Warning- Emo Hermione.

Disclaimer: HP belongs to JKR.

Chapter 3- Don't scare me.

Eventually, Hermione forced herself to walk back up to the Head's room. She went into the kitchen, tears still streaming down her face, freely. Draco walked in from the living room and on approach, saw that Hermione was crying. He ran to her.

"What's up, Granger?" He asked cautiously.

"Fuck off Malfoy! I don't want to deal with you at the moment!" she yelled, furiously wiping tears from her face.

"Don't you speak to Draco like that you piece of Mudblood shit!" cried an angry voice. Blaise Zabini was walking towards them menacingly.

"Leave it, Blaise. It doesn't matter."

"Oh, but it does. This little whore needs to learn her place." And as Blaise stepped closer towards her, Hermione's mind was filled with images of her father and her tutor. She walked backwards, heavily into the wall and slid to the floor, clutching her knees. Draco realised the same fear he'd seen last night and pulled Blaise away.

"Leave her. She's not worth it." Draco persuaded.

"I guess."

As the two left, Hermione managed to calm down enough to stand up and get a bottle of water from the fridge. She sipped from it and ran her hand through her bushy hair. She noticed tears were still rolling down her cheeks, so she ran to her room and as soon as the portrait door closed, she ran into the bathroom for her razor but it wasn't there. She stepped lightly, confused, into her room again and went to her sewing kit-no needles or scissors. She tore her room apart, looking for something sharp but couldn't find anything. She dropped to the floor and sobs coursed through her body. An hour later, she heard Draco calling her. She raced out of her room and stopped in front of him. She shook him by the shoulders and yelled at him, hysterically.

"What did you do with my stuff…" she hiccupped "…you self-righteous prick!?" she hit his chest feebly before collapsing on the floor, too tired and upset to yell anymore.

"Are you done now?" Draco asked gently. Hermione nodded miserably. "Ok, you can have your stuff back, when I can trust you." He helped her to her feet and then went to his bedroom.

Hermione sat on the arm of the nearest sofa, stunned. 'What the hell am I going to do now?'

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Late that night, Hermione and Draco were patrolling the corridors. As Hermione reached the end of the fourth corridor, she was suddenly faced with four figures. Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent Bulstrode advanced on her. They cornered her and Blaise hissed, "You're going to pay for insulting someone better than you, you mudblood bitch." As punches and kicks rained upon her, Hermione hated no-one else but herself. She couldn't even control the pain anymore. She was so pathetic. 'I hope they kill me. Then I wouldn't have to live with the shame.' The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a blond person leaning over her.

When Hermione came round, Draco was carrying her in his arms and they were outside her room.

"Heya. You ok?" asked Draco softly.

Hermione groaned in reply.

"What's the password?" he urged.

"Ego sum infirmus satis" she muttered, too tired to freak out about Malfoy going into her room.

The portrait door opened and Malfoy steeped through. He walked over to the bed and gently laid her on it. He pulled a cool, silk sheet over her body. Sitting down next to her, He looked around her room. The walls and ceiling were covered with drawings. Beautiful, delicate sketches of people from Hogwarts. The pictures were faceless or their features were twisted in anger. Only one, above her bed, looked at her sweetly- a picture of Ginny. There was a painting near the portrait of a fat, bearded face looking out in fierce anger, surrounded by dark reds, purple and oranges.

"Who is he?" Draco began to ask but stopped as he saw Hermione's closed eyes. He smiled lightly and moved to the chair next to the bed. He sat down and eventually dropped off.

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Draco awoke early that morning to an ear-piercing scream. He ran to Hermione who was curled underneath the sheet and crying hysterically. He pulled the sheet off and gently held Hermione's shoulders.

"Hermione! Shh. It's Ok. I'm here. It's only me." He hushed. He rubbed her back soothingly. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her. He lay beside her and she slowly uncurled her body. She pulled herself closer to him, to reassure herself. She hugged him tightly and he continued to stroke her back softly. Her sobs ceased after a while. She seemed to wake up and realised what she was doing. She pulled away quickly and ran to the bathroom. She showered quickly and tried not to think about Draco's body against hers. 'Stop thinking about him, you slut' she told herself harshly. She turned off the shower, stepped out and dried her skin. She wrapped the towel around her body and walked into her bedroom. Draco had already gone so she reached into her wardrobe and pulled out a robe, tie, belt, socks and shoes. She dressed swiftly and packed her school bag. Her body was bruised and covered by cuts but she refused to miss school.

She walked down to the Great Hall and sat beside Ginny Weasley. Hermione greeted her and Ginny gave her a tight hug in return. Throughout the morning, she could feel Harry and Ron's eyes upon her but all she could think of was Draco. Little did she know, that the feeling was mutual. He spent the morning trying to appear to be focusing on the books and assignments but Hermione kept floating into his brain.

As Slytherin and Gryffindor made their way to Potions, Hermione felt her robes snag on one of the scabs from one of the gashes that Blaise had given her with his knife last knife. The scab peeled off completely and she felt blood leak out of it. She grabbed her wand and without anyone noticing, she managed to cast a spell to hide the blood to everyone's eyes. She sighed and felt herself getting dizzier. A combination of hunger, blood-loss, exhaustion and stress took over her body and she just managed to get to her seat in Potions. She could only hear a distant roar in her ears as Snape began to speak. Neville poked her and told her that she was meant to be moving to sit next to Pansy Parkinson. She got up shakily and made her way to the desk but just as she passed Draco's table she suddenly collapsed to the stone floor, hitting her head painfully.

The classroom exploded into chatter and people ran to her. The first to her side was, of course, Draco. He cradled her head, praying for her to be Ok. Snape quickly pushed through the crowd to them. He told Draco to take her to the Hospital Wing and told Potter and Weasley to accompany him. Draco picked her limp form and walked quickly out of the door. He muttered a silent spell to temporarily hide the scars she had caused herself, and undid any of her previous spells. He suddenly saw a patch of wet blood seeping quickly through her robes. He burst into the Hospital Wing with Harry and Ron in tow. He laid her gently on a bed while Harry called over Madam Pompfrey. The three boys looked on, anxiously, as she examined her. She shooed them out of the room as she changed Hermione into a Hospital Robe. She cleaned out the deep gash on her thigh and bandaged it securely. She then cleaned the others and applied Witch Hazel to the bruises. She fed Hermione a spoonful of potion to help speed her healing and then let the three boys go to her side. Draco held her hand and gently swept stray hairs from her face. Ron looked on angrily at the sight but didn't want to wake Hermione by yelling.

Harry asked Madam Pompfrey "Will she be Ok?"

They were told that Hermione could leave the next day but she would have to stay in her dormitory for the next week or so. Draco was instructed to stay with her and to change her bandages regularly. He was given a package of magical bandages and a bottle of Witch Hazel.

"You can stay with her as long as you like Draco but I'm going to have to ask Mr.Potter and Mr. Weasley to leave and go back to their lessons."

"Why does he get to stay?!" whispered Ron angrily.

"Because he's the one who's going to be staying with her all week and I need to teach him how to treat her wounds. Now go!" said Madam Pompfrey.

After Ron and Harry had walked out of the Room, Madam Pompfrey proceeded to lecture Draco on how to care for Hermione.

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That night, Draco sat on a chair by Hermione's bed, holding her hand. His body was racked with sobs and he cried softly "Please wake up, Hermione. I don't know how I can live without you."

An hour later, Hermione's eyelids fluttered open and she groaned as she felt the pain coursing through her body. She looked about, warily and noted that she was in the Hospital Wing. She saw a silvery blond head by her side. He was holding onto her hand and tears were still leaking down his fair cheeks. She reached over and touched his cool cheek softly with her hand. He leaned his face into her touch and his eyes flickered open.

"Hermione?" he asked weakly.

"Draco, why are you here?" Hermione croaked, the words hurting her throat.

"My God! You're awake!" Draco cried happily. He hugged her carefully and then controlled himself.

"Good to see you too." She whispered, smiling weakly.

"Don't scare me like that again." Draco told her sternly as he sat back down.

A/N. Chapter 3 is finished! WOOHOO! I'll start writing Chapter 4 today and I'll also try to get round to updating Last of Our Kind. I've caught the bug that my kid's got so we're both home ill.

Love you all!!!!

----Annamh. xxxxxx