Tear You Apart - Chapter 18

Draco walked back into the Burrow without knocking knowing full well that everyone was already asleep. He had left in silence at an odd hour to begin with so nobody even noticed that he was gone. Or so he thought.

He walked up the stairs and went towards his room. He opened his door and was shocked to find Hermione laying on his bed, apparently sleeping peacefully. He shut the door behind him, quickly and quietly, before making his way over to her.

Just taking in her small, slender frame on his bed was mesmerizing. She truly did look like an angel; his angel. None the less, she still looked upset as he noticed the dried tear stains on her puffy face. It was obvious that she spent the whole time crying causing his heart to explode with grief. He hated to cause her tears.

After stripping himself down to a wife beater and boxer shorts and placing the vial on the bedside table, he crawled himself onto the bed wrapping an arm around her petite body. He nuzzled his tired face into her many soft curls breathing the scent that was very much Hermione.

"I'm sorry Draco."

Draco pulled away from the back crook of her neck to look at her a little confused. "You have nothing to be sorry about love. I was the one that said everything."

"I'm sorry about your mother."

"Why? It's not your fault that she is the way she is," said Draco quickly and firmly. He didn't want Hermione to feel anything toward his family; not remorse, not sorrow, not anything. He pulled her closer to him and nestled his face against her neck again allowing his warm breath to cascade down her skin. He placed a kiss against her shoulder.

"Nobody deserves that," she whispered with Draco barely able to hear it.

"No, I deserved it. I deserved it for everything that I did when I was young and everything that I did for the Dark Lord. It's called Karma and I guess it's come back to bite me in the ass," he said mildly rubbing his thumb against the skin on her exposed belly. "I especially deserved it after the way that I spoke to you today."

Her body stiffened in his embrace and immediately told him that she was still scared of him, scared of the way he had acted. A sigh left his mouth as he continued to brush his thumb along the smooth skin of her stomach.

"I'm sorry Angel. I really didn't mean any of that."

"Then why did you say it?" she asked, her voice barely there.

Draco felt his heart beating rapidly, like he had been running for several hours. His mouth was dry and his feet felt tingly, as though they had fallen asleep. Why am I feeling like this? He was feeling that way because he loved her and he had hurt her. It wasn't just an argument where he could say sorry and kiss his way out of it. No, he had really hurt her, wounded her to the core. Merlin, he never wanted to hurt her that way again.

"I was angry at the situation that I got myself into. It was not your fault. I took it out on you and I'm sorry for that. Merlin, Hermione, I'm so sorry."

She shifted her body allowing herself to turn over, facing him. Her eyes were wet with fresh tears, but she did not let them spill over. She was being strong as she spoke to him with conviction and sincerity, "You hurt me."

"I know."

"Don't ever do it again."

"I won't," he said, meaning it to the fullest.

She nodded against him and snuggled her head beneath his neck placing her hand on his strong chest. He encircled her with his arms even more so, allowing no part of her body to be out of contact with his. He placed an affectionate kiss on the top of her head, smelling her hair.

"Okay. I should probably head back to bed–"

"Stay here," he said before she had the opportunity to babble.

"Draco I'm not...I'm not in the mood and–"

"And I would never force you to do anything. I assure you that this is innocent. I just want you to lay with me tonight. After what I said...well I think it would bother me more tonight if I didn't have you here."

She looked up, meeting his eyes. She lifted up her small, pale hand and traced over the chiseled features of his face; the strong jaw line; the stubbly chin; the blond hair, completely colorless with the finest tresses. Just staring at his face made her want to stay with him, knowing she would wake up to see that beautiful structure.

Finally, after a battle of her conscience and her heart, she nodded. He smiled meekly at her before planting a chaste kiss on her lips. In a matter of minutes, they were both sleeping soundly.

Hermione woke up to find herself alone in Draco's bed feeling restless. It was as though she had not even slept at all, with her fidgety and on edge. Her body felt heavy and so exhausted that she questioned whether getting out of bed would actually be a good thing. Am I sick? Damn I'm just tired.

She pushed her body up leaning against the headboard. She placed a hand on the side of the bed that Draco had slept on meeting a dreary cold. She knew that he had been gone for quite some time.

Turning her head, she faced the window. Darkness? Is it early morning or did I sleep the whole damn day? Hermione you're starting to crack.

Her bare feet touched the ground meeting an even more drab cold, chilling her entire body. Brushing her hands over her arms at a fierce speed did nothing for her skin. She was still cold. Maybe I am sick. No, I'm just tired.

"Draco?" she called out hoping to get a response from anyone. At this point she could deal with Harry or even Mr. Weasley if they would be willing to help her downstairs. Her body just felt so unnatural.

After listening to silence for several minutes, she stood on her two wobbly legs and made her way to the door, completely ignoring her attire of night clothes. She had unnerved herself so she really just wanted to come in contact with another person. Why she felt so strongly about seeing somebody else, she could not explain. She just wanted to feel the presence of another person.

Hermione peeked her head out of the door, her long hair falling over her damp face. She was sweating, nerves coming over her body, plastering her hair to various parts of her face and neck. Her breathing was rapid, coming out in pants.

"Draco?" she cried out again, but still received no answer. She gulped which only caused her to wince since her throat was so dry. Something is wrong. No, I'm just being stupid and paranoid. What is wrong with me?

Her hair fell to the right as she looked left seeing only a dark, dark hallway. The shadows were practically taunting her as though this were some childhood game of hide and seek and she was the child forced to walk the halls alone in order to locate the others. The prickling feeling of foreboding was stabbing her in the back of the neck, but she had to ignore it.

Her hair switched locations and dangled to the left as she turned her head right to meet another dark hallway, shadows lingering all over the walls. She had never noticed before, but the Burrow was certainly a darker place than she had given it credit for, not that it was something to be proud of.

"Ginny? Ron?" she called out, but no answer. Finally she let out a sigh and stepped out from the room she had woken up in.

The door shut softly behind her, but made a rather large sound. She faced it looking at it oddly, but the door seemed to be completely normal, just like all the other doors in the house. Shrugging, she turned back around to head down the stairs.

Having been spooked by the darkness, she began cantering to the staircase and descended quickly for she wanted to get away from eerie presence upstairs. She chuckled to herself lightly since she felt like her eight year old self, scared of the upstairs hall closet. Her parents always told her that nothing was in there, other than her mother's cleaning supplies and a few old blankets, and certainly nothing to fear. None the less, the room always scared her and she would simply run past it so she would not have to deal with whatever was behind that big door. That same fear had just come over her as she had lingered upstairs. Her galloping down the stairs like a panicked child just made her laugh; she suddenly felt very silly.

That silliness did not stay for the sight before her nearly knocked her over. She was alone in the Burrow. There was no fire, no spicy smell of Molly's cooking, no half-played game of wizarding chess scattered all over the floor, no human presence; no Draco.

Her heart was in her throat thumping rapidly and bringing tears to her eyes. Where the hell is everyone? Where is Draco?

"Draco where are you? Answer me right now!" she screamed, her words echoing off of the walls which seemed oddly bare and distant, as though they were not the same walls. Her feet took her to the kitchen which was abnormally tidy. It was not as though Molly was a complete slob, but her kitchen was never that clean. Normally she had several cakes cluttering up the table and muffins sitting in a small pile on the stove. This kitchen though was bare, clean to the fullest. No tasty treats were sitting on platters waiting to be feasted on nor were there any other signs that cooking had actually occurred; not exotic smells or unwashed dishes. Not even magic can clean this well.

She bolted from the kitchen to the dining room which was, as she feared, bare. In the last few days, vials upon vials of various ingredients had been placed on the long table. A silver cauldron, compliments of Remus Lupin, had been kept in the center of the table, but the cauldron was no longer there. No bottles or flasks were left nor were any papers. What irked her the most was that the spell book was gone. They had borrowed it from Severus Snape himself as to brew the proper potion, but the book was gone.

The mounting fear was practically bombarding her as she scurried out of the room and into the den where Ron and Ginny had practically lived as they grew up. Hermione and Draco had only been there for a little over a week, but during that time they had spent a fair amount of it in there. It was a serene location where another fire burned usually and a particularly comfortable couch was back against the wall. Draco and her had been curling up there nearly every night to read a book together aside from the passing night. However, the room was not the same. Normally quidditch brooms muddled the floor and Molly's knitting was kept all over the far red chair, but not at that moment. Hermione noticed that everything was gone. Everything that had made the place a home was gone. What the hell happened?

A noise caught her attention and it sounded like a human noise as well. She practically flew to the living room where she met a sight that would forever horrify her.

"NO!"

"Hello honey. You look absolutely radiant," said Alan with a sneer. He was seated on the living room sofa with his feet propped up on the table, mud dripping onto the glass tabletop.

"How d-did you f-f-find me?" asked Hermione through gasping breaths, tears falling down her cheek.

"Oh baby, I have my ways. It was a lot easier than I anticipated. I just knew how to get to you," he replied, an evil grin twisting his last word.

"You're n-not suppose to be here. Y-you c-c-ca...you can't come within th-three-hundred yards of m-me," she panted out, fear completely overwhelming her. Anxiety was practically pounding behind her eyes, but she stood her ground. She was not going to let her husband berate her without a fight. Pull it together. Pull it together and yell back!

"Lovely home though. I must say that the Weasleys, though completely incompetent in regards to magic, are a very family oriented couple. I applaud them for making this house so cozy." His words were so supercilious that she could feel the patronizing tone wrap around her body, which at that point was shaking violently.

"Where are they? What did you do to them?" she asked, feeling her strength somewhat return. It was knowing that Draco would want her to be strong which kept her calm.

"There here in a way. It must have been a shock to wake up without them here, right? I mean it appears that you've grown accustom to waking up in a certain way. Sorry to burst that little bubble for you. You must feel like you were run over by a stampeding herd of unicorns."

"Alan you need to leave. Whatever you did to the Weasleys and to..." she broke off, not wanting to really finish it. She just hoped that he had not hurt Draco. So help her, if he hurt Draco, she would kill him. She would not hold anything back and strictly Avada him.

"That's right, your precious man. How is he? All around, I mean. I'm sure that you two have exchanged kisses every now and then, right?" he asked, a smile on his lips.

"Stop it Alan–"

"More? You've done more with this man. Please share further?"

"I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. Not anymore. So leave this house!" she barked, fists clenched tightly against her legs. He just smirked at her.

"You are beautiful Hermione. I will never deny your beauty considering it was one of the reasons for me agreeing to do such a task as to marry you strictly to fuck with Potter. However, your beauty is skin deep. I will have no problem ending you when the time comes." He spoke harshly, maliciously; his words were little knives stabbing into her back.

"I have been spending these past two months thinking about you and your lips. I've been thinking about how beautiful and fresh they are. How they taste. Merlin, you're fucking gorgeous. I would love to just ravish you," he said rising from his position on the sofa. Out of instinct, Hermione began to back up.

"S-stay back Alan!" she bellowed, hoping that somebody, anybody, would come and help her.

"I can't. You're intoxicating. I just want to be pressed against you, skin to skin. My hot breath falling across your neck."

She was pressed against a wall and she wanted so much to just get away. She attempted to disapparate, but for some odd reason, she could not. Alan must have done something to the house to keep me in it. I can't get out!

"I just want to touch you," he said pressing both of his hands against the wall, boxing her in. She felt claustrophobic for she was so overwhelmed by his advances. She didn't want him to touch her. Draco had become a part of her and she had given him her body, mind, and soul; that was entirely his. She did not want Alan to ruin that for him.

"I'm going to have you back. I'll take you, your body I mean, before I kill you. I want you to know that," he whispered in her ear sending shivers up her spine. His voice practically sounded like death. He was a plagued man and he wanted to end her.

"I'm going to have so much fun with you. Oh you have no idea what I plan to do with your body. If you thought that I had you before just wait until this. I'll touch you, grab you, feel you, be inside you..." He licked his lips making her gag in her mouth.

"So then why aren't you doing it? Nobody is here so why don't you just do it?"

"My dear I want nothing more. However, you're not in the correct state, nor am I. Mark my words though, I'm going to fucking end you after I hurt you. Know as well that the man that has taken you from me...well let's just say that his death will be far worse than yours. Rest easy, my love."

He pressed a hard kiss to her lips before everything went hazy...

"Hermione wake up!"

"HE'S HERE! HE IS GOING TO KILL ME!"

"Hermione you're just dreaming. Wake up, love. It's me, Draco–"

"HELP ME!"

"HERMIONE!"

Her brown eyes flew open and her body convulsed as Draco stared at her in bewilderment. Having gone to bed at an uncommon hour had already made him tired, but waking up to the sound of Hermione screaming bloody murder just threw him into complete exhaustion.

Fatigue had overtaken him so much that he actually didn't wake up from her screams. He woke up, with a startle and enormous amount of pain, from her thrashing in the bed. Her fist had connected with his third leg (forever the arrogant slytherin) making him turn red with a throbbing ache. It wasn't until he had calmed himself and realized that she was having a nightmare, that he attempted to help her. He found himself helpless, unable to protect her from her dreams.

She was screaming for the longest time and he tried to wake her up by holding her shoulders, whispering sweetly to her. Out of nowhere she began to scream things coherently, alerting him that she was having a practically painful nightmare. He had to use force at that point. He gripped her shoulders, shoved her down in the bed as hard as he could without hurting her, and forcefully yelled over her voice.

Upon her waking up, she threw herself into fitful sobs and agonizing moans. Draco just shook his head, hating to see her in such a horrid state, before he enveloped her into his arms.

"You're safe, love. I promise you that you're safe," he murmured into her damp hair. He could feel her forehead noting her feverish state which instantly worried him more.

"Y-you...y-ou weren't th-there," she gasped out, holding him for dear life.

"What do you mean Angel? I'm right here."

"Y-you weren't there and h-he w-was," she cried into his chest. "He t-t-told me how he p-plans to k-kill me and y-you. He s-s-said that he would have my b-b-body first and that y-your death would b-be worse than...than anything!" She screamed even more, the sobs nearly causing her to pass out. He gripped her tightly to him, not letting her go in any way. He needed her to know she was safe. He needed her to know that he was there and that nobody would hurt her–

But that's wrong. He can hurt her because he figured it out. Damn it, I thought we had more time.

"Angel it was just a nightmare."

"No! It was real! I know it was r-real!" she bellowed as she cried harder. She confirmed to him what he didn't want to hear.

"Hermione he has figured it out. He managed to find his way into your thoughts."

Silence

Silence

Silence

"I thought," she said, pulling back from him to meet his eyes which were glazed over, not with sleep, but with fear, "you said that we would have a month b-before that happened."

"That's what I figured," began Draco, raking a hand through her moist hair, "but I was wrong. He must have had help. Perhaps the Dark Lord himself got involved. I'm sorry Angel."

Hermione didn't hear his last three words; she passed out before then.

A/N: Alright well this was certainly a fun chapter to write. Tell me what you guys thought!

Also, I want to make it known that I do not have a problem with people having questions. If you guys do not understand something, then ask me. I promise that I will not be offended. I have noticed that a lot of you seem to slide in questions as though you're afraid it will bother me, but that is not the case. If you do not understand something then be blunt. I will not take offense. Geez, I would love to ask J.K. Rowling herself something in regards to the Order of the Phoenix which I'm still confused about. I don't have that option, but you all do. I'm right here so ask me. I will not be offended you guys.

"Tear You Apart" is by the band She Wants Revenge. I heard it randomly and found that it was perfect for this chapter. I'm not totally crazy about the song, but it works for this. The line that I thought about for the chapter was, "I want to hold you close, soft breath, beating heart, as I whisper in your ear 'I want to fucking tear you apart'"

READ AND REVIEW!! If you can read, then you can review it.

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