Never Say Never
Chapter 6 - Total Confusion
Disclaimer: do I still need to write these? Anyhow, enjoy the new chapter! =)
Hermione's POV
"Poor thing, I wonder what happened to her. . ." "I bet it has something to do with that ferret Malfoy!" "I agree, the minute we get our hands on him, we'll throttle him to death!"
The voices that I was listening to didn't seem to make sense in my mind and my eyelids felt as heavy as bricks weighing down on my eyes making everything seem so groggy and slow.
I groaned and turned over in the bed, stopping abruptly at feeling the coarseness of the blanket that was covering me and suddenly my eyes opened out of their own accord and I looked wildly around at my surroundings.
To my surprise I was in the Hospital Wing and the voices that I kept hearing were somewhere outside the little 'room' I was resting in fenced off by a curtain that was drawn shut. I drew my covers closer to me and I sat up, though my head was still hurting from the throbbing headache that seemed to never end and I tried to remember why on earth I was here in the first place.
It didn't take me long to remember the red sinister eyes and the horrible deformed snake-like face that haunted me in my dreams, the heartless cackle and the hissing that he had made filled with hatred for all Muggle related things. Including me, the muggle-born witch.
Again, my body filled with pain, as Lord Voldemort's laugh and dark phrases in Parseltongue became louder and more intense until my head was resounding with the sound of the Dark Lord. I let out a cry of pain before I sunk back down onto the white hospital bed, all the energy leeched slowly away from me and I glimpsed the angel, the wonderful angel again with the halo around it's head. . .
"Hermione!" gasped Harry as he stopped talking to Parvati and Ron, they fell silent at the expression on his face as his ears strained for the littlest sound of movement from behind the flimsy curtain. Yes, he could hear her moaning softly in pain and he quickly dashed to the curtain and pulled it open hurriedly only to see Hermione sink back down onto the bed crying out in pain as she did so.
"Oh my god!" whimpered Parvati, moving towards Harry for comfort, but Ron nudged her and pulled her back.
"I think we should go get Madam Pomfrey first." He whispered quickly, dragging Parvati reluctantly along, leaving Harry alone with Hermione.
He looked pityingly down at his long time best friend, the extremely clever witch who had her nose in a book almost every second of the day and the girl whom he had grown to admire and love.
She was beautiful, not even Parvati could surpass her good looks, she was merely pretty compared to this girl who looked as angelic as an angel could be, her smooth chocolate brown hair flowing down, framing her usually lively and lovely face perfectly and as Harry's eyes travelled further down her body, he saw her hands with their thin, slender fingers, blemished with nail marks where she had dug her nails into her own skin.
"Oh, Hermione." He muttered, taking one of her hands into his own and holding it lightly, "What the hell is hurting you? Why are you in pain? I mean, every other year it's been me who's had the pain and. . .you don't deserve this. You're a truly perfect girl who has every right to have a normal life, this shouldn't be happening to you look, I can already feel that you're going to do great things with all that knowledge that you have inside you. . .oh, just wake up Hermione!"
She didn't move, and Harry sighed sadly and kissed her hand gently, before turning to see Madam Pomfrey, Ron and Parvati standing solemnly in the gap where the curtain had been drawn back.
"Harry, that was really sweet." Whispered Parvati breathlessly as she ran forward to catch him in a tight embrace. He smiled as they drew apart and she happily gazed at him before Ron cleared his throat and gave them a look, which sternly told them to stop cuddling each other.
"Well, that was quite nice of you Mr. Potter." Stated Madam Pomfrey stiffly before adding, "Now, shoo. My patient needs peace and quiet."
Harry, Ron and Parvati all nodded silently and made their way out of the Hospital Wing, all turning to look back worriedly at Hermione, as if doubting that she would wake up again.
"Rest assured children, that she will regain consciousness." Said Madam Pomfrey softly giving them a look of sympathy, 'They must be out of their minds with worry.' She thought sadly before looking back down at Hermione, and breathing in deeply, she set to work trying to revive the poor girl.
Draco's POV
I walked nonchalantly through the corridor leading to the Hospital Wing, trying to maintain a look of absolutely no concern whatsoever. But inside, I seriously couldn't believe that I was going to visit Granger again, but today my curiousity had gotten the better of me after a night of fitful sleep dreaming of the worst possible outcomes of what would happen to her.
I couldn't get the thought of her out of my head and I scowled, chiding myself for thinking about her again. 'What's wrong with you Draco! Caring for a Mudblood!' there was my father's voice again, though he had never actually spoken the words to me.
As I drew closer to the Hospital Wing I could find myself getting more nervous, for some unknown reason. Beads of sweat began forming on my forehead and my hands felt clammy and I needed to take a very deep breath to steady myself.
'It's only Granger.' I thought to myself soothingly. 'Then why are you afraid to see her?' 'Because I don't know how she'll react.' I replied to the other voice speaking in my mind. 'Why do you care anyway?'
Now, that question was going to be stored in a part of my brain which I liked to call 'Unsolvable Mysteries' along with 'Why did I save her in the first place' and 'Why did my heart flutter every time I thought about her.' I thought firmly to myself.
Finally, I reached my destination and I stepped tentatively into the Hospital Wing only to be met with the sight of Madam Pomfrey bustling busily around holding vials of strange potions and when she saw me, she wore a look of kindness instead of iciness.
"I've been expecting you, Mr. Malfoy. I must apologize for the last time that we met, when I accused you of hurting Miss Granger, but now taking a closer look at her condition, she was not hurt physically but mentally." Said Madam Pomfrey with grim smile.
"It's alright." I replied coolly, then I looked around the bright room trying to find where Hermione was before I asked, "How is she?"
"She's in a quite stable condition actually, she woke up only a few hours ago but due to probably a headache or another bout of pain she collapsed back into unconsciousness." Madam Pomfrey sighed, before leading me to one of the beds with a curtain drawn around it and smiling at me indicating that I could go in.
"Thank you." I said politely and Madam Pomfrey strode briskly back to her office, allowing me some privacy. I gasped when I saw Hermione again, her face looked extremely troubled and she wore a frown on her brow.
I quickly sat down on the wicker chair next to her bed and gazed intently at her, taking in every contour of her face, with her high cheekbones and milky skin which I had to fight the desire to touch. Her silky hair was just a little bit ruffled from her sleep and her lips were pressed firmly together, giving her a look of determination.
I was just marveling at how peaceful she looked when she slept well, at least how beautiful she looked when she wasn't giving me a stare that could kill, when she stirred and a moan escaped from her lips while her eyelashes fluttered and her eyes began to open.
'Oh shit.' I thought to myself, 'What will she think when she sees me?!'
I began to panic but before I could get myself out of her sight, she had already seen me and I tried to look completely innocent, as if this was the most normal thing on earth, me coming to sit next to her when she was in hospital, just waking up from a coma-like sleep.
"What the hell are you doing here Malfoy?!" she exclaimed, her depthless brown eyes widening.
"I. . .err. . .was just visiting you." I stammered before she gave me another one of her icy cold looks and her eyes looked disbelievingly at me.
"How did I get here?" she asked wearily.
"I brou - actually I don't know." I quickly said thinking to myself, 'It's better if she doesn't know, otherwise she might kill me for doing so.'
"For doing what, Malfoy?" she asked, looked expectantly at me. Damn. She could hear my thoughts.
"I. . ." I couldn't get the words out of my mouth and my eyes remained fixed on her, all the while wondering to myself just why I was acting so strangely. It was nothing to be ashamed of, saving a person's life, but the thing was, it wasn't just any person. . . it was her.
"Well?" she said still looking at me, though her patience was wearing thin.
"I was just looking for you when I found you near the Gryffindor Tower screaming. Then you fainted or passed out so I brought you here." I said in a flat voice, now refusing to look at her, though I could feel the moment that her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise.
"Why didn't you leave me there to die?" she whispered incredulously, looking disbelievingly at me again. But this time I didn't have an explanation, no one knew why, not even me.
"None of your business Granger." I drawled, risking a look at her, now she was sitting up straight on her bed and she was looking as radiant as ever, with colour returning to her face and her eyes shining in the harsh sunlight from the window behind her.
"It is my business, Malfoy. I want to know why you saved me. I deserve to know." She replied firmly. And she had a point.
"Because I . . ." there I stopped. How could I tell her that I. . .no, I didn't love her, I couldn't. She continued to look questioningly at me and unable to stand the tension I got up and swiftly left the Hospital Wing still feeling utterly confused with myself.
Hermione sat back onto her bed with a sigh, she couldn't understand what Malfoy was getting at. Why couldn't he just tell her why had done it, it wasn't a hard question to answer, she thought bitterly.
But he was gone now, and the last look that he had given her with those grey-blue eyes of his had contained an emotion that she couldn't place, because she had never seen it in him, he was usually emotionless, apart from the times when he taunted Harry, Ron and herself.
And the other question in her ever-subtle mind was why he was sitting next to her bed anyway! This was becoming more and more of a twisted riddle to Hermione, who's brain wasn't as quick as it usually was and that annoyed her to no end.
'I wish that I could listen to his thoughts now.' She thought to herself distractedly and suddenly, her eyes glimpsed something lying on the floor beside her bed. She quickly scrambled down from the bed and picked up a piece of parchment, which was filled with words written in a handwriting that Hermione hadn't seen before.
'I don't know what I'm thinking. Her face keeps on flashing in my mind and it's starting to haunt me, I have already spent a night tossing about, unable to rid that beautiful face from my memory. What is going to happen?! What if I begin to love her?! I sincerely hope not, that would be the most disastrous thing to happen, should Father find out. . .' From then onwards the rest of the letter had been torn away, and Hermione sat limply back down onto the bed with a million thoughts racing through her mind.
Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up ^^, I think I partied a bit too much over new year =) Anyway, please review! [the more you review the faster the new chapter will come! I promise!] psychohart
Chapter 6 - Total Confusion
Disclaimer: do I still need to write these? Anyhow, enjoy the new chapter! =)
Hermione's POV
"Poor thing, I wonder what happened to her. . ." "I bet it has something to do with that ferret Malfoy!" "I agree, the minute we get our hands on him, we'll throttle him to death!"
The voices that I was listening to didn't seem to make sense in my mind and my eyelids felt as heavy as bricks weighing down on my eyes making everything seem so groggy and slow.
I groaned and turned over in the bed, stopping abruptly at feeling the coarseness of the blanket that was covering me and suddenly my eyes opened out of their own accord and I looked wildly around at my surroundings.
To my surprise I was in the Hospital Wing and the voices that I kept hearing were somewhere outside the little 'room' I was resting in fenced off by a curtain that was drawn shut. I drew my covers closer to me and I sat up, though my head was still hurting from the throbbing headache that seemed to never end and I tried to remember why on earth I was here in the first place.
It didn't take me long to remember the red sinister eyes and the horrible deformed snake-like face that haunted me in my dreams, the heartless cackle and the hissing that he had made filled with hatred for all Muggle related things. Including me, the muggle-born witch.
Again, my body filled with pain, as Lord Voldemort's laugh and dark phrases in Parseltongue became louder and more intense until my head was resounding with the sound of the Dark Lord. I let out a cry of pain before I sunk back down onto the white hospital bed, all the energy leeched slowly away from me and I glimpsed the angel, the wonderful angel again with the halo around it's head. . .
"Hermione!" gasped Harry as he stopped talking to Parvati and Ron, they fell silent at the expression on his face as his ears strained for the littlest sound of movement from behind the flimsy curtain. Yes, he could hear her moaning softly in pain and he quickly dashed to the curtain and pulled it open hurriedly only to see Hermione sink back down onto the bed crying out in pain as she did so.
"Oh my god!" whimpered Parvati, moving towards Harry for comfort, but Ron nudged her and pulled her back.
"I think we should go get Madam Pomfrey first." He whispered quickly, dragging Parvati reluctantly along, leaving Harry alone with Hermione.
He looked pityingly down at his long time best friend, the extremely clever witch who had her nose in a book almost every second of the day and the girl whom he had grown to admire and love.
She was beautiful, not even Parvati could surpass her good looks, she was merely pretty compared to this girl who looked as angelic as an angel could be, her smooth chocolate brown hair flowing down, framing her usually lively and lovely face perfectly and as Harry's eyes travelled further down her body, he saw her hands with their thin, slender fingers, blemished with nail marks where she had dug her nails into her own skin.
"Oh, Hermione." He muttered, taking one of her hands into his own and holding it lightly, "What the hell is hurting you? Why are you in pain? I mean, every other year it's been me who's had the pain and. . .you don't deserve this. You're a truly perfect girl who has every right to have a normal life, this shouldn't be happening to you look, I can already feel that you're going to do great things with all that knowledge that you have inside you. . .oh, just wake up Hermione!"
She didn't move, and Harry sighed sadly and kissed her hand gently, before turning to see Madam Pomfrey, Ron and Parvati standing solemnly in the gap where the curtain had been drawn back.
"Harry, that was really sweet." Whispered Parvati breathlessly as she ran forward to catch him in a tight embrace. He smiled as they drew apart and she happily gazed at him before Ron cleared his throat and gave them a look, which sternly told them to stop cuddling each other.
"Well, that was quite nice of you Mr. Potter." Stated Madam Pomfrey stiffly before adding, "Now, shoo. My patient needs peace and quiet."
Harry, Ron and Parvati all nodded silently and made their way out of the Hospital Wing, all turning to look back worriedly at Hermione, as if doubting that she would wake up again.
"Rest assured children, that she will regain consciousness." Said Madam Pomfrey softly giving them a look of sympathy, 'They must be out of their minds with worry.' She thought sadly before looking back down at Hermione, and breathing in deeply, she set to work trying to revive the poor girl.
Draco's POV
I walked nonchalantly through the corridor leading to the Hospital Wing, trying to maintain a look of absolutely no concern whatsoever. But inside, I seriously couldn't believe that I was going to visit Granger again, but today my curiousity had gotten the better of me after a night of fitful sleep dreaming of the worst possible outcomes of what would happen to her.
I couldn't get the thought of her out of my head and I scowled, chiding myself for thinking about her again. 'What's wrong with you Draco! Caring for a Mudblood!' there was my father's voice again, though he had never actually spoken the words to me.
As I drew closer to the Hospital Wing I could find myself getting more nervous, for some unknown reason. Beads of sweat began forming on my forehead and my hands felt clammy and I needed to take a very deep breath to steady myself.
'It's only Granger.' I thought to myself soothingly. 'Then why are you afraid to see her?' 'Because I don't know how she'll react.' I replied to the other voice speaking in my mind. 'Why do you care anyway?'
Now, that question was going to be stored in a part of my brain which I liked to call 'Unsolvable Mysteries' along with 'Why did I save her in the first place' and 'Why did my heart flutter every time I thought about her.' I thought firmly to myself.
Finally, I reached my destination and I stepped tentatively into the Hospital Wing only to be met with the sight of Madam Pomfrey bustling busily around holding vials of strange potions and when she saw me, she wore a look of kindness instead of iciness.
"I've been expecting you, Mr. Malfoy. I must apologize for the last time that we met, when I accused you of hurting Miss Granger, but now taking a closer look at her condition, she was not hurt physically but mentally." Said Madam Pomfrey with grim smile.
"It's alright." I replied coolly, then I looked around the bright room trying to find where Hermione was before I asked, "How is she?"
"She's in a quite stable condition actually, she woke up only a few hours ago but due to probably a headache or another bout of pain she collapsed back into unconsciousness." Madam Pomfrey sighed, before leading me to one of the beds with a curtain drawn around it and smiling at me indicating that I could go in.
"Thank you." I said politely and Madam Pomfrey strode briskly back to her office, allowing me some privacy. I gasped when I saw Hermione again, her face looked extremely troubled and she wore a frown on her brow.
I quickly sat down on the wicker chair next to her bed and gazed intently at her, taking in every contour of her face, with her high cheekbones and milky skin which I had to fight the desire to touch. Her silky hair was just a little bit ruffled from her sleep and her lips were pressed firmly together, giving her a look of determination.
I was just marveling at how peaceful she looked when she slept well, at least how beautiful she looked when she wasn't giving me a stare that could kill, when she stirred and a moan escaped from her lips while her eyelashes fluttered and her eyes began to open.
'Oh shit.' I thought to myself, 'What will she think when she sees me?!'
I began to panic but before I could get myself out of her sight, she had already seen me and I tried to look completely innocent, as if this was the most normal thing on earth, me coming to sit next to her when she was in hospital, just waking up from a coma-like sleep.
"What the hell are you doing here Malfoy?!" she exclaimed, her depthless brown eyes widening.
"I. . .err. . .was just visiting you." I stammered before she gave me another one of her icy cold looks and her eyes looked disbelievingly at me.
"How did I get here?" she asked wearily.
"I brou - actually I don't know." I quickly said thinking to myself, 'It's better if she doesn't know, otherwise she might kill me for doing so.'
"For doing what, Malfoy?" she asked, looked expectantly at me. Damn. She could hear my thoughts.
"I. . ." I couldn't get the words out of my mouth and my eyes remained fixed on her, all the while wondering to myself just why I was acting so strangely. It was nothing to be ashamed of, saving a person's life, but the thing was, it wasn't just any person. . . it was her.
"Well?" she said still looking at me, though her patience was wearing thin.
"I was just looking for you when I found you near the Gryffindor Tower screaming. Then you fainted or passed out so I brought you here." I said in a flat voice, now refusing to look at her, though I could feel the moment that her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise.
"Why didn't you leave me there to die?" she whispered incredulously, looking disbelievingly at me again. But this time I didn't have an explanation, no one knew why, not even me.
"None of your business Granger." I drawled, risking a look at her, now she was sitting up straight on her bed and she was looking as radiant as ever, with colour returning to her face and her eyes shining in the harsh sunlight from the window behind her.
"It is my business, Malfoy. I want to know why you saved me. I deserve to know." She replied firmly. And she had a point.
"Because I . . ." there I stopped. How could I tell her that I. . .no, I didn't love her, I couldn't. She continued to look questioningly at me and unable to stand the tension I got up and swiftly left the Hospital Wing still feeling utterly confused with myself.
Hermione sat back onto her bed with a sigh, she couldn't understand what Malfoy was getting at. Why couldn't he just tell her why had done it, it wasn't a hard question to answer, she thought bitterly.
But he was gone now, and the last look that he had given her with those grey-blue eyes of his had contained an emotion that she couldn't place, because she had never seen it in him, he was usually emotionless, apart from the times when he taunted Harry, Ron and herself.
And the other question in her ever-subtle mind was why he was sitting next to her bed anyway! This was becoming more and more of a twisted riddle to Hermione, who's brain wasn't as quick as it usually was and that annoyed her to no end.
'I wish that I could listen to his thoughts now.' She thought to herself distractedly and suddenly, her eyes glimpsed something lying on the floor beside her bed. She quickly scrambled down from the bed and picked up a piece of parchment, which was filled with words written in a handwriting that Hermione hadn't seen before.
'I don't know what I'm thinking. Her face keeps on flashing in my mind and it's starting to haunt me, I have already spent a night tossing about, unable to rid that beautiful face from my memory. What is going to happen?! What if I begin to love her?! I sincerely hope not, that would be the most disastrous thing to happen, should Father find out. . .' From then onwards the rest of the letter had been torn away, and Hermione sat limply back down onto the bed with a million thoughts racing through her mind.
Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up ^^, I think I partied a bit too much over new year =) Anyway, please review! [the more you review the faster the new chapter will come! I promise!] psychohart