Bleeding Hearts by pureevilslytheringirls.
Who knew that what he would find in the library would affect his life so drastically? Who knew that the secret he found out would change him so much? My first fanfic but WHO CARES!!! Pg-13 just to be safe.
PG-13 Romance/General
A/N: My friend wrote this. She asked me to publish it, so I did. Enjoy!
-pureevilslytheringirls
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, like all of you people, I do not own Harry Potter. The only thing I own is Tony Morris (that sounds wrong), and only him (maybe more soon) and the plot. Well, what are you still doing reading this? Read my story! looks expectantly. Hello...read on! looks at you so you start reading story. I don't think you understand. You need to read my story! START READING!!! waves arms like doing magic. You...shall...read...my...story!!!! Oh I give up! throws down keyboard and walks away.
Chapter 1: Rumors and Confessions
Tears running down her cheeks, Hermione Granger fled from the Great Hall. She stumbled blindly down the corridor, her vision blurred by her tears, her feet not knowing where she was going. So, naturally, she ended up at the library. She tried to walk normally to the back of the library, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong, until she finally found an isolated section. She flung down her backpack onto the table and started to sob, her head in her hands. Why me? She thought. Why can't he do it to anybody else? I've gotten straight As all 6 years that I have gone here. I've tried to be nice to everyone-everyone that is except Malfoy but he doesn't count-and am usually considerate of everybody's feelings. Still, why me? Why did he have to find me?
Coincidentally, Draco Malfoy stormed down the same corridor that Hermione had stumbled through not too long ago, also not at his happiest. That stupid bitch, he thought. Why can't she ever leave me alone?
He thought that he heard the sound of stiletto heels clicking behind him, so he turned around and yelled, "Pansy Parkinson, if you even THINK of following me, I SWEAR I will HUNT YOU DOWN and you will never be able to WALK again, nonetheless FOLLOW ANYBODY, YOU HEAR ME?"
Fuming, he stalked through the library, muttering obscene things under his breath as he neared the back. He sat down at one of the tables and angrily thought about how much his life sucked until, after a moment, he gradually became aware of someone crying. He turned around, wondering who it could be, and he almost fell off his chair. Granger? What's she doing here?
Hermione felt someone touch her shoulder. She looked up, expecting to see Harry, already picturing the worry that would be on his face. Imagine her surprise when she saw Malfoy peering at her.
"What? Are you here to slam me?" she asked brusquely.
Malfoy ignored the comment. "Granger, are you...crying?" he asked incredulously.
Hermione sniffed. "Why should I tell you?"
He bristled, pissed off. "Jeez. This is why I hate Mudbloods. You try to be nice to them and they slap you hard in the face!"
"Okay. Fine. I am crying, okay?"
"Moody much?"
"Crappy much?"
"Just tell me, okay?"
"Why should I tell you, Malfoy?"
"You don't have to be such a bitch about it!"
"Me...being a bitch about it? You come over here and suddenly start acting you're the damn king!" She was crying again, and Malfoy saw yet another tear hit the table. He realized that he was never going to get an answer out of her if he kept up in this vein. So, for some strange reason, he immediately calmed down.
"Look, Granger, I know you think that I'm a bastard, and you probably have good reasons, too. But, maybe, just maybe, if you tell someone what's bugging you, they'll be able to help you."
Hermione paused for a moment, thinking. Should she tell him? She took a deep breath.
"Fine. I'll tell you. But you have to promise not to breathe a word of this to Harry and Ron." He nodded, and sat down next to her at the table. She leaned closer to him so he could hear her whispering, and she told him all.
"You know how Tony Morris and I have been hanging out together since the beginning of the year?" he nodded. "Okay, so a few weeks ago, at the beginning of January he's been doing things. Things that only occur when the common room has been empty, or when he thinks that people aren't looking. Things that usually result in this-" she showed him a bruise, about the size of a hand on her wrist, "this-" another bruise, this one the size of a fist on her neck, "and this." one last bruise, in the imprint of 4 fingers, on her calf, "I've told him to stop, and each time he's done this I've usually run away from him. He's always come back and apologized, so I've thought that it would never happen ever again. Each time though, he's come back and hurt me again." She took a deep breath, and continued.
"The bruises aren't the only things that he's done. He's also been telling me things, unspeakable things, things that I won't mention here. I've tried to ignore it, to laugh it off, but it's been getting more and more frequent. I'm getting tired of all of these things, but I don't know how to stop it. I've tried to stay away from him, but he's always found me, and..." she shuddered deeply this time, but continued. "...And I don't know what to do."
Malfoy blinked in shock. Granger, a good for nothing know-it-all, a person who was only good for homework, abused? He didn't know what to think now. This conversation alone had just turned his cozy little imaginary world upside-down. His head was whirring with useless thoughts, like Time for tea or Tell her to piss off, now! He paid no attention whatsoever to these thoughts and decided do the only thing that seemed to fit the situation-He reached over and gave her a gentle hug. The next instant, she had collapsed in his arms, crying her heart out on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, his emotions were debating each other. One part of his head, the part that had been brainwashed by Lucius and Narcissa, was screaming, Mudblood! MUDBLOOD! However, the other part of his head (the more sensible part in this situation, he thought) protested. Aw, what the hell, she's in distress. Just let her recollect her thoughts for a little while.
Hermione was crying her eyes out on Draco's shoulder, thinking of how much her life had changed over the summer. She had grown in parts that she didn't even know that existed, and had had a small growth spurt, now standing at 5'7", a little smaller than the average height for a 6th year student at Hogwarts. ALL of the boys had grown over the summer, still leaving a 3" space between the shortest of them and her. And, unfortunately, they ALL had noticed how much she had changed, and ALL (except Harry and Ron, of course) wanted to be her boyfriend. She had used the Body Bind charm so many times that it wasn't even funny anymore.
Somehow, for some weird reason, Draco had changed too. He was no longer the short snot who had needed bodyguards-Crabbe and Goyle-his first five years at Hogwarts. He had suddenly morphed into a bad-ass rebel who was known as the hottest sixth year at Hogwarts. All of the girls longed for him to pay the slightest attention to her-everyone, that is, except Hermione, of course. He had still had the same attitude of a dung beetle, or at least to her, Harry, and Ron.
However, soon thinking about boys naturally led to her thinking about Tony Morris. She shuddered, reliving all of the things that he had done to her. She remembered showing Madame Pomfrey her bruises and cuts, always having to make up excuses for how she got them, and how much they had hurt. Nothing, however, hurt as much as the words he yelled at her, or the things that he whispered in her ear, the threats, the things that she had nightmares about. Her eyes filled with tears as she thought of all of the many things that she had done, trying to tell her friends, but no one understood. They thought that she was joking. Even Harry and Ron hadn't believed her. She hadn't believed Draco would think that she was telling the truth. It surprised her that he would even have an ounce of compassion in his body. At least it's more than Tony. Anyone has more than Tony. She thought about Tony again, the evil, almost metallic gleam in his eyes when he was going to do something bad to her. She sniffed, the tears streaming down her face, an endless flood, again.
Draco felt Hermione's shudder, and gently tightened his grip on her. She kept sobbing, and after a while Draco could feel a slight wetness on his shoulder. However, that was the last thing on his mind at this moment.
In fact, his mind seemed to be doing the debating again. The brainwashed half was screaming, MUDBLOOD! YOU'RE TOUCHING A MUDBLOOD! STOP NOW!
However, the sensible half was arguing too. It's okay! You're doing just fine. If you stop now, she'll think you're an asshole.
But she already does, the other half pointed out.
Good point...BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT MATTERS! Just keep doing what you're doing, and it'll work out great, I'm sure of it. The sensible half argued, confident that it was right.
Draco decided that the latter was the most reasonable-besides, he wasn't just going to stop while she was still crying. Meanwhile, he had other thoughts to attend to, including this Tony Morris. Tony-why, he was surprised that Tony wasn't in Slytherin. Tony was big and bulky, with lots of brawn for a 7th year. He definitely took steroids, according to Crabbe and Goyle, his two closest friends. Most people thought that he was really thick-and had a right to, in fact. He acted like he was the most stupid being on the Earth sometimes. However, underneath, if you got to know him (like Draco did-they were both from Pureblood families) he was really cunning and clever-all of the characteristics of a Slytherin. Strange...
After a few minutes Draco heard footsteps walking towards where they were. At first he panicked, thinking that it was a Slytherin. SNAPE WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD IF HE FINDS YOU IN HERE WITH A MUDBLOOD! The pessimistic side screamed. He thought frantically about what he was going to do to get out of the way when the optimistic side spoke up.
Wait...What would a Slytherin be doing in the library? He instantly relaxed, and continued to hold Hermione. The footsteps got louder as with each soft pat on the floor they got closer and closer to the two six-years. Finally the footsteps stopped, directly in front of them. Slowly, almost regretfully, Draco looked up.
There, with his mouth open and eyes seeming to pop out of his head, was Ernie Macmillan, whose acne problem had seemed to increase dramatically over the summer. He stood there staring for a minute or two with Draco glaring back until slowly, to not disturb Hermione, beckoned him over. Ernie trudged over until he was 2 inches away from Draco, who leaned over and, softly so that Hermione couldn't hear, whispered, "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, anyone, I'll find you and rearrange your already zit-infested face, you great ugly brute." Ernie, obviously too terrified to even breathe, could only nod. He stood there, petrified, until Draco whispered quietly, "That was your cue to leave." Ernie nodded again, and tripping over himself, was out of there like a lightning bolt.
Draco let out a self satisfied smirk, moved his arm so that he could feel it again, and relaxed yet again, keeping his hold on Hermione as strong and supportive as it could be.
Harry was worried. After that awful fight that Hermione had with Tony, she had stormed out of the library with tears welling in her eyes. Now it was almost an hour and a half later and she was nowhere to be found. It was getting really close to dinner, and she would never miss that...unless...he shook that thought from his head. She wouldn't be doing that....would she?
"I'm bored. Wanna play a game of Wizard's chess?" Ron said suddenly, startling Harry out of his thoughts. Harry blinked, and, realizing what he said, groaned.
"That's not fair! I suck at Wizard's chess." He protested.
"Exactly." Ron answered, grinning wickedly.
"You know what, fine. But, after that you have to play a game of Exploding Snap." Harry said, grinning. It was Ron's turn to groan. Harry only smirked and conjured up a chessboard.
A half-hour and five games of Wizard's chess later, all of Harry's worries about Hermione were out of his head-out of his head, that is, until the door to the Great Hall opened with a loud bang. Harry and Ron looked up in surprise to find Ernie Macmillan running towards them, out of breath, obviously running from something. He screeched to a stop right next to Harry, and, puffing, tried to speak.
"Oh...my...gosh..."
"What's up, Ernie?" Harry asked.
"You...will never believe...what...I just...saw..." Ernie panted.
"Try us." Ron added, leaning over so Ernie wasn't having to shout.
"Well, okay...I saw...Hermione in the...library..." Ernie started.
"What else is new?" Ron put in, grinning. Ernie glared at him, then continued.
"She was...with..."
"Who?" Harry asked.
"With...Malfoy...and they were...kissing! No lie!" Ernie said hastily, as Ron and Harry jumped up, books going flying, cards and chess-pieces long forgotten about.
"You have got to be kidding-" Harry started as Ron cut in.
"What the bloody hell is she doing with MALFOY?!" he yelled, scaring some first-years.
"I swear it's the truth! Do you think I would lie to you?" Ernie, very startled at this point, replied.
"WHERE?!" Harry and Ron yelled.
"In the library, but-" Ernie started, but his words were just barely heard because he heard the bang of the doors to the Great Hall being closed. He shook his head but continued his thought as he arranged the cards into a Solitaire position.
"But I think that they already left for the common rooms."
Hermione sniffed one last time, and then leaned back, breaking Draco's embrace. He looked at her with-was that worry in his eyes? She didn't know for sure. She smiled, and wiped her eyes.
"Thank you, Draco." It was the first nice thing she had ever said about him, and this time, she truly meant it. He grinned, then said, "Anytime." She smiled back at him, then gathered up her backpack and started out of the library. Draco started to walk out with her. When they finally got to the hall outside, they stood and parted. She gave him one last smile and whispered,
"Thanks again."
He smiled and started to walk away. As Hermione turned to leave, she heard behind her, "Hermione?" She turned around and Draco was looking at her strangely. "Yes?"
"Don't tell anyone...please? It'll ruin my reputation for being a stuck-up prat." She giggled, then nodded, turning around and finally heading back to her common room.
As she walked the halls, with a small smile framing her face, people who passed her would greet her with a simple, "Zup, Hermione?" She would always greet them in response, appearing happy and very confident. No one would have thought that the same girl was while on the inside her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. I can't believe that he did that! I should have like, slapped him or something. I can't believe I just let him do that, too! Oh, well. I was distraught. But still...He did that on his own free will! That's the last thing that I would ever expect him to do. Maybe he likes me...No no no no no! He does not like me! Why would he have called me a Mudblood for six years if he liked me? Anyways, I can't tell ANYONE about it, especially Harry and Ron. Well, actually, Harry wouldn't care as long as I was happy, but Ron would blow a gasket. I'm just going to have to keep this a secret. She was so immersed in her thoughts that when she reached the fat lady, all of her thoughts came out.
"But-he-really-is-quite-nice-once-you-get-to-know-him..." she said. The fat lady blinked in shock and confusion.
"I'm sorry dear, but that's not the password. Try again." She said.
Hermione blinked in surprise, then realized where she was. "Oh...umm....it's...er...Moet en Chandon." The fat lady smiled, and swung open so that Hermione could enter the common room.
Inside, Hermione dropped her books off at her dorm and flopped onto a chair, exhausted to the bones, completely shocked at all that had happened that day. The last thing that she remembered as she drifted off to sleep was that Draco had called her Hermione...
The door to the library banged open as Ron and Harry ran, out of breath, into the library. As every head in the library turned towards them, Madam Pince, her hand poised over a huge pile of books, her eyes narrowed with anger, whispered angrily at them.
"Be quiet! This is a library, not the hallways! Close the door QUIETLY!"
Subdued, Harry nodded, as Ron quickly stalked to the end of the library, looking in every alcove, peering around every corner, hissing Hermione's name as he searched.
"I can't find her! Where is she?" he hissed at Harry.
"I think that she might be in the common room..." Harry suggested. Ron nodded, and they took off to the common room.
"CLOSE THE DOOR-" Madame Pince hissed as it banged. She sighed, then finished her sentence, returning to her piles of books "-quietly."
Draco smiled as he slowly walked back to the dungeons. She really is pretty, you know. Then he shook his head, the smile abruptly disappearing. Stop that! She is a MUDBLOOD. An icky, gooey, gummy MUDBLOOD! If this 'friendship and comraderie' crap evolves into 'something else', Father will kill you!
He strode to the brick wall, behind which was the Slytherin common room, and gave it the password-"Bloody Hell". As he strode into the common room, people scattered out of his way, flinching if he glanced at them. He stalked towards the fire, and flopped into a soft chair-'the Dragon's chair', since only if anyone besides Draco sat in it, they would instantly be bombarded with the most awful sort of hexes-and just sat there, staring into the magically green flames, going over every single detail about her. The single piece of hair that always seemed to escape when she put it up in a messy bun, the fear and vulnerability in her eyes when she was telling him about Tony, and, most of all, the smile she gave him-the smile that was warm and bright, the smile that showed she thought that he wasn't the scum of the earth. He abruptly came out of his thoughts after hearing a couple second years whispering about him.
"Look! Draco Malfoy is actually smiling!"
"No he isn't! He never does!"
"Yes he is! See..." There was a moment's pause, then,
"Oh my gosh, you're right! He is!"
"See, I told you!"
"Wow, I didn't know that he knew how to!"
Draco turned around, going to tell them off, and, for some reason he couldn't fathom, decided against it. Slightly smiling, he turned to face the flames once more, starting to drift off to sleep. The last thing that he remembered was that smile...
Hermione woke up with a start as the door to the Gryffindor Common Room burst open. She grinned when she saw Harry and Ron skid, out of breath, to a stop in front of her.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
Harry flopped into a chair next to Hermione, and leaned back, taking deep gasping breaths, trying to slow down his rapidly beating heart. "We ran...from...the Great...Hall...to the library....and then...all the way back...here..." He wheezed. She grimaced sympathetically.
"Ouch. That must've hurt." Then she looked at Ron who was pacing back and forth, back in forth, in front of her and Harry.
"What's with you?"
"I don't know, you tell us!" He snapped.
"Tell you...what?" Hermione asked, not catching on.
"Don't play innocent! Why were you doing that?!" he snarled. Hermione, taken aback, stammered,
"But...I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"Oh really.... Well then, let me tell you why we came running in!"
"Um...okay..."
"Okay, so me and Harry..."
"Harry and I." Hermione corrected automatically. Ron glared at her.
"Whatever. So Harry and I were in the Great Hall, very busy with our...er...studies-" Harry sniggered, trying to cover it up with a hacking cough. He also received a death glare in return.
"When all of a sudden, a very reliable source-"
"Who?" Hermione asked.
"Never you mind. So, anyways, Ernie comes in-"
Hermione burst out laughing. Ron glared at her yet again.
"What now?"
"Oh my god, Ron. Ernie is your 'reliable source'? You couldn't get the truth out of him even if it was written on his hand for the whole world to see!"
"SHUT UP! So anyways, Ernie tells Harry and me-"
"Harry and I."
"SHUT THE BLOODY EFFING HELL UP! So Ernie tells us that you and Malfoy are in the library and you guys are snogging! Tell me, is that true? WERE YOU AND MALFOY MAKING OUT?!" Ron yelled his face purple with anger. The whole common grew still as everyone turned around to face Ron and Hermione, who were both standing up, eyes narrowed, fists clenched, both biting back words that they knew would shock Harry and the audience they had unknowingly received. Hermione sighed, relaxing slowly.
"Yes, Draco and I were in the library together-" She was interrupted that single gasp that everyone had let out in unison. She turned around and glared.
"What the bloody hell do I need to do to get some damn privacy here?! I am a prefect, you know! I could give you all detention, and you know how Snape has very interesting punishments..." That was all that she needed to say. Everyone turned around and immediately started talking, trying to busy themselves so that they wouldn't get shudder detention. She nodded, satisfied, then sat down and turned back to Ron, who was still steaming with anger.
"Draco and I were in the library together, but WE WEREN'T SNOGGING! He was COMFORTING ME, which is something YOU'VE never done!" she hissed. She knew that it was a low blow, but she wasn't going to take any crap from him today. She was pissed off, and he had just provoked her even more. However, Harry laid a hand on her knee and said softly in her ear, "You tell him, Hermione."
Oh trust me, she had, but Ron Weasley wasn't going to be stopped that easily.
"Well then, why was he comforting you, huh? So he just sees you grieving or doing whatever you were doing and he decides to comfort you?" he scoffed, equally pissed.
"I can't tell you."
"Oh yeah, try us!" She should have seen it coming. She had known herself that it was eventually going to pop up, but she was still taken aback by the question. She blinked, shocked. Ron looked triumphant.
"See? I told you! You were snogging on Draco! Next time tell us the truth Hermione. Jeez!" he snapped. Hermione took a deep breath and stood up, her hands shaking with fury. She had had enough. She wasn't going to take any of this crap anymore.
"If you're not going to listen to me, fine. I can deal with that. But if you are going to just-just-assume things about me that aren't even true I suggest you tell me so I can stop being friends with a complete asshole." It was here that she walked out of the Common Room into her dorm with Ron and Harry staring after her. Ron snorted and then turned to Harry.
"See? I told you that she was hiding something. She probably is going to send an owl to her precious boyfriend Malfoy because I made her mad." Harry sighed and stood up too.
"In case you haven't noticed, Hermione and I are your only friends. I suggest that you take better care of us and stop assuming things or, before you know it, you won't have any left at all." With that he stood and walked off to the library. Ron stared in disbelief after him, and shouted after him,
"You guys aren't the only friends I have! You're wrong! I have plenty of friends! I am full of friendliness and loyalty-ness!" he shouted as the portrait door slammed. "Besides...I still have Neville..."
Draco woke with a start. He had dozed off for a couple hours, and with everyone being scared of him, no one dared to wake him up. He yawned and looked tiredly around the common room. The bright green flames had burned into a small smoldering pile of charcoal. And, unfortunately, this would have been a good time for somebody to have woken him up because now, far too late to do anything about it, he heard it-the ominous click-click of stiletto heels...
The end!
Author: Hiya! I'm the author (obviously) and I want you...to give me reviews! You can give me nice ones or flames-I don't care!!! Anything works!! I will read your reviews and post my responses on the next chapter!! Oh, and I want to thank all of the little people that I had to step on to get to this wonderful place in my life! Thank you...thank you...all of you don't mean anything to me...sniff so where was I? Oh yes. I hope you liked this chapter and I hope that you will read the next one! Till next time...
-A Neville Longbottom fan