A single drop of crimson red blood flowed freely down her soft delicate arm. She let a small gasp escape as she dropped the knife to the floor. She examined her handy work; cut deep into her beautiful skin was all the pain she was feeling. It seemed that that small act lifted the weight off her shoulders for the first time in weeks she was in total control.

The knife clunked on to the floor, red blood staining the tip. She looked down at it; her reflection staring back. Yes, on the outside she was the same person but on the inside she had changed. She could no longer handle the pressure that she once thrived off of. Her world was collapsing in on her and she couldn't stop it. This thought mad her sick. She was now forced to physically hurt herself so she could feel in control.

Her hands grasped the sides of the kitchen sink. She gagged, but held it back. Blood was now flowing more freely from her cut. She watched it trickle down her arm and drop into the sink. She stared intensely at the drop of blood. Images flashed before her eyes. She saw herself cutting and lying to Malfoy about it. She saw herself lying in a pool of blood, her wrists split wide open. She felt the vomit coming again, but did not hold it back. She threw up into the sink, her hair flying forward and covering her face. She thought she heard the sound of running feet, stomping down the stairs and into the kitchen. She felt her hair being pulled back so she could see. She had made a mess in the kitchen and would soon be paying for it. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned around. Draco was standing there looking at her quite worried.

"What happened?" He asked, running his hands through his hair.

"Got sick," Hermione replied.

"I can see. Do you know why?" He questioned.

"Donno," She was trying to speak as little as possible. Hermione hoped Draco hadn't seen the cut on her arm. Her hand shot up and covered it, but it was a little late. He had just seen it.

"What's that from?" He asked as he pried her hand away.

"I…I hit my arm on the cabinet while picking up the medicine," She replied. Stepping back and knocking the knife under the cabinets.

"Oh, well where are your band-aids?"

"Upstairs in my dad's room. But I should get them because I don't want him seeing you yet, not until he is sober and not angry," Hermione said, she walked past Draco and looked up at the doorway. Her father was standing there, a blank stare on his face. Hermione gasped and moved in front of Draco. "Daddy?"

"Who the hell is he?" He said irritably.

"He is a friend from school. He had no place to stay, I couldn't leave him out in the cold, Daddy," She replied softly. He grunted.

"Fine, but he has to pay his own way, we don't have the money to support him." He cursed and walked out of the room. Hermione turned to face Draco.

"You don't have to pay, I will pay for you," She said quietly.

"How? You don't have any extra money," He replied.

"I have a job," She turned away, tears welling up in her eyes.

"What's your job?" He questioned moving closer to her.

"It's none of your damn business, so just leave it, ok?" She retorted. Draco was a little taken back, but nodded and decided not to press the matter. Hermione's father called for her from upstairs, she rushed out of the kitchen to tend to him. He walked to the bottom of the stairs and stopped when he heard them talking.

"My friends are coming over to night. You know the routine. Your friend had better stay out of the way. You will be downstairs promptly at nine sharp," He commanded.

"Yes dad. Draco won't get in the way," She replied. He heard Hermione's soft foot steps walk away from the stairs and towards her bedroom. Her father's loud footsteps pounding down the stairs. Draco bolted away from the hall and into the kitchen. He flung himself into the bathroom at the far right of the refrigerator. He heard Mr. Granger stop around the kitchen as if looking for something. Draco heard the shuffle of silver ware, the slam of a drawer and his foot steps; signaling that he had left the kitchen. Draco waited a moment before deciding it was safe to exit the bathroom. He softly opened and closed the door and sprinted upstairs. He was stopped at the bottom of the stairs by Mr. Granger; he was holding a knife firmly in his hand. He pointed it at Draco and began to advance on him.

"You will stay out of the way tonight, or else!" He said threateningly. Draco nodded and squeezed between the wall and him and ran up the stairs. He ran to the end of the hall and wrenched open his door. He was about to enter when he heard music from Hermione's room. He leaned against the wall and listed to her as she sung along. There was something not right about the tone of her voice, she sounded very hurt. Draco was going to find out what was wrong but Mr. Grangers foot steps sounded up the stair way and he shoved himself in his room as fast as possible.

He threw himself onto his bed, resting his hands behind his head. He stared blankly up at the ceiling, for the first time in his life he felt sorry for someone. Her home was almost as bad as his used to be. The only thing that was good about this house is that he could live there. He sighed and rolled over. He had failed to notice that Hermione had left something on his bed for him. It was a small round object with what looked like earmuffs attached to a cord that attached to the round thing. Draco saw there was a note with it.

I thought you might need something to do tonight. This is a CD player, it's my old one. I thought it was broken but it wasn't. The round discs are called CD's. You put one into the CD player and press the play button. Put the head phones on and listen. Enjoy

He smiled and picked up a black case and unzipped it. He flipped through looking at the CD's. He didn't recognize any of these bands name. He stopped on one randomly, Everclear. He decided to listen to it. He put on the head phones and randomly picked a song. He read the little packet that was with the CD, apparently the song he was listening to was called "I will buy you a new life". He hummed along with it. This song really struck his interest, so he put it on repeat. He closed his eyes and listened to it.

He wasn't sure how long he listened to it for but when he opened his eyes it was dark outside. He looked down at his watch. It was about quarter to nine. He now knew all the lyrics to that one song. He hadn't heard any of Mr. Grangers friends come in, but the moment he paused the song he heard them. Yelling and smashing things. Draco knew Hermione would have to clean that up later. He sighed and started the music again.

His door was slightly open and he could see only a little bit of the hallway. He watched it, waiting to see Hermione go downstairs. After about a fifteen minute wait she emerged from her room. No longer dressed in the clothes she was wearing earlier, but a jean skirt and a tank top. Draco wondered why she would wear something like that. She didn't turn to look at him. She was outlined by the light for a brief second before disappearing down the dark hallway. Draco decided it was best not to hear anything, because if he did he might run down there to say something and he needed a place to live. He turned up the music and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, "I will buy you a new life" was still playing. He propped himself up against the wall and started it over. He began to sing along with it.

"Here is the money that I owe you
So you can pay the bills
I will give you more when I get paid again
I hate those people who love to tell you
Money is the root of all that kills
They have never been poor
They have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas
I know we will never look back
"

If it weren't for being here, Draco would never understand about being poor.

"You say you wake up crying
Yes and you don't know why
You get up and you go lay down inside my baby's room
I guess I'm doing ok
I moved in with the strangest guy
Can you believe he actually thinks that I am really alive
"

Draco was still lost in the song and didn't realize that Hermione was passing by. She stopped to listen to him. Her hand twisted around the corner of the door, only one eye was visible with the light, he body almost completely hidden in the dark of the hallway.

"I will buy you a garden where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car, perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
Yes I will
" Draco continued to sing.

Tears that had already formed in Hermione's eyes were now spilling over and rolling down her bruised face.

"I know all about that other guy
The handsome man with athletic thighs
I know about all the times before
With that obsessive little rich boy
They might think you're happy
Yeah maybe for a minute or two
"

Hermione smiled briefly, thinking that that description fit Draco perfectly.

"They can't make you laugh
No they can't make you feel the way that I do
I know we can never look back
Will you please let me stay the night
No one will ever know
"

Hermione's smile faded as Draco began the chorus again.

"I will buy you a garden where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car, perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
Yes I will
" Draco slowly opened his eyes. For a brief moment he could see Hermione's silent tears illuminated by the light from his room, before she disappeared, limping back to her room. A million different questions raced through Draco's mind that night, but only one seemed truly important. What had they done to her?

authors note: heres chapter 3! I have 4 chapters already written so updates will be pretty frequent for awhile, chapter 5 is in the works! please review and tell me what you think!