Draco didn't know what to do next. He just stood there, parts of him wanting to laugh and stalk away muttering about how Slytherin was going to win the house cup for sure this year, while other parts of him wanted to do something for Hermione. He couldn't explain this as much as he tried. He told himself that he was being stupid… why would he want to do anything for a little mudblood friend of Potters? Hermione finally took her eyes from the floor and looked up at Draco.
"we lost so many points…" she said in such a low whisper, it was barely audible.
"so?" Draco smirked, trying to regain his former self.
"he got caught in the forest…" she continued
Draco leaned against the wall… "why would I care?" he asked
Draco thought he saw hurt in her eyes, but that couldn't be possible. He had always insulted her. Never had he said anything to her but sarcasim and cruelty… why was she so surprised to hear it now?
----------
Draco saw Hermione's cheeks go red and saw her walking towards him.
"Malfoy!" she yelled, "I defended you that day in the hospital! I know I shouldn't have. Do you know how mad Harry got that I had stood up for YOU? I mean, sure he was being a little rude, but of course he was. You are so cruel, Malfoy, I don't know how you can live with yourself! I defended you! I chose to stick up for you… instead of my best friend!! Do you know how hard that was? Do you know how hard it was for me to forget the past four years of torture and defend you? Harry was so upset, you wouldn't believe it. And with everything that I did to help you, do you know what I got Draco Malfoy? You kicking me out of the hospital wing and Harry mad at me until now!" She stopped abruptly, he face had red blotches everywhere, and she was breathing deeply, yet quickly.
"I do believe it," Draco said calmly
"what?" she seemed so outraged
"I believe how mad Harry got. I know how he can get" Draco said, remembering the duel a couple weeks ago.
"how would you know?" she screamed but she didn't wait for him to answer, "Bye Malfoy!" she ran up the stairs, and Draco was left there, all alone.
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That night as Draco lay in his bed trying to fall asleep his mind went to work. What was it that Granger had said? That Draco wouldn't believe how mad Harry had gotten? How mad had he gotten? Draco knew that Harry would be violent to him, but would he do something like that to his own friends? To Hermione Granger? Images of Potter hurting Hermione kept crawling into his mind. Draco tried with all his might to ignore these. Why was he stressing so much over this? He didn't even care… or did he? After hours of thought on this subject, Draco finally drifted off to sleep. He was uneasy and had many bad dreams. One dream was so horrible he woke up in the middle of the night, his face sweating…
------
Draco was standing in the middle of the Gryffindor common room. He had no idea why he was there, he just knew he had to get help. Help for what? he wondered… The common room was deserted, and Draco assumed it was the middle of the night. He looked out the windows and saw the thin branches of the trees outside clawing at the windows. Thunder roared and lightening flashed. Suddenly Draco heard a scream… he had no idea as to where it came from. A second later he thought he must have imagined it, because the thunder outside was making so much noise he couldn't have heard a scream. Then there was another Draco clearly heard the words "no, stop!" It sounded like a girl. Draco ran up the stairs, he didn't know where the stairs led, but he had to help the girl. He found himself at a door and threw it open. He immediately knew he was in the girls dormitory. He hurriedly looked around and spotted two figures towards the back of the room. As he walked forward he noticed it was Potter, he was standing over someone… Oh my God! It's Granger! but it wasn't easy to tell. Her face was filled with blood and she was cowering against the wall in a way he had never seen someone do before. "please, Harry, stop!" she screamed… but he didn't stop. He kept beating her, over and over again, all over her body. "stop!" Draco yelled. Harry whipped around and lifted his wand. He muttered something under his breath and there was a flash of bright red light.
-----
Draco tried to fall back asleep, but he couldn't. He knew he would never get any sleep having just woke up from a dream like that, so he decided to go down to the common room until breakfast. Draco looked up at the green and silver clock on the wall and saw that it was 2:13. damn, its nowhere near breakfast time yet.
Draco sat on the couch thinking for a little while, but the silence gave him goosebumps. He got up and thought about going back to his dormitory… but what good would that do? He decided to go for a walk.
Draco was walking outside by the lake when he heard something. It sounded like someone sniffing… were they crying? Draco walked toward the sound. "hello?" he said quietly. "is anyone here?"
"who is it?" a female asked
Draco walked closer and saw a girl sitting by a big tree with her head buried in her knees. Before Draco knew what he was doing, he walked over to the girl and tried to comfort her. "are you alright?" he asked.
The girl looked up and Draco realized it was Hermione. Part of Draco wanted to get up and go shower at having been so near that girl, and yet… Yet the other part of him wanted to stay there, to find out what was wrong, to help make it better… what are you thinking, you idiot? Draco scolded himself, mentally you can't comfort a Mudblood!
But just then, it didn't matter what Draco wanted to do with the situation, because Hermione threw herself on him and wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. Draco had no idea what to do so he patted her awkwardly on the head saying "its ok" in what he hoped was a comforting voice, after all, he had never, in his entire life, had to comfort anyone before.
-----
After a minute, Hermione looked up and when she saw Draco, the sadness from before nearly vanished. Instead there was anger.
"Malfoy!" she yelled, "what are YOU doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you Granger"
"I-I- wait, why should I answer you? You didn't answer me!"
"I was going for a walk" Draco said, but Hermione looked like she was waiting for more, he added "I couldn't sleep. Now, what are you doing here?"
"same as you" Draco raised his eyebrows.
"then why are you crying?"
"it's none of your business." she whispered, near tears again. Draco was going to get up and continue his walk, but he remembered his dream and had an idea.
"does it have to do with Harry?"
Hermione hesitated, "how did you--- I mean, why would you think that?"
"because I know he's been acting , er, strangely lately."
Hermione looked straight into Draco's eyes for the first time ever, her voice sounded gentle now, all the anger and hate was gone, and she spoke in a whisper, "how do you know?"
Draco thought for a while if he should tell her about the duel. this is crazy Draco thought to himself, right before he decided to tell her.
------
"well, you see, Potter and I decided to duel one day…"
"when?" Hermione asked, startled.
"a couple weeks ago… anyway, we swore that we would both show up-- and we did. Before the duel started, I … well, I made a comment about Potter's family" Hermione looked up at him again, the anger back in her eyes, but she didn't say anything.
"well, I guess his temper got the best of him, and next thing I knew I was on the floor, begging him not to curse me…" Draco looked at the floor, remembering.
"you were begging? " Hermione asked, disbelieving
Draco decided that he had started the story so he might as well tell it how it really happened, "well, yes… actually," he laughed nervously "when I get, er, afraid… I tend to beg… but that's beside the point, so I was trying to convince him to leave me alone, but that didn't exactly work…"
" Harry cursed you? "
"yea… and I ended up--"
"in the hospital wing??? That's why you were there!"
"exactly"
------
"no! you're lying! Harry wouldn't do that!"
"do you really know that? Both you and I know that he has been acting… well, different and I thought he might be doing something to you and Weasley like he did to me, after all, he is with you two a lot more than me… I really have no idea what has come over him"
Hermione sat, watching a ladybug crawl around the grass.
"Has he?" Draco asked gently
"what?"
"has he been doing anything to you?"
"no, he's a wonderful person, he doesn't do this kind of thing"
"Hermione," Draco whispered softly, "if its not that, then why are you crying?" he asked taking her hands gently into his own and looking her in the eyes.
-----
Hermione, once again, let herself collapse onto Draco's shoulders, only this time she knew who it was. This time, however, Draco knew better than to tap her awkwardly on the head. He slowly put his arms around her and ran his fingers through her soft curls.
"I'm sorry" she said after a while
"for what?" Draco asked startled
"for all of this… I shouldn't be crying on your shoulders. I shouldn't trouble you with my problems"
"it's ok, Hermione, you need to tell someone" after a long pause, Hermione finally said "you're right"
Draco nodded
"Harry is the reason I'm crying. But he didn't curse me or hurt me… physically"
"what did he do?"
"he's just been so cruel lately… he has such a nasty temper. I have no idea why he does this, but he is always getting mad at everything, and saying horrible, horrible things."
------
"I'm sorry" Draco said in an attempt to comfort her, her didn't have much else he could say.
"why are you doing this? Why aren't you spitting on me and calling me a Mudblood and cursing everything about me?"
"because…" Honestly, Draco had no idea why he had seemed to change so much "I'm just not"
The two sat together in silence for a couple of minutes, then Hermione spoke up.
"I know about the Care of Magical Creatures class. I saw Harry punch you…" She sighed, "I confronted him, asked him why he lied to Hagrid about what happened… but he just got mad again. H-he started throwing things and screaming at me. We were in the common room, and he noticed that he was making a scene so he shut up. That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw him standing over me" Now, she was trying to hold back her tears, "and he said he was so disappointed in me… that I didn't trust him, or value our friendship, he said 'how can you betray me like this?' he couldn't believe that I actually thought he punched you. But I saw it with my own eyes, I didn't say anything to him, I was much too tired to argue, I just nodded. I rolled over to go back to sleep and he asked why I was turning my back on him, did I not want to see him? I told him I did want to see him, but I was just tired. He went on again saying how disappointed he was. When I didn't answer he seemed to take it as an insult, so, once again, he had one of his tantrums. He tried to control it, but he was getting louder and louder."
Draco nodded encouragingly.