Love Hurts
Chapter Three:

It was in the class she had skipped but not skipped (thanks to her time turner) that she formulated a plan to get Malfoy away from The gates of Elysium. It was obvious that he had barely eaten and was freezing from the cold nights alone and hiding in the castle. If she could get him out of the castle and into her apartment in Hogsmede she could help him while also getting closer to the pathway to the after life. At times she was scared of what would happen and other times she would hang her head coming to terms with the fate she was planning for herself.

She couldn't help that she had a thing for bad boys, she hadn't until fourth year when she had been with Krum and despite his rough exterior he was a sweet and gentle man with eyes only for her. She sighed audibly, getting a disgruntled look from her teacher, thinking of what it felt like to know that you were loved. Unfortunately she had not loved Krum in return only going with him to the yule ball to avoid going dateless or being a required date and not a wanted date. She had enjoyed Krums company but he was into her more than she was in him. Sure all the other girls swooned and he was gorgeous but she felt unsettled about the way he would look at her.

She had, had eyes for Malfoy for a fair while, she had in a strange way come to respect him at first. She had been forced to work with him by Snape and McGonagall as punishment for hexing one another, which funny enough had resulted in Draco with a fluffy pair of rabbit ears and a little ball of bunny tail fluff poking out the back of his pants, and herself with stilts for legs and hair that looked like something a hippogriff coughed up. There were other small things their hexes has done that popped up in the next six months that had kept them both entertained and gradually they broke through the enemy barricade. It was in fact when they had both turned up to their mediation punishment, Hermione resembling a plum and Draco a Pear and they had both made a jokes about fruit salad and cake and loops (draco not getting the last one) that they stopped seeing each other as deathly enemies.

Draco taught Hermoine to fight with her fists, laughing when she reminded him of when she decked him in third year, his reply was that it may have hurt but she didn't even break his nose let alone knock him out. After a while of practicing fighting with her hands she did K.O. him. An almost Rocky Balboa fight going down between them, her in the end being rocky of course. Eventually she became so good he could not beat her. He didn't let her know this though, he told her let her win but she knew better.

She taught him how to duel, alot of the useful various hexes causing hilarious results. They, under the cover of an invisibility cloak, would go pranking on people using hilarious hexes and various other factors so humorous they would run off laughing covering their mouths trying hard not to be heard in their hasty escape. They had pulled pranks that would have made Fred and George proud of them, even if it was Malfoy. He was a genius when it came to thinking of pranks. Together they had brewed a potion that turned Pansy into Cousin It for a week and a charm for Lavender and Pavarati that made them think they had Zits when they didn't.

They reached a point then of comrades and brothers in mischief, despite Hermoines female status. She had even taught Draco a few muggle tricks and he had watched and listened in admiration and awe. She didn't realize that he knew nothing about muggles but then realized how naive that was as he was from a family of strict muggle haters and anything even remotely muggle was an abomination of the wizarding kind. Even if there were more muggles than wizards, the pureblood like to think they were here first. Eventually they came to be closer to each other than the golden trio had been in its finest. Sometimes they would sneak under the protection of an invisibility cloak that they shared into each others rooms by secret passages. On these occasions to protect their secret Hermoine would steal Harry maunders map so they could not be discovered. Never would they become intimate. They had not even kissed except for a peck on the cheek as a show of appreciation of each other. They would lie together in bed until the sun came up swapping stories of their lives and divulging deep secrets they had never told another soul, eating goodies pinched from the kitchen and then when they became sleepy they would curl up together spooning with his arms around her and fall into a pleasant and nightmare free sleep. In fact they had the best nights sleep and always felt refreshed after a night spent having what would appear to be a girls night out together, despite Dracos male status.

Never would they let onto the other that they had wanted so badly to go further than the hugs and holding hands they had restricted themselves to out of fear of rejection from the other. Draco was too proud to admit that he felt this way about a mudblood. He felt as he did when he listened to music. Music was another secret passion of his that not even Hermoine knew about. No matter what kind it was be it hard grunge and heavy metal to classical compositions. Every note made his heart swell with emotion the harmonies and melodies breaking the rushing of emotion he felt. More often it was lyrics that got his soul even though it was the classical composer Beethoven that tortured his heart the most. He could hear the emotion the man put into his music and understood completely the perils and pain taken to write such masterpieces. He would sometimes lie in his own bed listening to Fur Elise and think of the similarities in Beethovens emotions for this beloved Elise that Draco had for Hermoine. He was a hopeless romantic a fact Hermione knew and she had giggled in reply that she too was a vicitm of romance.

Hermione fretted about breaking Dracos trust but she was determined if she could not live with the love of Draco she could not live. She was too gutless and weak to take any other method of suicide and had read alot on the gates Draco was guarding. It was the only way she would be able to be free of the binds of this world. How often had he held her in his arms as she cried and confided in him her hatred of this world and her longing to join the next. He had always soothed her by whispering in her ear.
"If you were to do that I would too because I don't think i could live without your companionship," he had told her many times. He had never told her how he really felt. how devastated he felt and how he could not breathe if she was not in his world. Even if he could never hold her and love her like he wanted her to live and be happy. Little did he know that it was his heart that would make her the happiest.

It was when she was dwelling on her memories that she remembered the invisibility cloak that they shared. They had stored it in a closet so unused that even the spiders had left it spotless. After her class she made her way to the secret location of the cloak and snatched it putting it in her back pack for later usage. Then she remembered the small room that came off hers that the boys did not know about. She had cloaked it in spells so that only she could find the entrance as it was code worded. The boys were oblivious to its existence and she did not use it often anyway. She could use the fireplace to floo her friend in and out of the room and he would have adequate shelter food and warmth. It would also get him away from the gate and give her a chance to fulfill her plans. It was always worth a shot.

Draco was left stunned by Hermione. She had always been a great thing of beauty to him. Now she looked tired and thin. He felt terrible about having to go into hiding and not being able to tell her anything. He wished that over the time he had been able to send her an owl and explain but always he knew that this was impossible as all owls going to any of the golden trio would have been intercepted. He also felt guilty about putting a rift between her and her two friends. They may not have known about their secret friendship but she had slowly distanced herself from the two people one would imagine she was closest too. But no one knew about the pair of them sneaking off to be together. He had lost his heart to her. When he had held her close and had her sleeping in his arms he had never felt so content in his life but he found himself unable to relay his emotions with his mouth. To the one person he had told about his sick and twisted family. To the girl he had cried too when someone had been to harsh on him. He could not bring himself to look at another woman no matter how attractive she was. He would see her face as he daydreamed away some of the more boring classes where paying attention was not essential and he would look longingly at her in classes whilst still trying to be inconspicuous. He felt responsible for the decline in her looks and her obvious lack of interest in anything. He could see her eyes had lost the fire they had once held when she prattled on about this book or that potion. He would never forget how they had lit up when he had presented her with a television capable of working in the wizarding world. She had jumped up and down with joy at his memory because she herself had introduced him to it and it was a touching gift.

But it was the little things that Hermione liked and despite her parents large business profits from the dental clinic and that she was an only child her parents didn't spoil her too much and she didn't get everything she wanted. They were prepared to help her with a home and she learned to be self sufficient in return. That didn't mean she didn't love her family and they did keep in regular contact. So when someone did some thing big for her she was very appreciative for it and she had been very greatful for the present.

Once her classes for the day were done Hermoine slipped quietly away to where Draco lay in hiding. She watched behind her making sure she was not followed and slipped quietly into the dark room. What she missed was the shallow breathing and light foot steps following behind her under the protection of invisibility. Once she was inside the offending follower pressed his ear up to the door and listened.

"Lumos," Hermoine whispered lighting up her wand. She found draco asleep on the cold hard floor and her heart panged at his dishelved appearance. He was a Malfoy and she expected him to be to proud caught at such a moment of weakness. She tip-toed as quietly as she could to the door and put her hand on the handle and again it was like ice in her hand. She ran her fingers over the heavy metal of the wall. It would take a fair amount of strength to open this door and it would be quite noisy. Little did she know she was letting her last chance slip away.

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A/N:

Hey there I know I was going to work on I wanna grow old with you but I was coming up with this plot as I was finishing For You To Notice Me and I have really wanted to do it. It has a really interesting plot with alot of twists and turns... I will be working alot on this one but feel free to check out my favorites list I am going through and picking out ones that are really good or promising but as always good stories take time.

I am really sorry about my spelling, my keyboard is unreliable and i am not sure on the spelling of every thing but I have done my best to make it error free.

Hopefully the next chapter will give you a few more clues but then again it might leave you asking more questions...

I love my reviewers and any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is always more than welcome...

Much Love
Perfect Butterfly Blade