Chapter Title: Empty Stage

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Duh.

A/N: Filling in empty info. Draco is head boy. Hermione is head girl. There. Info filled.


Who are you trying to impress my love? Your audience is all gone.


Hermione's eyes fluttered open in surprise. She was lying in a large, warm, very comfortable bed. One that was certainly not Gavin's.

She looked around the room and saw the tall man from the bar asleep in a chair that was by far too small for him. His hair was no longer slicked back, and asleep she reminded him of someone, but in her current state, she couldn't seem to place the name.

She sat up and the bed creaked loudly. The man's eyes opened in surprise and it suddenly hit her where she knew him from.

"Malfoy" she said loudly. "What the hell are you doing here?"


"What?" asked Draco numbly.

"Are you deaf on top of stupid? I asked what the hell you were doing here!" spat Hermione, still not realizing the gravity of her situation.

"Are you kidding me! I just carried your broken ass in from the middle of the hallway! Fuck woman, you're lucky it was me and not some perverted dick head who wants to rape you!" screamed Malfoy

At the slip of that word, Hermione gasped and her eyes filled with tears.

"Listen closely because I will only say this one time; I'm sorry for being rude, but I just woke up in a strange bed in the middle of nowhere, and you're within five feet of me. Forgive me if I sound a bit put off by the situation."

"Given the circumstances, I'll forget the fact you yelled at me. Now, what were you doing in the hallway? And what happened to give you that fucking black eye?" inquired Draco.

"First things first, why are you in the Muggle part of London? Isn't that below the Malfoys?" Hermione said changing the subject.

"Yes, in fact it is. But I had no other choice. You see, god help you Granger if you EVER mention this to anyone, but I got lost."

"Lost?" at this thought Hermione burst into fits of laughter. "You? Draco Malfoy, King of the Slytherin house, got lost!"

"You know what Granger, Shut the fuck up! I'm not sure how I ended up here exactly, but it was too dark to do anything else. My fucking driver left me, and you can't apparate within 20 miles of the Malfoy mansion. Plus, I needed a clean place to sleep" Said Malfoy smugly.

"Now back to the present question, why do you look the way that you do? Well, besides the fact that you're a filthy mudblood of course. Probably had some two penny John up here and he blacked your eye right?" Draco said scornfully.

At this comment Hermione flew out of bed and backed Draco into a corner of the room. "Don't you ever call me filthy again. Do you hear me? You have no idea what I've endured the past few hours. If you ever call me anything but my given name or my surname again, I'll make sure you don't live to regret it" Hermione screamed.

"Fuck Granger. Back down. I will call you whatever I damn well please, and nothing you say can change that." He laughed.

"Considering we're about to have to share a Common Room, We need to act at least halfway civil. Now if you accept my truce, I'll give you a lift home. My driver should be here any second." Malfoy smirked.

Hermione weighed her situation, and realized that the only way out of this place, would be with Draco. "Fine. Truce accepted. But we are NOT friends ferret."

"Fine by me. I wouldn't want to tarnish my reputation." Draco said as he made his way to the door, "Now if you'll follow me, we can leave."


As the limo came to a stop, Hermione was jolted out of her deep sleep. She was looking around, taking in her surroundings, when she came face to face with a very perturbed blonde boy.

'Damnit, she was gorgeous while she was asleep.' Draco thought.

"Finally you're up mudblood" Draco said.

"Ferret what did I tell you about calling me that?" Hermione said calmly.

"If I can't call you mudblood, you can't call me ferret. We'll be on a last name basis, or I continue to exercise my extensive vocabulary and come up with more names." Draco smirked.

"Oh, well In THAT case." Hermione remarked sarcastically. "Fine Fe-Malfoy, last name basis it is then."

"Excellent." Draco replied as he opened the car door and got out.

Hermione, thinking maybe Draco would be a gentleman and open her door, waited in the car. A few minutes passed before she realized that nothing would ever happen to make Draco Malfoy open the door for her, and she scrambled, quite ungracefully because of the pain, out of the black car.

"Where are we Malfoy?" Hermione asked. "This isn't my house."

"Like you could afford a house this exquisite" Malfoy said smugly, "This is my house."

"Why are we at your house? You said you'd take me home." Hermione pointed out.

"No, I said I'd give you a lift home, I never said it would be to your home. Besides, we leave for Hogwarts in 25 minutes, I need to get my things. And you, need to shower." He replied.

"SHIT! I completely forgot about Hogwarts! I need my things! I need to get cleaned up! Everything I need is back at my house!"

"No, Mum had everything magiced over when she found out I was bringing company to the manor. Don't worry, she didn't tell father, he's at the Ministry anyway, he wouldn't like it if you showed up here. He'd probably kill you on the spot." Hermione froze. "Not that I enjoy you here any more than he does, mind you." Draco added for extra measure.

"Great. I'm in a house where everyone hates me. Feels like home already." She replied miserably.

Draco took note of this comment, and stored it away mentally to ask her about it later. He lead Hermione up a flight of stairs and down a brightly lit hallway and showed her into a large bathroom down towards the end of the hall. "You can clean up here" Draco said. "You'll find your trunk filled with everything that you would need from your room. We're leaving in 20 minutes. Don't be late." And with that, Draco slammed the door.

"Fine asshole." Hermione said to herself. "I won't be late."

Hermione finally realized that she, mudblood Granger, was in Draco Malfoy's house, using his shower, and judging by the things on the counter, his personal shower. If she were any other girl at Hogwarts, she would be too giddy to stand. But she was not any other girl. She was a broken girl, and she doubted anyone would ever want her again if they found out about her horrible experience with Gavin.

She pushed that out of her mind and opened her trunk. 'I have to give it to him, he was right. Everything I need is here.' She thought to herself. She pulled out a pink shirt and charmed it black, and then pulled out a khaki skirt reaching to about mid-thigh. She then ruffled through her trunk and found every sexy pair of underwear she could find, which brought the total to about 5 and laid them in the sink. She then pulled off her red dress, and laid it in the sink with the rest. She stood, looking into the mirror, at the bite marks and bruises, and one by one destroyed everything inside the sink, and she suddenly felt a thousand times better.

She turned on the shower head, and let the water run until it was as hot as it could get. Timidly she stepped into the shower and let the scalding hot water run over her. Only then, when she was finally alone, only then did she cry.


After exactly 15 minutes in the shower, Hermione jumped out and looked in the mirror that was charmed to always be lighted fog free. And she was grateful for that. She quickly got dressed and applied black eyeliner to her brown eyes and strapped on her black stiletto shoes. She didn't look amazing, but it would do. Besides, who was she trying to impress? Her audience was gone.

Grabbing her trunk, she started down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs there was a spacious lounge she hadn't noticed before, and seated in that lounge was Draco. Sitting with one leg crossed over the other in that male fashion, Draco's un-gelled hair fell over his silver wire rimmed glasses as he read the book he was holding.

"Took you long enough Granger, One might have thought you were attempting to wash the filth from your bones." He said in an annoyed tone.

'If you only knew how close you were to the truth' Hermione thought.

"Stop complaining, I'm down here, and we're not late. Out of curiosity's sake, how long were you waiting on me?" she asked.

"About 15 minutes." He replied

"Wow, it only took you 5 minutes to pack and get cleaned up? I would have guessed it took you at least 15 to get your hair perfect, judging from all the products on your sink." Hermione teased.

"Well, it might have, had someone not been in the bathroom for twenty minutes. I couldn't get to my hair gel." Draco replied defensively.

Hermione walked towards the door and as she slowly turned the door knob replied "Don't gel your hair, it looks better that way. Just a thought."


'Damn she got hot fast.' Draco thought to himself. Hell, if she hadn't been Harry Potter's best friend, in Gryffindor, and a mudblood, he might consider looking harder. But after all, he was the sole heir to the Malfoy fortune, he could have any score of girls just by giving that trademark smirk. He was hot, and he knew it. And any advantage you can have over those lower than you, is one to be flaunted.

He made note to call Pansy, he needed some stress relieved, and a good shag was just the way to do that. He suddenly realized that Pansy was mad at him, for some reason unbeknownst to him, and decided to call one of the Hufflepuff whores that always threw themselves at him. Or Maybe he could bed Pothead's girlfriend, that young weasel… that would REALLY piss Potter off. Wait, Ron Weasly's temper is one to be reckoned with, Draco decided against anything that could end up damaging his attractive face.

As Draco turned the doorknob to leave, he suddenly remembered that his father would be home soon. 'Fuck!' he thought. 'If he sees her, he'll kill her. Not that that actually bothers me, but then I'll have to explain why Granger didn't show up at school. God Damnit! If she has any sense she'll stay in the car. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll miss him.'

Draco opened the door and came face to face with a very angry looking Lucius Malfoy. "Hello Draco, are you leaving already?" Mr. Malfoy feigned concern.

"Yes father, the train leaves in half and hour, and Edward is taking me in the Rolls to the station." Draco replied automatically. "Now if you will excuse me I need to leave." And with that, Draco walked out the door and down the sidewalk to the car, while Lucius stood watching.


Hermione sat impatiently in the car while she waited for Draco. 'Where the fuck is he?' she thought as she got out of the car to go see what was taking so long. Then she saw him walking down the sidewalk with an angry expression.

"Draco, what's wrong? What took you so long?" She said. Then she realized; she slipped. She called him Draco. Damnit. He'd never let her live that one down.

Then the voice of a livid Lucius Malfoy was heard. "Draco, What is that mudblood doing in our car!" he spat. "I brought you up better than that. Are you seeing this piece of filth?"

"Of course not father, she needed a lift to the station. I am mearly providing transportation to one to poor to provide it herself." Draco replied coolly.

'Ouch. That hurt' Hermione thought.

"You liar! That mudblood filth has turned you against your father! How dare you go against all that I've taught you! How dare you go against what your Lord wants!"

"I serve no one father. He is your Lord. Not mine." Came the calm reply from Draco.

"CRUCIO!" was the only word that Draco was able to hear before the feeling of unbearable pain was felt throughout his body. He felt as if his skull was going to split in two and his heart was going to burst. He felt all of his energy drain from him as his father kicked and put the Cruciatus Curse on him over and over again. Then suddenly, it stopped.

She didn't know how she did it, but she managed to knock out Lucius Malfoy. Maybe it was because he was distracted, maybe it was just her pure rage towards all men that let her accomplish the feat that Draco himself could not even manage (Though he had tried many times.) but she had done it. She had put him into a state of unconsciousness that would last long enough to allow them to drive away.

Hermione tried to help Draco to the car, but instead was struck below the eye and thrown in. He entered the car and slammed the door causing Hermione to jump.

"I'm sorry that I hit you. That was uncalled for. Despite what you may think, I have never laid a hand on any woman." He said coldly.

"It's fine. Are you okay?" she asked.

"I am always okay. A Malfoy never flinches." Draco replied. He then noticed the bite mark that was just above her collar bone, and assumed that it was just lustful foreplay that got out of hand.

After a long, awkward silence, Draco attempted to fill it; "My father rapes my mother." He said out of nowhere. 'Fuck. Why did I say that.' He thought. 'She probably thinks I'm insane now.'

Hermione flinched and her eyes filled with tears. That was the second time today that she reacted like that.

"Why are you crying? She's a strong woman." He tried to make her feel better.

"I'm not crying" she said defensively.

"Oh, okay then. But those sure seem like filthy beautiful tears rolling down your cheeks." He said. "Here, take this." And he handed her a black handkerchief with the Malfoy crest embroidered in white

Suddenly he realized why Hermione was crying. "Were you raped? Is that why you looked so beat up last night when I found you?"

"No" she replied meekly.

"You liar." He whispered.

"Draco, I know we are mearly acquaintances, but I need you to keep this a secret. If anyone knew, I would be thought of as trash, a used, broken toy." She pleaded.

"I won't tell a soul. You have a few secrets of mine to keep to. If you won't tell, I won't tell. What's happened while we were together will remain a secret. I swear."

"How do I know you're not lying?" she asked.

"Malfoy's never lie." He said arrogantly.

The car rolled to a stop and Draco realized that they were at King's Cross. He put his hand to the door and turned to her. "Granger, just so you know. You're dirty, but you're completely beautiful to me." And with that, Draco stepped out of the car into the bright sunlight of a new year.


A/N: Yes, I know complete shit. Deal with it. I like my Draco semi-out of character. He's cuter that way.