The Bracelet (Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Chapter 47

I don't realize how tightly my eyes have clenched shut, barely allowing tears to squeeze past them until I feel a soft finger skim across my cheek. Every muscle in my body freezes.

"Why are you crying, Draco?" If I hadn't known that Jennifer was lying beside me, I wouldn't have realized that this was a voice. It certainly didn't sound like one.

A barely audible croak; each syllable sounding as though it's being forced up like bile. Somehow, she seems to make it sound soft, though.

Slowly, my head turns upwards.

Jennifer looks like she's on the brink of death, yet there's a certain glow to her pale face and sunken in eyes. She stares at me, alight with curiosity.

I don't say anything. Can't.

Slowly, I grab onto her, my fingers forming a bracelet around her wrist, and pull her limp hand to my lips. I notice that it's damp with sweat as I plant a trembling kiss onto it. Either that, or I'm tasting my own tears.

"I'll be back." I say quietly.

***

When I return to the room, a few packages of chamomile tea clutched in my fists, Jennifer hasn't moved.

Her eyes are closed softly, as though she's had an extremely long and tiring day, but her chest rises and falls heavily; a small movement that gives me a quiet sense of relief.

I add in a few healing herbs from my potion ingredients upon preparing her tea, and lay a warm towel across her chilled forehead.

As badly as I want to yell and scream at her for wandering the corridors alone at night and not looking out for her own safety, I know that I can't; she's too weak. And most likely, I'll never
end up doing it. But I do make a mental note to ask her a few questions as to why she did it, when she's well.

After a few silent minutes in which I sit calmly by the chair I pulled up next to the bed and Jennifer slowly downs the tea, I finally speak up. 

"How are you feeling?"

She takes a sip of her tea, as though deciding what to say. "Confused. And tired."

"Could be worse." I think aloud, "does anything hurt?"

With a soft clink, Jennifer sets her cup down upon the nightstand. "What happened to me, Draco?" She asks, completely disregarding my question.

For a moment, I can't speak. I feel myself slightly lean back in my chair. "You don't...you don't remember?"

Jennifer's face wears an extremely puzzled look, her head cocking to the side.

My heart seems to drop.

If she'd been able to remember just one  small detail, then we may have been able to grab a lead on what's going on. Whether it was why she left, the last thing she remembered, or why she had passed out, anything would've helped. For all we know, it could've been the unidentified attacker.

I take a deep breath. Maybe if I tell her how I found her, things will start to come back. "I found you in the corridor, Jen. Very late at night. You were alone, and you were passed out. You had no visible injuries, but you looked as though you might've been...dead. So I brought you back here and fixed you up." I pause, my words very gentle and slow as I let her soak them in. "Does that bring anything back to you?"