That day we hadn't seen Draco. He said he was going to sleep and so he did. He must have taken his medicine because he was so sleepy, at least that was what I was hoping.
That night he hadn't come down for dinner-which I cooked. I had made some soup, mostly hoping that when Draco woke up and was hungry he would have something nice to eat.
After dinner I let George clean the kitchen while I went upstairs to check on Draco. I gently knocked on his door, much like I had done earlier and much like earlier I had no answer.
I slowly walked in and saw him underneath the blankets. He was completely asleep but what caught my attention was that he was sweating.
I scrunched my eyebrows together, I was starting to get nervous that he may have a fever. But even if he did it wouldn't really be a big problem, right?
But the other thing I as noticing was that he was shivering…as if it were zero degrees in here.
That had made me a bit nervous. It also proved to me that he had gotten a fever. I sighed as I slowly and quietly walked across his room. I reached out and placed my hand on his forehead. He was burning up.
I guess he had felt my cold hand touch him and he slowly opened his eyes, before looking at me and giving a weak smile.
"Hey." He said. His voice sounded weird, like his throat was very dry. Probably from coughing.
I moved my hand, and sat down beside him. "Hey. How are you feeling?" I asked. He shrugged.
"Okay I guess. My chest kind of hurts, but that's probably from coughing." He explained.
I nodded my head, "Yeah probably. Are you hungry?" I asked.
"Not really. I'm sorry." He said.
I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair, "Hey, it's okay. But you are going to have to eat breakfast, okay?"
"Ok." He said turning his face into the pillows.
I wanted to know how high his fever was. I needed to know.
So I got up from his bed and left his room, leaving his door open. I went to the kitchen and searched through the cabinets until I found the thermometer. I went back upstairs to his room and gently closed the door behind me, once I stepped in.
He hadn't moved since I left.
I walked over to him and gently put my hand on his shoulder, "Draco…may I check your temperature?" I asked once he looked at me.
I looked at me for a second, thinking about what I had just said. He nodded his head and I put the thermometer underneath his tongue and held it there for a couple of minutes. When I removed it I read it. 101.2, I sighed. That was a high fever.
"How bad?" I heard him ask.
I didn't take my eyes off of the thermometer, "Over a 100." I say.
He must have really gotten sick since last night, considering last night he didn't have a fever-or it was very low.
The rest of the night he seemed to sleep only once and awhile coughing in his sleep. I could hear his coughs from my room, but not once did they seem to get bad enough to where I would get up and check on him. I mean he only coughed like three times before it stopped.
The next morning we were eating breakfast and I remembered how Draco promised he would eat something in the morning. So I went to his room and knocked on his door, surprisingly I got a response.
"Yeah?" He said from behind the door.
I opened it and stood in the door frame, my hand still on the doorknob. He still looked like he felt awful, but I could also tell he was trying to hide something. He was still lying in bed but was facing the door.
"Breakfast. It's ready." I say.
"I know I promised but please, Granger, I don't feel very hungry." He said before he started to cough again.
His coughs were getting worse. They were starting to sound painful, and deep. They were dry coughs and I started to think that the coughing syrup had done no good.
He was still coughing and I walked over to him and sat beside him and rubbed my hand in circles on his back.
It didn't seem to help his coughs much but it seemed to soothe him a bit.
Once he stopped he looked at me, "Sorry." He said.
I looked at him, kind of confused. "What for?" I asked.
"Coughing like that." He said.
"It's fine. You cant help coughing." I say.
He nods his head and sits up while I scoot up in the bed and leaned against the headboard.
I outstretched my arms, signaling for him to come to me. He didn't hesitate a moment before he came to lie his head on my shoulder. And I wrapped my arms around him.
I knew that right then I knew he wasn't feeling very well at all. He didn't cough very many times, but if he did, then it wasn't that long. Before long he had fallen asleep lying on my shoulder.
But what bothered me was a wheezing noise he was making. I just thought it was from his cough. I mean what else could it be?
I sat there with him lying on my shoulder for a couple of hours, I had actually fallen asleep with my head on top of his head.
It was probably sundown when I woke back up, but he hadn't. I was starting to think that what he had was more than a cold. He was shivering in his sleep again and it made me feel so helpless that I couldn't do anything to make him warm.
Or maybe he had just caught something from someone in town. I mean it was winter, that was when most people got sick.
I sat there for awhile before I heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." I said loud enough for them to hear me, but it still didn't wake Draco up.
Emma opened the door and looked at us, "How is he?"
I looked down at Draco.
"I don't think he's doing very well."Wake him up. Dinner is ready." She said before closing the door.
I gently shook him awake.
"Draco…" I said in a quiet voice. He stirred in his sleep a little bit before he woke up. "Mmm…" Was all he said.
"Sweetie, dinner is ready. Please come eat." I say, hoping he caught of everything I had just said.
He did because he mumbled, "Not hungry."
"Draco…please. You haven't eaten in almost a whole day."
It was silent for a second, I was starting to think that he had fallen back asleep. "What is it?" He asked getting off my shoulder and lying down on the pillows. "I'm not sure."
He sighed. "Okay." He said before getting up. I got off the bed and waited for him to follow me to the door.
Once downstairs we sat at the table, Draco had asked me to sit beside him, so I did. Emma had made soup again, actually I thought it was the left over soup from last night just reheated.
While I was eating Draco only stared down at his. His eyes saying his mind was a million miles away. I bumped him on his arm and he glanced over at me, "Would you like something else?" I asked and I could tell everyone was looking at him.
"No…no I'm not hungry." He said staring down at his bowl.
"Drake…" Emma started to say and we both looked up at her, "Please, eat. You might feel better if you do."
I rubbed him on his back, "Would you like some crackers?" I asked.
He nodded yes, so I got up and went to the pantry. I looked through the shelves and searched for crackers. Finally I found them and walked out. When I was walking back I looked at Draco, his personality was fading away. He needed to get better soon so that he could be bright and cheery again.
"Here you go." I said handing them to him.
"Thanks." He said taking them away from me and putting some in his soup and some on the side of the bowl.
He slowly ate a little at a time. 'At least he is eating.' I thought to myself. After about twenty minutes he stopped eating and said he wasn't hungry anymore.
He hadn't eaten that much, maybe half of the soup.
"Please…eat a little more." I asked.
"Hermione, I'm not hungry. That's it." He said looking at me.
I nodded my head and avoided eye contact. He reached over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, "I'm sorry. I'm just not that hungry." He said in a voice that was tired.
I nodded my head and stood up-taking his bowl of soup with me-and walked over to the sink where I started to clean dishes.
Once I cleaned the dishes and turned around, expecting to see Draco still sitting in the chair, I realized I was alone in the kitchen. Draco must have silently walked back upstairs to his room.
I turned off the kitchen light and went upstairs to my own room and shut my door. It was a long day. When I looked out my window I noticed it was snowing again, I sighed. I was so tired of snow.
I crawled up in bed and hoped that tomorrow Draco would be better. He needed to get better.
The next morning we ate cereal. Emma had told me I should try to get Draco to eat some, since he seemed to listen to me more than anyone.
I nodded and made a bowl for him. Then I headed upstairs and opened his door. His room was dark and stuffy. I wanted to open the window.
I set the bowl on the bedside table and sat on his bed. He was still shaking as if he were cold, even though it was very, very warm in his room.
I brought my thumb up and rubbed his cheek, expecting him to wake up. But he stirred in his sleep instead. Finally he looked at me, "Hey." He whispered. He was so weak. I was starting to hear it in his voice.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked, hoping the answer was a good answer. But instead he groaned and I took it as a hint. He wasn't feeling any better.
Just then he jerked and started coughing again. His coughs where horrible sounding. They sounded painful. I closed my eyes-I didn't want to see him in pain like that-and brought my hand and rested it on his shoulder until he stopped coughing.
He ran his fingers through his hair and I thought of something, I saw him sitting on my couch like he had done the first day of this adventure. I almost wanted to cry having that image in my head.
"It hurts." He said holding his chest.
I frowned and traced circles on his shoulder with my thumb, "I know, sweetie." There was absolutely nothing that I could do. I felt so helpless. But Draco was strong, and not just physically. Mentally too. He could fight this sickness off. I knew he could. He had to.
"Let's sit you up." I say to him. I waited for him to get up himself but he didn't. I realized he didn't have the energy to.
I placed my arms underneath his and pulled him up, leaning against the headboard. Never I had I felt him be so weak, his body so limp. He was slipping away from me. He watched me with a fever gaze, and I wondered what he was thinking.
I reached over him and grabbed the bowl of cereal. He scrunched his face in disgusted once he realized what I wanted.
"I'm not hungry, Hermione." He said.
I sighed, "Please. Just eat a little bit…for me."
He brought his arms up and rubbed his eyes, "Fine."
I smiled and gave him some, but sadly he didn't eat more than seven spoonfuls. I wish he had eaten more.
"You know…" I started to say while putting the bowl on the table again. "I've never actually gotten a long letter. I mean most are just about a paragraph. But never…a letter."
I really don't know why I had told him that, but I wanted to start a conversation. "Well, we should change that."
I nodded my head agreeing with him. I rubbed him on his arm before helping him lying him back down. Once he was down I stood up-grabbing the bowl-and left the room.