Disclaimer: Once again I own nothing...all belongs to J.K. Rowling

Chapter Two: Changes Inside and Out

"God damn it Granger." Malfoy was still in a state of shock. He carried he body over to her bed and as gently as he could set her down. With a wave of his hand clothes immediately appeared on Granger's body. This was one time where the wand less magic his father had taught him had come in handy. He reached down to check her pulse and thankfully, for him anyway, it was steady. The only thing wrong with her that he could see, other than the fact she attempted suicide, was that she was visibly paler. But hell he scolded himself who wouldn't be paler after almost drowning to death.

After waiting a few seconds to make sure she was in no immediate danger of death he decided to go back into the bathroom and retrieve the note, a note he was sure would explain everything. Surprisingly for him the note was addressed directly to him.

Draco,

I wanted to make sure this was written so as to ensure you would be in no future trouble. Tonight shall be the end for me as I'm sure you will have discovered. It has grown to be an unbearable task just to get up out of bed every morning and live out the day. Even though I'm sure you will have no care whatsoever about what I have done I just wanted to say I'm sorry that you will have to be the one to find me.

As a last request I would ask that you do not have my body shown to Harry and Ron. Please just call in Professor McGonagall and I'm certain she will take care of the rest. I am truly sorry we never became friends. Maybe if I would have made more of an effort to establish a friendship with others to have more friends to back me up I wouldn't be writing this.

Once again I am sorry for everything.

Hermione

After reading it through it almost made the situation worse in his mind. So he added to this hell of a life for her. Hell, she wanted to befriend him. She actually wanted to befriend him. Sticking the note in his pocket he proceeded back into the bedroom where he would stay the rest of the night whether she objected or not. He was going to find out what was wrong even if it killed her to tell him.

After a few moments of just waiting Draco heard her start to move and moan. Only seconds later she sat bolt upright in bed and seemed to be in a panicked state. "What the hell happened? Draco? What?" With every word her voice continued to rise. "God Granger shut up. You'll wake everyone." "Draco what did you do? I shouldn't be here. I should be..." "Dead, Yes I know what you tried to do Granger but as to why that still remains a mystery I am trying to figure out." Draco regained his composer as soon as she woke up, there was no way she was going to find out how upset and freaked he got once he discovered her.

"Draco, please leave the room I need to change into some warmer clothes." Her voice was small and pleading. "Granger I just rescued you from a shower you can change in front of me. Plus as much as it pains me I'm not leaving your side tonight. No way in hell am I giving you another chance to end it all." As much as it hurt him to hear her sound so vulnerable he would stand his ground. In absolutely no mood to argue she meekly said "Fine." After she took off her shirt she gasped seeing all her wounds, cuts, and bruises being reveled very clearly to Draco who was sitting on her bed mouth open staring at her. She quickly pulled a baggy shirt on and ran into the bathroom to retrieve her wand. As she walked out prepared to cast a concealing spell Draco who also knew what she planned to do quickly acted on instincts and pulled out his wand shouting "Expellearmius" (A/N Sorry not sure of spelling) Her wand flew out of her hand and Draco swiftly caught it and pointed it straight back at her.

A new surge of panic and fear filled her eyes as she stared back at her wand. Tears streamed down her face and she fell to her knees as she pleaded, "Please Draco, please give it back." "Granger what the hell happened to you?" "Nothing, nothing you need to know about. I'm fine really." She tried to brush the tears from her face but it was no use new tears just kept replacing the old ones. "Granger don't make me have to force it out of you."

Knowing it was worthless to fight him she crawled back to her bed and sat down next to him making sure no physical contact was made. Everything came spilling out, she told him how she always had to keep things secret, she told him how no one really knew her at all, and she told him how she had constantly been abused by her father. This particular last comment really hit home for Draco. He had constantly been abused by his father until his mother turned him in to Azkaban. Hermione told him exactly what her father did, the words, the slashing, the stabbing, all of it. It took all the self control Draco had to keep him from crying himself.

"Gra...Hermione, let me get rid of those cuts, you don't deserve to have to look at them not even a..." He was about to say mudblood but couldn't bring himself to do it, not given the state she was in already. "No one deserves it." Hermione simply nodded and laid back on the bed allowing Draco free access to lift her shirt and do what he needed. It was strange and yet she felt she could trust him not to hurt her further, after all he was the one that saved her.

Draco tried as gently as he could to raise her shirt and use his wand to heal her yet she still whimpered in pain. "There it's done." Draco couldn't help but thinking back to the note. Did the offer still stand to become friends even though she was alive now? Wait, did he just think about considering Hermione as a friend? And since when did he call her Hermione? Hermione slowly sat up, even though the bruises and cuts were gone the pain was ever lasting. "Draco...pl...please don't mention anything to anyone. I didn't want anyone to know." She sounded so weak, so needy; there would be no way he could deny her that. "Yes, of course I won't mention anything."

It seemed this year at Hogwarts would be a lot more difficult then he had planned. Hermione hesitantly rested her head on his shoulder and when she realized he would allow it she fully relaxed and fell asleep. Draco turned and slowly laid down on the bed, moving her head to rest back on his shoulder. This was going to be a long night, but at least he could make sure she would be safe.

A few hours later, after Draco had drifted off to sleep he woke with a start. His arm was drenched in cold sweat and Hermione was tossing around and crying out in fear. "No...stop....don't hit me...I didn't tell anyone...I didn't show anyone..." He couldn't take hearing anymore of it. He had to wake her from this nightmare. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her. "Hermione...Hermione...wake up..." What happened next pained his heart to see even more. Hermione woke abruptly, her eyes popped wide open and in her fear to get away from Draco she fell off the bed. Draco quickly swung himself off the bed and raised her to a standing position. He was unaware of what he was going to try to say to calm her so it said what his mother had said to him whenever he awoke in the night.

"Hermione...Hermione...It's alright...I'm here..." Hearing the only comforting words she had ever received when she was scared she immediately reacted. She moved closer to Draco and wept into his robes. He pulled her into a hug hoping she would be alright.

After a few minuets once she realized where she was and who was holding her she just melted into the embrace and allowed herself to feel safe in his warmth. Thoughts were continuously flowing through his mind. He was comforting Hermione...wait no, he was comforting Granger. It seemed his personality was going to be changing this year was well. The only other thought that was going through his mind was he was going to make who ever did this to her pay.