Chapter 26 – Disorientation

Hermione blinked her eyes open in the bright lights above her, hissing at the pain they brought to her head. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, mentally examining where the rest of her pain was. She could feel her toes and fingers, and her legs felt fine. There was a bit of an ache in her hips, pelvis and lower back, but that was to be expected since she hadn't had the chance to resituate since her transformation; it took more effort for larger joints, muscles and bones to spring back into place properly. Her back ached but her sides, particularly on her left, throbbed. She groaned, remembering the crack of bones and the absolute mess she had been in the night before - at least she hoped it was only the day after the full moon.

The vibration of her groan drew her attention to the numbness of her jaw and how swollen it felt around her teeth. She rolled her head back on the pillow to test the muscles that constantly ached and found that nothing had changed there; the slight pull across her shoulders and up the sides of her neck still felt agonising. She sighed and slowly opened her eyes again, realising this time that her left seemed partially swollen shut.

"Great," she grumbled to herself, the soft word grating harshly at the back of her throat. Water, she needed water.

"Here, Miss Granger," came the voice of Madam Pomfrey – at least that explained the bright lights. "Don't struggle, let me help you sit up so you can drink something."

The bed and pillows adjusted behind her so that her upper body was lifted effortlessly, and then a cool glass was pressed lightly to her lower lip. The matron tipped a small amount of water into her mouth, waiting for Hermione to swallow before tipping the glass up again. She took at least seven sips of the soothing liquid before her mouth and lips were wet enough to speak.

"Thank you. How did I get here? Where are the others?"

"Don't worry yourself, dear. Your friends are fine; it's you who needs care," Madam Pomfrey admonished, setting the glass on the side table where Hermione could reach it if she wished. "I'll retrieve some Wiggenweld potion for you, because Merlin knows you need it."

Hermione watched the matron walk away from her bed and over to a cabinet on the opposite wall next to another occupied bed, messy black hair splayed around the patient's head. Harry, she realised as she sat up properly and her heartbeat grew frantic, shock making it easy to ignore the strain in her muscles.

"No. Harry," she breathed as flashes of the previous night came to her; teeth sinking into flesh, a disconcerted squeal, the smugness of her Wolf and the sureness of forgiveness. No wonder Ginny had kicked her so hard.

"Harry. Harry!" she said louder, scrambling out of bed but collapsing to the floor, clutching her side as something shifted painfully and her thigh popped properly back into her hip socket.

There was a scream and only by the burning of her throat did Hermione realise that it was her own. She gritted her teeth together at the pain and began to pull herself along the flagstone floor towards Harry's bed.

"Miss Granger!" Madam Pomfrey stood over her, unimpressed. "I told you, did I not, that your friends are fine." The matron hauled Hermione to her feet and propped her back onto the edge of her bed. "Mr Potter is sleeping with the aid of dreamless sleep. I would ask you to please keep quiet."

Hermione glanced around Madam Pomfrey to look again at Harry, so still in his bed. She took a deep, steadying breath that rattled her chest and focused her good eye on the slow rise and fall of the sheet that covered him.

"But I bit him," she whispered, not moving her gaze from that slight movement.

"Nothing a little essence of dittany couldn't sort out." Madam Pomfrey rested a hand on Hermione's shoulder, drawing her attention to the comforting smile the matron was giving her. "I promise you, he walked in here under his own steam and was helping Mr and Miss Weasley carry you to boot!"

"Where are they?" Hermione asked quietly, afraid of when she might have to face them.

"I believe Mr Weasley has returned to Auror training and taken Mr Potter's excuses with him, but I see no reason why he cannot return himself once he's had a good rest." She turned her head to look at Harry and furrowed her brow. "That boy never got enough sleep in my opinion."

"Tell me about it," Hermione muttered, earning a scoff from the matron.

"I sent Miss Weasley, on the other hand, up to her own bed. She was quite determined to stay but I have insisted that she does not return until lunchtime." Madam Pomfrey pulled the stopper out of the green vial she held and looked sternly at Hermione. "I am going to make use of this peaceful time to treat you properly now that you are back to yourself. There was no way I could even begin to know what to do when the shift was still reversing."

Hermione tipped her head back willingly at Madam Pomfrey's indication and the thick Wiggenweld potion made its way down her throat. She knew it probably meant she had internal bruising in addition to the external swelling and whatever it was that was not sitting correctly in her left side, and she would take any disgusting substance to stop that agony before it really began.

Madam Pomfrey smiled once Hermione had swallowed the potion, shaking her head at the taste, then pulled a tin of salve out of her apron which she began smearing on Hermione's face. She hissed and clenched her fists at the initial sting but guessed that the salve probably contained witch hazel and knew the sting wouldn't last long.

"Now," Madam Pomfrey said, lifting Hermione's legs back into bed. "Have you got any exceptional pain elsewhere?" Hermione didn't understand why she was asking the question when she was already performing diagnostic scans on her, wand moving slowly over her form and hovering in various places.

"Everywhere else is fine, Madam Pomfrey; just the usual aches and pains apart from something on my left side." The matron immediately moved round to the other side of Hermione's bed and began a curious examination. "It would be nice to walk around a bit as well if I could. I'd like to get all my joints and muscles settled correctly."

"Not with ribs like that you're not," Madam Pomfrey scolded.

"Broken? How many?"

"Three I believe. Shouldn't be a difficult fix but scrambling out of bed won't have helped to keep them in place. Lie down and hold still please, Miss Granger."

Hermione did as she was asked, relaxing on the mattress and letting her mind drift blankly, flinching with a hiss each time Madam Pomfrey podded a rib into the correct position to cast a successful episkey. Even after all three of her ribs had fused back together, Hermione's requests to leave her bed and stretch were denied so, with a sigh, she resigned herself to a long morning in bed.

After a while, the sound of the doors opening had her curiously squinting one eye open and she saw Ginny and Draco sneaking into the hospital wing. She could hear Draco speaking frantically in a whisper, worried about Madam Pomfrey catching them.

"Oh shut it, Malfoy," Ginny snapped, her voice quiet but exasperated. "If you're scared, just come back during lunch. I'm done waiting so if she's here, Pomfrey can just deal with me being forty minutes early."

Hermione watched Ginny move to Harry's bed and take his hand, smiling down at him as they began to exchange quiet words. She found herself squeezing her eyes shut as her heart dropped into her stomach. Her throat felt thick and she was overwhelmed again with the truth of what she had done last night to her friends. There was no way Ginny or Harry were going to speak to her, even if she was still their Alpha.

A warm, soothing hand suddenly stroked her wild curls off her forehead and Hermione instantly relaxed, her breaths growing steadier, her shoulders lowering and her fists uncurling to lay flat on the mattress. "You awake, Granger?" Draco's voiced breathed in her ear as his hand moved over her head.

She nodded almost imperceptibly, her tongue flitting out to wet her lips. He must have sat on the chair next to her bed.

"What the hell happened?" he continued quietly. "Weaslette over there wouldn't tell me anything."

Hermione tried to swallow, her throat closing again and her eyes beginning to burn behind her eyelids. Instead of answering him, a quiet sob escaped her and the hand on her head stilled. She opened her eyes to look up at him and watched as the confusion in his eyes faded into concern. Her burning eyes closed with a slight shake of her head and she was surprised to feel Draco perch on the side of her bed and lift her head onto his thigh, left ankle crossed over his right knee.

"Hermione," she shuddered at her own name, "it's okay. Does it hurt?"

Yes, she wanted to say. It hurt. It hurt because she knew that she had disappointed them, that she was no good for them, and that they would never want to speak to her again. It was all her fault and she deserved the physical pain she was still in.

"I bit him," she choked out instead. "I bit Harry."

"Okay," Draco drew out. "Well I can see that he'll be fine as usual. I'm more concerned about you, Granger. What hurts?"

She opened her eyes again - able to see through both now that the swelling had reduced - and met his gaze. Her breath caught at the worry she saw there, and she had to let it out in a long exhale before she was able to give him an answer.

"I haven't been able to get out of bed and stretch properly because my ribs needed healing."

"You broke your ribs?"

Hermione nodded against his thigh and clenched the fabric of his trousers in her fist where it rested by his knee. "Ginny kicked me after I bit Harry."

"She what?" Draco's voice suddenly rose, and he sprang back to his feet, Hermione's head falling to her pillow. "Weasley, you idiot! You kicked her?"

Ginny and Harry suddenly turned their attention across the room to where Draco was stood glaring at them.

"She was trying to get out of the Shack, Malfoy. How else would you expect me to stop her when I'm a damn horse?"

"By not kicking her!" he threw his hands up in the air. "You broke her damn ribs!"

"Draco," Hermione croaked, leaning out of bed to grab his hand that was closest to her. "Draco, it's fine. They're healed now and I deserved it anyway."

"You... You..." he stammered, looking over his shoulder at her. "No, Granger. You don't deserve to have your ribs broken."

"Hermione," Ginny said as she came to stand on the other side of her bed with Harry. "I didn't realise I'd broken your ribs and I definitely didn't mean to. I was just trying to stop you."

"I know, Ginny and I don't blame you. Especially after what I did to Harry." She looked apologetically to her best friend. "I'm so sorry, Harry."

"I'm completely fine, 'Mione. Just another scar for the collection. No harm done." He exchanged a smile with her and Hermione felt her spirits lift ever so slightly, although she was still riddled with guilt.

"Yeah, not to you," Draco scoffed on Hermione's other side. "You," he tugged on Hermione's hand. "You should have called Bill here, stubborn witch. I knew you were too worried to look after yourself.

"And you," he lifted his head and pointed with his free hand at Ginny. "I can't have your hooves killing my cousin's protector." There were protests from both Hermione and Ginny, but Draco continued. "Get me a damn Mandrake leaf."

"Draco! Even if you really wanted to, you've missed the moon now. Take the month to think about it."

"I don't have to think about it, Granger. I can't trust them to take care of you and I need you here to protect Teddy!"

"Errm," Harry reached up to scratch the back of his neck.

"Oh, no offence Potter but I mean werewolf protection, not godfather protection."

"Fair. That's fair." Harry dropped his gaze away from Draco's, but Hermione saw him cock his head at something and knit his brows together.

"What, Harry?" she sighed, and he took his hand from the back of his neck where it had stilled, and stared waving it at the space between Hermione and Draco.

"Wha..." they looked at the space between them and Hermione felt herself blushing as Draco cleared his throat and pulled his hand from hers, wiping it on his trousers. Ginny coughed pointedly and raised an eyebrow at Hermione who glared back, folding her arms and leaning back in bed.

"Anything else you need, Granger?" Draco asked primly, and Hermione knew from the tone that his mask was back in place. She sighed.

"Whilst you're all here, could you help me walk around for a bit? I need to get my joints resituated properly. If that's okay with you?"

"Of course, Hermione."

"Course it is, 'Mione"

Draco grunted with a curt nod and she rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Her friends didn't hate her, and she'd take broken ribs over that any day.

A/N:

Thanks for reading as always! I'd love to know what your thoughts are on the story so far and you can always come and find me on tumblr mxstyassasxin if you want or just leave a comment :)

See you next week! xx