Previously
"If I'd known it was that easy…" Lucius' silky voice sent me over the edge. As the explosion expanded from my body, I kept my mind on Draco, Harley and Aiden. They deserved more.
Chapter 28
I groaned as I woke up from what felt like an incredibly long sleep. My body ached and my brain was fuzzy but the first thing I thought of was Draco. How could he so easily sacrifice himself for me? He jumped in front of that curse without a second thought.
The hospital room I was in was quiet and dark. It must be late at night but who had found us? I blinked a few times; my arm was heavily bandaged, and I didn't have the strength to shake Harry awake. Wincing I leaned back across with my other arm and poked him a few times. He jumped up wide eyed and stared at me for a few seconds before breathing a sigh of relief and smiling.
"Oh thank god." He said wrapping his arms around me and muttering an apology as I groaned again.
"I did it again didn't I?" I asked quickly as Harry passed me a glass of water. His eyes looked at me sympathetically.
"Well…" He started but I didn't need him to go any further.
"Harry, I need you guys to stay away from me. I can't keep doing this, I can't keep killing people. I can't hurt you or the others." Harry watched me carefully his face painted with confusion.
"Hermione, you're not a danger." Harry said softly, his hand rubbed across my bandaged arm.
"Harry, don't try to comfort me, I watched Draco… I felt the curse rising in me, there was nothing I could do to stop it." I blurted getting slightly annoyed with how calm he was. My heart ached thinking about Draco's face.
"Hermione, you've got the wrong idea. Draco is going to be fine. The only people you hurt were Lucius and yourself." My heart skipped a beat as I tried to process everything he was saying.
"What do you mean?" I muttered sounding a little shocked. I was shocked. How was Lucius the only one I'd hurt?
"It's not exactly clear but according to Harley and Aiden, there was this bright light and these blue flames shot straight at Lucius. They said he freaked because it all happened before he could blink. It was as if you had a forcefield around them." Harry explained quickly.
"Wait so, are they going to wipe Harley and Aiden's memories?" I asked quickly distracted for a moment.
"I guess so. You know muggles aren't supposed to know about us." Harry replied. I couldn't help the slight sadness I felt as he spoke. It would be nice to have some muggle friends that knew about us.
"Oh. I understand. As long as they're all ok. I thought I'd killed them all." I replied struggling to comprehend how things had all worked out well. Looking down at my arm I studied the thick bandage around it. It must have been badly damaged for it to need a thick bandage.
"They said it'll need to stay bandaged for a couple of weeks so you may have to try using your wand left-handed." Harry added tapping the bandage as he saw me looking. I groaned thinking of not having my dominant hand. Thank goodness I'd finished my exams before I lost my writing hand.
"Can I see Draco?" I asked watching as Harry sighed slightly.
"Urgh actually, We've all decided it might be better for you both to be awake. We don't want to stress you out seeing him like he is." My heart skipped a beat as Harry spoke. What did he mean that seeing Draco would stress me out?
"I thought you said he'd be fine." I replied bluntly unable to help myself.
"He will, he will. They're confident he will he just looks a little rough at the moment. He'll be fine but no one wants you to feel any unnecessary stress." I nodded slowly feeling a slight ache in my heart. I wanted to hold his hand and know he's ok. I wanted things to go back to normal.
"Well can I at least see Harley or Aiden?" I asked sounding a little snappy as I let the frustration get the better of myself. Harry smiled as he always did when I was getting a bit feisty.
"Of course. I'll get them just remember this is a lot for them." He said standing and patting my shoulder sympathetically before he slipped out of the room. I sighed deeply trying to figure everything out. This stupid 'curse' thing made no sense. This was supposed to be a drama free year and yet it felt as though Draco and I couldn't catch a break. I had barely spent any time with Scorpius lately and I felt stuck in this rut of drama and bad news.
Maybe I should leave and start again? Away from everyone I loved because that way I couldn't hurt them. I had to figure this thing out. Don't be stupid Hermione, leaving will hurt them just as much as physically hurting them. Scorpius needs you. I thought to myself lost in my thoughts as Harry poked his head through the door and nodded at me before leading Harley and Aiden back through. Both looked slightly pale and shaken up but on the whole ok.
"It's good to see you're ok" Harley said coming to sit by my bed as Aiden stood behind me. He placed a protective hand on her shoulder and his eyes look haunted. This is what magic seemed to do to people, both of these two had seemed so free before they knew, now it looked as though we'd burdened them.
"I guess this is a lot for both of you to take in." I replied softly gesturing towards my bandaged arm. There was a slight pause as Harley and Aiden glanced at each other before giving a soft smile.
"We sort of knew something was different about the two of you." Aiden replied carefully smirking in a way that instantly reminded me of Draco. It was no wonder the two of them got on so well.
"How?" I asked shocked that they'd even guessed anything.
"Well people where we lived would always talk of the bright little girl that went off to boarding school before she vanished entirely. Then there was the way you healed so quickly once Draco arrived and the way your letters never arrived in the post." Harley explained quickly. I couldn't help but laugh, of course they would notice the little things, they weren't dumb.
"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you. Just know we never lied about wanting to be friends with you both of you mean a lot to both Draco and I." Again, there was a comfortable silence until Aiden opened his mouth.
"We get it, this world is insane and if people like us knew about it there would be a lot of jealousy and anger. We'd want what you guys have too but that's not possible. We know they probably have some fancy way of making us forget all of this but we're just glad we got to see it for a moment. We still want to know you guys though, whether we remember your secret or not." He explained sounding mature beyond his years. It was nice to see that he understood, and he knew their minds would be wiped but at least they had this time now to speak to us.
We spent the next few hours just laughing and enjoying each other's company before Aiden and Harley were 'released' from the hospital. I was informed that only their memories of the event had been removed so thankfully they would still remember us. It felt bittersweet knowing they'd never remember the good time we'd had.
Once I was awake, up and, moving I was able to go back to Hogwarts as well. There was still a little bit of the term to go despite our exams being over so we could take the opportunity to really enjoy Hogwarts one last time. Harry was by my side the whole time but as much as I asked, he wouldn't say too much about Draco just that he was doing ok. It was frustrating and all I wanted to do was hold him again.
Even back at Hogwarts the group were treating me like a ticking time bomb again. I relished the time I spent alone with Scorpius, I couldn't lift him without a hand from magic but he was such a bright spark in my life he was the only thing that kept me going a lot of the time. Finally, about a week later and with two weeks to go before the train left Harry and Blaise finally came to tell me that Draco would be coming back in the morning. I felt relief knowing he'd be back again and excited that I'd finally get to see him again but more than anything I felt nervous as to why they'd all forced me to stay away from him for so long. Everyone had been quiet with me all week and they'd been coming around less and less.
I could only hope that having Draco would bring back some normality.
**END OF CHAP**
Thanks for reading! I'm so terribly sorry its been so long since I've written but my work is all finished and I'll be writing more soon! What do you think is wrong with Draco? More coming soon! And we're not far from the end now, this is only a quick chapter as I couldn't leave you guys hanging anymore! xoxo
