Coping Mechanisms

5. Hermione

Hermione stared, mouth agape, at the two boys slumbering upright at Narcissa's bedside. They were leaning as far away from one another as their chairs would allow, and they both looked horribly uncomfortable. Neither stirred as she approached though, and her mind spun in circles wondering how they'd ended up like this.

Neville's expression was peaceful, his mouth slightly ajar. Draco however, looked somehow more miserable in slumber than he did while awake. His forehead was creased, his eyebrows pinched in a straight, silver line. His cheeks were taut, his jaw clenched, making the angles of his chin even more prominent. She knew he could wake at any moment and find her staring, but his distressed features left her perplexed. He was a statue of personified anger, sculpted and chiseled from marble and pain.

What had she been carved from?

Draco shifted in his seat under her scrutinized watch, causing Hermione to nearly drop the drinks she'd forgotten in her hands. She'd stopped at a local coffee shop on the way in and had grabbed extras just in case. She'd also been especially sure to ask for creamer in all three, remembering the disgusted look Draco had failed to hide the previous morning.

Call it a witch's intuition.

Hermione debated just setting their coffees down and leaving the boys to rest, but she presumed neither wanted to be found in the company of the other. So she steadied herself and cleared her throat.

"Neville," she whispered. "Malfoy."

Neither boy stirred.

"Ahem," she repeated, louder this time. One of Draco's eyes reluctantly opened. It took a moment for him to adjust before his gaze locked on hers. His features softened minutely, but Hermione chalked it up to a trick of the light.

"Sorry," she breathed. "I didn't want to wake you. But I figured maybe you'd want to be woken." His cold eyes simply stared, assessing her. Hermione hoped her embarrassment wasn't obvious.

"Coffee?" she asked, extending a drink in his direction. Draco merely leered at her hands. "I promise these are better than yesterdays. I made sure they added creamer." Draco raised a surprised eyebrow at her before hesitantly reaching an arm across the boy they'd both momentarily forgotten. In that instant, Neville snorted loudly awake, making both of them jump.

"Morning, Neville," Hermione said softly, her arm still outstretched. Draco finally took the coffee from her, and she reached back to hand one to Neville.

"Thanks, Mione," Neville yawned, oblivious to her and Malfoy's strained interaction. "What time is it?"

"Nearly nine," she answered, eyeing the clock. "You boys look like you had a long night." Draco didn't move his eyes from his mother, and Neville's eyes remained locked on the coffee in his hands.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

"Fucking brilliant," Draco spat, the first words he'd said all morning, before raising the coffee to his lips. Neville peered up at Hermione, offering nothing but a small shrug, and a pained expression that said don't ask.

"Right," she mumbled, taking an awkward sip from her own cup.

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The rest of the day proved to be just as wearying. A healer slipped into the ward soon after Hermione's arrival, promptly shooing her and Neville out. She shot her friend a questioning glance as they left, but he offered only the word "Narcissa" before heading off on his own. Hermione sighed, wanting to pry more answers from him, but thinking better of it.

Instead, she forced herself to keep busy, helping any and every overwhelmed nurse she could find. The school year started in just a few days, and Hermione wanted to aid the hospital as much as she could before then. She knew she'd done more than necessary, but it still felt insufficient. Or maybe she just felt insufficient. Whatever the case, she bustled throughout the hospital hours into the afternoon. Her stomach growled painfully around dinnertime, and she sighed, knowing there wasn't much else she could do for the day anyways.