Exchange

They returned uniquely broken, neither any closer to restoration than the other. Neither closer to restoration than they had been following the calm that existed after the worst storm they'd ever experience.

But to him, she offered herself. And in exchange, she'd also drown in him.

Romance. Hurt & Comfort. Humor. Family. Friendship.

Rated M

Explicit Sexual Content. Language.

Please note, these warning will be prevalent in more chapters than not.

Draco Malfoy x Hermione Granger

Blaise Zabini x Luna Lovegood


Chapter One. The Strongest Ones

It was familiar. The sensation of being surrounded by raw, unfocused magic. It was all-consuming. Thrilling. Terrifying. Exhausting.

Which is why she moved quickly, her steps echoing loudly through the Astronomy Tower as she ran towards his familiar, falling figure. His magic - displayed in beautiful crimson flecks - was electrifying. Breathtaking. To her, it felt good. Better than good. It felt empowering, fulfilling, and intimate. And had she not needed to reach him, she would bask in all it elicited.

But she did need to reach him. Because as soul altering as his magic made her feel, it was torturing him. Killing him.

Though she reached him in time, he stood just over a foot taller than herself. The collision was enough to knock her on her ass. She was pleased to find that he landed on top of her, his head resting on her ample breasts.

Despite the pain of the fall, her attention was trained on him. She noted, first, the rise and fall of his chest. Ragged breaths shot between his dry lips forcefully. His naturally pale skin was almost gray and his platinum hair - clinging fast to the clammy skin of his forehead - had completely lost its luster.

She sighed, her amber eyes softened as she gazed upon him. "Oh Malfoy," she whispered. "What have you done now?"

Carefully, she shrunk the young wizard and slipped him beneath her robes. As she stood, she felt his magic fade, slowly flowing back into him.

Once his magic had completely dissipated, she slipped out of the tower and made her way to the House Head quarters.

She decided to lie him in her bed. She returned him to his normal size and checked his breathing once more. Once she was certain it was steadier than before, she stripped him down to his boxer. The normally shy witch would usually blush at this, but her concern outweighed her discomfort.

She removed her robe as well as her vest, tie, and blouse, leaving her in her camisole, her skirt, and her long socks. As she forced stray curls of chestnut and honey back into her plait, she moved to their bathroom, filling a bowl with cool water and grabbing a rag.

She gently pressed the rag to every bit of bare skin she could reach, trying to cool him as much as possible. Once his temperature was down, she set the bowl on her bedside dresser and want to her desk. She summoned paper and a quill.

'Good evening, Madam Pomfrey,' she began. 'I hate to bother you at such an hour, but I'm afraid I must request your presence immediately. I hope that I may also count on your discretion.'


"I'm glad you called, Ms. Granger," the older woman remarked as she emerged from her room.

"Hermione, please, Madam," she said, standing from the sofa in their shared common room. "Is it much worse than it appears?"

Madam Pomfrey didn't respond right away. Instead, she took Hermione in.

What she was sure was once a very neat plait was now loose and hazardous. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes were locked in concentration. She could almost see the gears in her mind working diligently. She pulled her full bottom lip between her teeth, chewing gently while she thought. Her lightly tanned skin seemed a shade lighter and her clothes stuck lightly to her curves.

Her stress was evident.

"From the weakness in his immune and nervous system, I believe he's been doing this at least once a month for the last fourteen months."

"Over a year?" Hermione question, her eyes widened. "And he's still alive?"

"For now," she warned. "He's a powerful wizard. A very powerful wizard. Which is the only thing that's kept him alive for so long."

"And no one noticed?" she almost snarled. "His house was filled with nosy, sneaky, power hungry bastards and no one felt his magic? That magic? In all of the manor?"

"I'm afraid that's a question for Mr. Malfoy, love," she said sadly. Hermione's frustration filled the room.

They stood in silence for a moment. She was back to thinking. Her eyes darted back and forth as if frantically searching her memories for the answers. Madam Pomfrey waited patiently for her to speak.

"Moving forward?" she questioned quietly. Her tone suggested that she had a very good idea of what their options were.

"Do you mind if we sit?" she offered. "This may take some time." And consideration.

They moved to the dining table and sat across from one another. Madam Pomfrey clasps her hands together on the table before beginning.

"Hermione, I must be frank with you," she began. "I need to know everything that you know. About Mr. Malfoy and his recent behavior. The more I know, the better we can communicate and help your friend."

Hermione didn't flinch or grimace at the word. She looked down at her hands, which now sat on the table, fidgeting nervously.

"It was the beginning of summer. We were at a bed and breakfast in Ireland," she began. "We came separately with no intention of seeing one another. But somehow, I knew he was there.

"The second he landed, I felt him. His magic was powerful. It was chaotic. It bounced off of him rapidly, vibrating against me.

"And only me, it seemed. No one else noticed or seemed fazed at all. And maybe it was in part my doing, as my magic was acting just as his had."

Madam Pomfrey listened intently, noting that Hermione had also experienced something similar at some point, though appeared to be in good health to her naked eye.

"I was hyper aware of him. No matter where he moved, I knew. And even though he added to my own anxiety, he eased the impact of the vibrations of my magic, as if he was absorbing some of the blows.

"We were ticking time bombs, you see. The trials had just ended. There were Death Eaters still at large and likely looking for us. Our home - this school - was destroyed. We'd experienced so much loss. Coupled with all else… It was only a matter of time before it grew beyond our control. And that time was then.

"And he knew it as well as I did. So he came to me. Late into the night. And when he took my hand, I felt it all. His pain melted into my own. It filled me with heartbreak and somehow comfort.

"Then we ran. From the inn. From the small town. From all of civilization. I don't remember where we went. Or how long we ran. But I remember that we never let go. And with each step, this erratic, heartbreaking feeling grew. And it continued to do so as we stopped in a large, open field."

Hermione became lost in her memories. Her voice softened and her glossy eyes appeared to be staring into a moment that had long since passed.

"The sky was pitch black save for the litter of stars and a brilliant, full moon. I remember the wind sweeping our hair and clothes but I couldn't feel it. All I felt was his hand and the warmth of our raging magic.

"He turned to me and took my other hand, staring at me. In that moment, I saw it all. Every single memory I watched through his eyes, living through it as he had. His painful memories flashed in time with my own, binding out timelines. And the pain associated with it all became too great."

Hermione sat back and took a deep breath, the memories causing her heart to ache as it beat.

"I remember the sound of his screaming along with my own. Then there was the most excruciating pain I'd ever felt, interrupted by intervals of peace, though very brief.

"And then, for the very first time, I saw our magic. It exploded in specks of red and gold, extending into the sky and falling around us as we fell to the ground.

"He never let me go. Even as we slipped into darkness I remember that we remained in contact through the entire exchange."

Slowly, Hermione came back to the present. Her cheeks tinted pink as she played the rest of their time together again in her mind.

"I was in my bed the next morning. I didn't feel his magic as I had the night he arrived."

Madam Pomfrey didn't respond right away. She replayed the information again and again in her mind, making sure she didn't miss any important points.

"I assume you didn't spend the following day shopping for gowns or robes," she said finally. Hermione smiled for the first time since she'd arrived.

"I visited the library," she responded. "Unfortunately I found myself with more questions than answers."

Madam Pomfrey raised a curious brow, urging the intelligent bookworm to continue.

"To begin, there isn't very much on the expelling of unfocused magic in general, nevertheless on such a specific release. I've seen how damaging it can be when you do it to purposely inflict pain on another or a group of individuals, but nothing like this. I'd never even known such a thing was possible before that night.

"In the seven cases I did find, they were all just one person experiencing the explosion and they are all rather short with no further research.

"In the listed cases, they all reported that the explosion was very painful if not fatal to those close enough to its radius. It was also completely debilitating for the witch or wizard expelling the magic. One witch was back on her feet after three days while another wizard hadn't completely recovered until a month following the event.

"Which I find to be strange as Malfoy's magic didn't hurt me. On the contrary, it eased the pain of my own magic slamming against me. I also noted that he was able to return to the inn with another unconscious person and I was perfectly fine the following day, aside from some fatigue, which only lasted about two hour after I woke up.

"Now one could argue that it was in part to me experiencing the explosion with him but tonight was the same. His magic didn't hurt me at all. Quite the opposite, actually. Which upsets me as much as it relieves me. And though I am very happy that the school is still mostly empty, I would like to know how his blast would impact another person. No harm was done to the tower either, though he had a lot of space."

"They probably wouldn't have felt it," Madam Pomfrey stated. "It's perfectly possible that it isn't felt by others because it's tethered to you."

Hermione seemed to consider this information. "Do we have a way to confirm this without killing ourselves?" She spoke quietly.

"There is," she confirmed, "but you'll both need to be at your strongest. I imagine that it will be some time before Mr. Malfoy will be at his healthiest again…" Unspoken words hung in the air.

"As it stands…" And Hermione was very aware of what they were.

"Would you like to discuss your options?"

Hermione didn't respond right away. "We could wait as we are now and monitor him. But there is no way to keep him from being pulled under again or keep away any new stress.

"We could also place him under a magically induced coma. The rest will allow his body to heal faster, however, he'll be vulnerable to whatever and there are still individuals who don't particularly care for him wandering the streets as well as the halls. We also have no way to know how long it will take. He'd need to remain in such a state until he was able to heal."

"Not to mention that there is no way to tell if he experiences setbacks while induced. Not until it's too late, at least. He could still experience an explosion, which may harm others," the nurse added.

"His mind would need to be dormant," Hermione said with a nod. "And I can't agree to that. It's much too dangerous. A risk he'd never agree to take."

They settled into silence now. They did have a final option. The best option. One that would feed his physical and magical body. One that would feed her physical and magical body.

"He'll refuse," she said quietly.

"Now, now. Let's not speak too soon, Granger."

The woman snapped their gazes to Hermione's doorway. There stood Draco Malfoy, leaning against the doorframe and still visibly ill. A small smirk played on his lips.

Exchange. Chapter One.

Hello everyone. I am so sorry that it's been a while. I've had a few things to take care of but I am back and I'd like to restructure this story. Please, please, please leave feedback. Let me know what you think and if the format is displaying properly for you. Thank you so much for your patience with me. I really hope you enjoy.