You're Mine (Dramione)

|Eleven|

To Hermione's surprise, she woke up. After last night, she was sure that she was going to die. Hermione thanked the Gods for sparing her.
Then almost like being hit by a rock, she realised something upsetting. The Gods had spared Hermione... but not baby Hope.
Hermione felt her body weaken and her eyes water. Now that she thought about it, it was sadly strange. For only two months, there had been a baby, growing and living inside her. And then, in a blink of an eye... there wasn't a baby anymore. The baby was taken away by the actions of a jealous and furious husband.

"Hermione...you're awake." Lola's soothing voice said. Hermione turned her head to the side with difficulty, to face Lola.
Lola looked like she spent the whole night crying. Her usually neat, raven hair was disheveled and her frog spawn coloured eyes where bloodshot and filled with tears.
"Lola..." Hermione croaked.
"I'm so so sorry." She said quietly, the tears in her eyes falling down her pale cheeks.

Hermione sat up, wincing slightly at the pain. She couldn't take her eyes off her arms, which resembled ripe grapes. Her legs and stomach was in much worse shape. They were both covered in large black, blue and purple blots, and yellowish welts. There was also a bandage covering the place Draco had cut her.
"Lola...give me a mirror please."
"But-"
"Lola, mirror please!"
Lola sniffled before grabbing the mirror from Hermione's bedside table and handing it to her.
Hermione never thought that she could hate her own reflection. Her bottom lip was cut open and swollen, her cheek was completely bruised and her left eye, which were being shielded by the thin strands of her hair, was swollen shut.

Hermione dropped the mirror onto her lap, and placed the hand over her disfigured face, releasing a string of anguished sobs.
"Please... c-can I have a moment alone?" Hermione begged, not taking her hands off her face. "Of course." Lola said in a small voice, before leaving.

She couldn't bare it. Sadness weighed down on her chest, like a giant boulder, crushing and breaking her rib cage and already damaged heart.
Even after the door opened and an unwanted presence entered, her hands never left her face. Even after she felt the right side of her bed sink under the weight of somebody's body, she didn't remove her hands. Even after a familiar hand rubbed soothing circles on her back, she did nothing.

It was only when she heard the devils voice, that she reacted. "Is it possible, forgiving a demon?" Draco questioned, smiling sadly at her. Hermione just gaped at him, tears streaming down her face. "Is it possible forgiving someone as sinful as me? Even after they've pleaded and prayed for forgiveness over a million times? Please tell me it is." Hermione looked away from him, the sight of his face making her burst into tears.
There was a long period of awkward silence, before it was broken by Draco. "You know, I had no idea," It came out as a whisper. "I had no idea you were expecting."

Hermione merely cried, her broken heart not allowing her to speak.
"I would say sorry but... sorry doesn't bring back lost lives." Draco chuckled at his own sad attempt at joke telling.
Draco stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
"I barely slept... after Lola told me." He said, his voice breaking.

"I didn't mean it, really. I-I love you."
Hermione found herself replying to those dishonest words.
"I-I love you too."
•~•
Drip, Drop, Drip, Drop.

This time, these weren't the calls of the raindrops Hermione enjoyed listening to. They were the sounds of teardrops and bathroom taps not closed properly.
Hermione sighed, her fingers tracing lines on her damp skin. From behind her, Draco combed his fingers through her wet hair. They both sat in the tub of warm water, Draco, with his bare back pressed against the smooth ceramic and Hermione, seated between his opened legs, her back facing him.

"Lloyd was right. I-I am a sad excuse for a man." Hermione heard Draco blurt out unexpectedly. "I shouldn't have let myself lose control like that. You won't leave me, will you?"
Hermione sighed. 'It isn't like I have a choice'. "No Draco, I'll never leave you."
Hermione didn't know why, but she found comfort being close to Draco like this. His smell of cologne and cinnamon lingered in her nose, instantly bringing her peace.
"Draco?"
"Yes?"
"I... I love you."
Draco was dumbstruck. Her 'I love you' seemed to come from the heart, and not from the brain. "You do?"
"Yes." Hermione said in a small voice.
Getting out of the now lukewarm water in the tub, Draco grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his nude lower body.

"Don't you love me... don't you love me too?" Hermione didn't know where she was getting the courage to say all this to Draco. Draco stopped, his body stiff. "Love..." He whispered, his voice quivery. Without turning around, he said to her, "I do."
A warm feeling, made its way throughout Hermione's entire body at his words.
I do.