A/N Some more twists for you to wonder over...
"Draco," Hermione smiled the next morning when he came in. He broke out into a grin at the site of her sitting up in bed and eating breakfast.
"You look so much better," he said, kissing her forehead and sitting next to her on the bed. "I brought you these; I had to sneak them in." He pulled out a packet of hard boiled muggle candies from his pocket and placed them on the bedside cabinet.
"My favourite," Hermione giggled, tilting her head up for another kiss. Draco happily obliged before they were interrupted with a polite cough from Narcissa.
"You're looking much better dear," Narcissa said giving her a light kiss on the cheek and seating herself in the chair Snape had vacated only twenty minutes ago.
Draco settled himself comfortably next to Hermione on the bed and they all sat in an awkward silence before Narcissa broke the tension.
"How are you feeling today?" she asked.
"Better," Hermione said, glad for any conversation. "I'm still very tired and I haven't tried actually walking or getting out of bed but much better."
"Lucius ends his love," Narcissa said, smiling.
"Mother," Draco snapped. "Don't you remember what I said?" He glanced quickly in Hermione's direction. Narcissa looked uneasy for a moment.
"Tell him thank you," Hermione said, smiling at the nervous woman. Hermione hoped she never ended up like her; controlled by the men in her life.
"Draco said Severus stayed with you last night," Narcissa said, trying again for some conversation.
"Yes, he was very kind to stay until this morning. He would have waited for you both but he had to get back to Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore is being extremely lenient, allowing him to come and visit me."
"Did you sleep well?" Draco asked, stealing some bacon off her plate.
"Mostly," Hermione said, avoiding his gaze. She didn't want to tell him about the nightmares that had plagued her sleep; memories and premonitions that kept her tossing and turning half the night. Voldemort visited her in her sleep, leering at her, untying her robes, letting out her hair, caressing –
"What?" Hermione asked, tearing herself away from her thoughts.
"I said do you need anything?" Draco asked. He was looking at her, concerned.
"No, no thank you. Not yet anyway. I'm sure in a couple of days when I get my strength back I'll want something to do but right now I think I might have another nap."
Narcissa rose gracefully from her chair, giving Hermione another kiss goodbye.
Draco lingered, playing with her fingers and wedding rings.
"I have to go away for a few days," Draco said still looking at her rings. "The Dark Lord has given me a mission."
"Oh," Hermione said disappointed that she wouldn't see him. "Where to?"
"I can't tell you. I've asked Blaise to look in on you. I told him if he touches you I'll hex his dick off so let me know if he tries anything okay?"
Hermione nodded.
"Good. It's funny," Draco said after a moments pause. "The Dark Lord asked after you. He wanted to know if you were feeling better."
"Why is that funny?" Hermione asked, her heart beating rapidly.
"I don't know, I guess it's not really. Just his own sick sense of humour."
"When do you leave?" Hermione asked eager to change the subject.
"Now, I had to fight to convince them to let me come and see you first." Draco slid off the bed after another slow kiss. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay?"
Hermione nodded and watched sadly as Draco walked out of the room, one last lingering glance over his shoulder.
Hermione sighed and sunk down into the bed, sleep quickly over taking her.
When Hermione woke next a healer was hovering over her, a tray laid out before him, covered in various potions and a bar of chocolate.
"Afternoon, Mrs Malfoy. Glad to see you are feeling better. I have here some strengthening potions, some healing potions, pain reduction, a sedative and some nice chocolate to make you feel better." He tried to hand Hermione the first of the phials but she recoiled into the pillows.
"Why do I need a sedative?" Hermione asked, staring at the offending liquids.
"Trust me dear, this whole ordeal will be a lot easier on you if you sleep though most of it. Without these potions you would still be very weak and in a great amount of pain." He tried again to hand her a potion but she knocked it out of his hands.
"I'm telling you," she growled through gritted teeth, "I don't need a sedative."
"If you continue to act this erratically Mrs Malfoy, I will be forced to give you one. Now calm down, drink your potions and you will feel much better for it." Hermione glared at the elderly wizard, knowing he was just trying to help and downed one potion after another, finishing with some chocolate. Not that she would ever admit it but she felt better.
"Lunch will be here soon and then you can have another nap. Tomorrow we're going to try and get you up and moving around. Nothing big, just from the bed to the chair. Until then, try not to give the nurses too much trouble."
He smiled at the frowning young woman and made his way down to the next patient.
Hermione glared at the door and looked around the bare room. She was bored but knew she didn't have the energy to do anything so she was also frustrated. She was ready to start throwing things, just to see how long it would take for one of the nurses to notice when in waltzed an orderly who set her lunch down and was gone again. Hermione glared at the door a second time and started in on her lunch. At least it was better then muggle hospital food, she thought glumly.
Why don't wizards have television? She pondered as she slipped into a sleep, the sedative kicking in.
The next few days passed slowly for Hermione. Very slowly. Broken up only by visits from Narcissa, Snape and Blaise, which didn't turn out to be as bad as she thought they would be, her days were much the same. Breakfast, nap, visit from Narcissa, lunch, physio, visit from Snape, sleep. Blaise could visit at any time, breakfast, during physio, once he came in the middle of the night, the only evidence he had ever been was the fresh flowers he had left; yellow roses. He always left yellow roses. When Draco still hadn't returned after a week Hermione began to worry.
"What's taking so long?" Hermione demanded to Snape. They had taken to having dinner at a small dinner table he would conjure and he would bring along some food so she wouldn't have to eat alone.
"I don't know," Snape whispered. "The mission he was sent on was very peculiar. No one knows exactly what it was."
"You don't think it's about me, do you?" Hermione asked, feeling silly even mentioning it. "That he's trying to get rid of Draco or something."
Snape thought for a moment, contemplating this option.
"No, I don't think so. I mean, if he wanted to, he would just kill him. I think you're right though, it has something to do with you. Mind games or something."
Hermione sighed. As if life wasn't hard enough, the master of all things evil was playing mind games with her.
"Do you know when you will get to go home yet?" Snape asked, taking a bit of the chicken he had brought along.
"Another fortnight at least. They're concerned about these headaches I keep getting. Their potions don't seem to affect them. Apart from that though I'm doing really well. I know my name and what year it is and I'm walking better everyday. I get a little forgetful sometimes but nothing big." Hermione smiled at Snape, proud of her progress.
"What about your mood swings?" Snape asked, not letting her off the hook. "The healer I spoke to said you have been having some pretty extremely behavioural abnormalities."
"I hexed one of the nurses, it was nothing," Hermione said, hoping Snape would drop it.
"He said you called her a muggle loving bitch when she asked if you wanted to owl your parents."
"I was having a bad day," Hermione defended.
"Oh, what about when the nurse walked in on you trying to undress Mr. Zabini?"
Snape looked at her, one eyebrow raised.
"Don't look at me like that," Hermione snapped. "Draco knows all about it."
"Whatever you say, Hermione. Just remember; when you play with fire, you are going to get burnt."
Hermione didn't know what was wrong with her but she was convinced there was something. During Blaise's last visit it was like something in her had snapped and she'd just started kissing him. He'd been shocked too to say the least but hadn't hesitated in kissing her back. That was when the nurse had walked in. Blaise had quickly made his exit and Hermione hadn't seen him since. She knew he visited though; the yellow roses sat innocently on her nightstand, brightening the room. Her torn feelings were growing stronger everyday. Sometimes she forgot about Harry, so lost in her own problems and her own life. Her dreams had been filled with Voldemort and Tom Riddle lately. After she had awoken from one particularly erotic dream she had begun to suspect if maybe he was planting them there himself, convinced she couldn't be feeling those things herself.
That night Hermione lay awake, sitting up in bed. She had convinced the Healer to discontinue her sedative, sure that her dreams held some hint to why she was acting so…crazy. And she wasn't quite ready to know what that was yet, preferring to take small naps where she was less likely to dream.
At the moment she was lost in her thoughts, imagining all the horrible places Draco could be trapped or lost in.
"You're awake," Blaise said, coming through the door.
"Have you any news on Draco?" Hermione asked, as she always did.
Blaise shook his head and took a seat at the foot of Hermione's bed.
"I brought you some books from the Manor." He placed the bag on the table by the window and returned to the bed.
"Thanks," Hermione said absentmindedly, her thoughts still on her missing husband.
"You shouldn't spend your nights up worrying about him. It won't help him any and it doesn't do you any good either." Blaise watched her as she nodded, not really listening to him.
"What if he doesn't come back?" Blaise asked suddenly, snapping Hermione out of her reverie.
"What? How can you say that?" Hermione asked panicked.
"From what I've heard this mission was highly dangerous. What are you going to do if he doesn't come back? Lucius won't protect you; Potter won't want you back after you've been tainted like this." He continued when he saw the fear in her eyes. "I can help you. If Draco dies, I'll protect you."
"How can you say that?" Hermione asked again. "Draco will be fine and I don't appreciate you staking your claim before he's even gone."
"Hermione," Blaise said taking her hand, "I'm not 'staking my claim.' I'm honestly concerned about your safety and your future. I'd hate for something to happen to you."
"Don't worry yourself," Draco said from the doorway. "As you can see, I'm fine."
"Draco!" Hermione cried, launching herself at him from the bed where he caught her easily. Hermione wrapped her arms and legs around him, burying her head against his shoulder, and sobbed.
"I was so worried," Hermione whispered.
"It's all right," he whispered back. "I'm here."
Draco glared at Blaise. "You can leave now."
Hermione climbed off of Draco and back into bed.
"Thanks for keeping me company Blaise," Hermione said quietly. He gave her a sad smile and pulled a single red rose from behind his back.
"Anytime."
A/N I'm still undecided over whether Hermione should sleep with Voldie. Yall weren't any help. So if you want some input go to my page where my poll asks that very question.
Also thank you to everyone who review last chapter. Glad to see it wasn't completely unbelievable...