Thanks to vampirelover2007 and X-miss black-X- for your reviews!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!(:
There's no song for this chapter, only because it's short and somewhat pointless.
I also wanted to ask you guys a favor, and wondered if you could review this and tell me whether or not you listen to the songs while your read; and if you do, tell me if you enjoy them!!(: That's all I ask.
By the way, I really hope you guys don't hate me for this… You're going to have to read to find out what I'm talking about…. (I know it's short, but It's kind of like a tiny chapter that had to be written so it could help explain things later on in the story)
Ch 10 (Wishful thinking)
Three weeks later…
Draco and Blaise had spent the past three weeks getting ready for the members of The Army to show up, winded, and very much so- angry, at Hermione's front door step. They had both readied the newest member of the coven for the expected 'holier than thou' attitudes, and cries of displeasure the later Slytherin's would surely have taken on. But Hermione had assured both Draco and Blaise that she was more than ready to deal with her old classmates. Although Hermione was tired and the throbbing pain, deep in her neck never ceased to falter, Hermione could honestly say she was looking forward to the meeting. Even though Draco had said that she wouldn't be able to participate as much as she had hoped.
The past two weeks were hard to endure. With Hermione's constant complaining, and her and Draco's incessant bickering, the atmosphere almost became too difficult to bare. It was in the third week that things finally slowed down, and returned to normalcy. Hermione stopped complaining, and had pretty much discontinued talking altogether. Draco had assumed it had something to do with it all becoming to much, because he too, felt that way. Draco had to admit, it was nice when the two weren't fighting.
The meeting was something all three could agree, was going to be worth it. Hermione was verbally more and more enthralled, everyday. Although, her face had detected no such emotion.
Draco and Blaise continued to straighten up as much as they could while Hermione rewarded herself with a long, hot shower. Quickly peeling off her clothes; that seemed to be rather large now a days, Hermione stepped into the shower. The water pulsed through, overhead, drenching her wild locks and matting them to her pale, sunk-in face. The steam welled up inside of the small bathroom, causing Hermione to strain for fresh breath. The pain in her neck shot through her back and Hermione unconsciously gripped the handle to her shower door.
Too much.
The pain enveloped her in a cloud of velvety fog. She was frozen in place. One wrong move and Hermione would go rigid in a rush of undisrupted and intense pain. Her head throbbed, her muscles contracted. Darkness had swallowed her whole. And as fast at it had come, the awfully unpleasant pain ceased all together, flooding out of her fragile body, and was immediately replaced by pure, undiluted blackness.
Draco couldn't help but sense something was wrong. "What hadn't gone wrong in the past few weeks?" He often found himself questioning. Hermione and Draco fought incessantly, every single day the week after they had slept together. Draco knew that she was smart, but he had never known her to be so full of wisdom; that of which was way beyond her years. He also never knew her to be so bloody stubborn and passionate as she often appeared in his presence. It made arguing with her all the more exhausting to him.
But in that past week, Hermione changed. She stopped eating, she stopped arguing with him, she complained of constantly being in pain. And, much to his surprise, Draco was scared for her. He had never seen Hermione look so fragile, and weak than she had appeared lately. It absolutely terrified him to think that maybe something was indeed wrong with her. But with thinking that, Draco immediately found reason to believe that Hermione would be fine, and that her sudden change in character was a mere figment of his overactive imagination.
Within the past few days, Hermione locked herself in her room, and only came out when she had to listen to the two slytherin boys (currently living in her only guest bedroom), and to cook . She never spoke, nor did she clean, or even look at Draco. She existed. And it seemed to both Draco and Blaise that it was surprisingly enough for her. She only lived to breathe, lately. That was not the Hermione Draco had known back at school. Whenever he had insinuated a fight on purpose, which was often now, she merely agreed with his obscene, and inconclusive point and walked, alone, to her bedroom, promptly slamming the door in her wake.
Thinking of all these new characteristics of Hermione Granger, was what had driven Draco to check on Hermione while she showered. His mind was securely focused on the safety of his old classmate, and nothing more.
Draco quickly opened the door, which had been unlocked, and closed it behind him. He heard no noise, nor was there even a slight indication of any person showering in that bathroom, let alone a loud mouth, hot headed, Hermione Granger, who he knew for a fact both talked to herself, and sang loudly in the shower. Draco lifted the bright blue curtain shielding the bathtub, revealing Hermione Granger, shriveled up on the floor of her shower, clutching her knees to her bare chest. Water trickling off her thick, black eyelashes and onto her flushed face. She was gone. Passed out, stone cold, on the floor of her shower.
Immediately, Draco panicked. He could care less what she would say to him when she woke; it most likely would be something along the lines of 'I can't believe you came in to look at me showering!' Draco had also guessed her cheeks would turn a bright shade of scarlet upon shouting this at him. But now, all the color was drained from her cheeks. Her eyelids were protruding out of her bony face, and her lips seemed a pale shade of purple.
Draco turned off the water in a frenzy, and before anymore feelings could swallow his train of thought, he lifted Hermione out of the tub, and tried to shudder her awake.
"Hermione, Hermione." Draco shook her shoulders. Her eyes fluttered open, only momentarily before falling shut again, on their own impulse. "Hermione, wake up." Draco held her face in his hands, his voice trembling ever so slightly.
Hermione stirred awake, reaching up to grab Draco's hand. He sighed in relief, peeling pieces of her long, sodden hair away from her face. Hermione leaned her head forward and shook it back and forth, before shutting her eyes and wincing in pain. Draco held a towel around her folded frame, and helped her up out of the bathtub. She quickly followed his lead, out of the shower, wobbling a bit as she stood. Draco looked down at her, her eyes involuntarily shutting out the light from the overhead bulb, and scooped her weak body up into his arms.
Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, as he walked both of them into her room. She said nothing about him 'checking in' on her, in the shower, but instead, tucked her head deep into Draco's warm, solid chest. The blackness threatened to overtake her again, but Hermione refused by opening her eyes, and surrounding herself with light.
Draco shut her bedroom door behind them, placing Hermione gently on the bed. She barely had time to notice what he had been rummaging through her drawers for, before she felt Draco's careful hands, sliding on her undergarments. Hermione would have normally objected, had she not been so incredibly tired. She leaned upwards, so that Draco could pull her tiny tank top over her head. He stopped and cupped her small face in his hands, worry plagued his polished, silvery green eyes. Draco lifted Hermione off the bed, pulling her hand to rest on his shoulder, as he slipped on a pair of her pajama pants.
"Hermione?" Draco asked. She merely looked down at him. She was so weak it was unnerving.
"Hmmm?" She sat back down on top of her bed, patting the spot next to her for Draco.
"What have you eaten today?" Hermione sighed. She honestly couldn't remember what she had eaten that day. Actually, Hermione couldn't really remember the last time she had eaten anything.
She tried to eat, but all that had ensued was it's re-appearance in her toilet, or bathroom sink.
"Nothing, really." She replied, wiping beads of sweat off her forehead. Draco looked down at her, noticing how incredibly small she looked. He felt as though it had been his fault that she ended up this way. Like he wasn't taking good enough care of her. He wasn't watching whether or not she ate. He hadn't known that she was getting sick, and he definitely hadn't noticed all the color slowly drain away from her face. All he noticed was her lack of Hermione-ness. He missed it more than he would care to admit.
"Alright, well we need you to eat some food. I'm canceling the meeting tonight, and don't try to argue with me, cause you'll only loose." Draco slipped his hand over Hermione's and she pulled back, shaking her head in agreement.
"I'm really hot." Draco looked at Hermione thoroughly before replying. A small smirk, dragging itself along his pale cheek.
"Yeah, I won't disagree there." Hermione smiled, only slightly, and swallowed hard, holding back the tears that threatened to spill over her long, dark lashes.
"No, I mean, I'm really hot. I feel like I can't breathe." Draco's brow furrowed as he took Hermione's scrunchy off the end of her bedpost, and tied her hair up, away from her face, high above her head.
"Alright, lean back in bed. You're not getting up for anything tonight." Hermione didn't argue. She simply did as she was told and rolled her shirt up past her stomach so that she lay in only her bra and pajama pants. Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket and muttered a small cooling charm over her body. Hermione groaned and held tightly to her quilted duvet. A small hint of color stained her cheeks, but was immediately drained from her face, as the cooling charm evaporated. "Hermione." Draco whispered. "I think we need to take you to St. Mungo's." Hermione nodded her head, back and forth, wildly.
"No, I'll be fine. I just need you to stay here with me." Draco shook his head at Hermione.
"No, we need to take you to the hospital. You look awful." In his mind, Draco had already noted that this could not possibly be the flu. Nor a cold of any kind. Hermione was truly sick, and she needed to be apparated to St. Mungo's as soon as possible. Draco knew she wouldn't allow it, but persisted in arguing with Hermione, for him to take her there.
"Just get me some water, and a cold cloth, or something, Draco. I'll be fine." Hermione's eyes shut again, as she clutched her comforter, clearly in pain. Draco nodded his head, and kissed her cheek, before leaving her room.
"What's wrong with her?' Blaise wondered aloud, as Draco pulled the cold cloth out from underneath the tap. "She didn't look so great." Draco nodded again, still slightly upset that Hermione insisted on staying home rather than going to the hospital.
"Yeah, she's really sick, and she won't let me take her to St. Mungo's or cancel the meeting." Blaise raised his eyebrows suspiciously, and turned back to the television. I'm going to stay with her until everyone starts to show up. Hopefully she eats this and can get some sleep." Blaise shook his head in agreement, as Draco shuffled into Hermione's room with a cold cloth, a glass of water, and a packet of crackers. She groaned loudly at the sight of the food,
"Oh, could you just forget trying to feed me, it's not going to work." Hermione sighed. "I haven't been able to keep anything down this past week."
"No. Either you eat here, of I take you to the hospital." Draco would not loose this fight. "Your choice." Hermione snorted and sat up, slightly, only to be pushed down by Draco's firm hands. "Just relax, alright?" Hermione sighed again, but in relief. "Try and get some sleep tonight."
Draco silently wondered how long she had been sick, but didn't bother asking. He figured it had been just these past two or three weeks. He wondered how bad it had been, and how much worse it could have gotten before she had told him. Or before she had apparated herself to the hospital. He assumed she would never let him take her. That was, after all, her true nature. Always believing she could take care of herself. Even if she truly knew, deep down, that she needed help.
Xoxo--
Hermione shuffled out of her room, still in her bra and pajama bottoms, into her kitchen, to grab another glass of water. Heat had overturned her bieng, and beads of cold sweat coated her body as she slept. Every member of The Army turned to look at her in her revealing outfit, before Hermione could realise that she was not the only one present in her kitchen, and cover herself up.
"Sweet Merlin!" She screamed as she lay her eyes upon the full spectrum of Army Members seated at her kitchen table. Hermione's body wavered slightly, as she perched her tiny white fists, over the counter.
Draco walked up to her, resting a long finger under her chin, and pulling her face up to his. "Hermione, this is The Army." Draco didn't take the time to introduce every single one of the members, for fear that it would make her head spin even more. "Why don't we get you to bed?" Draco suggested. Hermione clutched her cup of water, tightly in one hand, and held herself steady with the other.
"I think I'm perfectly capable of-"
The kitchen spun around her. The members faces twirled around in her mind, a few sole images of them swimming around in her brain. Hermione's hand slipped off the sink, sending her body crashing down to her hard, marble floor. The lights overhead flashed brilliantly, and in an instant they were gone. Every single light was gone, and Hermione was finally enveloped in another blazing explosion of darkness.
One which lasted all the way to St. Mungo's.
A/N: I know this is short, but it just helps to hold the story together. Bare with me. (: Review and tell me about the songs and such!! I'll make sure to reply or thank you in my next chapter. A lot of you guys have been faithful reviewers and I don't think you know how much I appreciate it!!(:
Till next time,
Stellarxmystery.