That night Blaise was making his rounds, feeling tired as hell. He had just left his last patient and was now leaning against a wall in the corridor, trying to catch his breath. A Junior Healer saw him and asked him how he was. At that, Blaise started cursing under his breath.
"Bloody awful! Between the patients we've had from the party at Hogwarts and the ones we already had, it's been one hell of a day!" Blaise grumbled, letting out a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Then you're done, sir? For the night, I mean?" the Junior Healer asked, feeling slightly intimidated by Blaise's previous answer.
"Almost. I still have one more to visit and then I'm done." Blaise replied, opening his eyes and slowly pushing against the wall.
"One more, sir? Then would you like me to do it? I'd like to help if I can, sir." the young Healer said all too eager to please Blaise.
"Nah, that's alright, Junior." Blaise said, slapping the young man on the shoulder as he went past him. "This one I have to check on myself, otherwise you'll find out I've been murdered by my best friend." Blaise finished with a smirk and walked away leaving a confused Junior Healer behind.
Blaise took the corner and in a few minutes he found himself in front of Hermione's ward. Everything was silent and there was no one around at that time. He was actually glad for it. After the attack on the party he half expected the place to be swarmed with Aurors and Ministry people, but he was grateful Potter had stopped all that. The hospital had taken care to place people to protect the patients if there was the need for it, but without being conspicuous.
After waiting for a moment, Blaise slowly pushed the door opened and peered inside. He saw Hermione's sleeping form and after half a minute of watching her, he seemed satisfied and was about to leave when a sound stopped him in his movement. There were soft rustling noises coming from the bed, as if someone was tossing and turning. Blaise blinked against the darkness and took a step inside the room. As he got closer to the bed, he could hear soft moans and whimpers.
With a wave of his wand he lit the room enough to see Hermione thrusting in her sleep, face scrunched up as if in pain, letting out sobs and whimpers from time to time. Blaise felt anxious to wake her up and therefore started talking to her, gently shaking her by the shoulders. When that didn't seem to work, he raised his voice a little. That clearly didn't have the desired effect because as soon as Hermione heard his voice she started shoving him away, her face mirroring the internal pain she was feeling.
"Hermione, stop! Wake up!" Blaise tried again but only managed to draw a small yelp from her.
"No, don't! Don't do it... don't do... it" Hermione whimpered in a feeble voice, thrusting around even more violently.
At this point Blaise was downright worried about her and was even considering placing a spell on her to calm her down. He hesitated for a moment though, not knowing what effect that might have on her, considering the state she was currently in. Cursing himself for not taking the Junior Healer with him, Blaise made another attempt at waking Hermione up.
"Granger wake up, dammit!" he said through gritted teeth, getting a hold of Hermione's arms, trying to stop her movements.
That seemed to have jerked Hermione awake from her nightmare. She looked up at Blaise, fright and terror all over her face, her eyes glazed over and her breathing erratic. Blaise wasn't even sure if she knew where she was.
"Hermione, you're safe now. It was just a dream." Blaise said wearily.
He was feeling relief at seeing her awake, but the moment Hermione turned her face to look at him he felt anxious all over again.
"I said no!" Hermione yelled at Blaise, trying to shove him away from her. "You won't take them! I won't let you take them, not ... not my... memories."
It seemed as though finishing the sentence was more than she could handle, because as soon as the last sounds escaped her lips she fainted. Blaise rubbed his face with both his hands, cold sweat sliding down his back. Then, he conjured a small vial of Dreamless Sleep potion and forced the liquid down Hermione's throat.
After he made sure she was sleeping soundly, Blaise left the room in a hurry. He met with the Junior Healer from before and ordered him to stand guard at Hermione's door throughout the remainder of the night and to let him know immediately if she wakes up. The poor youngster was too terrified of Blaise's wild appearance to mutter anything else than a "Yes, sir!" before scurrying away to his post.
Once he got to the staff room he sat down at a desk and wrote a short note. He addressed it to Theodore Nott and send it with the first owl he could reach.
"Things couldn't get any worse." He muttered, seeing the owl fly away.
***
"Blaise are you serious?" Theo asked in disbelief.
"I wish I could joke about this, Nott, I really do. But as it happens, I have witnessed it myself, therefore it's no joke, just the bloody truth." Blaise replied with a tired sigh.
They were both sitting in the waiting room near Hermione's ward. Theo came as soon as he received the note. It was almost seven in the morning and people were starting to roam around the hospital, but Blaise made sure they were alone in that small waiting room.
"Draco won't be happy about this, Blaise. He'll go mad." Theo said grimly, twirling his wand with his fingers.
"Tell me about it!" Blaise snapped. "I've never seen him more frightened than when that incident happened, not even when Voldemort was alive and living in his home."
"And if she'll start remembering..." Theo started.
"He'll either run away from the face of the earth or kill himself." Blaise finished with a groan.
"Don't be an idiot. Draco is too stubborn to kill himself." Theo snapped at his friend, stopping the twirl of his wand and pocketing it.
"Yeah, you're right. He might kill someone else instead. Who do you reckon it would be?" Blaise said pensively.
"It will be us if we don't tell him about it." Theo said with a sharp look at Blaise.
"Tell me what?" a voice came from the door, making both of them jump.
"D-Draco." Blaise stuttered for a moment.
"Blaise. Theodore." Draco said mockingly looking from one to the other. "What are we doing here, introductions?"
Theo and Blaise only grimaced, unable to laugh or smirk.
"Now, what were you talking about? Tell me what?" Draco asked again, taking a sit and facing his friends.
In all appearance he seemed relaxed, quite composed, but the other two knew him all too well to be deluded. The Malfoy composure was made out of anything but calmness. Poise yes, but true calmness, never. Blaise and Theo looked at each other for a moment, a silent exchange happening between them. Draco noticed it and that made him even more impatient.
"What happened? I can clearly pick up on the signs, something must have happened for you both to act this way. What is it?" He asked coldly, then a thought crossed his mind. "Is it Granger? Did something happen to Hermione while I was away?"
Blaise and Theo both nodded, unable to say a word. It was like waiting for storm to hit, but they knew there was no other choice but to tell him the truth.
"Draco, now I want you to be very calm. Don't say anything until we've finished." Blaise said slowly, taking a deep breath and bracing himself for the worst.
Despite all their worries, Draco took the news of Hermione's nightmare quite well, better than they had expected. No curse or shout escaped his lips and he was perfectly composed until Blaise stopped talking. However, they could see his clenched jaw, his fingers tightening in fists and his already pale face looked whiter than ever.
After a few moments of silence in which they all sat there, staring at each other, Draco finally broke the silence. His voice sounded hoarse and strained, nothing like the smooth, cool drawl he used to have.
"Is there any chance that she might not have remembered everything? That it was just a nightmare?"
"It is possible that it might have been just a nightmare." Blaise said, rubbing his face with one hand. "Like I said, she didn't seem to realize anything that happened around her. Even when she opened her eyes she still seemed... asleep." He finished tiredly.
"I want to see her." Draco said, suddenly getting up to his feet.
"Of course but..."
Blaise's words were left hanging, as Draco hurried out of the room like a storm.
"Well that went better than we had expected." Theo sighed, getting up as well.
"Don't hold your breath just yet." Blaise said grimly.
Thank you all for reading this story! If you're curious what will happen next, stay tuned for the next chapters. Until then, have a wonderful day! ^_^ <333