Disclaimer: Characters and Setting are not mine - J.K Rowling owns all
Chapter Seven
Hermione felt groggy and confused. She started to sit up, but a Madam Pomfrey's hands pushed her back onto the bed.
"Hermione, it's alright. You're in the hospital wing."
"Oh," is all Hermione said.
She thought back to the last minutes that she really remembered. Her memories of Malfoy Manor — she shuddered — had forced themselves into her consciousness, causing her to have a panic attack, become overwhelmed, and then pass out. All like her doctor had told her might happen. All this was "normal." For someone with a life-altering mental condition, that is.
Hermione also had the strange and worrying memory of Draco's voice, asking what PTSD was. If there was anyone she wanted to keep this information from, it was Malfoy. The Weasleys and Harry all knew, and she was fairly open about it in general — it only made sense, they needed to know. But Hermione didn't want the entire school to know, to think that she was weak and pathetic. That she wasn't really a Gryffindor because she didn't have the courage and strength to overcome this.
Draco knowing, however, wouldn't be good. Her problems originated with his family, after all. And despite what everyone else seemed to think, Hermione wasn't convinced that Draco had actually renounced old ways, and handing him information that he could use to hurt her was incredibly foolish.
"Madam Pomfrey, where are Harry and Ron?"
"I assume they're in class, Miss Granger."
"They didn't stay?"
"Stay? No, they were never here, Hermione."
"What? Who brought me here, then?" Hermione found this all very odd. Why hadn't they brought her here?
"Mr. Malfoy brought you here."
"WHAT?" Hermione shrieked. "Why?"
"That I don't know, Miss. Granger, but I suggest you relax. If you key yourself up again, you're putting yourself at risk for another attack."
"What time is it? Is class over yet?"
"Your first class will be ending shortly."
"I have Defence Against the Dark Arts next, I need to go."
"I think not! You're to stay here and rest."
"But it's the first day of class! I have to go!"
"Absolutely not! You will remain here until I am convinced that you are ready to go back to class."
*
Draco was dawdling in the hallway, reluctant to get started on this ridiculous project. He passed the corridor that led to the library, and before he knew what he was doing, he pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped inside. Project be damned.
He scanned the shelves, looking for any books on rare Wizarding maladies. When he had found three ancient-looking tomes, he settled down at a desk in the back, and began to leaf through.
All of the various sicknesses that Draco came across were gruesome and irrelevant. He flipped to the front of one of the books again, looking for the chapter list and muttering to himself. "'Maladies of the Skin,' no 'Maladies of the Mouth and Face,' no. 'Maladies of the Mind,' aha! This must be it."
Skipping to find the right page number, Malfoy began his fevered search. One title caught his eye. "War Sickness? Hmm."
He began to read the description, but he was no more than three words in when a very stern voice sounded above him.
"Mr. Malfoy, do I need to remind you that being invited to finish your education is a privilege?"
"No, professor."
"Then, please tell me why you are not in the class that has been specifically pointed out as being compulsory."
"I, uh, I got distracted."
"By the library?"
"Yes." Malfoy replied indignantly. She'd asked that as though he'd never stepped foot inside the room before.
"Well, luckily for you, class has just begun. Come along now, I'll walk you so I can ensure that all of your classmates have made it there as well."
Their walk was an awkward one, for Malfoy at least. He was already disobeying his mother's advice. He should be focusing on school — no matter how ridiculous the project was — and not on Hermione Granger. He couldn't help himself, though. Whatever was wrong with her clearly had something to do with him, and he was determined to find out what was making her act like this.
They reached the classroom and McGonagall opened the door and walked to the front of the room to stand next to Neville Longbottom. Draco slunk in and took a seat at the back again.
"Mr. Longbottom, I'm sorry for the delay for both myself and Mr. Malfoy. Now, before I turn this over to Mr. Longbottom, is everyone here?"
"Hermione isn't" Ron said rather aggressively. "She passed out in History of Magic and he" Ron said while gesturing violently in Malfoy's direction "took her to the hospital wing."
"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall admonished, "why didn't you mention this?"
"I, uh, I don't know, actually."
"Right, well I suppose she won't be present for this class. Whoever her partner is will have to fill her in later. I'm going to go check on Miss. Granger." With that Minerva left the room, and all attention focused on Neville.
"Hello. As some of you know, my name is Neville Longbottom. I was in your year in Gryffindor."
"You don't have to introduce yourselves to us," piped Justin Finch-Fletchly.
"No, certainly not." chimed Susan Bones. "I think we all know who you are!"
"Well, alright," said Neville, blushing. "The Ministry has created an initiative that they want all current Hogwarts students to participate in. The aim of this project is to help with the grieving process, as well as to ensure that everyone is coping well, and to help those who are not."
Neville said this all rather professionally and confidently. The whole class was taken aback. Neville had certainly fought bravely, but none of them had ever heard him sound so self-assured before.
"Wait, what's this?" asked Ron, he and Harry looking very confused.
"McGonagall announced this at breakfast," offered Susan. "It's just a project that the Ministry insists on running."
Malfoy's heart sank as he processed his former scape-goat's speech. "Help with the grieving process?" That could only mean one thing. Sharing feelings with people he didn't want to share them with.
"Everyone is to partner up, and there will be one group of three because you're year is an odd number. We want to try and avoid having people in the same house as partners because there's too much history there and we want to continue to foster inter-house relations."
Draco looked around the room. This was terrible. No one would want to be partnered with him anyway, and now he'd have to tell that person - or people - about his feelings. During this thought process, he didn't notice that everyone had seemed to partner up, leaving him all on his own.
Susan sat next to Harry, and Justin sat between Dean and Ron. As Draco watched them, a thought hit him like a train. He was the odd one out, and there was one person missing from class. He would have to be partnered with Hermione Granger.
"All right, I see that there's a little bit of house overlap, but because of the number of Gryffindors, that was inevitable. Malfoy, as Hermione's partner, you'll have to fill her in on everything she'll be missing today."
As Neville said that, all eyes turned to him. Harry merely looked cautious, but Ron looked furious. And yet, all he did was glare daggers at Draco. "Hmm." he thought. "I guess he doesn't love her enough to partner with me so that she doesn't have to." Something about that thought made Draco uncomfortable, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.
For the rest of the class, Draco tried not to pay attention to what was going on around him. He ascertained that each person would write a series of essays that described their involvement in the war, how they felt about it, etc., and then they would swap these essays with their partner. After everyone had read their partner's essays, the two (or three) people would discuss the content. Everything about this project was a bad idea, and Malfoy was practically paralyzed at the thought of having to share all of this with Granger. One pleasant thought did make it's way to his consciousness, however, and that was the assumption that Hermione would be forced to explain what was wrong with her. Draco smirked.
*
Hermione was not permitted to attend any of her classes that afternoon. She was cooped up in the hospital wing, and she was very unhappy about it. She at least wanted visitors; why hadn't Harry and Ron come to check on her? Classes were just finishing now, and she hoped that they'd take this opportunity to come and see her. As she thought of all this, she heard the doors creak open. Her head shot up, expecting to see her two best friends, but was instead met with the sight of Draco Malfoy walking purposefully towards her.
"Malfoy." Hermione said impassively.
"Granger." he replied, imitating her tone.
"Why are you here?" she questioned warily.
"We're partners for the Ministry's project, and I came to—"
"We're what? What Ministry project?" Hermione interrupted the blonde. "What are you talking about?"
"You didn't hear McGonagall's announcement this morning. The Ministry is forcing a project on us, led by Neville-sodding-Longbottom of all people, and we have to be partners. You missed the first class, and Neville told me to come and fill you in at the end of the day."
"Malfoy, are you really as dumb as you look?" Hermione said, bitingly.
"Uh, what?" said a surprised Malfoy. He thought that they were having a civil conversation. Apparently not.
"Do you really think that I'm going to believe this ridiculous story? You're just trying to provoke me! How cruel are you? You've seen enough to see that I'm not... I'm not okay."
Though she had started out strong, the last few words of her sentence had wavered terribly. Unshed tears began to make her eyes glassy, intensifying their colour and shape. Malfoy found himself staring into her eyes, appreciating the way little flecks of gold speckled the brown underneath. This was short-lived, not only because of the shame of realizing that he had brought Hermione Granger to tears in less than two minutes, but because he realized he was appreciating what she looked like. That couldn't be a good sign. She was Hermione Granger, after all.
"Sorry for bothering you," he said rather distractedly, before tearing his eyes from hers and turning to walk out, and walking straight into Ron and Harry. He pushed past them and ran out into the hallway, his breathing heavy.
Despite the unpleasantness of the whole ordeal, this was the most alive he'd felt in weeks. Whatever just happened was intense, and had made him feel a profound sense of guilt, confusion, hope, and hurt. Hope and hurt? He questioned himself. What about her should make him feel hope or hurt? Draco wasn't sure he liked how this witch was making him feel.
Back in the hospital wing, Hermione tried to mop up her tears before Harry and Ron saw them, but it was much too late.
"What'd that git do to you?" Ron demanded, as he charged towards the bed.
"Oh, nothing." Hermione replied. "Just some stupid practical joke about us having to be partners for something."
Harry and Ron exchanged a look. Telling her was not going to be fun.
Harry stepped in. "Hermione," he began gently. "Remember how we came late to breakfast, and how we didn't listen to what McGonagall had to say?"
"Yes," Hermione replied, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, the thing is, there is a project. The Ministry wants us to grieve properly or something, and, uh, you and Malfoy actually are partners." He finished awkwardly, expecting her to start yelling and screaming, but instead she replied in a very calm, very low voice. And that was a hundred times more frightening to him.
"How were the partners assigned?"
"We picked them ourselves," began Ron, "but we're not supposed to have people in the same house partnered together, and you were away, and no one else wanted to partner with Malfoy, so"
"So, even though you know that my issues have to do specifically with Malfoy and his home, you left me to be partnered with him instead."
Harry and Ron stared at her. They hadn't really thought about it that way, but now that she pointed it out, that's exactly what had happened.
"Hermione," Harry began, "we didn't mean to, we just sort of forgot, I guess."
It became immediately apparent that this was entirely the wrong thing to say.
"Oh I see," said Hermione, manically "you forgot! Oh, well if you forgot then I guess it's fine."
"It is?" said Ron hopefully.
"NO IT BLOODY WELL ISN'T" screeched Hermione in reply.
At that moment, Madam Pomfrey stepped in. "Get out, you two. I do not need you upsetting Miss Granger further! She's had a hard enough day as it is!"
The combination of both Madam Pomfrey and Hermione glaring at them was enough to send the two young wizards on their way.
After they left, Hermione contemplated what this project could be and what it could entail. It was clearly about the war, and she would have to talk to Malfoy about it. This couldn't be any worse. Oh wait, it could and it was. She'd started their partnership by insulting him, yelling at him, accusing him of tormenting her, and then bursting into tears. If he didn't take her seriously before, she shuddered to think of what he thought of her now.
Author's Note: Hello everyone!
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