Draco slowly awoke in a dimly lit room, disoriented and stiff. In a blind panic, he tried to free himself from the tangled blankets which ensnared him as he realized he was not in his own bed. It was only as he turned in his fit that he saw her. Hermione was curled in a cozy looking armchair, a book abandoned in her lap. He calmed for a brief moment. She was here and unharmed. And yet… doubt filled his mind. Had they gotten her? Were they in his head perhaps? Mocking him, tempting him with this vision? No. Despite what he had gone through, his nerves weren't prickling and he didn't feel on edge. They must be safe. He sighed and hissed as he felt the pain cutting along his abdomen.
"You've awoken." The voice was low, probably to keep from waking the sleeping girl. Draco looked up in surprise as Snape appeared from the shadows. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked around discretely. They were, he surmised, in the Professor's private quarters. Or so he hoped.
"Where are we?" Draco asked quietly, needing to hear that they were indeed in a safe location. He also didn't wish to disturb Hermione. Severus glanced at the sleeping witch and rolled his eyes when he noticed the book.
"We are in my private quarters obviously. And Miss Granger has apparently seen fit to make herself at home."
Draco caught himself just before he broke into an affectionate smile. That would never do. The question was, how much did Snape know? There was only one way to find out.
"Well it's your own fault for letting such filth in here. What is she doing in here anyway?" Draco determinedly avoided looking at Hermione, and focused on Snape, trying to add just enough disgust to his voice. Snape was not to be trusted. No one was to be trusted. What if he told the Dark Lord? Or his parents? They would come after her.
"Enough Draco. I think the reason for her presence is quite clear." Severus stared at him, his obsidian eyes revealing nothing. Draco began to panic, but was determined to deter Snape if he could. He had to convince him that she meant nothing.
"It's nothing Severus. Just a one off. Obviously, the Gryffindor in her has her trying to make something more of it." Draco spoke casually, keeping his voice soft, praying that she didn't hear him, praying that Snape believed him.
Severus looked at him through his cold mask and then glanced at Hermione.
"Do you believe you can you stand?" Surprised by the request, Draco moved his legs, relieved to find that there was no pain with the action, then nodded. He most likely could manage. Without giving Draco much time, Severus reached out and hoisted him to his feet, practically dragging him into the adjoining room.
Severus closed the door and cast a quick Silencing charm. When he turned to back to Draco, his eyes were alive with rage.
"Is that the best you can do? That pitiful little lie? What sort of protection is that against the Dark Lord? Against his followers? Draco what were you thinking?" Snape's voice was soft, but the anger in his words shook Draco. Draco stared at him, mortified. He had failed.
Desperate, Draco tried to discreetly reach for his wand, but he didn't have it on him. He felt like an idiot, wandless, powerless. So he did the only thing he could. He launched himself at Snape, hoping to get his wand and cast an Obliviate. But he hadn't accounted for his lack of strength after his ordeal or Snape's swiftness. He managed to knock the grown man to the ground, simply because Snape did not expect the boy to attempt a physical assault. Snape easily knocked him off and flung him against the opposite wall, his hand to Draco's throat.
"Do you have a death wish?" he hissed, then let his arm fall and stepped back, letting Draco slide to the ground. "I am not going to harm you Draco." Draco did not look up. Despite every precaution he had taken, he had still managed to put her danger. It was no relief knowing he was safe.
"Or Miss Granger." Draco's eyes whipped up from the ground. Severus ran a hand down his face and sat down heavily on the bed.
"I am quite aware that Miss Granger is in love with you Draco. And, as your actions have just revealed, you are most likely in love with her as well. I presume I am the only other person who knows of this?"
Defeated, Draco nodded mutely from his place on the floor. He was tempted. He needed to trust someone. He had Hermione. He could trust her. But she didn't understand the darkness. She didn't face the evil on a daily basis. She didn't have the same fears. But Snape. Draco glanced at the Potions Master. How many times had Snape offered him his help? And how many times had Draco rebuffed him? But this time… he thought of Hermione. He obviously couldn't protect her on his own. She hadn't told her friends. But she had gone to Snape. It was already a step in the direction of trust.
Draco's words began to pour out of him. "I don't know how to protect her now. I didn't expect for this to happen. You know how it is. You know what I've been raised to believe. You know what my family is like. I mean, Bellatrix Lestrange is my damned aunt, and she's his most loyal supporter. But then there was Granger. This constant contradiction of everything I had been taught to believe. And she's just so damned good. A light in my otherwise dark existence. I didn't want to give her up."
Severus stared at the wall. Finally the boy was talking to him. All year he had been trying to help him. And now this, this was what he decided was the priority. And yet… his own memories began to creep in. How he had failed to protect the one he loved. He in fact had been instrumental in her demise. Was Draco doomed to repeat his actions? Fate could not be so cruel.
"You've taught her Occlumancy," Severus observed mildly. That would be apparent to only those skilled in the craft. Draco had managed to divert his thoughts the entire year and Hermione's mind had taken a similar turn when Snape had tried to read her thoughts. "And you've been Occluding all year."
Draco gave a curt nod, but his affirmation was unnecessary.
"It stops now. Are you finally ready to let me help you?"
Draco's looked at him through guarded eyes. "Why would you want to help me?"
"Stupid boy! I've been trying to help you all year!" Snape began to pace the length of the room. "Do you think I don't know what has been asked of you? That I don't know the consequences should you not succeed?"
Draco looked as if he had been struck. He knew. All this time, he knew. Had there even been a point in hiding it from him?
"What about the consequences should I succeed?" he asked softly. No one thought he could do it. Bloody hell, he didn't think he could do it. He didn't want to do it.
"Can you stand there and tell me that you can do this? While she sleeps just beyond the door?" Snape sneered in disgust. "If you couldn't do it before, you most certainly can't now."
"It's not… that's not a relevant factor," Draco protested weakly. The words burned his throat.
"You are not an idiot Draco, so stop pretending to be one. Living in ignorance will achieve nothing. It will change nothing."
"I don't have a choice!" Draco shouted. "You of all people know what he is capable of. I tried," Draco swallowed back his pain, "I tried to end it. To stop it. You saw what happened."
Snape's mouth pressed into a grim line. "What exactly did you do?"
"I went home, like a fool," Draco muttered angrily. Hermione had tried so hard to convince him to stay. She had been right. "I thought if I explained to Aunt Bella that I'd tried and failed, that she'd…"
Snape sneered again, rage and disgust simmering. "You thought what? That she'd do it for you?"
Angry with himself and humiliated, Draco let his head collapse in his hands. "Yes, alright? I thought she would do it. I'm a coward."
Severus grimaced, having nothing to say to that. Something though didn't sit right with the Professor. "You said you explained… about what? Those two pathetic failed attempts?"
"They were not pathetic! You know the extent of magic I had to use for the first one? And the second would have been successful had it been consumed by the proper person!" Draco flinched at his words, an uncomfortable tension unravelling in his stomach. He had felt so guilty. Over the Weasel no less. But Hermione, she would have been devastated had something happened to him. And despite the fact that her relationship with Weasley irritated him to no end, he didn't wish the boy dead.
"That is not the point Draco. What exactly did you tell her? What does she know?" Snape's mind was whirling as he tried to figure out the damage that Draco might have done.
Clarity dawned. "You think I told her about Hermione." This time the disgust was self-directed. What type of man did Snape think he was that he'd risk such danger to the woman he loved?
"Told is not the word I'd use… but yes, I wondered if she'd managed to extract the information from you." Draco realized that while his previous condition spoke volumes, it lacked details. The Professor had been speculating all this time without knowing why he was in this state.
"Well she didn't." Draco replied shortly. "She does not know about Hermione and I intend to keep it that way."
Severus didn't bother asking how he planned to do that.
"She has no intention of helping me with the final task," Draco swallowed audibly, that uncomfortable tension unfurling again, "But she has her ways of providing… moral support. She's latched on to one of my earlier suggestions—" Draco cringed, how he hated himself for it now, "and insisted I find a way to make it work. So she can be here."
Draco let Snape fully absorb those words before continuing. "And when I tried to convince her that it was futile, that it wouldn't work, that I couldn't make it work, well she insisted that I could. She just thought I needed a little more incentive."
"So she had Rodolphus poison you." That explained his condition then.
"No." Draco's eyes clouded. "She had him poison my mother."
"Her sister?" Severus couldn't mask his surprise. Every meeting he'd witnessed between the two sisters suggested a fierce protectiveness, even in times of disagreement. Hell, Bellatrix had even performed the binding for their Unbreakable Vow, though she didn't trust Snape one bit.
"I had thought," Draco confessed, "that Aunt Bella wouldn't harm her. That even though she'd hurt me that she wouldn't hurt my mother. But I knew. I knew by the look in her eyes when we were all eating that night at the table. Her smirk and the way her eyes darted to the glass. And I couldn't let her do it. So I snatched the goblet from my mother's hands, drank it all in one shot. She was naturally appalled at my manners." Draco actually smiled at that. If only she knew. His behaviour of late had been so far from normal, that Narcissa hardly suspected she was being poisoned. She thought the strain was getting to Draco and naturally accounted for his change in behaviour.
"You didn't start bleeding immediately?" Severus questioned. This would be a new development that would he should take note of.
Draco shook his head. "I expected to. I excused myself almost immediately from the room so that Mother wouldn't see. And when nothing happened, I excused myself from the Manor with the pretense of returning to Hogwarts to work on the task."
"Why would you risk returning not even knowing what you had been poisoned with? Rodolphus surely had an antidote." Even as he asked the question, Severus suspected the answer. Why would you take anything from a person who delighted in your suffering?
Draco's mouth thinned. "This poison isn't untraceable. I had heard him bragging about his potions before, had seen many of them at work. Based on the sour taste alone I figured out quite quickly what it was likely to be. It was the delay that surprised me. But I could feel it working its way through me.
And I… I didn't want to give her the satisfaction." Draco muttered darkly.
Severus paused and looked at Draco thoughtfully. "It was rather foolish to leave in such a state."
"I survived. I don't believe her intention was to kill my mother, it was to scare me. To motivate me. I knew I wouldn't die. But I wasn't about to let Mother suffer for my actions. For my decisions."
"And Bellatrix? How did she react to this turn of events?" That woman was unstable and therefore often unpredictable. Not a quality Severus favoured in an adversary.
"Well, considering I had thwarted her manoeuvers. But the end result was the same. I said I was returning to fulfill my task. " Draco wasn't sure how he could do so now. He wasn't sure how he couldn't, not with his mother alone at the hands of a madman and a sister likely to feed her to the snakes.
"If I succeed, I think he might—" Draco looked away, feeling small, "I think he might bring my father back." While Draco had spent much of the year hating his father—and he still did—for the first time in a long time, Draco felt like he needed him. He needed him to come back and provide the protection his mother needed. Because if Lucius Malfoy returned, maybe the target would transfer back to his back. Or if the fates were good, somehow this would restore favour to the Malfoy family and he wouldn't have to worry about his parents being killed on a daily basis.
"It's possible." Severus admitted hesitantly. The Dark Lord was known to reward his followers… just not as often as he was known to punish. "You realize of course that his return would only pose another threat to your relationship with Miss Granger?"
"He's not my biggest problem. His return depends entirely on my successfully completing my task. If it gets that far… well, then I don't think I will have to worry about that." Because if he succeeded, then there would be no relationship. Hermione would feel nothing but hate and loathing toward him. She would never forgive him.
"How were you planning on continuing this?" Severus was genuinely curious as to how Draco had imagined he could carry on a relationship with a Muggleborn witch while his family – while he – served the Dark Lord. And not just any Muggleborn, but Hermione Granger. If he thought of turning to Dumbledore for help, Severus would be surprised. It would most definitely throw a twist into the Headmaster's plans.
"I don't know," Draco confessed. His heart hurt at the thought of losing Hermione, but his head couldn't find a way out. He couldn't confide in Severus about Hermione's hopes that he'd get help from the light side. His mother was ensnared. There was no getting her out. And everything he did now was to keep her alive. "I think I always knew that it'd end eventually. I tried to stop it a few times, but she wouldn't let me." Draco allowed himself a quick smile then, a sad smile as he recalled her insistence on continuing their relationship. She didn't have an end date in sight. He, however, knew that their time was quickly ticking down.
"You realize of course that she has a part to play as well?" Severus said slowly.
Draco looked at him with a mistrustful gaze. "I won't stop her. I won't keep her from doing what she needs to. He never asked that of me. I won't harm her."
Severus sighed. "I've already said I won't harm Miss Granger, Draco. I wasn't implying you should do anything to her." Severus leaned forward, his eyes intense. "But you must know that you have a part to play as well. Trying to avoid it will do you no good. We are all pawns in a much bigger game than you could imagine."
"And I'm just supposed to meekly play my part? Do my duty?" Draco sneered, but his words were raw. "Why must I give up what I want?" They were childish words, but Draco wanted to be childish. Wanted to be childish and selfish and run away from these problems with Hermione in tow.
Severus stared at the boy in front of him, and tried to remember that he was still just a boy. He had so much to learn, but already had so much to lose.
"Because this is a war Draco. And your… interference with Miss Granger will only do her more harm than good. Will only do you more harm than good. You are distracted. Distractions lead to mistakes and neither of you can afford to make any. Not if you wish to survive."
A harsh knocking sounded at the door, followed by a frantic voice, muffled slightly by the wood door.
"Professor? Professor Snape, I hope you're in there. Because if you're not and Draco is missing…" Hermione's voice drifted off, her concern clear.
Severus turned to Draco as he stood to get the door.
"You know what you must do." Before Draco could reply, Snape opened the door to let in a worried Hermione.
"Mister Malfoy is here Miss Granger so you may cease your hysterics. He is perfectly fine, as you can see." Severus stepped aside at gestured at the young Malfoy. Hermione shoulders slumped in relief, but she didn't cross the entryway.
"You're all right," she breathed, her eyes bright with relief.
Severus barely refrained from rolling his eyes. "As I said he would be. I will give the two of you five minutes in the other room. After that, it would be in your best interests to have departed from my quarters." He gave Draco a pointed looked, ushering the two into his main sitting area.
As the door shut behind them, Hermione launched herself at Draco. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Their lips met in a fiery burst of adrenaline, fear, and relief. She let the fire burn through her before she gradually pulled away, her breathing slightly laboured in the best way. Hermione closed her eyes and sighed, then thumped a hand against his chest.
"Why didn't you wake me? I was terrified when you weren't lying there. I thought.." Hermione shivered. She had worried that he had gotten worse. That Professor Snape couldn't help him as she'd hoped and that he'd been moved to the Hospital Wing or St. Mungo's.
Draco stared at her annoyed and worried gaze. He knew he should say something. Anything.
"You looked so peaceful." That was the truth. "And beautiful. You are so beautiful, you know that?" He pulled her close again, wrapping his arms tightly around her as he rested his chin atop her head. All he could think of were Snape's last words. Were they a warning? A threat? An order? None of those were appealing options. He knew what the Potion's Master said was true. He just wasn't ready to take that step yet. Even if he had to eventually.
Hermione smiled, unaware of his stressful thoughts, and shook her head against his chest. She let herself lay there for a moment, enjoying the feel of his chest and the reassuring sound of his heartbeat.
"Well, it doesn't seem to have affected your charm, so I'll take that to mean you're fit again." As fit as could be anyway.
He didn't answer, just pulled her tighter, breathing deep, inhaling the very essence of her. How was he supposed to let her go? Snape would know if he didn't end it. It would have disastrous repercussions. But he wasn't ready. And who was Snape to tell him that he had to let her go? She was his, he was hers, and that's all there was to it. Except that wasn't all there was to it. It was never that simple.
He loosened his grip and captured her surprised mouth again. She tasted oh so sweet. He could go on kissing her forever. Devouring her for his personal pleasure. He nibbled at her lips, she moaned, and everything lit up inside him. He knew that she was it for him. So how could he not do the right thing by her?
Not yet, a voice pleaded within him. Just not yet. Another kiss, this one deeper, harder, trying to capture a lifetime of memories in one moment. She shook as she tore her lips away.
"You're tired Draco. And… we can't do this in a Professor's quarters," she blushed as she hissed her reprimand, but all Draco could see were her softened brown eyes, dark with desire.
"And we should leave soon. We've been here all night you know," she looked down and fiddled with the buttons on his robes. He captured her hand and pressed a silent, pleading kiss to her palm.
"I know. But just, not yet." She tilted her head as she looked at him, but he kissed her quickly, needing her. Needing to let her go. But just not yet.