Hermione ran. Faster than she ever had before in her life, she thought she had been safe, after all, Muggle London was a London that had never harmed her in the past. She ran into the Leaky Cauldron, not taking a single breath, she just had to get to safety. Suddenly, she bumped into someone.

"Granger? Is that you?" A voice asked.

Hermione looked into the cold, grey eyes of the owner of the voice and gasped.

"Malfoy?" she asked.

"Yeah it's me." Malfoy answered, "What's happened to you?"

Hermione was in tears, her top and skirt were ripped her hair was out of place and she was in obvious distress.

"I didn't want to." Hermione said.

"Didn't want to what?" Draco asked.

"He made me, I didn't want to do it, it wasn't my choice, he made me do it" Hermione repeated.

"Granger, what are you on about?" Draco said.

"He raped me." Hermione said simply.

"Who? Where?" Draco asked.

"In Muggle London, I don't know who he was." Hermione said sobbing even harder than she had been.

Draco stood there motionless, she needed his help, but she was Hermione Granger, mudblood queen, this was going against his father's teachings, the life that he had been bought up with. Draco opened his mouth to speak; unsure that what he was about to say would be accepted by Hermione.

"Everything is going to be fine. I am going to help you." He said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"You? Help me? Yeah right, who the hell are you and where's the real Malfoy, the real Malfoy would be laughing in my face." Hermione said.

"Oh that it just typical of you Granger, I am offering to help and you are throwing it back in my face." Malfoy snapped at her.

"That's it. That's the real Malfoy." Hermione said.

"I am going to ask if they have a spare room, get you cleaned up. STAY THERE" Draco said.

Draco walked away and went to ask the housekeeper if there were any rooms free that he could use for an hour. He came back with the key to a spare room; he placed his arm around Hermione's waist and helped her up the stairs and to the room. Draco opened the door and guided her into the room and helped her to the bed where she sat down. Draco walked into the bathroom and got a face cloth from the cabinet. He then let the cold tap run for a minute before placing the cloth under the tap and letting it soak the cloth. He then walked back into the bedroom and over to the bed where he gently lifted Hermione's head up so he could see her face. Hermione looked into his eyes and then quickly turned her face away from him.

"What?" Draco said.

Hermione slowly turned back to Draco, tears streaming down her face.

"He had the same colour eyes as you." She said.

"You're safe now." Draco said.

"Thanks Malfoy, for doing this I mean. It must be hard for you." Hermione said

Draco looked at Hermione, not saying a word, but gently he began to wipe the blood that was on her face. Once Draco had cleaned all the blood off Hermione's face he conjured Hermione a new outfit. She went into the bathroom and changed into the outfit, a pair of jeans, a pale pink blouse and a pale blue jacket. Hermione walked back into the bedroom and sat on the bed. She picked up her letter and the badge that she had only half an hour ago been so happy to hold.

"What's that?" Draco asked as he watched Hermione looking at the object in her hands.

"Head Girl's badge." Hermione said before adding "Ironic huh? I get this and then this happens to me."

"Everything will be fine. I'm gonna look after you." Draco said.

"For the whole year? Yeah I'd like to see that, Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince looking after Hermione Granger, Mudblood Queen." Hermione said.

"That would be Draco Malfoy, Head Boy looking after Hermione Granger, Head Girl." Draco corrected her.

"You? Head Boy? Just when I thought that the day couldn't get any worse." Hermione said.

"Oh for Merlin's sake Granger." Draco said.

"What? I mean come on. It's not like you're going to change the way you see me over night is it? I'll still be a dirty mudblood in your eyes." Hermione said.

"Yes you may well be, but we have a job to do and we have to do it well." Draco said.

"Oh god, we'll be living together too, did you read the entire letter? Says here that we have our own private dormitory, well that's just great!" Hermione said with a mixture of sarcasm and fury in her voice.

"Give it a rest, Granger. We're just gonna have to get on with it. Now I think my work here is done, if you need me, you know where to find me, use an owl." Draco said and with that he walked out of the room. Hermione reached for her handbag and put the letter along with the badge in the bag, he was right, she shouldn't let the fact that she was going to be working with him get to her. Hermione stood up, walked out of the room and out into Diagon Alley.