Hermione sat very tensely in a chair in Professor McGonagall's office. She had absolutely no desire to be there and by the look on Draco's face he didn't want to be in the room either. And really there was no true need for him to be there because he could sleep through the night if he really wanted to, though Hermione was sure he was starting to adjust to the schedule he was currently on. Which couldn't possibly be a good thing because if he got adjusted to the schedule then there was no telling how long it would take him to get back to sleeping normally. Hermione hated to think that it was her fault his sleeping pattern was messed up in the first place and she hadn't even thought about it causing him much more damage than being tired. Which was quite pathetic; she should have looked into the matter and made sure he would be okay. The fact that he wasn't okay worried her.
However the longer they sat in Professor McGonagall's office the angrier Draco became. Almost every suggestion she made and every time the older witch encouraged Hermione to talk to her friends, his scowl grew larger and angry noises escaped his lips. Hermione wanted him to either shut up and support her getting help from others or just leave the room. She couldn't handle his anger at the moment even though she despised sitting there as much as he did. And if she did start to sleep more each night then everything had to get better and they could try to get to a normal state.
At that moment she really just wanted to go back to the common room and start studying on the floor with Draco's fingers intertwined with her own but she knew that wasn't about to happen. McGonagall was currently in the middle of stating that neither were allowed to leave their rooms after midnight, and it was already getting late. Besides, as usual she was beginning to get tired and it was about time she went to bed. The nightmares would come again but hopefully, if McGonagall's advice worked, they would be stopping soon. The only problem that Hermione really had with the advice was that Professor McGonagall wanted her to tell her friends. And she had absolutely no interest in doing that; telling her friends meant receiving their pity and Hermione hated pity.
"Are we in agreement?" Professor McGonagall asked, looking at Hermione with more concern than Hermione had seen directed at her in a long time. Sure her father had been horrified when he'd seen her arm and heard her first scream as she woke during the night, but even he hadn't looked at her like her Transfiguration professor was now.
"Yes," Hermione said, nodding as the tension in her body slowly began to dissolve. The words meant that the meeting was almost over; she could relax then.
"Very good. And Mr. Malfoy?"
"What?"
"Do you agree to the-"
"I think it's stupid," he muttered, his eyes staring intently at one of the books on the desk in front of them.
"Mr. Malfoy-"
"You're giving us a bedtime and preventing us from making our own choices to be around each other because you're terrified of how others will see it. And you don't want Granger being involved with a-"
"It's nothing like that," McGonagall said quickly. "I am quite simply trying to make sure the two of you remain in good health throughout the remainder of the school year. And I want Miss Granger to get better,"
"You don't give a damn on whether or not she's better. If you did you would have paid attention and done something earlier; then she would already be fine,"
"Draco stop," Hermione muttered.
"And of course you'll just go along with it because you do everything she says,"
"I-"
"So I think it's bloody stupid. I think I should be allowed to make sure she's okay because I don't want to see her upset every morning because she-"
"Will you please just shut up!" Hermione snapped. "This isn't about you Draco; it's not about what you want!"
"Miss Granger-"
"I understand what you're saying and believe me I don't like the thought of being separated from you but if it helps then-I don't want to wake up screaming anymore," she said, her voice quickly losing all of the anger that had gathered in her mind. "I'm tired; I'm absolutely exhausted and if Professor McGonagall thinks this will help then I want to try it,"
"But I-"
"Just say yes, Draco, and let's move on,"
There was silence in the room for a few moments, as Hermione stared out the window and she felt Draco's eyes on her. She didn't know if he would actually cave in just to please her, it didn't seem like something Draco Malfoy would do, but he wasn't the same Draco Malfoy she'd known most of her life. "Fine,"
The gruff word had Hermione quickly turning her head to look at him, though his eyes were locked on McGonagall. "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy,"
"But this is for her," he said, gesturing roughly at Hermione. "Got it? For her. If she isn't better then I won't keep going along with it,"
"That seems fair," Professor McGonagall said, n0dding.
With that, Draco stood and left the room, slamming the door behind him. "That went well," Hermione said with a long sigh. "Thank you, Professor,"
"I do think this is the best course of action, Miss Granger. I realize that Mr. Malfoy was right in saying I should have done something earlier but I was hoping... Please see that Mr. Malfoy is okay,"
"He'll be fine," Hermione said, standing from her chair and taking steps toward the door. "So I'll start speaking to-"
"Next week, Miss Granger. I'm truly sorry it's taken this long to get you help,"
"It's my own fault," she said. "I could have said something earlier," With that Hermione left the office as well and walked back to the common room. It was getting late so there weren't many people walking through the corridors, a fact that pleased her. She got to the common room rather quickly only to find Terry and Hannah sitting on the sofa, whispering to one another.
Hermione opened her mouth but Hannah spoke before she could get out a word. "Before you ask, he walked in a few minutes ago, slammed the door shut behind him, and then went to his room and slammed that door too. He seemed upset about something. I hope you two can work it out,"
"Hannah I-"
"Hermione, we know," she said. "Both of us. Maybe we don't know everything going on, but we know enough. Believe it or not you two can be incredibly oblivious to everything around you at three in the morning when you're holding hands,"
Her mouth fell open; she'd never noticed Hannah or Terry coming out when her and Draco were studying together on the floor. Or doing other things, like having the rare conversations that left her heart aching for him. "It's not-"
"Seriously, Hermione, denying it is pointless. Maybe if you two went public you wouldn't have so many problems," Terry said, chuckling slightly.
"You don't even-"
"Like him? Yeah, I don't. He gets on my nerves. But I have no control over you and what you do and I'm getting sick of you two having drama,"
She continued to stand in front of the two delegates, her mouth opened slightly in surprise, before she quickly turned and walked into her own room. She couldn't believe that they'd even kept what they'd seen secret. At least Hermione hadn't noticed anyone talking about her or Draco having something going on-and Hermione didn't know what that something was. She wouldn't push him on the matter as it made her nervous too, but if it continued they would have to figure something out. Hermione wanted it to continue. That thought made her nervous too.
She didn't sleep that night. She spent hours laying awake in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to figure out exactly what had made Draco so angry to make him storm out of the room. She was forced to think about how lonely her nights would be if she couldn't spend half of them with him. And how was that supposed to help her anyway? Hermione was sure that staying alone was only going to make her situation worse. And so when six came that morning Hermione climbed off the bed, her eyes actually beginning to hurt from staying open for too long. She walked out of her room only to find Draco doing the same. He glanced at her, an expression that almost looked worried on his face, before he took a step closer to her. "I-" he started awkwardly, frowning.
"Are we-"
"As far as I'm concerned," he said, appearing to know what she wanted to ask before she could actually ask it. "Are you-"
"No, I'm not mad at you. I just wish you would have been happier for me instead of getting so angry. And I wish you would tell me what bothered you so much,"
He rubbed his chin and frowned at her. "I don't know if I want to discuss it,"
"But how are we supposed to-"
"Supposed to what?"
"Move forward!"
"Granger what are you-"
"How are we supposed to ever move into another phase of whatever the hell we are if you won't talk to me about anything?"
"Did I ever say that we were going to move forward?" he asked quietly.
Hermione was shocked into silence. She stared at him for a few seconds, well aware that hurt was shining in her eyes, before she turned away from him and hurried into the bathroom. She showered quickly for once and got ready for her day, avoiding him to the best of her ability.
That continued on for another two days. Hermione didn't know why but Draco looked conflicted and he looked sad whenever he looked at her. Hermione was sure her expression mirrored his, though hers had to look more tired. Harry seemed to have noticed the change and he kept questioning her and hinting at something that Hermione seemed to be absolutely incapable of understanding. For those two days she also didn't sleep as she didn't want to wake up and be completely alone after a nightmare. She'd done it before but then Draco had changed things and Hermione wasn't quite prepared to go back to how things had been. Her mind was still way too busy when night came about, as she was thinking about Draco and her friends and what she could possibly say to the woman Professor McGonagall wanted her to talk to the next week.
Which was why, Hermione realized as she sat in the Potions room, it was an incredibly bad idea to come to class that day. The Potions room was stuffy and unnaturally warm and it just set her up for failure. So that day Hermione did something completely out of character for herself: she fell asleep in class. It happened some time during Slughorn lecturing them on what would appear on their N.E.W.T test. She absolutely hated the fact that she couldn't keep her eyes open and she would have to read through the entire textbook again to make sure she didn't miss anything. But as she began dozing with her head resting on her hands, reading through the textbook became the last thing she was thinking about.
Before Hermione could even try to wake herself up, people in black robes and masks came storming into the room with their wands raised. It wasn't a typical nightmare, usually it started off as something from the battle, but it seemed to be turning into something from the battle. The classroom melted around her and her classmates began running about, trying to get away and throwing spells over their shoulders. Soon enough Hermione was all but falling off a broom near the Room of Requirement with Ron and Harry by her side. Draco was there as well, looking at her in terror before running off. The scene quickly shifted to the moment where she'd believed Harry was dead and Ron had been the only thing keeping her from completely falling apart. But then she was seeing Lavender's mauled body and the werewolf that had killed her. And next it was Fred and the Weasley family surrounding him with looks of pure agony on their faces. And then pain was coursing through her body as she was hit with an unknown spell. A moment later she was looking into Bellatrix Lestrange's eyes as the older witch raised her wand, her other hand pulling a knife out of her robes.
Hermione only became aware that the ringing in her ears was caused by her screams after she'd fallen off the stool. She couldn't have been asleep for that long yet the scream sounded just the same as it normally did.
Every eye in the classroom was on her. Hermione was sure it wouldn't have been that bad if Draco wasn't at her side. And they'd been sitting on opposite sides of the room. "Draco what-"
"What the hell happened?" he asked, reaching for her hand. Hermione was about to respond and grab for him when he was shoved out of the way by everyone else in the classroom. He got pushed to the back of the crowd which he obviously fought, but Hermione knew he wouldn't get back to her.
"Hermione what's-" Harry began, his eyes full of concern.
"Hermione are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"What were you doing asleep?"
"Hermione do you need to go to the hospital wing?"
"Why did you scream?"
"Hermione what's going on with you?"
The questions continued to come before Hermione could answer them, and she quickly became overwhelmed by the questions. Her name echoed through the classroom as people began shouting their questions at her and Hermione's eyes widened. She didn't know what to think; she could barely even hear Harry talking to her or Ron yelling at everyone to shut up. And before she knew it, Harry was helping her to her feet and Professor Slughorn was telling her friends to take her to the hospital wing. She knew she was fine and that there was nothing that could be done to help her, yet she accepted their hands on her arms as they led her to the infirmary.
For almost half an hour she sat in a bed, letting the Calming Draught Madam Pomfrey gave her take effect. Harry and Ron had been questioning her endlessly and soon enough, as it was lunch then, her other friends had come running in the room as the news spread around the school like wildfire. She listened to them all scold her for not coming to them after she'd quietly explained the extent of what was happening, as after the screaming in Potions she couldn't hide it very well. It was mostly Ginny and Harry who were doing the scolding; Ron was staring at her in shock along with Neville and Luna was giving her a sad smile.
"I think we should bring him in," Neville said suddenly, interrupting Harry's turn at yelling at her. "He knows, doesn't he Hermione?"
"Neville who-"
"Malfoy. He knows, doesn't he?"
"He-"
"That son of a-" Harry began to shout. "This is what he was talking about! When he said there was something you were hiding! Damn it, Hermione, why didn't you say anything?"
"Because I didn't want this!" she protested weakly, folding her arms across her chest. "I didn't want-"
"Guys I think we should bring him in," Neville said again.
"What the hell are you on about?" Ron asked.
"Malfoy was pacing outside the door when we got here. I think maybe it's time to pull him in,"
Hermione frowned, thinking about the rocky place they were currently in. "I don't know if-"
At that moment the door slammed open. Professor McGonagall walked in first, dragging Draco into the room behind her. "I've had enough," she said loudly, walking quickly to the bed Hermione was sitting in. "You cannot keep shouting at everyone for coming to try and get a peek, Mr. Malfoy, that is my job. Now sit down and discuss her condition with everyone that cares about her and stop yelling at everyone else!"
After Professor McGonagall left, Ron began to glare at Draco. Neville, Ginny, and Luna had indifferent expressions on their face. Harry actually looked slightly grateful to see him. "You're an ass," Harry said loudly.
"I'm well aware," Draco snapped.
"You couldn't have mentioned this? That she was dealing with this alone?"
"She wasn't alone," he argued quietly.
"Yes she-"
"No, Potter, she wasn't. She had me,"
Hermione stared at him in surprise. It wasn't like him to say something like that in front of the people who he'd always hated. He didn't want to show any level of emotion around them. So when he did, Hermione realized that something had changed in him over the past few days. The only thing she needed to know was exactly what had changed.