Chapter Text
The door crashed open, slamming into the stone wall.
Draco filled the doorway, his robes shredded and dark with blood, his chest rising fast from exertion. His pale hair was damp with sweat, his eyes wild. He looked less like the smooth, composed boy of Hogwarts and more like something feral dragged back from the battlefield.
Before Hermione could move, he seized her and drove her back against the wall. His mouth captured hers, harsh and hungry, more force than kiss.
His hands moved rough and unrestrained, clutching at her, dragging down the fabric of her shirt. His breath came ragged and fierce.
Hermione stayed still, her body rigid, her mind retreating inward.
He took a step back to strip and Hermione saw it. A long, angry wound slashed across his chest, still raw and weeping.
A Sectumsempra cut.
For a heartbeat, the air returned to her lungs. Hope surged, sharp and electric.
He was a monster, yes. But he was also human. Humans bled. Humans die.
“What happened?” she asked, keeping her voice neutral.
Draco glanced down at the gash, then smirked through the strain.
“Potter,” he said. “Minus fifty points from Gryffindor.” He leaned closer, voice low. “Since he isn’t here, I’ll take them from you.”
He was more rough than usual. Hermione knew there would be bruises in the morning. But she let him.
Because this… the violence, the harshness… at least this was true to what it was.
This was easier to bear than the nights he pretended tenderness, when he whispered sweet nothings and touched her as though it was an act of love. That pretense sickened her more than the cruelty.
When he finally collapsed beside her, body slack with exhaustion, his eyes slid shut almost at once.
Hermione lay rigid, staring at the ceiling until the rise and fall of his chest steadied into sleep.
Only then did she let her gaze drift to the gash across his torso. The wound was angry and raw, a reminder that he bled like any other man.
And for the first time since she had been brought to the Manor, her lips curved in a smile… small, sharp, and secret.
Well done, Harry, she thought, smug and silent. Ten points to Gryffindor.