Through My Lies

Summary: Ever since her parents were killed by Voldermort and her abusive uncle has taken over, Hermione's life has gone full circle into the hell she now endures everyday. She tries to fool everyone in fear of what would happen if her friends found out the truth. But how long can it last? Who will see finally be able to see through her lies and save her? Rated M to be on the safe side for selt-mutilation (cutting), swearing, and some romance. HGDM!
Disclaimer: All characters (besides Hermione's uncle, Brandon) and settings belong to J.K. Rowling.

Previously...

Hermione glared at him as he moved closer to her, his voice threatening. She was turning to find solace in the Gryffindor common rooms, when he grabbed her arm and whispered dangerously in her ear, "I know somethings wrong and trust me, I'll find out what it is..." he let her go as she stumbled quickly through the portrait of the fat lady, trying to get as far away from everybody... especially him.

Chapter 3

"Hermione! What's wrong?" Harry and Ron both sat up from their game of Wizard's Chess, as Hermione came stumbling into the room. She seemed deeply troubled and harassed. "What happened!?" They continued.

Hermione dropped into a soft red armchair and remained silent. She whispered, "Malfoy..."

"What did that git do to you this time? I'll kill him!" Ron paced around the room wildly.

"No, he was just trying to get... homework from me. He grabbed my arm- "

"Was he the one who gave you that bruise on your arm, when we saw you at Florean Fortescue's?" Harry demanded.

"What? No, Harry. I told you already, I got that from falling on the ground."

"You said you banged it against a table..."

"Yeah, that's what I meant. It was just so long ago that I don't even remember all the clumsy things I do," Hermione tried to laugh her way out of it. "Anyway, I've got to get ready for my next class. See you guys later!" She hurried out of the room and ran blindly through the halls, gasping the password as she stumbled into the Head's Common Room. 'That was too close,' she thought.

Hermione went to her room and muttered a variety of lock spells that she was quite sure even Draco couldn't get through. Fumbling through her trunk, she found her prized blade. All the thoughts of her uncle, and all the fears that she had of Draco, and now Ron and Harry, finding out about her secret, was dying to just pour out of her as she dug the point of the blade into her thigh, dragging it slowly across. She pushed it deeper and deeper and relished the intense and real pain it gave her, and the blood that oozed out slowly.

With all her energy drained out of her, she collapsed into her bed and drifted off into a whirl of nightmares, dreams, and a desperate attempt to run away from reality.

"Fucking Granger..." Draco was muttering to himself as he briskly walked to the common room and threw his books carelessly on a couch. He didn't want to get involved with someone like Hermione Granger, but something about those injuries troubled him and he just had to find out the secret behind them.

He stopped in front of Hermione's room, "Granger..."

Silence.

"Grangerrr. We have night patrol soon!" Exasperated, he was just about to leave and try to find her in the library, when he saw a small pool of blood running through the door crack. His eyes widened and he tried to unlock the door in every way he could, but the knob wouldn't budge. Bracing himself and hoping Hermione wasn't leaning on the door, he ran towards the door and it slammed open. Hermione was lying unconcious only a few inches ahead of the door. Her hand was enclosed around a long sharp blade, and her legs were askew, blood falling unceasingly from her thighs and pooling on the carpet all the way to the door.

"Bloody hell! Fuck Granger, what were you thinking!?" Draco stooped down and checked for a pulse. She had a faint one, but it was dying quickly. Scooping her up bridal style, he sprinted down the hallways and burst into the hospital wing, gasping for breath, "She...accident...weak... pulse," he weezed at the stunned Madam Pomfrey as he dropped her gently on a bed.

Snapping out of shock, Madam Pomfrey immediately asked, "What happened?"

"I-I don't know... I just walked in and then I her on the floor and she was bl- blee- bleeding and I d-don't know what happened..." Draco stuttered, "Help her! Her pulse is dying!"

Madam Pomfrey observed the blood-stained boy wearily and proceeded to work on Hermione. "If you would please, Mr. Malfoy, wait out here, or go back to your dorms. There will be no need for you to stay here as she won't be up until tomorrow. A growing boy like yourself needs sleep."

Draco vehemently refused her orders, but seeing that his refusals were utterly hopeless, he reluctantly turned away and walked back to his dormitories.

"What do you think happened to her?"

"I don't know... she never told us if anything was wrong. I mean we're her best friends."

"It's weird, but she probably had a reason to not tell us..."

"And she tells Malfoy?"

"I think he just found out..."

Harry and Ron were whispering to each other as they sat at the side of Hermione's bed. She turned around and weakly opened her eyes..."Harry... Ron," weakly smiling, she tried to get up, but failed.

"Stay down, Hermione... you need to rest." Harry quickly said. His eyes kept shifting towards Ron.

'Ask her' Ron mouthed to Harry.

"Err... Hermione..."

"Please, Harry, Ron, I don't want to talk about it right now? Okay? Later..." Hermione said desperately.

To her relief, they grudgingly let it go and instead, tried talking about other things and about what she missed during class and how there was a rumor going around school that Pansy Parkinson had hooked up with Seamus Finnigan, which got Hermione in a much better mood by the time they had to leave for Quidditch practice.

Hermione was discharged from the hospital wing a few days later, and spent most of the week trying to catch up on her homework. People might have thought she was mental or something, but she enjoyed doing homework -it kept her mind off all the other problems in her life.

One night, she was sitting in the common room finishing an essay on powdered boomslang skin and its many uses, when Draco walked in.

"So... are you going to tell me what happened that night?" he asked bluntly.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, knowing that this would've come up at one point or another.

"You'll need to eventually..." he trailed off awkwardly, since he personally didn't know what to say. Ever since that day he had found her almost dead on her bedroom floor, things had been especially awkward and different between them.

"It was nothing. Okay? Just drop it."

"Bloody hell, Granger! You were half dead. That's not "nothing" goddamnit." Draco was getting aggravated.

"Just go away. It was nothing and don't worry about it! I know you don't care."

"Worry!? Worry?! Fuck. What, so I'm just supposed to wait around for another few weeks and find you unconcious on your floor again and then have to save your sorry ass another time! Maybe that one day I won't be there!"

"Hopefully. Then everything will be for the better," Hermione whispered under her breath, barely audible.

Draco managed to hear half of what she said, "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Hermione snapped.

"Why won't you talk to me?" He pleaded.

"Because..."

"Because why!?"

"Ugh. Just stop it! Stop! Just go away..." Hermione was using every ounce of willpower and strength she had to not break down in front of him.

"Hermione..." Draco took a step toward Hermione, but before he could do anything, she got up and ran into her room, slamming the door.

He sighed and plummeted on to the couch, rubbing his eyes. 'What was wrong with Granger?' He was about to doze off when his eyes shot open and he remembered that the night he had found Hermione -she was in her room, alone, and angry about him. Draco ran to the door and pounded, "Granger! Granger!"

Almost slamming into the door, he stopped himself short when he heard her voice yelling back at him, "What do you want?! I'm tired and I'm going to sleep, leave me alone!"

"Only when you promise you won't scare me again like you did that other day."

"No! I will do no such thing - just drop it. I wish that never happened. That you never found me." 'If only you knew how much I wished I were dead right now...' Hermione thought to herself as she yelled at Draco.

"Promise me, Granger... before I slam through the door again!"

"Fine! I promise I won't do anything like that! Will you please get away from my door now." Hermione yelled... and under her breath, she added malignantly, "I won't do anything...tonight."

Seemingly satisfied, Draco exhaled and wandered around the common room. He forced himself to stay up in case Hermione broke his promise, as he knew she would most likely do.

The first few months of schools breezed by, and Draco, Harry, and Ron were still incessantly bothering Hermione, trying to figure out what happened to her. Each of them also popped in randomly, having some random excuse to see her, but Hermione knew that they were just trying to keep an eye on her. Hermione was glad that they were there to keep her afloat, but sometimes, she just wished everything would just... end.

Soon, autumn gave to winter, and winter meant the holidays. Although the holidays were a time of joy and happiness for her classmates, they meant nothing good was coming for Hermione. Instead of going home to a warm crackling fireplace and late nights with hot chocolate, she was going 'home' to weeks of darkness and agony. But however much the upcoming holidays were worrying her, she pretended that everything was okay, and that 'that day' was just a one-time, freakout. And so she 'faked it' all through December, on all the Hogsmeade trips, and especially around Draco. She was sure she had the boys fooled again, although it was harder to trick Draco, than Harry and Ron. As the days carried on though, her perfect facade began to slowly crumble down.

It was the week before holidays, and everyone was busy packing and finshing up last-minute holiday homework. Everyone was in a cheerful mood -it sickened Hermione. Two days before going back to Brandon, Hermione was lying on her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She was trying to make herself get up and go to a party with the Gryffindors before everyone departed, but she just had no interest in anything at that point, except perhaps her knife. But at this moment, her hand was clenched around a crumpled letter,

Hermione,
I am looking forward to seeing you this holiday. I have missed you so much and I've been planning all the fun activities we will do before you go back to school. I'll be looking for you at King's Cross and if I don't find you there, you don't know how heartbroken I will be.

Love, Brandon

To any outsider, this letter would've seemed quite sincere. However, Hermione knew what he really meant. His "fun" was torturing her everyday and hearing her scream. His fun, was her hell.

Draco shuffled across the common room to finish packing for the holidays. But when he walked into that room, something about it bothered him.

Silence.

He knew Hermione was in her room -he had seen her leave the Great Hall a few minutes ago and go into their common room. As quietly as he could, he tried to turn her doorknob. To his surprise, it opened easily and silently. But at the moment, he wished he hadn't intruded and he felt sick to his stomach.

Hermione was sitting on her bed, dragging her blade, listlessly, across her arm. He must've counted about 17 fresh new scars, blood running down her arm. It seemed like she didn't notice him at all -drowned in her thoughts.

Bracing himself, he reached across her bloodied hand and firmly said, "Stop. Please."

She looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears, "Help me," she whispered, and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably into his chest. Not caring that she had just asked her worst enemy to help her, not caring that he had caught her cutting, not caring that she was staining his robes with her blood, just... that she finally felt safe.

End Notes: Gee, that chapter took a billion years to write. Sorry everyone! School started and I just kind of got consumed in homework and forgot about this. Soo... this chapter has a lot of dialogue, and it's a little shorter, but I hope you like it, because there's finally something between Hermione and Draco... sort of... xD Well, please review and I'll try to write the next chapter soon!