Thanks for Dolphin02 for pointing out one of my errors.
The first thing she sensed around her was a warm bed, a horrible pain across her abdomen and slow breathing nearby. Opening her eyes, she saw it was dark and quiet. The room, bed and even she found, the breathing familiar. He was next to her, in 'their' bed, asleep. It was while she lay there, watching Draco Malfoy sleep soundly next to her, his hand sandwiched between his head and his pillow, squashing his face and his mouth slightly agape that she came to remember exactly how she got here. Or at the very least, she could piece together how she had gotten here from the vague foggy memories she had of what seemed a few hours ago. She had attempted to capture an enemy and had failed. She had been downed in a duel and had needed to be saved. She had needed to be saved again. Shame pooled in the bottom of her heart as she thought of it.
Shame quickly gave way to frustration. Hermione pushed herself up into a sitting position with a stab of pain like a knife tearing through her and a sharp intake of breath. How could she have let this happen to her? She had worked so hard to become better than her previous self. Years and countless hours training to improve upon her shortcomings that had been made evident during the Second War. Endless nights in the gym with Harry and Ron and so much time spent in the simulated mission rooms, they felt like a second home to her.
When she had been set upon by Snatchers. When she had been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. Ron leaving them. Attacked by Nagini. All of these events and more that could have been prevented if she had been stronger, faster, braver and bolder. If she had just been better. She had not been as headstrong as Harry or as brave as Ron. Bloody hell, even Neville had had more steel grit in his bones than she had at the time. After that War, she had felt like a failure, even after all of their victories, and she had sworn to herself to never feel like that again.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there fuming at herself before an annoyed voice clouded with sleep said "You're awake." She looked over at him as he looked disapprovingly on her. "I am." She said shortly. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. Like she had done wrong. And of course she had, she knew that herself. But she didn't need to be reminded of it. "What happened... afterward?" She was aware her tone of voice sounded haughty. But either she couldn't stop it or she didn't care. She wasn't sure which.
"Afterward? You mean after you barged out in front of a dangerous enemy with no information, no plan of attack, or no second thoughts?" He pushed himself out of bed and stood before her anger in his face. "You mean after you jeopardised one of the most important missions either of us has ever or will ever have the chance to be on, because you were impulsive and idiotic?" The anger at her had clearly been building up for a while before he had fallen asleep. She knew deep down everything his was saying was the truth, but she refused to admit it to herself. And she would most certainly never admit it to him. She told herself that what she had done wasn't as terrible as he was making it out to be, but she was finding it hard to justify her actions even to herself, so she chose to remain silent and simply attempted to stare him down.
He met her gaze, never backing down as he said "I took care of it. His suit absorbed curses, I managed to hit his skin and he went down. Before we left, I entered his mind with Legilimency and got any information I could. Obliviated him, put an undetectable tracking spell on him and brought the two of us back here. You are going to be out of action for a few days at least." He gestured to her, his disapproval and annoyance obvious. She scoffed back at him, throwing the covers back from herself and moved her legs over the side of the bed. These movements pained her greatly, sending waves after waves of sharp pains up and down her abdomen but she made sure to not let it show on her face. As she stood, she felt the connections her legs made to her back and the pressures upon them in the most painful way possible. She felt as if her lower back had been cracked in two and with a cry of agony collapsed to the floor. She had a moment of delirious panic, where she was sure this unbearable, unspeakable pain was a sign that she had lost her legs, that she would never walk again and that this was the end of her career as she knew it. It was a few seconds before she calmed herself quickly and realised she could feel the carpet burn on her knees where she had fallen and could feel her feet beneath her. Pulling herself up to sit back on the bed, she stared at Malfoy who had not moved. "What has happened to me?" Hermione tried to conceal the fear in her voice, but she did so badly. If he noticed this, it did not change his demeanour. Legilimency
"You were hit with a curse. I'm not sure what one, but it passed through your abdomen and has latched onto the bottom of your spine. It is dying, and will be gone by this time tomorrow. It'll take you longer than that to completely recover, though. My spells and potions have told me that much." Hermione managed to sit herself back upon the bed without much pain. It was obvious to Hermione that Malfoy had had to work over her for a few hours at least casting containment spells to keep the curse from spreading and feeding her potions to minimise the effects. Malfoy seemed to know she knew as well, but not a word of it passed between them.
"Yes well I'll be fine by tomorrow, I'm sure." Malfoy rolled his eyes and seemed to grow agitated at her again. She did not care.
"I'm sure." He repeated at her, condescendingly. She glared at him. "You know what, Granger, I'm getting really pissed off with your attitude problem. You act as if you're the greatest fucking agent to work in this field, like you practically originated the job. Like you're some kind of infallible God or something. I know and you know you used to be more brains than brawn and I never thought I'd say this but you were better back then. You left your head back in Hogwarts and sacrificed it to be stronger physically. It is almost always a choice made out of vanity and only leads to danger, as was perfectly evident today. I swear Hermione, if you ever put our mission or our lives in danger like that again, I will take you down a peg myself." And with that he turned and slammed the door out of the bedroom.
A couple of hours after that, Hermione awoke again in much the same way she did last night. Malfoy had not come back into the room, nor had she expected him to. She spent the rest of the day fuming at him and experimenting with walking. With ever passing hour the pain had lessened but she wasn't able to go far. She was sitting up in bed reading nearer the end of the day when Malfoy opened the bedroom door and made his way straight into the closet, not emerging until he was fully dressed and in his glamour. "I'm going out." He said simply.
"Without me?" She protested, sitting up suddenly, ignoring the pain it brought on.
"Yes, without you." He replied sharply. "You are incapacitated, through your own fault, you will be nothing but a liability. I'll give you the details when I get back." Before Hermione could stop him he had strode out the bedroom door and slammed it behind him. She may have to take him down a peg or two if he kept up like this, she thought to herself.