Stolen Innocence

Chapter Twenty-Four

Hermione had lost count of how long she'd been crying for. Had it been an hour? Two? Her body shook with each new sob. The tears just wouldn't stop flowing.

She hated how Draco's words could affect her so much. When he said something nice, she practically melted inside, but when he said something hurtful, the tears were never ending.

She just couldn't believe it had come to this. She'd hated Draco for years, well, she hadn't really hated him. She'd hated what she'd heard of him and everything he'd done to her. But something had happened and he'd changed, so here she was, crying her eyes out over a few little words.

Okay, so maybe they weren't a few little words, but still. Hermione had always had strong opinions about the house elves' enslavement and no one had ever supported her. But the one person she'd expected to at least respect her opinion, the one person who'd stood by her through everything that had happened that year had actually bashed her beliefs.

She wouldn't admit it, but Hermione knew she had gone a little overboard. Draco had been raised with house elves waiting on him hand and foot, of course he wasn't going to agree with her on how they should be treated. But because she was so stubbourn, Hermione would never appologize for how she was. No matter how hurt she was or how much she'd cry.

It was late in the night when Hermione felt her stomach give a deep growl. She'd missed both lunch and dinner and had hardly ate at breakfast so she figured she'd be hungry. She knew how to get down to the kitchens after going there with Harry and Ron the year before, but if she went down there then she'd be a hypocrit, and that was one thing she couldn't stand.

But after more time, the growling became more persistant and she could no longer ignore the aching pain in her empty stomach. Wiping her face free of the tears and biting back the ones unshed, she stood and quietly left the common room and entered the dark corridor.

After a few minutes of sneaking around, Hermione remembered she was Head Girl and didn't have a curfew so she walked along normally, holding her lit wand out infront of her.

After passing the same portrait for the third time, she realized she couldn't remember where the entrance to the kitchens was. Just as she was about to turn back, she heard soft footsteps behind her causing her heart to seemingly jump into her throat.

Hermione spun around, her wand pointed straight infront of her where she'd heard the footsteps. She looked all around but saw no one, but she could faintly hear someone's fast breathing.

"As Head Girl I order you to show yourself immediately!" Hermione ordered, her grip tight on her wand, ready to cast a spell at any sign of someone.

"Hermione?" Came a familiar voice from right infront of her, causing her to jump slightly.

"Harry?" She replied as Harry appeared out of thin air, throwing a silvery cloak around his arm as he smiled at her.

"What are you doing out so late?" He asked her.

"I'm trying to find the kitchens," Hermione told him sheepishly. "What about you? Not doing anything to get yourself expelled, are you?"

"With you as Head Girl, how could I?" Harry said with a grin. "I was going to sneak into the library to try and find out more information on Hufflepuff's Cup, but they put wards on it at night now. I guess that's part of the new security."

"Actually, I think it has more to do with the fact that students keep sneaking in there at night to snog." She told him in a disaproving voice. She couldn't believe how hormonal people are that they'd sneak into a library at night for a snog.

"Why didn't I ever think of that?" Harry said, then burst out laughing, Hermione joining him.

After the two had recovered from their laughing fit, Hermione asked, "Well, since you're out of luck for that, wanna accompany me to the kitchens? I'm starved."

"You must be," Harry told her as they started walking. "You weren't at lunch or dinner. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," She lied. "Just wasn't up to another repeat of breakfast, that's all."

"You know, it's not healthy to be skipping so many meals," He said. "You're looking really thin and pale."

"Yes, well I haven't exactly been having the best year." Hermione told him. An awkward silence followed, neither one sure that it would be wise to go into more detail.

"So," Hermione said after a while. "Have you been sneaking out often?"

"Almost every night. Normally the halls are filled with prefects and teachers so it gets pretty tricky which is why I came out earlier tonight before they go on duty. I've kind of been hoping they'll forget to put up the wards but I guess not."

"Well, we could always look tomorrow. I have unrestricted access to the restricted section in the library, so that can come in handy." She told him.

"Yeah, that sounds good. We have a free period tomorrow afternoon, so we could go then. I can't believe we've never thought of that before." Harry replied as they turned an unfamiliar corner. He then pulled out an old looking piece of parchment and tapped his wand to it saying, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The parchment then changed into a map with hundreds of little dots labled with people's names. Hermione looked at the map, always being so amazed at the mysterious complexity of it. She'd tried numerous times to solve the mystery of the map, but she always failed so she never really mentioned it to Harry.

She noticed all the teachers were in the teacher's lounge, probably getting ready to do their rounds. Harry checked to make sure they wouldn't run into anyone, being sure that Peeves was also nowhere near them, before tapping it with his wand again and saying "Mischief managed." and putting it back in his pocket.

The rest of their journey was done in silence, Hermione trying to commit to memory the way to the kitchens for in the future. It wasn't long before the two came to a door near the staircase in the entrance hall. They followed the corridor until they came to a large painting of a bowl of fruit. Harry reached up and lightly tickled the pear, causing it to laugh and the portrait to swing open to reveal a doorway. Hermione followed Harry into the large room full of house elves bustling around, preparing breakfast for the next day.

The elves didn't even seem to notice the two students had even came. They were all just too busy with their jobs. But the thing Hermione couldn't believe was how happy they seemed.

Some of the elves did seem to wear scowls on their faces, but for the most part, they were smiling. Some were even humming as they cooked the food and transported dishes to the many sinks to be cleaned.

Hermione watched in awe at the light mood in the room, not understanding how slaves could be so upbeat. Harry walked off to find Dobby, leaving her to observe the happy elves.

She stood there silently, watching as the many elves went about their business, ignoring her completely. Harry returned quickly with the small elf at his side, wearing his usual numerous pairs of socks and even a hat she'd knitted in a previous year.

"Hello Miss Hermione," Dobby greeted her, bowing so low his nose touched the floor. "What can I be getting you this night?"

"Oh, well really Dobby, you don't have to get me anything, I can just-" She began but he cut her off.

"No no! You are a friend of Master Harry's, so I be serving you like a good elf." He told her with a smile.

"Honestly, I can do it myself." She said, not wanting to be a part of elf labour, even though none seemed to mind.

"Hermione, just let him get you something to eat." Harry said to her.

"But Harry, it's wrong to enslave these poor creatures!" Hermione protested.

"We is not enslaved, Miss!" Dobby told her. "Headmaster Dumbledore is offered to pay us and Headmistress is sticking by it."

"So, you're like employees?" She asked the elf.

"Yes we is, but most elves refuse pay." He said.

"Oh, I didn't know that," Hermione admitted in a small voice. "But I thought-"

"Mione, is it so hard to believe that the elves actually like working here?" Harry interupted, becoming impatient.

"Well, I guess not."

"Great, so Dobby can grab you some food so we can get the hell outta here before the teachers start their patrol." He told her, causing Dobby to bounce around excitedly on the balls of his feet.

"Alright, fine," Hermione replied. "I guess you can just get me a sandwhich." Dobby then bowed down to the floor again and hurried off to fetch her food.

"Now, was that so hard?" Harry asked, turning towards her with a grin.

"Oh hush, Harry. I'm still not convinced, so I'm coming back her and doing some research. There's no way these poor little things can actually be happy." Harry rolled his eyes at his friend just as Dobby returned with a large sandwhich on a platter. Hermione accepted the sandwhich, giving Dobby a small thanks before shrinking it down so it was easier to carry. The two then said their goodbyes to the elf and made their way back to the Heads' Quarters.

By the time they made it back to Hermione's common room, the map told them the teachers were beginning their patrols of the school.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay by yourself?" Hermione asked, staring at the many moving dots on the map.

"I'll be fine, I've got my cloak and the map." Harry told her.

"Alright, I'll see you at breakfast then?"

"Of course, unless you skip it again." He replied with a small smile.

"I'll be there, don't worry." The two then exchanged a small hug and parted ways. Hermione walked quietly into the Heads' Quarters, being sure to not make noise and wake Draco. The common room was dark and empty, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief. She carefully sat down on the couch, enlarged her sandwhich and began to eat it.

After she was finished, she suddenly felt tired and decided to go to bed. She dressed herself in her pajamas then climbed into her bed, expecting to fall asleep with ease, but instead, she tossed and turned, being unable to get comfortable.

Her bed just felt so different after being in Draco's bed. His bed was soft and warm, whereas her's was lumpy and cold. In his bed he would hold her protectively, his body's warmth making her feel safe. But now that she was alone, she just couldn't sleep. She knew the night terrors would return if she did fall asleep, making her feel worse in the morning then if she hadn't slept. So, after nearly two hours of tossing and turning, Hermione sat up in her bed, frustrated with her insomnia.

She made her way into the bathroom where she threw warm water onto her face. She knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, and that frustrated her more.

It's not like she could go crawl into bed with Draco either. Not unless she admitted she was wrong, and she didn't want to do that. She needed more proof before she decided she was even wrong. She needed to talk with more elves, maybe observe them a bit more. Then she just might admit she was wrong.

Instead of going back to bed to toss and turn all night, Hermione decided to grab a book from the bookshelf in the common room and sit down to read for the remainder of the night. She made her way down the stairs, and was almost at the bottom when she noticed a small light coming from the common room. She crouched down low, so as not to be seen, then peared over the half wall.

Sitting on the couch was Draco, a lone candle hovering above him for light. He was staring at the pages of a thick book made out of an old looking leather. She couldn't make out the title of the book, but he seemed completely consumed in it. She felt herself being pulled towards him, but instead stood her ground. He didn't even seem to notice she was watching him, and she was grateful for that. She was sure he wouldn't appreciate it, even though it was unintentional.

Draco looked at such peace sitting there reading. His face with neither in a scowl or a smirk, and his lips moved slightly as if he was quietly reading out loud to himself. His eyes never left the book, like he was in some sort of trance. Hermione had never really seen Draco reading, so she'd just assumed he didn't like to. He never needed to pick up a book to study or anything, it all just came naturally to him. But yet here he was, so wrapped up in a book he didn't even realize he was being watched.

After a few minutes Draco gave a small yawn, closing his book. He placed it on the bookshelf then walked slowly up his staircase, dragging his feet with fatigue.

Once she heard Draco's door close behind him, Hermione stood up from her crouching position and continued down the stairs. She made her way over to the bookshelf, being careful not to make any noise. She searched for the book she'd seen Draco put away, finding it in a bunch of books provided by Madame Pince, a perk of being Head Boy and Girl. The thick, leather spine stood out amongst the newer looking books. She ran her finger along the golden lettering; 'Hogwarts: A History'.

A small smile escaped her lips, despite her foul mood. She'd never known anyone her age who'd actually read the book. She pulled the book off the shelf, opening it to a bookmark made out of a black feather. It was at her favourite part, explaining the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall. That part had always amazed her when she was young, it had seemed so surreal before.

Hermione gingerly placed the book back on the shelf, reaching instead for 'Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires by Eldred Worple'. She then settled in to the couch in the same spot Draco had been in, and propped open the book to her bookmark.

The sun had risen, shining through the curtains, causing an orange glow throughout the common room. The light stung Hermione's eyes as she opened them. She squinted around, not recognising where she was at first. Her neck hurt from the arm of the coach, and the open book was stuck to her arm from laying on it. She sat up, closing the book and looking over to the clock. She had one hour before breakfast began, so she reluctantly stood up, her mind swimming with images of that night's nightmare. Her throat hurt, indicating that she'd screamed in her sleeping again. Hermione placed her book back on the bookshelf and made her way up to the bathroom.

After a quick cold shower to help her wake up, Hermione dressed in her uniform and spelled her hair dry. She stole a glance at her reflection in the mirror, noticing how much more hollow her face look. The bags under her eyes were slightly darker from her lack of sleep that night. She also saw that her uniform seemed to hang a bit looser on her body. She waved her wand at the material, but all it did was lengthen her shirt and skirt. Frowning, she made a mental note to study that charm more closely, then performed her glamour. Her eyes still looked tired, but it helped with her pale skin tone a little, so she was satisfied. She then retrieved her book bag from her room and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Hermione took her seat beside Harry. She gave him a smile, then began to pile her dish high with food. After a few minutes of eating in silence, she gave Harry a questioning look. He was never this quiet at meals, normally going right into filling Hermione in on everything going on in Gryffindor. But she noticed he wasn't even looking at her, or at his food for that matter, his eyes were staring off to a seat a few places away where Ginny sat talking to Colin Creevy. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, giving his leg a kick from under the table. Harry imediately turned towards her with a look of slight pain on his face.

"What was that for?" He asked, seemingly oblivious.

"What's the matter with you? You're staring at her." She told him, nodding her head towards Ginny.

"Sorry." Harry said, his cheeks reddening.

"What are you doing? I thought you broke things off with her for her own safety?" Hermione gave Harry a disaproving look, causing him to look down at his food.

"I know, I did. But-"

"You can't tell me you want to get back together with her, imagine what would happen if the Dark Side found out!" She exclaimed, talking fast and quiet.

"Hermione, you don't need to lecture me," Harry told her, sounding irritated. "I didn't say I wanted to get back together with her. I've just been...thinking about her lately, that's all."

"Well, you're just going to have to ignore it. I think you did the right thing breaking it off with her, we need to focus on ending the war as soon as possible anyway, and putting people's lives in danger isn't going to help any." Harry gave a small sigh, rolling his eyes. Hermione had said that speech a lot over the past few months.

"I know, I know." Harry replied, clearly irritated. He diverted his attention away from the red head and instead looked over at his best friend. Hermione felt herself growing self concious, knowing that she must look terrible.

"Something wrong?" He asked her, his voice full of concern. "You look dreadful."

"No, nothing's wrong," Hermione lied. "Just didn't sleep well."

"Are you sure?" Harry said, trying to pry the truth out of her.

"I'm fine, Harry. A good breakfast and a cup of coffee is all I need and I'll be ready for today's lessons." She then turned away from her friend and began to eat her breakfast, but before she could, a certain blonde walked through the doors, stealing away all her attention.

*

Draco walked through the Great Hall doors, his head held high as if he hadn't just had a long, sleepless night. He sat down in his usual seat at Slytherin Table, glaring at those around him, daring them to start with him. The other Slytherins quickly put their heads down, staring at their food instead of him. Blaise Zabini turned to him and opened his mouth to talk, but Draco just let out a low growl and he turned away.

Last night had been terrible. Draco had been so angry at Hermione for arguing with him. She was just so stubborn, he couldn't win with her. It frustrated him to no end that she could be like this. After everything, after he made a complete turn around of how he treated her, after he helped her get away from that Weasley git, she still had the nerve to yell at him.

It wasn't really about the arguement so much as how she said what she'd said. She'd completely lost her temper with him, shouting and yelling, and then she told him she didn't care about him. That's what hurt the most.

Draco knew he shouldn't care whether she cared or not, he was used to people not caring. Very few people had cared about him throughout his whole life. But this was different. Hearing those words come out of her mouth cut him like daggers. He never knew just how much someone's words could hurt him until then. He'd always just thought he was incapible of such deep feelings like that, only going through life never caring about anyone else, never falling in love. But he was wrong, it'd happened, and with the worst person possible.

Afterall, Draco was a Malfoy. He shouldn't care about someone of Hermione's status, but he did. And it killed him inside to know that he'd actually fallen for her. It was the worst thing that could happen to him, falling in love with someone like her. He cared so much about her, he cared about how she was feeling, if she was in pain, he cared about what she was doing that day, that hour, that minute. But how could he? He could never expect anything to happen, he'd decided as soon as he'd realized his feelings that he'd hide them, at any costs.

But it wasn't that easy. He'd tried to hide how he felt, but he couldn't. Whenever she was hurt or crying, he needed to hold her, to make sure everything would be okay. He never knew how much she even affected him until that night. When he'd laid down in his bed, his big, empty bed, he realized he'd needed her to fall asleep as much as she'd needed him. He'd tossed and turned, trying to fall asleep, but it wouldn't work. He'd even found one of his pillows that still smelled like her shampoo, hugging it close to him, but nothing worked. Eventually he'd decided to go into the common room to read, hoping to get rid of his insomnia, but to no avail. As soon as he'd returned to his bed, it was as if he was wide awake. He just kept closing his eyes, hoping that when he opened them, she'd be there. But she never was. He missed holding her close at night, feeling her soft skin against his. He didn't even know he could miss someone this much after only one night. Perhaps he was going mad?

Suddenly, Draco's thoughts were rudely interupted by Pansy Parkinson sitting down in the empty seat beside him. Draco refused to look at her, instead staring at his plate of food, unable to bring himself to eat it. Pansy just sat there, watching him, annoying him without even saying a word.

"So, Draco, how've you been?" She asked, her shrill voice building the tension behind Draco's eyes.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you." Draco told her, iritated. He scowled at his food, pushing it around on his plate with his fork.

"Awe, what's wrong? Trouble in paradise with the mudblood?" Pansy inquired, her voice feigning concern which Draco didn't buy.

"It's none of your business." He replied, his voice low.

"You know, I don't see why you're so hung up on her, you're fight couldn't have been that bad."

"How would you know?" He asked her.

"Well, she seems completely fine, over there laughing with Potter." She told him, nodding her head over towards the Gryffindor table. Hermione was sitting beside Potter, smiling and talking while they ate their breakfast as if nothing happened. He stomach dropped as he felt a pain in his gut. So it was true, she really didn't care.

Draco stood up abruptly, unable to be in the same room with all that happiness. He was about to walk away when Pansy grabbed his arm.

"Want some company?" She asked. Draco was about to refuse, but then he heard Hermione's rather loud laughter from a few tables away. He looked over as she placed her hand on Potter's shoulder. He felt anger grow inside him. So that's how it was going to be, Draco thought. Well, two can play at that game.

"Sure Pansy," Draco told her, straining to keep the distaste out of his voice. "Come on." He then took her hand, a smug look spreading across her face, and led her out of the Great Hall.

*

Hermione's faked laugh stopped instantly as she saw from the corner of her eye Draco lead Pansy Parkinson out of the Great Hall, hand in hand.

Her face fell and she could feel the colour draining from her already pale face. Her eyes followed the two out, tears welling up behind them. Harry was still talking, but his voice sounded distant, as if he was far away.

She felt like breaking down and crying right there. She knew her and Draco had had an intense fight, but that's what they did, she didn't know it was that bad that he turn to Pansy. Her breathing seemed to become more irratic, like she was breathing into a paper bag. She felt light headed and dizzy. She could faintly hear Harry calling her name, his voice echoing in her ears. The Great Hall seemed like it had shrank to a quarter of it's size, pressing in on her. She had to get out of there. Hermione grabbed her bookbag, everything looking blurred through her teary eyes.

"I'm sorry, I have to leave." She muttered to Harry before practically running out of the Great Hall, going as far as her legs would take her, neither knowing or caring where, as long as it was far away from there.

To Be Continued...

Okay, so I am so sorry about how long it took me to update, I went through a pretty rough breakup && basically shut myself in my room whenever I wasn't working, so needless to say, I wasn't really in the mood to be writing a story with this much fluff in it. I made this chapter nice && long to make up for it though, it took forever to write it too. I'm letting youu all know now that this story is going to be pretty long, I've already got about 50 pages written all in point form, && this chapter was only about a page of it. But I promise, it's going to be good. Anyways, thnxx goes out to:

-Sheri, I'm happy to hear you're liking my story so much. Sorry it took so long for this update.

-Emma, sorry about that. I believe I fixed them all. If I do that again, it's from force of habit, but I'll be more careful now.

-princesspeach, yeah, they do seem to screw up their happiness a lot. But that just makes it so much more interesting.

-Disabled_Could_Flyer, thnxx for the tip, I'll try to work on that. && there will be more Hermione/Ron in this, so don't worry.

-Amortentia Sin, don't worry, I don't plan on stopping this story before it's finished, I have so much more planned for it. It just takes me a little while to update sometimes.

-luvhp, awe, thank youu. I won't forget about youu guys, I actually sit there during my breaks at work writing more down for this story, so there's no way I'll forget.

-SoftObsidian74, happy to hear youu like it.

Everyone who reviewed is amazing, I can't tell youu how happy I am with the feedback I get on this story. It makes me so happyy. Please, continue to review, I'm trying to update sooner but a good amount of reviews will give me more motivation. Just so youu all know, I'm pretty much done the next chapter, so, be good && review && I'll post it soon.

Much Love...

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