Hermione ran as fast as she could through the school, bashing into various first-years and ignoring the glares she was receiving from the older students.
Her hair whipped around her in an uncharacteristic mess, but she didn't care.
She felt too sick to care.
Hermione hadn't stayed long, but from what she'd heard, she knew something was wrong and Draco was in danger.
Not that she cared about him, of course! It was just she knew what had happened was bad and she had to tell. It was her duty. NOT because she cared about Malfoy. After all, he was a vindictive, sarky little Slytherin bully and a death-eater's son to boot.
Even if he is kind of cute…
'BLASPHEMOUS! BLASPHEMOUS! What would Ron say?' The little voice in Hermione's head squeaked, outraged.
"Shut up!" Hermione muttered back, pushing the door to McGonagall's room open, "I don't even fancy Ron!" The little voice rolled it's eyes,
'Course you don't…' Hermione ignored it and sprinted up to where the professor was sitting, marking papers, she jumped as Hermione flew into the desk, knocking over a mug which, thankfully, was void of any liquid-like substances,
"Miss Granger, Wha…?"
"Please Professor, you've got to help me!" Hermione began breathlessly, flicking a strand of disobedient hair out of her eyes, "It's about Draco Malfoy,"
'Oh Merlin!' McGonagall thought dully, 'I warned Albus that that boy would get out of hand with Lucius here…'
"I-I think Mr.Malfoy…" Hermione gulped, "I think he…hurt, Draco. If you know what I mean." What ever Minerva had been expecting, that had certainly not been it. She frowned,
"What do you mean, Miss Granger? What have you seen?" Hermione flushed and shifted guiltily from foot to foot,
"I, err, kind of listened at the door and heard…stuff." McGonagall raised a disapproving eye brow, "You see," Hermione continued hastily, "I've thought something was going on ever since the welcome feast when Draco ran out, so when I had to stay behind I, umm, took the opportunity to…" She searched around for an appropriate word,
"Spy?" McGonagall offered, helpfully,
"Yes. I mean, no. I mean…not spy exactly…"
"You're not in trouble, Miss Granger." Minerva said, looking at Hermione over the top of her glasses, "But these are very serious accusations and I need to know what you heard."
"Well, at first Draco asked Mr.Malfoy 'Why he was here', he sounded upset, then they argued and Mr.Malfoy threatened Draco with something, I don't know what, and I think Draco was crying because then I heard Mr.Malfoy yell something about not having any right to cry in front of him and I heard Draco being hit and a thud. But then it was really weird because Mr.Malfoy's voice went all soft and quiet and he kept calling Draco 'Dragon' and he kept telling him to relax. I heard Draco protest about something and Mr.Malfoy said 'Stop resisting me'. I-I left after that. I didn't want to here anymore." McGonagall was silent for a while, as if everything needed sorting out in her head before it was properly processed,
"You understand, Miss Granger, that I shall have to go to Professor Dumbledore about this?" Hermione nodded, "I want you to keep an eye on Draco for me and report anything…odd, back."
"Of course." McGonagall inclined her head,
"Thank you. You may go now." Hermione turned to leave, but before she could get out the door, "Miss, Granger,"
"Yes Professor?"
"No spying behind doors!"
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Draco awoke suddenly, from a fitful and disturbed night, hot and shaky, in the silent dormitory. It was still dark, but not quite dark enough to be night.
He climbed slowly out of his bed, pushing damp hair out of his eyes and went to stand by the window.
The morning sky was a deep red, splashed with various shades of pink and purple, making the scene look almost unreal. Picture like, even.
'How can the world seem so perfect when so much bad is happening?' Draco wondered sadly, his finger brushing absently against his bruised cheek. There would be questions and looks later, and Draco knew it, but as long as he'd got a decent story fixed in his head by breakfast, he'd be able to handle it well enough. Yes. That's what always works.
But this was different.
He'd never done that before, and it still hurt worse than anything he'd experienced before. A large bubble of misery grew up into his throat, but he forced savagely back down.
"Let it out Poppet." Draco spun around, alarmed. A girl, dark in the shadows of the room, was sitting up on his bed, looking up at him through mischievous eyes that were covered almost entirely with a long fringe, "It'll make you feel better." She spoke with an Irish accent and Draco could see her teeth flashing at him in what little light there was.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Draco asked, slightly taken aback. What right had an unknown female being to be sitting on his bed, uninvited, in the hours of the morning when most decent people are asleep?
The girl got up and went to stand by him. She wore a dress of some sort of dark blue material that floated around her ankles like smoke. Her liquorish black hair framed her face, landing on her shoulders, giving her a somewhat, mysterious air.
"Don't recognise me?" She asked softly, tilting her head to one side. The moonlight lit up her face for the first time and Draco saw her eyes clearly for the first time.
Purple…
Three-year-old Draco sat on the floor of his room, his knees drawn tightly up to his chest, arms wrapped around himself. A gentle hand touched him on the shoulder and the small boy looked up through a tear stained face into kind, purple eyes.
"Hush, Poppet. You're going to be ok. I'm here now."
"Izzy?" Draco whispered incredulously, hardly daring to believe it. She smiled and nodded,
"Hello Poppet." Draco ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes hard, a if trying to wake himself up.
"I can't believe you're here! I mean, one second you're there and the next you've gone and I never saw you again! I don't understand." Izzy shook her head and sat back down on Draco's bed,
"I don't expect you to understand. You were so young before when I tried to explain it to you. But I never left you, not really. You see, Poppet, I'm an Aengel. Your Aengel. Everyone has one, but we only come Out when our people are in desperate need of help or have no one to confide in or talk to and then we go back In when they don't need us anymore. But we're always there. You know the little voice in your head? The one that you blatantly ignored yesterday? That was me!" Draco sat down next to her, confused and agitated.
"But why did you leave last time? I looked for you for weeks, waiting for you to come back but you never did. Why?"
"Because you didn't need me anymore." Izzy replied simply, "You weren't happy, but you were handling everything better. When I first cam Out, you were so unhappy and scared, you were making yourself ill. You needed someone to look after you, who you could trust. But when you were about six, you could just about deal with everything and didn't need me anymore."
"But I did!" Draco protested, "I missed you so much! I didn't understand why you'd left me. I-I thought you didn't like me anymore." Izzy let out a strangled cry and rugby tackled Draco, knocking him off the bed and kissing him repeatedly on the head,
"Oh Poppet! I didn't want to! I promise! I'd never, ever, leave you willingly!"
"Okay, okay!" Draco said, laughing as he pushed Izzy off him, "I believe you! But you don't have to kill me to get the point across!" Izzy stood up, self-consciously ran a hand through her hair. Draco, felling slightly guilty, slipped an arm around her shoulders,
"I thought about you yesterday." He whispered, "I wished that you would come and help me." Izzy turned her head towards him, her purple eyes flashing with energy,
"I know Poppet. That's why I'm here."
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A/N: Heya PPL! Hope everyone had a good half-term! I think I explained Izzy okay, but if anyone has any questions about her, please let me know and I promise to answer them! I got the idea from His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, Aengels are basically like Daemons only they don't change shape and they are human form. Oh yes, Izzy's full name is Issabella.
Plushies 'N' Ice cream for the following- Ashyra-The-Anaroq, 13BlackAngels, Crystal, dev, Eranim and my LOVELY muse- TobiasHawk13!
Lots of love, Lily xxxxx