15Summary: Set just a month after the Wizard War. Draco's father killed himself and his mother blames him for absolutely everything. She disowns him. When Draco has no home, no family, and nowhere else left to go he turns to the one witch who might help him knowing very well that he just may be killed in the process. He can only hope that she'll help him, despite what her friends might say about the matter.
He was the last person Hermione though would appear at her door at one in the morning, but here he was, standing before her, completely helpless and begging for her help. Despite all he had put her through, despite who his family was, despite everything, Hermione can't find it in her heart to turn him away. She knew that at that moment their lives were about to change forever.
Chapter 1; Help Me
Draco shivered and pulled his cloak closer around his shoulders. London was extremely cold for the beginning of summer, but the weather had been less than pleasant lately. Since the day his father had decided to kill himself it had been raining. Some were saying it was the defeat of the Dark Lord that had drove Lucious Malfoy to suicide. Other said that it was the failure in himself that he couldn't live with. The only person who truly knew was Lucious himself and he was no longer speaking.
His mother had a different look on the matter. She always confessed to love Draco more than anything in the world because he was her only child. As soon as his father killed himself any emotion Narcissa might posses for her son died along with his father. She'd kicked him out, blamed him for everything that had happened. Blamed him for his own father's death. He was disowned, abandoned, and completely helpless as he walked the streets of London late at night.
Draco was unaware of where he was, unaware of everything around him as he stared at the ground, the heavy rain pelting him with a cruelness so dark it rivaled the Dark Lord himself. Draco was a mess; the weather was doing nothing to help his mood either. He felt like he had nowhere else to go, no one to turn to.
That's a lie. He told himself bitterly as he kicked a stray rock that had made its way to the sidewalk. He knew where he could go, but going there was suicide. But she was probably the one and only person who would be willing to help him after what his family had done…after what he had been commanded to do only a little more than a year before.
Draco sighed and decided he'd rather live on the streets like a poor muggle. It wasn't until he stopped and looked around to figure out where he was that his feet had taken him to the one place he could go for help. If this is someone's twisted way of telling me to stop being a baby, I got the message.
Taking a deep breath Draco walked to the door and knocked three times, granted they weren't very loud, but he would rather stand at the door waiting for someone to answer and leave when no one did then actually ask her for help. He was about to turn and leave the door slowly opened. "Draco?" He sighed and looked up into her chocolate eyes as he felt the fate of his life come down to this one moment.
Hermione sighed as she sat the counter of the Grimmauld Place absentmindedly stirring her tea. The war had ended with the final death of Voldemort only a month ago but everything seemed back to normal. Harry and Ron were talking about abandoning their last year of Hogwarts and perusing their own dreams and Harry and Ginny were furiously planning a wedding to take place at the end of the summer. Molly of course was as happy as could be, helping plan her only daughter's wedding, but Hermione couldn't find anything to be happy about.
She felt like she was so deep into a rut it would take more than magic to help her out of it. She glanced at the clock on the wall as she sipped on her tea. Almost one in the morning and she was still wide awake. She thought of it as a blessing in disguise though. Lately she'd been having so many nightmares she'd rather go sleep deprived then suffer through them.
Maybe if she had someone she could confide in things would be different, but she didn't have anyone. She wasn't about to bother Ginny when she was so happy with Harry and so in love. She couldn't go to Ron either. After they had kissed and spent one of the best weekends of their lives hiding away in his room things had turned sour between the two. The sex hadn't been earth shattering, but it had been good. The sex wasn't the problem however. After a few weeks they both started to grown unattached from each other. They had agreed that it was better to go their separate ways and the last she knew he was spending the weekend somewhere with Lavender Brown.
She sighed and was about to head to bed when there was a knock on the door. "Who the…?" Hermione sighed and pushed the chair away from the table and made her way to the door. When she opened it she nearly had a heart attack because of who was standing there, dripping wet in the rain. He was halfway turned away starting to leave. "Draco?" He sighed and looked up at her, his eyes so dead inside she was surprised he was standing in front of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked too shocked to say anything else. Draco Malfoy was the last person she expected to be on the door step of the Grimmauld Place so late at night.
Draco sighed again and ran a hand through his wet shaggy blonde hair. He looked around, his eyes darting back and forth, weighting his words carefully before he just looked up at her and whispered two words that broke her heart. "Help me."
Hermione ushered him inside, all thoughts of who he was, what he'd done, and who his family was absent from her mind as she sat him before the fireplace. "Wait here," she said softly, leaving him standing there dripping wet. She hurried up to Harry's room and began looking around through the dressers for something to put Draco in so he could get out of those dripping clothes. Harry would be furious if he found out, but Hermione, being the humanitarian she was, could not leave Draco in those wet clothes all night. She would deal with Harry latter.
She walked back into the living room and looked at Draco for a moment. There was something wrong with him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. He looked so dead as he stood there, staring blankly at the fire. "Draco," she called out softly. He jumped, as if her words had hurt him but slowly looked up at her. "The bathroom is right in there, you can change into these."
He slowly walked over and took the clothes from her, looking at them for a moment before back up at her. She almost though he was going to realize they were Harry's and refuse them. He shocked her when he said a soft thank you, almost unheard as he slowly walked past her and into the bathroom.
Hermione fell back on the couch, pulling a blanket over herself as she waited for Draco to return. She knew her whole life was about to turn upside down.
When Draco returned from the bathroom he stood awkwardly in the door way. Hermione looked up at him and smiled a little. He looked so helpless, like a child lost and alone in the world. He didn't at all look like the Malfoy she'd gone to school with. "Come sit down Draco." He moved slowly through the room, and perched on the very edge of the couch furthest away from her as he could get. "What happened Draco? I mean…no offense, but why are you here? You hate me, remember? Why would you come here of all places?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "My father killed himself and my father blames me for it…she disowned me." Hermione was a little shocked at that news. "I knew coming here was more like suicide, but my feet just led me here."
Hermione sighed and stood slowly and wrapped the blanket around herself. "I'll let you stay here Draco, I'm the only one presently living here…so it shouldn't be a problem." She shook her head unable to believe the words coming out of her mouth. "Come upstairs, I'll show you a room you can sleep in…we'll sort things out in the morning."
Draco followed her; completely unaware of what he was actually doing. It was like he was a zombie just going through the motions. Once Hermione had showed him to his room and said goodnight she went to her own room and lay down in the bed. She snuggled under the blankets but sleep was far from coming to her. She rubbed her tired eyes and stared at the wall in the darkness.
Whatever Draco had gone through had completely changed him. He wasn't the Draco she knew. Not that she was complaining. They'd actually had a conversation where he hadn't insulted her, not once. She knew that was going to be short lived however. As soon as Draco was back on his feet he would be back to his snarky insults, his dirty looks, and his hurtful degrading nature.
She sighed and rolled over trying to get comfortable. This was going to be a long summer.