CHAPTER 7
It had been almost a week since the Malfoy's had left St. Mungo's and a week since Hermione had plundered herself into the almost impossible quest to help them. She had yet to find anything of valuable use to them, but being as stubborn as she was she wasn't planning on giving up just yet.
She had called Draco and his son back to the hospital for a routine check-up, scheduled for later that day. Some unknown part of her was rather excited to see them again and it scared her to feel that way.
At exactly 2pm, father and son walked into her office, Draco looked strikingly handsome in his black dress robes as he trailed behind a very excited Scorpius. It was not difficult to see the resemblance in Scorpius from his father, as he had inherited the traditional platinum blonde hair, aristocratic features and that trademark smirk.
"Hello Miss Hermione!' he greeted cheerfully.
Hermione couldn't help but smile, yes he was a Malfoy but he was definitely a gentleman. She led him to the examining room adjoined to her office.
"Hello Scorpius," she greeted as she helped him onto the examining table, "How are you feeling?"
Draco had positioned him at the door and watched as his son chatted happily with Granger. He had to admit, he was looking forward to seeing her again. There was something about her presence that made him want more. He hadn't stopped thinking about her since they left the hospital. Even Blaise had caught him with his mind on the bookworm. Perhaps it was that she promised to help them and he knew that if anybody could help them, it would be her... but something told him it was more than that.
"Great!" the little Malfoy replied with much enthusiasm.
"That's good", she replied as she carefully listened to his heartbeat, before she proceeded with the check-up, "and what have you been doing today?" she asked kindly.
Scorpius shrugged and then answered, "Dad took me to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, so that I could buy more tricks to scare Uncle Blaise." At this Hermione laughed and glanced at Draco who was at the end of the examining table. He smirked at her and she blushed. Dammit! When did that start happing?
"But he wouldn't let me play Quidditch," Scorpius moaned, looking extremely dejected, hoping to find sympathy in Hermione.
She laughed as she realised what he was trying to do, she had to give the kid credit, he was good.
"Well I am sorry to hear that, but I'm sure he was only doing what he thought was best," she replied softly, "and now that you're better, you can get back on those dreadful brooms."
At this Draco laughed, "Still not a fan of Quidditch Granger?"
Scorpius gasped as he realised that his beloved doctor was not a Quidditch fan.
"You don't like flying?" he asked, his sweet silver eyes full of shock.
"No sweetheart," she laughed, "I don't like flying. It's very dangerous."
"Not if you fly with my dad." He countered, "He'll keep you safe."
Draco chuckled and shot Hermione a playful smirk. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Scorpius. Hermione chose to ignore the comment and continued with the check-up.
"Well Scorpius, you look to be doing much better." She said, helping him off the table and motioning for them to join her in her office again.
Hermione worked hard on ignoring how close Draco was behind her. She and Draco sat down at her desk, while Scorpius entertained himself with a magical plastic mould of the heart, which was slowly beating in his hand.
Draco, seated patiently opposite Hermione, waited to hear what she had to say. He hoped and prayed (more than he had ever done before) that she wasn't planning on telling him that she was no longer able to help them. She was their only chance, even if she didn't know it yet.
"Malfoy, I've been researching all week, but unfortunately I've had no luck." She began and Draco's heart started to sink, "but I'm not giving up and for me to truly help I'm going to need to know everything you know."
He nodded understanding what she was asking.
"How about 6 o'clock, today?" he asked not wasting any time.
Slightly shocked Hermione nodded her agreement, and watched as Draco got out of his chair, walked over to Scorpius and gently took the magic beating heart from his small hands, placing it back on the desk, before picking his son up in his arms and turning to face Hermione.
"Thank you Granger, I'll owl you later then" he said as she stood from her seat and then turned to his son and softly said, "Say thank you Scorp."
Hermione laughed lightly once more as she watched Scorpius playfully place his hand to his lips and then blow her a kiss followed by a "thank you Miss Hermione!"
She watched as they walked out of her office, she felt that strange longing for them to stay, similar to what she had been feeling when she was in Malfoy's hold earlier.
Ten minutes after they had left Hermione found she was still smiling like a fool. It had been a long time since she had last smiled that much in one day. It only got bigger when she received an owl from Malfoy to confirm they would meet at 6, and it was Hermione that suggested they meet at her apartment.
And while their meeting was surely to be purely all about helping Scorpius, she couldn't help the excitement that was starting to creep through.
She felt guilty at this, was it considered cheating that she was excited for this? Sighing she tried to focus on getting back to work. Too bad 6 o'clock was almost 3 hours away.
He had to make sure she knew he was serious about meeting up with her later that day. He had gone a week without seeing her after all.
As he made his way to Hermione's apartment, he thought back to the check-up. He was beyond relief that his son was okay… for now. It had been a tough week: Blaise badgering him for information on what was wrong; his mother on his case for not telling her that Scorp was in the hospital. And then to top it all off his mind was constantly plagued with images of Granger. Especially that somewhat intimate moment they shared in her office before they left. In fact it was all he could think of and it drove him crazy.
Whether or not she was with the Weasel was not a concern for Draco, what scared him was how amazing it felt to hold her close. Never had he felt something that electrifying, and that came from just holding her close. He could only imagine what it would be like to ki- NO ! you shouldn't even be thinking of that! He scolded himself. Dammit this woman already had him running in circles.
He stopped at her door and gathered the courage to knock. She smiled softly as she opened the door and stepped aside to let him in. Damn she really was gorgeous.
"Hi" she said as she led him through the house into the lounge. He noticed the simplicity yet stylish furnishings that were obviously picked out by Hermione.
"Before we start I just want to say thank you," he said as he sat down next to her.
"What for?" she asked confusedly.
"For being able to find it in your heart to help me."
A slight smile formed on her lips before she asked the first of many important questions that night, "Tell me about Scorpius."
Hermione noted the warm and bright smile that spread across Malfoy's face as he thought about his son, who was currently spending quality time with his grandmother.
"Hmm… Scorpius is well he's an amazingly strong little boy", he began, "he's my saviour. I don't know where I would be without him."
"What about his mother?" she inquired gently.
"She's not in our lives. And we like it that way." The look on Hermione's face told him to elaborate. "Let's just say she's not the motherly type. Our relationship was a mistake from the start, but when you're away from home … you learn to live with what you've got."
"Does she know that Scorpius is sick?"
He shrugged nonchalantly, "Does it matter? … What does this have to do with Scorp's health?"
"Well … It's just that while I have searched almost every possibility of what might be wrong I've found nothing. So we have to consider other options now. His condition could be caused not by his physical health but by other factors."
She saw confusion in his eyes, and she continued before he could say anything, "considering that he is a Malfoy, and the … history that your family has had we should definitely look at other options."
He didn't say anything but nodded mutely to acknowledge that he understood what she meant.
Draco was overcome with guilt. What if he had done this to his son? Scorpius didn't deserve any of this. It wasn't fair to him. Realising Granger was still waiting for a response from him, he cleared his throat before looking at here again, "so now what do we do?"
She sighed, knowing he would not like the answer she was about to give him, "We monitor his condition and we keep researching until we find something. We're not going to give up just yet."
"I can't lose him Hermione! We can't give up … he's really the only thing I'm proud of in my life. He means more to me than anything and I don't know what I wou-"
Unable to finish his sentence, he cast his eyes down to the table avoiding eye contact with Granger. However she knew what he was going to say and it broke her heart to see this side of Draco Malfoy. It shocked her when she realised a moment later that he had called her Hermione. He'd been doing than more often… and she had to admit, she liked how her name sounded coming from him.
Hermione felt helpless as she watched Malfoy, she felt dreadful about what she had to tell him, but she didn't want to lie to him or feed him false hope. He would never forgive her if she did, and for some reason that bothered her. A lot.
Draco's eyes flickered towards her as he felt a warm, soft hand cover his. She gave him a reassuring smile before uttering two powerful words, 'Trust me.'
He looked deep into her chocolate brown eyes and was completely astounded to see that she was totally sincere.
"We'll figure this out, I promise." She said softly as he enclosed her hand with his and nodded. They were quiet for a few moments before Hermione spoke again.
She relished in the contact. Her hands tingling under his and his gaze on her was unwavering.
"Tell me about his condition?" she asked, her hand still enclosed in his.
Draco sighed heavily, "Well, for starters, Scorp wasn't always sick. He was perfectly healthy and then one day he starts complaining about stomach pains. So I took him to the healer and they gave him a potion to for the pain. I figured it was normal, all kids get sick right?" he said with a heavy heart. "But he didn't get any better. The pain got worse and then he said that it wasn't just his stomach but his head that hurt too. When the pain became too much, his vision would go blurry and he'd faint.
I couldn't understand it nor could any of the healers. Everything they gave him either didn't work or he couldn't keep it down. I felt so helpless, there's nothing I can do to help him."
He looked at Hermione and was little surprised to see tears in her eyes. She nodded slightly for him to continue.
"After a while it got worse, the pain was becoming worse. There were times when I'd wake up in the middle of the night hearing him screaming and crying out in pain. Eventually I was able to produce a calming draught of some sought that would numb the pain and help him back to sleep. But I soon realised that we couldn't go on living like that, if he's going to get better , the answer lies with us coming back home." He'd stopped talking now and realised that Hermione was rubbing soothing circles on his hand.
"How is it that Blaise Zabini doesn't know?" Hermione asked curiously.
Draco was thoughtful for a moment before answering, "I honestly don't know how we managed to keep it from Blaise. Although Blaise is no idiot, he knew something was wrong, he just doesn't know what or how serious it is."
"Why don't you want to tell him?"
"What do I tell him? I don't even know what's wrong." He sighed once more and looked down at their adjoined hands.
"But we will, I promise we will find out what's wrong" she urged him gently.
Before she could gather the strength to pull away she heard the familiar roar from the fireplace. Looking up she saw Ron, standing a few feet from them, fuming and covered in soot.
"What the hell is going on here?!" he all but screamed.
"R-Ron!' Hermione stuttered, quickly pulling her hands away from Draco's. "What …what are you doing here?"
"ME! What are you doing? I thought you said you had a meeting! What the hell are you doing with this ferret?!" he yelled.
"I called Malfoy here to speak to him about an ongoing case-" but she never got the chance to finish as Ron rattled off again.
"Oh please! Not that again! You think I'm stupid 'Mione! I can see what's going on here." He motioned to the couch where moments ago their hands where adjoined.
"And just what exactly do you think is going on here Ronald?" she asked angrily.
"You're not very good at keeping your affairs a secret Hermione. Guess I should have seen it coming from someone like you." He retorted with vicious anger.
Draco had decided not to say anything, not trusting himself to not hurt the Weasel, but now he had crossed a line. He stood up briskly and faced the angered red-head.
"That's enough." He said, his voice shaking with anger. "You have absolutely no idea about what's going on here."
"I don't believe I asked for your opinion ferret. So sit back down"
"I really don't care what you asked for. Now if you don't mind, Granger and I were In the middle of a very important conversation.
"Why don't you be a good little boy and obey orders for once in your life and sit back down…or do you need me to help you with that too?" Ron taunted.
None of them were that stupid to realise that Ron was referring to Draco's order from Voldemort he received in sixth year. Big mistake.
Before Draco could respond however, he heard a resounding snap and saw that Hermione had managed to weave herself between them. He realised it was she who had just slapped a very shocked and angry looking Weasley.
Ron looked livid as Hermione proceeded to tell him off. "For Merlin sakes! GET OVER IT RONALD!" I can't believe you actually brought that up…again." She didn't say anything else as she grabbed her bag, and walked out of the apartment.
He ignored the Weasel, who was standing in the same spot, still looking shocked as ever as he walked out after Hermione.
She was further down the passage walking briskly towards the stairs. He called out to her as he ran to catch up.
"Granger! Hey Granger!" he called, but she was too consumed with anger to notice. Finally within reaching distance he reached out and gently grabbed her arm spinning her around to face him, "Hermione," he said softly as he heard a small sob escape her lips.
"Oh Draco ! I'm so sorry for what Ronald said! I can't believe he said those things! I thought he was over it all b-but I was wron-… I- I have to go. I'm sorry." And before he could even formulate a response she was gone. Leaving Draco very worried and confused.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the very delayed update! life's been very hectic. I want to thank everybody that has reviewed and added this story to their favourites! I promise to have another chapter to you very very soon ( no lies there! it's already written :P) I also want to thank my dear friend Katy who corrects my dreadful grammar! I would so lost without you dear one!
as I always love hearing from you please don't be shy to review! how knows if I get enough reviews I may just give out the next chapter before the week ends! I also have another favour to ask... now I am now big Twilight fan but I do love reading the EmmettxRosalie stories( mainly because I have the biggest crush on Emmett!) so anyways I was hoping you guys may be able to advise me on some really good ones.
enjoy!
xoxo
