AN: I never actually say if Harry and Hermione are in a relationship, so you can take it however you want.

Also, I do not own Harry Potter. Trust me, if I did I would not be sitting here writing fan fiction.

This is ONE SHOT (Sorry for any confusion for anyone who added it to their Story Alerts)

Hermione looked in the mirror and patted more blush on her cheek. That coupled with the cover-up almost covered the dark purple bruise that covered her entire left cheek. She sighed leaned in closer to the mirror. Her left eye was slightly bloodshot, but there was no amount of make-up that would cover that. There must have been a spell that could make her injuries heal instantly, but Hermione wasn't sure she could pull them off, and going to Madam Pomfrey was absolutely out of the question.

"I guess that's as good as it gets, then," she said quietly to herself, and started to turn around.

"What happened to you, Granger?" she heard a drawling voice ask, and Hermione jumped and instinctively flung her wand in the direction of the intruder.

A bright blue flash of light flew from Hermione's wand, and Draco Malfoy yelled out and ducked to avoid the attack. Hermione swore under her breath as the accidental blast hit the wall and caused a large crack to break open.

"What the Bloody Hell was that for?" Draco asked angrily, getting back to his feet, "You could have killed-" His words were cut short by a loud bang sounded and the crack in the wall grew suddenly bigger. The crack extended to the ceiling, and rubble fell between Hermione and Draco.

"Maybe we should go…" Hermione said, looking up at the ceiling.

Malfoy nodded and they started to go, when the ceiling to the Room of Requirement collapsed in front of the door, and all around Hermione and Malfoy.

Hermione screamed as Draco fell to the floor and instinctively grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her down with him. The two covered their heads as the room around them continued to fall. When it finally stopped, Hermione jerked away from Malfoy and stood up quickly.

"Well sorry for saving you, then," Draco sneered.

"Shut it, Malfoy," Hermione yelled, "Don't you realize that we're trapped in here? Where is my wand?" she muttered to herself, checking her pockets. "Damn, it must have rolled away in the blast. Great. I don't suppose you have a wand?" she turned on Draco.

"No, Granger, I do not. It's safely in my room. So looks like we're stuck in here. Thanks to you, I might add."

"I'm in no mood to listen to you, Malfoy! And you know I'm not afraid to punch you."

"Please," Malfoy rolled his eyes, "Someone must have heard that, and we'll be out of here any moment now."

"Just leave me alone until then," Hermione snapped, sitting on a large chunk of ceiling rock and propping her head up on her hand. "And this is not my fault," she added, "You're the one who startled me. How did you even get in here, anyway?"

"Well first, it's not my fault that you're so damn skittish. And secondly, when you're hiding in the Room of Requirement, common sense says shut the door or anyone can just walk right in."

"So why did you walk in, then? Can't you just leave me alone for once?"

"I heard you crying," Draco shrugged, "Thought I'd investigate."

"So you're saying you actually care?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows and glancing at Malfoy.

"No, I do not care about you," Malfoy said, "But out of curiosity, why were you crying?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Hermione replied.
"Fine," Malfoy shrugged, "Don't. And just so you know, that makeup isn't fooling anyone. I can see that bruise. Who did it?"

Hermione brought a hand up to her face as if that would make Draco un-see the wound. "No one."

"Right," Draco said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you say, Granger."

Hermione glared at the ground and did her best to ignore Malfoy as he moved closer to her and sat on the opposite end of the rock. He traced random shapes on the surface of the rock with his finger and shuffled his feet on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Hermione snapped.

"Testy," Draco said. "Calm down, Hermione."
Hermione opened her mouth to argue back, but stopped short. "You called me Hermione," she said.

"That is your name," he said.

"But you've never said it."

"Fine, Granger. I won't say your name anymore."

"That's not what I meant, Draco, I was just shocked that you actually knew it."

"Are you going to tell me what happened to you or not?"

Hermione didn't reply right away and stared at her shoes instead. She felt Malfoy move even closer and shifted away uncomfortably.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," he said, "I just want to know what happened. Honestly."

"Why are you being so nice?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. Someone hurt you. I don't like it."

"You hate me," she reminded him.

Again, Malfoy shrugged. "I was raised to never hurt a girl. So what happened?"

Hermione felt a single tear spill over her eyelashes and fall to the floor. Tentatively, Draco wiped the tear from her cheek, taking off some of the make-up in the process. Her bruise appeared darker than before, and Draco slowly wiped the rest of the makeup off her face. Hermione let him, and stared at her hands silently. Still, more tears spilled from her eyes, but she made no attempt to stop them.

"He's just so stressed," she whispered, "It's not his fault…"
"Who?" Draco asked, already guessing who she meant.

Hermione shook her head. "I shouldn't say."

"Was it Potter?" Malfoy asked quietly.

Hermione bit her lip, and then slowly nodded. She turned around to face away from Malfoy, but he just stood up and knelt on the ground in front of her, forcing her to look at him.

"What did he do?" He asked.

"Nothing," Hermione said, "He's just so stressed….with You-Know-Who out there, and…and….he just can't help it. He gets angry."

"That's no reason you hurt you," Draco pointed out.

"He didn't mean to. We were in the common room alone last night and he just….just lashed out. He didn't m-mean to hit me. He didn't mean it!" Hermione yelled the last sentence and flung her hand out towards Malfoy, striking him in the stomach. He took the blow willingly before restraining her arms at her sides. Hermione jerked away and cried out, as if afraid he would hit her back.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Malfoy insisted, "Don't be so paranoid."

Hermione shrunk back into a pile of rubble, cowering. Draco watched her carefully. He took a step towards her and she pulled back even more, although by now the rocks much have been cutting into her back.
"Unless…you have a reason to be paranoid," he said slowly, "Has he hurt you before?"

Hermione didn't say anything. Instead, she fell to the floor and covered her face, bursting into tears. Draco, not used to comforting people, leaned down awkwardly and put a hand on her back. His touch became gentler as he realized just how much pain Hermione was in. He sat next to her and put one arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closely.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked him through her tears.

"Doing what?"

"Being so nice," Hermione clarified.

"Because you're obviously hurt, and what good would it be for me to hurt you more?"

Hermione stared at him, confused by his completely un-Malfoyish attitude.

"Listen," he said, "I'm not good with all this nice stuff. So give me some credit for trying."

"Actually….You're doing a good job," she relied quietly, "I do feel a little better."

"Don't mention it. Ever." Draco said, causing Hermione to smile.

"IS ANYBODY IN THERE?" They suddenly heard a magically-magnified voice ask.

"We're here!" Malfoy called out, and Hermione copied him.

Within minutes, Dumbledore had the rubble cleared away, and the Room of Requirement back in order. When he reached Draco and Hermione, they were standing on opposite sides of the room, acting like they hadn't just been embracing. Madam Pomfrey was there, and took them both to the Hospital Wing, insisting they stay for at least a night. "My goodness, child, look at that bruise? Did you get that from falling debris?"

Draco glared at Hermione as she lied to Madam Pomfrey and told her yes. Hermione glared back, warning him not to tell the truth.

Harry showed up as Hermione and Malfoy arrived in the Hospital Wing. He shoved by Malfoy, and hugged Hermione tightly. "I was so worried about you!" he exclaimed.

"Sure you were, Potter," Draco grumbled, settling down into his hospital bed. If Harry heard him, he didn't reply. He just kept hugging Hermione, who looked close to tears again.

Several hours later, Madam Pomfrey finally managed to shoo Harry out of the hospital wing, leaving Hermione and Draco alone. "Go straight to bed," she told the two.

As soon as Madam Pomfrey shut the door to her office, Draco got out of bed and walked over to Hermione's. "You alright?" he asked her quietly.

"Yeah. I'm tired though. You can play the hero tomorrow, alright?"

"I'm not acting, Hermione," Draco said, "I'm honestly worried about you."

"I don't doubt that," Hermione whispered, "But there's not much you can do about it…."

Draco sighed and went back to his own bed, and the two of them fell into restless sleeps.

The next morning, Harry arrived in the Hospital wing first thing in the morning.

"I sent Ron a letter telling him what happened to you," he said, "He should be getting it later today. Then I'm sure he'll come back from Christmas Holidays early to see you, and we can all spend Christmas here together."

Hermione smiled at him, pleased that it wouldn't just be her and Harry alone again. Draco watched the two talking, while pretending to be asleep.

Harry reached out and touched the bruise on Hermione's cheek. She jumped as he touched it, causing pain to erupt under the bruise.

"You didn't tell her….?" He asked softly, gesturing towards Madam Pomfrey's office.

"No," Hermione responded, "I didn't."

"Good," Harry said, "Don't ever tell anyone."

Hermione bit her lip hard, and felt blood spill onto her tongue. "I won't."

Harry nodded, and stood up. He walked out of the hospital wing without another word, and Draco shot out of his bed. He followed Harry into the hallway outside the hospital wing, and put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him to a stop.

"You're worthless, Potter," Malfoy snapped, "She should go straight to Dumbledore and tell him what you did."

Harry shoved Draco's hand away, and glared at him. "Stay out of it, Malfoy," he spat. "It's none of your business."

"I guess you're right," Malfoy said, shrugging, "But one of these days, she's going to realize that she'd be better off without you, and then she'll be gone. And guess who she's going to run to when that happens."

"You think that will be you?" Harry scoffed, "She hates you, Malfoy."

"Not as much as you may think," Draco said cooly, turning back towards the hospital wing. He was almost back into the room, when he felt Harry's fist make contact with the back of his head.
Malfoy stumbled forward, and turned back to Harry.
"I said, stay out of this," Harry said, "Hermione knows I'd never hurt her on purpose. It was an accident."

"Accidents don't repeat themselves over and over," Draco pointed out, "And it's incredibly obvious that Hermione has had some problems lately."

"And you think that's because of me? I'd never hurt her!"

"You would too, Potter!" Draco yelled back, "You punched her! And I know that's not the only time you've done it!"

"Accidents!" Harry screamed, "I'd never hurt Hermione! Never!"

"Stop acting like a defenseless prat!" Draco exclaimed. "You-Know-Who is out there somewhere, killing people, and the way you're handling that is to beat up on a girl? You're pathetic."

"You would know, wouldn't you, Malfoy. What with your dad being in Voldemort's inner circle, and all."

"What my dad does has nothing to do with me. I'm no Death Eater. I'm also not abusive."

"I DO NOT ABUSE HER!" Harry screamed, throwing another punch at Draco. Draco ducked just in time, though, and avoided the blow.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't be so defensive, would you?" Draco asked. He punched out at Harry, and struck him in the temple, causing Harry to crumple to the floor. "Oops," he spat.

Draco walked back into the hospital wing as Harry struggled to get up.

"Why don't you just tell him to get lost?" Malfoy asked Hermione, "You're better at magic that he is, so there's no way he could hurt you if you just stood up to him."

Hermione stared at Draco and nodded. "You're right…" her voice was quiet, but determined.

Draco sat on the edge of her bed and looked at the spot where Harry had left the bruise. "And if you want…I could help you."

"What about your reputation?" she asked him, "Wouldn't want to be seen hanging around with a Mudblood would you, Malfoy?"

He cringed. "I've grown up since last year. I'm not my father. I don't care if you're Muggle Born."

Hermione sat up and looked at him. He looked back, and she leaned against him and sighed.

"What?" he asked her.

"Nothing…I just….for the first time in a long time…I'm happy."

"I'm glad," Draco smiled slightly. "You deserve to be happy."

A few hours later, Harry stormed into the Gryffindor common room and found Hermione sitting in a chair by the fireplace. The common room was empty, since everyone else was at dinner.

"What did you tell Malfoy?" Harry asked her.

"Nothing. He figured it out," Hermione said, not looking up at Harry.

"Well you better tell him he's wrong!" Harry snapped, "You know I'd never hurt you, don't you?"

Hermione cringed away as Harry reached for her, and grabbed her wand. She pointed it towards Harry.

"No, I don't know that," she said, her voice strong. "You've hurt me quite a bit in the last few months. Every single time you said it was an accident! I believed you. I wanted to believe you. But those accidents seem to be happening quite a bit lately, and I am not going to deal with it anymore."
"Hermione," Harry said, "I'm sorry about everything."
"I don't care!" Hermione yelled, "Harry, you were my best friend! And you hurt me! That is unforgivable!"

Harry's look changed from sorrow to anger in a flash. "Who are you going to go to, then? Draco Malfoy? I'm sure his daddy would love to hear that a Muggle Born is hanging around his son."

"Neither Draco nor I care about what Lucius Malfoy thinks of us being friends. Even if we were more than friends. No one, especially not you, Harry, could stop us. You know I'm the strongest with a wand. How hard you can punch is no match for a good hex. So stay away from me."
Hermione walked towards the portrait hole, eyes and wand still fixed on Harry. He made no move to follow her as she left the common room and the portrait swung shut.

Hermione smiled widely as she walked down the corridors towards the Great Hall. When she got there, she found Draco walking out of the Hall. Hermione ran up to him and threw her arms around his neck. He stood there, shocked for a moment before hugging her back.

"Thank you," she whispered, and Draco Malfoy felt a smile form on his face as he held Hermione Granger close, both of them feeling happier than they'd felt in a long time.

You can decide wheter or not they got together at the end. :) Review please! Don't just favorite and not review. Thanks.