Glorious, Glorious Reviews! Thank you for reviewing! You've inspired me to keep this story going when I've had doubts about it. So now, I present to you, the seventh chapter of Angel With The Broken Wings.

Chapter Seven: Helpless

Draco Malfoy looked over to the door, surprised to hear that he had visitors at this late hour. He hardly slept anymore. His insomniac tendencies had gotten to him again. He usually was awake for days now, hardly ever feeling really tired. Now that he lived alone, he hardly slept at all.

The male stood up and stumbled over to the door, slowly opening it. He opened it wider when he saw Hermione standing there, looking more broken than he had ever seen her.

"Oh dear, Merlin. What happened to you?"

He looked at the split lip and the bruises on her neck and what he could see of her upper chest. Draco watched as she glanced away from him, as if she were ashamed of her appearance.

"Come inside, Granger. Come in…"

She walked inside the large mansion listened as Draco closed the door behind him. He led her into the kitchen and made her sit down on a chair near the refrigerator. He grabbed a clean towel, wet it, and then put a couple ice cubes inside the towel before giving to her.

"Here, put this on your lip so it won't swell up. You look like shit, talk to me."

She did everything she could to avoid his gaze. "I… I… Liam, my boyfriend…"

Draco felt rage build up inside him as he continued to look at broken eyes. How did she get mixed up with him? She couldn't have done anything to possibly deserve this kind of abuse. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before getting her a warm cup of coffee.

"Thank you…"

"I got to tell you, Hermione. You sure do have a habit of picking abusive assholes for boyfriends. Do you have a desire for pain or what?"

He sat down across from her, hoping to get a smile out of her or a small chuckle at least. The sight of her just made him want to find this Liam bloke and hurt him the way he hurt Hermione.

There was silence for a while before Draco spoke again. "Did he… umm… did he hurt you anywhere else?"

She nodded slowly like a small, shy child would but didn't say a word.

He leaned in closer to her so he can listen more intently. "Can you show me?"

Hermione looked up at him with an embarrassed expression on her face and shook her head. "No, I don't think I can."

Suddenly, the caring, compassionate side took over Draco. "I need to see if anything is broken. I'm not trying to be a pervert, Hermione. If something is broken, I want to help you; I want to fix it."

He made sure he said this with a serious and thoughtful tone in his voice. He then watched as she stood up and could almost read her mind: What else do I have left to lose?

He led her upstairs into his bedroom and closed the oak door behind him. She looked at him as if she felt totally uncomfortable like this and Draco could sense that she was scared.

"It's alright, Hermione. No one else is going to see you and no one is going to hurt you again."

The frightened woman nodded and took her coat off before beginning to take the rest of her clothes off. When she stripped down to her panties and bra, she looked up at him.

"Umm… can I at least stay in my under clothes? Please?"

Draco gave her a reassuring smile and a slight nod. "Of course you can."

"Wouldn't I be able to tell if something was broken? Wouldn't I be able to feel it?"

"No, my lovely. Not always…"

He walked over to her and gently pressed two fingers against her arm, the spine of her back, her neck, and any other body part he felt could possibly have a bone broken in it.

"Since when do you know anything about how to heal broken bones?"

Draco eyed each and every bruise that he came across as he searched for broken bones. He counted as he went along and came across at least ten bruises on her slender body. He felt his heart sink in dismay.

"Oh, I was a healer for St. Mungos for a year," Draco answered as he finished and looked into her chocolate eyes.

She gave him a small smile. "Really? Now there's something I didn't expect."

He realized that this was probably the most Hermione had said since she arrived here at the Manor. He returned her smile.

"What, because I was a Slytherin in school acted like a jackass means that I can't heal people?"

He made sure that his tone didn't seem threatening or angry or anything. Hermione had gone through what all women should never have to go through. In the first year of his healing career, he had doctored and met many battered women, all of whom appeared to be quiet, scared, and shy. As he talked with them, he realized that the way he said something would mean everything.

He watched her blush and turn a cherry shade of red. "No, I didn't mean it like that…I mean, well… I just could never picture you saving other people. I pictured you being a dragon trainer or being a professional Quidditch player."

He walked over to his closet and grabbed a long shirt and a pair of flannel pajama bottoms before walking back over to her. "Here, you can borrow these until as long as you decide to stay. You can get dressed now if you want."

Hermione hesitated as she looked at the clothes. "Actually, may I use your shower?"

Draco bit his lip as he thought the worst. No words came out as he gave her a recognizable nod. He watched as she grabbed the clothes he had given her and went into the shower, closing the door behind her.

He opened the door but was stopped when he heard Hermione's voice. "Draco? Do you think you could…umm… stay in the room while I shower? I'm suppose I'm still a bit scared…"

He nodded again but then remembered that there was still a door between them and she couldn't see him.

Again came her voice, this time a bit more anxious than before. "Draco? A-Are you there?"

He closed the door and walked over to the bathroom door. Through the door, he could hear her breath unevenly. "Yeah, I'm still here. I'll stay."

Draco could then hear grab some towels out of the linen closet and turn the shower on. He sat down in a nearby chair by the fireplace that was about five feet away from the bed.

Did she want to take a shower because Liam had raped her? Did she want to take a shower because she just wanted to? As he thought about this, he felt his blood turn cold with the thought of Hermione Granger getting raped by someone who she thought loved her. He tried to push his feelings aside. He couldn't fall in love with her. No, it would be wrong.

Draco must have been sitting there for about ten minutes when he started to hear loud sobbing come from inside the shower. He decided that he was going to go in there, whether she was naked or not. She needed comfort….

He turned the door handle and opened it all the way but stopped when she saw Hermione sitting on the floor in just her underwear crying. Her eyes looked red and tired. She looked up at him and then continued to cry into her hands, her back hiccupping as she sobbed. He grabbed a large green towel that she had laid on the sink and wrapped it around her naked body. He put his arms around her and was surprised when she dug herself into his shoulder and cried for what seemed like hours.

"Oh, Granger… what did that bastard do to you," Draco asked quietly, gently rocking her back and forth. He never saw the brilliant Hermione Granger in this kind of state, and it broke his heart to see her like this.

He held her for about an hour before he realized that she had sobbed crying and was not breathing softly. Draco, having the sneaky suspicion that she had fallen asleep, scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to his large four-poster bed. With one hand, he pulled back the covers and laid her naked body on the soft mattress before covering her up. He watched as she stirred in her sleep before he went into the bathroom and grabbed her pajamas and her bra and brought them into the room.

Draco dragged himself over to the long couch that was against the wall and lied down, watching as she tossed and turned. Feeling his eyes grow heavy, he closed them and fell into a sleeping state.

0000000000000

When he woke up, he saw the morning sunlight peak through the windows, shining its light on Hermione. He went to stretch his arms when he suddenly heard Hermione cry out.

"NO! STOP! STOP IT!! Please don't do this… Please…."

He ran over to her and watched as beads of cold sweat formed on her forehead. He sat by her side and watched as she kicked the covers off. "NO! NO! STOP!! STOP!!"

Draco slowly shook her with his hand in an attempt to wake her up from her nightmare. He was taken back when she sat straight up and screamed, flailing her arms, crying and screaming. She got out of the bed and began to push him.

"NO! STOP! DON'T TOUCH ME!! DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME, LIAM!!"

Draco put his arms around her when she turned her back and tried to hold her against his body. "Calm down, Hermione! It's alright, it's alright… it's just me. It's Draco!"

The hysterical woman calmed down and turned her head around to see Draco. She then let her knees hit the floor as she sobbed. He hugged her closer to him, gently rocking her.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm so sorry…"

"It's okay, Hermione. Everything is alright now."

"I-I keep seeing him everywhere I turn. I see Liam, and I just feel him doing what he did before…"

"What did he do?"

She sniffed and turned around, tears escaping her eyes. "He… He… he raped me. He took my innocence and bloody raped me until there was nothing left… He took my soul…"

Draco wanted nothing more than to kiss her lovingly and just hold her throughout the whole night. The goddamn junkie had raped this sweet, precious woman. He had stolen her purity and just broke her like she was nothing. He wanted to strangle the bastard until he took his last breath and faded away into oblivion. He held her close for a long while until he looked back at her.

"Come on, let's go downstairs. I'll make you some breakfast and coffee."

Hermione nodded agreeably and stood up. She looked at him and noticed that she was still naked.

"Err…umm…can you…turn around, please?"

Draco smiled a bit and forced himself to turn around as much as he longed to see her beautiful bare body.

"Alright, now we can go downstairs."

Draco opened the door and began to go downstairs, hearing her footsteps behind him.

"How do my pajamas fit you?"

"Oh, they're a bit big, but it's comfortable. Thank you again, Draco."

He walked into the kitchen and took out some pans before grabbing the toaster, taking out the eggs, and bacon. "No problem. Is there anything at all I can do for you?"

Hermione sat at the table as she watched Draco prepare breakfast. "No, Draco. You've already done so much for me already."

Draco cracked an egg and put it inside the large pan before placing two pieces of toast in the toaster. He placed pieces of bacon and a few sausages in the pan as well before he began to make the coffee.

"It was nothing. I told you, I've changed and I have a proposition for you this morning," Draco replied as he poured her a cup of coffee and set it in front of her.

She picked it up and took a small sip of it. "Really? And what proposition would you happen to have for me?"

He flipped her egg and buttered her toast. "Well, I work at the Ministry of Magic, and I happen to be the employer. I would like to employ you so you could be my employee and we could work together. I pay all my employees a decent wage. It probably isn't as much money as you got in the club, but it's still enough to live off of."

Hermione sighed and fingered the ring of her mug. "I suppose I don't have many other choices left, do I?"

"Well, you don't have to work if you live here for awhile with me. I make enough money for the both of us. It's up to you…"

Hermione watched him as he loaded her plate and set it in front of her with a fork.

"I want to work, Draco. I'm not… I'm not the helpless woman you make me out to be."

Draco dished his own plate off, shut off the fire and sat next to Hermione. "I never said you were helpless but it's not like you came from your apartment without a single bruise or cut. I bet you were a bit helpless when he was raping you."

Hermione slammed down her fork hard on the plate and stood up before running upstairs.

"Urgh… Hermione! Wait!"

He set his own fork down and ran up the stairs too. As he walked down the hallway, Hermione walked out of the bedroom, coat in hand. She walked past him, causing Draco to stop in his tracks and follow her.

"Wait! Where are you going? You've only just got here!"

"I'm getting out of here, Draco. I was helpless when that son-of-a-bitch was raping me because he was stronger than I was and I couldn't do a damn about it! Yeah, I was helpless… I was helpless while he was beating me, Draco! Of course I was! The stronger always pick on the weaker! You're not flawless yourself so don't act like you are!"

Draco grabbed her arm without thinking and spun her around when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "Wait! Don't leave! You don't know what other fuck is out there waiting for you!"

"Let go of me!"

Hermione spun out of his grip and quickly opened the front door before running out of the Manor.

Draco was about to chase after her when she disappeared with a loud pop. He went back inside and slammed the door. Why did he screw this up? Why? Now she was just prey to the other parasites in the muggle world. With the luck she's had, she might get raped, or worse… killed. Draco didn't want to be responsible for her death but he felt like he had to accept responsibility for a lot of things nowadays.