Disclaimer: See previous chapter, you blind idiot.

A/N: I ALREADY REPLACED THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WITH THE REAL CHAPTER FIVE SO READ THAT FIRST, AND I FIXED UP ALL THE CHAPTERS! I AM ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!

And you want to know how old I am, read my bio! Just kidding. I'm twelve. I'm in high school, if you'd like to know. I don't even know how I found the time to write this update. And don't sue me for being under thirteen! I'm turning that age in two months. (but there are ten-year olds running amok here, mark my words)

Frustrated pips: Hoorah!

Goddess: But the computer will probably mix them up again.

Even more frustrated pips: Boo….

This chapter is dedicated to my emerging kabarkada during class hours: Orleo, Peachy, Minime, Banana, and Lobster (don't ask for the sake of your sanity)

A/N: So read, and enjoy…. And it's not a good thing to kill the author. Then the author can't write anymore! So…… don't……kill……me……(?!?)……(^^.*)……please? (!) hehehehehehehe

HERMIONE

I fall into the lurking abyss,

The mists swirling around me,

Filling the air with a horrid hiss,

From the increasing darkness, I try to flee,

But I cannot escape my destined fate,

Death's bitter kiss as he knocks at my door,

To regret and repent is much too late,

And this world I feel I won't see any more.

Hermione was still alive of course. But it was more of a state of dead and alive. She wasn't mourning, she wasn't rejoicing. She was doing nothing. The words were only echoing in her head: Mum, Dad, shot, killed, murdered, snuffed, house, looted, bodies mangled, shot, killed, Mum, Dad… dead.

After she'd slept next to Draco, they both seemed to have forgotten about it. When she woke up, he had already risen. But he had been kind, considering his reputation, and kept quiet. They hadn't spoken since.

Of course, Hermione didn't say anything. She just wanted to be alone. For some reason, Draco knew that. (Gods, did she just call, or rather, think of him as Draco?) She wondered why. Maybe he's experienced this before. I overheard Blaise saying a bit on his mum dying, but that was probably just a rumor. Right?

As long as I'm alone I'll be fine. I don't need anybody…

And his cold hand clutches mine,

Tries to pull me down,

His cackling and moaning are beginning to chime,

Still from my throat emerges not one sound,

Is there not one who would care for me?

Not one brave soul who can see,

My terror,

And fear,

The horror,

In my putrid life,

Not one soul that is free of strife?

DRACO

The roses on her cheeks had withered and died, Hermione's eyes were sullen, and there was not one light beneath them. It was as if someone had lighted a candle behind a window, then blew it out.

Windows are the eyes to the soul,

But my light has blown out, my body is cold.

"Hermione?" She snapped out of the oblivion she was in.

"Huh?"

"Are you…all right?" Draco could hardly see her behind the stack of books she had piled in front of her. Apparently, she'd been doing "extra credit". He could see the eye bags under her eyes from where he was sitting, absorbed in his Potions homework, five feet away.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Okay…"

"Just leave me alone, please?" The fire light flickered across her sullen face.

"All right." And he left her alone.

HERMIONE

She didn't eat. And why, she didn't know. All that Hermione did know was that her eating habits seemed to be the only thing she could control. There was nothing else. And a part of her, just the tiniest part, felt that somehow, it was her fault. Of course, Harry and Ron didn't notice, the bastards. This is what happened when she told them that very morning:

"Hey, 'Mione. What's up?" Lavender nuzzled her face into Ron's neck.

"Huh?" Ron looked up. It was the first day Hermione'd been back to school since her parent's death. "Oh, hi Herm. Where have you been? I still need to know the answers for old Snape's quiz. I only asked you the first guide questions the other day."

"Ronnikins, that was Hannah!" She squeezed him. I hate you.

"Oh, yeah. So, where have you been?"

"Nothing. I was just sick." Hermione didn't know why she lied to them. They probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. And that moment, while she gazed into the meaningless depths of her orange juice, something clicked. Don't eat. Hermione stood up. "I think I'll skip breakfast."

"S'll right with me. Oy, Harry, you git! Where were you last night?"

"Busy." Harry grinned that devious grin that set most girls hearts thumping. His arm was draped around Parvati's waist. Her hair was a but tussled, and Hermione noticed there was a smudge of lipstick on Harry's collar. Another slut.

"Wh- oh. So how was the…" Blah, blah, yaddy yaddy yah. To hell with you people. At least you're happy.

The Potions room was so muggy. Hermione's partner just had to be babbling Lavender. But thank heaven it wasn't Padma. A fog swirled around them, rising from the Elixir Potions they were brewing. Why was Lavender's voice fading? Why was black eating away the edges of her vision? And she was so sleepy, so dizzy…

DRACO

Double Potions with the Gryffindors. Just wonderful. And the NEWTS were so far away, but the greasy old git, Snape was making them practice. Perhaps he just wanted to kill someone with an over-their-freakin'-level brew.

The murmurs of the class were pierced by someone's shriek. Draco looked up. It was that new girlfriend of Ron, Violet, Ruby, Lavender or something. He looked at what she was pointing at and gasped. Hermione lay sprawled on the floor, a small gash opening behind her ear.

Snape stood up, black robes billowing behind him. "Open the door, give her air you idiots!" He strode over to Hermione and easily hoisted her frail body into his arms. Then Draco noticed that she seemed thinner. Then he left Draco and the rest of the bewildered class behind, rushing towards the Hospital wing. (A/N: hey, Snape's not that much of a bastard!)

HERMIONE

Something cool pressed against her forehead. A light shined in her face. "Miss Granger, are you all right?"

She groaned and tried to get away. "Who are you?"

"This is Madame Pomfrey, and you are in the Hospital Wing. It's lucky Professor Snape brought you here in time. That wound on your neck could've led to a terrific gash. But I can't imagine why he brought Mister Malfoy with him." She sat up and opened her eyes.

Madame Pomfrey looked at her sternly. "Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Er, no."

She looked even more stern. "No? When's the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday morning."

"Good heavens, child! Yesterday morning? It's no wonder you fainted. Now after I bandage you, I want you to go straight down to the kitchens, and eat. That's an order. I believe you know the way?" Her eyes twinkled merrily.

Hermione smiled weakly. Five minutes later, she was heading back to the classroom, shrouded in her thoughts. And she didn't want to eat. No, that was what she, and she alone could control.

Fainting, actually, was somehow relaxing for. She thought it was probably like dying. And that would be so peaceful, just to leave this world and all its fetters behind, to join her parents. Yes, that was most tempting of all, to just leave…

This world is seemingly perfect,

Yet that's far from the truth,

Shock,

Despair,

Sorrow,

Are its preferred effects,

Too short were the happy days of our carefree youth.

Somehow, she found her way into the Head Student's rooms, the password finding its way from her mouth. Somehow, she was in front of the fire. Somehow, she conjured up a gleaming knife. And for some reason she couldn't fathom, it was about to pierce her neck. She squeezed her eyes shut. Nobody cares anyway, just do it.

She would have done, she really would have. But long, slender fingers grasped the handle and jerked the knife away from her. "Hermione, what are you doing?"

She opened her eyes, which were covered with a curtain of tears. Through her blurred vision, she could see Draco's features, his sleek blond hair, his smooth skin, his perfectly chiseled cheeks. "I don't know."

"I don't know? Hermione, you were just going to kill yourself."

Hermione wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "What does it matter? Just give me that…knife." Realization swept over her. She really did want to die, just die.

Draco was almost hysterical. "I've been there Hermione. You seriously don't want to."

"And how should you know?" Hermione stopped clearing here eyes. The tears were flowing too heavily.

"Don't you know? Don't you know? My mother is dead. She died in my fourth year!" His voice was cracked, and broken.

"At least your father is alive!"

Now Draco was crying. "That's the worst of my fucking problems! Haven't you heard the rumors? Listened to the snide remarks told about me by my so-called friends?"

"What rumors?"

He laughed in his hysteria. "My father beats me, Hermione. He beats me." He lifted rolled up the sleeve on his arm to reveal a scar. "He beats me. And he killed my mother. Do you know what it's like? To dream about it everyday?" And then he broke down, real sobs racking his whole body.

Hermione just knelt there, aghast. So the rumors were true. Draco, the great prince of Slytherin, was half an orphan, and was beaten by his father. And she didn't now what to do, except take him into her just what he did for her before.

"I'm so sorry. I…didn't know…"

"Don't b-be s-so-sorry. Of course you didn't damn know." He gazed at her. "I haven't seen you cry or mourn. Why?"

She looked down. "I don't know. I just can't."

His face was already dry, and full of suspicion. "You look thinner."

She ignored him.

"Have you been eating?"

Still she ignored him. When she looked up again, he was gone.

A/N: DON'T KILL ME! But wasn't this chapter long enough?!?!? Five pages! And that's a lot for me. Hope you enjoyed.

I WILL BE CHANGING MY NAME TO DEMENTED GODDESS IN TWO WEEKS! THAT SHOULD GIVE EVVERYONE THE TIME THE READ! I REPEAT, I AM CHANGING MY NAME TO DEMENTED GODDESS!