Disclaimer: Roses are red

Violets are blue

I don't own Harry Potter

But this plot, yes I do!

0000

The butler nodded and turned to go get Hermione. Draco waited with his hands in his pockets trying to be as patient as possible. Suddenly thunder was heard and rain began pouring down. Draco groaned as he was automatically soaked. After a minute of standing in the rain Hermione appeared at the door and quickly ushered him in with a rather passive expression.

Once inside Draco cast a drying spell on himself and took off his sunglasses and jacket. Hermione took his jacket from him silently and hung it up on the nearby coat rack. Hermione then led him into the sitting room and motioned for him to sit. Hermione sat down across from him and sighed.

"What are you doing here Draco? I told you I had to lose contact with everyone from Hogwarts and… wait a minute shouldn't you still be in school?" Hermione said not looking directly at him.

"I dropped out. Hermione I can't live without you and it hurt me incredibly when you ended our short relationship. You couldn't expect me not to go after you could you? Only an idiot wouldn't go after you." Draco said. He was looking directly at her with sad eyes.

At that moment a man who had to be in his mid-forties entered the room closely followed by a woman in her early forties. These two were most obviously Hermione's parents. Draco stood almost automatically to show respect. He silently approached them with a calm expression.

"Sir, madam." Draco said simply.

"Dear boy no need to be so formal with us. I am Kristopher De'Paul and this is my wife Helen. What might your name be?" Hermione's father, Kristopher, said.

Draco shifted uncomfortably. "I don't believe you'll particularly like who I am."

"Come now boy out with it. What's your name?" Kristopher said kindly.

Draco sighed and looked down at the floor. "Draco Malfoy, sir."

Silence followed Draco's telling of his name. When Draco finally gathered the courage to look up, slightly down as well because Hermione's father was a bit shorter than him, he saw an angered expression on Kristopher's face, a frightened expression on Helen's face and a passive expression on Hermione's face whom had come over while he was looking down at the floor.

"Did you say Malfoy?" Kristopher said lowly.

"Yes, sir, I did." Draco said quietly.

"OUT, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! NO MALFOY IS ALLOWED IN MY HOME OR BY MY FAMILY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME BOY!" Kristopher exclaimed. Draco looked at him with wide eyes and backed away towards the door.

Draco grabbed his jacket off the coat hanger and was about to exit the mansion when he turned around to say one last thing. "I'm sorry for whatever sins my ancestors, or more than likely father, have done to you, but please don't take it out on me. Hermione I do hope I shall see you again because without you… I don't know what I'll do. If you wish to find me some time in the future just look in Italy. I live in a less populated area and in an all magic building complex. My penthouse shan't be hard to find. Good day to you all." And with that Draco stepped outside the mansion and headed through the rain to the apparation point.

0000

It had been five months since that moment and still Hermione never came for him and he never went back. By this time school was out and Blaise and Theodore Nott had moved in with Draco. Apparently the Head Girl position was left unfilled after Hermione left so Blaise was the only Head student. Both Blaise and Theodore, or Theo, had passed their exams with spectacular grades. After Draco had left, the school had apparently become deathly silent and solemn. Blaise told him that nobody could quite get over the fact that both Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, two students who were solely dedicated to school, had left suddenly. Everyone had started studying more intently and so the entirety of seventh year had passed their NEWTs, which includes Crabbe and Goyle.

Once the two were out of school they went to Draco and quickly were accepted into his home. The two had wanted to get away from their families desperately and so this was the best thing. Since the penthouse in which Draco lived in was so large there was no trouble in having them live with him. Now the three friends were working towards the occupations of their choice. Blaise wanted to be an Auror, Theodore wanted to be a curse breaker and Draco wanted to be a healer. Theo was now studying under the guidance of one Bill Weasley, Blaise was working on his basic training and Draco was studying hard with the assistance of Healer Marrideth Prisopp. Draco of course was the hardest worker of the lot because of his determination to keep Hermione and his heartbreak out of his mind. His training was going along wonderfully and Prisopp said he'd be done with his training early because of how quick he was learning it all. Draco had also found that he could easily confide in Prisopp and so she knew of all his struggles with Hermione and of his past.

Blaise and Theo were worried about him. Draco was always one to do the best he possibly could, but he was over doing it. He would study for hours at a time and then go out running for another couple of hours. The only times he really spoke to the two was during meals and even that was little. He slept very little despite all his hard work. Draco would go to bed after the two and then be up and working way before the two woke.

Today was one of those days. Draco was out running while Blaise and Theo talked.

"We need to find her. Draco's slipping away without her." Blaise said in a serious and determined tone. "I'm not about to let my best friend destroy his life."

"Finding her will be easy since we know where she lives. It's getting her here that's hard." Theo remarked looking slightly frustrated.

"Well no matter what we'll get her here, for Draco's sake." Blaise said. He then stood up from his seat and went over to the coat closet. The two put on their jackets (which were black of course) and apparated to the apparation point nearest to Hermione's home.

0000

Waiting in someone's sitting room to tell someone something important is rather agitating let me tell you. Blaise and Theo sat on a white sofa in the De'Paul sitting room feeling rather uncomfortable. Blaise was leaning his head backwards and pinching the bridge of his nose for he felt a serious migraine coming on while Theo was leaning forward with his hand holding his head up while he looked at the crimson carpet. This is what Hermione came in to see. She silently walked over to the sofa directly in front of the one they were sitting on and silently observed them.

Blaise looked the same as he did when she left Hogwarts except for maybe a worry line or two and he left his hair down instead of having it spiked. Theodore on the other hand, she had never taken the time to observe before now. He was tall, between 6' and 6'5, and had a built body. His light brown hair reached just past his eyes, much like Blaise and Draco's, and it curled slightly out.

Hermione stopped her observations and cleared her throat lightly so as to get their attention. The two boys… no men quickly looked at her and Hermione saw then just how stressed the two were. Both looked worn out and worried. Blaise's indigo eyes looked straight into hers as did Theo's pale green eyes. Hermione sighed and looked at the two questionably.

"What might I be able to do for you two on such a dreary summer day?" Hermione asked.

"You might be able to come with us and fix the mess you have made." Theo replied in an angry I-won't-take-any-bullshit tone of voice.

"What mess have I created?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Don't give me that bullshit. You know exactly…" Theo began still angrily but was cut off by Blaise.

"Hermione it's Draco. He's destroying himself over you. He's over working himself physically and mentally. He's barely sleeping if he's sleeping at all and he's barely eating. He almost never talks and is always either studying or out running or whatever he does while he's out. He needs you more than you could ever imagine. You're the only thing, well person, who can bring him back to being his normal self." Blaise said in a much kinder tone than Theo, but also worry filled.

"Is he really that bad?" Hermione asked quietly and sadly. The two nods she received only made her sadder. "But I can't go to him. Father doesn't want me anywhere near him because he's a Malfoy and the Malfoys are probably the most hated family in this household. Yes father doesn't think he's as bad as his ancestors but he still doesn't want me near him."

"What did the Malfoys do to your family?" Blaise asked, perking up a bit. He had a feeling that whatever it was could help them in getting her to Draco.

"Well when my parents were at school, they went to Hogwarts of course, my mother was best friends with Narcissa Black. The two were nearly inseparable. They were like sisters to tell you the truth. Well Narcissa was a year older than my mother, Helen Sanders, and when she left school she married my father's all time enemy, Lucius Malfoy. Even after Narcissa left school my mother and her stayed good friends and when my mother got out of school the two spent as much time as they could together. But that all changed the day my mother married my father, Kristopher De'Paul. Narcissa was forbidden to ever talk to my mother again and was threatened by Lucius that if she ever did he would make sure she didn't live after she gave him a male heir. Well Narcissa became pregnant a year later it was the big thing in all the newspapers. Everyone couldn't stop talking about the soon to come Malfoy heir. But in about the third month of Narcissa's pregnancy my mother became pregnant with twins. The papers went into an even bigger frenzy and everyone forgot about the soon to come Malfoy heir. See as you should know the De'Paul family is even older than the Malfoy family so of course it was an even bigger thing that two De'Paul heirs were to be born soon. Well to say the least Lucius was enraged when even when Narcissa gave birth to their baby boy, which they named, get this, Draco Lucius Malfoy, the press didn't return to them. So three months later when my mother gave birth to myself, Hermione Anne De'Paul and my brother Nicholas Richard De'Paul, Lucius came and killed my twin brother. Mother and father were distraught and could only be glad that only my bother was killed. Sadly my mother was not able to have any more children and so the De'Paul name ends with me. That is one of the reasons I had to fake my last name and also why I am not allowed near Draco, he is the offspring of the man who killed my brother. I know he's nothing like his father but my father won't listen." Hermione said solemnly.

"So that's why you can't come and save Draco from himself?" Blaise sighed. "Hermione sometimes you've just got to go against the rules."

"Granger, I mean De'Paul, if you truly have any feelings towards Draco you'd break the rules and come with us to save him once again, except this time from himself.

Hermione was silent for a moment before she stood and disappeared for a moment from the room. The next minute she was back in the room putting on her white jacket. "Come on. I think it's about time Draco had a good talking to.

The two friends smiled and put their jackets back on. The next moment they were apparating to the penthouse in which Draco, Blaise and Theo lived in.

Once inside the three found Draco sitting on the black leather couch reading from a book and taking notes. Hermione looked at him with sad eyes as Blaise spoke.

"Hey Drake there's someone here to see you."

"Whoever it is tell them to leave, I'm busy." Draco said not even bothering to look up from his work.

"Are you sure you want me to leave Draco?" Hermione asked quietly.

Draco head shot up and he looked over at them. He starred at Hermione with wide eyes and then said, nearly inaudible, "Hermione?" Hermione nodded and Blaise and Theo exited the room silently. Draco stood and walked quickly over to her. He then wrapped his arms around her in a hug and twirled her around three times. When he finally set her down he kissed her lightly and looked straight into her eyes. "I thought you weren't allowed near a Malfoy." He said quietly.

"Sometimes you just gotta break the rules." Hermione replied. She then stood on her tiptoes and kissed him passionately.