I Wish...

I Wish...

Watchin' lovers walkin'

Hand in hand they pass me by.

Wish I was one of them,

Wish I had somebody wakin' up beside me.

Lookin' into my eyes at night.

I want a love to call my own,

I want someone that I can hold

Want someone wanting me,

So I can see how it feels to be...

Draco Malfoy groaned and blinked in the pale morning light. Crabbe grunted loudly and rolled over, his bed creaking violently beneath him. Goyle was doing his normal impressions of a supersonic jet. (Whatever that was, it was loud.) Draco tried to roll over himself, holding his pillow over his ears. All he managed to do was get tangled in his blankets and fall off the bed. He groaned again, softer this time as he used his feet to slide across the carpeted floor. Draco eventually made it to the door. He stood, his joints creaking and popping. Draco inspected his arms. They were red and hurt a little from being rubbed over the think green carpet.

Draco opened the door and stumbled to the bathroom. He managed to dress in some sort of way. Draco looked in the mirror and cringed. He had a black eye, courtesy of his father the day before. The swelling wasn't too bad, but the blackish-blue bruise was more obvious than ever. Draco shook his head, but it only made him dizzy and pain coursed through his head, throbbing angrily.

Trying to slick back his hair without using his gel and other many hair products, Draco staggered out of the bathroom and back to his dorm. Opening the door carefully, he tip-toed across the room to his trunk. He rummaged around for a minute before finding one of his robes, a pair of socks, and shoes. Draco yanked on the socks and then the shoes, shrugged into his robes, and grabbed his cloak from a hook by the door.

Draco slung it over his shoulders as he clattered down the marble staircase, and entered the common room. He kicked at chairs as he walked through, taking out his pent up anger on their wooden legs. Draco steered around Blaise Zabini and some boy he didn't recognize as they slept intertwined in each other's arms on the floor. Reaching the stone door, Draco slid it open, slipped out, and quietly closed it.

Draco trudged down the cold stone halls of the dungeons, until he reached a wooden stairway, which he climbed. At the top, he found himself in a warmer corridor with a smooth marble floor. He stumbled on the last step. Cursing, Draco pulled himself up and headed down the hallway to the Great Hall.

Warmth from fires washed over his constantly shivering body, but it wasn't from cold. It was from fear, a terrible burning agony in the pit of his stomach that was quiet most of the time. Until 'Father' decided to give a visit.

Horrible and cruel, Lucius Malfoy did not like his son. He would send gifts, sweets, and buy just about anything Draco wanted, but nothing he needed. Draco had heard that love and caring was the best gift of all, but having no knowledge of it, he sneered and smirked in disgust whenever someone talked about it to him.

Draco felt a shaking spasm run through him and wondered horribly if he was having a seizure. He stopped walking and slid down to the floor, shaking madly. All thoughts of his father spun away as he clawed feebly at a tapestry hanging on the wall.

Suddenly, Draco heard a loud gasp and running footsteps, and everything went black.

Somebody's somebody,

Someone's someone.

Some sweet lover's lover.

I wanna be that one.

Someone faithful to someone faithful.

Someone kind to someone kind to me.

Somebody to somebody,

Who loves me...

(Who loves me)

Hermione Granger couldn't sleep. She had a feeling that something bad was happening. She listened closely, but all she heard was the light breathing of the other girls in the dorm and the occasional snort or snore. She rolled over, but the churning in her stomach only worsened. Hermione stood and pulled on a red bathrobe as she silently walked to the door and went out of the dorm room.

She tip-toed down the stairs and trundled into the common room. Nothing moved, but the feeling was getting stronger. She stepped toward the doors of the common room and tried to open it without noise. A loud creak rang out. Hermione cringed, but nothing happened. She opened the door all the way and walked out into the corridor, closing the door behind her.

Hermione absentmindedly worked her way to the hallway leading to the Great Hall. She stopped, hearing something. A sniff or...a grunt. A thud rang out. Hermione recoiled, but stepped forward tentatively.

The corridor was dimly lit, but there was a dark shadow moving further down. It was shaking violently, leaning against the wall. Hermione moved closer and realized it was a person, a tall boy with deathly pale skin. She gasped and ran toward him as he gave a long, shuddering breath and slumped over in a dead faint.

Hermione reached his side and kneeled, cradling his head gently in the crook of her arm. She brushed his fine silver-blond hair away from his face. His eyes slowly fluttered open, shining grey with thousands of un-cried tears of fear and anger, tokens from years of hurt and despair.

She was looking into the pitifully sad face of Draco Malfoy.

Spending all of my time,

Spending all my time on me.

Where is that someone who,

I can give my time to?

Searching for that lover,

With the love that will change my life.

I want two arms to hold me close,

Want the thing that I need the most.

Somebody needing me,

So I can feel how it feels to be...

Draco awoke to find himself looking into a pair of comforting chocolate brown eyes. He felt weak and shivery, cold waves of nausea rolling over him. Draco tried to pull his aching body up, but soon found he couldn't. A soft hand caressed his forehead and helped him sit up. He immediately turned aside and threw up, the stomach acid burning in his throat. A tear slid down his cheek at the pain, and he hastily brushed it away.

Draco sighed deeply, trying to cool his throat, as he straightened up and looked at the girl who had been sitting next to him the whole time. He gasped and then scowled angrily.

Hermione Granger was sitting there with a very frightened look on her face. Her amber hair hung in shiny tendrils, trailing down her neck and tumbling down her back. Draco lowered his head and looked at the ground, seething that she'd seen him in a weak moment. He stood quickly, which caused his head to swim and his body to sway. He felt himself start to topple over, but Hermione's hand steadied him. Draco pushed her hand away, and began to walk, limping slightly.

"Malfoy?" Hermione whispered slowly. Draco stopped and closed his eyes, sighing. His hands clenched at his sides.

"Granger, just leave it alone." Draco wiped sweat from his forehead and resumed his stumbling walk down the corridor. His knee collapsed, too weak to hold his weight, and he fell again. Draco said nothing, only gritted his teeth and managed to gain his feet again. He leaned heavily against the wall, panting.

"Malfoy?" Hermione said again. Draco dug his nails into his palms and spat, "Didn't I tell you to drop it?"

"No! I won't drop it! Tell me what's wrong!" Hermione was standing in front of him now, eyes flashing. Draco looked away, his face a mixture of fear, anger, and sadness.

"You wouldn't care," he whispered, barely audible.

Somebody's somebody,

Someone's someone.

Some sweet lover's lover,

I wanna be that one.

Someone faithful to someone faithful,

Someone kind to someone kind to me.

Somebody to somebody,

Who loves me...

(Who loves me)

Hermione scowled. "Try me," she said. Draco raised his head and looked at her for what seemed like a long time. Hermione examined his face, his high cheekbones, to his sharp nose. His skin was fairly translucent and much too white. Hermione raised her eyes, studying the hair that framed his face. It wasn't really blond, more like a light grey color with a sort of shiny glint in it. His hair was really a work of art, each strand a piece of molten silver.

Hermione tore her eyes away from Draco's hairline and looked into his eyes. One of them was circled with a large bruise, black and painful. The eyes themselves would usually be blank or full of hatred, but now that was different. They were also grey, but dark and stormy. His eyes were filled with hurt and despair, years of loneliness and fear shining in his deep pupils. Hermione couldn't imagine just what he'd been through.

"Tell me," she whispered gently, as if she were reassuring a wounded animal. Draco sighed in defeat.

"Father isn't happy with me," he said simply. Hermione nodded, urging him on. "He wants me to...join ranks with You-Know-Who. But I don't want to! I don't want to have that nasty mark fouling up my life, tattooing me as the personification of evil. I don't want that kind of life." Draco drew his legs up and put his arms around his knees, not caring that he was being weak, not caring that Hermione was sitting next to him, not caring about anything.

"My life is so fucked up, I just want it to be right," he whispered, looking at Hermione helplessly. He held up one of his hands and pointed to his black eye with one slender finger. "I don't want this anymore."

Hermione nodded, not knowing what to say. She just knew that she wanted to hug him, to whisper to him and tell him that it was all going to be okay, that he was loved. She inched closer to him and laid one of her small hands on his. Draco looked up, his face streaked with dried tears. Hermione drew even closer and enveloped his thin, shivering body in her warm arms. Draco sighed, resting his chin on the top of her head, and returning her hug. His skin soaked up her warmth. And he whispered, very softly, "Thanks."