Chapter 13-

AN- I am sooo sorry that I haven't been able to update in a long time…I have been doing a lot…Yeh know…

Well, anyway…here it is. I will try to update my other story within the next few days…I will TRY. I make no promises…

Draco was startled awake at about three thirty in the morning. He sat up and listened to hear what had woken him up. After straining to hear for about fifteen seconds, he heard it. He heard something that he hadn't heard since the night that he had left the cabin for Hogsmeade. Hermione's screams.

Tears suddenly filled his eyes and he was overwhelmed with the urge to run to her. He actually got out of bed before he realized what he was doing. He stopped himself and forced himself to sit back down. He pulled the covers back over his body and laid down.

Twenty minutes later Draco found himself crushing his pillow as he listened to every word she screamed.

"STOP!! HELP, DRACO PLEASE…Draco…NOOOO!!!!"

Every single time Draco heard his name he cringed. He was angry…unbelievably angry. 'Why does she have to dream about me? I didn't hit her. Her dad hit her!!! Not me…' Draco thought over and over again.

Suddenly everything went silent. Draco once again strained his ears to hear what was going on. After several minutes of silence, Draco heard movement in the common room. 'She must have woken up.' Draco thought. He was about to fell sorry for her, but he caught himself and said out loud, "About time." With that, he went back to sleep.

Hermione couldn't sleep. The nightmares were haunting her again. Ever since that day when she had left the cabin, she had had at least one nightmare a night.

Tears were gently flowing down her cheeks as she assumed her usual 3 am position on the couch downstairs. She sat there, clinging to a pillow, and cried. She had done this nearly every night since she had arrived at Hogwarts. Sometimes she wouldn't wake up until 6 am, other times she would be forced from her sleep at 1. It seemed to vary from night to night, but she could at least count on the fact that she would have a rude awakening sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

She wanted to scream, but she held back because she didn't want Draco to know how much she was suffering. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of letting him know how much he was tearing her apart on the inside. So, she held it in. She just sat there and sobbed quietly into the pillow that she had used as her only comfort for so many nights.

After sitting in the same position for about two hours, Hermione got up and went to get dressed. It was five thirty and she thought that she might as well get up and get something done. She dressed in a black spaghetti strap shirt and a pair of black pants with a blood red belt. She then put on her black boots. This wasn't school uniform, but classes didn't start until Monday so it didn't matter what she wore today. She didn't bother putting make-up on, nobody would be looking at her anyway. She picked up her brush and began combing trough the messy locks of hair. Three minutes later, she decided to just leave it down and go. She sat the brush down, glanced in the mirror, and left her room.

Once she was in the common room again, she picked up the book she had been reading, Blue Moon by Laurell K.. Hamilton, and was off.

As she was walking down the corridors towards the Great Hall she opened her book and began reading. She walked around like a machine, moving through the halls and corridors with ease as she looked only at the book in her hands. She knew these corridors like the back of her hand and she had no need to look up. Or so she thought.

CRASH

Hermione hit a hard stone wall. The book fell from her hands and rested on the floor as she tried to regain her balance. When she was steady she looked around. 'There shouldn't be a wall here.' she thought as she gazed at the unfamiliar wall that surrounded her. 'Where am I? Bloody hell!! I must have taken a wrong turn. I guess I'll just go back the way I came.' With that, she picked up her book and turned around. She was about to start walking, but there was a wall there. 'What? That wasn't there a second ago.' she thought as she turned to her left then to her right only to find walls on both sides. Finally she turned to look behind her and found that once again, she had no where to go.

Panic flowed through her veins as she began spinning around in search of a way out. After spinning several times she found nothing. She was surrounded by solid, stone walls. With that thought, she began pushing on the walls. Yet again, she was disappointed to find that she was trapped.

By this time, Hermione had dropped her book and was in tears. She wanted to scream, but she knew that noone would hear. Everyone was sleeping and who knows where she was. Finally, she stopped pounding on the walls and sat down on the cold, stone floor. 'Why me…why is it always me??' she wondered as she sat on the ground holding her legs close to her stomach.

At around six-thirty, Draco woke once again and got ready for his day. When he had taken a shower and gotten dressed he decided to head to the Great Hall for breakfast.

After walking for a few minutes, Draco was lost in his thoughts. He had dreamt about Hermione when he had fallen back asleep. In his dream, he went to her and held her. He took care of her and she didn't push him away. It was a nice dream, but he knew that it wasn't real. There was no way that she would take him willing back into her arms after what he had done. There was just no way.

'Why did I have to ruin everything?? Wait, I didn't do anything. I was the one willing to lower my standards. I was the one who was giving up my entire family. I was the one giving up my reputation. What did she do? What was she willing to give up for me? She wouldn't even let go of the Wonder Boy and his Homely Sidekick! What's the deal with that? She doesn't deserve me.'

Anger suddenly filled him to the brim and flowed out from every pore in his body. He pulled his right arm back and smashed it into one of the stone walls. He was mad about everything. Hermione, his father, school, Hermione, getting lost, Hermione…As he pulled his hand back he saw blood rushing from his knuckles. For a moment he stared at the bloodied flesh, but he was drawn from his trace by the quiet sound of someone crying. The sound was coming from the corridor to his left. He turned towards the sound and began walking towards it.

After walking for only a few seconds, he caught sight of someone laying on the floor crying. Draco immediately knew it was a girl, because of the long, wavy, brown hair that was covering her thin, shaking shoulders. But who it was, he could not tell. Judging from her size, he thought that she was probably a scared second or third year.

Draco, being the good prefect that he was, in private, approached the small girl. When he was standing over her, he bent down to tap her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?"

Hermione had no idea how long she had been laying on the floor, but she felt that she didn't have the energy to move. She just laid on the ground and let her tears fall. Not tears from getting lost, though that was part of it. They were tears of loss. The loss of Draco, Ron, Harry, Draco, the Gryffindors, her mother, Draco, her father…the list seemed to go on and on. Yet, she noticed that her mind always came back to Draco. And every time she thought about him, she began to cry harder.

Suddenly, she was shaken from her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Hey, are you okay?" came a voice that seemed really far away.

She didn't want to look up, but somewhere in the rational part of her brain she realized that someone else had gotten through the wall. Slowly she pulled herself into a sitting position. Her hair fell in front of her face hiding her from view, but she didn't have the strength to brush it away. She looked up at the boy in front of her, but she couldn't tell who he was through the wall of hair that was covering her face. She stared at him for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"Can I help you with something? Are you lost?" He asked in a caring voice.

Hermione didn't answer. She didn't know what to say. She was beginning to think that she was dreaming and that something was going to go wrong any second.

The boy kneeled down after a few minutes of silence passed. "Look, you don't have to be afraid. I can help you find your way if you are lost."

Again, Hermione gave no answer. She didn't know why she wouldn't answer, but right now she just wanted to wake up from this horrible dream.

"I understand that you might be embarrassed, but there is no reason to be. It is very common for second years to get lost." he guessed second year because third years and above usually don't get lost.

Hermione tilted her head to the side at this. "I'm not a second year." she mumbled.

Draco was startled by the quietness of the voice. It was very sad and broken. She sounded sort of…detached…"Oh, sorry. What year are you?"

"Sixth."

This caught Draco off guard. 'A sixth year? How could she be a sixth year? She is way to small…' Draco thought, but he pushed his thoughts away and said, "Can I help you?"

Hermione shook her head. 'Noone can help me. Noone wants to help me.' she thought as she looked down at the ground.

Draco felt the sudden need to know who this girl was, to help her. He slowly moved his hand forward to move the hair from the girls guarded face. He pushed the hair behind her ear and gazed into her face. He barely held in the gasp that wanted to come out. It was Hermione.

Millions of different thoughts were zooming through his mind as he stared down at the tiny, frail girl in front of him. 'Why is she so skinny? Why didn't I notice before? Why is she lost? What is she doing crying in the middle of a corridor? Where are Potty and Weasel???'

Hermione looked up as the boy moved her hair from her face. Her eyes were out of focus for several seconds before she realized with a start that it was Draco. She wanted to scream, but she didn't have the strength. All she did was open her mouth and gap at him. 'What is he doing here? Why is he trying to help me? Why do…' Suddenly Hermione's head began to spin. She felt sick to her stomach, then everything went black……

AN- Sorry again for taking so long. I will try to update once a week…Love ya guys. Read and Review!! Please!!!