Hermione Granger is scared. The nightmares are frequent and sleep is rare. Her relationship with Ron is not what she thought it was. Stuck in a circle of despair she is trying hard to regain the famed Gryffindor courage while maintaining appearance...
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~ Hermione Granger
"Murtlap."
His voice had been a cold knife blade cutting through the cool night haze, it had struck her. Often in a man's confusion, he clings to the most shocking event to gather his senses. And she had run out of it.
Typical.
This game was dangerous. People couldn't know. She had to keep herself together. They were supposed to be a united front for Merlin's sake. She was the only one who was human it seemed. Harry lost, Ronald a stranger she clung to in the hopes of finding the boy she met when she was eleven years old.
Locking herself in her dormitory, the other girls yet to return from Hogsmeade, she curled up on her bed, facing the foggy windows of Gryffindor Tower.
He was right. Murtlap was perfect and would calm her skin instantly. A snort escaped her, she was a lunatic, her situation suddenly almost amusing in its absurdity.
To think that a complete stranger if not a known enemy had just helped her when her friend, her boyfriend was the one who hurt her every day. She had almost broken down again, right there in front of Malfoy, it had felt like the first sharp breath of air after being underwater. Relief had thrummed through her, he had cared.
Just enough to say it. She didn't know what that meant, it was too dangerous to wonder but it had been enough. If it had been anyone else she wouldn't have hesitated in showing her appreciation, but this was Malfoy.
Yet he had been the one to have have been there during each of her mental breakdown episodes so far. The only one who probably knew...
Images raced in her head.
* series of jumbled flashbacks *
" shush..."
Her voice begging as he pulled her hair. Salty tears mixing with the blood spilling from her busted lip, tasting iron before blacking out. * "You need me, Mione, I am the only one who could handle your craziness, who else would put up with your mental behavior?" * "Harry is weak, you can't help him, it's up to the rest of us to do something about it..." * Hard hips thrusting into soft skin, pain everywhere. Her arms could fall off, she needed to breathe... Ropes tightening around her wrists. She welcomed the pain, it prevented her from slipping into the dark depths of unconsciousness. *
Hermione whimpered. The contents of her stomach swirled, she needed to empty it. She wanted to be clean, her body felt like a mud trap. The baths sounded tempting but she didn't want to be out in the open, for fear of running into Ronald again. Her legs wouldn't move.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The steady sound drew her attention to the Tower's window. Right by her bed. She sat up and looked out into the dark night to see a small owl, wings rapidly beating in an effort to keep itself afloat.
Opening the window quickly she watched with large eyes as a gust of wind pulled the small bird inside. The owl was a Golden Tawny, a very rare species used by old wizarding families as Royal Mail carriers. The female could fit in Hermione's hand, her feathers soft and shiny. She was carrying a small silver envelope embossed with emerald lining. Alongside the envelope was a small vial, corked again with a single emerald.
Extravagant.
Eyeing the liquid in the vial, which she recognized to be recently prepared Murtlap essence, it couldn't have been more than a few days old, having not reached its characteristic yellow color yet, she gingerly opened the small envelope.
A small slip of butter parchment was the only content of the envelope.
Inside in graceful cursive penmanship was written -
' This is enough.'
She reached under her bed for some parchment. With some spare ink, she quilled a ' thank you ' and resealed the envelope. The owl ready for her return gave Hermione a small nibble before taking off again into the night.
Never in all her years in the magic world did she think there would come a time when Draco Malfoy gave her a reason to smile.
X ~ X
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