"Come in," Draco's voice answered from the other side of the door and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
Every minute she had spent out there alone on his bed surrounded by his scent had felt like a miniature eon. She found herself growing more and more ashamed of letting him walk away thinking she was having a nightmare about him.
He's letting you in, she told herself. You can fix this.
How? She found herself asking.
How could she explain to him that she wasn't having a nightmare about him, without also having to explain that she had been dreaming about him in a very different way?
Just tell him it was about someone else.
An uncomfortable feeling washed over her at the idea of lying to Draco.
She had made him swear on his wand to be honest with her. It felt wrong to lie to him.
He told you it was okay to lie to him when you asked if he wanted you to swear honesty, she reminded herself.
That was just one more act of kindness on his part and somehow made it even harder for her to stomach the idea of a lie.
Hermione shook her head straightened her shoulders opening the door.
Draco was in the tub.
Naked.
Hermione froze, hand still on the handle.
He was gorgeous.
Both of his arms were outside of the water keeping his torso stretched out and showing off his wonderfully contoured form.
Fresh heat pooled at her core and she felt it throb with the desire to be touched.
Fuck, she cursed inwardly.
This was not part of the plan.
Seeing him this way right after her dream hit Hermione about a thousand time harder.
Her breath caught in her throat and against her will she found herself following down the lines of his torso into the water. When she saw he had turned the water opaque she felt the tiniest pang of disappointment before a flood of embarrassment hit.
He did that for you, Turned the water opaque so you would feel more comfortable.
Hermione swallowed and tried to school her face into something reasonable.
She could still feel his touch from her dream, she wanted that touch again.
Stupid as it was...Merlin she wanted it and she knew why.
Last night Draco had asked for her to stay. He had reached for her and it had meant everything to her that he had trusted her like that--That he trusted and cared for her enough to reach out and be vulnerable again especially after she had accidently ruined the last time while inside his head.
And then you kissed him, she reminded herself.
Yeah...look how that ended.
The thought was like a cold splash of water.
They were allowed to care about each other without him wanting her. So why did it make her feel so awful to know he didn't?
He was a cocky pompous git sometimes and wasn't the kind of guy to reach out and ask for help, he was too prideful...or rather he HAD been in the past. Hermione knew, on some level, his reaching out and trusting her was the reason why she had dreamed of him the way she had. A piece of her walls had crumbled because had had chosen to trust her.
Now she felt vulnerable around him because that wall she had been using for protection was gone and she was in very real danger.
When she hated him it had been easy to discount his looks.
Now she cared for him and suddenly it was very difficult to focus on anything else other than the little rivulets of water which were sliding slowly down his chest and drawing her attention to them like little sirens.
Focus, she ordered herself and forced herself not to seem awkward as she came and sat down on the chaise near the sink a few feet away from him.
He watched her with warry, concerned eyes.
It hurt her to know he was hurting because of a misconception.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
Draco seemed confused by the question and then he let out a sigh.
"I'm feeling better," he answered, his tone was flat.
Hermione knew that because of his little promise it was an honest answer, but it was obviously an answer to how he was feeling physically not how he was feeling emotionally. She could see a storm in his eyes and she wanted so much to be able to reach out and comfort him.
"I'm glad," she managed a small smile.
You shouldn't push him now or he might not open up to you again, the voice in her head warned.
I can't leave him like this...I can't handle seeing him hurt because of me.
"Draco..." she found herself saying his name without meaning to. That one sound a call from her heart-reaching out to his.
"Yes?" he tilted his head, confused at her tone.
Hermione bit her lip.
Now you've started, you have to say something.
"I..." she looked away. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to start?
You should have figured that out before you came in here, she scolded herself.
I didn't know he was going to be naked! she thought back. It's making my brain fuzzy.
"What?" Draco prodded, sitting forwards slightly.
"Nothing," she lied, feeling defeated.
"Please don't do that," said Draco and she heard the slightest edge of frustration in his voice. He shoved a hand back though his damp hair before turning his gaze back towards her.
"What do you want to say?" he pushed.
Hermione wracked her brain to come up with something....anything else to say, anything to distract him with.
If you don't say something he'll spend the rest of the night stressing over what you might have said. Come up with something.
"Can you please tell me if my friends are okay?" she blurted.
Draco's face twisted into a pained scowl.
"Please Draco, please tell me what happened," now that she had asked the question she realized just how much she desperately wanted to know. It had been days since they had tried to come and rescue her and there had been no word.
Fred was alive and that made her heart sing without changing the fact that she was desperately worried about the rest of her friends.
Hermione reached out and grabbed Draco's hand on edge of the tub.
He looked down at her hand on his. There was a pause and then he pulled away.
"Your friends were all alive last I saw," said Draco looking away. She could hear the anger in his voice and didn't know why.
Was it so wrong of her to ask about them?
"Please," Hermione found herself pleading. "Tell me what happened. Were any of them badly hurt? Was Harry there? Was Ron?"
"What the hell do you want to know?" Draco snapped at her.
Hermione jumped startled.
He scowled and grabbed his towel from the side and dragged it into the water wrapping it soaking wet around his body so that he could get out of the tub without showing off anything. Hermione averted her eyes as he got up regardless.
Draco marched past her dripping wet and stormed over to where he kept other towels grabbing a dry one. He swapped the wet one out letting it slap against the floor with a wet snap. He tied the dry one around his narrow hips his movements harsh.
Hermione frowned.
What was going on?
"Why are you so upset at me asking?" she stood and face him.
Draco whirled on her.
"They beat me and burned me and left me to fucking die and I almost did died, but I'm sure they're fine," said Draco with a bite.
His words hit her like a fist.
His pain was palpable thought the bind.
"Draco," Hermione got up and moved over to him.
Her chest hurt. It felt so hard to breath.
Her asking about her friends didn't mean she didn't care what had happened to him. It had made her want to cry seeing him so hurt-knowing he had almost died had almost killed her. She remembered yelling at the ceiling; remembered how terrifying it had been when she could not longer feel him through the bind.
"I didn't mean it like that," she tried to explain. "You know I care, you know I'm happy your came back alive."
"Are you?" he demanded. "Wouldn't you rather I just fucking die so you'd be free of me?"
"No!"
How could he say that?
How could he even think it?
She never wanted to loose him.
Never.
"Right," Draco rolled his eyes sneering. "Then you'd have try and figure out how to find Fred without me and we all know that you would do anything for your friends."
"Its not about Fred. That's bullshit and you know it," yelled Hermione, it was one of the first times she had actually yelled at him in any real way, but she was furious that he even suggest she would be happier if he died.
It made her want to punch him in the nose again and knock some goddamn sense into him.
"Get out," said Draco shaking his head.
"No," Hermione squared off in front of him, her stubborn side showing "Not until you tell me why the hell me asking after my friends has made you so upset."
"Because they matter to you!" he half shouted back.
"They are my friends," said Hermione vehemently. "They are supposed to matter to me!"
"I KNOW!" yelled Draco.
"Then why the hell are you mad about it?!" she demanded.
"BECAUSE I DON'T!"
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Oh my word, the FEELS I got writing this. So intense. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you did please leave some love.