If I Fall-A Dramione Fan Fic

12-Protecting

No one can tell me any different
if you're alone keep ya distance
I'm a bomb, just listen to me tickin
Click click boom, sick addiction

Hermione lay in her bed of her new room thinking about everything she'd been through the past week. It was slightly daunting to think that she'd managed to break up with her boyfriend, befriend her sworn enemy, gotten in a row with him, and returned to Hogwarts as Head Girl. Yet she seemed to be handling all of it quite well. Draco was the only problem she was really facing. She'd been absolutely horrible to him and she knew it, but that didn't make apologizing any easier. In the end Draco knew better then anyone how to set her off. In the end though, tomorrow it was time to face the music and apologize. They'd need to solve this if they were to work together.

Then without warning Hermione's thoughts were interupted by what almost sounded like a house elf being punished. She ran into the common room, wand drawn, searching for the source but found nothing. When she paused for a moment,terror hit her as she realized the sound was coming from Draco's room. She burst through the door to see him curled into a ball on his bed. As she got closer to him she realized he was sweating so bad that he'd soaked him sheets.

"DRACO!" Hermione screamed violently shaking him. "DRACO PLEASE WAKE UP! PLEASE TELL ME WHATS WRONG!" Nothing she was doing was working, Draco was still lying there shaking an screaming. Hermione turned to run for help when he grabbed both her wrists in his hand and wrapping his arm around her neck with his wand tip poking the side of her throat.

"DID MY FATHER SEND YOU?! I'LL KILL YOU AND HIM. I SWEAR I WILL!" Draco screamed jabbing her throat with the tips of his wand.

"Draco its me. Its Hermione." Was all she could choke out.

It worked though, instantly he relaxed, his hand fell to his side and he dropped his hold on her. Hermione fell to the floor of Draco's room coughing. It took a moment for her to right herself. As she turned around, she saw Draco back away towards the wall and slide to the floor. He just sat there and stared at her looking confused and terrified. She walked over and sat in front of him.

"You were having a nightmare," was all Hermione could managed to say to him. Even though he'd scared her, she wasn't hurt, but from the look Draco was giving her, he didn't know that. "I'm fine Draco, really. I came in to wake you, I thought someone was hurting you. It was just a bad dream though. It's over now."

"I attacked you." He choked out.

"You didn't attack me, that would mean you harmed me. You just reacted to whatever was happening in your dream. You didn't do anything more then restrain me and scare the daylights out of me. I swear I'm fine. What were you dreaming about though? Obviously something pretty scary for you to wake like that."

"M-my father. He was," he paused, he didn't dare tell her what his father had truly been doing. "Torturing someone."

Hermione just sat there for a moment processing. If he'd reacted so badly, that must mean that the dream was pretty vivid. If it was that vivid, that probably meant that Draco had watched his father torture someone in real life. She felt tears prick her eyes as she stared at him for a moment. This poor boy in front of her looked so broken that she couldn't help but want to repair him. She wanted to see him in true form, see a smile that met his eyes, a laugh that wasn't forced, anything to prove that his disgusting father hadn't completely ruined him. Maybe there was hope, but the way he looked at the moment didn't hold much promise.

Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. "Come on, you need to go to bed. You look like hell and we have classes tomorrow." She had to pull him to the bed and push him down. "You should probably get into something more comfortable, so I'm gonna leave. Please get some sleep Draco. I'll be in my room if you need anything though." As she turned to leave though, her wrist was grabbed again, but with much more care this time.

"Please don't go. I know I have no right to ask, but I only have the dreams when I'm alone." Draco asked, his eyes pleading in ways his pride wouldn't allow him to. Hermione stared at him for a moment, wanting to say no, but she couldn't. The boy she'd grown up with would have never asked her, but no traces of that child showed at that moment. Instead there was a man who'd fought a losing war for so long, he was ready to give up.

"Fine."

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

Draco awoke a couple of hours later. Even though he hadn't had another dream, his body was obviously used to waking multipul times each night. Hermione had once again entangled herself around him. Without thinking he ran his hands gently through her hair which was surprisingly soft. When she didn't wake, he couldn't help himself. He lifted a piece to his face and smelled it, then raised an eyebrow. He couldn't place the scent for a moment, then it dawned on him. She smelled like maple. He smirked at the irony, her hair looked quite a bit like maple syrup. It was nice though, and reminded him of easier times.

As a child Draco was tought that childish things maybe for most children, but never a Malfoy. He didn't recieve toys, he recieved lessons. He wasn't sent to time out, he was sent to the dungeons. Most of all, he did not get birthdays, instead his father lectured him that he was one step closer to becoming a man, one step closer to taking over as head of the house.

One year though, on his 10th birthday, his father was away on business. Times like that were one of the few times his mother and him could relax. She would show him the love his father would have called coddling. That morning was different though, it was one of the only times his mother had truly been able to celebrate with him. So she'd awoken him and pulled him by his hand down the staircase, smiling widely the whole time. In the dining room was a few presents and a stack of pancakes, a single candle stuck into them. She'd sang happy birthday to him, clapping as he blew out the candle, then covering the pancakes in maple syrup. That night though, his father came home, and that was that, things went back to normal. His mother doing all she could to be the prefect pureblood wife and Draco trying to be the perfect son. The memory became his solstace though, he held it dearly when his father would "teach" him.

The thought reminded Draco of his dream, of his father telling him that he would come for him. Draco shivered slightly at how clearly he remember it. How clearly he could hear his father scream that no son of his would live long enough to fall for a mudblood. Draco pulled Hermione closer to him, taking in her warmth. Maybe she was a mudblood, but if she was then that word had obviously been badly explained to him. She was intelligent, caring, compasionate, and astoundingly beautiful, all of which was the exact opposite of what he knew a mudblood to be.

Draco let a small smile form on his lips as he let reality slip in. His father was in Azkaban, he had no say in Draco's life anymore. That didn't mean he could have Hermione, even without his fathers hate, he knew he wasn't right for her. Hermione needed someone whole and amazing, someone whose soul matched her own. That definitely wasn't Draco. He didn't need her to love him though nor did he need her to touch him, all he wanted was her presence in his life. If he had to he would watch her from afar forever, as long as she knew he was there for her. Always watching and always protecting.

Song: Woe WoeArtist: Twiztid

A/N: HI LOVES!!!!! I'm so excited to be back, even a day feels like forever. Great news though, I GOT A LAPTOP!! I'm so excited because it's going to be so much easier to update now. Writing on my phone was starting to suck. It was terrible for a moment because I had half a chapter saved, but I got a new phone as well, and somewhere in the transition, Wattpad deleted it >:( It worked out though because it inspired this beauty right here and gave me an awesome idea as to where everything is going now!!! Thats also why there isn't a chapter picture, I was just too excited to wait for this one. So I will add that tomorrow. Please leave some love, comments or votes are always amazing. As always, happy reading!