Disclaimer: I'm a poor, deprived girl who sadly does not own anything except for this plot which was cooked up in my insane mind. However, go ahead and sue if you want. All you'll get is a bunch of old stuffed toys and my pathetic report card which doesn't look the least bit impressive.
A/N: Back from the dead for a while. I wonder if anyone would even read this. I'm wondering if I have readers, actually. Sorry. I'm kinda venting my frustration. People who don't want to read a sad deprived girl vent skip this part.
Okay, so it's a new school year. A new class. Fine. No one told me it was gonna be SO DAMNED stressful. Does anyone know how stupid I feel in this class? No. Everyone is too busy being smart. I miss my old class loads. Where I can easily be ranked top 10 without studying too hard. Now I feel one of the stupidest. AARRGH.
Anyway, enjoy!
Kyaneos.
The first time she found him she was on Prefect duty, patrolling the corridors and classrooms at night. Even she did not know how to explain it. It was almost like some force was telling her to go to the Astronomy Tower. And when she had gotten there and pushed open the door, he was there. Standing at the window with his broom in hand, his windswept hair had given away the fact that he had entered the Astronomy Tower through the balcony.
He turned, seemingly indifferent. His expressionless face looked at her, cold grey eyes boring into her soul. It was a cold night, and Hermione shivered involuntarily. They just stood there for a moment in silence. Obviously he didn't feel like insulting her.
"Why are you here? It's past curfew."
"Couldn't sleep. Not that it's any of your business."
"It will be my business when I have to give you detention for being out past curfew," Hermione retorted, itching to slap him for his cocky, I'm-too-good-for-you attitude.
"Do I look like I care about a single detention? Go ahead and give it if you have to." Deeming the conversation over, Draco turned back to his window.
Scowling, Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Go to sleep. Is it really your life's work to make my life difficult?"
"It couldn't be even if I wanted to." It was so soft, whispered in a tone which led her to think that she probably wasn't meant to hear it. Surprised, she gave him a questioning look. Then without warning, he turned and walked out of the Tower, cloak swishing around his ankles.
Barely a week had passed, when fate found them both in the Astronomy Tower once more, one summer night. This time, she had only stepped in about an inch, when he had suddenly swiveled around and exploded at her.
"Why the hell are you here? Go away." By then he had turned back to look out of the window. Indignant, Hermione opened her mouth to shoot a sarcastic remark back at him, but something she saw caught her eye. He was shaking. His arms were wrapped loosely around himself for comfort, and he was trembling.
"Malfoy?" Hermione tried cautiously. "Malfoy? What's wrong with you?"
As much as Hermione had constantly wanted to wring his neck and flush him down the biggest toilet she could find, she had to admit that she could not stand to see another person suffer. Even though the said person probably considered her as less than human, she though wryly.
"Shut up. Go away. You don't know what it's like. Just go away. I don't need your pity. You don't know what it's like. You couldn't possibly know what it's like."
"Try me."
"Shut the hell up! You don't know what it's like, to try so damn hard, try so damn hard, and still you'll never be good enough! You don't know what it's like, to not have anything, not have anyone. You don't know what it's like, to be all alone in this stupid world! You don't know what it's like, to be me. So don't even pretend that you care."
He sank down to his haunches, blond strands of hair falling into his eyes, and he closed them, almost as though he was exhausted. His shaking had not ceased one bit. His breaths were coming out in raggedly puffs, and through his exhaustion, Hermione could see what she had been missing in him almost the entire year. He was scared.
In three swift strides she crossed the room and kneeled down in front of him. Six years of insults, six years of enmity, were completely forsaken as she wrapped her arms around his shaking frame and drew him into a warm embrace. Screw what other people thought. Draco Malfoy needed someone, and Hermione Granger was not going to let him suffer by himself. He stiffened, clearly not used to comfort. He let out a breath. She could feel him smile sadly as he told her,
"It would be better to be insane, wouldn't it?"
And the two of them stayed there, one Gryffindor, one Slytherin, one Muggleborn, one Pureblood, one Light, one Dark. And for once, none of that mattered, as Hermione Granger held Draco Malfoy in her arms, giving him the comfort he had needed for sixteen years.
She felt his body slowly slacken, his breathing slow, and his head dropped onto her shoulder. His shaking stopped as he fell asleep. Damn Voldemort and his bloody bunch of Death Eaters! She had never wanted to go kill him more. He had ruined one of her best friends' lives, and he wouldn't stop at that. He would even destroy the soul of the followers. She cursed under her breath and wished fervently that she could just dial him up and tell him to go jump off whatever super-dimensional bridge he could find.
The next time she saw him, he was just standing there, gazing at the stars. Somehow both of them had gotten used to the weekly meetings at night in the Astronomy Tower. She knew he knew she was there. Walking towards him, she stood next to him at the window. There was silence for a while. Then he sighed heavily and let his head drop onto his folded arms, resting them on the windowsill.
"You know Murphy's Law? The one about if anything can go wrong, it will?"
"Yeah?" she asked him cautiously. She didn't even bother asking him how a pureblood wizard like him would have heard of this law.
His muffled reply came, almost regretfully, sadly.
"Well, I reckon I must be Murphy's Boy."
And for once, Hermione Granger was at a loss for words.
She saw him again, on the night of Dumbledore's murder. Running past them along with Snape, his pale face had a shaken expression on it.
"Run, Draco!" Snape had yelled.
She could have sworn he turned around. Could have. She thought she saw him glance at her. Just for one fleeting second. What was it he had said on one of their supposedly accidental meetings? Oh, yes. It was his fate, his destiny. He was destined for this miserable path. Destiny was written in the stars, someone had said before. She vaguely remembered seeing that line somewhere. What he didn't know, or even she herself had not, was that there was someone willing to go up to the stars and rearrange them for him. Just for him. She would have done it, if only she had known sooner.
She would have done it for Draco, her Draco. Murphy's Boy.
A/N: Well? How was it? Liked it? Hated it? Review, people! No flames please. I'm really sensitive. LOL. And try to pick out the quotes from books here. Kudos to those who manage to guess the quotes I have placed in here.
And forgive me if you find Draco a tad bit OOC. He is going slightly insane, after all. D