Everything's Going to Be Alright

Author's Note: The last portion of this story features the slightly altered lyrics of the song "Drunk Girl" by Something Corporate. I say slightly altered, because I had to change a line or two so that it would make sense with the story, but over all I left it alone. It's a great song, everyone should go listen to it! Enjoy!

I do not own Harry Potter, or Something Corporate, and I'm only using them for inspiration out of a great love for them both! Be flattered and don't sue please!

Everything's Going To Be Alright

Draco had never been so tired in his life and all he wanted was a decent night's sleep. That was something he hadn't had in quite awhile, but usually it was the frantic racing of his thoughts that kept him awake, not the sounds of a party a floor above the Slytherin dormitories. He knew they were in the Room of Requirement, a room he'd been making regular use of lately. He was sure the teachers couldn't hear the goings on, as the room would make sure of that, and it was also obvious his fellow Slytherins were oblivious as well. He didn't know why he could hear them, and he didn't care, he just wanted it to stop. He let out a grunt of frustration that became muffled as he rolled over and buried his head into his pillow, pounding his fist on his bed in a halfhearted attempt to alleviate the urge to go upstairs and pound his fist into one of his classmates instead. The Gryffindors were having a party, and as laughable as he found the concept of that lot actually having a good time, he was no longer amused due to the ever-increasing decibel level. What was the point of having a party anyway? Let off a little steam now that the examination period was over? What a joke. As if there weren't things a lot more terrifying than exams lurking outside the halls of Hogwarts. And inside the halls of Hogwarts too, Draco thought with a familiar dread creeping over him. It had been months since he'd been able to go more than hour without that hideous feeling creeping up on him...that unbearable mixture of fear, hatred, failure, disappointment...and maybe even guilt. Not that anyone had noticed the slow but constant deterioration Draco was experiencing. Except...

"What's the matter with you!?" Granger snapped, her livid gaze squarely meeting his own.

A year before he would have threatened her for daring to look him in the eye, to stare him down like an equal. Now, he found it hard to muster the energy to take in her words and actions at all, so he settled for rolling his eyes tiredly, attempting to trace her verbal attack back to whatever he done to tick her off so much.

"You've completely ruined it!" Her tone went from outrage to an almost reverent mourning as she clutched a book tightly to her chest. "You scribbled all over it...half the incantations will be unreadable now...I can't believe the lack of respect..."

"A book? This is about a book, Granger?" He had apparently been absentmindedly doodling in a library book while he attempted to steal a few moments to himself, when Granger had suddenly accosted him. "Honestly, you're pathetic."

"I'M pathetic!?" she repeated, her eyes flashing. "What do you call someone who mopes around, just biding his time until he sees an opportunity to belittle someone for being smarter than him?"

"I don't mope." Somehow it seemed important to debate that point, even though it wasn't really as offensive as the rest of her comment.

"That's all you do lately, Malfoy," Granger argued. "I can't imagine why such a perfect pureblood prat such as yourself would be so down, unless you've finally realized that there's more to life then how far back you can trace your family tree." Her voice was full of sarcasm, and she seemed almost eager for the fight she was anticipating. He thought he sensed something at that moment, like maybe she was tired too. Maybe she was tired of waiting for something really terrible to happen. Maybe she just wanted to explode now and get it over with.

Shaking his head to clear it, he decided not to bother responding. Pushing back his chair roughly, he left the library without a word. He knew that after he left she would take the time to actually read what he'd been absentmindedly scribbling-the world "failure", over and over again.

Moaning in frustration, Draco pushed himself off of his bed and made his way up the stairs and out of the dungeons. He was going to kill every single one of those Gryffindors with his bare hands. Actually, he would do it with his wand, hand-to-hand combat was so exerting and such a typically Muggle pastime. Without warning his thoughts traveled from the term Muggle to the less savory counterpart Mudblood, and his mind almost lazily conjured an image of Granger glaring at him as she had pretty consistently for the past six years.

"God, I loathe her," he thought to himself. And he did. He hated her for her stupid bushy brown hair that wasn't really all that bushy anymore, and he hated her for her brown eyes that wouldn't be that hideous if they weren't squinting at a book all the time. He hated her for her perfect grades, and her perfect friends, and her perfect life where the biggest tragedy she could imagine was the vandalizing of a library book. And most of all he hated her for proving his father wrong, for proving that all Muggleborns weren't ugly and stupid. Yes, he'd always hated Hermione Granger, but it was only recently that the half realized truth behind his hatred had slowly started to wriggle its way into a corner of his brain. It was enormously inconvenient that this kernel of doubt had worked its way into his mind during the first time in his life he actually had to act on the beliefs he'd possessed since birth. That familiar feeling hit Draco yet again as thoughts of his mission threw his stomach into knots. He didn't have time to think about Granger, not as a worthless Mudblood or as anything else, and there certainly wasn't time for her to be getting in the way of what he knew had to accomplish. He had to or...he couldn't think about it. What was the point?

"Stop following me, Granger!" He had cornered her outside the library, the one place it could be counted on that she would be without Potter and Weasel, her two pathetic excuses for bodyguards.

"I'm not!" She was trying to seem aloof and disgusted with the suggestion, but he saw a flash of panic in her eyes that betrayed the truth of his accusation. "I was just leaving."

"I don't mean now, Granger." He sneered, taking another step toward her to block any escape she might try. "I mean between classes, after dinner...every time I turn around you're there. I'm warning you to back off or else. And tell your little boyfriends too..."

"I'm not...we're not..." She trailed off, taking a step back. Then regaining some of her determination, she reversed this, until she was even closer than she had been at the start. "Why don't you just tell me what you're doing sneaking around all the time? And why you spend all your classes moping around looking exhausted?"

"I told you, I don't mope," he snapped. "And you and the pathetic pair of losers you hang out with had best stay out of my business if you want to avoid a lot of unnecessary pain."

"Oh come off it." She smirked, dismissing his threat. "The only fight I've ever seen you in is when I punched you in our third year..."

"Granger..." he growled dangerously, his hand instinctively grabbing for his wand, even though he was growing increasingly tired and wanted nothing more than to just escape.

"Anyway..." Her face grew serious, and hesitated before she spoke again. "Harry and Ron do think you're up to something, but that's not why I've been following you."

"I don't care why, just stop following me." He couldn't stand to be so close to her, he couldn't stand to have those Mudblood eyes boring into him, he had to get out of there.

"I...I think something's wrong." She stumbled over her words but her eyes never faltered. "All year I've just felt that something terrible is going to happen. I mean, since You Know Who is back, something terrible IS going to happen, but I think it's going to be soon. I think maybe you feel that too. And maybe you think that when something terrible does happen you're going to have to choose a side...and maybe you're not as sure of that decision as you used to be."

He just stared at her. His face held on to the glare it had been previously been directing at her, but inwardly he felt something crumble. How could she be so right and so wrong at the same time? She couldn't know that the terrible thing was him...he was the terrible thing that was going to happen. He suddenly realized how close they were standing, her chest heaving nervously, but her eyes as determined as ever.

"I just thought if anyone would understand...it would be the son of a...well...and you've seemed so...Harry and Ron are still acting like this is a game, trailing you around, trying to get you in trouble, but I feel so scared all the time...oh, and that's not fair because of course Harry understands it's real, he's been through so much...but..." She was rambling nervously, she always talked too much.

"Shut up, Granger." He said it with as much malice as he could manage, but suddenly, despite the fact that he hated her, had always hated her, he had the urge to kiss her. All he would have to do is take one tiny step forward, bend down and... "Shut up, Granger." he repeated. "And stop following me." With that he turned and walked away, not bothering to turn around as he heard her call after him.

"Whatever it is, Malfoy, I know everything's going to be alright."

He didn't stop walking. Poor, silly little Mudblood...she didn't know anything at all.

Draco started walking again with a start. He reached the room of requirement rather suddenly it seemed to him, but in reality he must have been lost in his thoughts for a long time because it was no longer nearly as noisy as it had been. In fact he could only just barely hear the faint strain of much more restrained music and conversation from behind the oak door in front of him. Now that he was here, he wasn't sure why he'd thought he'd be able to get into the room while they were in there.

"I shouldn't have been able to hear them either..." He shrugged to himself, and preparing his most intimidating posture he pushed on the door, which forcefully swung open.

I went to her house

"What the..."

This had obviously been some party. The room was almost entirely empty except for a few stray couples that were swaying to a slow song that was seemingly coming from the very air around them. A few people were slumped in chairs and it was obvious that the punch at this particular get together had been heavily spiked.

And everybody there was gone

One of them was Weasley's sister, slumped over with her drink still in her hand. Classy.

Her little friend, just passed out on her own

"Draco." His first name sounded unfamiliar to him coming from this particular voice. The sound brought his eyes into focus on the one person he did not want to see.

She stumbled toward him, tripping at the last moment and bumping rather forcefully into a table. He took a step forward, his first instinct to steady her, but he changed his mind almost instantly, hating himself for that moment of weakness.

"Draco." There it was again, since when did she call him that? She had reached him by now, and to his surprise as sloshed as she was her eyes still had a clarity to them that he didn't think anyone else's eyes ever managed. "Let's go somewhere, I can't stand to be here anymore. Parties? What's the point?"

"What's the point?" he repeated, echoing the girl who was repeating his own thoughts back to him. He wanted to scream at her to get out of his head but instead he took her forcefully by the arm and led her out of the room. He couldn't stand to be there anymore either. He steered her towards the first classroom he saw and helped her to a desk before sitting on top of the one next to her, careful to keep a healthy distance between them, a plan that was promptly spoiled when she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.

She leaned on my arm

He stiffened instantly. Sirens were going off in his head, warnings flashing, the world Mudblood battling for supremacy over the word he'd never said...Hermione. "I hate her," he thought. "I hate her even more for this."

She looked up slowly, and those eyes, those cursed, impossible eyes met his.

She mouthed, "Is everything okay?"

"Of course it's not, Granger." He felt like crying, but he also felt like screaming. "You lied. You're too smart to truly believe everything's going to be okay...God, I hate you." He did, he really did. But now he knew why. He looked in those eyes again against every instinct, and he knew she didn't know what she was doing, but then she was getting dangerously close...

She leaned in slowly

So now I can say

She pressed her lips against his, and to his own surprise Draco didn't pull away.

I kissed a drunk girl

Why do I do, these things I do to myself?

I kissed a drunk girl

And I'm sure I could've been anybody else

Anybody else

Draco forced himself to break the contact, putting his hand on her shoulder and pushing her away firmly but gently.

I pulled away

I didn't think it would be right

He tried to think of something witty to say, but seeing her eyeing him sadly, all he came up with was a half smirk and

"Let's save this for some other night."

She swayed a little on the desk and he put out a hand to steady her. She in turn reached out and touched the side of his face, tracing a line with her thumb from his ear to his chin.

She said, "No, no, no I know that everything is going to be just fine."

Then his lips were crashing into hers again, this time of his own doing. And it was then that he realized the most terrible thing that was going to happen in this castle was not his mission.

How could I do this, when I want her to be all mine?

I kissed a drunk girl

Why do I do these things I do to myself

I kissed a drunk girl

And I'm sure I could have been anybody else

He couldn't stand to kiss her, but he couldn't stand to stop either. He hated her more then ever. He hated her for everything she was, and everything she wasn't, and most of all for only wanting him when she was too drunk to know better. Tomorrow she would have Potter, and the Weasel, and the teachers who worshipped at her feet, and he would go back to having no one.

I know you don't care about me

I'm sure when all is said and done

and I go home feeling lonely

You will have had your fun

Will you even remember?

"Come on, Granger," he murmured, pulling away again. He stood up before taking her hand pulling her carefully off of the desk, depositing her safely back on her feet. He wrapped an arm gently around her waist and led her out of the classroom, thankful that by this point everyone had finally deserted the area. A part of him, driven mostly be habit, felt a little repulsed at the fact that he was wrapped around a Mudblood. But he knew now that was just the misguided impulse of a stupid little boy. That wasn't why he hated her.

"Draco?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper as her head lolled against his chest. "I don't usually drink. I just didn't want to have to think anymore."

He knew exactly how she felt. But he also knew he was the last person she should trust enough to explain herself in his presence. After a few minutes they reached the door outside of Gryffindor tower, and she had sleepily muttered the password, but she hadn't made a move to enter through the open portrait hole. He was fighting the urge to run, or to curse her with a particularly evil hex for doing this to him, but instead he leaned down and brushed her lips once more with his own. It was brief and it was gentle and it only worsened the feeling in his stomach...fear, hate...guilt. "Goodnight, Granger." He took a step backwards, making sure she could stand on her own.

"Can't you call me Hermione, just once?" she mumbled, and he almost smiled. Bossy even when intoxicated...

Just once he thought, knowing it truly would be just once. "Goodnight, Hermione." The word burned his tongue, like it was eating him alive.

He turned and walked away, not bothering to turn around even as he heard her call after him,

"Everything will be alright, Draco."

I kissed a drunk girl

I kissed a drunk girl, yes I did

Kissed a drunk girl on the lips

I let my guard down

how could I have been so dumb

Her eyes were open

I know I am not the one

I know I am not the one

I know I am not the one

I kissed a drunk girl

Why do I do, these things I do to myself

I kissed a drunk girl

And I'm sure I could've been anybody else