Stay By My Side ✅ (Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy)

Out in the Open

Hermione POV

I slowly lifted my heavy eyelids for the first time in what felt like forever. I look around me in the unfamiliar room and the anxiety builds up inside. I am lying down in a bed as it seemed, and the room was bright. The light from the window reflecting off the white walls, making me want to close my eyes again. I felt like I had slept for years, but I was still tired. I feel a presence beside me, for a moment I am frightened but that feeling disappears when I see him. He is looking down on me smiling in a way that looked like he was relieved to see me awaken. Harry.

“W-where am I?” I struggled to whisper because my throat was very dry as were my lips. The images of Blaise’s look of hatred, rage filled eyes and the feelings of pain inflicted on me invaded my mind. I wanted to scream but I knew I wasn’t able to if I was hardly capable of speaking. Fear coursed through my veins as I thought of the possibility of Blaise still being here in this school. Will he come after me again? I could only think about one person now, the only person who I ever felt truly safe with. “Draco… where is he?”

Harry smiles slightly before he places his warm hand over my cold one. “He’s here Hermione. He has been coming for the last number of days now.”

Days? I have been here for days!? I say nothing because I see him now. Draco is hunched in a chair across the room, he eyes explore mine and he almost seems unsure of himself. He looks tired for definite, the dark circles under his eyes were visible from afar. It is also obvious that he didn’t bother to fix his hair when he got out of bed this morning, I always liked it when his hair was messy. I part my lips slightly to say something but nothing comes out. I have so much I want to say but I feel incapable.

“Hermione.” A familiar voice spoke which didn’t belong to Draco or Harry. I turn my head away from Draco’s intense stares and I see Ron standing next to Harry with a smile plastered on his face. “I am so glad you’re awake. You scared us all, but it’s okay now. You’re back with us and that’s all that matters.”

“Oh… I… I’m sorry.” I choke.

“Don’t say sorry,” Harry says squeezing my hand. “None of this is your fault. Absolutely none of it. Do you… remember any of what happened?”

I fought back the tears at his words. “Yeah I do… all of it.”

“Well you don’t have to worry anymore,” Ron tells me in a reassuring voice. “He won’t harm you again Hermione, he’s gone.”

“Gone? What do you mean gone?” I ask looking between the two of them.

“Expelled,” Harry simply states. I breathe a long sigh of relief at the realization that I had no reason to fear for my life anymore. Blaise was expelled, and deservedly so, now I could finally get through my school year in peace.

“Good riddance.” Ron mutters with anger in his voice that didn’t go unnoticed. “He got what he deserved. Hopefully he lives a terrible life now and pays for what he has done.”

“Ron,” Harry warns. “She doesn’t want to speak about him now; can’t you see she’s traumatised?”

Ron bows his head for a few seconds and sighs before he looks at me in a sympathetic way. “Sorry Hermione… it just made me really angry thinking about what he done.”

“I know.” I tell him in a dead voice. “It’s okay you don’t need to apologise anyway. I’d feel the same if it were the other way around.”

It then went silent between the three of us. Harry releases his grip from my hand and things turned awkward, which is rare considering Harry, Ron and I were Best friends and we were perfectly comfortable around each other. It was clear to me that they didn’t know what to say, maybe in fear that they would touch a nerve or upset me? I didn’t like that feeling. The feeling of people walking on egg shells around me. I wasn’t a child and it was beyond me how they haven’t yet filled me in on exactly what happened since that incident with Blaise. I almost forgot about Draco sitting in the corner of the room. I could feel his stares burn a hole into the side of my head. Why hasn’t he said anything yet?