Thanks to everyone for reviewing. I know the last chapter was a little -
umm - I don't even know how to put it. Moody? Dark? Controversial? Probably
all three. I'm having a burst of inspiration right now so that's why the
next chapter is up so fast. Plus I'm not writing this one down in a journal
beforehand.
Enjoy! (Or at least try to.)
~*~*~*~*~
'Why do I even bother? She doesn't forgive me; never will.' Draco muttered in Potions class the next day. Hermione and Pansy's table was two tables in front of them and he had a clear view of the back of her head. It had been exactly a week since her secret had been revealed and people had just started to let up on her a little.
"What was that?" Ron looked over at him. Draco just shook his head and went back to adding the heliogandry wings to the potion. He glanced back towards Hermione, but she was so involved in her potion making she wouldn't have noticed if he dropped dead onto the ground, nor would she have cared.
The potion hissed when the wings had settled and turned a brilliant shade of green; it was done. Snape strode over to their table and complimented Draco on his fine work. He then looked at Ron much like a dog looks at a cat; a look of pure hatred, as if daring him to say anything about not getting complimented too. Ron just sat as far back into his chair as he could and gave Snape a look of equal dislike and venom. The Professor looked rather surprised and left to go look at Blaise and Neville's potion instead.
"He really doesn't like you." Draco said simply and began to put the potion in beakers to store in the cabinet.
"The feeling's mutual." This was the first "conversation" the two partners had shared all year. As soon as the entire potion was in beakers Ron and Draco immediately went back to their original state of loathing each other. Draco looked one last time to Hermione's seat. They had just finished their own potion and Snape was busy telling her all the things that were wrong. Draco knew nothing was wrong; Hermione always made perfect potions. Snape just enjoyed taking points from Gryffindor. Hermione was the only Gryffindor to be making higher grades than him in potions.
The bell rang signaling the end of class. Everyone packed up their supplies and left the cold dungeon. It wasn't even winter yet and already the dungeon was almost at freezing point. Draco was last out of the classroom and he watched Ron run up to put his arms around Hermione. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled before kissing him on the cheek. It made him sick.
Next class of the day was Charms. Oh what memories that room held. It hurt him to go in. As he entered a wave of sorrow passed over him and he suddenly felt very cold. 'At least we don't have this class with the Gryffindors.' He thought. 'That would just be too much to handle at once.' He took his seat next to Crabbe and Pansy and Flitwick started class.
"Today class we will be discussing Yelemendo Charms - " Flitwick started his lesson. Draco's mind wandered to other things. Charms class had never held his attention long. It was actually quite a boring class. Maybe if a taller wizard taught it the students would respect him a bit more and pay some attention.
"Draco. Draco!" Crabbe poked him in the shoulder with a pudgy finger. Draco snapped out of his daze and gave him a fierce look.
"What?" He retorted, not happy about being disrupted. He had been thinking about Hermione for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.
"Sorry. We were assigned partners so I figured we might as well get started." Crabbe grumbled and looked down at the desk. He went about getting out his wand and a roll of parchment to take very messy and inaccurate notes.
"Oh right. What charm are we doing again?" Since Draco had not been listening he didn't know what charm it was, what it did, or what the point of learning it was.
"Yaleemanedo." Crabbe stumbled on the word. He had never been good at pronouncing Latin.
"Yelemendo." Draco corrected harshly and got out his own wand. He had known how to do this charm since he was in the first year. His father had taught him over the Christmas Holiday. It wasn't really very important. All it did was keep you warm when it was cold outside. It had kept him from catching pneumonia over the break.
He quickly flicked his wand and a wave of warmth flooded over him. It's hard to be depressed when you're warm and toasty on the inside. Crabbe was struggling to perform the spell successfully so Draco relaxed back in his chair and let his mind drift away again.
'Why did I have to get drunk? I'm a trustworthy person. I wouldn't have muttered a word if I had been sober.' He thought to himself and ran a hand through his pale blonde locks. 'The least she could do is forgive me. I really am sorry. I don't know why she can't see that. What more can I do? There isn't anything else I can do. I suppose that's the point. If she doesn't forgive me it's her problem; I've done all I can.'
By the end of class Crabbe had finally managed to perform a weak Yelemendo Charm. It wore off by the time they had gotten to the Great Hall for lunch. Draco sat himself down far away from the other Slytherin's and took a buttered roll from a nearby basket. His eyes scanned the large room for Hermione. He had found himself doing that a great deal lately, but he didn't see her. She still hadn't shown up by the time lunch was over.
'Where could she be?' He thought to himself. His mind flashed to the cuts on her arms and their conversation the day before. 'She wouldn't. She couldn't. Could she?' He shot up from the table and ran to the portrait hole to the Gryffindor Commonroom. He had managed to scare the password out of one of the younger students earlier that year.
Once inside he glanced around the large room. The tapestries on the walls made him feel a bit lightheaded. In the Slytherin Commonroom there were very few paintings and tapestries on the walls. Mostly there was just cold, gray stone. He looked for any openings in the wall hangings until he noticed a small spiral staircase leading to the dormitories. At the top of the stairs there were fourteen doors, all leading to different rooms for the girls and boys.
Draco ran down the hall opening random doors. By his eleventh try he finally found what he was looking for. Hermione was sprawled on the ground with a penknife clutched in her hand. Blood was steadily pouring out of a large gash on her wrist. 'She's slit her wrist. I can't believe she slit her wrist over all of this.' He thought and picked up her now limp body.
Her face was pale and he skin was as cold as ice. 'She's lost too much blood. I have to get her to the hospital wing now.' He carried her quickly down the stairs and through the school. Everyone was now in their next class of the day so he didn't have to deal with any interrogating questions. He had almost made it to the hospital wing when Harry and Ron rounded the corner; fast.
The three collided and Hermione's flaccid body fell from Draco's arms. Harry recovered from the fall first and rushed to her side.
"Hermione." Harry shook her before turning to Draco. "What did you do to her?" His voice was full of malice and his eyes sent him a look of pure venom.
"Nothing. I found her like this. Now if you don't mind she needs to go to the hospital." Draco made a move to pick her up but Ron stood in the way.
"How could you have found her? She said she was going to her room to get a book or something she needed for Herbology." Ron wouldn't let him pass.
"I noticed she wasn't at lunch and then I remembered that-" He stopped abruptly. 'She told them it was her cat. She doesn't want anyone to know. I won't ruin it this time.' He thought and looked frantically to her wound where blood still flowed freely. "Will you just let me go? Look at her, she needs help!" He pushed Ron out of the way and picked her up. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." He whispered and ran the remaining way to the hospital wing.
He laid her down one of the many starchy white beds and debated whether or not to stick around to tell Madam Pomfrey what had happened; he would stick with the cat story for now for Hermione's sake. Before he had time to choose whether to stay or go the old nurse came bustling out of her chambers.
"Goodness. What happened here?" She checked Hermione's pulse and went scurrying about gathering all the materials she would need to fix her up.
"Her cat." Draco answered and lied right to the nurse's face.
"Her cat?" She repeated and cleaned her injure with a cotton swab of rubbing alcohol.
"Yes ma'am. Her cat. She needs to get the thing de-clawed. If you have everything set now I'll just be going."
"Wait just a minute Mister Malfoy." She said and caught him by the hem of his robes. "Where exactly did you find her?"
"She was in her dorm room unconscious on the floor." Draco didn't want to be here anymore. He was worried he would let something slip that he would be sorry for later. He shifted from one foot to the other as he waited for her to release him.
"She's a Gryffindor correct?" She glanced up at him and he nodded. "And you're a Slytherin?" He nodded again. "So what were you doing in the young ladies dorm room?" This was the part he had been dreading.
"I didn't see her at lunch so I wanted to make sure she was alright." It was the truth. That had been at least part of the reason he had gone to her room. It wasn't the whole truth but at least he wasn't lying anymore.
"And how did you come by the Gryffindor password Mister Malfoy?" Madam Pomfrey had now turned her full attention to him and Hermione was left almost forgotten on the bed.
"Ma'am please. That's not important right now. Will you please just make sure she doesn't die?" He was getting really worried about her. Every time he looked over at her she looked paler.
"Right, right. I'll deal with you later. Go on to class. You're already late." She shooed him out of the hospital doors and shut them behind him. She was right; he was late for Herbology. 'At least it's not Potions.' He thought as he raced down the corridor. 'Professor Sprout won't give me detention for being ten minutes late to class.'
~*~*~*~*~
Draco lay awake on his green sheets that night staring through the canopy of his bed and up to the ceiling. 'She didn't come back to class all day. What if she died?' Draco's eyes doubled in size at the thought. 'Even if she is a Mudblood, I would never forgive myself.'
He sat up very quietly so none of the other boys sleeping in the room would be awakened. Slowly he opened his trunk and removed a green piece of satin. He draped it over his body and crept out of the room. Invisibility cloaks may be rare but his father was rich enough to have one hand made for their family.
The hospital wing was only one floor away from the dungeons so Draco didn't have to creep around long. He silently slid the door open and slinked over to Hermione's bedside. There was an armchair close-by so he pulled it over to give him a place to sit. Glancing around he concluded that Madam Pomfrey was sleeping soundly and it was safe to remove his cloak.
Once cloak-free he sat himself down in the chair and turned over her left hand to look at the wound on her wrist. "I caused this." He said softly and ran his fingers over the swollen red skin. "I'm so sorry Hermione. I really never realized how bad this would be." He rested her hand be her side and sat back in his chair.
For the first time in his life he felt really alone. The one person who knew absolutely everything about him was unconscious in a hospital bed and it was because of him. He brought his hands up to his eyes felt wetness. 'What's going on?' He thought bewildered. 'I can't possibly be - crying - can I? I haven't cried since I was five years old.' A cold surge of painful memories came back to him.
"Malfoy's don't cry. It's a form of weakness. Malfoy's have no weakness. Do you understand Draco?" He heard his father's bitter voice in the back of his mind.
"Yes father. Of course." A much younger version of himself replied shakily.
"Good. But you do understand that I will have to punish you for crying now don't you son?" He summoned his wand from across the room.
"Yes father. Of course." He sat down in the chair that would eventually become the place he dreaded the most, the place where all of his beatings and torture would take place. But he would not cry; Malfoy's don't cry. It's a form of weakness. Malfoy's have no weakness.
And yet this Mudblood witch was making him cry for the first time in over ten years. What was this power she had over him? Why had he felt guilty about hurting her when he had never given a second thought to any of the other people he had afflicted?
He sat back and let eleven years worth of tears find their path down his cheeks. He wasn't crying because he was upset. He was crying because he had so much emotion stored up over the years and it had all come flooding back when he looked at the small girl lying helpless in the hospital bed. She had opened up gates.
(A/N: I'm sorry he sounds so pathetic. Really - I am.)
Hermione gradually opened her eyes to take in her surroundings. 'How did I get here?' She panicked. 'The last thing I remember was dragging the knife over my wrist and then everything went black.' Her eyes drifted over to where Draco was sitting. He hadn't noticed she was awake and she planned to keep it that way.
For several minutes they both sat in silence. Draco started talking to himself. He recited memories; Hermione wondered if he even knew he was speaking out loud instead of just remembering times past. He glanced over at her and his eyes grew wide.
"H-H-Hermione. You're awake. When did you wake up?" He stumbled out of the chair and closer to her bedside.
"First of all MALFOY I don't know why you're in here. You have no reason to be. And second of all what makes you think that you being here in the middle of the night is going to change anything about how much I don't want to see you right now?" She propped herself up on her pillow a bit more and glowered at him.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay Granger. If it hadn't been for me you would have died. You know that? DIED. You shouldn't be yelling at me. You should be thanking me." Draco sneered at her and stood up from his chair.
"I will never thank you. I'll admit you saved my life but you also ruined it. Leave me the hell alone!" She screamed at him. He knew if this kept up Madam Pomfrey was bound to notice something. She wasn't completely deaf. He looked her over hard once again and left under his cloak.
"It's not worth it." He muttered once he was back in his bed. "Just not worth it."
~*~*~*~*~
Hermione was out of the hospital the next day. The nurse had given her blood and she was as good as new. Harry and Ron were still a bit skeptical about the cat story but she knew they'd get over it eventually. She was on her way back from her last class of the day when Blaise cornered her in an empty hallway.
"Hey Granger." He said and continued to back her into the wall. She looked hysterically around for a way to escape but found none.
"What do you want?" She replied coldly once she was fully pressed against the wall.
"You know what I want." He whispered in her ear and softly nibbled on her earlobe. His lips made their way down her neck and rested on her collarbone. She squirmed to try to get away but he had her in a strong grip. His lips found hers and he smothered her. Slowly his tongue invaded the warm crevice of her mouth and she bit it. "Ouch!" He yelled and pulled away. "Bitch!" She looked rather satisfied and made a move to get away. "No girly. You're not going anywhere."
He grabbed her arm roughly and rammed her against the wall again. His hands explored her body. When she protested he once again took her lips with his own.
~*~*~*~*~
Draco was still fuming as he made his way to the library after dinner. Snape had given them a huge essay that even he didn't know all the answers to. He saw two dark figured pressed up against each other in the hall. He had to pass them to reach the library. He tried not to look as he went by but he caught a glimpse of chestnut hair. The blonde head he recognized immediately as Blaise's.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He pulled Blaise off Hermione and threw him onto the floor. Blaise found himself staring up at Draco with a black boot pinning him to the ground.
"Come on Draco. Just playing around." He said good-naturedly with a hint of fear in his voice. He tried to push the boot off but only succeeded in getting it pressed harder onto his chest.
"Don't play around with her. She doesn't deserve all the shit you people are giving her." He pulled Blaise up by the collar. "Don't."
"Okay, okay. I get it. Can I go?" He attempted to pull free of Draco's grasp but it was no use. Draco threw him against the wall; that would leave a bruise. As soon as he was free the slightly smaller boy scampered off into the darkness.
"You okay?" He asked Hermione and helped her up. She dusted off her robes and rubbed a very sore collarbone.
"I've been better." She looked at Draco in a whole new light. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that." She actually smiled at him; something she thought she would never do.
"Yes I did." He answered and gave her a little grin of his own. "If I had let him ravish you I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. Just be more careful. I'll try to get the rest of the Slytherin's to leave you alone." Then she did something else she thought she would never do. She hugged him. Not for long; as soon as she really realized what she was doing she dropped her arms and stepped back.
"Sorry. Caught in the moment." She wiped her hands on her robes.
"Not a problem. See you around Granger." He went back to sauntering to the library.
"Same to you Malfoy." She turned and walked her own way; smiling as she did so.
"Hey Granger!" He shouted from the end of the corridor.
"Yeah?" She yelled back.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" There was some softness in his voice and he looked at her intensely.
"I s'pose so. Might as well." She said and laughed. "Night." They turned and went their separate ways. Both glad that it was finally over.
~*~*~*~*~
Okay - That would be a really good place to end the story. What do you think? If you want me to continue e-mail me please. I need to know. My e- mail is on my information page thing.
(Do you think it's just a coincidence that I love you and review rhyme? I don't, because I will love you if you review. It's a poem in the making!)
REVIEW!
Enjoy! (Or at least try to.)
~*~*~*~*~
'Why do I even bother? She doesn't forgive me; never will.' Draco muttered in Potions class the next day. Hermione and Pansy's table was two tables in front of them and he had a clear view of the back of her head. It had been exactly a week since her secret had been revealed and people had just started to let up on her a little.
"What was that?" Ron looked over at him. Draco just shook his head and went back to adding the heliogandry wings to the potion. He glanced back towards Hermione, but she was so involved in her potion making she wouldn't have noticed if he dropped dead onto the ground, nor would she have cared.
The potion hissed when the wings had settled and turned a brilliant shade of green; it was done. Snape strode over to their table and complimented Draco on his fine work. He then looked at Ron much like a dog looks at a cat; a look of pure hatred, as if daring him to say anything about not getting complimented too. Ron just sat as far back into his chair as he could and gave Snape a look of equal dislike and venom. The Professor looked rather surprised and left to go look at Blaise and Neville's potion instead.
"He really doesn't like you." Draco said simply and began to put the potion in beakers to store in the cabinet.
"The feeling's mutual." This was the first "conversation" the two partners had shared all year. As soon as the entire potion was in beakers Ron and Draco immediately went back to their original state of loathing each other. Draco looked one last time to Hermione's seat. They had just finished their own potion and Snape was busy telling her all the things that were wrong. Draco knew nothing was wrong; Hermione always made perfect potions. Snape just enjoyed taking points from Gryffindor. Hermione was the only Gryffindor to be making higher grades than him in potions.
The bell rang signaling the end of class. Everyone packed up their supplies and left the cold dungeon. It wasn't even winter yet and already the dungeon was almost at freezing point. Draco was last out of the classroom and he watched Ron run up to put his arms around Hermione. He whispered something in her ear and she giggled before kissing him on the cheek. It made him sick.
Next class of the day was Charms. Oh what memories that room held. It hurt him to go in. As he entered a wave of sorrow passed over him and he suddenly felt very cold. 'At least we don't have this class with the Gryffindors.' He thought. 'That would just be too much to handle at once.' He took his seat next to Crabbe and Pansy and Flitwick started class.
"Today class we will be discussing Yelemendo Charms - " Flitwick started his lesson. Draco's mind wandered to other things. Charms class had never held his attention long. It was actually quite a boring class. Maybe if a taller wizard taught it the students would respect him a bit more and pay some attention.
"Draco. Draco!" Crabbe poked him in the shoulder with a pudgy finger. Draco snapped out of his daze and gave him a fierce look.
"What?" He retorted, not happy about being disrupted. He had been thinking about Hermione for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.
"Sorry. We were assigned partners so I figured we might as well get started." Crabbe grumbled and looked down at the desk. He went about getting out his wand and a roll of parchment to take very messy and inaccurate notes.
"Oh right. What charm are we doing again?" Since Draco had not been listening he didn't know what charm it was, what it did, or what the point of learning it was.
"Yaleemanedo." Crabbe stumbled on the word. He had never been good at pronouncing Latin.
"Yelemendo." Draco corrected harshly and got out his own wand. He had known how to do this charm since he was in the first year. His father had taught him over the Christmas Holiday. It wasn't really very important. All it did was keep you warm when it was cold outside. It had kept him from catching pneumonia over the break.
He quickly flicked his wand and a wave of warmth flooded over him. It's hard to be depressed when you're warm and toasty on the inside. Crabbe was struggling to perform the spell successfully so Draco relaxed back in his chair and let his mind drift away again.
'Why did I have to get drunk? I'm a trustworthy person. I wouldn't have muttered a word if I had been sober.' He thought to himself and ran a hand through his pale blonde locks. 'The least she could do is forgive me. I really am sorry. I don't know why she can't see that. What more can I do? There isn't anything else I can do. I suppose that's the point. If she doesn't forgive me it's her problem; I've done all I can.'
By the end of class Crabbe had finally managed to perform a weak Yelemendo Charm. It wore off by the time they had gotten to the Great Hall for lunch. Draco sat himself down far away from the other Slytherin's and took a buttered roll from a nearby basket. His eyes scanned the large room for Hermione. He had found himself doing that a great deal lately, but he didn't see her. She still hadn't shown up by the time lunch was over.
'Where could she be?' He thought to himself. His mind flashed to the cuts on her arms and their conversation the day before. 'She wouldn't. She couldn't. Could she?' He shot up from the table and ran to the portrait hole to the Gryffindor Commonroom. He had managed to scare the password out of one of the younger students earlier that year.
Once inside he glanced around the large room. The tapestries on the walls made him feel a bit lightheaded. In the Slytherin Commonroom there were very few paintings and tapestries on the walls. Mostly there was just cold, gray stone. He looked for any openings in the wall hangings until he noticed a small spiral staircase leading to the dormitories. At the top of the stairs there were fourteen doors, all leading to different rooms for the girls and boys.
Draco ran down the hall opening random doors. By his eleventh try he finally found what he was looking for. Hermione was sprawled on the ground with a penknife clutched in her hand. Blood was steadily pouring out of a large gash on her wrist. 'She's slit her wrist. I can't believe she slit her wrist over all of this.' He thought and picked up her now limp body.
Her face was pale and he skin was as cold as ice. 'She's lost too much blood. I have to get her to the hospital wing now.' He carried her quickly down the stairs and through the school. Everyone was now in their next class of the day so he didn't have to deal with any interrogating questions. He had almost made it to the hospital wing when Harry and Ron rounded the corner; fast.
The three collided and Hermione's flaccid body fell from Draco's arms. Harry recovered from the fall first and rushed to her side.
"Hermione." Harry shook her before turning to Draco. "What did you do to her?" His voice was full of malice and his eyes sent him a look of pure venom.
"Nothing. I found her like this. Now if you don't mind she needs to go to the hospital." Draco made a move to pick her up but Ron stood in the way.
"How could you have found her? She said she was going to her room to get a book or something she needed for Herbology." Ron wouldn't let him pass.
"I noticed she wasn't at lunch and then I remembered that-" He stopped abruptly. 'She told them it was her cat. She doesn't want anyone to know. I won't ruin it this time.' He thought and looked frantically to her wound where blood still flowed freely. "Will you just let me go? Look at her, she needs help!" He pushed Ron out of the way and picked her up. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." He whispered and ran the remaining way to the hospital wing.
He laid her down one of the many starchy white beds and debated whether or not to stick around to tell Madam Pomfrey what had happened; he would stick with the cat story for now for Hermione's sake. Before he had time to choose whether to stay or go the old nurse came bustling out of her chambers.
"Goodness. What happened here?" She checked Hermione's pulse and went scurrying about gathering all the materials she would need to fix her up.
"Her cat." Draco answered and lied right to the nurse's face.
"Her cat?" She repeated and cleaned her injure with a cotton swab of rubbing alcohol.
"Yes ma'am. Her cat. She needs to get the thing de-clawed. If you have everything set now I'll just be going."
"Wait just a minute Mister Malfoy." She said and caught him by the hem of his robes. "Where exactly did you find her?"
"She was in her dorm room unconscious on the floor." Draco didn't want to be here anymore. He was worried he would let something slip that he would be sorry for later. He shifted from one foot to the other as he waited for her to release him.
"She's a Gryffindor correct?" She glanced up at him and he nodded. "And you're a Slytherin?" He nodded again. "So what were you doing in the young ladies dorm room?" This was the part he had been dreading.
"I didn't see her at lunch so I wanted to make sure she was alright." It was the truth. That had been at least part of the reason he had gone to her room. It wasn't the whole truth but at least he wasn't lying anymore.
"And how did you come by the Gryffindor password Mister Malfoy?" Madam Pomfrey had now turned her full attention to him and Hermione was left almost forgotten on the bed.
"Ma'am please. That's not important right now. Will you please just make sure she doesn't die?" He was getting really worried about her. Every time he looked over at her she looked paler.
"Right, right. I'll deal with you later. Go on to class. You're already late." She shooed him out of the hospital doors and shut them behind him. She was right; he was late for Herbology. 'At least it's not Potions.' He thought as he raced down the corridor. 'Professor Sprout won't give me detention for being ten minutes late to class.'
~*~*~*~*~
Draco lay awake on his green sheets that night staring through the canopy of his bed and up to the ceiling. 'She didn't come back to class all day. What if she died?' Draco's eyes doubled in size at the thought. 'Even if she is a Mudblood, I would never forgive myself.'
He sat up very quietly so none of the other boys sleeping in the room would be awakened. Slowly he opened his trunk and removed a green piece of satin. He draped it over his body and crept out of the room. Invisibility cloaks may be rare but his father was rich enough to have one hand made for their family.
The hospital wing was only one floor away from the dungeons so Draco didn't have to creep around long. He silently slid the door open and slinked over to Hermione's bedside. There was an armchair close-by so he pulled it over to give him a place to sit. Glancing around he concluded that Madam Pomfrey was sleeping soundly and it was safe to remove his cloak.
Once cloak-free he sat himself down in the chair and turned over her left hand to look at the wound on her wrist. "I caused this." He said softly and ran his fingers over the swollen red skin. "I'm so sorry Hermione. I really never realized how bad this would be." He rested her hand be her side and sat back in his chair.
For the first time in his life he felt really alone. The one person who knew absolutely everything about him was unconscious in a hospital bed and it was because of him. He brought his hands up to his eyes felt wetness. 'What's going on?' He thought bewildered. 'I can't possibly be - crying - can I? I haven't cried since I was five years old.' A cold surge of painful memories came back to him.
"Malfoy's don't cry. It's a form of weakness. Malfoy's have no weakness. Do you understand Draco?" He heard his father's bitter voice in the back of his mind.
"Yes father. Of course." A much younger version of himself replied shakily.
"Good. But you do understand that I will have to punish you for crying now don't you son?" He summoned his wand from across the room.
"Yes father. Of course." He sat down in the chair that would eventually become the place he dreaded the most, the place where all of his beatings and torture would take place. But he would not cry; Malfoy's don't cry. It's a form of weakness. Malfoy's have no weakness.
And yet this Mudblood witch was making him cry for the first time in over ten years. What was this power she had over him? Why had he felt guilty about hurting her when he had never given a second thought to any of the other people he had afflicted?
He sat back and let eleven years worth of tears find their path down his cheeks. He wasn't crying because he was upset. He was crying because he had so much emotion stored up over the years and it had all come flooding back when he looked at the small girl lying helpless in the hospital bed. She had opened up gates.
(A/N: I'm sorry he sounds so pathetic. Really - I am.)
Hermione gradually opened her eyes to take in her surroundings. 'How did I get here?' She panicked. 'The last thing I remember was dragging the knife over my wrist and then everything went black.' Her eyes drifted over to where Draco was sitting. He hadn't noticed she was awake and she planned to keep it that way.
For several minutes they both sat in silence. Draco started talking to himself. He recited memories; Hermione wondered if he even knew he was speaking out loud instead of just remembering times past. He glanced over at her and his eyes grew wide.
"H-H-Hermione. You're awake. When did you wake up?" He stumbled out of the chair and closer to her bedside.
"First of all MALFOY I don't know why you're in here. You have no reason to be. And second of all what makes you think that you being here in the middle of the night is going to change anything about how much I don't want to see you right now?" She propped herself up on her pillow a bit more and glowered at him.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay Granger. If it hadn't been for me you would have died. You know that? DIED. You shouldn't be yelling at me. You should be thanking me." Draco sneered at her and stood up from his chair.
"I will never thank you. I'll admit you saved my life but you also ruined it. Leave me the hell alone!" She screamed at him. He knew if this kept up Madam Pomfrey was bound to notice something. She wasn't completely deaf. He looked her over hard once again and left under his cloak.
"It's not worth it." He muttered once he was back in his bed. "Just not worth it."
~*~*~*~*~
Hermione was out of the hospital the next day. The nurse had given her blood and she was as good as new. Harry and Ron were still a bit skeptical about the cat story but she knew they'd get over it eventually. She was on her way back from her last class of the day when Blaise cornered her in an empty hallway.
"Hey Granger." He said and continued to back her into the wall. She looked hysterically around for a way to escape but found none.
"What do you want?" She replied coldly once she was fully pressed against the wall.
"You know what I want." He whispered in her ear and softly nibbled on her earlobe. His lips made their way down her neck and rested on her collarbone. She squirmed to try to get away but he had her in a strong grip. His lips found hers and he smothered her. Slowly his tongue invaded the warm crevice of her mouth and she bit it. "Ouch!" He yelled and pulled away. "Bitch!" She looked rather satisfied and made a move to get away. "No girly. You're not going anywhere."
He grabbed her arm roughly and rammed her against the wall again. His hands explored her body. When she protested he once again took her lips with his own.
~*~*~*~*~
Draco was still fuming as he made his way to the library after dinner. Snape had given them a huge essay that even he didn't know all the answers to. He saw two dark figured pressed up against each other in the hall. He had to pass them to reach the library. He tried not to look as he went by but he caught a glimpse of chestnut hair. The blonde head he recognized immediately as Blaise's.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He pulled Blaise off Hermione and threw him onto the floor. Blaise found himself staring up at Draco with a black boot pinning him to the ground.
"Come on Draco. Just playing around." He said good-naturedly with a hint of fear in his voice. He tried to push the boot off but only succeeded in getting it pressed harder onto his chest.
"Don't play around with her. She doesn't deserve all the shit you people are giving her." He pulled Blaise up by the collar. "Don't."
"Okay, okay. I get it. Can I go?" He attempted to pull free of Draco's grasp but it was no use. Draco threw him against the wall; that would leave a bruise. As soon as he was free the slightly smaller boy scampered off into the darkness.
"You okay?" He asked Hermione and helped her up. She dusted off her robes and rubbed a very sore collarbone.
"I've been better." She looked at Draco in a whole new light. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that." She actually smiled at him; something she thought she would never do.
"Yes I did." He answered and gave her a little grin of his own. "If I had let him ravish you I wouldn't have been able to live with myself. Just be more careful. I'll try to get the rest of the Slytherin's to leave you alone." Then she did something else she thought she would never do. She hugged him. Not for long; as soon as she really realized what she was doing she dropped her arms and stepped back.
"Sorry. Caught in the moment." She wiped her hands on her robes.
"Not a problem. See you around Granger." He went back to sauntering to the library.
"Same to you Malfoy." She turned and walked her own way; smiling as she did so.
"Hey Granger!" He shouted from the end of the corridor.
"Yeah?" She yelled back.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" There was some softness in his voice and he looked at her intensely.
"I s'pose so. Might as well." She said and laughed. "Night." They turned and went their separate ways. Both glad that it was finally over.
~*~*~*~*~
Okay - That would be a really good place to end the story. What do you think? If you want me to continue e-mail me please. I need to know. My e- mail is on my information page thing.
(Do you think it's just a coincidence that I love you and review rhyme? I don't, because I will love you if you review. It's a poem in the making!)
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