After what seemed like an eternity, Bellatrix's interrogation was finally over. Draco could feel every inch of his body sigh in relief as his aunt finally announced Rowle responsible for Hermione Granger's escape. He didn't know what was waiting ahead for the man and he couldn't care less. He had spent quite a while trying to find a suitable wand for Hermione, there was a box full of them, some of the Malfoys' old wands, some were won from other witches and wizards, and he had to recall every piece of information he knew about wands, to decide what would work for her.
"Walnut, dragon heartstring, 10 inches, there were lots of wands but I think this one suits you best." Draco said, handing over the wand to Hermione carefully. "Try it." He dictated.
Hermione reached for the wand with equal care, she was used to dragon heartstring, it was the core of her wand which she had no idea where it was by now. It was the Walnut that was new to her. She could feel the wand slightly vibrate in her hand.
"Who did it belong to?" She asked.
"I don't remember, but it belongs to me now." Draco replied.
"Wingardium Leviosa" Hermione declared pointing her wand at the bookshelf across the room. The books instantly shot up hitting the ceiling before falling loudly on the floor.
"Alright, so it might be a bit too powerful." She admitted.
"No, it itsn't, I'm sure it suits you. Not like your original wand , of course, but it suits you. Maybe it just doesn't recognize you as a master yet." Draco insisted. He went to his desk, fetching something from the drawer and turned around holding a slightly longer jet-black wand. He took the wand that was in Hermione's hand and replaced it with the black one. "Disarm me." He ordered.
"You know, Malfoy, two days ago if somebody had told me I would hear you say that I would've declared them mental." Hermione mused.
"Trust me, it's mutual. Now do it." He once again ordered.
"Will you ever stop giving me orders?" She frowned at him.
"Will you ever just do as you're told?" Draco sighed, his shoulders falling down exasperatedly. "No, ignore that." He ordered again as she opened her mouth to reply. "I already know the answer." he added.
"If I could use this wand.." Hermione said looking at the black wand in her hand "to disarm you of yours, then why don't I use this one from the beginning?" She asked curiously.
"Because it wouldn't suit you, ebony, koralle core. It's very...mediocre." He explained. "Now disarm me...please." He added desperately.
It's very mediocre and you're not. The voice in Hermione's head chimed before she violently dismissed it.
"No." she refused.
"Fine, enjoy your wand-less stay, Granger." Draco sneered, turning his back to her and making his way to the door.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione declared loudly and the wand flew from Draco's hand to hers. Taken aback by the sudden action, he almost tripped and fell. Turning to Hermione, he glared at her. She couldn't help but grin at him.
"It's of no good if I disarm you per your request; I have to do it for real. You can't fool a wand, Malfoy." She informed.
"I was right, it does suit you." he acknowledged, a hint of pride lacing his voice.
"I think I'm ready to heal your legs." He finally said, his tone back to normal.
"Maybe you should let me try it." Hermione offered.
"Have you ever tried using this spell?" He asked.
"No, but I.." She started to say before he interrupted her. "Then you can't do it." He insisted with a finality.
"Scared, Granger?" he raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest, holding his own wand now.
"No." She lied. She was frightened at the fact of letting Malfoy cast a spell of any sorts on her. Maybe she was forced to do so when she didn't have a wand, but not anymore. But what were her alternatives? How dare she practice a spell for the first time on her own self? Hermione almost let out a desperate whimper at the helplessness she was feeling.
"Granger, do you hear me?" Draco asked, looking puzzled as he sat at the edge of her bed. She was lying, he could tell. Hermione Granger was scared of him, or at least scared of allowing him any level of trust. And can you blame her? he thought. This was not just the matter of a healing spell, he needed her overall trust if his plan was going to work, and he needed to go out of his way to achieve that.
"Look, Gran..." he paused to exhale sharply "Hermione, I don't intend on doing anything but heal your legs. If I had any other intentions I wouldn't have waited until you had a wand; I wouldn't have brought you one in the first place." he tried to reason with her.
"Saying it, is pointless, but you have to trust me with this, I think I've done more than enough to show good faith on more than one occasion." he reminded her.
"Alright." Hermione wanted to say more, to threaten him that if he messed this up she would make him pay, but she couldn't; he sounded sincere. And...did he just call her Hermione? Was it a slip of the tongue like her earlier one? Was he trying to get back at her for calling him Draco earlier? Was he mad that she did? Or did he think using her first name would be more persuasive? Because it was.
"Stop worrying, trust me." he urged, almost sympathetically.
"Brackium Emendo" Draco said clearly. This was not time for nonverbal spells, he decided.
Hermione could feel her leg go from flaming hot to icy cold in less than a minute. The pain was intolerable and she fell back to the bed, her body trembling in pain. Closing her eyes, she went into a semiconscious trance. She opened her eyes to find herself braced over Draco's chest. He looked down at her, hesitated for a while then pushed her back gently to the bed.
"For a second, I thought the spell went wrong." Draco admitted. He had spent some terrifying minutes that felt like hours, his mind was crowded with all the horrible scenarios that might happen, all the consequences he would have had to face if the spell had failed. He wouldn't only harm Hermione when he least wanted to but his failure threatened his whole plan. If he failed at casting the spell properly after he had spent so much effort on convincing her to trust him, he would've lost any chance he had at earning her trust. He had decided to place all his stakes on his faith that he'd be able to make her trust him, had he failed to do so, where would that leave his plan?
"I think it went well." Hermione whispered. She could see a bead of sweat had formed on his forehead and she raised her hand impulsively to wipe it off. Sliding her thumb slowly across his forehead, she eased off the cold drop of sweat.
Draco froze at the unexpected gesture, his eyes widened and his breath caught in his chest. What was she doing!