Disclaimer: I don't own

Right folks. The stories going slash. Not for a long while. But that's the direction its heading. If you don't like it don't read it. But I promise it won't be as bad as you're all thinking. I'm not that kind of writer. Anyway, here's the next instalment of The Other Way. Enjoy.

The Other Way

About an hour later I heard water splashing about as I came back to myself, and I suddenly remembered that Draco was in the bathroom. With a muttered curse I stood up, breaking my mug in the process and heading down to the bathroom. I knocked the door.

"Draco?" I called. "Are you ok?"

The lock slid back and the door opened.

And I stared, Draco had nothing but a towel round his waist, and the effects of his lack of appetite was clearly shown. He wasn't emaciated exactly, but he was getting there. All his ribs were showing, his waist was far too narrow… it was frightening what a set of robes could hide.

He shifted slightly.

I blinked and moved back. "Sorry, go get dressed. I'll make some tea, or coffee, or something…"

He slipped out past me and into the guest room; I had put all his stuff in there before Hermione arrived. I went back to the kitchen, cleaning the mess in the living room as I passed and made a pot of tea. I rummaged for a packet of biscuits and sat them on the table and sat down.

And wondered.

I wondered how things had gotten so screwed up all of a sudden. A week ago everything had been normal, but now… I pulled out Percy's glasses and rubbed my thumbs over them. I had to go visit him today. I never missed a day, the day I missed could be the day he wanted to come back but no one was there.

The other chair scraped softly off the floor as Draco sat. I looked over, dressed he looked better, but now that I had seen how bad he really was I wouldn't forget.

"Help yourself." I offered.

He took a cup and poured some tea and sipped it slowly, watching me. Odd that the one thing I noticed was that his hair was curling as it dried. I had never pictured Draco with curly hair. I must not have been thinking too clearly.

He guessed what I was staring at because he started to pull on a curl in an attempt to straighten it.

I smiled slightly and reached for a biscuit. I supposed I would have to start asking some questions, get him talking. Though it really was a challenge to get him to verbalise anything. Maybe if I looked at it like a game of chess-sometimes you had to give up pieces to get what you wanted, and as much as that scared me I realised that was what I would have to do.

But first I had to get him talking, once he was talking I would be able to get a clearer picture and the game to chess could begin.

"Drac9o?"

He looked at me.

"As much as I know your not going to like this, I have to ask you some questions, ok?"

He looked away and nodded.

I considered my words, I didn't very often, but Draco needed special handling on this. "Ok, first of all, could you tell me why you won't talk?"

Draco's mouth opened, closed, opened again before he spoke in a whisper, putting the cup back on the table as it began to shake. "He didn't like it when I talked."

I nodded, encouragingly, but got nothing more. "Why didn't he?"

He shrugged.

"Draco, I need you to talk to me on this." I said gently. "You don't have to be afraid of him here. You can talk if you want, I'm not going to get angry." I'd have been bloody relieved.

"I… I know that… b… but I've…" he trailed off, took a deep breath before continuing. "I've gotten used to it. I was never allowed to speak, or make a sound or he'd…" he stopped, a look of pain crossing his face.

"What would he do?" I asked quietly.

"U. usually he just hit me… but earlier… before I… he…"

"He what?" I pressed.

"He broke my jaw sometimes!" he said in a rush. "He didn't mean it! Sometimes he just hit me too hard-he healed it after… most of the time…" he shuddered.

"So sometimes he broke it on purpose, to make you keep silent?" I asked, rubbing my jaw, just thinking about it hurt.

He nodded.

"Tell me why you wanted to leave him-what was it like before, did he hit you often? What happened?"

He shook his head. "Not often, just when we fought. When he didn't like where it was heading. I could take that. It wasn't much different to what my parents did when I stepped out of line." He said, with surprising calm, but there was something darker lurking under the surface.

"So what changed? What made you decide to leave him?"

His eyes lost focus as he recalled it. "We had just had another fight, a bad one. He'd hit me a few times, but suddenly he wanted for us to go upstairs and have sex like nothing had happened. I… I didn't want to… I didn't want to just act like it hadn't happened. I… I didn't want to. So I told him so. H... he got angry, started yelling again. H. he d. dragged me upstairs a... and he… he…" he swallowed. "I didn't want to… but he made me. After that I didn't want to stay anymore. I wanted out… but…" he trailed off, brushing a hand over his eyes.

Anger burned in me. I could fill in the blanks easily enough.

"I shouldn't have stayed… but when he took my wand… I…I…" he broke into quiet sobs, and my heart constricted slightly as I realised he blamed himself for not leaving.

My anger receded a little.

"It wasn't your fault Draco. When he took your wand he made you feel helpless, like you couldn't leave. It wasn't your fault." I soothed.

He didn't answer, just kept crying softly.

Ok, there you are. I'll update again soon, I promise. I'm bringing Harry back in next chapter. I'm sorry its so short, I'll work on that. I hate the idea that the story may be bitty. Ok.

Love ya'll and review!