Draco woke with a crick in his neck.
Morning light was coming in through the window and the first place that his eyes went were to his bathroom door. It was slightly ajar.
A flicker of panic shot through him. Was she gone? Had she left? Was she okay?
He stood too quickly and the room spun. With one steadying hand on the wall he rounded to the other side of his bed and looked down to see Hermione sleeping on her pallet. There was till a little crease between her eyebrows, but at least she no longer looked in distress.
She had stepped past him and gone to bed without waking him after her nightmare which confirmed Draco's fear: The nightmare was his fault. She didn't want anything to do with him.
He reached for a healing potion in his drawer and his hands came back up empty. He had been using more than he had realized and now he had Fred to account for.
You'll just have to make more, he told himself and went downstairs to make breakfast.
Narcissa was in the kitchen.
Draco almost didn't recognize his own mother. Her hair was disheveled and there were dark circles under her red-rimmed eyes.
Her head swung towards him when he entered and she blinked at him as if not fully seeing him.
Draco opened his mouth to say something, anything to the woman who had raised him, who loved him. Who was willing to risk the dark Lord's wrath to keep him safe.
"Mothe-"
She held up a hand silencing him and walked out of the room.
Draco swallowed.
Things are never going to be the same between the two of you, he lamented.
His hands hurried to make Hermione her meal. It was extravagant-much more than he usually made, and yet it didn't feel like enough. Setting it down on the table in his room he picked up a pen to write her a note, figure out something to say...nothing came to him.
He wanted to make the nightmares go away, he wanted things to be better.
Instead he left the note unwritten and went to go and check on Fred.
There didn't seem to be much of a change one way or another from last night which worried Draco.
At least he isn't worse, Draco thought.
Fred was in a coma, and he was showing no signs of waking.
He could be like this forever...
"You have to wake up Weasely," Draco muttered as he cast several more healing spells on Fred. He used the last of his healing potions of the redhead-once again needing to use a spell in order to make the liquid go down.
The tall redhead lay motionless on the bed and Draco felt his stomach knot with worry as the hope wavered. He reached out a hand and felt again for the pulse.
It was faster and stronger than yesterday wasn't it?
His skin felt just a little warm...was that life coming back in or a temperature rizing?
If he gets a fever on top of his other injuries he's going to die, He acknowledged to himself.
Fuck.
Draco ran a hand through his hair. He really did not know what to do and he had literally no one whom he could turn to. No one else could know or it would ruin everything.
You could turn to Snape, part of his mind suggested.
Draco immediately dismissed the idea.
It was one thing for Snape to look out for Draco with regards to Hermione-his mentor seemed to understand that Draco wasn't going to back down from protecting her- and it was another thing for Draco to go around saving every member of the order who happened to cross his path.
Snape was, after all, still aligned with the Dark Lord.
Come on Malfoy you are smart enough for this, figure something out on your own.
This is hopeless, he thought rubbing his face with his hands. When he raised his head again he looked at the comatose boy in front of him.
People often say that people in comas can hear those around them, and Draco, remembering that fact, spoke out loud.
"If you're listening Weasely...and I don't know if you are or if you can hear me. I need to you to fight," he paused. "I need you to wake up. Your friends need you...Hermione needs you." He let those words hand in the air for a few moments then turned and left closing the door behind him and locking it.
Fuck this was a mess.
Draco rubbed his eyes.
How long would it be before her friends came again? He needed to figure out a way to contact them.
You could give Granger some FLU powder, he found himself thinking.
And open a fireplace in my house? Someone could be listening in.
Who was he kidding? He knew the chances that someone was monitoring his houses fireplaces was far too high to risk. Besides even if they weren't if the order came storming though an open fireplace it could end horribly.
It's a risk yes, but if they come storming though you can just go with them.
But then what about Fred?
Dammit, the redhead was making his life more complicated and he wasn't even conscious to do so. Hermione would never forgive him or herself if Fred was left behind.
He needs to be awake to come with you....or....Draco's mind began to form a plan. To go and get help.
Well, thought Draco, Fred waking up gives me my starting point.
He breathed in deep setting his shoulders.
Now I just have to find a way to heal this half of the Weasel twins. The thought was strange even echoing inside his own mind.
"Who are you?" He asked aloud. "A month ago you wouldn't have given two shits if one of the Weasels kicked the bucket," he snorted derisively.
It was true. He didn't like them. He didn't like the Weasely family with their ratty clothes and red hair and...love. They were everything that his family wasn't and he wished like hell he had something closer to their life and family...maybe not quite so warm and fuzzy or wool-clad, but...less cold.
Your mother loves you, he reminded himself and then he saw that look in her eyes from this morning. How long would her love last? How much could she go through for him and see him do, and still love him.
She had already cut out one family member, who was to say she wouldn't cut Draco out too? Especially if she found out that everything he was doing was for someone she thought had 'dirty blood.'
Draco shook away his thoughts and left the cottage and his oasis behind.
-
Hermione was still sleeping by the time he got back. He was thankful for it and snuck past her.
He wanted to give her space.
He needed to give her space for both their sakes.
What had she dreamed of last night. He could only guess, and none of this guesses were anything good. She had been saying 'stop' and she had said his name.
He had cursed her.
He had hurt her.
And now she was having nightmares about him because of it.
He couldn't blame her, but that didn't mean it didn't rip him open inside to know it.
He had no idea what he would say to her, and the vow he had made her meant he couldn't offer platitudes or smooth things over with a lie.
Draco went down into his potions room and tried to throw himself into his work of making more potions for Fred. He searched for recipes that were quick and simple and others that were a little more complicated. While he was there he checked on his Felix Felicis he had been brewing. It sparkled and bubbled in the light.
I could use some fucking luck, he thought, and then he remembered how poorly the last batch at turned out...the one he had tested on Crabbe.
Crabbe...
Draco's blood boiled and went cold and he felt sick to his stomach all at the same time.
He hated even thinking about the fact that Crabbe had touched Hermione...and he hated thinking about his friends screams.
You did that, you turned him over.
I had no choice.
Draco rubbed his face.
He wanted to escape to the oasis, but Fred was there.
He wanted to run away from this all with Hermione, but his mother was here.
He wanted to kiss Hermione so that it would all go away...
Gods he wanted that kiss to have been real.
He wanted to hold her to kiss her to have her in his arms.
She made the world go away.
It was Pity, his mind whispered the reminder. Just pity.
How he wished it hadn't have been.
He thought of those lips, those perfect lips and how they had felt pressed against his, that gentle flutter of her breath against his skin. The feel of her soft warm body pressed up against him.
Draco was so lost in his thoughts he did not hear or notice that he was no longer alone.
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I hope you liked this chapter. I am excited and nervous for Friday's upload...its...big guys.
Leave some love if you enjoyed. Cheers.