Crash Into Me

"I HATE HIM!" She shrieked, full of utter despair and sorrow. She shook violently as salty droplets bled from eyes. It wouldn't be so bad if she had Ron or Harry around to comfort her… but alas, they had gone home for Christmas vacation. And Hermione, was alone. His words stung her, like a thousand hornets, slicing into her.

"You know what you damned Mudblood?! I hope you have a run in with The Dark Lord, then perhaps you'll get what you DESERVE! You hideous beast." With that he had delivered a sharp slap to her pale skin, leaving a bright red mark. Hermione, horrified, had dashed into her room… knocking other students out of the way.

She sniffed and stood from her bed. Her nose and eyes were rouge from sorrowful crying. She dried her face gently with her sleeve, and brushed some sticky locks off her face. Her hand reached for her silver hair brush, cold to the touch, and she ran it through her hair. Then she looked up… a pang of disgust shot through her heart and into her stomach.

"I am a beast… Just a hideous…worthless beast." In a fit of anger her chucked the brush at the mirror, cracking it slightly. The brushed dropped to the floor, as the glass quickly repaired itself. Sobbing, she collapsed onto the floor and leaned against the bed frame… her brown eyes shedding painful tears.

***

"Dammit Draco… you damned FOOL!" The words in his mind just would not stop repeating themselves. Why…How…? He just couldn't fathom that he had actually done that. He had thrown insults at her a thousand times…yet he had never seen the look she had given him today. It was a look that made him want to kill himself with a dull blade. Those enormous brown eyes…looking up in utter horror and disbelief.

She was never popular with the girls, her only real friends were those trash Potter and Weasly. And he knew that beneath that ever studious demeanor, she just wanted to belong. And he knew…

He cared for her.

"You've got your ball,

You've got your chain,

Tied to me tight…

Tie me up again…"

The silver-haired youth raised those cold eyes to stare at himself in the mirror. He was 16, shockingly handsome, which no one could or would deny. His body filled out after endless Quidditch matches and whatever he could find that might draw attention. Draco could have any girl in the school if he wanted, perhaps his weakness was… he knew that. Then why, dear Lord, WHY?! Why were his thoughts plagued with Granger. Mudblood. He had to admit, she had grown lovely over the years. Not the gangly, bushy-haired thing she was before… but still the same on the inside. Studying to avoid social contact. Never able to speak to a boy she was fond of. Never giggling with girlfriends. Just tagging along with Potter and Weasly. He felt her heartbreak. He felt her sorrow. Though it killed him…

He had to apologize.

***
She was curled up under the soft red and gold covers, which clung to her body like a mother to her baby.

"Who's got their claws in you my friend?

Into your heart…I'll beat again."

The tears had finally let up, and all that was left was a wet faced, shivering girl. She had never done anything wrong. Did she really deserve all this? Did she?

Perhaps it was her lot in life to be… nothing.

As she closed her eyes in hopes of never waking up

There was a knock at the door.