that someone had wanted to harm his precious little Slytherin prince.
Hermione wandered around the corridors of the castle for a while not know where she was going, lost in her thoughts. The thing was that she had noticed that for the past few days Draco had been just as, if not more lonely than her. He was always by himself, and always seemed to be in a very bad mood.
AN: Thanks so much for checking out my story! Chapter two will be up some time in the next 24 hours! ;)