So very sorry that I haven't updated in so long!
Enjoy!
Hermione screamed.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here Malfoy?" she shrieked.
"You must be quite upset to use language like that Granger. Tone it down, you sound like Weaselbee." Malfoy teased.
"Shut it," Hermione said angrily. "I asked you what you're doing here and I'm waiting for an answer," she said.
Malfoy seemed deep in though as he considered her for a moment.
"Drinking my sorrows away," he answered simply, still looking at her.
Hermione was momentarily at a loss of words. She hadn't expected him to answer her, much less than confess that he was upset. She had been expecting another smart remark. She recovered from the silence and broke the stillness.
"Let me rephrase. Why in the Room of Requirement?" she said promptly.
"Because I own it Granger," said Malfoy. "I own the world," he said, sounding like his drunk, self-absorbed self.
"I'm so sick of you Malfoy," said Hermione, her voice rising. "You're just like your father. Lazy, arrogant, conceded-," Hermione screamed.
"DON'T!" he bellowed at her. She stumbled back in surprise.
"Don't," he whispered softly.
Then he did the most un-Malfoy thing possible. He sank to the floor. His body shook in sobs. His tears splashed on the tile floors, slipping away, leaving no traces.
"Draco?" Hermione asked cautiously, startled. It was a reminder of that night, a year ago.
He looked up at her. His eyes were bloodshot and his blonde hair was disheveled.
"Dead," he whispered softly. "Dead."
He collapsed into tears again, shaking.
She entered her dormitory and found her mother's owl sitting on her bed, pecking at the sheets. She shooed it away and sat down on the bed, wondering why her mother was writing to her now, when she knew that she was so busy studying for her exams. She promised she wouldn't pelt Hermione with owls each day, at least not until the exams were over. She opened the envelope. The parchment was spattered with tears and the hand writing was shaky. She began to get worried. Her mother never cried unless it was something grave. Her eyes scanned the paper, once, twice, three times. Then she slid off her bed onto the floor, looked up at the ceiling and screamed.
It was not a scream of anger, or fury. It was a scream that tore at every nerve in her body, a scream of pain and misery. Tears built up in her eyes and she did nothing to stop them as they poured down her face. She didn't wipe them away, or tell herself to stay strong. She didn't see a point anymore.
Gloom settled over the room as she was swallowed by the silence. She sat there for hours, blankly. Repeating the mother's words in her head over and over again until they were branded into her brain.
"There was an unfortunate accident sweetheart. His breaks wouldn't work properly; I told him we needed to visit the mechanic. He didn't listen. He told me he'd be right back with the eggs and milk for the cake. But he didn't make it. He never came back."
He was gone, Hermione knew it. Gone from the world. Her own father. He would never see her O.W.L. results, or walk her down the aisle to marry Ron, hopefully. She would never see him again. The pain became stronger, settled in and overwhelmed her. She didn't tell Ron and Harry because…well, she didn't know why. They questioned her when she disappeared for the funeral but she refused to answer their questions, and eventually, they gave up. Forgot about the topic, got bored.
That night, Hermione cried quietly into her pillow, misery tearing at every pore of her body. She crept out of bed into the boy's room. Ron gave a sleepy grunt and muttered something sounding suspiciously like Er…my…nee. She gave him a watery smile and accio-ed Harry's cloak quietly from his trunk. She pulled it on, slipping off to the 7th floor corridor into the Room of Requirement.
She received quite a shock when she bumped into a tall blonde boy with gray eyes. She had entered the bedroom crying again when he jumped up off the bed in surprise.
"What the..." he began, but broke off once he saw her crying.
Hermione collapsed on the floor, sobbing. She was confused and upset. A wave of emotions passed over her and she broke down, not understanding what was happening or where she was.
Malfoy looked scared but approached her carefully anyway. She didn't expect it but astonishing; Malfoy picked her up off the floor and pressed her to his firm chest, hugging her tightly. Hermione didn't understand; just one hour ago, he called her a mudblood during Transfiguration and Ron almost broke his nose. Now, he was standing with her in the Room of Requirement, hugging her, comforting her. She was confused but didn't protest; his arms were better than the floor.
He walked her over to the bed standing in the corner of the room. He lowered her onto it gently and sat down next to her, awkwardly. He sat there for a few minutes then bounced back up and summoned a cup of tea from the kitchen. She drank it gratefully. He sat with her and stroked her head uncomfortably until her tears ceased.
"You okay?" asked Draco quietly.
Hermione nodded, shakily.
"How'd you get down here in the middle of the night? Filch's patrolling the corridors with the wretched cat monster of his."
She smile weakly, holding out the invisibility cloak she slipped into her night gown.
Draco laughed. His laugh was warm; it's filled the room in a way Ron's didn't. It warmed Hermione insides right away, not matter how much she fought against it.
"Well, they don't call you the cleverest witch of your age for nothing." He said, still laughing.
Hermione started to smile again but grew suspicious. Why was he being so nice, so charming, so… There was something fishy about this. This is a Malfoy, Hermione reminded herself.
"Why are you being so nice to me?" Hermione blurted out. She was planning to find a better way to pose this question but she was still quite upset and light-headed and couldn't think straight. She expected the smile to slide off his face, for him to get angry. Instead he grinned.
"Well, despite what Weasley might tell you, I'm actually quite a nice person." he said, still smiling.
Hermione smirked.
"Right…" she said sarcastically. "Calling me mudblood every other day…"
"See, I need some way to get your attention-," he starts, quickly breaking off, apparently realizing he said something he shouldn't have.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked promptly.
"Never you mind," he said, a bit too harshly.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, both staring at their feet.
"So what exactly were you so upset about?" said Draco in an attempt to break the silence that swallowed them both.
Hermione's eyes filled with tears again. Draco seemed to realize he had said something wrong, reminded Hermione of the pain that was crushing her.
So to keep her tears from spilling over, onto her cheeks, running down her face, Draco pulled her closer, took her gently in his arms and pressed his warm lips against her cold ones.
Hermione shuttered but didn't pull away. She felt like she had received an electric shock. Yet she knew that it was a friendly kiss, just to stop her from crying. To cease the pain, to numb it for a while.
Slytherin, sworn enemy of her two best friends, a mean little bastard that she hated. But he wasn't that anymore. He picked her up off the floor tonight, comforted her, kissed her to deaden the sting. He was a friend to her tonight.
He took a breath.
"Forget it," he whispered, reading her thoughts. "I'm not a Slytherin tonight."
He slipped off his green and silver tie and flung it on the chair next to the bed in apparent disgust. And with that, he pressed his lips to hers again.
She returned the pressure she felt on her lips. He pressed her against his chest for the second time that night. He was there to protect her. Hermione didn't know why, but she trusted him and silently thanked him for being here for her, even though he didn't even know why she was crying. His melodic heart beat calmed her and she felt truly "fine" in the first time for days.
They broke apart and Hermione smiled at him.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Draco kissed her forehead and hugged her again. She fell asleep in the arms of a friend that night.
When she awoke, Draco was gone and the only reminder of his kindness the night before was the green and silver tie lying abandoned in the cushioned chair.
Reviews! I'm quite nervous about this because I wan't sure whether I should end this chapter at the end of a flashback after starting it in present day format. Tell me if it's good?
~Lily Snape