Draco woke with a start around eight in the morning and immediately thought it was too early. Despite getting nearly nine hours of sleep, he hadn't made up for the past three weeks of sleepless nights with Granger. Granger. Draco sighed and sat up in bed, running his hands over his face. Her words from the previous night rang in his mind. I'm tired of fighting, Malfoy. I can't, anymore, I just can't. He'd never seen her look so defeated and he sure as hell didn't like it. For maybe the eighth or ninth time he wondered if he'd done the right thing, if Granger had actually slept well from taking the potion. He wanted to ask, but asking would imply caring and Draco wasn't ready for Granger to know that he was beginning to care for her.
He slowly climbed out of bed, resigning himself to sit in the common room with Abbott and Boot. He had absolutely nothing better to do and if Granger was up then she was probably already with Potter and Weasley. He frowned then, wishing Granger would get out of his head; thinking about her was confusing. He felt oddly attached to a girl that he'd hated for seven years. How much did he care about her? It was beginning to get harder to deny that it was more than just a bit, but that still didn't give him an exact amount. Draco liked exact amounts.
Boot scowled at him as he walked toward the bathroom and Draco scowled right back at him. He'd never realized exactly much he hated Boot until he started living with him. The boy was absolutely crazy and he despised Draco. He could handle that, as Draco hated him too, but it would have been nice not to have everyone hate him. He hurried on with getting ready for the day before sitting down in his chair with his textbook.
He would have gone to breakfast, had he not been curious to see Granger when she came back from wherever she was. He wanted to see if a full night's rest would have made her look a little less tired or maybe if she would look a little better. And to hell with not wanting her to know he cared; he did and his curiosity on how her night had been was too great. He didn't want to miss her because he wanted to ask how she'd slept and if the potion had worked well enough. Draco was sure he'd have a permanent frown after that day though, as he usually frowned when he thought of Granger and she seemed to be the only thing on his mind. He wished, briefly, that at least one of his friends had come back with him. It that had happened he would have been far from thinking about Granger, or at least he would have been able to have someone to help him understand exactly why he'd started thinking about her in the first place.
Draco spent most of the day in his chair, working on homework and trying to ignore the fact that he was growing hungry. He'd already missed two meals waiting for Granger to come back; he couldn't understand what she would be doing but it was none of his business. Granger actually had a life, unlike him, and she had people to talk to. It seemed all Draco had was her.
Dinner finally rolled around and Draco sighed, listening to Boot and Abbott chat happily as they made their way out of the common room. His stomach grumbled slightly and he rolled his eyes; it was pathetic, waiting around for Granger when she might not be back for hours. Yet he didn't move; he read his textbook and waited. She would be back, eventually.
Draco didn't have to wait long. It had been around half an hour after Boot and Abbott had left before Draco heard a door open. He looked toward the entrance, expecting someone to at least be walking in, but the door was still closed. He blinked, confused, and looked around the room only to find Granger standing in her doorway, looking at him with slightly widened eyes. "Shouldn't you be at dinner?" she asked.
For a moment Draco could only stare at her. "When the hell did you come in?"
"I-" she stopped suddenly, frowning deeply. "I believe I asked you first, Malfoy," she said defiantly.
"I was waiting to speak with you," Draco admitted angrily. "Now I'm wondering why I didn't just knock,"
"You've been waiting here all day?" He kept quiet, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. He didn't want to admit that part to Granger; he would rather face Voldemort again than tell Granger that he'd spent the entire day waiting for her. He wasn't sure what she'd think if he told her that. "Malfoy, I'd like an answer," He nodded stiffly, his lips shut firmly as he stared at her. It was silly, he knew, to be embarrassed for his actions, but he was. "Please tell me you left for meals,"
"Oh I highly doubt you've eaten anything today, Granger," he said, trying to shift the conversation away from him and on to her. "Why did you stay in your room all day?"
"I don't owe you an explanation to my actions, Malfoy,"
"And yet I do?"
"Well you didn't give me much of one!"
"Then give me the basics, Granger!"
For a moment Draco was sure she wasn't going to say anything, but then she opened her mouth and angrily stated, "Your bloody potion didn't work, Malfoy,"
Draco wasn't worried about her being angry with him, he was worried about what her words meant. The potion hadn't worked? He'd been sure it would-Slughorn had been sure it would work. Granger had to have a seriously messed up head if that potion wasn't working for her. The thought made him frown though; what exactly was going on with her? He became aware very suddenly that Granger was no longer standing in her doorway; he hadn't even noticed her door shut. Without thinking, Draco stood and walked to her door, knocking angrily.
"Granger come out. I need to speak with you!" He heard nothing but silence come from her room, which made him frown. He was sure Granger would have told him to go away and the fact that he'd heard nothing led him to believe that she'd updated her spells. "Granger!" he continued, pounding on the door even harder. Even if he couldn't hear her, she could hear him and he refused to stop until she came out. Even if Boot and Abbott came back in, Draco knew that he would continue pounding on the damn door. "Granger I swear to-"
"What, Malfoy?" she asked angrily, throwing her door open and glaring at him. "I'm trying to do something,"
"If that something involves reading a book and ignoring me I'm going to be furious," he stated.
"Well it involves both, Malfoy, so good night-" She tried closing the door on him and his mood worsened almost immediately. He stuck his foot in the door, took a deep breath, and pushed past her into the room. Draco Malfoy had a rule about going into other people's room and having other people come into his room: he didn't do it and he didn't allow it to happen. Rooms were a personal space and Draco wasn't one to try and get involved in personal lives and he didn't like people involved in his. He'd already stepped far outside of his comfort zone, learning all he had about Granger, but she had learned next to nothing about him. Yet she'd come into his room and now he was in hers, making him shift uncomfortably as he stared at her. Granger looked just as shocked as he felt about his actions. "What are you-"
"I said I wanted to talk to you, Granger, and you completely ignored me,"
"Excuse me for not wanting to deal with someone who didn't listen,"
"What did I not listen about? It would be great if you'd actually answer me for once instead of beating around the damn bush. What did you mean when you said the potion didn't work for you? Why were you in your room all day? When did you plan on-"
"Shut up," Granger hissed, finally closing her door and frowning at him. "You can ask all of these questions but if you don't give me the chance to answer any of them then you're just going to run out of breath,"
"Maybe you should have answered me earlier,"
"Can't you understand that I really have no desire to talk about any of this?"
"Can't you understand that I really don't care?" he asked mockingly, making Granger raise an eyebrow. "Come on, just... At least explain to me what I did that made you so angry,"
Silence followed for a few moments and Granger stared at him wearily. After what felt like an eternity, she sighed and went to sit down on her bed, bringing her knees to her chest and frowning at him. He continued to stand by her door though; he didn't want to stay in her room for too long as he knew Boot would go running to Weasley if he saw Draco coming out of Granger's room, and then they would have a bigger problem than what they had now. "It's really simple, Malfoy," she stated. "It didn't work. I told you what I was afraid would happen and that's exactly what I was stuck in. You didn't listen; you just cared about getting yourself to bed,"
"Granger, I-"
"Listen, Malfoy, I don't blame you. I've no idea what I would do for quality sleep but if it was as simple as giving someone else a potion, I would do it in a heartbeat. I get-"
"Granger I didn't give it to you because I wanted you to just get more sleep," he protested, but his words were lost on her ears.
"-I mean I felt bad about you staying up anyway, so I'm glad you managed to-"
"Granger listen to me, will you?" he asked, frowning at her. He wanted to go over and shake her shoulders to get her to pay attention to him; he hated her excuses and the fact that she wouldn't listen to a word he said. For a second her mouth opened and he was sure she was going to start talking again but then it snapped shut and she stared at him, confused.
"Did you say you didn't do it just because-"
"Yes," he said, shaking his head slightly as he glanced around the room. He would do anything to keep from looking at Granger in that moment; he was sure she would think more of his words than he intended. Pansy had done that quite a few times in the past and it annoyed Draco to no end. He finally focused on one of the flowers on her bedside table; he didn't know Granger kept flowers. "I thought the potion would help you, Granger. I gave it to you because I thought it would make you better. Not... Were you really stuck? I swear I've never heard of a potion doing that before; how on earth...?"
"You're asking the wrong person," Granger said, shrugging as she tried to catch his gaze. "Malfoy when you say that-"
"I'm not saying it again, Granger. Once is enough, I think,"
"But that sounds like you, well, like you care," she said carefully. Draco snapped his gaze over to her then, but he didn't say a word. There was no use in denying it anymore, he was beginning to care about her, but as someone who, well, he wasn't sure. Never as a friend; he would never want to be friends with Granger. "Do you-"
"I don't plan on answering that, Granger, you should know that by now," he stated, frowning again. "So what happened last night?" His shoulders were still tensed from standing in her room and probably from the conversation shifting into dangerous territory, but shifting it back to her would be a good thing.
"I think you can figure that out for yourself," Granger said, rolling her eyes.
"I understand that you, somehow, were stuck in a nightmare, but what did you dream about?" he asked, noticing the slightly anxious tone of his voice. Draco could only hope that it wasn't anything too bad; it was his fault that she was stuck in one in the first place. If he hadn't pressured her, if he had thought to look a little closer at exactly what the potion would and wouldn't do, then they wouldn't have this problem.
"The battle, mostly,"
"Anything else?"
"Hunting horcruxes with Harry and Ron,"
"And that was it?"
Granger hesitated before saying, "No, not exactly,"
"So what else was there?" Draco asked, wishing he didn't already know the answer to his question.
"What happened when we were caught," she said quietly, meeting his gaze steadily as if she didn't care that he'd been there that day. Draco felt nothing but guilt at her words though; he was partially responsible for what had happened to her and he was completely responsible for her having the extended nightmare.
"So why were you hiding in here all day?"
"I didn't handle it well, Malfoy,"
"What?"
"The nightmare, I didn't handle it well. I didn't want to go out anyway, as I knew it would be a bad day if I did, and I was half sure I was going to cry in front of everyone and I definitely didn't want to do that,"
Draco glanced at her, surprised that she was admitting so much to him in that moment. He would never be able to do the same, but Granger was more trusting than he was. "Well, I-" he stopped, biting back an apology and frowning. "It's unfortunate the potion didn't work. We'll have to find something else. But for now I think it would be best to go down to the great hall and get something to eat,"
"Together?" Granger asked, probably without thinking. Draco stared at her, feeling the discomfort rising as Granger's own face turned a shade pinker. "No I'm sorry, that was stupid. I'll go down in a few minutes. Enjoy your dinner, Malfoy,"
"You too, Granger," he said curtly, grabbing the door knob as if it would save him from making a fool of himself. "I'll see you tonight then?"
"I guess you will when I wake up," she shrugged, rubbing her arm in what looked like a nervous gesture. It was funny, but Draco had never really noticed Granger being nervous around him before. He didn't say anything else though, he just slipped out of her room, thankful that Boot and Abbott weren't in the common room, and walked down to the great hall for dinner.