Title: Anger Management

Author: S.L. Pagniello

Chapter: 4

Ship: Dr/ Hr

Rating: R

Synopsis: He hates her, everything about her. Her hair, her eyes, her fucking muggle clothes! Now, during their 7th year at Hogwarts, he must not only deal with her but also learn to live with her. However, that may take the destruction of everything in his room... (HBP totally blows this into AU, but oh well!)

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Draco's eyes fluttered. It was night; it had to be for he couldn't see to far around him. All was dark, save for a few candles on the table beside his bed. He made to sit up, pushing his upper body up. A dull pain was throbbing in his head, but it wasn't to bad. How long had he been out? He glanced around, he was in his room, no longer in the hospital wing. His eyes settled on a sleeping form in the large chair at his sitting area. He focused on the feminine form of the woman he knew was sleeping there. She slumped, large book in her lap, open and slid almost off of her legs as she slept. Draco crawled to the end of his bed to get a better look at her.

She was breathing softly, and she had dark bags beneath her eyes. Her wand was set on the table beside the chair, and several vials of potion strewn across it, some open and empty, others full and waiting. Had she been here, taking care of him? He shook his head, sitting again on his bed staring at her form. Why? God, he didn't understand! This was his childhood nemesis. If at all possible, they hated each other more than he and Potter hated each other.

Granger shifted, the book falling to the floor with a thud. She rubbed at her eyes, yawning quietly. She looked at him now, through a sleepy, half lidded gaze. Suddenly, she realized he was awake.

"Oh, Malfoy! How long have you been awake?" She asked, getting to her feet. She wore a short cotton nightgown with an off-white blanket wrapped around her. She dropped the blanket into the chair as she walked over to the side of Draco's bed.

For a moment, Draco couldn't find his voice. Hermione was deftly touching his face, checking his temperature and asking silly questions such as 'does this hurt?' 'Can you wiggle your toes?' 'What about your fingers?' He stared at her, she seemed to have gone through these motions before, touching him and checking him.

"How long have I been asleep?" was the first question he managed to squeeze out. He'd ask more later, but for now he wanted to know how long he had been unconscious, how much he needed to make up. He just couldn't afford this illness.

"Almost a week now..." Granger said, now sitting beside him on the bed. A week? He'd missed a week of classes, just lying here. A dull anger swept through him at his own inability to keep himself healthy enough to at least stay conscious.

"You look much better than you did when I found you. You have some color back to you, and Madame Pomfrey prescribed something to keep you well nourished." Granger was smiling at him. She was smiling at him. He stared at her, trying to find the words to express his confusion. He felt anger, but didn't feel the energy needed to hurt the woman before him. He leaned back now, against his mass of crumpled pillows. Granger fretted over them, fluffing them around him, trying to see to his comfort. He still stared at her.

"What is wrong with you?" Draco finally asked. Granger's face fell slightly, but she quickly brought her smile back.

"Nothing! I am simply taking care of a fellow classmate! You are Head Boy after all, and you need to be healthy in order to keep up with your responsibilities, and do your class work on top of the other word expected of you, and-" she had ended her rambling abruptly, both of them noticing that she was just filling up space with her words. She quieted, looking away from him.

"You hate me." He said squarely. For once there was no malice in Draco Malfoy's voice, only pure fact. He was stating what they both knew to be true, and what had been true for years. "You hate me, so why? Why do this for me?" He asked, staring hard at her. Granger shrugged slightly, trying to hide whatever answer she had.

"Tell me!" Draco's voice rose instantly, hating to be ignored. Granger turned to look at her, her smile gone and anger apparent in her tired face.

"I know what you did." She hissed at him, staring back into his cold gray eyes. She knew what he did? He almost laughed.

"And what is it I did, Granger? What great thing did I do to deserve all you've done for me?" That Malfoy cockiness was back in his voice. He crossed his arms loosely as he watched her from his pillows. She frowned at him.

"... You saved everyone. You... you sacrificed everything you ever had for... for the people that hated you." Her voice was hardy a whisper. He stared at her, and blind fury suddenly gripped him. He lunged forward, grabbing her by her neck and throwing her onto the floor.

She hit the floor with a grunt, and immediately her hands began to try prying Draco's fingers from her neck. Draco straddled her flat stomach, leaning his weight onto her as he attempted to squeeze her airway shut.

"Look where it's gotten me, Granger! Look at me! I don't even know what I am anymore! I'm not a boy, I'm not a Malfoy!" He yelled at her, watching her defiant gaze against the hands squeezing at her neck. "My sacrifice has gotten me nothing but pain, anguish! If I could change it, I would, Granger. I would! I am not some savior, some fucking hero! I was a misguided youth, some pawn in the big picture! Now what do I have! I have nothing! I have no family, no one to turn to, no one I can trust! All because I saved the people who hate me! I wish I would have let them all die!" He yelled, squeezing her throat harder.

Tears swelled up in Hermione Granger's eyes. As they poured down her cheeks and over Draco's fingers, he loosened his grip. Their would be bruising around her neck, but she could breathe at least. She touched his arm, sliding her hand up it to his shoulders.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry everyone has treated you the way they have." She said, sounding sincere. Draco snarled at her, his hands now resting on the floor beside her head.

"You're sorry? Why, why would you be sorry? It's not like the sacrifices I made mean anything to you!" He said, unable to think of something better. "You don't know anything of what happened, you don't know anything, Granger!"

Beneath him, she sniffed. She brought a hand to the collar of his button down pajama shirt.

"I know more than you think I do." She said, unbuttoning his shirt. What the fuck was she doing? He stared as her hands unbutton the entirety of his shirt. She traced the abrasive scars on his chest with her delicate fingers.

"After the first time I came to your room, asking you about the broken mirror, I went to Dumbledore." Draco stared at the girl beneath him. She'd gone to the headmaster? That old fool must have told her what had happened with Voldemort and the Death-Eaters! He must have told this filthy little mudblood all of Draco's dirty little secrets, that bastard!

"He told me that you had gone through... great pain and suffering for us. For everyone, wizards and muggles alike. He... He told me that you faced him on your own, before Harry came. He told me they did awful things to you when they found out you'd betrayed them... That you'd been hurt so badly, and wounded so horribly that at first Dumbledore hadn't thought you would make it." She was whispering to him again. Draco wasn't sure what to say. He just... wasn't sure.

"He said you would have died trying to save everyone, should it have come down to it." Draco frowned. Those words were true, once upon a time. He would have gladly died at Voldemort's hands, or at the hands of any other Death-Eater to save these... people. These people that loathed him for what he was and what he had done. When his parents abandoned him for Voldemort he had been crushed. When they invited him into their circle, he'd been elated. When he found out what a psychopath the Dark Lord was... he'd been infuriated. Infuriated that his parents could be used in such a way, that all the people he'd even known and trusted could be used in such a way. Infuriated that he'd been used in such a way.

"I would have." Draco said coldly, "I would have died. But who would have cared? One old man would have come to Draco Malfoy's grave to grieve. To grieve over a student who could have given so much more, to grieve over a little boy with no power and not enough intelligence to keep himself alive." He said, frowning deeply. "I should have stuck with what I knew, what everyone hated me for. At least then I would be dead, and not have to live this accused shadow of a life I've been granted!" Abruptly Draco removed himself from Granger's body, standing, and holding the chair she had previously been occupying for balance.

"No! You made the right choice, Draco!" Granger was sitting up now, trying to stand on wobbly legs. "You did, I swear it! I... can't apologies enough for how everyone has treated you, for how... I have treated you." She was finally standing, frowning as she tried not to let the tears fall again.

Draco laughed harshly. "And I should care that one little mudblood sees me in a different light? That one filthy little human being cares that I almost lost my life for... for what? For muggles and muggle-borns?" He laughed again, shaking his white blonde hair to a fro. He brought a hand up to his forehead, covering his eyes and the string of tears.

"For the entire wizarding world." Granger was ignoring his insults now, something that riled him. He was angry, why should she be some fucking calm?

"I'm so happy that the sacrifice of everything I ever knew could result in the saving of everything everyone else ever knew." He spat venomously. Granger took several bold steps towards him and he turned towards her, glaring at her. His body was rigid, and she brought her hand up to his face.

She slapped him.

Draco stared at her, the redness in his cheek still stinging. She had struck him with no fear, none at all. She stared into his eyes, watching the emotions pass through him.

"I don't need you." Draco said quietly, seemingly trying to convince himself as well as the girl... woman before him. He made no move to strike her in return.

"But you want me." She said, watching his face. His mind was racing. The confrontation they'd had over her avoiding the common room, avoiding him. His constant watching, almost stalking over her.

"You could never understand me." He said as she stepped closer to him, "You'd never want me in return." He said dejectedly. Hermione reached her arms up to take hold of his head and shoulders, to bring him closer to her in an embrace.

"I can make my own decisions, Draco Malfoy." She said as he let her bring him back to bed. She sat, and he allowed her to lay his body against her own, as he rested his head against her breasts.

"I want you to tell me everything, I want you to share everything with me. This will be... our secret." She was stroking his hair as his eyes drooped, one arm clinging to her body.

"You have to act no different outside our chambers. You don't have to do anything but share with me. Share you space, your time and your energy. I will be here for you, you need only to take the first step." She whispered quietly into his ear.

Thoughts swirled around Draco's mind. Was it wise to tell Granger everything? Well who fucking cared. What was she going to do, blackmail him? It's not like his life could get any worse. At the very least... at the very least he could have something for just tonight. He could pretend she'd really be there in the morning, after they had stopped talking and he'd slept and awoken with the dawn. He could pretend someone really cared about his well being, that someone... loved him.

Then, he began to talk. Draco began to share every aspect of his life with the girl, woman he'd hated all of his academic life. He told her of his childhood, what it was like growing up in the Malfoy home. What it was like to have to live up to such a name, such a family. He told her of his parents and how they were before Voldemort... and after. He shared with her everything he'd ever known, why he'd done everything he had ever done. He lay in Hermione Granger's arms and shared his whole like with her... every trial and triumph... and she listened. She listened to everyone word he said without interruption or question. When he was angry, she stroked his hair in a comforting motion. When he despaired, she kissed his forehead tenderly showing her support. She even smiled when he told her his proudest moments.

For the first time in years, many years, Draco held a feeling of contentment. He buried his face in Hermione's body, letting his tears soak her nightgown. His tears weren't out of anger, sadness or confusion. They were simply tears that could be shed with someone who cared, someone who cared if he lived or died, cared that he sacrificed so much, cared that he was trying... and cared to be with him.

God, what was wrong with the world that he, Draco Malfoy was laying with Hermione Granger, enjoying the soft smell of her hair and the cool touch of her fingers against his skin. The worst part of it was that he did enjoy it. How he enjoyed it, loved it... and God how he wanted it. Oh God how he wanted everything that was her...

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A/N: I wrote it all in one sitting, cause I am crazy like that. :D There was less extreme violence in this chapter, and I'm attempting to get into the Dr/ Hr aspect of this. Don't worry, there will be more fighting, etc. Questions will arise and screaming matches will ensue. I am even contemplating -eyes dart around- smut! -gasps!- but no one heard that. :P I just want to also take this time to thank you guys SO MUCH for the reviews. I never ever though anyone would enjoy my story as much as you guys are. It makes me so happy I just can't... handle it :D I love you guys!