Waking the Fallen - Chapter 2

The next day came quickly which made things even harder on Draco. He needed to get passed Christmas. Once he did that, he was able to be somewhat happy. December did nothing, but remind him of her. So as January approached, he was able to get back to his normal routine.

Walking through the park at night was part of his normal routine. It was dark again and he looked around thinking he was going to spot Granger. A part of him wanted to see Hermione while another part wanted to never see her again. He liked talking with somebody who was not a muggle since she was able to relate with him on a magic level. However, it was still Granger; pushy, know-it-all Granger. He didn't understand why she was having such an effect on him.

He walked to their bench and sat down. He planted a flower on the seat next to him for his bride. He always loved leaving one for her. It made him feel as though they were still in touch with each other even though she was no longer with him.

"I miss you baby. Today was an alright day. Your stupid cat jumped all over the counter again. Why of all the damn cats did you have to get that one? Anyways, the stupid cat started..."

It was late and he knew that he should be getting home considering he had been sitting in that same spot for over an hour simply telling her about his day. He then heard some rustling coming from a side alley in front of him. He looked over his shoulder to see if they were there, but they weren't. He was still so paranoid since it happened. He had to be paranoid for had he been paranoid back then, perhaps she would still be with him.

He got up to go home, but he suddenly heard a female voice weakly call out. It was faint, but it reminded him so much of her voice.

"She's dead. It can't be her." he told himself knowing full well that it was impossible to ever hear her voice again. However, the voice spoke again chilling him to the core.

"You're going crazy Draco. Get a grip."

He kept walking toward his destination, but suddenly the voice became clearer and more distinguishable. It sounded like Hermione's voice. He walked towards the alley, but it was too dark to see inside. He shook his head knowing that this was a bad idea. This is so stupid. Don't do it Draco. Don't you fucking do it. He walked inside. He looked around and saw only a trash can and water puddles all over the ground. He went further and then saw something moving in the corner.

"Who's there?" he asked in a low, dangerous voice. Draco may be a paranoid man, but he no longer knew fear after what happened to him.

"H-help…"

"Granger?"

"Please h-help…"

Draco walked over to the voice and saw a man pushing her up against the wall. He was lifting up her skirt and obviously about to hurt her. Draco completely lost all track of thought as he ran over and pushed the guy off her. Hermione fell to the ground as Draco punched the guy hard in the face. He fell back to the ground as Draco shook out his hand which was hurting from the blow. Draco saw her slump against the wall and the guy stood up running off behind a corner out of sight. Draco thought for a moment and knew he better help her.

He bent down and could see that she was hurt. She had cuts all over herself and he ripped her shirt. He took his jacket off and put it around her then gently picked her up. She flailed around, but he calmed her once he spoke softly into her ear, "Sh. You're safe now. I'm not going to hurt you."

She put her arms around his neck and he carried her to his place. He kept throwing glances over his shoulder every few seconds.

He went through the door and locked it. He walked over to his couch and set her down gently making sure not to hurt her. He ran to get a towel and a blanket for her. He did his best to clean her up without hurting her, but that was a difficult task considering she was covered all over with cuts and bruises. She groaned every few seconds and he knew what he had to do. I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't have to do this.

He went down the hall and upstairs to his room. He went to his drawer next to his bed and pulled out his wand which was something he had not really laid eyes upon since...well since he lost her. He went back down to Hermione wiping off the dust that had formed on the wand and then placed it near her body saying the few healing spells that he actually could remember. Her cuts were healed and the blood disappeared from around her. Her clothes were still tattered and she was still feeling sore, but her eyes opened fully once he did that.

"Are you alright?" he asked concern filling his voice.

"Malfoy?" she asked unsure if she was dreaming or not. She did not understand why she was lying down and Draco Malfoy, her school-mate tormentor, was standing above her holding a wand.

"Yeah. What happened to you?"

"Where am I?" she asked as she looked around trying to take in the room, but it was far too dark for her eyes to see anything well.

"You're at my place. You're safe, don't worry. What happened?" he asked again trying to get to the bottom of why he found her the way he did.

"Oh Merlin…it was horrible." she whispered as tears began to fall down her cheeks. Draco cringed. He knew that tears were bound to come from her, but he had hoped that they would have at least waited another five minutes until she told him what happened.

"Sh, don't cry. I don't know if I can handle that right now."

"I…It…" She was starting to hyperventilate.

"It's okay. Look I'm going to go get you something. I'll be right back." He stood up and was about to turn away, but he felt a hand tugging on his arm.

"No. P-please…don't leave me."

"I'll be right back. Give me two seconds." He went into the kitchen and pulled out a glass filling it up with some water. He then sat down next to her and put his hand beneath her shaking head. He lifted the glass to her dry mouth and she drank a little bit, sputtering some water on the front of her shirt. He pulled the glass back and her breathing was calming down. She closed her eyes and leaned back on his hand which he decided to leave there since it was helping to keep her calm.

"What happened to you? Who was that?" he asked wanting to get to the bottom of all of this.

"Don't…let him near me." She was shaking beneath his hand hurt slightly considering he had just punched someone.

"Who?"

"Keep him away…I need to get away…"

"Not in this condition. Look stay here tonight and then we'll see how you are in the morning. Alright Granger?" She was shaking her head, almost violently, as he put his other hand to her shoulders trying to calm her further.

"I need to get away…from h-him."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fainted into the couch. He put his hand to her cheek to see if any of her was still there, but she was out. He grabbed a pillow and placed it beneath her head, a better replacement for his sore hand. He stood up draping the blanket over her body and then stared at her. Why is she here? Why did I do this? I don't need this right now.

He quickly made a fire and then sat in front of it allowing his body to heat up. He pulled out his favorite book and read as she laid down on the couch. He eventually tossed it aside and merely stared at the burning embers. He felt a burn in his arm and he looked down. He knew that something was extremely wrong. His dark mark was burning green in his skin.

Hermione opened her brown eyes and jumped up. Draco jumped up from the noise and looked at her noticing that she was conscious. She was looking around and obviously had no clue where she was. He stood up and went over to her, but not slowly enough for her liking. She went to the back of the couch and he put his hands up alerting her that he was not a threat.

"Whoa. I'm not going to hurt you." he said in a soft voice wanting to keep her calm.

"Where am I?!" she asked in a high voice absolutely terrified.

"Calm down. You're at my house. You're fine."

"What happened?" she asked him making him role his eyes. Figures that she can't remember the answer to the question that I want to know so she asks me. So typical for me.

"I don't know Granger. I found you yesterday in the back of an alley. Someone was trying to hurt you. You were banged up so I brought you here." he said as she put her hand to her head. "Let me get you something." He grabbed some aspirin and brought it out with a bottle of water. She looked at him as though he handed her poison.

"I must be dying or at least hallucinating."

"Why do you say that?" he asked, actually confused.

"Draco Malfoy is handing me muggle remedies. Never thought I'd live to see the day."

That comment annoyed Draco. "I told you that I don't do magic anymore."

"You had to. I don't remember much, but I do remember having cuts and bruises which have all disappeared. You must have done some kind of magic."

"I couldn't leave you the way that you were. So I muttered a few healing spells. Forgive me for wanting to help you."

"Thanks." She swallowed the pills and handed him the bottle as she leaned back down into the pillow. She rubbed down her face trying to get comfortable. Draco could not sit there just in silence since one question was still lurking inside of him.

"What happened to you?" he asked as she looked up at him. She shook her head at him.

"Just got into some trouble. That's all."

"It's alright. You don't have to tell me." He looked away from her nodding his head. She didn't trust me in school so I can't expect her to trust me now.

"Look I'm sorry that I put you in this position." she said in a soft voice. Draco could hear the sincerity in her voice.

"It's alright. I mean I found you and took you in on my own free will. I wasn't going to let that guy do that to you. I wouldn't let a guy do that to any girl. I even punched him and hard." he said looking down at his own hand. He healed Hermione's cuts, but only as a necessity. He didn't bother to use his wand for anything else. "You really should wait a little bit before you take off. Your body needs to heal."

"I can't ask that of you." she said looking away from him.

"Look it's cool. You can crash here for a while. I'm actually not working until January."

"Well that's too hard for you. I can't do that. I'll just…damn it." she said shaking her head as she looked down at her hands. He noticed that they were fidgeting a lot. "I can't go back to where I'm staying. I don't live here as you know and I was really just working here for a few weeks."

"Death eaters know where you're staying at right?" Hermione looked up at him taking in his expression. It was as though he didn't even need her to speak, but he just knew. She waited a moment and then started to nod. "It's okay. Stay here through the holidays. That way if Death Eaters are out there, maybe they'll assume your gone. They'd never come here looking for you."

"I can't do that."

"It's not like I'm having a lot of family over for Christmas. You'd just have to put up with me and a cat if you can find him. He's around here somewhere."

"You sure?" she asked him actually looking into his eyes. He looked away from her. Draco you shouldn't. Of all the people, why Granger? You know that she would want you to help her. She would have helped her. He turned back toward Hermione and nodded at her. She smiled gently at him.

"Thank you so much."

Draco nodded at her before he walked across the room and sat on the opposite couch. "I'm just glad you're not crying anymore." He didn't say it to be mean, but he actually did mean it.

"Yeah sorry about that. Rough night you know."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I just…I need to rest and stay out of sight for a while."

"Well the kind that have it out for you don't know these parts well and especially don't know me."

"Anymore." she said in a harsh voice. Draco took notice to it and simply nodded his head in agreement with her. She has no idea how right she actually is. She looked at him as he looked at the fire. "Look I know you use to be one of them. The kind that did…well put me here last night. I'm grateful for what you did, but when I see you…I still see a part of them in you. I'm sorry."

Draco nodded and said, "Yeah you're just like everyone else so that's nothing new. I've heard it many times Granger." He stood up and walked back over to the fire. It was barely burning since it had been flaming all night, but there was a hint of heat coming from it. He stared at the glow in the corner. Hermione sat up and looked at him trying to figure him out. Maybe he has changed. Maybe he is a different person.

"So when did you move into this place?" she asked wanting to break the deafening silence.

"About six years ago."

Hermione smiled and said, "It's nice. I like it a lot. Got a homey vibe. No Christmas tree though?" He shook his head at her. "May I ask why?"

"I don't celebrate Christmas." She could tell that his voice was guarded. That was nothing knew from Malfoy, but it was guarded in an odd way. She couldn't really figure it out.

"You use to."

"Yeah well I don't anymore."

She nodded at him. Hermione then looked around the room and saw nothing, but pictures of him and a really pretty girl.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"A lot of reasons."

"Care to share one?"

"Nope." She nodded and looked down knowing that he was not going to talk. Draco looked back at her and shook his head. "Look I'm sorry if I am coming off a little harsh or un-open, but I'm just letting you crash. This isn't anything else, alright?" She nodded at him lightly.

"Okay. Well we have…" He stopped himself and she definitely noticed it. "I have a guest room. Come on, you can stay there."

She nodded. She tried to stand up, but she fell back over. He ran over to her and caught her slightly before she landed on the floor. He lifted her up and she tried to object, but he shook his head. He carried her down the hall and up the stairs. He walked past one room and then made a right.

The room was large with a blue bed and gorgeous black furniture all around. He set her down on the soft sheets and she leaned back on the pillow. She didn't realize that the previous night was so rough on her. Her legs were tired and she felt achy all over. She knew that she was in trouble.

"You have a separate washroom over there and there are towels for you. Um here…" He walked out of the room and returned with a shirt and some sweats. She smiled as he said, "They're mine so I'm sorry if they're big. You're kind of tiny so..."

"No it's great. Thank you."

"Alright. Well just relax and if you need anything then let me know."

She nodded and he left the room without another word. She looked down and stared at the clothes smiling at them. They were way too big for her, but she felt gross all the same. She grabbed onto various things and managed to get to the shower. Nothing had felt so good.

She walked out of the room with his shirt on and his sweats which were actually very comfy. She saw him sitting by the fireplace which was glowing much brighter than before. He had made yet another fire. She figured that he must have just loved them since the house wasn't even cold.

She walked in the room unsure of what to do or to say. She looked at all the pictures in the room. Draco was always with a beautiful blonde girl. Every picture was of them together. There was one when they were kissing, his hand cupping her face as her arms were wrapped around his neck. Another when she was smiling big at the camera with one of the prettiest smiles she had ever seen and he was merely staring at her with this big smile, a genuine smile. There was one when he was carrying her and she was kissing his cheek. Every picture was of them together.

"I think I get it now." she said making Draco look up at her.

A/N: Alright well originally this was suppose to be longer, but then the story shifted a little bit so I split it into two chapters. I need to establish a backstory before I can get to the really exciting stuff, but I promise you that it is coming. I really love this story so I'm glad that I'm starting it up again.

The title of the chapter is "Waking the Fallen" which is actually a song by the band A7X. I'm going to, from now on, title the chapters based on songs which kind of go with the plot of the chapter. However, the story as a whole will revolve around the song "Iris". So I'll be sure to always tell you the band that wrote the song. That way if there is any confusion about my chapter, you can look up the lyrics and then maybe have a better understanding. Though I try to write in such a way that there is no confusion at all. :)

Also, I'm sorry for those of you who hate OC, but I'm going to be adding a few. Obviously the wife is an OC, but a few other characters will be as well. Sorry if you don't like it, but I hope you keep reading.

Just got to say thanks to Silverlovedragoness - YOU'RE THE BEST!!!

READ AND REVIEW!! My tagline is that if you can read it, you can review it.

Iris is a work of fanfiction. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling, but the featured story is mine.