A/N: heya... i just wanted to say thank u to all who reviewed.. im glad u like it! oh and sorry bout the cliffhanger.. ahah. Enjoy

Keep the reviews coming! 
ive reposted this chapter.. I've added some extra scenes to it. Reread! ) (In case u didn't catch them before)

Learning to Breathe

Where we left off:

"I'm sorry…" he blurted out, taking a step back. He didn't know what to do or what to

say; he had no clue about what was wrong with her and felt completely useless as a guy

at that point.

Hermione shook her head furiously, wiping the tear away.

"It's not your fault" she managed to choke out, her voice trembling as she spoke.

She took a few shaky breaths and tried to speak again, but her tears finally gave in and

she sank to the ground and buried her head in her hands.

Chapter 2

xoxoxo

/Flashback/(still)

For the longest while, he just stood there and stared at her depressed form on the floor,

shaking uncontrollably as she cried. She looked so vulnerable and fragile. He had

never seen her in this state before, and it scared him a little as he watched her.

He wondered what possibly could have happened that hurt her so bad. A fight with her friends, perhaps? A grade lower than 95 on a test? The possibilities were endless... but Draco had a feeling that it wasn't something trivial.

He didn't know why, but at that time, he felt like a loser. He had just managed to make

Hermione cry without even actually doing anything. And to think that all those years

before, he spent so much time thinking up insults and lines to hurt her, and how he would

gloat about it afterwards to anyone who will listen. To the more immature Draco back

then, it was an accomplishment. Right now though, he just wanted her to stop crying.

Honestly, he would give anything for her to stop. Even though he would never admit it.

And so, for lack of a better plan, he sat down on the floor next to her. He leaned against

the cool stone wall and sighed as he looked at her again.

She seemed to have calmed down a bit, and after a while more, she finally lifted her head

from her hands. Draco could see that her tears have dried, but he knew that just one

wrong word or sentence could make her fill the pail up again. He had to be very careful

with what he said or did.

When Hermione saw that Draco was still there, what's more sitting on the floor next to

her, she could not help but feel grateful. She pulled herself up from her hunched over

position from while she was crying and leaned back against the wall, just like Draco did.

The two of them just sat there against the wall, next to each other for a long time, while

the other 7th year Slytherins and Gryffindors were having double Potions. That was the

first time after knowing each other for seven years, and hating each other, that they had

ever just sat together in comfortable silence and not have anything spiteful to say to each

other.

They had hardly exchanged a word over the past year and a half since his

father was captured(and escaped), and this was the first time they actually crossed one

another's paths since then. Draco had been awfully quiet lately, thinking about what he

really wanted to do with his life. He had also realized how much he hated his father and

developed a strong desire to break free from him.

Of course, nobody knew about it. Not yet. He didn't tell anyone about this, because

obviously, there was no one he could trust. No one in Slytherin could be trusted, as far as

he was concerned, and he didn't have any friends in any of the other houses as well, so,

he was all alone.

And besides, he was Draco Malfoy, the almighty and powerful prince of Slytherin House. Nobody expected him to actually spill his guts out about his little family crisis to anyone.

Crabbe and Goyle, his so-called sidekicks were merely idiotic goons who laughed at Draco's jokes(and they didn't even understand the jokes most of the time!) and stood on either side of him like his loyal not-so-little bouncers. They used to follow him around day-in and day-out, and quite honestly, Draco was getting quite tired of the not too bright hugesome. They finally stopped walking in Draco's tracks beginning of the school year, when Draco desperately needed the time to just stalk away on his own and do some serious revelations on his past, present and future.

He told them off that night, before the start of term feast. He told them not to be in his presence ever again and stormed off away from the throng of students headed to the Great Hall. He didn't know where he was headed but he ended up in the Library. Lucky for him, everyone else was at the Great Hall, feasting. Not even the nerdiest of bookworms would go to the Library when they could be at the start of term feast.

But there he was, at the library, all alone in the dark. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Being alone in the dark, I mean. At least it was better than being alone in the dark with his father...

They were just sitting there for what seemed like a long time; well, for the whole of

Double Potions, anyway. It was kind of amazing to see the two (former) enemies sitting

side by side, no animosity between them whatsoever.

They were both in their own worlds, consumed in their own thoughts. Draco had his impending birthday clouding his mind like a storm waiting to happen and Hermione had her own problems…

As much as he wanted to find out what, Draco kept his questions to himself. He knew that

if she really needed to talk about it, she would come right out and say it, if not to him;

'What am I thinking… she obviously won't be telling me, of all people…' ; then to her

friends or parents or whomever.

Draco closed his eyes and images came flooding through his mind. Memories, dark

memories of his life at home with his parents flashed behind his closed lids like a

rollercoaster ride. He had too much going on… there was such an incredible weight on

his shoulders, and he felt like he was strenuously trying to lift a really heavy dumbbell

and keep it above his head forever. He could just buckle underneath at any time, and

drop down and never get up again.

Lucius had been more abusive than ever when he came back to Malfoy Manor that night.

It was a week before the start of the term at Hogwarts began and Draco had been

sleeping in his room. Lucius had been like a mad man let loose and had pulled Draco out

of his room, grabbing him by his shirt collar with much force. Narcissa had stood there

by the doorway of the master bedroom, looking slightly fearful of Lucius' scary state.

The death eaters had all broken out of Azkaban just a month after their capture. The wizarding community went berserk at the news and everything went haywire. Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge had been chaotic at the time, scrambling around town, trying to calm people down and convince them of their safety.

Albus Dumbledore had been informed of the breakout as well of course, and went straight to see to it that term break for Hogwarts ended early this time around and letters were immediately given out to each and every student the next morning. Professor Dumbledore had chosen to have his students back at Hogwarts as soon as possible to ensure their safety. As long as they were in Hogwarts, nothing could happen to them and no death eaters could get to them.

While all this was happening, Draco was at home in Malfoy Manor, trying his very best to stay strong while facing his father's rage. Lucius had been in a deadly mood the night before and was very keen on keeping Draco on track with his death eater training after his month-long absence.

"You will never get anywhere if you don't have power" raged Lucius as he hit Draco with another spell.

Draco was blown away by the force of the spell and flew back to the wall, hitting against it hard on his back. He let out a moan of pain as he hit the floor, and hardly had time to gather himself before his maniacal father let out another spell in his direction. Draco fell to the ground again, his lip bleeding.

"Get up. You can't let your guard down for even a moment. I did not bring you up to be a weakling. I taught you to be a death eater. You are to serve the Dark Lord and stand by his side. You are to become the Dark Lord's right-hand man. Now get up and face the pain like a man"

Draco pushed himself up off the floor and tried to steady himself as he got up shakily. He could feel the hate and anger building up inside him as he looked up at his father. He did not want to live the life he was in anymore. He felt cursed and the hatred he felt towards his father was firing up inside him.

Lucius struck his wand yet again and shot it at Draco, who had taken a deep breath of air as he prepared for the spell that was hurtling towards him.

As the spell hit him, Draco squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to stay on his feet. The pain caused by the spell was unbearable. Being hit three times in a row by a powerful Death Eater was enough to put a person in a state where they couldn't think straight or feel anything else but pain anymore for a while.

His mother came into his room the next morning to wake him up after she received the letter from Dumbledore. Lucius had already gone back into hiding right after Draco's 'training' session the night before. He had returned to serve his Dark Lord and no doubt plotting revenge along with all the other Death Eaters.

He woke up aching all over. He had bruises everywhere on his body and his lip was sore.

Narcissa looked at him with the slightest sign of pity in her eyes and helped Draco up.

"Dumbledore sent a letter this morning" she said softly while brushing away some blond strands away from his eyes.

Draco looked away from her and stared at a spot somewhere to the left of her face. He didn't understand her very well. Sometimes , like times like these, she would act like she actually cared about him. Other times, especially when Lucius was around, she would just … not do anything. She didn't protest or stand up for her own son. Though sometimes one couldn't really blame her for being a bad mother. Having Lucius as a husband was already bad enough, he supposed. Narcissa cared a lot about social standards. Almost as much as Lucius.

She gently touched his swollen lip and he winced a little. She took out her wand and muttered a spell as she pointed it to Draco. A soft bluish glow emitted from the tip of her wand and in an instant, Draco's bruises and torn lip were not visible anymore.

Draco looked down at himself and was surprised to find his body bruise-free. He lifted his right hand and reached to touch his left arm where a big blue-black was just a few seconds ago. Pain shot through him and he quickly pulled his hand away.

He looked up at his mother and stated "It still hurts"

"Why of course it still hurts, the damage is still there, Draco. That was just a cover-up spell… it wont heal your pains, it just covers them up." Narcissa exclaimed, looking satisfied with her little spell. She had always cared more about looks and status than anything else.

"You can't go walking around Hogwarts today looking like that, can you now?

We wouldn't want to stir up any unwanted attention…" she said, her voice dropping down to a whisper, only barely audible.

For a moment, Draco thought that his mother had finally lost it. Finally gone cuckoo after all those years with Lucius and his wacky family. But Draco wasn't slow when it came to the common sense department, and he had already dismissed that theory after he thought it over again. He remembered that she had said that Dumbledore sent a letter, so it must be that school's starting early this term.

Draco looked at his mother again and asked "So the letter from Dumbledore said to return to Hogwarts today?"

Narcissa nodded and got up from his bed. "Wash up and get dressed quickly. You'll have to be at Platform 9 ¾ by 3 o'clock this afternoon. You're going to have to go to the station alone today, I'm afraid. I have some important issues to deal with…"

And with that, she left the room and walked down the stairs, heels clicking as she stepped down the marble floors.