Draco Malfoy

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So, don't let the world bring you down

Not everyone here is that fucked up and cold

Remember why you came

And while your alive;

Experience the warmth before you grow old

'The Warmth' Incubus

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Hermione, I know that our relationship was not the healthiest, and I know that I was not exactly the best boyfriend, but you know my father and my situation. Please do not do this to me; there are no words to describe how much I care about you.

If you change your mind about this, about us, I will be better. I promise you. No hiding, no lying, I would do anything for you 'Mione. Please write me back. I cannot go on like this forever. Mione please re think your decision about us, I love you.

                                                                   Sincerely Yours

                                                                             Draco

Draco Malfoy rolled up the small piece of fading parchment and attached it the leg of his elegant Tawny owl named Wendy. 

"Hermione."  Draco said, his voice barely above a whisper.  He silently watched the owl click her beak in understanding and swoop gracefully out of the window off into the dark cloudy night.  He shivered from the abnormally chilly air before he had shut the window.

It was early June; he had been at home in the extravagant Malfoy Manor for two weeks now. However, it did not feel like home, it felt like a prison, his prison.

Three weeks. Draco's heart cried. It had been three weeks since his heart was broken, for perhaps the first time. Draco closed his striking gray eyes, feeling the familiar sensation of an onslaught of tears. Why is this happening to me? Draco's inner self screamed. Draco rose from the ledge of his bay window and walked over to his plush dark beige and silver bed. He fell back onto it and stared vacantly at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity. 

Draco blinked then closed his eyes, recollecting his favorite childhood memory. When he was younger, before he ever attended Hogwarts, before experiencing the horrors of the Dart Arts, before he had forgotten how to love; Draco would lay for hours alone in the succulent green lawns of the Malfoy estate. Young Draco would do this almost everyday until one day, Lucius Malfoy, his father, came out and scolded him for his actions.

" A Malfoy…" he said coldly, his piercing gray eyes shimmering maliciously, "Is not a loner." " A Malfoy," he went on "Uses his time wisely. He does not waddle around for hours dreaming. Why dream when you can have anything Draco?"

Draco, of course, out of respect and mostly out of fear of his father, obliged and never was to lie out onto the lawn to dream as he did when he was a child again. However, secretly, Draco's mind often did wander. He would dream of faraway places and being free of the constraints of his own last name. Behaving in whatever way he wished, socializing with whomever he wished, and loving whomever he wanted. His dream, however, was not tangible.  A fool's dream. Draco could not escape who he was. A Malfoy he was, and a Malfoy he will always be. His life had been molded and controlled from birth. Draco did not dare to stray from his roots. He was being sculpted, like a fine French sculpture that lay in the halls of the Manor. He was being sculpted, just as his father had, and his father before him, into an evil, conniving, heartless, and cold man.

"Draco. Draco Malfoy. You're turning into him, Draco". That nasty inner voice screamed at him.

"You'll never amount to anything Draco Malfoy," another voice from deep within him snapped.

"Your heartless Draco. Draco Malfoy." More voices called.

"Draco? Draco?"  A deeper voice called. Draco, his head still buried into his plush velvet pillow, began to pound the pillow with his pale fists, hoping to drive them away.

"That's why she left Draco. Your heartless." Again, another voice called.

"Your afraid." The same voice taunted again. Draco held back stifled back sobs. "Please stop!" he screamed, unaware of the figure standing at his doorstep, watching him; scowling.

"You're a coward." The voice barked. Draco let out a small moan.

" A Malfoy is NEVER a coward." At this comment Draco screamed, his eyes full to the brim in tears. Draco broke into a fit of heart wrenching sobs.

"Draco!" Another voice screamed. However, this voice was real. Draco bit his lip, fighting back his tears. He sat up in his bead, and could see the blurry image of his father standing in the doorway with a look of disapproval.

"Draco, clean yourself up, we have guests for dinner." His father snarled. Draco wiped his blistering red face in shame. His father had never witnessed him shed tears before. He looked upon any display of emotion, as a weakness. A Malfoy is never weak.

"And for bloody Merlin's sake compose yourself boy." Lucius spat. He gave his son one final look of disapproval, utter disgust on his face, before slamming the door behind him. Draco sighed deeply, his bottom lip still quivering. He took one final look out of the window, hoping for the slightest sign of Wendy. When it dawned on him that Wendy would not be returning anytime soon, he slipped into the bathroom. Cleaned his face and descended down the large staircase to the dining room, drowning out the voices, and putting on his mask.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione Granger

"It could all be so simple

But you'd rather make it hard

Loving you was like a battle

But we both end up scars

Tell me who I have to be?

To get some reciprocity

See no one loves me more than me

And no one ever will.

Is this a silly game

That forces you to act this way

Forces you to scream my name

Then pretend that you can't stay

Tell me who I have to be

To get some reciprocity

See no one loves you more than me

And no one ever will

No matter how I think we grow

You always seem to let me know

It ain't working

It ain't working

And when I try to walk away

You'd hurt yourself to make me stay

This is crazy"

'Ex Factor'- Lauryn Hill

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Miles upon Miles away from Draco Malfoy lay Hermione Granger. She lay sprawled across her bed, laughing and eating popcorn with a girl in her late teens.

"Oh shut up Jessie." Hermione managed to say in between giggles. Jessica, Hermione's best friend from grade school suddenly sat up on her bed, and grabbed Hermione's pink pillow and smacked her friend playfully across the face. The blow sent a giggling Hermione to the floor.  Jessica pounced onto her and began to tickle her.

"Mercy." Hermione chuckled. Jessica smiled and lifted her hands in victory.

"The winner is Jessica Strong by a knockout!" The brunette stood up and outstretched her hand to Hermione.

"Yeah well you cheated."  Hermione said playfully, her face in a pout, taking her friend's outstretched hand.

"Oh Hermy. I haven't had this much fun since grammar school. Why did your mum and dad have to send you to that boarding school?" Jessica plopped onto the bed. She fluffed random pillows around her before achieving a comfortable position.

"Well, it's not that bad Jessica."  Hermione said slowly, sitting herself beside Jessica Indian style.

"It's like my second home. One of the best things that has ever happened to me has been that school." Hermione said, biting her lip hesitantly, remembering the events of her previous year. She hated the fact she had to lie to her friends at home. She had been telling them she had been attending an elite boarding school in Switzerland for five years. Hermione smiled when she thought of her two best Hogwarts' friends, Harry and Ron. Then the smile faded when she thought of the awful things that had happened during her fifth year at Hogwarts.

Each year building up to it seemed to pale in comparison. Sure, she had been in her fair share of adventures, but nothing could have prepared her for what happened in Fifth Year. She… Hermione Granger had fallen in love. Or at least that is what she thought it was. Perhaps she liked the attention she received from him, even if it was a glance during dinner, or an embrace in a darkened classroom. Hermione hated how she was going through something so new, and fast paced, with no one to talk to. She kept her romance a secret, from all her friends. She knew Harry and Ron would not understand the feelings that were constantly hitting her at full speed.

So she was silent. The romance began with simple glances and stares. Hermione was hesitant at first; he had always treated her badly. She avoided him like a cat would avoid water, but something about him had trapped her.  When she would close her eyes, she would see those dark gray eyes.  How these stares turned into a heated romance, Hermione was not sure. The tension between the two slowly built up, exploding into a fiery ball of passion and infatuation. 

Soon she would find herself waiting for him after dinner to snog in abandoned toilets and empty classrooms. And their discussions, Hermione loved even more. His intellect was far more than she could ever imagine. He was the only person she felt she could talk to for hours and not tire of their company. Hermione thought she was falling in love.

However, when things began to happen involving Harry, Hermione felt the urge to pull away from her secret love.  Something about him began to frighten Hermione. The night she gave herself and her innocence to him was the beginning. After that, Hermione began to see this intense passion in his eyes for her. Wherever she was, she felt his constant gaze. He was possessive, and when around his housemates, he was cruel. Cruel to the point that confrontations between them, that a year prior, Hermione would have simply brushed off, now, made her physically sick to her stomach.

Hermione began to fear that his love for her had become an obsession, and Hermione's love had turned to fear.  She finally grew sick and tired of her relationship with him. Two days after the death of Harry's Godfather, Sirius, Hermione cracked. She feared his reaction to her decision so immensely, she put off owling him up until a week before their term ended.  Hermione felt a tear fall from her cheek, and Jessica's hand on her shoulder. She was going to open her mouth to speak when her eyes locked eyes onto a chestnut brown owl sitting on her windowsill, gently pecking at her window. Her heart caught in her chest. It was Wendy.

"What the fuck?" Jessica said intuitively.  Hermione rose from the bed, opened the window, and grabbed the parchment from the owl. The owl clicked its beak haughtily, demanding a treat.  Hermione gazed around quickly, before grabbing a small piece of popcorn and feeding it to the owl. The owl pecked at it curiously before eating it.

Jessica stared at Hermione quizzically while she read the letter. She sighed deeply before rolling it back up and tossing it onto her desk. Wendy stared at Hermione for a split second before realizing she would not be receiving a parcel to return to her master. She clicked her beak one final time, as if bidding farewell before gliding out the window.

"What the hell was that Hermy?" Jessica asked confused. Hermione started at her blankly, a sad look in her eye.

"It was nothing. Nothing." Hermione repeated more to herself then to Jessica.

"Nothing."

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That was the prologue of The Warmth. Don't believe this is mainly a Hermione/Draco story. This is just introducing you to them because they are the main characters in The Warmth. They just happen to have a secret background. So yeah, if you liked it, review, if you hated it, review. I'm strong.  I'd also like to mention this is my first Harry Potter fan fic, and I tend to write dark things. This story is PG-13 for now, but the F, the u, the c and the k keys on my computer are kind of worn down from my past stories.  So I may change the rating in the future if I get the urge to get…vile. But yeah, I should cut this short! PLEASE COME BACK AND CHECK UP ON MY STORY IF YOU LIKED IT!

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!

By the way I realized I  don't have a disclaimer. I, Alisha,  do not own Harry Potter and all related concepts, characters, and images. Blah. Babble. Blah… Blah Blah. Isn't this sort of thing implied anyway? I really do admire J.K. Rowling though for keeping me entertained for countless hours on end!

~Alisha~

Confused? You can e-mail me at Alisha0715@aol.com!