I promise guys, 3:00 am is not my new uploading time, lol. This is the result of me being out of school with no summer job.

Disclaimer: I Own Nothing


Hermione was walking down the stairs, on her way to the Great Hall when hurried footsteps could be heard from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and couldn't help but smile as Ginny came running down the steps towards her. Her smile slowly vanished, however, at the look on Ginny's face. Ginny walked towards her, arms outstretched and a look of confusion on her face.

"Hermione…what…?"

Hermione put the pieces together with a sigh.

"Oh."

"Are you alright," Ginny asked as she came to stand in front of her.

"I'm fine."

"Harry just told me. Look, I know that I haven't exactly been supportive of you and my brother for…reasons I'm sure you can understand. Please, tell me that this doesn't have anything to do with me. I never wanted you to feel like you had to choose…"

Hermione hesitantly reached for Ginny's hands, proud of herself when she was able to intertwine their fingers together.

"Ginny, you never made me feel like I had to choose, honest. It's just…it's just a really long story, one I will tell you about in due time," Hermione said.

"Ok, good. Now that we've finally got that cleared up…," Ginny began, a smile breaking out over face.

Hermione rolled her eyes, a reluctant smile of her own taking over. She knew exactly where this was headed. Ginny could be so predictable sometimes.

"Really, Ginny?"

"I am so glad that you finally came to your senses! I love my brother, really I do, but you and I both know that you are way out of his league. Now, you're single and ready to mingle," Ginny said, shimmying her shoulders and swinging their joined hands.

"Yeah, because that's who I am," Hermione sarcastically replied.

"Am I being insensitive," Ginny questioned.

"No, you're being you," Hermione said with a small smile.

"Good. I was thinking…we start with Malfoy."

"What," Hermione practically shrieked.

Why would she say such a thing?

"Um…are you forgetting that he kissed you? Clearly he sees something he likes," Ginny explained.

Hermione actually had forgotten about that kiss. So much had happened between them since then that it felt like a lifetime ago. Hermione absentmindedly brought her fingers to her lips. She recalled how his lips had felt against hers, how kissing him was nothing at all like kissing Ron. She remembered the smell of him, a soothing and intoxicating scent that had made her forget that she'd had a boyfriend at the time. She suddenly shook her head, dropping her hand.

"Are you forgetting the part where Ron and Harry are convinced that he's a Death Eater now?"

Hermione even recalled what Zabini had said, stating that they couldn't trust Draco and that he had already chosen his side. Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Details. Besides, I'm not saying to marry the guy. I'm simply telling you to just have some harmless fun. No one deserves it more than you do, Hermione."

"For all we know, it could have been a dare or simple curiosity to see what filth tasted like," Hermione said.

"I seriously doubt that. That'd be a pretty lame dare," Ginny said, unconvinced.

"It doesn't matter. Malfoy and I are just…"

Hermione trailed off as she realized that she was about to say "just friends". She cleared her throat.

"We're just too different. We hate each other," Hermione lied.

"But this could be like one of those bodice ripping romance novels. It starts out all harmless and you guys hate each other's guts, but can't stay away. Eventually, the two of you fall in love and you bring him back from the dark side.

"And on that note…," Hermione trailed off as she began to once again walk to breakfast.

"Come on. How else am I supposed to live vicariously through you?"

Ginny pouted at Hermione as she fell into step beside her.

"Ginny, you have a boyfriend," Hermione said.

"That I do and I love him very much, but you're single now. You can be with anyone, do anything and then give me all of the dirty details," Ginny exclaimed.

"Ginny, you know that I'm not that kind of girl. Besides, I did care about Ron, you know. I still do. I need a minute to process the fact that we aren't together anymore," Hermione whispered.

The two of them paused again as Ginny stared at her.

"Okay, so I was being insensitive."

Hermione chuckled.

"You were just being-"

"Don't say I was just being me. That's not an excuse. I should have kept in mind that you've liked Ron for years. I don't know what I was-"

"Shouldn't the two of you be at breakfast?"

Hermione felt her heart seize and her shoulders tense as a strong voice came from behind them. Hermione swallowed, the hairs on her arms standing on end as Ginny turned around.

"That's where we're headed, Professor. We just paused to have a chat, is all. Last time I checked, that wasn't against any school rules. Right, Hermione?"

Hermione reluctantly turned around, eyes focused on his shoes.

"Right," she quietly added.

"If anybody in this school would know the rules beginning to end, it would be her," Ginny said.

"Well, the two of you are just standing in the pathway like statues. Merlin forbid someone run into the two of you," he hissed in that haughty tone.

Hermione could feel his eyes boring into her, making her skin crawl. She resisted the urge to dig her fingernails into the palm of her hand.

"Well, if that person is too blind to see us, then they shouldn't be at Hogwarts to begin with," Ginny sneered.

Hermione looked at Ginny in warning. Even if this was Lucius Malfoy, he was still their professor, someone who had every right to demand respect from them.

"Ms. Granger? Do you share Ms. Weasley sentiments?"

Hermione squashed down the urge to shudder in fear as her name came from his lips. She and Ginny stared at one another for a painful amount of time while he stood there, waiting. Eventually, Hermione did take a deep breath before turning her head to face him. As her eyes connected with his, a confusing rush of fear and anger hit her like no other. She wanted to crawl into a hole and hide forever, but she also wanted to curse him into oblivion. She exhaled and lifted her chin.

"I do, Professor Malfoy. If someone doesn't have sense enough to simply, oh, I don't know, walk around us, then they should just stay in their dorm or office or whatever crevice they slithered out from."

She watched as his lip twitched, his shoulders tensing as he held his hands behind his back. He stared down his nose at her before giving a small 'humph' and brushing past her. She very nearly fainted as his arm brushed against her shoulder, the strong scent of his cologne wafting over her, bringing her back to that night. Instead, she simply stared ahead, blinking away the tears and letting out a loud breath as his footsteps faded away.

"Merlin, what a creep."

"Yeah," Hermione halfheartedly agreed, resisting the urge to spew all over the floor.

"Did you see the way he was looking at you," Ginny incredulously questioned.

"What," Hermione gasped out, staring at Ginny.

Ginny looked visibly shaken up as she stared at Hermione.

"He looked…he looked…," Ginny trailed off, shaking her head.

The other girl kept waving her hands around, clearly disgusted by what she had witnessed.

"Call me crazy, but I swear on Godric's grave, he looked like…like he was going to pounce on you, right here on this very floor and he didn't seem all too concerned about whether I was here or not."

"I'm sure you're just imagining things, Ginny," Hermione breathed out.

The stairs in front of her tripled and Hermione blinked.

"No, I don't think I am. Gosh, isn't he like…twice our age? And married? Of course, plenty of the girls here don't seem to care about that. Brainless bimbos, the lot of them. Never in my wildest imagination did I think I'd be saying this, but compared to his father, Malfoy junior isn't half bad."

Hermione pressed her hand to her stomach as everything began to spin and still on repeat.

"Please, promise me that you will do everything in your power to not be alone with him," Ginny said.

"You don't…you don't have to tell me twice," Hermione forced out.

"Good. Hey, speaking of… You never did tell me how detention went? What did he make you do," Ginny asked.

"No! Stop, please! Please!"

"He just…he just made me unpack his room and stuff," Hermione quietly said.

Was it just her or were her words slurring together?

"That lazy, prejudice bastard! That is not a proper task for detention and he knows it."

Ginny grabbed Hermione's arm.

"Come on, we're going straight to Dumbledore," Ginny said.

Hermione's eyes widened at this. She snatched her arm away

"No!"

Ginny stared at Hermione with wide uncertain eyes.

"Hermione…it's okay. Dumbledore will put him in his place. He can't treat you like this just because of your parentage. We're not going to just sit back and take it-"

"I said no!"

Hermione's breath came out choppy, her head feeling weirdly spacy. Ginny stared at Hermione with caution, hands outstretched towards her.

"Hermione? That's all that happened, right? He didn't hurt you or say anything," Ginny quietly asked.

"No, no. I just…I just cleaned. That's all," Hermione breathed.

Ginny's eyes doubled, her hair taking on different colors. Hermione blinked several times, throat incredibly dry.

"Are you sure-"

"I said that's all! That's all that happened. Just stop talking about it!"

Hermione tightly shut her eyes, her hand pressed against her head as she leaned over.

"Hermione?"

"I'm fine. I'm-"

She cut herself off as she tried to take a step away from Ginny, stumbling back instead.

"Hermione!"

Hermione clutched Ginny's shirt in her hands as the other girl gripped her arm.

"I'm okay."

She went to stand, but only succeeded in stumbling forward.

"Hermione! Hermione, what's wrong," Ginny frantically demanded.

"Granger?"

Hermione could faintly hear footsteps from beside them.

"I don't know what happened! She was fine and then and then she…"

Her knees gave out from beneath her and she felt herself falling, eyes closing.

"Hermione!"


"Explain to me again why you're here?"

"Harry, don't be rude!"

"Forgive me, but I'm just trying to understand what purpose he serves. Last time I checked-"

Hermione groaned, the voices going straight through her eardrums and into her brain. She winced, shifting on the bed. Was it a bed?

"Look! She's waking up…"

She let out a relaxing sigh.

"Hermione?"

She forced her eyes open, immediately closing them at the harsh lights. She took a few deep breaths, head pounding before forcing her eyes open again. She was met with the sight of Harry, Ron, and Ginny all standing beside the right of her bed in that order. Ginny appeared to be worried as she stared at Hermione, Ron looked relieved at the sight of her consciousness, and Harry wore a frown with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes glancing over towards her left every now and again.

"Thank Merlin," Ginny breathed.

Hermione blinked, glancing around to notice that she was in the infirmary.

"What happened?"

She could barely hear her own voice.

"You fainted. I brought you to the infirmary," Ginny said.

Hermione remembered now, remembered what had happened that had probably resulted in her fainting. She also remembered a familiar voice. A voice that probably belonged to the one who had really carried her to the infirmary, but the look on Ginny's face told Hermione that the boys didn't know about this. Hermione swallowed.

"Thank you. I don't know what happened," she lied.

"Madam Pomfrey said something about post-traumatic stress. What, all of our daring adventures finally catching up to you," Ron joked.

His laughter was cut off by Harry elbowing him in the side, once again throwing a venomous glance to the left side of her bed. All three of them fell quiet as Hermione began to turn her head.

"Uh…you have a visitor," Harry awkwardly said just as her eyes landed on Blaise Zabini beside her bed.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he threw her a small, tight lipped smile. He stood beside of her bed in all of his glory, hands crossed in front of him, staring down at her with dark, intense eyes. This wasn't something that the two of them had discussed yet. However, she would never have guessed that she'd be in the infirmary anytime soon, so there would have been no need to have said discussion.

"Zabini…"

He nodded.

"I saw…Ginny carrying you up here," he began, giving her an intense look.

Hermione glanced at Ginny to see that she wore a worried expression that probably equaled the one on Hermione's face.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I offered to help…her, but she assured me that she had it under control. Nonetheless, I decided to stop in and see how you were doing," he said.

"Well, thank you. That's very kind and…surprising of you. I'm almost positive that we've hardly ever spoken a word to each other," Hermine replied.

"Yes, well, with everything that is going on, I've begun to see things more clearly. Besides, who will keep the academic hierarchy in check if you're dead," he joked.

Hermione lightly chuckled.

"Right. Well, I'll be sure to make a speedy recovery so that I can put all of you in your place," she said.

"I look forward to it. See you around, Granger."

With another nod, he walked past her bed, his footsteps echoing into the corridor as he left. She reluctantly looked up into three pairs of eyes; one skeptical, one curious, and the other almost giddy.

"You want to fill the rest of us in," Harry asked through clenched teeth.

"Honestly, I have no idea what that was about. Like I told him, he and I have hardly ever talked. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that's the first time we've ever spoken," she lied.

"Well, he seemed pretty keen on you. 'I look forward to it'," Harry spat, mocking the Slytherin.

"Harry, he was just being polite," Ginny said, trying to placate him.

Harry scoffed.

"The two of them have never spoken and he suddenly comes to see about her? I don't buy it."

"Harry, it really isn't that big of a deal. Odds are, I'm probably never going to talk to him again. Just let it go," Hermione said.

"Yeah, mate. He probably felt obligated or something since he witnessed her practically being dragged here," Ron agreed.

"No! He's a sleazy Slytherin, just like the rest. I don't trust him," he snapped, stomping out of the infirmary.

"I'll talk to him. Please, get better, Hermione and…we'll talk later?"

Hermione caught onto the implications in Ginny's question and nodded. Ginny sent her a small smile before following after Harry. Ron heaved a rather long sigh and with one look on his face, Hermione knew exactly what he was thinking.

"No, Ronald."

"Are you sure? Because he looked pretty darn smitten with you, if you ask me. I'm not here to judge, I told you that I support you and I'm trusting your judgement. If it's him, it's okay, I mean he is one of the better ones. It's just…you're not going to be able to lie to Harry for long," he said.

Hermione sighed.

"Thank you, Ron. I really mean that. I'm…glad that you're being so understanding about all of this."

He nodded.

"Take care of yourself, Hermione. I want to see you back in class soon, okay?"

"Promise," she said with a nod.

She sank back into her pillows as he walked out, her eyes drifting shut.


Hermione awoke to the feeling of firm, manly fingers smoothing her hair back away from her forehead. It was a soothing feeling and in her semi-conscious state, she let out a small hum of pleasure. The fingers trailed down her face, along her cheek and to her collar bone. She felt herself frowning as the bed dipped, signaling that someone had sat down beside of her. A haunting chuckle forced her eyes wide open.

She gasped in fear and sat up, beginning to hurriedly scoot away at the sight of Lucius Malfoy sitting beside her. She inhaled as his hand wrapped around her forearm, yanking her to him. She opened her mouth to scream, but he anticipated this, his large hand immediately covering her lips. She swallowed as he leaned in.

"Even though Madam Pomfrey isn't here at the moment, I would still advise you against doing that," he sneered.

Hermione looked around in fright to realize that he was correct. There was no sign of Madam Pomfrey and she didn't recall seeing any other patients when her friends had visited her earlier. Her heart was about ready to jump out of her chest as she glared at him.

"What is it about you? Hmm? What makes you so damn special?"

Hermione trembled as his other hand came up to brush a strand of hair away from her face. She wasn't even ashamed of the tears that freely flowed down her cheeks and met their journeys end at his hand that was still covering her mouth. Before she had time to process what was happening, she found herself on her back, his hand still over her mouth and the other pressed into her stomach as he sat beside her.

"Do you want to know something, something I have decided?"

She stared up at him, cursing him with all of her might as she answered his question within her mind. No, I don't, she thought, because she was sure that whatever he was about to say was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"You are going to be my spoils of this war. When our Dark Lord claims victory over this infested monstrosity called the Wizarding World, I will have you again and again. I will take pleasure in knowing that Draco will hear your screams night after night and there isn't a damn thing that the two of you can do about it."

Hermione inhaled as he lifted his hand and had just gone to sit up when she felt her pillow being pressed into her face. She thrashed and scratched against the other hand that held her down while she screamed into the fabric of the pillow. Her legs jerked, feet kicking as she fought for air. She reached out, nails digging into his neck as her heart rate began to slow.

Hermione. Hermione.

"Hermione."

Her eyes sprang open and she sat up, staring ahead as she fought for breath.

"Hermione?"

She panted, her eyes darting around before landing on the figure beside her. Brown and silver clashed as they stared at one another.

"It was just a dream," he soothingly said.

Hermione stared at him in confusion before his words sank in. She reached up to her face, realizing that he was right. It had felt so real.

"Just a dream…"

He nodded.

"Yes, just a dream," he reassured.

She blinked the tears away, looking down as she realized that her hand was tightly wrapped around his own. She let go.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"It's fine. Do you want to talk about it," he asked her.

She frantically shook her head.

"No…"

"Alright. I brought you these…"

She looked up as he set a vase full of lilies on the bedside table. She stared at them for a while before resting her eyes on him. She finally took in his appearance. The moonlight coming in from the windows was enough for her to see his unkempt hair, as if he had literally rolled out of bed in the middle of the night to make sure no one had seen him come in here. The bottoms of his eyes were lined with dark circles, only drawing more attention to his bright irises. He was wearing long, silk pajama bottoms with a plain dark green tee shirt that clung to his chest and arms.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that. You've done enough…," she trailed off.

He looked away towards the door, his back fully facing her now.

"It was nothing. Really, don't mention it," he said.

"You didn't have to bring me here. Ginny was more than capable. I don't want you to feel obligated or anything," Hermione quietly replied.

"I know I'm not obligated. I wanted to, Hermione, just accept that. Besides, I saw…I saw the whole thing…"

Hermione didn't reply to this. She didn't know how…

"There's something that I need to confess to you," he began.

Hermione stared at the back of his broad shoulders as he sighed.

"When I helped you…took care of you, my reasons for doing so weren't entirely pure," he said.

Hermione swallowed.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought…I thought that it could outweigh some of the bad that I've done, some of the bad that I'm still doing…"

Hermione felt her shoulders tense, wondering if Ron and Harry had been right.

"I realize now that it isn't enough, which is why I'm vowing to you here and now that I will protect you from my father. No matter how I may have treated you in the past and no matter how we may feel about each other, you don't deserve this. You've done nothing to deserve being on the receiving end of his wrath or fixation or whatever. I'll stop this even if it's the last thing I do because I refuse to leave this world as just another one of his lackeys. I just want there to be some good to the Malfoy name. I don't care if it's not public, even if you're the only one who knows…that's enough for me."

Hermione stared at the back of his head in awe. She reached out towards him before thinking better of it and pulling her arm back.

"But Draco…that does make your intentions pure. You're trying to be a better person. You're trying to break away from the life that has been laid out in front of you since birth. I can help you. Whatever they've got you doing that you feel you can't get out of-"

Draco pushed away from the bed and away from her. Hermione sighed, leaning back against the pillows as she watched him shut down.

"We're not talking about me, we're talking about you. We're talking about me helping you," he said as he turned around, looking down at his wand within his hand.

Hermione frowned in confusion as he swallowed.

"I saw the whole thing today. I saw how he looked at you, how he talked to you. I could practically hear what he was thinking and I saw how scared you were. It was so unlike you and I realized that I don't like the affect that he has on you. I can take it away," he murmured, looking up at her.

"What," she breathed.

He knelt down beside her bed, determination swimming within his eyes.

"I've never been very good at it, but I've been practicing all week. Your fear, your nervousness, that entire night. I can make it all go away," he whispered.

Hermione's eyes widened as she caught onto what he was saying. She looked down at his wand, mind going a mile a minute.

"Your life can go back to how it was before. You won't have to be scared, you can enjoy being around your friends again. Hell, you and the weasel can get back together and live happily ever after. It's what you want, isn't it?"

Hermione opened and closed her mouth. That was what she wanted…wasn't it? She frowned, gazing into his eyes as he stared at her.

"Just say the word, Hermione, and everything can go back to normal."


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