A/N We've hit over 4000 views! Thank you JayBat and Nikhil Malfoy for reviewing, also a massive thank you to the 22 people who've hit the favourite button, sorry I couldn't review last week, see you at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 14 - Dreams and Hallucinations
Ginny and Parvati went to to the hospital wing after lessons every day to deliver Hermione's homework, which she insisted on having, and a new book for her to read. She was still stuck in her bed, as Madam Pomfrey had told Hermione gravely that it was worse than she'd thought. Hermione had drained every ounce of usable magic from her body with the spell, which Madam Pomfrey was constantly questioning ("How did you injure yourself badly enough to drain you?!"). Draco didn't visit thought, but that didn't mean she didn't think of him. Whenever she'd finished a book and her homework, she would sit and run it all through her head. Was he okay? He must've brewed some pain relief right? She did ponder over all this a lot yes, but the main thing that stuck in her mind, was the kiss. "It should never have happened!" She told herself over and over again, "It's wrong! I'm an Order member, a Gryffindor, a-a-a muggleborn!" She hated herself for it. Absolutely despised herself. And yet it had felt right for a moment. Just a split second.
On day four of being stuck in the hospital wing (not including Wednesday), she had had enough. "Madam Pomfrey?" She called loudly. She was the only patient in there. No answer. "Stuff it," she thought and turned over easily to grab her wand. "Lumos," she said firmly. The tiniest of lights appeared at the end of her wand. "No," Hermione muttered, "No I - Why won't it work?! Lumos!" But still, only a pinprick. "Miss Granger put that wand down!" Madam Pomfrey called shrilly. Hermione sighed in defeat and lamely threw her wand away. "When?" Hermione choked.
"Oh Hermione... Don't cry dear, I'll give you something a little stronger but it does not taste nice at all. And... It's a little painful," she heaved. "Give it to me," Hermione said firmly. Madam Pomfrey bowed her head and turned, walking over to a white cupboard and flicked it open with her wand. Then, she summoned a tiny bottle full of swirly pink liquid, and caught it easily.
Once she'd returned to Hermione's bedside, she unscrewed the cap and said gravely, "This will hurt," and poured the tiny contents down the girl's throat.
It was fine at first. She felt the liquid trickle down her throat and felt fine. Then, she blinked and couldn't open her eyes! All air felt as if it were being sucked away from her. Panicking, she tried to lift her hands to her eyes, but couldn't move! "Calm down it will be fine," Pomfrey kept soothing. Her whole body began to shake violently and she writhed uncontrollably. Ice cold knives were stabbing every part of her body for minutes on end. Five whole minutes of agony later, the torture changed. She was screaming louder than she'd ever screamed. Thousands of whips were now lashing every part of skin they could get to. After a couple of minutes, to her relief the whipping stopped. She didn't have time to breathe however as a burning sensation slowly crept up her body, scorching her skin until she was drenched in fire. She could not scream. The head girl opened her mouth in a large 'O' shape and screwed her face up. It hurt, Godric make it STOP! She wanted it to stop! To blackout! To die! And then - nothing. She slumped back down onto the bed in a state of unconsciousness.
.
She knew she was either dreaming or hallucinating. Either way, Madam Pomfrey wasn't in sight, the hospital was dully lit and someone was sitting next to her. It was her mother. "Hi," Hermione smiled.
"Hey," her mother smiled, then, "You look terrible."
"I feel terrible," she replied back tired.
"I should probably thank you, you know. I feel a bit better since," her mother continued. Hermione was confused. What was she talking about. "I miss daddy," Hermione sighed. Her mother eyed her confused before looking behind her. "I miss you too, mum," Hermione smiled drearily. This time her mother looked at her as if she were insane, but then replied with, "I er, miss you too." She looked incredibly uncomfortable. "I did a terrible thing, mum," Hermione continued, "You know that horrid boy I told you about who's bullied me throughout my years here. Well, I kind of accidentally kissed him. I feel horrible. Please mum what should I do? I think he's going to kill me." Her mother went completely silent.
Then, "He won't kill you," her mother assured her awkwardly, biting her lip.
"Oh yes he will. I can't be doing with getting into fights. Not with everything that's going on."
"Maybe he's just as confused as you are. Maybe he's finding it hard to cope with everything which is going on too. From what you've uh, told me, he seems like a confused, misinformed boy who doesn't know right from wrong anymore." Hermione eyed her mother skeptically. "Why don't you try and start fresh. You never know what he might do," her mother finished. And then she turned on her heal and hurried out, looking nervously behind her. The last thing Hermione saw was the door close, then blackness.
.
Tick... Tock... Time ticked on. An hour in fact, before Hermione finally made the first signs of waking up. "Madam Pomfrey!" Someone yelled. "Yes Miss Weasley?" Called another haphazard voice.
"Come quick!" There were footfalls, someone rushing over to the head girl. She could feel the breath of someone leaning over her. Short breaths, worried perhaps? "She's MERLIN!" Shrieked the older lady, Madam Pomfrey Hermione assumed, and she heard three pairs of feet jump back.
The three gazed in wonder and shock at the gold light that was being emitted from Hermione's body, as though she were an angel. Warmth radiated from her body as she lay stock still with golden strands of light glowing around her. "Merlin..." Ginny whispered, "what is that?"
"Is she okay?" Parvati whispered.
"She's waking up," Madam Pomfrey murmured. And then the light faded and the girl's eyes flew open. She quickly registered her surroundings and sat up, rubbing her head. The three other witches stood still. "Lumos," Hermione murmured with effort, lamely clutching her wand. The tip of the long strip of vine wood glowed brightly, illuminating the dark corner it was in. She smiled both inwardly and out, grinning lazily before grumbling in a false annoyed voice to Madam Pomfrey, "Remind me, next time I'm in desperate need of magic restoration," she took a breath, "Never to take that ever again." Both Ginny and Parvati laughed and Madam Pomfrey's mouth twitched at the corners. "You asked for it," the matron said in a highly 'it's your fault entirely' voice. Hermione heaved a smile, incredibly exhausted. "Rest!" the matron instructed, "Take this," she handed Hermione a phial of Dreamless Sleep potion, "And as soon as you wake up, you may leave. Now, it's eleven thirteen now," she eyed the clock at the end of the room, "You should wake at around a quarter past twelve, which'll give you enough time to go down for lunch at half past." She looked expectantly at Ginny and Parvati, as she passed the phial to the head girl. "Out you go ladies, come on! It's a Sunday go outside or study. Out!" Hermione grinned half heartedly at her friends before downing the contents and laying back.
A wave of sleepiness suddenly overcame the girl, and she felt more than comfortable. It was almost like she was under the imperious curse back in fourth year, she felt so at peace with the world. Then her eyelids began to droop, and she sank even further into her plump pillow. Tiredness washed over her until she physically couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. The last thing she heard was a muffled clunk of the door shutting.
-.
Lunch had been awkward, to say the least. Hermione had had a shower in her dorm, bless Merlin it was empty, and then met her friends at her end of the table. She had sat on the end of the Gryffindor table with Ginny, Parvati, Neville, Dean, Seamus and Luna and put up with Neville and Luna's clasped hands, Dean and Parvati's constant flirtatious looks and even Quidditch talk between all of them - bar Luna, who was gazing into midair. She had had to recount her experience to Ginny, Parvati, Neville and Luna - well not recount, as she couldn't mention anything Draco had said. She didn't tell them that they'd kissed either. Or that Draco was dying. She didn't say much, to be honest. In fact according to her tail of events Draco hadn't seen her since Defence Against the Dark Arts. So okay she didn't recount anything apart from draining herself and seeing her mother. And, much to her annoyance Parvati was giving her that constant, pitiful look. She did not need that! But no, the most awkward, unsettling part of lunch wasn't the Quidditch talk, wasn't the romance, wasn't the pity looks, no. The most awkward part of it all was the blonde boy which had cause all of this, sitting across from her on the Slytherin table, who kept giving her (what he thought was unnoticed) glances. She didn't like this one bit. What the hell had she been thinking?! Kissing that! She wanted to see her mother again too, even if it was only a dream.
"Earth to Hermione. Hermione!" Ginny half shouted at the head girl, who looked at the redhead in her face.
"What?" Hermione groaned.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," Neville grinned from across the table. Parvati, Seamus and Dean were in deep conversation, which left Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. "I said, are you coming to the common room after lunch? And remind me how you ended up lifeless in the hospital wing?" Ginny asked.
"I er... Broke my wrist," Hermione said without paying much attention, "Oh and yeah, course. I can recheck my potions homework."
"No you didn't," Ginny smirked, "Break your wrist I mean. You broke your arm."
"Yeah that. Well yeah um..."
"No you didn't Hermione, if you broke your arm you wouldn't be looking like you've lost your appetite," Luna smiled airily.
"So what really happened?" Ginny asked.
"Merlin girls just leave it, she has her reasons if she's lying," Neville sighed, tired.
"Look I just broke my arm," Hermione groaned.
"Oh come on! I'm your best mate you can tell me anything! Spill!" Ginny laughed teasingly, but Hermione had had enough.
"Look just drop it! I'm fine now aren't I?" Hermione shouted angrily, not loud enough to attract attention though. Well - much attention anyway. She didn't see it but he was staring right at her in bemusement.
"You wor -" Ginny began but Luna put a hand on her shoulder.
"Leave it," the blonde smiled. Hermione tried to calm herself down. She glanced at him, bad move. Their eyes met and they both quickly looked away. That was it then.
.
"Damn it!" He cursed to himself. She saw.
"Draco man," Blaise said to him friendly.
"Huh?" Draco asked.
"You finished potions homework yet?"
"You what?"
"Potions, due tomorrow - "
"Shit! You know what, stuff it. It's only Slughorn."
"Draco?!"
"What? It's just homework!"
"I know but now is not a good time to get on the wrong side of teachers! And that's coming from a Slytherin."
"I am a Slytherin. And I don't give a damn about this homework! For Salazar sake what's happened to you?! It's not like we're actually going to take our NEWTs this year! Not with..." He died out, "Fine I'll do it tonight." Everyone was quiet, even Blaise. The trio all dreaded the end of the year. There was bound to be an attack and - then what? I mean he'd obviously be on his father's side with the dark lord... Obviously... At least he wasn't bleeding anymore. She'd stopped that and ended up in the hospital wing for four nights. Well it was her own stupid fault. Stupid mudblood. He felt angry. She was nothing more than a "Worthless, meaningless, pathetic, useless, filthy little mudblood."
"What?" Theo asked, choking on a mouthful of pumpkin juice. Draco looked at him, and then found his mouth open. Had he really just called her that out loud? So what, that's what she was! "Draco are you alright mate?" Theo asked looking up at him.
"Fine," Draco spat. Mudblood.
.
"Stupid death eater," Neville murmured, glancing behind him at the blonde on the other table. Ginny's eyes slid to glance at Hermione, and was surprised to find her unaffected by this comment. Had she been wrong? "Death eater," the head girl mused. "'Mione are you -" Ginny began.
"Just fine," Hermione finished her sentence. Death eater.
So with Hermione and Ginny going off to hang out in the Gryffindor common room, and Draco off to do his homework in the Slytherin dorms, the head boy and girl successfully managed to avoid each other throughout the rest of the day. Both were quite frankly disgusted that their lips had ever touched and the two of them, mainly Draco, had built up a kind of wall of hate towards the other.
A/N SORRY! I know most of you were hoping for a full get together episode but come on, with a history like those two you it doesn't just happen. Just be a tiny bit patient I promise they will make it in a couple of chapters or so. Please don't be mad! Any thoughts about that hallucination? See you on Friday!