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Chapter 4

Heroe Sin Amistad

By: Flutter of Feathers

Severus Snape was floored.

Hermione Granger, the female third of the Golden Trio that had been snuffed out of the Wizarding World, was living and breathing right before his eyes. Draco Malfoy, whom he had just seen a scant two days ago for a cup of coffee in Muggle London, had been stabbed in the leg and was bleeding profusely.

Needless to say, these revelations were unbeknownst to him until this very second when he laid eyes upon his former students.

Wordsworth cleared his throat to get the attention of the dumbstruck Potions Master, who appeared as stoic as ever. To anyone who didn't know him, he would have looked calm and collected, however they all saw his jaw drop just slightly when he apparated upon this scene. This was quite out of character for the snarky man and Hermione, by this simple facial expression, could see that he had been shocked to the core.

"You." Snape gazed pointedly at Hermione, who's head snapped up in attention. "Fetch some pain draughts from the lower levels of the manor. You will find my laboratory there."

'Hello to you too, Professor...' Hermione sniped in her head.

Nevertheless, Hermione obeyed Snape's mellifluous command and sprinted down the stone steps that led to the dank dungeons underneath.

'He always seems to find dungeons wherever he goes.' Hermione mused to herself.

After opening a couple doors, passing by prisoner cells that were long since empty, and scuttling away from rats, Hermione found Snape's laboratory and grabbed a few vials of a light purple liquid. Hermione deposited them in Snape's hand and watched as he tended to his godson. Every now and then he would bark out an order to Wordsworth or Hermione, but he efficiently patched Draco up in roughly 15 minutes with bandages and a few whisks of his wand.

Hermione mused that he knew so much about healing wounds and ailments from his Potions background and from his Death Eater days. One couldn't be too careful when around raving lunatics who followed Voldemort.

Hermione issued a genuine smile of thanks, unwilling to give the snarky man anymore gratitude. Merlin knew that he would throw it back in her face and say something about her being a "silly little girl."

However, Snape nodded in kind and turned on his heel to leave after making sure that Draco was comfortable. Although he was quiet and stoic, Hermione knew that Draco was close to Snape and he was protective of him although he rarely showed it. In Snape's eyes, Draco ascended to everything that Lucius could not be. He was both book smart, but could also wield his wand with deadly force. While Lucius blindly followed Voldemort, Draco came to his own conclusions about the world and set out to do whatever he wanted to do.

With another nod to Wordsworth, Snape apparated back to his manor and left Hermione in the room with Draco. She brushed back his hair and gently laid her hand on his much larger one. Although he was very formidable when he was conscious, right now he looked like he needed protection and care. Because of this, Hermione fell asleep in the cushy chair next to his bed. She unknowingly kept her soft hand on his for the whole of the night, which caused Draco to smile slightly in his sleep.

--

Marta clucked when she entered Draco's chamber, seeing the Miss Granger so disheveled and uncomfortable. The small house elf waved her hands in front of her, causing Hermione to disappear back into her own bed without even waking up. Marta then levitated Draco's breakfast to him, pleased to see his bleary eyes this morning.

"Marta was worried that she would not see Master look at her this morning." The small house elf sheepishly stated.

"Thank you, Marta. I am feeling much better than before." Draco looked at the large breakfast and dismissed her, wondereing where Hermione had gone to. He felt her presence next to her the entire night, and even woke up briefly to see her curled up on a nearby chair. However, he couldnt call out to her as he again fell asleep.

'Bloody Weasel and Potter.' Draco gingerly lifted the covers up to look at his leg, satisfied that it was almost healed. Snape's ministrations and potions had done the trick, and he summoned an owl to scribble out a note of thanks to his godfather. He was also very grateful to Hermione for her help. Although he had gradually lost consciousness after Snape arrived, he was aware of his godfather ordering Hermione around to help. Hermione was probably livid that Snape was being so demanding, but Draco knew that she kept quiet for his sake.

After finishing his breakfast, Draco was fit to walk to Hermione's room and tapped lightly on her door. She didn't answer. He pressed his ear to it and strained to hear if she was awake. However, he heard nothing and smiled to himself. She was probably exhausted from yesterday's chaos. He decided to let himself in all the same. When the door creaked open, he jumped as Hermione was very much awake but very much in a state of undress.

"DRACO GET OUT!!"

Hermione grabbed the nearest shirt and used it to cover herself up to the best of her ability before bending down and throwing a show and him. She was absolutely livid that Draco would peep in at her like that, she was embarrassed that he had seen her pasty skin and untoned form.

'Ugh, just great! This is just what I need after what happened yesterday.'

Hermione had been changing into different clothes since she had woken up in the same ones from yesterday. They were still stained with Draco's blood and dirty from when Ron stupidly left her on the ground.

Hermione scrambled to get behind something as Draco sputtered and then slammed the door. Hermione's eyes started to well up with tears when she saw Draco's eyes widen in shock and probably disgust; this was a blow to her feminine vanity and her self-esteem.

--

Draco screwed his eyes shut, and slammed the door...but to no avail. The image of Hermione's surprised face was ingrained into his eyeballs as he tried to think of non-sexual things fervently.

'Ehh... Voldemort's face... House elves having sex... DUMBLEDORE.'

It was no use. The image was like a loop in Draco's brain that, for the life of him, he could not stop. Hermione had been standing in her bra and panties, facing away from him. He could make out the gentle curve of her bottom that was hidden from him by pretty pink panties, and the backs of her slender thighs and calves. Her legs tapered into dainty ankles and feet.

When she heard him come in Hermione turned towards him in surprise, allowing him to see the smoothness of her skin before she covered up and threw a shoe at the door. The curves of her small breasts were held back by a lacy bra, and sat atop a smooth tummy and curved hips. Her cheeks had instantly colored a pretty rouge, and her eyebrows knitted together in embarrassment.

He breathed heavily and leaned against the door, brushing his hand through his hair and retreating down the corridor lest she step out of her room and discover him sitting outside of it. How would he face her again? How embarrassing for the both of them.

Clearing his throat, Draco retired to his study to rest his leg and deal with Malfoy business affairs. He didn't see Hermione until dinner, although he had longed to see her face and apologize. At the dinner table, they sat at opposite ends of the expansive dining area. This caused Draco to wince inwardly as Hermione treated him with coldness. When he greeted her, she nodded her head and said "hello," but didn't look at him longer than she had to.

The half-hour that they spent eating was spent in awkward silence. Draco looked longingly and guiltily across the table, while Hermione would grimace and stare down at her plate of food. She mostly pushed it around, not getting over that he was probably disgusted with her.

When she was finished with dinner, she stood up abruptly and turned on her heel to go back up the stairs, fed up with this shame. Draco mused that she was going to close herself in the library after that debacle, but he too got up and sprinted after her.

"Hermione wait!" Draco's longer legs allowed him to catch up to her, and he gently grasped her arm to prevent her from running away. "I wanted to apologize for earlier. I thought you were sleeping...I...um...knocked and you didn't answer." He cleared his throat. Draco was digging himself into a hole as he knew her aversion to having him in her bedroom. After she had awoken him curled around her that one morning, Draco kept his distance unless he was invited to see her.

"I thought I made it clear that I didn't want you in my room while I'm sleeping. Aren't I entitled to some privacy while I stay here?" Hermione spat this out at him, not wishing to be so harsh because he was being so generous with her. However, she was angry at his assumption that he could barge in whenever he wanted to.

Why had he felt the need to let himself in, anyways? Draco thought to himself.

"Did you see anything?" Hermione looked into his eyes and glared, self-consciously crossing her arms over her chest and fiddling with her clothes.

Draco swallowed.

"No." He looked away as thoughts of her supple, unclothed body jumped out to the front of his mind. She looked at him questioningly, then went into the library. She was determined to ignore him.

"Hermione, I'm truly sorry..." Draco was going to tell her that he could move his room elsewhere in the Manor if she wanted, but was interrupted. "That's okay, I just didn't know that I would have to ward my door in your own household, Malfoy." Hermione was extremely cold to him before turning back to the book that she had left on the table. Flipping to the dog-eared page, she didn't look at him and simply sat down to continue reading where she had left off.

'Hm...I wonder who she learned to be so stoic from,' Draco sarcastically thought.

"Look, I want to make it up to you. What can I do?" Draco sat down on the loveseat next to her, much to Hermione's annoyance. Hermione scooted away and hid her face with her book. She didn't want him to see that he had caused her to blush. No one had seen her in such a state of undress, and his kindness was causing her to let up on her resolve to be snarky to him.

He gently took the book away from her, causing her to protest. Draco placed a finger in the air, instantly silencing her, before saying that the Malfoy grounds were very beautiful this time of year.

"My mother loved them, you know. I hadn't told you because you've been recovering. I wanted to take you when you were strong enough, and I guess there is no time like the present." Draco's blue-grey eyes bored into Hermione's. Although he was nervous about asking her to go on a little picnic with him, he was still intimidating to Hermione and had not lost his edge. He had always held a bit of mystery and omniscience behind those eyes ever since their years at Hogwarts.

"I want to go on a picnic tomorrow. Would you like that?" Draco's gaze softened when Hermione grinned and nodded.

"That would be lovely, thank you."

Draco smiled back, and picked out a book for himself. They quietly read until Hermione fell asleep on his lap, Draco being perfectly content to just leave her there while he enjoyed his book.

--

Kind of a short chapter, I hope it's alright. Please tell me if I make a lot of grammar/spelling errors as it's hard to catch when proofreading. I usually skip over mistakes because I know what I wrote and the errors never jump out at me. However, I know how frustrating it is to read a grammatically incorrect fanfiction!!

Love! :)