Dying Inside

A/N: Sorry I'm taking so long to update! 0.o;;; I've been kinda busy lately and it's been REALLY sweltering hot so I've been spending most of my days swimming and haven't had much of a chance to write. Thanks to Fire'N'Ice for giving me such a wonderful review! I love long reviews! And your story 'Killing Me Slowly' is awesome! I still have to review it though! Here's chappy 6, Y'all!

Edit: Disregard this A/N, it's old.

.-.-.-.Chapter 6.-.-.-.

The short walk to Gryffindor Tower seemed to last forever. Draco and Hermione walked in complete silence the whole way there. They finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady who was snoring rather loudly. Hermione cleared her throat which abruptly awakened her. She seemed quite annoyed.

"...Paaassword?..." the Fat Lady yawned.

"Gryffindor Pride." Hermione stated matter-of-factly.

The portrait swung open and they walked inside as it closed silently behind them.

"I don't think this is a very good idea...I should just go back..." Draco whispered to Hermione.

"No, it's okay. Come on." she said as she stopped him before checking to make sure the common room was empty. Hermione glanced across the gold and red decorated common room, and blushed slightly as she took Draco's hand, which was cold and still pretty shaky, and led him toward the Boy's Dorm.

They started up the stairs, which Hermione had been up many times before seeing as she spent a lot of her non-study time hanging out with Harry and Ron in their dormitory, Hermione in front and Draco following behind her. When they reached the top, she held him back.

"Stay here a moment. I'll go talk to them." she whispered as quietly as she could.

Draco nodded as she pushed open the creaky door, which bared the names 'Ronald Weasley' and under that, 'Harry Potter' on rectangular gold plates that changed names and added them depending on who was staying in the room. It was completely dark, other than a large, half-melted candle on the wall next to the door. Ron was snoring loudly and all that could be seen of him was a mass of messy red hair protruding from under the covers. From Harry's bed, his arm hung limply over the edge of his four-poster as he slept peacefully .

Hermione cleared her throat, hoping to wake them. Failure. She tried again much louder this time. Another failure. Becoming agitated, she put her hands on her hips and commenced stomping her foot loudly on the floor repeatedly.

"EEEH!" Ron squealed and jolted upright. "Oh, hey, Hermione." he said, just noticing her.

Harry yawned and rolled over onto his back. He sat up, scratching his messy, jet black hair.

"..What are you doing here so late?" he asked and yawned again.

"Um...Ron...Harry...I need to ask you something." she muttered, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Can't it wait till morning, 'Mione?" a half-awake Ron groaned.

"No, it's really important." Hermione told him seriously, worry noticeable in her voice.

"What is it?" Harry asked standing up and stretching his arms, clad in only his boxers.

"Well...will you do something for me? It means a lot to me and...oh, you guys, please don't be upset with me!" she pleaded, her eyes becoming glassy with tears as she ran over to Harry who was now standing next to Ron.

"Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" Harry asked becoming more concerned.

"No...I'm not...but..." Hermione trailed off and she walked over to the door and poked her head out at Draco who had been leaning against the wall, listening. "Come on..." she whispered to him, putting a hand on his arm and tugging it lightly. He hesitated, but walked with her back into the room reluctantly.

As a sudden reflex, Harry and Ron grabbed their wands and pointed them at Draco as soon as they caught sight of him.

"What the bloody hell is Malfoy doing in here?!?!" Ron yelled boisterously. "Petrificus To--"

"NO!" Hermione screamed and jumped out in front of Draco before Ron finished the incantation. "I brought him here!"

"WHAT?!" Harry and Ron both looked at her at the same time, baffled.

"The..the thing is....can he stay here? Can he stay in your dormitory? Just for a little while?" she stuttered.

"No way! There is no way that slimy git is getting anywhere near me!" Ron protested, pointing his wand at Draco.

Hermione looked to Harry as a tear fell down her cheek, her eyes pleading with him.

"No..Hermione..this is MALFOY if you haven't noticed!" Harry told her, not lowering his wand just yet.

"I perfectly well know who he is, I'm not stupid!"

"This is the Malfoy who calls you mudblood! And makes fun of us all the time! Don't you remember all those times he tormented us?!" he asked, raising his voice.

"He's different now! I swear!" she cried, waving her arms in emphasis, but Draco stepped forward.

Harry raised his wand more, as did Ron.

Draco turned to Hermione. "Look…Hermione...thanks so much for trying...it means a lot to me that you would go out of your way to do this...but, like I said before, I don't want you to lose your best friends over me...so..I'll just go..." he told her, close to crying, too.

Harry watched and listened to him, his expression softening slightly, but still not much. Ron, however, was still glaring angrily. In fact, if looks could kill, the whole school would be a complete massacre.

Hermione stepped forward and pulled Draco into a hug. He put his arms around her, as she cried, glancing at Harry and Ron over his shoulder. Ron looked completely disgusted.

"..Promise you'll be alright?..." she asked, sniffling.

"..Yeah.." he nodded, even if he knew he was lying to her.

Still watching them, Harry hated to see Hermione cry. Though, he couldn't get over the fact that she was crying over Malfoy. He took a deep breath.

"Fine." he muttered.

Hermione looked over to him. "What..?"

"I said fine. He can stay." he shook his head, knowing he would most likely be regretting his decision.

"WHAT?! Don't I get a say in this?!" Ron demanded, now looking confused and even more angry. His face and ears were turning red like they always do when he's mad. But Hermione ignored him, and so did Harry since Hermione was hugging him so tightly that he could hardly breathe.

"Fuck this! I'm going back to bed!" he yelled as he tore open his bed curtains and his red hair disappeared behind them.

"Oh, Harry! Thank you so much! You're the best friend anyone could ever have!!! I owe you one! No, I owe you a million!" she let go of him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running back over to Draco, who smiled weakly before being hugged by Hermione and getting a small kiss, too. He blushed and hugged her back.

Draco Malfoy never would have thought that he would be a Death Eater, standing in the middle of a Gryffindor Dormitory, being hugged by Hermione Granger, after trying to commit suicide and running away from home.

.-.-.-.TBC.-.-.-.

A/N: The goes another chapter! Don't ask me where that ending came from cuz I have no clue. I just needed a little something to wrap up that chapter, but it's not over yet! Find out what Harry and Ron do when they find out what happened to Draco! I have a good idea for what I'm gonna do for chapter 8 and I think chapter 7 might have a song in it! -- Thanks again to my wonderful reviewers! You're great! LY!