Chapter 4: Alcohol No Longer Anonymous
Draco woke, as usual, earlier than Hermione the next morning but instead of her being in his arms as she had been when he passed out, Hermione was slumped in a chair with a bottle hanging loosely from her fingers. The lion on her shoulders was curled up, sleeping and twitching its tail as if daring him to wake her up.
He bent over and pulled the bottle loose of her fingers and returned it to the table before carefully picking her up, one arm under her shoulders and the other wrapped around her knees so he could easily carry her up to her room. Cautiously he put her down on her bed and pulled the cover over her before he went back downstairs to get changed.
When Hermione awoke she rolled over but the hour on the clock was not what alarmed her. What alarmed her was that she was in her bed and the rum she had been drinking was downstairs and she knew that Draco had figured out she was an alcoholic. Rapidly she jumped up to go and explain to him but when her feet hit the floor she got a head rush from her hangover and quick movements and passed out.
The noise of the crashing of her body against the hardwood floor startled Draco over the noise of the shower. As fast as he could he got out and dried off, then ran up the steps to see what had happened.
"Hermione! Hermione are you alright?" Frantically he ran to the opposite side of the bed, spotting the blankets turned up. "Hermione?" he whispered to her, seeing her on the ground. Draco slipped his arms under hers and tried to make her stand but her head fell forward, her hair flipping over to stretch for the ground.
As he struggled to help her stand she slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head up. "Draco?" she choked out, her mind messed up from the alcohol content of her blood.
"Ssh, just relax," he comforted her, "everything's going to be okay now. It's just a hangover Hermione."
He helped her down the stairs so they could prepare to leave on the train. Hermione tried to walk on her own but Draco walked carefully behind her his arms inches from her so he could grab her if she fell. Hermione managed to take a few careful steps and was just a few feet from the bathroom, when she stumbled and vomited.
Draco sat her down on the toilet seat and shoved her head between her knees. "Just focus on breathing," he muttered as he cast a spell to clean up the vomit. When Hermione was finally ready to stand he brought out towels for her while she had to shower and picked out an outfit for her out of her suitcase so the house elves could take their luggage down to the train.
Hermione staggered around the room for a few minutes, attempting to regain control of her legs before resigning to have Draco carry her down to the station but she wouldn't be seen like that in front of the other students, she had too much pride so he could just put his arm around his waist to give the appearance of her walking.
He just sighed and shook his head, it was no use fighting when it came to a question of pride. Once on the train Harry, Ron and Luna all filtered into their compartment, Harry carefully checking to lock the door to keep Seamus away. Harry and Ron were still uneasy being around Draco but they didn't want to bother Hermione, she was too tired to have to argue with them as was evidenced when she put her head on Draco's lap and, after a few minutes of him stroking her hair, she passed out.
Ron was muffling a laugh not just at the fact Hermione was hungover and passed out but at the fact two complete opposites fell in love, at least until Harry and Luna both slapped him and hissed to shut up. Draco smiled in gratitude and they all talked casually the rest of the way to King's Cross Station.