Ch. 10

When he entered the hospital wing she was sitting up in her bed but hadn't eaten anything. She looked unhappy and like she was still in pain.

When he came around the corner she finally saw him and a smile played on her lips.

"Malfoy, what took you so long!" she tried to joke, but laughing hurt her head. "Ow." She said as she lightly placed her hand there.

He wasn't going to tell her to stop since her pain seemed to be doing that already. "I would have been here sooner if I didn't have to interview the next transfiguration teacher," he added.

Hermione started crying and Madame Pomfrey came over. "What's wrong Professor, she asked, eyeing Malfoy suspiciously. "I think it might be better if you give her some space Professor," she said turning to Malfoy.

"No, I want him to stay," she said to Madame Pomfrey. At this she left Hermione's bed side and they were alone again.

"That was a joke Granger…" he said in a gruff but kind way as he took a seat next to her bed. She put the back of her arm up to her face and wiped off her tears.

"Sorry, it's been a rough day. I had to drink skelegrow because I fractured my skull and I've been having a terrible memory all day. I missed lessons too, which means I'll have to double up on their homework for a few days or they'll be off track." She was trying to think of what else she missed.

"Just give yourself a break Granger, you're getting out tomorrow."

"I am? That's good though, I have so much to do!" She said, excited.

"But you're not cleared yet, McGonigal asked me to keep an eye on you this weekend and help you out."

"You're…you're going to do that? For me?" She wondered if he was joking and started to believe him when a punch line didn't come.

He didn't want to point out that she only made it to the hospital wing because he carried her there, and that he couldn't explain why but didn't really want to leave her all alone there. "Why do you sound so surprised?" he asked in a tone that showed he was a little offended. "Besides, are you going to eat? If you don't get your strength they might decide to keep you longer…" at his suggestion she started eating. She saw that he was watching her and tried to offer him some of her food.

"I ate before coming to see you," he lied. He hadn't eaten since dinner the previous night on account of his nerves. "I can visit the kitchens later," he thought.

That evening, he said goodbye, and after tickling the pear in the painting of the bowl of fruit, he went off to his quarters. He set down the food he got from the kitchens and after eating, he laid on his bed and was awoken by a knocking on his door.

The idea of getting to leave the hospital wing did a lot to lift her spirits. In the evening, she had overheard the headmistress talking to Madame Pomfrey. "After she's discharged tomorrow she'll be in the care of Professor Malfoy. He knows that if she has any issues he's to bring her straight back to see you."

"He's been acting so odd Minerva, you know, I think he might actually have feelings for her." Professor McGonigal must have given her an odd look because Madame Pomfrey defended herself. "Really! When he brought her in he was carrying her, and now to think of it, she had her hand on his face. And, that's not all. He asked to stay until she fell asleep and I watched him leave. But when I went to do rounds in the middle of the night, he was sitting in the chair next to her bedside, holding her hand and was fast asleep himself."

"Perhaps they've become friends Poppy?" McGonigal's tone was a little sharp, but it didn't phase the nurse.

"Even so, you know how the Granger girl hated the Malfoy boy, it's no secret." Hermione grew uncomfortable at hearing herself be gossiped about. She couldn't believe the things she said about Malfoy though.

"It's obvious that things are not as they've always been. Maturity perhaps? Anyways, with all you've said one thing is certain, he'll take good care of her." The headmistress finished and left the wing. Hermione had a hard time falling asleep that night thinking about what Madame Pomfrey had said.

When Hermione had woken up the next morning she felt much better. She knew she was going to be released so she got dressed in her regular clothes and approached the nurses' station to Madame Pomfrey's surprise.

"I'm feeling better, do you need anything from me before I leave?"

"Professor! It's still early!"

"Yeah, but I'm awake. I'll check back in if Professor Malfoy asks me to." She nodded at the nurse and left the wing, not giving her a chance to debate. She walked down the corridor and to the teachers quarters, where she went into her apartment first. She got cleaned up and seemed to do just fine despite her energy level being a little low. She made some tea and then brought the tray with her outside as she knocked on Malfoy's door.

He wasn't expecting her and was surprised to see her out of the hospital wing, let alone holding a tray of items at his front door.

"Granger? What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in? This is heavy…"

"Sure," he said as he moved over, grabbed the tray from her, and allowed her to enter. She had never been in Malfoy's apartment before and it looked very different from hers. Instead of a fire place it had a wood stove. The walls were white with a plush green carpet covering the floor and pictures on the walls. The pictures were of scenery in nature, and one picture in a frame was of his mother and father. It was simple, like hers, but with a completely different feel to it. It smelled faintly of fresh pine and evergreen, but Draco sometimes smelled like that too, she didn't know what it was from but liked it all the same. He had more furniture than she had. He took the tray and set it down on a table in his front room while she examined the books on his two shelves.

He stood and watched her take in his place, having been at hers many times.

"May I?" she pointed at a book on his shelf.

"Help yourself," he moved over to throw some wood in the wood stove.

She picked up a few books and then sat down on his couch with him.

"Are you hungry or anything?" He asked her.

"Kind of, did you want to go to the kitchens with me?" she asked.

"I did last night, I have some things if you'd rather not get out much today. It's up to you." He offered.

"Well you're obviously exhausted Draco," she said, taking in his appearance. "I'll make us something to eat," she was appreciative of how kind and thoughtful he had been towards her. He kept showing her that he wasn't the boy she knew so many years ago.

He wasn't going to argue with her and stood up and went into the kitchen and came out with a plate that had two muffins on it and an orange. He set it down on the tea tray and poured a cup of tea. Hermione got up to pour one when he handed her the one he just poured. "Thanks." She uttered, surprised, as she sat back down. He didn't seem to do that to irritate her as he had done in the past.

She sat on his couch to read one of the books he had on his shelf for a few hours and then drifted off to sleep. Draco had sat next to her and after she fell asleep he debated leaving the room, but decided to lightly cover her up instead. After he did, Hermione turned a little and pulled the blanket close to her. She was already asleep and his familiar scent relaxed her.

After a few minutes of her being asleep Draco had drifted off to sleep as well and in her sleep Hermione had found her way closer to him. When she woke up she was curled up next to him sleeping with her head on his chest and his arm around her back. She could hear Draco breathing, clearly exhausted.

Although her first instinct was to move, she didn't want to wake him up. She realized that she was comfortable and enjoyed how laying next to him felt. His deep breaths relaxed her and she fell asleep all over again.

Draco woke up and felt Hermione in his arms and her head on his chest and wanted to roll off the couch. But she was peaceful and finally getting some rest, and oddly enough, he was getting rest too. He wondered how long they had laid together falling asleep. After a few minutes of laying there he wanted to start moving, so he gently shook Hermione's shoulder. "Granger," he said a little loudly as he began to feel awkward again. "Get up," he continued to lightly shake her shoulder until she woke up.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes and then looked at him. "Sorry, I…I don't know what happened…"

"Me either," he returned.

"I was comfortable though," she added, anticipating that he might think it was weird.

"Yeah, you seemed relaxed." He added to the awkward silence.

"And you?" she asked.

"What?"

"You seemed relaxed too," she didn't wait for him to respond "look what time it is! It's about three o'clock!" She couldn't believe that they had slept for several hours.

"I guess I was…" he didn't want to think that their closeness might mean something more. They were just getting used to being friends.

He wanted to do something to break the silence so he got up to cook something and brought it out to Hermione.

"Did you actually cook this? I didn't know you could cook!" She said in disbelief.

"Of course I can cook, how do you think I've survived this long in life Granger?" his sarcasm had returned. She smiled.

"I thought you would have a servant cook for you, or a house elf…" she said seriously.

"I had Dobby up until my second year of Hogwarts. It wasn't until later when I learned to do these things myself that I saw how much work it could be and truly appreciated him. Weren't you friends with him? Whatever happened to him?"

Hermione remembered what had happened to Dobby as they left Malfoy manner. She thought of her final moments with him and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I should have known better than to ask," he thought. The last time he saw Dobby was when Hermione was being tortured at his house.

"He was killed by the knife that Bellatrix threw when he apparated. After we got out…he…he…didn't make it." Tears were pouring down a little more than before.

He wanted to do something to comfort her but didn't know what. She put her head in her hands and her hair acted like a curtain and blocked her face, her shoulders were lightly shaking.

He patted her back a few times and then extended his arm across her back. He pulled her shoulder into him and brought her into a hug. She was tense at first and then relaxed as she hugged him back.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he said with a cracked voice. "For everything. I wish I had done more to stop them."

They didn't break the hug for quite a while and when they did, Hermione had calmed down a bit. To distract herself she grabbed another one of his books and started reading. Then she stopped and looked over at Malfoy when she noticed he had a pensive look on his face.

She handed him a book to hold in his other hand and resumed sitting next to him with room between them on the couch. He gave Hermione a light smile and read with her.

As evening approached, Draco asked Hermione what she wanted to do. He hadn't worked out any arrangements for the evening. When she replied that she didn't know because he was supposed to be taking care of her, he considered a plan.

"I'm going to clean up here and then we can go over to your place. I'll take the couch if that's okay and that way I'll be there if you need me for anything."

Hermione nodded and then went back over to her place. She got the fire going since her place had been really cold. She put a blanket on the couch for Draco.

When he came over he was cleaned up a little bit and had pajamas on, Hermione also put on some flannel pajamas.

"I'm not tired at all, we've had a very inactive day!" she complained as he asked her to get some sleep.

"And that's exactly what you need to get better. If I hadn't been with you today I already know what you'd be doing, and it wouldn't be relaxing."

"What would I be doing then?" she tested him.

"I don't know, maybe re-planning your lessons that are already planned out for the year, doing copious amounts of research, practicing spells and maybe decorating…" He listed off.

"All of those sound so good. You're right." Maybe he did know her better than she thought he did.

"I know I am. Do you doubt that I know you pretty well?" He asked her skeptically

"Hmmm, I wonder if you know as much as you think you do?" He gave her a weird look. "I'll ask you one question about me and you ask me a question about you, then we'll see who answers better." She said as he rolled his eyes; it sounded like fun to Hermione. "I'll go first," she started. "What's my patronus?"

"easy, an otter,"

"Now you go," she pressed.

It took him a moment to think of a question. "What's my favorite potion to brew?"

"Hey, mine was easy! No fair!"

"You didn't make any rules against the type of questions," he pointed out.

"Okay, let's see, draught of living death?" She guessed.

"Right!" he said.

"Really? I got it?"

"No, not even close," he said as they both laughed. "Veritaserum, it's complicated to make and you have to take your time to get it just right. I like the effect of using the potion to get the truth."

There were so many questions she had about his answer but she didn't want to push him. After torturing people for the truth she could see that the veritaserum would be a way to avoid torture, or expose death eaters who pretended to be under the imperious curse while they did Voldemort's bidding.

After they asked a few more questions Draco let Hermione know that he was going to bed and laid down on the couch. She went into her room for a few minutes but couldn't get comfortable. She walked back and forth to the kitchenette a few times before Draco called out to her.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting and laying down Hermione," he used her first name more intentionally as he spoke firmly. She walked over to where he laid down.

"I just can't get very comfortable," she said as she stared down at him.

They were so comfortable earlier when they had fallen asleep together, he wanted to suggest trying that again when he thought the better of it. What if she thought he was a creep and then didn't even want to be his friend? "I'll make you a potion," he suggested while he went and got his things and brought them into her place. Hermione sat next to him as he added the ingredients just so and made her a sleeping draught. She had to hand it to him, he was an exquisite potions master.

When he was done he poured some of the potion into a glass and handed it to Hermione. She gratefully took the cup from him and drank the contents down. Within a few minutes she began to yawn and get sleepy and he asked her if she could stand to walk to the bedroom or if she needed help.

She felt she could walk fine but asked for his help anyways. He held out his arm and she took it as he walked her to her doorway of her bedroom. She imagined that after she was well, this polite Draco would probably disappear. Was it her, or was she enjoying his company a lot more than usual?

"Draco," she said as she stifled another yawn. "I appreciate everything you're doing for me." She looked down instead of at him. "I know there's probably other things you needed to get done, so thank you." She finished as she shut her bedroom door, not giving him a chance to answer. He was going to say she could have avoided the whole thing by being more careful, but didn't want to make her mad just before bed.