Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for some people.

Author's note: It took forever but here it is. Read the bottom note!


She could hear his footsteps coming down the old, creaky stairs so she wasn't too surprised when a light knock sounded from her door. It interrupted her loud, avoiding-reality thoughts and seemed to burst through the silence like a bullet, causing it to bend and fracture.

Tiptoeing, she meandered to the door, pulling it open with care. She placed her index finger over his lips before any words escaped them. In explanation, her eyes shifted to Ginny's sleeping figure. Draco nodded. She indicated for him to enter and shut the door carefully behind him.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione in the quietest whisper she could derive as they settled upon her bed.

"I was worried about you."

"That's cute," she smiled.

"I assume you're feeling better?"

She nodded in response, staring tentatively at him.

"What?"

She leaned forward, cupping his cheek and kissing him lightly. Slowly, she parted, letting less than an inch come between them. It appeared that forever was passing by as she awaited his response.

The response came as he tilted forward and continued the kiss she had so tenderly begun. His skin tingled while his insides felt aflame. The kiss felt amazingly right yet atrociously wrong in the same instance, but he deepened it anyways, refusing to adhere to his conscience and instead trusting his heart.

As he deepened it, Hermione felt a shiver spread through her body like the first time of stepping into winter's frigid air. Caught in the moment, she pulled him into a laying position, allowing him to be on top. Her skin tingled wherever he touched, which happened to be in quite a few places. Attempting to surpass it, she fiddled with the buttons on his shirt.

Like a ton of bricks falling onto him, reality filled his body. He couldn't ignore her situation or state of mind, and therefore, he pulled away. Leaving a light kiss on her forehead, he fell to her side.

"Why?" her voice sound strained, needy.

"You're not thinking straight. This is lust, and I do not want you regretting anything you ever do with or related to me. I refuse to take advantage of you."

"No fair," she huffed and turned over. He chuckled lightly, draping one arm over her hip. Warmth filled her body just from that single, miniscule touch.

Hours later, she felt cold again. Subconsciously, her arm reached behind her but found nothing. He'd departed and now she was left to suffer the cold… suffer the tears threatening to fall that he took away with just a touch.

Before she succumbed to the sleep pressing on her eye, she made and unspoken promise to never lose her composure again. Crying was weak. When did I start crying anyways… oh yeah, just before I turned 16….

Flashback:

"It's not my fault you lost your job, John," Anne, Hermione's mother, yelled. It was the third argument of the day, ninth of the week. It was only Wednesday. They hadn't really stopped arguing since her father was "laid off" three weeks prior. Somehow, he'd picked up drinking and new friends at the bar where he basically paid to have his life destroyed.

"Well, you're not helping anything!" This argument had started as all the other had, over something petty. Hermione's father became ticked after her mother flicked the living room light on. One thing lead to another and soon they came back to his lack of a job.

"If you would stop your wallowing and drinking, get your ass up and search for a job, I'm sure you'd have one already." Sebastian was thankfully at Brandon's. Hermione was in her room laying in a heap against her door with her hand gripping her door knob and crying loudly.

She distinctly heard her father slap her mother. Yelling followed just one moment of utter, deafening silence. Hermione banged her fists against the door. "Please, stop! Just stop it!" she cried the words repeatedly until her voice grew hoarse and her knuckles reached their bleeding point.

In the silence and darkness of her room, Hermione cried countless nights. She eventually accomplished losing herself in front of other people.

She fell to sleep curled into a ball.


"Hey, Hermione, are you-" Ron clomped into Ginny and Hermione's room the next morning.

"Shh!" Ginny swatted at him. She was dusting blush onto her face as she hummed a soft tune that was playing on the radio.

"Mmm…" Hermione groaned. "I've been up for a while, Ginny. I've become an insomniac, just didn't fell like attacking the day yet. What did you want, Ron?"

"Just wondering if you were up. Breakfast is almost ready."

"I can't… Sebastian… Oh, Merlin." She forced herself out of be and trudged to the mirror. After slightly adjusting her appearance, she muttered a list of things to do under her breath before she stopped short. "Where's Derek?"

"Downstairs, attempting to convince my mother to actually allow him to help her cook."

"Silly boy," she plastered a smile on her face and bounded down the stairs. "Are you ready to go?" she questioned Draco.

"Oh, you're leaving already? We had no chance to talk!"

"I'll be back, Mrs. Weasley, just have to return Derek to his home safely and check up on Sebastian. Plus, you know my father… can't live with him but can't leave him alone."

"Oh, yes, ever since your mother left him. He's been in shambles, hasn't he?"

"Yeah, doesn't know how to handle himself. Personally, I believe the relationship was over before it started and definitely ended."

"Yes, pity really."

Hermione extinguished the need to yell, scream, or cry. "Well, I must be going."

"Of course, come back soon, my dear."

"Nothing less, Mrs. Weasley," she hastily headed into the living room and threw floo powder into the grate. "Granger Residence!" She dragged Draco into the emerald flames.

Immediately after arriving, Hermione walked to her room. She opened the door to find her brother asleep on her bed. He was tangled into a pile with the covers. She noted a bruise on his right upper arm. Quietly, she sat on the bed next to him.

"Good morning, baby," she brushed a hand through his hard, causing him to stir.

"Hermione?" he murmured.

"Yeah, are you ready to get up? Did you eat last night? Did anything happen?"

"Yes. Some. No."

"It's sweet how you lie to me," she let her fingertips sweep over his upper arm.

He cringed, "Yeah, it is."

"Okay, well, you go shower up and I'll make breakfast. What do you want?"

"Eggs?"

"Just eggs?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," she stood up and left the room, bypassing Draco who was leaning on the doorframe. He followed her and watched solemnly as she clattered about.

The silence was weighing on him. He couldn't take it. "Where is he?"

"Who knows," she threw the pan onto the stove.

"Why don't they know? Why do I but not them?"

"They don't need to know. They have enough to worry about. You do too, but I messed up. I slipped with you." She cracked three eggs and scrambled them. The front door opened and slammed shut. "Oh, great."

"Where's breakfast?" he stomped into the kitchen.

"It's almost done. Three eggs, scrambled."

"Fine, let me know when it's done," he grunted.

When it was done, she poured the bits into a bowl and tossed it into the microwave. Sensing Draco's question, she said, "He's already out," and added three more eggs to the pan. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I should be going."

"Okay," she didn't turn around.

"I just want you to know that I don't know what I did wrong," he left.


Author's note: Okay, there was Chapter Six. I know it took me for absolute ever. I wrote it and chapter seven a week or so ago. I started to write chapter 8 but stumbled upon writer's block. So, if you have any ideas at all… I'm open. Just lemme know.

Pretty please review.

Love,

Heather