Draco woke up with Hermione sleeping silently beside him. Draco was thinking about what they had done. 'Was it wrong what I did with her? Maybe it was too soon.' Hermione's grip on Draco tightened, she needed him and he knew it. He took his hand and gently rubbed his thumb against her soft cheek. Hermione's grip became weaker. Draco decided that she needed some one to save her, some one to take care of her.

Draco got out of bed, but as he pulled away the covers he noticed that Hermione was wearing a different shirt. It covered her shoulders. Out of curiosity he pulled back the sleeves. On one shoulder there were dozens upon dozens of fresh, angry, and red cuts.

Draco lightly ran his hand over them and Hermione's sleeping form recoiled slightly at the sudden pain she felt in her shoulder. Draco had never known about Hermione cutting. He would have to ask her about them once she woke up, but he wasn't going to push her into telling him anything if she didn't want to; he never did push her to tell her anything and it always worked. Waiting to get an answer was always so much easier than trying to force it out of someone unwillingly. Draco got dressed and went down to the Great Hall and got breakfast for Hermione and him.

As soon as Draco left the room Hermione opened her eyes. She had been awake ever since Draco had touched her shoulder. She knew she would have to tell him. She knew he would ask. She sat and thought of an answer to the questions he could ask her. She knew she needed help but she didn't want to get it. She sat there and then she started to think about all the bad things that had happened in her relationship with Harry. She thought about how every bad thing that happened was her fault and how she deserved it all. She didn't want to be around to see what bad things Draco was going to do to her; she didn't want it to be her fault.

Draco opened the door to find Hermione sitting up with her eyes open. He took her breakfast over to her, sat down on the bed, and handed it to her. Hermione accepted the food but didn't eat it, she never ate anything anymore.

Draco looked at her, sat down next to her, and asked her, "Why do you have those cuts on your shoulder, love? Do you do that often?"

"More than I should." Hermione whispered softly.

"Why?"

"I feel hurt", she strained to find the right words, "like it's my entire fault that all this stuff happened to me so I feel the need to punish myself for all the things that have gone wrong. But then there are times when I just need to show people that I hurt inside. I can't explain the whole reason why I do it, it just feels right."

Draco sat in silent contemplation. "Why are they there now?"

Hermione sighed and looked him in the eyes, "Because of Harry and last night...I don't want you to hurt me like he did. You don't know what it's like to be me sitting here knowing that it's my fault, what happened to me was my fault." A tear ran down her face and Draco tried to wipe it away, but Hermione just pulled her head away.

"I promise you, I won't hurt you if I can help it."

"You can't promise me that," Hermione practically screamed at him. "You can't fucking make a promise like that, they're empty words from another empty soul. You can't tell me that you're not going to hurt me when you don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow." Hermione silently hung her head and pulled her feet up to her chest letting loose all the tears that had been held back for years.

"You can make me understand how you fell and I can try my hardest not to hurt you in anyway. Tell me what hurts you and I won't do it."

"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered as she got off the bed, grabbed some of her clothes that Draco had gotten for her, and locked herself in the bathroom.

Draco frowned; he didn't know what she was going to do. He knew she was unstable and didn't want anything bad to happen to her because of him.

Hermione started herself a shower and closed the glass door. She didn't want to hurt anymore, she didn't want to feel anymore. So many bad things had happened to her in her life and she thought about how they used to tell her 'what goes around comes around', but she couldn't help but think what had she done in her life to deserve this life. She once again sat on the floor of the shower and remembered life before Harry. She had had a boyfriend named Robbie. She went out with him for years and remembered summer holiday the last year they were together. She slowly closed her eyes and watched the memory pass before her eyes.

Flashback

Hermione was at Robbie's house in his bedroom. They were talking about growing up and getting married, having children and a house. Hermione laughed about how he had wanted to have a four story house that they could share with his closest friends. Robbie stopped laughing and looked at her.

"You're so beautiful, you know. I love you, no one else can ever love you like I do, and you don't deserve to be loved by anyone but me." he laughed softly and stood up, pulling her up with him. Hermione smelled alcohol on his breath and fear flashed through her mind. She didn't know what to do and she didn't know how he would react. He came closer to her and kissed her lips, trying to deepen the kiss with no success. He put his arms around her waist and tried to get her shirt off. At that time she was a fighter and she would do anything to keep her innocence. She kicked him in the balls and ran from the room with tears streaming down her face.

A month later he called her a slut and a bitch, told her she deserved to be alone and she deserved all the pain she ever felt in her life, and he left her for some one prettier who would give it all away to him.

Flashback end

Tears where falling from her eyes and she ran her fingers through her soaked hair, digging her fingernails into her scalp; remembering Harry had made a promise never to hurt her, but he had. She had thought that if she hoped and prayed just right then maybe the hurt would leave during those lonely nights.

She thought about sleeping with Draco and she realized that she hadn't realized what was happening; she was so lost in everything that had happened over the years that she had gotten to lost to realize what a state of disrepair she was in.

Draco did a charm and opened the door, slowly. He didn't know what he was going to find hidden in the shower. He looked through the glass and saw that she was only crying. It hurt him to see her cry. He wished that he could wave his wand and permanently make her happy all the time, but he knew that could never happen. He hadn't known what being hurt really felt like because he had never put himself in that kind of position.

Draco stripped off his clothes and slowly opened the shower door. He stood behind Hermione and dropped to the ground, wrapping his arms around her. She turned her body and fell into the embrace. Only in his arms did she feel safe, only in his arms would she be part of a whole that he would never realize.