A/N: ok, first off, I'm so terribly sorry this story is taking so long to come together. I've had writers block for months and only started again after starting another story. But thanks to all those who have stuck with this story through thick and thin and i apreciate it.

This chapter is a little weird and random, but it shows how our two characters become closer which is obviously very important. It gets really weird at the end, so for all those that aren't into rape, I've marked that section off in some stars.

well, happy reading! :)

Hermione sat in her room doing what she had been doing a lot lately. Crying her eyes out.

"Oh My God!" she yelled. "I can't do this!" She just felt like screaming. Screaming forever and ever. Not having to worry about school, her friends, this war, and especially Draco. But she couldn't. if she did, she would surely break her silencing spell that she'd cast so that Draco wouldn't hear her. So instead, she grabbed her pillow and muffled her pain. Her tears. She heard the portrait door open downstairs indicating Draco was back with his meeting with the potions master. She had done the wrong thing by leaving him down there by himself. She knew it wasn't safe for him. Not down there in the Slytherin domain. But she couldn't handle this! All of this! Protecting Draco, hiding things from her friends, being a head girl, keeping up her standards in her classes. This was overwhelming!

Suddenly she felt that pain again. That pain that caused her to cut herself. Her tears stopped coming down as fast, her body knew what could take the pain away. All she had to do was go in the bathroom and steal Draco's razor. Simple as that. He wouldn't even know she took it. Snatch and run. And she'd feel so much better afterward.

But she promised him. She promised him she wouldn't hurt herself purposely again. She had to hold true to her promises. But damn! Just a little cut. He wouldn't even know she had done anything. And she'd hide it form him real well. Yea, this could work. She wouldn't cut where anyone could see. Not on her arms. That's how she got caught last time. Her thigh. Yea! That could work.

Hermione placed her pillow back on her bed in the proper place. She checked to see if her bedroom door was locked manually and with a strong spell. Then she walked over to the bathroom that she had to share with Draco. She laid her ear on the door, to listen if he was in there. Her cover would be blown if he caught her stealing a razor. She cracked the door open just a little, and peeked inside. His door was closed. She opened it a little more and stuck her head inside. Yup, empty. She walked over to his side of the sink to where all his toiletries were. Toothbrush, hairbrush, cover up? She chuckled to herself. A few seconds later, she found it. Sitting underneath his washcloth. She snatched it and ran back to her room and shut the door behind her. Mission succeeded! Locking her bathroom door with a wave of her wand. She took her shoes off, stuffed her socks into them, and got back onto the middle of the bed.

Hermione stared at the faded scars on her arms. They were almost gone. Then she looked at her creamy skin on her thigh. Sweet release was so damn close, she just had to apply pressure…

"Hermione! Open up!" yelled Draco's voice on the other side of her door. Hermione jumped and dropped the razor on the floor. She snatched her wand off the nightstand and made it vanish. Damnit! There goes my one way ticket to relief. Her heart was beating so fast. Adrenaline rushing to her head. She waved her wand to the door and undid the spell.

"Come on in Draco." she called. He pushed through the door and looked around. Her room was just like his. Except with different colors and a vanity set.

"What are you doing?" he asked her. Her face was flushed. Something was up before he came up here. He had just got back from his meeting with the potions master. Alone. This year sure has hell had been different. And harder. He wasn't even supposed to go down to his old common room.

"What do you mean?" Hermione answered, straight faced. A practiced liar.

"I refuse to believe you were just sitting in here starring at the walls and twiddling your thumbs." he told her, folding his arms.

"Well then that's your choice to believe I wasn't staring at the wall. Cause that's exactly what I was doing." she lied.

"Whatever Hermione." he muttered and turned to walk out of her room.

"Wait, don't go." she called toward him. "Tell me how the meeting went. I'm sorry I wasn't…down there." she mumbled the last part, wishing she hadn't said anything at all and had let him leave like he wanted. She heard him walking over to her bed and she heard him take a seat.

After he had sat down, he leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and just looked down at the floor. "It was decent." he lied. "Nothing happened." he told her. She nodded her head. Not looking at him. He sat up, and turned so he was facing her. "Hermione, where did that brave little Gryffindor that was part of the golden trio go? What happened to her?" he asked her. She didn't say anything. Tears started falling down her face again.

"To be completely honest, I have no idea." she told him as she wiped a tear away. "I'm stronger than this. I know I am. I just…Its like I died when my father did. I feel so alone now. Ignored. Like everyone can't see my pain. No matter how I try to show them." she looked up at him this time and caught him staring at her with something in his eyes. Pity. She turned away again.

"Don't look at me like that. Please." She told him.

"Like what?" he asked her. Confusion covering his features for a second.

"You have pity in your eyes. You pity me. I don't need anybodies pity." she told him.

"Hermione, I don't pity you. Never that. I'm just amazed that you, of all people, would let the death of your father bring you down this far. Turn you into somebody else."

"Well your not the same either Draco." she muttered.

"yea, well the way my life was at the time, I was blind. I was going the wrong direction. Being led by the blind I guess you could say. I've changed for the better. And I know you can see that. But you, your different. You were fighting the good fight from the start. And you have great friends, as much as I hate to admit it." he chuckled. She chuckled a little herself. "See, I know your still in there. The Hermione that I hated last year. And I'm coming out the closet with everything else, I might as well tell you this. I envy you. So much. You have been going in the right direction this whole time. Top of the class. And no one expects more than what you can give. Potter and Weasley would kill for you. My friends, or what I thought were my friends want me dead. That's why it scares me to see you want to cause harm to yourself. When you have people who love you dearly. Still. My mother is dead, and my father would probably kill me himself if he could. Almost the whole Slytherin house wants me dead. And if they all don't now they will. I have no where to go. I have no one to love me, or send me letters during the morning post." He chuckled at his last statement. Opening up wasn't one of Draco's strong suits, but he did it. And felt good afterward.

Hermione was touched by his little speech. She never took the time to look at his life. Not from his eyes at least. He looked spoiled rotten. From the outside. But that's how everyone looked from the outside. Like everything was ok and for anyone to be unhappy would simply be the looking for attention.

"I never realized. I'm so sorry." she told him. "We had always thought you had everything." she crawled toward the side of the bed that he was sitting on. She saw the tears fall down his eyes. "Draco, remember that promise you made me when you found out I cut?" he looked up at her, understanding in his eyes. "Well that goes for you to. We're going to stick together. Through it all. I promise. And I'll make sure you come out of this war alive. You don't have to feel alone anymore. I'm right here. I'll even send you letters during the morning post." he laughed. She smiled.

"Thank you Hermione." he told her. "I think I just might get through this." she leaned over and hugged him. He hugged her back. They just held each other for a while. Comfortable in each others embrace.

Draco released her first. Hermione let go, looking into his silver eyes. They had a perfect understanding. They were in this together. Through thick and thin. She wasn't going to let anyone hurt him, and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her. They had an unspoken bond now.

"Hermione, I have something to tell you." he told her. She sat back and was ready to listen to whatever he had to say.

He told her everything that had happened in the dungeons.

"Draco! We have to tell McGonagall! We have a death eater in the school! Spying on us! We have to protect this school as heads! Come on." she told him, using her wand to get her shoes and socks on again and jumped off the bed. She didn't get to far before Draco grabbed her arm.

"Hermione, we can't tell her. Or anyone else."

"And why the hell not?" she asked him, with her hand on her hip.

"He said he was going to hurt you. Wait, let me finished." He said after she was about to cut him off. "On my way back up here, I was thinking. I, we, could use this to our advantage. He doesn't know I told you does he? And I know full well that if he tried to hurt you, you could handle yourself."

She looked at him, not liking this one bit. "well, I have to tell Harry and Ron. They could help." she said turning to leave again but was stopped again.

"No, Hermione, listen, your smart. We can't tell anybody of what we know. You know that. Its too dangerous. That's probably what they want anyway. We have to keep this ourselves. At least until we learn more."

Hermione looked up into his silver eyes. Now they had a hint of ice blue in them. She could get lost inside those pools of his. She looked away and took a deep breathe.

"Your right. We'd put everyone in danger if we let out there's a death eater in the school. Everyone would go crazy." she concluded taking a seat on her bed again.

"And you understand that we can't tell Potter and Weasley right?"

"No, I don't understand that part," she started. "But if we're in this together, its best we don't argue about everything and just to agree." she gave him a weak smile. She was tired. Crying all day took a lot out of you.

"Thank you Hermione. Well, its getting late," he looked at his watch. 12:00am. "At least tomorrow's Saturday. Its midnight. Are you tired?"

"Yea, maybe just a little. Listening to a Slytherins woes all day tend to take a lot out of you, you see." she giggled at her joke and fell backward onto the bed in exhaustion. Draco chuckled.

"Well, I guess I should go back to my room then, and let the poor exhausted Gryffindor get her beauty sleep. Merlin knows she needs it." he joked. She threw a pillow at him and missed, giggling. He turned toward her, "Look at that!" he pointed to the discarded pillow a few feet behind him. "Violence! From the head girl none the less! I wonder what McGonagall would say if she found out you tried to murder me. The head boy dead. Killed by the Head Girl." he shook his head. Hermione laughed the whole time.

"I'm really going to murder you if you don't get out my room and let me get some sleep!" she told him, grabbing her wand and pointing at him teasingly.

"Okay okay, I'm leaving, see, outside the door." he put up his hands in fake surrender.

"You're a mess you know that? Goodnight." Hermione walked to her door, and after wishing him goodnight, she shut it. A smile on her face. Well this night turned out a lot different than I'd expected. I wonder what his plan is. It better be good. She sighed, Malfoy's eyes are so gorgeous! Wait, I'm not falling for him that hard am I? she laughed at herself. No, that's silly. Me, fall for Malfoy. He's cute, but I don't think this would ever work between us.

Hermione got undressed, deciding to take a shower in the morning before breakfast. She heard the shower turn on anyway. After putting all her things away, she turned out all the lights in her room and laid down. The moon was full tonight and emitted a soft glow into her room from the balcony. She finally believed things were getting better. She had someone to confide in. someone who felt and saw her pain. Yea, things were shaping up for the better. With Draco Malfoy none the less. This time a year ago, they hated each other, and now, things we so different. Hermione could only imagine what Harry and Ron would think about this if and when they found out.

Hermione's eyes started getting heavier and she fell into a deep sleep.

NEXT DAY

Draco woke to the sound of an owl pecking at his window. He rose out of his warm soft bed, and padded over to the window, with nothing but some pajama pants on. He opened his balcony window, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Looking at the owl, he noticed, for the first time, that the black hawk looking owl belonged to his father. Great.

Draco took the letter from the owl. And when it didn't leave, he realize it must have been told to stay until it got a reply to bring back. Draco walked inside his room, let the large bird inside, and sat on the edge of his bed to read the note.

Draco,

I'm aware you have attempted to avoid the Dark Lord. And I hope you know that I am very deeply disappointed in you. You have shamed this entire family. You will be severely punished. Best of luck at school.

LM

Draco balled the ridiculous paper up and burned it with his wand. He walked over to his writing desk, pulled out a piece of paper from the drawer and something to write with, and wrote back.

Father

I'm sorry I've disappointed you and the family. Wait, I take that back, I'm not sorry at all. I never wanted follow behind the Dark Lord. You pushed me in that direction. And a bigger disappointment to the family would be you murdering your wife. You disappointed the family and your only son. You chose to follow a half blood than do right by your family. I hope you have a good rest of you life. For it is surely about to end.

Draco Malfoy

Draco rolled the letter up, tied it with a string, and gave it back to the owl staring at him.

"I'm sure you know where to take this. Don't come back." He warned. With a loud screech, the bird flew out the window and into the sky back to its owner. Draco looked at his watch. 7:30. Deciding he wouldn't fall back to sleep, he walked over to his closet and picked out his clothes for the day. He thought about yesterday. He was threatened, and had made a new friend in Hermione. He smiled at the thought of her. Yea, he had fallen for the girl. To bad she didn't feel the same way. He shrugged his shoulders and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shave the stubble off his face. Looking for the razor, he realized it wasn't there. Not in the same place he had left it yesterday morning at least. He'd ask Hermione about it later. Besides, he could just wave his wand and make his unwanted stubble go away.

"Draco, are you in there?" Called a sleepy sounding Hermione on the other side of her door.

"Yea, you can come in though." he called back. When she didn't reply or open the door, he said, "I'm decent. I promise." then Hermione opened the door peaking in.

"I had to be sure" she said, smiling, rubbing her eyes and looking at herself in the mirror. "Merlin, I look awful!" she exclaimed. Draco moved to her.

"Here, let me see." he asked of her.

"NO! You can't see me like this! You'll just probably go and tease me later about it. Not gonna happen Mister. Get out so I can get ready for the day." she started pushing him out the bathroom, turning her head so he wouldn't see her face.

"Oh come on Hermione, I'm sure you won't look more ugly than you would any other day. Just let me look. Please?" he teased, laughing at her.

"Ugh! Get out Draco!" she finally managed to shove him out the bathroom and shut the door, locking it for extra measure.

"You know that's my bathroom too right?" his muffled voice came from his room.

"but I'm busy! Go away!" she yelled back.

"Not a morning person then huh?" he said.

"Malfoy! Leave me alone!" she yelled, laughing at him.

"Fine, grumpy." he mumbled, with a smirk on his face.

"I heard that!" she threw at him. When he didn't say anything back, Hermione walked to her bedroom, and took all her clothes off and wrapped a towel around her. When she returned to the bathroom, she turned the shower on and while that heated up, she brushed her teeth.

When she was done taking her shower and grooming herself, she wrapped herself in her towel, went back to her room, to pick out the clothes she was going to wear for the day. Her hair was long and wavy and frizzy. She waved her wand over it and it fell down her back in soft silky curls. Looking around, she saw Hedwig sitting on her desk chair with a note attached to her beak. Hermione walked over, fed the snowy white owl some treats, and took the note.

Hey mione, meet Ron and me in the Great Hall for breakfast. We all need to talk a little.

HP

She balled the parchment up and threw it away. Picking up the book that had her captivated for the last two days, she headed down the stairs. When she reached the common room, she found Draco sitting on the couch reading a book of his own.

"Hey, whatcha reading?" she asked him.

He looked up, "Oh, um, its called Chasing Destiny. Some American author wrote it. Its pretty good. His name is Eric Jerome Dickey. You should read it." he suggested.

"I think I've heard it him. Yea, as a matter of fact, my mother used to be a big fan of his. I think I'll take a look at it when you're done, if you don't mind." she told him.

"Of course I don't mind. I'll give it to you when I'm finished." He smiled and returned back to his book. When she started walking to the door, he asked, "hey, are you headed down to the Great Hall?"

"Yea, gotta go meet Harry and Ron. Want me to walk you down there?" she asked him, not sure why he had asked to begin with.

"That'll be nice." he said, placing his book on the coffee table and getting up to walk to her. "Let's go." he smiled, offering her his arm.

As they walked down to the Great hall, linked by the arms, they received a number of glances and stares along the way. The two content heads walked, taking little or no notice to everyone else. When they arrived at the doors they went their separate ways, promising to see each other later. When Hermione reached the table where her friends sat, she once again got make weird looks for walking with the blonde Slytherin, but she of course ignored it all.

"Hey Hermione. How's it going?" Harry asked her. Ron was too busy stuffing his mouth with food to talk at the moment.

"Hey guys, I'm fine. How are you all?" she asked them.

"I'm good. And I suppose Ron here is fine as well." Harry said, laughing at his red headed friend.

"Ron?" Hermione called to him. "how's everything going?" she asked.

"oh, rits rine, row," he managed to swallow his food, " are you doing?" he asked her.

"That's disgusting you know that right?" she told him.

"You didn't answer my question. And I've been eating like this for seven years now. Don't you think its time you got use to it?" he asked her.

Hermione just shook her head in amusement and grabbed an apple off the fruit dish. "So, Harry, what did you want to talk about?" she asked her raven haired friend. When he didn't answer, she looked up to see his eyes fallowing Ginny out the Hall. "Harry?"

He turned at the sound of his name, "oh sorry Hermione, what were you saying?"

"I asked what was it that you needed to talk about?" she repeated herself.

Lowering his voice so that no one but the other two could hear him, he said., "I wanted to tell you guys that I've been thinking about how we're going to finish off Vol-"

"MR. MALFOY! PUT YOU WAND DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANCE YOU ARE THE HEAD BOY FOR MERLINS SAKE!" bellowed McGonagall's voice from across the Great Hall. Hermione looked up to see Draco and some random boy that Hermione was sure was named Blaise Zabini.

"I'm sorry Harry, maybe we could talk about this later." Hermione said as she got up, gathered up her things, and rushed over to the scene. Eyes were on her as she made her way across the hall to Draco. She made it as soon as McGonagall was escorting the two Slytherin out.

"I can take Zabini for you Professor," Hermione offered, giving Draco a puzzled look.

"That would be wonderful. Take him down to his head of house and meet me back in my office." she said curtly.

"Come on then." she said to the boy as she walked down another corridor.

After they had gotten far enough from the Great Hall, Zabini said, "Granger, you think you're all high and stuff because you're Head girl. But remember, you'll never be higher than me, mudblood."

"Just shut your trap before I personally close it for you." she hissed in his direction. Then all of suddenly, she was shoved up against a wall face first her wand arm behind her back in a painful way.

"Listen here you filth, no one talks down to me, especially someone like you." he snickered in her ear, pressing up against her bottom. "wow, Granger, you've grown up a lot over the past years, haven't you?" he growled.

"Get off you disgusting freak!" she yelled, struggling to get loose. Zabini squeezed her arm more and shoved her into an empty classroom. When she had reached down to get her wand, she realized it wasn't there. Looking up at the boy, she saw him twirling her wand in his hand and locking the door with a dark spell.

"Looks like your stuck now Granger. Now where were we?" he asked, advancing on her. When she tried to move around some of the desks, he rushed up on her and grabbed her. "I wouldn't advise you run, Kitty. That just makes me even more excited. He whispered in her ear as his hang snaked up toward her chest. "you know, there's few of us who've been lusting after you since last year. I can't wait till I tell them all how I took you." He said, throwing her facedown on a desk.

"no! Don't do this! You'll get in so much trouble! Please! Stop it!" Hermione pleaded with him as she felt his hand snake up her thigh to her panties.

"oh, I wouldn't do that either, don't beg." he said huskily. He grabbed her butt while she wiggled trying to get free. Hermione could feel the bulge growing in his pants against her bottom and tears started streaming down her face.

"Don't, no, stop it, leave me alone." Hermione cried, feeling defenseless for once in her life. He snatched her panties off, tearing them and lifted her skirt so he could see her round fleshy butt.

"and you have a nice ass Granger." he said, rubbing himself against her. He let his hand slip between her legs and graze her curly mound. he slid a finger inside her. Hermione started screaming now.

"NO! PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE, JUST LET ME GO!" she fought harder, trying to get lose.

"you move to much you know that?" he asked her matter of factly. "I'm extremely eager to see what you taste like." he whispered so that she could barely hear him. After dipping two fingers into her, he pulled them out and stuck them in his mouth. "Hmm, taste sweet. Just like I thought." he murmured. Hermione felt him switch hands so that now he was holding her down with just one hand. She felt him slip his hand down between them to unfasten his pants. "Merlin, I can't wait to feel inside you." he told her, as he pulled his throbbing member out. Hermione felt a jerking motion from her captor and then felt the something warm meet her entrance. She started wiggling even more, trying break free from his grasp. "uhh, so warm. You're going to enjoy this as much as I will. Promise." he whispered. "Tell me something, Granger, are you a virgin?" he asked as he slowly pushed inside her, causing her to scream out. "I take that as a yes." he pushed inside a little more, her screams echoing around the room. Then he pulled out. "shit." he cursed.

Zabini backed away a little, but not enough to let her go. He reached down to pull his sleeve up, revealing the dark mark. "That bastard. He would call just when I was about to get busy. Well Granger, I guess that just means we're going to have to finish this some other time. I won't keep you waiting to long. I promise. And I'll leave your wand out here in the hall. Don't want you getting any ideas and trying to get me from behind. Oh, one last thing, I swear on Salazar Slytherin himself, that if you tell a soul about what I did, I'll make sure the next time we're together, you'll regret it." he warned her and undoing the spell that was on the door and leaving.

Hermione let herself fall to the floor by the desk that she got violated on. She sat there and screamed to herself, happy no one was in the hall at the time. She felt horrible. And her blasted body had responded to that type of sexual harassment. She had to tell someone, she just had to! But she didn't have the slightest idea of how.

Hours passed, and she was still sitting in the same spot. Her butt going numb. She had stopped crying a long time ago, but she didn't have the strength to get up and walk out of her torture chamber. Hermione had been staring at a crack in the wall. Just staring at it. Never looking away. It had to have been past lunch and almost dinner time. that's how long she'd been there for sure. She heard someone calling her name from a distance, but it was surely her imagination. No one would come looking for her. They probably wouldn't even notice she was missing from the whole day. No one would know what had happened to her either. She had concluded that she couldn't, no, she wouldn't tell anyone. They'd all look at her in a different way. This would just have to be another one of her secrets that she kept. But Zabini wouldn't get away with this. Not if she had anything to do with this. She'd murder him. She promised herself that much. That voice that she thought was calling her was getting closer and closer. Suddenly, the door that led to her escape opened up, letting in the sun and a figure she couldn't quite figure out.

"Hermione?" the voice called this time. She knew she had hear something. Hermione couldn't muster enough strength to look toward the silhouette. She just didn't care enough was more like it. The owner of the voice rushed to her. "Hermione! Look at me! I asked you what happened? When you never came to McGonagall's office we got concerned. And then you didn't show up to lunch and your friends hadn't seen you…Hermione, look at me!" yelled the frustrated voice. Hermione couldn't ignore such a request like that one. Not from him. She turned her head to the face that was too close and met those silver blue eyes that she could get lost in.

"Hermione," he eyes were silently pleading with her hazy ones. "Hermione, did Zabini hurt you?" he asked, dreading the worse. When she didn't respond, he reached out to put his hands on her shoulder but she jumped away from him fear in her eyes. "SHIT!" he yelled, not knowing what to do. He got up from where he was and walked over to the door getting ready to shut it until he saw her wand laying on the floor. He reached down and picked it up and shut the door.

"Hermione, I need you tell me what he did so I'll know what to do." Draco told her, walking back over to her. "hear, you have your wand back, and you know I won't hurt you. But I really need to know what happened." when she didn't say anything he said, "alright, would you like it I went and got Potter and Weasley? Would you be more comfortable if I did that?" he asked. She still didn't say anything but took her wand and waved at her legs. There was a soft glow and then it was normal again. Hermione then preceded to stand up from the position she had been sitting in for that last few hours, legs numb.

"alright, that's some progress," he said. "now, Hermione, please, you know I won't hurt you, I won't even tell, but I need you to tell me what happened in here. Did he rape you?" he asked, hoping that he was just being silly. When she shook her head no, he sighed. "Thank Merlin." he mumbled.

"He tried to though," Hermione said at last, looking at him. There was one tear sliding down her face already. Draco felt the rage grow inside him. Speechlessness overtaking him. That bastard…he tried to pull his fucking stunt on Hermione. I swear, I'm going to kill him. And McGonagall won't be there to stop me this time.

Draco turned toward the door, ready to go and hunt the Italian Slytherin down and kill him. By the time he reached the door though, Hermione stopped him.

"No, no, don't leave. Please." she said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She had been crying so much lately. It never seemed to stop. She reached out to him and he met her hand and wrapped his arms around her, holding her. Hermione let the tears fall when Draco held her. This overwhelming feeling cascaded from her chest to the rest of her body. If Draco wasn't there she didn't know how she would have done this much.

"shh. Hermione, its ok, I got you, everything will be ok. Its ok, shh, stop crying. I'm here now. I promise, he won't get away with this. that's a promise." Draco told her, comforting her more than he would ever realize.

When she had finally stopped crying, she just laid there in his arms. She felt so content just being held for the first time in a while. Everything felt perfect. Well, everything except her feelings. When a 30 minutes had passed he spoke first.

"Do you wanna go back to the common room?" he asked. She didn't say anything, she just nodded her head yes and started to get up. Her whole day was ruined. Thanks to that dark haired freak. She didn't even get to her homework because of him. "Come on, everyone should be down at dinner right now so the hall should be pretty deserted." He rose off the ground and held the door open for her. They made their way back to the common room without being seen by pretty much anyone except a few ghost. Draco mumbled the password to get in and helped Hermione up to her room.

"Want me to get bath started for you?" he asked her.

"No, I can do it thank you. I just want to be by myself for a while." she told him, grateful for him being there and being so nice to her.

"alright, if you need anything I'll be downstairs." Draco told her, turning to leave and shutting her door behind him. When the door was closed, Hermione just let all her feelings out in her tears and cried herself to sleep.