Hello Mudblood - DISCONTINUED

Pain

(A/N: Hi guys! FINALLY a new chapter. I know I'm really bad and it's been MONTHS since I've updated and I'm really really sorry. BUT the good news is that I'll be entering Hello Mudblood in the Watty Awards for best fanfic! I have until November 6th to get it all written. SO with that being said, there should be a new chapter, maybe even 2, every night! :D I'd like to finish the story and have it end with at least 30 chapters. Think I can do it? :D Lol anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, please, leave me some feedback!)

Hermione woke up the next morning with a crick in her neck. Her whole body ached and the pounding in her head had only increased since yesterday. She groaned, slowly rising into a sitting positive in her bed.

She tested out her weak muscles by raising her arms over her head and stretching. She winced, feeling all the pain in her muscles expand and relax slightly.

She jumped down from her bed and headed to the bathroom getting ready to start the day. While she walked, Crookshanks wove in and out of her legs and glanced up at her with sympathetic eyes. She sighed leaning down to scratch behind his ears. "You understand far too much for your own good Crookshanks." He meowed and pranced away from her to go to his bed.

Hermione went into the bathroom to asses her features and see what kind of damage she would have to put a concealing charm over before she could heal it. She gasped loudly when she looked at her reflection in the mirror, only to see her normal, unblemished face staring back at her. There were no bruises and no dried blood like she had figured there might be. But then as she thought about it, when she had sat up talking with Ron last night and he had asked about the bruises, she had lied to him and told him that she had fallen off of one of the rickety ladders at her shop and a piece had fallen on her face. She was positive the bruises were there last night.

It could have been one of those potions Malfoy gave me last night, she thought, it may have just needed some time to take the full affect.

It must have only been a potion to conceal the internal wounds and not fully restore her back to heath, which explained her still sore body.

She turned away from the mirror and shed her clothes before starting up the shower and getting in. She stayed under the water for nearly 20 minutes thinking about all of the events from the day before.

Everything had happened so quickly, it was hard for her to process everything even the day after. She couldn't believe herself for letting Malfoy off so easy. She could have called straight for the Harry and Malfoy would have been arrest before you could say Quidditch.

But she knew in her heart it wasn't the right thing to do. She could tell there was obviously something wrong with Malfoy at this point. She thought it to be anger issues but she had yet to really understand the underlying reasons behind Malfoy's very sudden violence.

Although some of her decisions on what his "punishment" should be, may not be very beneficial to her. What was she thinking? Why couldn't she think of something else rather than having him work at her bookstore? Now she'd have to deal with him every day. She can only imagine what may happen when they're alone at the store and she somehow angers him.

Finally she gets out of the shower, dresses and pulls her hair up before deciding to make a huge cup of coffee. As she's pouring in milk and sugar, her mind begins to drift again to what could possibly make Malfoy so violent. It could have something to do with his childhood, maybe his father was abusive and the pain was residual so he too took it out on the people around him? It could maybe be anger from the way that his life went and how he screwed himself?

There were so many possibilities running through her mind and each one seems plausible, but finding out which one is true would be a quest she may have to attempt.

She had finished her coffee now and she knew now she was merely stalling from going to work by slowly washing and putting away her mug and walking around her house making sure everything was tidy. It was Sunday and Malfoy didn't start until tomorrow but she didn't want to go to the shop and have to face her employees and tell them Draco Malfoy would be joining their staff. There was far too much on her plate right now and she didn't want to deal with the arguments she surely would receive about her decision.

Tired of putting things off, she decided to send Harry and Ginny an owl to check up and see how they and James were doing. Ginny's about 6 months pregnant and didn't leave the house much. Hermione reminded herself to make sure and go out to lunch with Ginny soon.

Harry, Ginny, and baby James,

I hope you're all doing well. It's been forever since we've talked. Remind me to buy you all a mobile so we can keep in touch more often.

Things at the shop are doing well. New books sales have been off the wall because so many interesting new novels have been released. I read one recently that was an autobiography of a werewolf living during the 1600s. The times were quite different and the Wolfsbane potion had yet to be invented. So each entry he made after a full moon was very... descriptive.

Oh and some lovely children's books came in too. I'll send you some to put in the nursery. Some adventure books came in that I think James will love.

Hope to see you soon,

Love from,

Hermione

She sealed the letter and put it on her coffee table so she could bring it an owlery to be delivered. She decided she could wait no longer. Things had to be done and she didn't want to have to face her employees when Malfoy was actually there tomorrow. She'd rather they know he was coming beforehand. She went to her room and slipped on her trainers with a heavy sigh and grabbed her bag and coat from its hanger before scooping up her letter and grabbing her umbrella and heading out the door.