Author's Note: Here's chapter 9.
9.
Draco sprinted down the corridor and into the boys' lavatory, jamming his face into the nearest toilet bowl and purging himself of all the contents that rested in his bowels. He released it all until nothing came out with his violent retches, and he rested his hot face on the cold toilet seat. He tried to wrap his head around what had just happened moments before. He apologized to Granger, she was petrified of him, and then she lied for him to Dumbledore so he would not be expelled from Hogwarts. Flat out lied for no outward reason. He was flooded with a plethora of emotions now as he attempted to stand up, all of them muddied together so he was unable to even discern what he was really feeling. He picked one out of the mixed and dwelled on it. He chose the most familiar of the lot.
He hated Hermione Granger. He hated her. What if he did not want to live? What if he was perfectly fine with this new fate of being murdered by the hand of the Dark Lord so that he would never have to deal with anymore of this ever again? He would never have to see his father continue on with his putrid existence, watch his mother wither away into this shell she has become, stand by as his despicable aunt killed people for sport, or watch himself turn into something he never wanted to become in the first place. He looked in the mirror, sweat beading at the top of his forehead as strands of blonde fell from their designated places. He did not try to sweep them back. Instead, he turned on the sink faucet and thrust his face into the running water, letting it run across his face and into his hair. He hated Hermione Granger and he hated himself.
Snape stepped into his office and shut the door tightly behind him before he rested his face in his hands. He did not expect to see Draco leaving the hospital wing when they entered, and he certainly did not expect Hermione to lie for him. He did not know she was capable of lying for anyone. Especially a Slytherin and more especially Draco Malfoy. He straightened up when he heard a shuffling coming from the other side of the room.
"It is rude to snoop," he said dryly. Suddenly, a blonde figure in a silk, green overcoat emerged from behind a bookcase. She moved in a rigid fashion, as if her body ached and she were attempting to hide it. Snape rushed over to her and pulled over a chair for her to sit down. She held a hand to her forehead as she swayed. "Narcissa," he said, "what are you doing here?" Now that she was sitting and not about to fall over, he looked at her face and noticed a shade of purple circling her left eye and a pinkish-blue knot sprouting from her forehead, barely hidden under her hairline. "What happened to you?" He ran his thumb gently over the bump on her forehead, examining it carefully. Narcissa sniffed.
"Lucius. He found something of mine. I'm such a silly woman. It was my fault. I—" A light 'shh' came from Snape's lips as he stared at her, watching as the tears began to form on her bottom lashes.
"These things will never be your fault," he said. He stood up and headed for a small glass cabinet in the corner of the room. He picked out a small vial of clear liquid and a cloth. He wet the cloth with the potion and began to dab it over her eye carefully. "You deserve so much better, Narcissa." Narcissa sniffed again and looked up at him hopefully.
"Really, Severus?" Snape cleared his throat and looked away from her.
"Hold this on your eye." He walked over to his desk and turned his back to her. "What did Lucius find that made him so angry?" He could hear her stiffen up at this newly posed question, as if she was wondering if she should answer it truthfully.
She hesitated for a moment. "The post owl," she began shakily. "The post owl brought… a rather large bill to the house. Lucius did not like that I had spent so much money." Snape could tell that she was lying, but he did not question it. If she did not want to confide in him, he would not make her.
"Well, he married a woman with expensive taste," he said coldly. Narcissa gave a wet chuckle, not sure if this was comment was supposed to be sincere or a bit spiteful. Snape got into the glass cabinet once more and came back with two glasses of fire whisky. He handed one to her and she took it from him rather quickly. "So, what do I owe the pleasure for this visit?" He said. Narcissa took a hardy sip from her glass.
"I was here about my son," she said very matter-of-fact.
"Oh?" He said. Snape wondered how she had found out about the previous events occurring with Draco and Hermione. He sat down beside her. "Well, the Granger girl lied for him. After shattering her legs, I figured she would say anything to get him expelled but—"
"Expelled?" She questioned loudly. "What do you mean 'expelled?' Severus, the term just began! What in the bloody hell could have happened already that could have my son expelled?" She winced under her aching body. Snape paused for a moment. He had said too much already. He exhaled deeply and explained the entire situation. Narcissa began crying again. "I hoped he would not turn violent. Severus, I thought you were going to try to keep him from turning into this?"
"Narcissa," Snape said gently. "You know about how I felt about Lily Evans." Narcissa nodded, and gave him a puzzling look, like she did not know where he was going with this. "Lily saved me. If you want to save Draco's soul, I believe the only way is the most drastic way. We have to give him Lily Evans."
Her eyes widened. "And by Lily Evans you mean…"
"Hermione Granger."
It was nearly a month before Hermione walked back into the Potions classroom. Her recovery took much longer than expected, and as the days turned into weeks, Draco felt worse and worse about all of it, and hated her even more for making him feel so awful. The reason her recovery time nearly quadrupled made Draco despise Ronald Weasley even more, which he wondered how it was even possible. Hermione was just a day or two away from being released from her casts that surrounded her legs. Ron and Harry snuck into the hospital wing as the lanterns burned low and sat by her bed. They brought her candies from the weekend's trip to Hogsmeade. Harry gave her some chocolate frogs and cauldron cakes, and Ron brought a case of butterbeers for the three to share. Hermione took one sip and then her body went stiff and her back arched uncomfortable as she began to seize. Her mouth started to foam and her eyes rolled in the back of her head. Her limbs started to writhe uncontrollably. Harry yelled for Madame Pomfrey as Ron just stared at her, completely petrified at this sight of Hermione having a vicious seizure. Apparently, some ferments that were present in the butterbeer reacted with the pain killers she was taking. After Madame Pomfrey got Hermione through the seizure, her legs were rebroken from the rigidness and writhing, and Harry and Ron both got two weeks of detention.
Draco bore holes in the back of Ron's head as they took their seats in front of their cauldrons. Draco watched as Hermione squeezed herself at the end of the table beside Harry. Since she had not been present for most of the classes since the start of term, everyone was paired off, and she was the odd one out. She raked her fingers through her hair as Professor Slughorn singled her out.
"Miss Granger, you are in need of a partner, I see," he said as he scanned the room quickly, searching for an empty seat. Draco looked around, then noticed that Blaise was not beside him. Dammit! Blaise skipped class today to be with Daphne Greengrass. That bloated cow. Draco spread himself out and threw his bag beside him, to make it look like the space beside him was indeed occupied. But it obviously failed. "Ah!" Slughorn said as he caught Draco's eye. "There's a seat right beside Mister Malfoy! You will be partners today as we brew the Angel's Trumpet Draught!" Hermione bit her lip as she scooped up her books and headed toward the back of the class where Draco sat. He continued to sprawl out, barely giving her room to place her things on the table. "Now, please turn to page five-hundred twenty and we will get started! The first pair whose potion begins to sing carols wins the medal!" As Hermione pulled out her chair, Draco sprang up and headed toward the ingredients cabinet.
She was not sure how this was going to work. Was their interaction in the hospital wing last month going to turn things around? Were they friends? Were they supposed to be cordial toward each other now? Were they still neck and neck enemies and nothing will have changed? Hermione decided that who they were to each other would remain on Draco's shoulders. She would reciprocate whatever he gave her. If he was pleasant, she would be too. If he acted like an asshole to her, she would give him hell. And if he ever attacked her again, she wouldn't tell Dumbledore to expel him. She would poison him. Or smother him. Or inject air into his veins. She was no longer going to be his victim.
He returned a few minutes later with armfuls of ingredients and tonics. He set them down on the table and thumbed through his book, not even acknowledging Hermione's presence. Hermione said nothing as she reached for a vial of rat tonic and began to measure it out in a tiny spoon.
"Malfoy," she finally said softly as she chopped up some ashwinder eggs.
"Granger, please. Let's just make this potion and get this over with." Draco said with gritted teeth. Hermione paused for a moment. Obviously they weren't going to be overly cordial to each other.
"I was just going to recommend we use a lower temperature for heating the potion. I read in a book that just a difference of ten degrees can—"
"Of course, you read it in a fucking book, Granger. Do what you want, I don't give a damn." Somehow, Hermione felt that he was really holding back from what he normally would have said to her. No real insults. No name calling. The remaining two hours went by in muteness. They silently worked out a system that they would each work on every other line of instructions. Hermione dropped in the unicorn hairs, Draco turned up the heat under the cauldron, Hermione stirred seven times clockwise, Draco pulverized the horn of bicorn. This system worked out pretty well, since about five minutes before class was over, the pearly white liquid in their cauldron began to emanate a lovely rendition of The Boar's Head Carol which echoed loudly through the classroom.
"Well done! Miss Granger and Mister Malfoy have done it! And what an exquisite tune! Twenty points to Gryffindor and Slytherin, and you win today's medal!" Professor Slughorn sang as he draped a heavy silver trinket around Hermione's neck. For the first time in two hours, Hermione smiled as she thanked Professor Slughorn. She turned around to see Draco, but just caught a flash of his school robes as he swept out the back of the classroom and their cauldron had already been wiped clean. Spotless. Their potion that was for nobody's eyes except their own.
Author's Note: Yes, I realize there was not much exciting going on in this one. But, after New Year's I will be off for three days so I think I will have time to write a nice, big, fat, action-packed chapter (or two) for you hungry readers! So I hope this will hold you until then. If you enjoy this story, please, follow, favorite and review:)
