[Draco]
Hermione cried in Draco's arms for over 2 hours. He fetched her endless amounts of tissue and dried her eyes when she finally managed to stop crying for a while. He got her a drink from the cupboard. There wasn't much in there just a bottle of lemonade. Draco took her a glass and she drank trying to get rid of the small hiccups crying had given her.
"Do you want anything?" He asked placing a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm just gonna take a bath then go to bed." She muttered, her voice thick from all of the tears.
"Okay well I'll wait out here for you," Draco smiled and kissed her forehead gently.
[Hermione]
I wasn't going to think. I'm just going to do, take one step at a time I told myself. I made my way to the bathroom, feeling Draco's lips still on my head. I closed the door behind me and began to run the bath. I slid my clothes off my numb body and shoved them in the wash basket. The water was hot and burnt my skin, but I couldn't feel the pain. Just the pain in my heart...No, don't think about it.
The steam washed over my face, making it tickly hot. I closed my eyes, resting them, letting them recover from the hard crying.
I thought about the last time I saw my mum and dad. It was before I left them to go to Ron's house in the summer. Mum was wearing her plain grey skirt with a pink sweater I had bought her for mother's day a few years before, her hair was in a loose bun, her sensible shoes were as shiny as ever and her soft flowery smell that she always smelled of. Dad was wearing a blue pinstripe shirt and his black trousers; his brown hair was as untidy as always. Their faces both had warm smiles on as they embraced me, telling me how proud they were and how much they would miss me and how much they loved me. All of a sudden their smiles melted off their faces and they were lying in a fiery mess that used to be our living room, mum was screaming and dad was already dead. I snapped my eyes open gasping. My breath blew the steam away to reveal the water to be a sickly red, the blood sliding down the tiles, down the side of the bath, dripping from the ceiling and covering my hands. I screamed closing my eyes quick.
[Draco]
"Hermione?" Draco was at the door in a flash, knocking on the door rapidly. "I'm coming in!"
"No don't! I'm fine!" He heard her say from the other side, hearing the splash of water as she got out.
"What happened?" Draco asked, my voice still slightly loud.
"Nothing!" She yelled back.
Draco closed my eyes and turned around to walk back to making the fire but he felt the back of his shirt catch on something. Draco turned to release it but saw a hand coming out between the door crack. She was sitting on the floor, grasping his shirt tightly. "I was remembering my parents when they appeared in my mind all bloody and fiery then when I opened my eyes, there was blood everywhere," She muttered. "Stay with me?"
Draco reached back and took her hand from the shirt. He pushed the door open and took a few of the big towels from the rack and draped them around her shivering body which was curled up on the floor. Making sure everything was covered; he carefully lifted her frail body in his arms and took her to her room.
He shoved the purple bed covers off one side of the bed and laid her down gently. He knelt on the floor next to the bed.
He swept away a strand of hair from her face. "How about you get ready for bed now?" Draco smiled gently.
"Will you stay with me?" She asked quietly.
"Uh...I'll let you get changed and then I'll come back," He replied blushing slightly. She nodded and sat up mindlessly, the towels slipping slightly from her body. Draco turned away quickly and went out. "I'll be back in a second."
He went across to my room and closed the door behind him. It was exactly as he left it. Draco slipped out of his clothes and stood there in boxers. 'Should I wear more? I mean, I am sharing a bed with her....' He thought looking in to the mirror. He scratched the back of his neck like always but noticed the Dark Mark on his arm. Shit, he couldn't let her see it. Draco grabbed his wand and cast a charm that faded it completely. He just had to remember to do it again in the morning before it wore off. Right that was one problem now...he searched through the draws and found a pair of pyjama bottoms that were discarded at the back. They were a bit big but ah well. Draco also found an old t-shit and put that on as well. He left the room satisfied with how he looked but annoyed with the top, pulling at the collar.
"Can I come in?" He asked.
"Yeah," Hermione replied. Draco entered quietly. She was brushing her damp hair. He looked over to her. She was wearing a baggy t-shirt and some short shorts. Once again he found himself looking at her legs.
"Didn't I already tell you to stop ogling at me?" She asked looking at Draco through the mirror again smiling slightly. He could see she was trying to take her mind off it, trying to smile but he could see how much pain she was in, her laughter not reaching her eyes. "I thought guys didn't normally wear much for bed?" She asked looking at his attire.
"Well I just normally sleep in boxers but I thought seeing as I'm sleeping in the same bed as you, you might not be okay with it so I dressed up for you," Draco smiled.
"If you're not comfortable I don't mind," She said going to put her clothes away in the wardrobe opposite the mirror. Draco faced away and pulled up the shirt seeing Hermione look at him through the mirror.
"Stop ogling at me Granger," He smirked turning around. "I know, I'm like a God," Draco said flexing his muscles slightly. Hermione was staring at him with her mouth open slightly before she took a hold of herself and turned pink slightly muttering something about how he was so full of himself.
They crawled in to the cold bed and he held open his arms for her to curl up in to. She faced in to his chest, her hands resting on his body. Draco felt her warm breath on his skin increase and the cold tears dripped on to him.
"Does it ever get any better?" Draco heard her whisper.
"From personal experience, you just need to let yourself heal over time. It's not something that will just magically disappear overnight, but I think they wouldn't want you to be forever grieving. I think they would want you to enjoy your life, be the best you can be. They'll be watching down on you from heaven, smiling as you succeed, comforting you when you're sad and encouraging you when you fail." Draco said quietly.
"You sound like you know what I'm feeling right now, who did you lose?" She asked.
Draco stared at the ceiling for a few moments not saying anything. "My mother..."
Hermione lifted her head from Draco's chest and looked at him. Her big eyes glistened from her tears which left shiny trails down her cheeks. While he wiped her cheeks dry with his hand, she shivered in his arms slightly, like a small, scared mouse. "Was it him?" Draco didn't reply, he just stroked her soft cheeks.
"You see, I know you'll be okay. You have such a strong soul Hermione, a strong soul that has friends to make it even stronger. Potter and Weasley and all those other nerds in your house will always be there for you..."
"I don't." She interrupted. "Ron moved on. He has Lavender now."
"Lavender Brown? Wow..He really has no taste in girls.." Draco said with a slight frown on his face. Hermione giggled but then her face fell again.
"Everyone else in the house only knows who I am as the 'know it all' or because of Harry and he has his own problems right now. I've burdened Harry with so much in the past with the breakup; I don't want him to have even more on his chest. Normally I would tell my..." Her eyes lowered and she stopped.
"You have me?" Draco whispered. "I'm here now.." Hermione left his arms and sat up resting her head on her knees.
"That's just it though. I shouldn't have you; you shouldn't even be here right now. You should be in your room not giving a single care about me. You shouldn't even know about any of this. We shouldn't have kissed...any of it. That's what I'm scared about. You come from a family that despises people like me, you along with them and yet you said you want to be friends, and yet you confided in me, yet you kissed me, yet you're here now in my bed comforting me, you're even in my dreams. You just don't seem real and I'm scared that if I do let you in, you'll just disappear in a second, like how you did yesterday. Why? What changed your mind?"
Draco rested his arms behind his head and looked at the ceiling. "When she was taken from me, I had no one. Father didn't give a toss about her, I have no other family, no friends to confide in. I guess I said we should try and be friends because I see how happy Harry and Ron make you and I just wanted that. I got angry at myself later from the whole ordeal. I know you would think I was just messing with you, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy pissed me off which just tipped everything over. I went crazy. Trashing my room made me feel slightly better but I wanted to hurt someone...I went in the bathroom and the first thing I saw was my father in the mirror, I smashed in it anger, the pain satisfying to some extent but then when it shattered, that shard fell deep and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I thought about everything that caused me sadness lately letting the pain over take me. It sounds crazy but for a while it worked. When I was ready to try and take it out, I was too scared to touch it. I suppose you could say the shard was like Voldemort, causing me pain but I was always too scared to walk away, that was why I couldn't take it out. Then you came and helped me without hesitation, even though I had made you despise me in the past but that's kind of what I adore about you. You're not scared to stand up to it. You're not scared to stand through the pain." Draco finished, his head facing away from her. He stared in to the darkness waiting for her to tell him how he talks a load of bullshit but instead Draco felt her soft hand on his cheek, turning his face towards her. He could feel the patch on his arm where the dark mark was, invisible to Hermione's eye. He could feel it pulsing again to his heart beat, it creeped him out when it did that, it's like Voldemort is sharing his heart.
"You idiot," She whispered smiling and leaning across, closer to Draco. Hermione rested her head against his, looking deep in to his eyes. Draco's heart began to thump against his chest and his mind whirled around, eyes planted on her lips. He pulled his eyes away from hers and pulled her in to a hug. He thumped his head against the wall, 'I can't take advantage of her, it's not right' He thought. 'Why is she making me think about these things. She's different to the other girls. Very different.'
Hermione laid her head on his chest and sighed softly. "So, I'm in your dreams eh?" Draco grinned.