A/N Hi guys! I know i haven't updated in two months and i am SO sorry, I had the worst writer's block ever and it sucked and on top of that i was dealing with some real life issues so merh. But anyways I am going to try and write as much as i can before the dreaded block comes back, now i hope you aren't too mad at me because i truly am sorry for not updating and I really hope that everyone enjoys this chapter. Alright well review please? Thank you xx

Days passed and no words were spoken between Hermione or any of the others, occasionally she would catch Pansy looking at her but the other girl would quickly look away and murmur something to Blaise who always seemed to be beside her.

Hermione hadn't seen Draco around however, he was either always gone before her in the morning or still in bed. At night when she would return he was never there, part of her felt a sort of relief at the fact that him and the others had backed off from questioning her relationship with Ron but another part was incredibly sad and she didn't fully understand why.

Speaking of Ron, he had been acting different as well. He hadn't hurt her in any way in the last few days but she would always catch him sending her sly glances and smiling weirdly at her, she felt uneasy when she would see those smiles but at this point she was glad for them because it meant her body could recover.

She also hadn't harmed herself since the night in the Astronomy Tower and a tiny part of her thought that maybe…just maybe things were actually getting better. Currently she was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with Harry and Ginny, but she wasn't paying much attention to the conversation.

"Can you believe him? I mean he must be up to something right?" Harry asked, breaking Hermione out of her trance and she raised her head and frowned, "Who are you talking about?" She asked and Ginny looked at her,

"Malfoy. Every night for the last three nights he's been out on the quidditch pitch, sometimes flying and sometimes just…hovering there for hours on end." The red head said. "So? I mean maybe he's just…practicing for some upcoming match." Hermione said and Harry snorted, "'Mione please, he would be practicing with his team if that were the case. No, he must be up to something."

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "Oh Harry, come on. The war is over and besides he doesn't even bother us much anymore so just..leave it alone yeah?" Harry sighed, "You're right Hermione, what he does is no longer my concern." He said and smiled at his best friend.

Hermione nodded, satisfied and stretched her muscles. She winced slightly as she reached too high, noticing with dismay that her ribs were still a bit sensitive. "I think I'll head back to the dorm now, I'm feeling knackered." Hermione said.

Ginny looked up at her friend and frowned for a brief second before smiling and saying, "Alright 'Mione." Hermione was confused at the frown but mentally shrugged it off.

She gave Ginny and Harry both brief hugs, promising to meet them in the morning for breakfast before disappearing out the portrait. As she walked back to her dorm she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her, she glanced behind her but saw nothing.

She shook her head and thought that it must be the exhaustion playing tricks on her, however she did speed up her pace a bit and as she went to turn the corner that would lead her to her dorm a hand came up from behind her and covered her mouth.

She struggled as arms wrapped around her waist tightly but froze when someone whispered in her ear, "Hello my beautiful 'Mione." She closed her eyes and felt a sense of dread come over her. He started dragging her backwards and she started struggling again but it was futile as he was much stronger than she was.

He yanked open a door and she saw it was an empty broom closet, he threw her inside and closed them door behind him. She gulped and backed away but her back collided with a shelf and she knew it was trapped.

"Ron…Ron what are you doing?" She asked, "Taking what's rightfully mine." He said darkly and before she could blink he had a grip on her and she opened her mouth to scream.

Pansy sighed and leant her head on her hand, Draco rolled his eyes and looked at her "For the love of Merlin Pans, you've been sighing for the last hour. Could you keep it down?" He said irritably and Pansy shot him a look, he merely smirked and she stared him down before sighing loudly.

"You're irritating." Draco said and Pansy grinned, "And you're a spoiled brat." She said cheerfully, "Heard it before Pansy, come up with better insults." Pansy opened her mouth to retort but Blaise, finally having had enough of the two bickering said loudly, "You're both acting like children!"

He huffed, raised his book up and tried to continue his reading before it was plucked from his hands. "Honestly Blaise, you spend all your time reading lately. Come out into the real world and lighten up." Pansy said and held the book behind her back.

Blaise rolled his eyes and stood up, "Pansy give me back my book, now." "Nope don't think I will!" The dark-haired girl said and ran behind the couch, out of Blaise's reach. "Pansy!" Blaise said and tried to jump over the couch to get to her, she dodged and ran around the common room "TOO SLOW ZABINI!" She shouted and laughed.

Draco sat in his armchair and watched the antics amusedly, he was glad he had decided to come to the Slytherin common room as it gave him a distraction from all that had been plaguing his mind for the last few days.

Ever since that night on the Astronomy Tower he had avoided Granger, but he couldn't avoid the memories that kept invading his mind. Most nights he couldn't sleep and so would take his broom and carefully sneak out to the Quidditch Pitch in order to try and clear his mind.

He was snapped out of his thoughts suddenly as Pansy jumped into his lap and screamed, "PROTECT ME DRACO!" He looked up and saw Blaise charging and yelled out, "Zabini stop!" But it was too late as Blaise crashed into them and sent them, along with the armchair, toppling to the ground.

"I swear to Merlin, if you're not both off me in two seconds I will hex you both with the same curse i gave to Potter and Weasley!" Draco said and Pansy and Blaise both scrambled off him. He sat up and rubbed his head as he glared at the two idiot's he called friends, "Honestly you both act like you're five. How do I put up with you two?" he said and rolled his eyes.

"You put up with us cause without us your life would be horribly dull and you'd be nothing more than a stuck up spoiled brat." Pansy said cheekily and Draco glared at her, "Right. I'm going back to my dorm now, you two children enjoy your night." He said and left the common room.

He shook his head as he walked but allowed a small laugh to escape, he might complain about Blaise and Pansy's antics most times but they did make him smile. While he himself would never engage in their ridiculous stunts, he did enjoy watching them.

He was glad that he had them for friends and he cared for them more than he did his own family, except for his mother that is but he'd be damned before he'd actually admit it out loud, he did have a reputation to uphold after all.

When he finally arrived at the entrance to his dorm he noticed something odd. It wasn't quite closed all the way, he frowned and pulled out his wand before carefully opening the portrait even more and stepping inside.

His breath caught in his throat and he stopped, he prayed to every god he knew that what he was seeing was just a a dream but he knew without a doubt that it wasn't. Hermione Granger was laying on the couch, bruised, beaten and bleeding.

He stepped closer and saw that her eyes were closed and she must be asleep, her breathing was uneven however and as he took in her appearance he noticed her shirt was torn and hanging off of her and her skirt was ripped as well.

He quickly averted his eyes when he realized that she had nothing on underneath the remains of her skirt. His fists clenched as his mind raced with thoughts, most of them involving him and a dead Weasley.

Hermione stirred and her eyes opened slowly, she gasped when she realized Draco was standing above her and tried to back away but whimpered in pain. His eyes snapped to hers and she saw anger and pity in his eyes, "Granger.." He said softly and she whimpered again, vainly trying to cover herself with the remains of her clothing.

"I'll be right back." He said and ran up the steps to his room, he came back down less than a minute later with a big black comforter and he carefully placed it over her. "Better? If it helps…I didn't see anything." He said quietly and she stared at him, she wanted to speak but her voice was too hoarse so she simply hugged the comforter to her.

"Granger…you're still bleeding and well I need to see how badly you're hurt. Unless you want to go to the hospital wing?" Draco said and Hermione immediately shook her head. "Alright, alright. Well..how about you go clean up and then come back down so I can check your injuries alright?" She hesitated but nodded and slowly stood up, keeping the blanket wrapped around her tightly.

Without looking at him, she slowly ascended the steps to her room and shut the door. She whimpered as pain raced through her body but kept moving until she was in the bathroom and she turned on the shower, she dropped the comforter and stripped off the remains of her clothes.

She looked down at the torn skirt and shirt and she felt bile rise in her throat, she quickly turned away from them and leaned against the sink heavily. She took a few deep breaths before ridding herself of her bra which was the only undergarment she had left and stepping into the shower.

She winced as the water hit her but stood under the hot spray nevertheless, she watched as the blood washed down her body. It turned the water red, then pink, and finally after what seemed like hours it ran clear. She stood leaning against the wall the entire time and even though she tried to…she couldn't bring herself to cry. Not yet at least.

Finally, she stood up and scrubbed her body. She wanted to scrub harder but it hurt too much and she knew that no matter how much she scrubbed she would never be truly clean again. She shut off the water and stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself and stared at her reflection in the mirror, she looked away after a minute. She was disgusted with herself, utterly disgusted.

Taking another deep breath, she went into her bedroom and put on some underwear and a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She looked around for her wand before remembering she had dropped it near the couch when she had collapsed on top of it, she opened her bedroom door and walked down the stairs quietly.

She saw Draco pacing anxiously and she noticed the anger in his posture, she tilted her head and watched him. She had never really seen him so livid and it was a bit startling to her, he finally glanced over at her and stilled his pacing. "I made some tea…if you want some." He said and she nodded, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

She reached for the cup of tea on the table in front and took a tentative sip, she relished in the warmth that immediately spread through her body and took another sip. "Granger…do you still want me to heal you?" She heard Draco ask softly and she sighed before slowly nodding.

He came over and sat down near her, she flinched slightly but otherwise kept her posture stiff and her eyes averted. "I need to know where the worse pain is." Draco said and Hermione closed her eyes before resting her hands against her right side and slowly moved her fingers down to trace her ribs to her stomach.

She wanted to speak but couldn't get her voice to work right, she saw from the corner of her eye that Draco had taken out his wand and was pointing it where she had rested her hand. She didn't hear what he said but almost instantly the pain that had been raging through her stomach and ribs subsided.

Hermione let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and allowed herself to fall back against the pillows, her body relaxing almost completely. "Thank you Draco." She murmured sleepily and sighed, her eyes closing slowly. "You're welcome Granger." She heard him say softly and she could have sworn that she felt his lips brush the side of her head ever so lightly as she drifted off into sleep.

Draco sat there for a few minutes looking at Hermione as she slept and finally stood up, he carefully placed his arms under her and lifted her up. He walked up the stairs to her room and gently placed her in her bed, he pulled the covers over her small body before leaving the room and going back downstairs.

He sat back down on the couch and ran a hand through his hair, his thoughts were all over the place and he didn't know what to do. Never had he imagined finding Granger like that, it was bringing back memories that he had buried but he easily pushed them down. He had wanted to ask her what happened but he didn't think she would answer him, not that he couldn't guess what happened already.

"Fucking Weasley, Fucking Granger, fuck!" Draco shouted suddenly and stood up, chucking the cup of tea left by Hermione against the wall. He picked up the books off the table and threw them around the room, he was in a rage and he didn't know why all of this was fueling him so much and why he was suddenly caring so much for Granger.

He sunk to the floor and squeezed his eyes shut, "Fuck's sake, i'm losing my bloody mind." He muttered and ran his hand through his hair again. "You're not the only one." He heard a soft voice say behind him and he stood quickly, he saw Hermione standing there at the bottom of the stairs staring at him with the barest of smiles on her face.

"You know if you're going to have a breakdown I would appreciate it if you put up a silencing charm next time." He was about to snap at her for her comment when he noticed the twinkle in her eyes letting him know she was joking. His eyes narrowed however, how could use make jokes when he had just destroyed part of the common room and she had been attacked.

"I'll make sure to take that into consideration next time Granger." He said curtly and started clean up the mess he had created, he didn't look at her but he heard her move over to the couch and sit down, "I am curious though, what brought on the sudden need to cause such a mess?" She asked. He didn't answer her as he finished cleaning up and sat down on the other end of the couch.

"Malfoy?" Granger asked again and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before answering "Why do you want to know?"

"Why can't you just answer a simple question?" She retorted.

"Why can't you?"

"Are you going to keep answering me with a question?" There was a twinge of annoyance when she asked and he smirked, "Are you?" He chuckled when she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest "You're bloody annoying Malfoy." "Why thank you Granger." His smirk widened when she rolled her eyes but said nothing else.

They sat there in a semi comfortable silence for a while before Hermione's head started to drop down and her eyes were closing, Draco looked over at her and said softly, "Granger…maybe you should go back up to bed." Hermione nodded sleepily but said nothing as she stood and began to walk up to her room.

Draco got up and was going to his when he heard her pause and say quietly, "Goodnight Draco." It was the third time she'd said his name. "Goodnight Granger." He said just as he heard the click of her door, he couldn't bring himself to call her Hermione. Not yet.