A/N: A quote I like to use sometimes is 'the way to hell is paved with the best intentions'. I'm planning to post this week still but I will need to take some time off after that until early January. Family medical reasons.
Thank you so much for all the favorites, follows, and comments. I greatly appreciate it. Please note all dreams/memories in this fic from here on out will be in italics unless noted otherwise.
Trigger Warnings: Violence, injury, and depiction of death are included in this chapter. Suggested reading age is 18. Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter Thirteen
June 2013
Emilia stepped quietly through her front door and pressed it shut with a soft click of the latch. Her truck keys hung limply from her fingers but she couldn't be bothered to walk to the kitchen and place them on the counter. She simply let them drop to the floor.
Her dazed eyes drifted across her house as she turned around. It looked exactly as she left it this morning. Nothing had changed here even though it felt like everything else had.
She was alone at last...probably for the last time in who knows how long. Draco had thought it would be best for her to go home by herself and he would contact her in the morning. As if she would calm down by then.
She didn't want to think about him. It would only make the tears start again.
With slow steps Emilia made her way up the stairs and into her bedroom. She stood in the middle of her room, her vacant gaze focused on her cream colored duvet. Her brain tried to rationalize what happened for the umpteenth time but it simply didn't make sense. This all had to be a bad dream.
She turned her attention toward her bathroom. After the incident on Draco's birthday she had put the crate of medicine away except for the current bottle she was using which sat on the counter, readily accessible.
Emilia stormed into the bathroom and snatched it up. Her golden brown eyes glowered at it for several minutes. She hated that she needed this. Hated that she was so weak and sick. Hated that she felt this hurt by Draco all because she had been stupid enough to give her trust so freely instead of listening to her logical senses.
Her body spun around in place and she threw the bottle against the wall of her shower as hard as she could. The dark glass shattered, the suspended blue and black fluid within exploded against the white tiles. Breathing heavily she watched as the beautiful liquid trailed long streaks down the wall.
A fissure seemed to appear from nowhere in Emilia's chest and her turmoil overflowed into her whole body. She fled back into her room and threw herself onto her bed, allowing the sobs to wreck her. That was a stupid thing to do in the heat of anger. She would need to find another bottle and take a dose before falling asleep but first she would indulge in some self pity. She had plenty of time right now to wallow...
She was walking down a narrow train corridor. She knew she was her younger self and she was heading to a new secondary school. She was helping someone, a kind faced boy, find something...a toad. She knocked on a few compartment doors and asked the occupants if they had seen the toad and if they would be willing to help find it. No one had seen it and politely declined to help. 'No matter,' she thought, 'it'll turn up eventually.'
She stopped at the next compartment and knocked. Before anyone answered she slid the door open. The sunlight was peeking through the compartment window at just the right angle that it blinded her for a moment. She blinked a few times to allow her eyes to adjust. Inside six other children, all who looked to be about the same age as her and dressed in matching black robes, turned toward her.
She smiled politely as she looked around at them until her eyes landed on his. They were the same startlingly brilliant grey colour he had now but as this was the first time she saw them her youthful self was taken aback. A silent breath slipped past her lips. 'Oh, he has such beautiful eyes,' she thought. His own eyes had widened when they met hers and they stared at each other for a few seconds.
"This compartment is full." A high, feminine voice jeered.
It startled her out of her brief stupor. Her attention was brought down to the lone raven haired girl sitting by the door. Her eyes narrowed at the girl's rudeness.
"Yes, I can see that, thank you. I was actually wondering if one of you had seen a toad. Neville," she gestured to the red faced, gangly boy behind her, "has lost his familiar. Would any of you be able to help us look for it?"
All six children stared at her like she had sprouted two heads.
"What are we, nifflers? Get lost." A boy with stylish curly brown hair and icy blue eyes demanded with a self righteous air to him.
She folded her arms, glaring down her nose at the boy.
"You don't have to be rude about it. A simple no would suffice. Do you lack manners or are you just this disagreeable?" She chastised.
It was then the boy with the beautiful eyes rose to his feet. He walked over to her, barely a few inches taller than her own childish frame, nevertheless he was intimidating as he stood next to her.
"You're one to talk about lacking manners. You barged in here uninvited. You should be careful what you say about my friends." He berated her.
She tilted her chin up haughtily, saddened he was just as unkind as the others.
"I did not barge in, I knocked, and I wasn't being rude when I asked for help. Your friend didn't have to be so mean and neither do you. I'm only trying to help my friend."
With that, she turned to the boy who was apparently called Neville.
"Come on Neville, we don't need help from a prat like him."
She stomped off to the next compartment with Neville in tow, livid for being accused of something she most certainly did not do. It was a few compartments down, Neville was on his hands and knees looking under the seats, when she felt the tap of a finger on her shoulder.
She turned to see the silver eyed boy and scowled.
"Yes?" She made her tone short.
His eyes flashed with anger before he puffed out a frustrated breath of air and his face softened.
"I want to apologize for how I behaved just now. It's very kind of you to help your friend. I know I would help my friends if they asked. My name is Draco Malfoy."
Draco held out his hand like a peace offering.
Hesitantly, she slipped her hand into his. She swore she felt sparks jumping between their fingertips.
"Hermione Granger."
They stood awkwardly for a few moments after releasing their hands.
"Do you like chocolate?" Draco suddenly asked.
Pleased at the friendly question, her mouth rose into a genuine smile.
"I love chocolate."
He slipped his hand into the pocket of his robe, pulling out a small blue and gold package. His eyes flickered between her face and the box, holding it hesitantly for a full minute, before he held it out to her.
"Here, I got this off the trolley earlier so it shouldn't be melted. I meant it when I said I was sorry."
She looked quizzically at the package labelled 'Chocolate Frog' in gold script now in her hands.
"I've never eaten a chocolate frog before. Thank you."
He looked at her befuddled.
"You've never had a chocolate frog before?"
She shook her head, her cheeks reddened a little, and she wondered if it was a bad thing that she hadn't.
"Um...do you like mint?" She asked shyly, eager to change the subject.
Draco shrugged his shoulders, indifferent. Timidly, she reached into her jeans pocket to pull out a wrapped mint candy ring and held it out to him.
"My parents are dentists. I like to visit them at work and curl up in my dad's office chair to read. It always smells like leather and mint in his chair. This reminds me of him when I feel homesick. I hope you like it."
He took the candy with a polite 'thank you' before pressing it into his pocket.
His beautiful eyes searched hers, obviously perplexed.
"Granger...that surname is not familiar to me."
"No, I suppose it wouldn't be. I'm a muggleborn." She shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.
The look on Draco's face transformed into one of shock and horror. He instantly wiped the hand that had shook hers on his robes. She was confused and a little hurt by the action.
"I-I have to go." He stuttered.
Before she could even open her mouth he turned and practically fled back to his compartment.
She looked down at her hands holding the chocolate frog box, wondering why he ran like that...why he rubbed his hand clean like it was dirty. With an annoyed huff she turned to go find Neville who had moved on without her. She decided that Draco Malfoy was most definitely a prat.
Emilia startled awake. She felt she wasn't getting enough air even as she gasped deeply. The telltale throb of a migraine and the aggressive swirling darkness in her head began to make the details of the dream muted before vanishing into the abyss. She felt her chest constrict as she struggled to not forget everything. In the end the only things she could grasp onto were Draco's beautiful eyes and the mint she'd given him...another painful jab above her right eye sent her into a panic.
Oh God she had fallen asleep without taking her medicine.
Frantic, she crawled off her bed and into the bathroom. The crate was buried in the back of the cabinet beneath her sink. She threw the doors open and began to toss all of her toiletries that were in her way behind her.
At last Emilia found it and yanked out the familiar wooden box. She flung the lid off, her fingers fumbling as they pulled out a bottle. Snatching up a scalpel she attempted to neatly peel off the wax with shaking, impatient hands. A hiss slipped past her teeth when the scalpel slipped and she slit her thumb open. Ignoring the pain, she kept moving the bloodied blade around the edge of the seal.
Satisfied that she had removed most of the wax, Emilia ripped the cork off after a few hard tugs with her blood covered fingers. She hastily picked up a dropper and dipped it within the amber glass, squeezing the bulb to suck a full dose into its glass stem.
She tipped her head back and greedily gulped down the blue black liquid. A sigh of relief slipped past her parted lips and her eyes fluttered closed. She sat quietly while taking deep breaths. It took all her focus to push down the panic while waiting for the migraine to vanish and hoping the seizures didn't start from her stupidity.
When she felt confident she had calmed down and most likely staved off the seizure she opened her eyes, taking in the mess she'd created. The blood was dripping steadily from the cut on her thumb. She knew she should clean and examine it right away. Some of the blood had smeared all over the medicinal vial she held onto. She carefully put the fragile items down on her tile floor and buried her face into her hands. She let the sobs convulse through her entire body again without abandon, wondering what kind of hell her life was about to turn into.
There was no way around it. Dr. Chang had insisted Emilia had to take four weeks off of work, thirty days total to completely stop the medication, then move to half days four days a week for the foreseeable future. Dr. Chang had agreed to revisit the idea of Emilia's work schedule when she and Draco traveled to New York City. Depending on how she was handling not having as much of the medication Dr. Chang proposed they discussed a possible change then.
Emilia was devastated. Even with her friend's father filling in for her those four weeks she knew this was going to have a drastic effect on her clientele. Her only hope was that the young couple who were coming to interview for the partnership fell in love with the area and moved right away. It would be a couple weeks before she met with them. There was also the issue of Kaila. She was very understanding given that she would be temporarily part time. Her parents had more than enough work for her at the co-op, she said.
Emilia was supposed to be avoiding as much stress as possible while she weaned off the medication but she seemed to only find more. She had been ordered to rest the first couple of weeks and idleness had never been her friend. Her mood was a whirlwind after getting over the initial shock and anger.
As the days trudged on and she began to take less of her medication she became more paranoid, especially after the night when she had forgotten to take anything. She didn't remember what it was like before her medication and it made her fret. She was worried once the medication was completely out of her system that her genetic mutation would cause daily seizures, possibly ones bad enough that she would stop breathing.
Not only was there the paranoia to contend with but strange things kept happening. It made her feel like she was going insane. For example, she had sneezed violently and thought nothing of it. When she went to use the restroom her bookmark, which she was sure she had laid on the table right next to her, was found laying on the floor clear across the room near her foyer.
The other day she had this overwhelming crackling feeling along her skin, nothing like the pull sensation. It was like jolts of pent up electricity being super charged in her chest, making her tingle all over. That morning her legs in particular were very twitchy. When it became too much she had stomped her foot, thinking maybe her legs were falling asleep. As soon as she slammed it down a weird feeling, like a pulse of energy, pushed out through the sole of her foot. In that same moment over half of the books on her bookshelf next to her toppled to the ground, startling her.
Then last night happened. Mona and Larae had stopped by to see her. Emilia had been very vague when explaining to her friend what she had learned from Dr. Chang and why Draco was suddenly staying with her. Mona had looked at her with angry disbelief but kept her lips tight and thin. She offered to bring her meals, books, or anything Emilia thought she would need. She smiled weakly and thanked her friend, explaining that just having her company was enough to help lift her spirits.
Larae was exploring the new toys Emilia had added to her toybox, kept specifically there for her, when Mona offered to wash her dishes. The two women stood at the kitchen sink, the noise of dishes clinking was the only sound between them for a long while. Eventually Mona quietly brought up that she was going to cancel the book club meetings for now so Emilia could rest.
A surge of anger coursed through Emilia as she turned from her friend to put the glass bowl away across the kitchen. Their book club. The one thing she had been looking forward to during this nightmare. Of course they would have to cancel...if she was too sick there was no one who could run it and Mona had told her when they started she wouldn't have the time to...it was so unfair.
Her fingertips squeezed against the bowl, she had thought she was being gentle, but they had somehow managed to shatter the bowl into minuscule pieces. The fragments flew across the room like a tiny glass snow storm, glittering on the hardwood floor. Larae cried out at the sound and immediately started bawling.
Draco, who had remained in the guest bedroom he was staying in to give them privacy, sprinted down the stairs two at a time. He found a flabbergasted Emilia holding tiny shards of glass in her hands, small cuts dotting her skin but nothing too egregious. Mona had swooped up her daughter, looking bewildered between Emilia and Draco. He asked what had happened but Emilia couldn't find the words.
Instead of persisting for an answer Draco helped sweep up the mess after seeing Mona and Larae out. Emilia had tried to apologize to her friend, who waved her hand absentmindedly at the accident, glad Emilia wasn't seriously injured. Emilia stood quietly as he cleaned her hands free of debris. When he was done she thanked him and fled up the stairs, avoiding Draco's concerned gaze as it followed her. It was absolutely embarrassing not being able to explain something because she didn't understand what had happened.
It was now day nine of her detox. She sat curled up in a rocking chair on her front porch. The summer heat made the early morning a pleasant temperature to bask in before the afternoon swelter drove her inside. Today though was a bit cooler and she relished in the breeze ruffling her yellow blouse and white shorts. An added bonus was the space from her new roommate as she tried to solve the puzzle that was Draco Malfoy.
Draco had been nothing but polite as far as guests go. He mostly kept to himself other than checking on her a few times a day as he said he would, and taking meals with her, spattered with superficial conversations unlike their usual easy banter between deafening bouts of silence.
He knew she needed space to work out her emotions and tried his best to adhere to her desire. At first she made it clear she was angry at the circumstances and how he handled things. After a few days her anger began to slowly etch away and she was left with feelings of hurt and disappointment that he hadn't been honest with her.
Sometimes guilt soured her stomach for feeling this way since he was being kind enough to take a longer vacation to help take care of her. However, he went behind her back and convinced her own doctor to agree to this situation, not to mention he hid what he knew from her. It would take time to forgive him for breaking her trust like that even with his good, misguided intentions.
Now that she had more free time on her hands she often found herself sitting and trying to think about how things had gotten to this point with Draco. The more she thought about it though the more she started to become suspicious. She felt she might've been onto something when she accused him of having ulterior motives for coming here.
A nagging feeling in her gut told her that this whole thing was too convenient. Between him randomly showing up, cozying up to her, becoming an intricate part of her life, and now staying with her to care for her all pointed to something not adding up. She wanted answers but she didn't even know what the questions were. If she thought too much on it the black wisps would creep along the edges of her thoughts, shifting her attention away from that line of thinking.
This was how he found her with two cups of coffee. Emilia's eyes were staring off at the green hills that usually brought her such joy but lately her self pity made her unable to feel anything but contempt.
Draco set one of the mugs down on the coffee table near her and retreated to an armchair across the way. It was a wise choice, even if she felt a slight ache from the distance between them.
"How are you feeling today?" He questioned kindly.
"Fine. No headaches yet." She responded, her voice devoid of most of her usual peppy emotions.
He nodded.
"Good."
They sat in silence which was how they were currently spending much of their time together.
"Emilia, we should really discuss this. It's been nine days..." He finally said, like he was reading her mind.
He had said this to her everyday.
"Unless you are ready to talk about everything, then I'm not ready to talk about anything, Draco." She replied, as she had the last eight times he asked.
She looked over at him, trying to push the hurt she felt into her eyes. He swallowed hard, his gaze searched her face with obvious remorse for how things had happened. He didn't push any further, simply nodded again and looked out across the hills.
This hurt her quite a bit. He wanted to pick and choose what they could talk about. After the phone call debacle she had demanded they talk about everything upon his arrival at her house with his strange lack of luggage consisting of one small suitcase and a briefcase with a gold plate etched with his initials.
He was adamant that he still had no new information about the medication from the colleagues he had contacted. She secretly hoped they would contradict the study Dr. Chang and Draco were hanging their hats on but he seemed fairly confident it was final. The past was still something he was adamant about avoiding for a while longer.
The pull feeling tugged gently at her as her mood turned bitter, as if trying to comfort her. She sucked in a quiet breath, not willing to cry yet again. Instead she picked up the cup before her and took a tentative sip.
Well, there was one perk to him being here. He made an excellent cup of coffee for her everyday, just how she liked it. That was another thing that made her adamant she wanted to discuss everything. Since the day he walked in Draco...well, he knew things.
The first had been the coffee which wasn't too terribly surprising given they had taken coffee together before and he had probably watched her dump an abnormal amount of sugar in with cream. The next day it was her eggs, sunny side up but hardly runny at all, made perfectly along with the coffee. She became uncomfortable as she looked down at her plate because she didn't remember telling him this. Had she ordered eggs at the café with him the morning after Serendipity got hurt? She didn't remember.
As the week passed she noticed little things he did to her utter astonishment. A throw blanket laid perpendicular across the sofa like she liked to pull onto her lap while reading. A hair clip laid on her bathroom counter at night so she could push her crazy mass of morning hair out of the way until she was ready to tackle it. Her laundered shirts were all hung in the closet instead of folded and put away.
They weren't big things and she easily explained to herself that he was very observant and most likely he remembered her telling him these things. It was just...weird.
"Have you had any other symptoms Dr. Chang spoke about?" Draco's voice snapped her out of her internal reverie.
She shook her head, sipping her coffee again.
Dr. Chang had explained the following Monday that her brain was going to slowly go into overdrive to normalize itself to what it had been like before she began the medication. How that would look or how long it would take was a guess at this point.
When she asked Dr. Chang if it was normal to dream like this after getting off this particular medication Dr. Chang admitted she was unsure because Emilia was her only client with her genetic mutation that took this particular medication. She offered to look further into it. Dr. Chang had warned Emilia that if she started to have strange dreams or daydreams to tell Draco immediately.
Emilia had thought the first night had been a fluke because she hadn't taken any of her medication in over twenty four hours. She reasoned there was no point in saying anything when she barely remembered it. The next evening, which was the first night she took a quarter less of her usual dose, the absurd dreams had overtaken her sleep again. The following morning she decided to follow her logical judgement and not tell Draco. He'd ask questions, pry for details, and pick at her already overwhelmed brain. She'd pass on that thanks.
Ever since that night Emilia spent all of her nights full of dreams...and what strange dreams they were. They were physically challenging, absolutely relentless, and vivid. From the time her eyes closed until they opened her mind continued nonstop. It was almost as exhausting to sleep as it was to be awake.
Dr. Chang had worked with her on a strategy of waking up by focusing on her breathing before she did anything else. It helped to ground her after waking so fitfully. Dr. Chang was quite certain that a major contributor to Emilia's last seizure had been her lack of de-escalating techniques and the quick detoxing method. They would revisit its effectiveness in New York while Dr. Chang researched other options in the meantime.
She woke every morning feeling as if she were going to have a panic attack until she began her breathing exercises. It had proven to be an effective method to de-escalate her stressful wake process for the time being. Every night though she would close her eyes and tremble in fear at the onslaught she knew was about to overtake her. However, she was desperate for any rest she could find.
Right now the midday heat was beginning to rise, combined with her exhaustion and the comfortable plush chair she was buried in, it was no wonder her heavy eyelids drifted closed. Maybe Draco would leave her alone if she pretended to sleep...
She was at the school again as she had been in several of the dreams she had previously. She dressed in a grey uniform with a black robe. An obscene number of books weighed down her arms as well as a heavy backpack. Walking beside her was the messy haired boy with glasses she had dreamed about before. There was also a red haired boy strolling next to him. Both of them had been in several of the dreams. She knew these were friends of hers.
They were heading down dimly lit corridors. She didn't speak but the boys did while she listened attentively. They were talking animatedly but half of the words and things they said were gibberish. Nonsense things like quidditch, a quaffle goal that wasn't deserved by another team, and a tale about a snitch being caught during practice by the messy haired boy were passed back and forth. Eventually they entered a large hall with four long rows of tables before a single long head table at the front.
She seemed to know exactly where she was going because she followed the boys to a table and took her seat across from them. A book was selected from her stack and she began to read a strange textbook about arithmancy while eating toast.
This went on for a while before she raised her head to talk to the boys in front of her. She asked them about their charms essay which both groaned and promised to work on that evening. Satisfied, she almost started to read again when she felt a creeping feeling along the back of her neck, like she was being watched. She looked up and around before she spotted the source of the unease.
None other than a young Draco sat across the hall from her at another table. He was a little older than he had been in the train dream. His eyes widened when he was caught staring but to her surprise he sneered at her before turning away. She felt a pang of hurt annoyance but thankfully the dream ended.
She dreamed she was crouching down in a marsh. She had fit herself into a small hole but at least it was a well covered hiding spot. A fog had rolled in at some point, making it nearly impossible to see more than a few steps in front of her. A younger adult Draco was crouched down next to her, holding a stick tightly in his hand, while looking around cautiously.
"You're sure the rendezvous point was here, Malfoy?" She questioned doubtfully.
He grinned at her mockingly and tossed her a small cloth covered bundle which she clumsily caught.
"If you can't handle sitting and waiting then by all means head back. Be sure to send me someone competent to assist me in capturing this bitch."
She glared at him.
"Nice try. It doesn't work like that and you know it." She pitched the bundle back at him and he easily caught it with his quick reflexes. Show off.
"Silence is key otherwise you, and therefore I, will get caught." He whispered harshly.
So they sat for many more minutes in the demanded silence until the sound of a strange pop noise caught their attention. A distant voice called his name. Draco made a shushing motion with his finger and gently pushed her further into her hiding spot.
"Stay here and wait here for my signal." He said quietly before slinking off.
She felt her heart thunder in her chest and it was the only noise she heard for a long time. Her body was becoming numb with sleep from crouching at an odd angle. Malfoy wasn't coming back. How could she be so idiotic to listen to him. He probably took off without telling her like last time he took this long. A female scream cried out before abruptly being cut short. Her breath caught in her throat. She pulled out a stick similar to the one Draco had and held it tight. The sound of soggy footfalls echoed closer to her. A pale hand slid into her view. She looked up in surprise to the blank face of Draco.
"Is she dead?" She whispered.
He didn't reply, simply continued to hold out his hand.
She took it and he helped pull her up and out of her hole. She groaned as her body stretched out, blood rushing back into her limbs.
"You listened to me this time. Why?" He asked, his voice a touch leery.
She rotated her shoulders before glancing over at him, her eyebrow quirked.
"I'm supposed to trust you, aren't I?" She deadpanned.
The flicker of surprise was brief on his face before it returned to impassiveness. Perhaps she had imagined it.
"You are. I suppose I should extend the same courtesy to you. However, to be clear Granger, this trust only extends to assignments."
She snorted, as if she were stupid enough to think otherwise.
"Take me to the body Malfoy so we can be done already." she said.
The dream faded into another of fire. So much fire. She could feel the extreme heat licking her body in waves. She was twirling the same stick in her hand and large sloshes of water flung from the end, almost like a small fire hose, dousing a few of the flames.
Her other sleeved arm covered her nose and mouth as she coughed violently. Her hair, which for some reason was black colored and in long tamed ringlets, had curtained around her face with the force of the cough just as nasty wave of smoke pushed toward her. The makeshift shield kept her eyes from watering blindly with tears.
Draco was at her back. She wasn't sure how she knew it was him but she did all the same. They were protecting each other from something unseen in the flames.
"Malfoy, they're dead, we need to leave!" She coughed again from the acrid smoke billowing around them, throwing another wave of water at the fire followed by a whirl of wind to blow the smoke back. Her eyes searched around desperately for any sign of movement beyond the rising flames.
"Are you mad woman? If they get away it's your head and my cover blown. I'm not going back to Azkaban for something so stupid as this. There were three of them and I only killed two. For fucks sake we should be able to capture one!" He snarled.
A sudden burst of green light, aimed at his face, shot through the fire. She quickly swiped her stick and a shield of light blocked him from being hit. Draco swore, grabbing her arm.
"Trust me." He demanded.
Without waiting for her reply they spun tightly into nothingness on the spot only to reappear in the direction the light had come from. A terrifying black cloaked figure was standing there with their back to them, a stick raised in their hand watching where the pair of them had stood a moment ago. The two of them had made a cracking sound when they reappeared but it was so faint beneath the roaring fire the cloaked aggressor seemed to not hear their arrival. The roof groaned and the section near where they had been standing moments before dropped several flaming pieces of wooden debris.
Instinctually, she grabbed the figure's cloaked back and Draco's hand before doing the same disappearing thing he had done moments before. The only difference was that they landed in a large meadow, cool night air awashed their sweating bodies. Before she could react Draco sent a flash of red light at their attacker who collapsed to the ground in a heap of fabric. She sighed with relief but it was short lived as Draco spun her around toward his wrathful face.
"Granger, what the hell was that? You're not supposed to step into an active duel like that unless absolutely necessary. Your job is defense and support combat relief. I asked you to trust me and you didn't. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
She flung his hands off her arms.
"In case you didn't notice the entire house was on fire, the smoke was getting overwhelming, and you almost got killed. I had to think fast before the fire overpowered us or the roof collapsed. You're welcome by the way."
He sneered at her.
"Oh, I should be thanking you? Salazar, some days I wish I did have a different partner who wasn't as bloody reckless as you!"
She felt her face crumble in stunned hurt. It had been months since they had argued like this. What he said was…hurtful.
She sent a beam of light out of her stick at the fallen person, which coiled around them like a rope. She tossed a gold coin from an unwrapped cloth bundle like in her earlier dream. The coin landed on the fallen figure and they vanished in an instant. Neither she nor Draco seemed worried about where the person went.
Instead, she turned and walked away from him, eyes burning with tears. Her skin began to tingle and felt strange, like bubbles were forming and popping beneath the surface as it shifted and moved. This was something she was used to and quite frankly she didn't care how she looked at the moment. She thought the two of them were doing so well and that he even enjoyed working these assignments with her, as equal partners.
A hand on her upper arm stopped her progress and turned her to face him.
"Oh, bloody hell, you're crying."
She wiped her face hastily, removing the damning evidence.
"Back off, Malfoy. I'll be at Headquarters debriefing."
Draco glowered at her.
"No, we talk now. We made a deal that we do not leave an assignment without talking first. It was your damn idea, Granger."
She scowled angrily at him.
"At least let me finish transforming back into my actual body."
He glared at her but waited as the bubbling sensation under her skin settled and the shifting of her hair to the length it normally was stopped. She didn't give him a chance to speak before she spoke tartly.
"I think you've made your feelings about the assignment and my performance quite clear."
His teeth were set on edge as he grabbed her biceps, practically shaking her.
"You know what I meant. It's not a personal slight, it's a professional opinion. You promised me you would not engage anymore unless I asked you to or I was in dire need of assistance. What do you think would happen if I returned with famed war heroine Hermione Granger's dead body? You are too smart to act this thick."
The heat of anger burned her hotter than the flames they had just escaped. Was that really all he saw her as? The Golden Girl? After all this time, all their assignments, and everything they had been through together? Just as she had done in their third year, when her temper got the better of her and she couldn't find her words to express these fiery feelings, she slapped him. Unlike third year Draco didn't run away. Instead, his eyes scorched her into the ground with as much fire as she felt.
"Request a new partner." She demanded.
"No." He replied, strangely calm.
"Why not?" She bit out.
"We're a good team together." His answer was immediate but the words felt empty.
She snorted, loudly.
"It seems to me, from what you were saying before, we're not very compatible as a pair. We don't trust each other enough to make this work. Request someone else, Malfoy."
Now he was in her space, towering over her as if daring her to step back.
"No, I trust you implicitly compared to the other Gryffindor morons who would get me killed or kill me themselves. You're my choice. I get so few these days and I refuse to give up the only one I made with this shit deal."
She glowered up at him, refusing to cower as she did in her youth.
"You don't own me, Malfoy."
His eyes dipped for an instant to her lips then back up. Her breath escaped in a whoosh. Was he...thinking of kissing her?
"Of course I don't. No one could ever own Hermione Jean Granger." He muttered scathingly.
She started at that, her eyes widened as she stared at him.
"You know my middle name?" Her voice was tainted in disbelief.
Draco's head tilted down close to hers and she was sure he was going to kiss her. Instead he stopped just as their noses brushed against each other.
"There are so many things I know about you. You would be shocked at how much I know, Granger." He whispered in a strange, deep timbre.
With a gentle tug on one of her curls he stepped back a few paces.
"I will not request a partner change. I will, however, see you in a week."
With that he disappeared like the cloaked figure had earlier, leaving her numb where she stood. Nothing had been resolved but nothing would be the same again. Her thoughts were so off base she didn't know why it popped up immediately after he left.
Eskimo kiss. He had inadvertently given her an eskimo kiss and it had felt just as intimate and searing as if their lips had touched like all those years ago...
Her head throbbed like it had been run over by a cement truck which meant she must've fallen asleep. She grit her teeth through the pain, breathing hard as she tried desperately to process what she had seen in her dreams. It was no use.
Just like every other time she woke up the black ink in her head began to swallow the details whole. The first thing she always...always forgot was the name Draco would call her that wasn't her own. It would slip away no matter how hard she focused on it into the endless abyss of her mind. Other details would rapidly follow down into the hole until only fragments of semi understandable dreams remained. It did seem like she remembered a few more details this time which was had dreamed they had worked together as he had claimed previously. What they worked on she didn't remember except it involved traveling to places and meeting with people. What types of meetings this included she wasn't sure. She also wore…a black wig? How bizarre.
Draco's voice broke through her panicked state.
"Emilia, it's okay. You fell asleep and started thrashing. I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you. Take a deep breath."
She attempted to comply with his request, parting her lips to pull in a gasping lungful of air and slowly pushing it back out, willing her heartbeat to settle. A few more breaths like this and she had calmed down quite a bit.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked in a quiet voice. She felt him kneel in front of her, squeezing her knees to bring her focus away from the pain. To her annoyance she found this touch to be rather comforting and familiar. She wasn't sure she could move away yet without becoming dizzy so she let him. The pull sensation hummed against the feel of his touch.
"Yes." She verbally responded, knowing a nod of her head wasn't enough to sway his concern about her actively having a seizure.
Her eyes stayed closed as she mentally worked through the pain, focusing on her deep breaths. After a few minutes it ebbed away and she sighed a little, relieved that she had calmed down quickly. Draco was talking to her but she was too focused on waiting for the pain to disappear to hear what he said. Her eyes eventually opened to stare down vacantly into his anxious grey ones.
"I'm sorry, I was having trouble focusing. What were you saying?" She asked, trying to sound kind since she had rudely ignored him.
His gaze flickered with silvery heat before it dulled to a muted grey, similarly dimmed as her own eyes she was sure. She thought how sad it was that they were like two candles snuffed out of the life and light they once shared together. Even with him looking like this she couldn't help but begrudgingly admire how mesmerizing Draco's eyes still were.
"I need to return to the inn. I forgot a few important documents in my room. Would you be able to give me a ride after dinner, please?" Draco requested, still brushing his hands soothingly against her knees.
Emilia nodded, unable to reply with words. She made an excuse of needing to use the restroom so he would give her space as she stood from her perch. She swayed a little from a short throb in her head, but hid it with her quick steps into the house.
When she pulled up to the Carriage Inn during the late evening Draco had said he would only be a minute. That was five minutes ago. Annoyed, she hopped out of the truck, leaving her door open to help push some of the stifling summer heat from the hot cab. She made her way into the inn.
It had been a while since she had been inside and she knew Michael was slowly redecorating the business to have a more traditional farmhouse chic aesthetic. She explored the main floor hallways, taking in the newly decorated rooms as she waited for Draco to return.
Eventually she became bored with exploring only one floor. Emilia decided to make her way upstairs to wander the single hall there too. She had no idea which of the rooms Draco had stayed in so she left the doors closed.
She was about to turn at the end of the hallway and head back toward the staircase when she noticed a little wooden door with a brass oval knob stood ajar. Curious, she opened it and peeked in. It was a servants stairwell that turned at a ninety degree angle halfway down. She thought how miserable that would have been to use back in the day when your arms were burdened with clothes. She wondered which door the stairs connected to on the main floor. Most likely it was the one near the kitchen and parlor. That was the most logical choice in her mind.
"Thank you for the ride." A voice spoke quietly into her ear.
Emilia jumped at Draco's unexpected proximity behind her, a small shock of energy zapped along her skin. He grabbed her bicep to keep her from tumbling down the stairs. A sudden pop made her yelp, jumping back toward him. The light bulb just inside the stairwell door had suddenly exploded and pitched the stairs into darkness.
"Jesus don't do that!" She hissed back at him, elbowing him in the chest.
Draco chuckled to her annoyance.
"You scare too easily. What have you found?" He questioned, peering over her shoulder.
She was about to answer when everything changed.
Everything around them and in them changed.
It's so faint she almost missed it. Down the hallway, where she knew Michael's parents bedroom was located, another familiar but different pop noise disrupted their conversation.
In that moment Emilia saw something in his face that chilled her body to its very core.
Draco was staring into her eyes and they were wide with fear.