A/N: Good morning all! Well, it's currently morning where I am, I give you my permission to replace morning with whatever time of day it is when you read this.

Without any further ado, I bring you the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 6 – Confessions

Hermione continued to ignore him for the next week. She would speak at him in class when they were working together, but besides for that, he did not exist. It would have been better if she had yelled at him, this was pure torture. Her eyes would flicker across the room as if he was not even there.

Her nightmares got worse. He could tell because they went on for longer, sometimes hours would pass before she finally calmed down. It showed in the mornings too, even the cosmetic charms she was using were not enough. She looked terrible.

He still greeted her every morning, but he never got a reply, or even recognition that she had heard him. For the millionth time, he wished he could help her. But he had done the exact opposite of that. He was now part of the problem.

Even though they had not talked much when they were talking, he missed her. He missed her smile, and their banter. He missed her acknowledging his presence. In ignoring him, she had done more than she could have possibly imagined, slowly, she was making Draco Malfoy hate himself.

Before, he had felt ashamed in himself, loathed his past actions, but at least had the hope of being a different person now. Recent events had made him question even that. As he saw her getting worse and worse, he hated himself more and more. Hated himself for daring to live, daring to breathe the same air as this wonderful girl. A girl who had never treated him wrongly without an incredible amount of pushing from his part. He remembered how much it had taken for her to snap in their third year. It had not been him tormenting her that had made her snap then, it had been because he was inflicting pain on others. Hermione was one of those people who could take so much herself, but could not stand to see others in pain.

And yet, he had managed to break her. Break her into snapping at him because of something he had done to her, not to someone else. He sighed, looking down at his breakfast. He wondered how long he would last without eating. It probably was not the best way to try to end his miserable life. He was sure someone would figure it out before he succeeded. He sighed again, and pushed his food away, no longer hungry. He looked at the Gryffindor table to see Hermione doing much the same thing. She of all people needed to eat. No wonder she looked so awful, she was sleeping horribly and barely touching her food.

All throughout transfiguration, they sat in silence, listening to Professor Wablaf, McGonagall's replacement, squeak excitedly about human transfiguration, a subject they were to read up about and were to be attempting next class. Usually, he would be excited, but today, he really did not give a shit.

Back in potions, they were working of Draught of the Living Death, which they were mostly succesful at. Professor Slughorn seemed very concerned for Hermione's wellbeing, and was not subtle in his accusing glares at Draco.

After lunch, Draco went to the library to read up on human transfiguration, and Hermione disappeared. After several hours of studying and making notes, Draco decided to stop for the night. There was still an hour before dinner, and he felt maybe a hot shower would make him feel better.

"House Unity" he mumbled and stepped into the common room to hear Hermione's shrieks. He realized that she must have gone to try and get rest. Suddenly, he realized that he could hear her from the common room. She had forgotten to put the silencing charm on her door. What other charms had she forgotten to put? He dropped in bag and ran, full sprint, towards her door. For once, when he turned the knob, it opened.

As he entered, he saw Hermione. She was still on her school robes, she had obviously been so tired she had not bothered to get changed, and in her exhaustion, had forgotten to put her usual charms on the door.

She was writhing in pain. Screaming for mercy. Her body twisted and turned, trying anything to get any from the horrible sensation, the sensation that he knew only too well. And he knew that no amount of squirming could possibly get her away from that pain, no matter how much she tried.

He ran to her, and held her in his arms, stroking her hair.

"It's a copy!" She half screamed, half sobbed.

"Hermione, wake up, wake up!" He begged her.

"We found it... Please... We found it..." She sobbed into him.

"It's okay. Wake up, it was a dream. You're ok Hermione, you're ok." He soothed her, to the best of his ability.

She was still sobbing, and he could not tell if she was awake of asleep. He just held her, reassuring her that she was safe. Her sobbing slowly subsided, and he realized she had fallen asleep again. He hoped that she would have better dreams this time. He stared at her, she looked so peaceful now, resting in his arms. And through the tangled mess that was her hair and the eye blotchiness that was her eyes, he thought that she had never looked more beautiful. Here, cradled in his arms, finally peaceful, she was a goddess.

He found his eyes drooping, and the next thing he knew, he was asleep.

He was warm, and comfortable, and he suddenly, he was not. He felt the warmth disappear, and something, no, someone was hitting him, yelling at him.

"Wake. Up. You. Stupid. Prat. Wake. UP!" She yelled.

Begrudgingly, he opened his eyes, to find a furious Hermione hitting him. Was she not ignoring him anymore? Why was she in his room anyway? Wait a minute, this was not his room, this was, oh. The events of the previous night came flooding back to him. That would explain why she was so mad. But did it? She was mad at him because he had held her and stopped her nightmare from continuing? Merlin, she was strange.

He got up out of the bed in hopes that her attacks would stop. They did not.

"Who told you you could go into me room?" She yelled. "You think you can just come waltzing in here? Sleep in my bed? Well you have another thing coming Malfoy!" With each sentence, she landed another blow. He had had just about enough.

He grabbed her wrists.

"That'll be enough of that" he growled.

Her eyes widened, her face was so close to his, he could see the individual eyelashes.

"Get. Off. Me!" She yelled in frustration, struggling to break free, but he was too strong for her.

"Not unless you agree to have a civilized conversation. I'm done with this hot and cold business." He said coldly, yet still full of fire.

"Right, a civilized conversation with a Malfoy, when's that ever going to happen?" She snarled at him.

"The same Malfoy who held you when you were screaming you mean?" He snarled back at her.

That caught her off guard, before she had a chance to reply, he let it all go.

"The same Malfoy that has been listening to your screams for the past month and a half? Yes, that's right, I heard them. Clever little Granger didn't put a silencing charm on the bathroom. Ever since the first night, I've been listening to your screams." He let go of her wrists, he had her complete attention now. "Why do you think I made such an effort to be nice to you every morning? I know what you've been going through, and you haven't even told anyone. No, because no one else can know about your problems but you. You just have to be perfect little Granger. But you aren't. You're broken, just like me. You're caught in a nightmare with no one to turn, because you don't think anyone will understand you, isn't that right Granger." It was not a question, he knew it was true.

"I-" she started to speak, but he cut her off. Everything was coming out now.

"You think you're the only one with nightmares? Well think again, you aren't the only reason I can't sleep. Memories of the war haunt me just as much as they haunt you, except mine keep me awake, so no one ever hears me scream, not that anyone would care." He glared at her, daring her to contradict him. "You think Voldemort was only cruel to his enemies? I probably got tortured more than you did, he liked torture, and he didn't care who he tortured. I was a disappointment, to Voldemort and my father, I don't know who liked torturing me more to be honest." Her eyes widened even more and he said this.

"Draco I-" she began, but he cut her off again.

"And when Harry finally defeated Voldemort, I thought it would be over, but it wasn't. My father was so disappointed in me. He blamed the fall of the Dark Lord on me. He is still obsessed with blood status, convinced that muggle-borns are filth, he can't see the error in his ways, like I saw." The words were just tumbling out of his mouth now, he had now control over them. "And then, after all that torture from my father, never so my mother could see of course, I finally escaped back to school, hoping to make a fresh start, and what do you say to me? You told me how I felt, you assumed you knew my views! Do you remember what you said? Do you?" He stared at her accusingly.

"Th-that we h-h-hated each other" She stuttered, and this time he let her speak. "Th-that you hated muggle-borns." Her voice lowered so he just just barely hear her whisper "That we would not be able to get along." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, as she realized, maybe for the first time, that Draco Malfoy was truly human. That he had feelings. That his torture had not ended with the war.

As she sobbed, he wanted to walk away, to leave her in her misery, like she had done with him, but he could not. They were to broken souls, who, whether they liked it or not, understood each others pain.

So instead of walking away, he walked forward, and held her.

He held her as she sobbed, for what anymore, he did not know, but he held her, willing her to realize that he cared, and that she was not alone.

"You aren't alone anymore Hermione" he murmured into her hair.

He said it for her benefit as much as for his. He felt for the first time, in a long time, that he truly was no longer alone.

A/N: So, Draco finally broke down and told her, not everything, but a lot.

Do you think he's realized his feelings for her yet?

Thanks for reading!

Always,

Shan :)