Dramione

They're Wrong About You

A/N – Hope you've enjoyed the fanfic so far, (disclaimer) I don't own any of the characters etc. as they belong to the amazing JKR. Same old font thing, Draco in Italics and Hermione in normal writing. IMPORTANT NOTICE: also, there is a little tiny detail to do with Hermione having her 'Mudblood scar from Bellatrix, I know it's set during Half Blood Prince but I decided to make her have it anyway, even if it isn't chronologically correct… Please review and enjoy!

"Sectum-Sempera!"

A huge force came flying from Potter's wand, I tried to dodge but I was too slow… it hit me. Hard. One moment I am trying to disarm him, the next I'm lying in a puddle of my own blood.

It was horrible, I couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain, and it was consuming me, in my head, my heart, my stomach, everywhere. Pure torture.

Potter looked at me then at his wand, his eyes wide in shock at what he had done, at least Potter would suffer from my imminent death. Yes, as I laid on the bathroom floor it seemed that my death was in fact, inevitable.

My breathing was now jagged and my whole body twitched and spasmed in pain, I couldn't do anything but watch as Potter's shadow, distorted by the red puddle, slipped off into the darkness, I was left alone.

So this was how I was to die, not by Voldemort's wand, not by my Father's wrath, but alone in the boys bathroom at Hogwarts, a place that was supposed to protect me.

Oddly enough, I wished that Granger was there with me, impossible of course. I had broken her, and even if she were completely shattered, she wouldn't care if I lived or died, I was – am – a Death Eater. I'm on the dark side, just look where that got me. A spoilt little brat that was such a bully that now, in my last moments, I have nothing but pain to keep me company. A pathetic excuse for a Pureblood, for a Malfoy.

Pureblood, Mudblood, what does it matter now? I'm lying in my own "pure" blood and it can't help me at all, what difference does it make? Had I been smarter, then I would have realised that a lot sooner, maybe I wouldn't be here right now.

Maybe I wouldn't be alone, in complete agony.

I hadn't seen Draco in a month. I had wanted to, I had been so close to confronting him, telling him that I understand what he is going through. I know it wasn't him talking, it was his father, it was Voldemort, it was the Death Eaters, but it wasn't him, or at least I don't think that it was.

In all honesty, I was petrified that I had somehow, done the unthinkable. I had fallen down the rabbit hole and I couldn't see where I was going, there was no way that I could possibly recover. The truth was, that I had fallen for Draco Malfoy, but he had broken my heart.

After the scene in the Room Of Requirement, I assumed that he didn't really want to talk to me, besides, I did have a few other things on my mind. I had been with Ron.

It wasn't quite right though.

He had said my name after being in the hospital wing for what seemed like forever. He may have been unconscious but he had murmured it nevertheless, the look on Lavender's face was priceless, her darling Won Won, in hospital, the poor thing, but he didn't want her, he only wanted me.

After he woke up and we had explained to him what had happened he didn't appear to be quite as heartbroken as her. She still watched him though, all the time, with a crazed look in her eye, as if she was preparing to jump out any moment and take a bullet for him, it was odd to say the least.

But it still wasn't right, Ron seemed to enjoy my company a lot more than before, he kept gently touching my cheeks or rubbing his thumb round and round on the back of my hand.

No, it was wrong. It wasn't because Ron had changed, it was – despite the complete cliché – me. I was different, something bout Draco, the change in him, well… it had changed me as well.

I was walking to potions when Harry walked past me, the bottom of his trousers were wet and he had his wand out, he looked at me, we made eye contact but he walked straight past.

Something was wrong.

I could see it in his eyes, he had done something, and it was eroding him already, eating away like cancer in his soul.

I watched as he and his shadow rounded the corner towards the common room, then immediately headed in the direction of which he had come.

I felt as though I was doing something wrong. As though any moment I would be caught and expelled. Then I stopped.

The Room Of Requirement was right next to me, Draco was probably in there, my heart fluttered at the thought of being able to talk to him, him keeping his distance had done nothing but make my affections grow, it was horrible, how he could do that to me.

I shook my head and carried on until I found myself standing in a puddle of water, if Harry had seriously made me all worried over something as stupid as him flooding the bathroom then I would be seriously annoyed.

I turned to walk away when I looked down at my now soaked shoes, there was something else in the water, a trickle of something red…

My confusion was met with a strangled moan and I stared back down at the water, the red had spread out, mixing with the clear water until I was just standing in a pool of pure red.

It was blood.

I heard the sound of splashing, perhaps this wasn't the end I thought I would have, and perhaps I wouldn't die completely alone…

The splashing sound stopped, obviously the person had decided they would rather not get their shoes wet, the floor was now an ocean of red, no other colour surrounded me, at the edge of the door and out in the corridor I could see the shadow of the random stranger and my blood swirling around their ankles.

Then the pain returned, the distraction had been good, it had kept my mind off of the excruciating torment.

A groan escaped from my lips and the figure moved, my body was twitching and pulsing, my entire being shaking in agony, I had heard the spell Potter used, Professor Snape told me of it. It slashes the victim repeatedly, causing indescribable pain, there is only one counter curse…

I have no idea what it is.

The figure outside the door gasped, I would know that gasp a million miles away and as if to prove my point, Granger's shadows turns round the corner and morphs into her body. She looks perfect compared to me right now.

Of course that isn't the point, Granger's presence won't stop me dying, I lov- like. I like the way that she can help to ease the pain simply by standing there, mouth wide open, hair a mess, feet sopping wet.

I shouldn't count on her being there for very long, not after the way I treated her, she should leave me here to die, it would be easier for everybody.

But she didn't.

Draco was lying in the middle of the floor, if I had thought that he looked like he couldn't get any worse when he sat with me on the stairs, then I was completely wrong, he looked like death itself.

His entire body was soaked in water, his shirt clung to his body and his hair became matted to his head in a mixture of sweat and blood, he was bleeding severely in several places and he twitched and shook in pain.

I knew what spell had done this and I could probably guess which wizard had done this…

Harry.

He had told me about the spell a while ago, it was in that horrendous potions book of his, it was called 'Sectum-Sempera' and I think it cuts open the target, pain, a lot of pain, oh God, how was Draco bearing it?

I couldn't watch him being in total agony, it hurt me, it felt as though there was a knife being pushed right through my heart.

I ran over and knelt beside him in a pool of his own blood, his pure blood. He was making strangled noises and I found myself crying, he had to make it through this, if not for me, then just for him, knowing he was alive was enough.

"Merlin, what happened Draco? Oh God, how do I fix you?" I asked frantically, his only reoly was a moan as his face screwed up in pain, he was crying, so was I.

He breathing was cut off with a cough and a spurt of blood from his mouth. Oh Merlin, I needed to act nd I needed to act fast, I began performing any enchantment that I could remember but none of them were working. Oh God, What were none of them working?!

"Draco, stay with me… don't you dare die on me!" I cried as more blood was coughed up, his whole boding was trembling violently and he couldn't stop making sounds filled with agony and caused by intense pain.

I was chanting speels all over the place and he was about ot die, it was hopeless. There was only one spell left that I could try that might help… I read it over Harry's shoulder in his book, I wasn't exactly sure what it did.#It was my last hope so I pulled Draco's head into my lap and propped him up against my legs.

"Vulnera Sanentur." I whispered.

She whispered a spell so queietly that I couldn't properly hear it, I couldn't really hear anything, there was a ringing in my ears and my vision was blurring slightly, I had coughed up blood onto both myself nd Granger, staining our uniforms.

Why was she doing this? Why? After all I'd done to her, why would she help me?

My lost track of my thoughts when I felt the pain ease up, it was by no means gone, but it was slightly more bearable.

She opened her eyes and stared at me, as though she couldn't believe that it had worked, of course it was going to work, because there isn't anything that Granger couldn't fix with a spell.

She blinked in surprise then screwed her eyes shut, she murmered it again, just loud enough so that I could hear it.

"Vulnera Sanentur." She mumbled, I could feel the cut beginning to heal and knit themselves back together. I began to sit up but both the jolt of pain, and Grnagers steady hands, made me lie back down, I suddenly realised for the second time, just how close we were sitting again. I was on her lap, her arms draped over me as she muttered the spell and her hair falling out of the pins that were supposed to restrain it, gently brushing against my face.

She said it loudly this time, actally, she sort of laughed it, as though she were actually happy about the restoration of my life, but why had she done it?

I was still in pain, and my head felt as though I had just been whacked in the face by a bulldozer, but it was as if she were the real counter curse, she was dumbing the pain, but why?

I knew that I wouldn't be able to sit up yet, and my clothes were sticking to me as if they were my skin.

Granger was crying, she wiped away some of the tears and took off her cardigan, using it to wipe away the blood from my face.

She stopped dead in her tracks, I knew why, I quickly shuffled away from her, ignoring the pain shooting through me.

She moved towards me.

I moved further away.

The water had made my shirt stick to me and become slightly transparent…

She could see my dark mark.

It was there, marking his skin, permanently, I knew how that felt, let's just say that my time spent in Malfoy Manor wasn't exactly a happy one.

He backed away from me until he hit a wall, the water from a broken set of sinks was spraying over him, I got up and walked towards him, water dripping from my wet blood stained clothes.

"Granger, get away from me. I'm one of them now, I… I'm evil, I always have been and I always will be." He said, just loud enough for it not to be a whisper.

I sat down next to his trembling body, close enough that our shoulders bumped together, but not as close as we were before.

"Draco," I began, he winced as I said his name, causing me to hesitate before continuing "Scars are part of who you are, believe me, I know. But they don't define you."

I took a deep breath and moved our arms until they were next to each other, his snaking dark mark and my ugly 'mudblood' scar. He looked at them which really caught my attention, he could look at them, Harry could look for a moment but not properly look, Ron can't even think about it without getting angry.

But Draco was like me, he knew what it meant to be branded as something horrible.

"Why did you do it?" he asked quietly. I didn't answer, I didn't know if he would be happy with the truth, if he didn't think his own life was worth saving, then he couldn't understand why I saved him.

"Bellatrix tortured me until I was begging for her to kill me." At this he turned to look at me, our eyes locked and we reflected each others fear, our pain, our suffering.

"She left this scar so that I wouldn't forget, but I don't care. I'm not going to be something that she wants me to be. I had a choice, Draco. We all have a choice. You have a choice. You aren't a bad guy, you don't have to be one of the bad guys."

He looked away and we sat not speaking for a while, it was nice, a meaningful silence is better than meaningless words. You can't hide anything beneath silence like you can words.

The silence was nice, although it wasn't a silence, it was the sound of us. Despite how corny it sounded, it was the truth, there was never a complete silence, the sound of our heartbeats, our breathing, was silence enough for me.

"I have to kill Dumbledore." I said. It felt good to say it, to let the words hang out in the open, even if nothing could be done about it.

I took another deep breath.

"They're making me kill Dumbledore."

Granger studied my face for a few seconds then I spoke again.

"It's too late." I said shakily "I'm a Death Eater now. Everyone knows it, I'm the dark side. The evil side."

She shuffled around, water splashing everywhere, until she was on her knees in front of me, she moved in close, making me shiver.

"They're wrong about you." She smiled, then she leant in close and pressed her lips against mine, the kiss tasted like blood and tears, but it was the best yet.

It didn't last long. She pulled away after five seconds, smiled, got up, and walked away.

I sat there for ages after she had left, the same words I had once said to her in the back of my mind, 'they're wrong about you'.

And we were right.