Sorry guys I really did try to get this chap up like fifteen times in the past week...but for some reason it wouldn't let me...but I did now...and here it is...lol...I hope you enjoy.
Oh and another one should be up shortly...
Disclaimer: Uh...no change...haven't magically become J.K...sorry guys...
Sickness Returns
The suns warm rays strayed into their room early the next morning, waking Draco immediately. Frustrated he rose from the bed and staggered disoriented to the open curtains of the window. He'd checked the clock and noted that it was much too early to be awake, therefore he was going to shut the curtains and climb back into his warm bed beside Hermione.
When he reached the window he took a fistful of each curtain in his hands but before pulling them closed he gazed out on the early morning activities of the wildlife that surrounded the school. He saw birds flying by chirping while small woodland creatures scampered about. It was so cute that it was almost sickening.
Roughly, for mornings were not Draco's favourite times of day, he closed the curtains throwing the room back into an artificial darkness. He turned about and walked back to the bed, noticing something odd with Hermione. During the night she'd thrown off all her covers and now lay there in the bed pale and sweaty.
"Oh no." Draco said as he rounded the bed, knowing all to well what those symptoms led to.
Draco reached out and touched her head only to feel the heat and coolness of her sweaty skin. Her hair was stuck to the sides of her face in wet strings that Draco pushed away.
"Hermione." He said softly. She didn't stir.
Draco looked at the clock again wondering if his mother was awake. He would have to find out for she was the only one really familiar with the illness. He didn't want to bring Madam Pomfrey to their room if it wasn't needed; it might just be another relapse. His mother, he knew had kept extras of the potion she'd been giving Hermione to cure her. He could get some and Hermione would be better by the next morning. Hurriedly he dressed, preparing to Floo over to his parent's home.
When he stepped from the grate a few minutes later he stopped to dust himself off before moving towards the stairs. He knew that his mother was probably upstairs. He wasn't sure if his father was home because lately he'd been leaving early for meetings and such.
"Mother!" Draco called and heard the sound of rushed feet. His mother appeared down the hall coming out of an empty bedroom.
"Draco, what are you doing here?" she asked coming forward concern on her face.
"Hermione's relapsed." Draco said softly.
"But Draco's she was cured." Narcissa said.
"Well than she's sick again. Where's the potion that you gave to her?"
"I'll have to prepare some. It'll take a day or two. I will send some as soon as I can."
"You don't have any left at all?" Draco asked.
"I gave her the last of it before she was taken back."
"Should I take her to Madam Pomfrey instead?" Draco asked his mother. Narcissa noticed that he seemed genuinely concerned for Hermione's well being.
"If her symptoms get any worse by tomorrow owl me. I will come to the school and explain everything to Madam Pomfrey. What Hermione has isn't a normal bug."
"And you say in a day or two the medicine will be ready." Draco asked.
"Yes Draco, then I will send you as many doses as I can. I will continue making it until we are absolutely sure that she's cured. Now go back to her, she needs to keep cool and hydrated."
Draco merely nodded before disappearing down the stairs. Narcissa turned and headed back to the empty bedroom where she'd been talking to Madam X.
"The plans are in motion. Hermione took the first dose. I will go to the school tomorrow to inform Minerva of our plans and she will tell her nurse."
"Excellent. It is quite possible that this will last longer than I foresaw."
"Do you mean to say you never saw this successfully finished?" Narcissa asked gripping the handles of the chair.
"As I told the girl yesterday, what I see is not what will always be. The future is easily changed. One merely must decide to do something differently and the entire future can be affected. For instance had the girl chosen not to take the potion, the worlds fate would be much different."
"How far do you see this going?" Narcissa asked.
"That, is something no one can know. If you know the future, you would do everything in your power to change it, which would leave you right where you started, in the unknown." Narcissa looked worried but sipped at her tea quietly, not objecting to the wise old woman before her.
That evening Hermione lay in the bed shivering and shaking, a cool cloth on her forehead and the covers pulled up to her chin. Draco sat at the end of the bed working on homework and watching her as she slept. It had been the devil to finally get her to relax enough to sleep, but now that she was she looked as peaceful as she could, being as sick as she was.
Hermione had spent the whole day resisting his attempts to take care of her, claiming that she was going to do it herself. She'd tried many times to push him away from her when he attempted to pull her blankets up but her body was far to weak. Many times he'd wanted nothing more than to leave her there to fend for herself but all he could remember was the last time she'd been that sick. He remembered her nightmares and her tears and knew that he couldn't let her go through that, not if he could help it.
As he sat on the bed glancing every once in a while at his book but not even seeing it, he heard a knock. He turned in the direction of the portrait hole, wondering who would be knocking on his portrait at such a late hour. Standing, and taking one last glance at Hermione, he started toward the portrait hole.
Draco opened the portrait hole and came face to face with no one. He stuck his head out into the hall and looked about wondering who would play a prank on the heads dorm so late at night.
"Who's out there?" Draco asked in a whisper.
"Move out of the way Malfoy." Said the voice of Harry Potter.
Draco stepped back his eyes moving back and forth, looking for the body to go with the voice. Why was Potter at the Heads dorm at such a late hour and how was he invisible. Draco felt something pass him and figured that Potter was behind him. He turned and there stood not only Potter but Weasley as well. An invisibility cloak was draped over Harry's arm.
"What are you two doing here?" Draco asked looking towards the bedroom.
"What have you done to Hermione?" Ron demanded.
"Merlin Ron I thought you said you'd be calm." Harry said glaring at his friend.
"I haven't done anything to her. She's gotten sick again. I've been taking care of her all day." Draco said walking back into the bedroom inviting his enemies to follow.
Harry and Ron walked forward, entering the room that their best friend shared with Draco Malfoy. She was currently lying in the bed, her cloth lying on the pillow beside her head. She'd kicked the covers half off from the obvious discomfort of the heat of her fever. Draco walked around the bedside and pulled the covers up.
"What's wrong with her Malfoy?" Harry asked watching his actions with curiosity.
"I'm not really sure what it is that she has, but it comes and goes. This is how it is when it's the worst. She has a high fever right now, but there's nothing I can do without the medicine." Draco said softly.
"Where is it? Why don't you just take her to Pomfrey?" Ron asked staring at Hermione.
"Because Madam Pomfrey doesn't know the case. My mother was the one that took care of her. She's making the medicine right now, but I have to break the fever before we give it to her."
"How do you do that?" Harry asked.
"Wait."
"She just got sick, no warning?" Harry asked taking a seat on the bed.
"That's how this virus works. The symptoms are a lot like the flu, except sometimes she has these vivid nightmares during it, and the fact that it comes and goes."
"You mean it just goes away and she's healthy, then it comes back?" Harry asked.
"Not really. She's not going to be right now. She'll always feel a little sick; sometimes she'll have dizzy spells. But is should be cured again once we get her the medicine."
Harry nodded in understanding. He knew that Malfoy wouldn't let anything happen to her. But he still couldn't help but wonder why he was there, taking care of her when he could have just taken her to Madam Pomfrey. The woman would be able to take care of Hermione quickly, not even needing to know the previous care.
"Did you get a letter as well?" Harry asked after a few moments of awkward silence.
"Yeah. We received it yesterday when we returned from visiting with my parents."
"And your meeting." Harry said smiling.
"Shut up Potter." Draco said throwing him a look. Potter would forever know where he went now that he was married to Hermione.
"You know it wouldn't hurt to talk to the Order."
"Except for the fact that if the Dark Lord learned of it I'd be whipped as badly as Hermione had been." Draco said looking Potter in the eyes again.
"I guess. But it's not like your telling us anything we didn't already know."
"Then why am I going?"
"That's not the only thing on the agenda. There's a lot to discuss. You don't realize it Malfoy but now that you and Hermione are married, things change drastically for both sides."
"I knew that Potter."
"But do you realize the severity of it?" Harry asked looking at Hermione again.
"Get to the point if there is one Potter." Draco commanded curiously.
"Hermione won't be able to be privy to all the information that she normally is. We cant use her really because Voldemort could extract the information from her."
"That's where you're wrong Potter."
"Oh really then." Harry said leaning back. "Enlighten me."
"Hermione isn't really important to the Dark Lord. Her body is. We need the baby that's all. The information she might have, though it might be useful, would take to much time to get. Hermione's strong she wouldn't obey him. He doesn't want to harm her, he just wants her baby, our baby."
"What if she has a girl?" Came Ron's soft question.
"We're doomed." Draco said.
"What happens?"
"No one's sure really. No one knows the rest of the Prophecy. We only know that she has to have a boy for something good to happen to the Dark side. Something bad happens if it's a girl I guess."
"Enough about this." Harry said after a moment. He didn't want to hear anymore, it only seemed to make things tenser between them all.
Hermione could hear their voices faintly. She knew that they were there and it made her happy. She hoped Draco was treating them nicely. She hoped that they were all being civil, for she was sure if she would be able to take their fighting right now. Her body ached, she was so hot and nothing seemed to be helping. She wished at that moment that she hadn't taken the potion.
The softest moan escaped Hermione's lips as she tried to open her eyes to look upon her friends. Draco turned at the sound and saw her head turning slowly to face them.
"You need to rest." He said to her in a tone so unlike him it surprised Harry.
"Draco." She said weakly. "I'm thirsty."
"I'll get you some water. Maybe you two should leave. She needs to rest or the fever will never break." Draco said standing.
"Goodnight Hermione. Feel better." Ron said softly giving her hand a squeeze.
"You'll be fine soon Hermione." Harry said softly giving her a reassuring smile.
They walked with Draco out of the room and Hermione listened softly for the sound of the portrait opening. As quickly as she could, though she was weak, she opened the drawer and took out another vial. She uncorked it and drank down every drop. Closing the drawer she shoved the vial under her pillow and let her arm fall to her side exhausted.
Draco returned carrying a glass of water. He sat beside her and put it to her lips, tipping it back so she could drink. Her forehead glistened with sweat for the fever still hadn't broken. She couldn't seem to cool down and he knew that she needed too soon.
He was as worried as he'd been the last time. She opened her eyes to look at him and tried to smile. Draco knew that he hated doing this for her but he also knew that she was grateful for it, though she didn't like it either.
Standing he walked to the closet and changed into a pair of pyjamas. Slipping himself between the cool covers beside her Draco drifted off into a fitful sleep. His dreams were plagued with the usual things, Voldemort and himself getting his mark. But something changed midway through the night.
Draco was suddenly in a dark stone walled room. The ceilings were high and there were no windows and only one small wooden door. He was standing in the center looking about though there was no light to see anything clearly. The air was chilled like it was winter wherever it was that he was. He could hear something coming from somewhere else, something that sounded like crying, but not just normal crying, the high pitched screams of a baby.
Draco shuffled across the dark room toward the door, which now had a bar of golden light shinning brightly at the bottom. He reached out and turned the knob, curious to know what was beyond. With one quick motion he pulled the door opened and stood in the frame, staring into the next room with surprise and terror.
There was a grate that held a bright large flickering fire within it. The room was empty save for two things. On his left he saw a beautiful black wicker bassinet. Blankets of the softest material, in the deepest black covered the wailing child. Draco couldn't see the baby, only hear it's cries and it's angered tiny little fist wiggling once and a while. He stared at the bassinet for what felt like hours, a thousand things running through his head.
He was so caught up in the bassinet that he almost forgot about the other object that was positioned to his right. He turned his attention upon the shiny metallic silver coffin; one end propped open to display its contents. Unlike the bassinet Draco couldn't tell what, or who, was inside the coffin. He approached cautiously his eyes never leaving the shimmering exterior. The interior was made of black velvet, embroidered with the Malfoy crest. At first Draco thought it was for him, but upon closer inspection he saw that that was not who it was meant for.
Hermione laid perfectly still, her face pale from death. Her eyes were closed, her hair spread out neatly behind her. Her arms were folded on her stomach. She looked like a doll, fashioned in a specific way to look presentable. She was wearing a set of emerald green dress robes.
Draco couldn't breath. Hermione was dead, lying there in the coffin so still. She looked asleep but everyone knew better. Their baby cried loudly beside her dead body, and Draco couldn't turn to look upon him. He shivered as he stumbled backwards away from the coffin, his heart beginning to pound mercilessly in his chest.
"Hermione." He said in barely a whisper as a tear started down his face.
He fell to his knees barely noticing the pain that shot through them from hitting the jagged stone floor. His eyes couldn't seem to look away from her shinning silver box. He'd noticed the rings on her fingers were gone, taken from her, to symbolize that she no longer belonged to him.
Footsteps brought Draco from his wild thoughts. He looked up to see his father enter through the same door he had. The firelight made his face appear even more pale than usual. His eyes were icy as they fell upon the coffin and didn't soften when they looked toward the bassinet either. They finally turned on the obviously confused and distraught Draco who still knelt on the floor.
"Get in here." He called behind him; Draco wondered whom it was that he spoke to.
Pansy entered looking smug, and Draco saw his wife's rings sparkling on her finger. He stared at her as she crossed the room and gazed into the coffin. Draco couldn't seem to speak or move; though he knew he wanted so badly to lunge at his father and probably slap Pansy.
Pansy smiled a most evil smile at the body lying in the coffin, and then did something that made Draco want to not slap her, but kill her all together. She spit on Hermione, calling her filth, before slamming and locking the heavy lid. Draco watched in horror as his father levitated the coffin and hurled it into the roaring fire. He watched it burn, tears still streaming down his face.
Pansy smiled happily as she turned to the bassinet. She reached in and picked up the screaming child who immediately stopped his howling. She cradled the child looking upon it as if she'd been the one to give birth. Then she looked up and her eyes connected with his.
"Our son Draco." She said softly as his father turned, leaving the room.
Draco jerked awake, sweat pouring down his face and bear chest. The room was pitch black around him and for a moment he thought that he was back in the room again. But he turned in the bed, praying that it was Hermione he looked upon.
There she lay, sleeping soundly, her face rosy from the heat of the fever. He reached out and lightly touched her face, just to confirm the fact that it was she he was looking upon. Hermione didn't stir. She lay there her soft breath tickling his hand as his fingers caressed. Draco lay back down, resting his spinning head on the pillow and staring up at the ceiling. That was the most vivid and awful dream he'd ever had.
But Hermione was safe, she wasn't dead and she certainly hadn't had a child. She was just sleeping there beside him, right where she was supposed to be. Draco couldn't figure out why he was so frightened of loosing her, but he knew at that moment that he was.
'You love her.' Said a voice in his head, a little voice that Draco loved more than anything to ignore.
"I can't." he said softly into the cool night air.
The fog gathered on the ground outside. It swirled into mystical clouds as Draco drifted off into a dreamless sleep. The silence made the night seem dangerous. The forest was as dark and forboding as ever yet something within it moved secretly. A set of shimmering black eyes, blended flawlessly with their surroundings stared eerily toward Hogwarts. They watched the castle as a set of pale white hands pulled the thick black cloak tighter around the skinny body.
A wicked smile spread across the beings face, a smile to rival Voldemort's own. With one quick motion the being turned, the expensive cloak billowing behind him and walked off into the night through the Forbidden Forest. He had been unseen and unnoticed for the past week, merely observing, he could stay that way. He would return to his small makeshift home deep within the trees, protected by the stongest spells, and the smartest wits. He would not be discovered any time soon, and his plan would surely be complete by then.
Well then...who could the mysterious male in the forest be??? Don't get him confused with Madame X, who was the figure Narcissa was speaking to...and there was a question about something that Madame X said to Hermione...heres the answer...
Madame X told Hermione that she should take the potion at the same time each day, suggesting to her that she take it in the morning, however Hermione decided to take it at night. Narcissa told Hermione that she would send the first three doses with her, having some left over from the last time. Hermione took the three vials and that's all she has until Narcissa makes more and takes it to the castle, masking it as a curing potion.
Any other questions don't hesitate to ask...
Starry
