Disclaimer: JK onws world. We own plot. We own Tallulah.

Chapter 15

It was the next day and Hermione still hadn't figured it out. 'Bloody hell woman, hurry up. Brightest witch of our age my ass.' Draco thought as he lay on the bed staring at the wall like usual.

Hermione was still sitting on the sofa reading and hoping to find qan answer. The only thing that brought her out of her reading trance was the glow that shimmered onto the pages of her book.

"Hello Tallulah." Hermione said pleasantly.

"Hello." Tallulah repeated.

"Tallulah? Can you please help me?" Hermione asked, Tallulah nodded. "Thank you. I need to know how to cure Draco and was wondering if you knew."

"Your weakness will give him strength." Tallulah said and with that she began to fade away just like before. Hermione looked puzzled for a moment then it clicked.

Hermione went up stair and entered the bedroom.

"I figured it out." Hermione whispered excitedly.

"About time." Draco said back.

"Huh?" Hermione asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I had a...vision...or something. It could've been a hallucination so you better tell me what you found."

"Thank you so much for that useless comment." Hermione hissed. "Anyway, we need to show each other at our wea-"

"Weakest moments, yes, yes. I know." Draco said, still in a whisper.

"So how do we do that?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

"Well my weakest moment would be when I'm crying, I'm unsure when yours is." Draco said.

"Crying, that's why I hid in the bathroom first year. I don't cry that much, but once I start crying the smallest thing could set me off. I spent about an hour in that bathroom stall waiting for the tears to stop." Hermione said, a glum expression on her face.

"Ok how do I get you to cry?" Draco asked.

"Lots of ways. Question is how do I get you to cry?" Hermione raised her eyebrow.

Draco didn't want to tell her, but the pain. He didn't want to share anymore secrets, yet he was in so much pain that he would give up any information to her just to make it stop. those secrets, the ones that made him cry, those may just be the only things he wouldn't tell her.

"You can't." Draco finally responded.

"Well if you aren't going to cooperate then I might as well leave." Anger boiled inside of her, it was the way he had said 'You'. The way he implied she couldn't anyone else could, but her. She didn't know why she was helping him anyway. "You are horrible to me and always have been so I don't know why I should help you."

"No! Please, I'll do anything!" This felt all to familiar to Draco. "This is agony!"

"Fine, then tell me how we're meant to show each other us crying without something to cry about." Hermione said sitting back on the bed.

"What I'm about to tell you is a secret, ok? And it's not a playground secret Granger. I mean proper 'You might be hunted Down just for knowing' kind of secret." Hermione nodded her understanding. "I was set a mission. A mission to revive the Malfoy name, as my father says. T-the mission w-it was-I have to-to kill…" Draco's voice broke slightly. "To kill Dumbledore."

A tear started to run down Draco's cheek. Hermione covered her mouth. To shocked to say anything, all she could do was stare into Draco's eyes as if searching his very soul. Draco was ashamed at how easy it was for him to breakdown now, but this year he had cried more than all previous year put together.

"I was forced to-to take the ma-mark. They threatened to kill me and my mother otherwise." Draco continued. More tears stretched him face, he was trying so hard to to completely breakdown.

"Draco-" Hermione started.

"Not as spoilt as you thought, huh, Granger." Draco said his voice breaking each time he talked. "It's just tha-that I'm...Why me? I haven't even left school yet and I'm going to be marked down as a murderer." He let out a sob.

"Not if you don't do it." Hermione's voice was small-nearly audible.

"I have to. They'll kill me and my mother if I don't. I just feel so small, in my own home. They all look down at me, like I'm dirt. They're always watching for me to do something wrong and-and…" Draco suddenly saw the look on Hermione's face 'And that's how I treat you everyday.' He didn't voice the thought.

"Draco...just go to Dumbledore about you mission. I swear he'll be able to get you out of this mess." Hermione said, their voices still low for Draco's head.

"If we ever get out of here. Anyway we are not here to discuss my life problems, go cry." Draco said his voice riddled with defensiveness. He kept wiping tears off of his face as they still continued to stream down, and his breathing was deep and calming.

Hermione didn't want to push so she let it go, but her mind was racing...what if Dumbledore couldn't fix it? Would Draco become a merderer? Would Dumbledore die? How could she help? What should she do?

"Granger what makes you cry?" Draco has a bored tone, but Hermione could hear the curiosity.

"...Ron." Hermione said finally.

"Why?" Draco asked. Hermione knew he was getting her to talk about it so that she would end up crying, but maybe she needed someone to talk to. Harry was always there, but Ron was his best friend. Draco on the other hand hated Ron.

"Ron has always made me cry. He was the reason I was crying in the bathroom-he had made fun of me, then at the Yule ball he ruined everything-everything was going so well, but he kept acting like I had offended him…" Hermione went into thought, she didn't even realise the tears that were running down her face.

"Jealous." Draco shrugged. "Every boy at the dance thought you looked like a bloody princess, I even thought you didn't look as bad as normal."

"And this year him and Laven-" Hermione let out a small sob. "It's like he doesn't even know how much he can hurt me. And the only person I can talk to about this is Harry and he's Ron's best friend and-and it's so frustrating." Hermione was trying to calm her crying. Why could she never stop crying once she started.

"He's a idiot, you know that right?" Draco frowned.

"Yeah." Hermione got off the bed. "Get some rest." They both knew that this was an excuse for her to leave, but Draco pretended not to know as he too needed her to leave.

'I can't believe I opened up to a Muggleborn' Draco internally groaned.

PunkQueen123