Chapter 7 - Bad News for Hermione
Disclaimer: I only own the plot and Hermione's family. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.
After the Christmas feast, Hermione and Draco returned to their common room and listened to Draco's Simple Plan CD. After listening to the entire CD once, Hermione retreated to her bedroom and changed for bed. Once she had her pajamas on, she grabbed an extra blanket out of her closet and walked over to her window seat. She wrapped herself in the blanket, sat down on the seat, and stared out the window.
Out of nowhere a rush of thoughts filled her head. She thought of all of her memories of Draco. When he called her mudblood for the first time, when she slapped him in third year, when he was turned into a ferret, when he danced with her for the first time, when he asked her to be his girlfriend, Christmas Eve, and Christmas night. She sighed and smiled, resting her head up against the cold window. Pulling the blanket tighter around her, she looked at the snow on the ground and a few minutes later it had started snowing again. The snow swirled around as the wind blew faster and faster. She sighed and got off the window seat. She walked to her bed, unwrapped herself from the blanket and draped it over the end of the bed. She climbed into her bed and was asleep within minutes.
Draco, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping. His bed felt cold without anyone in the space beside him. The holidays would be ending in a week and everyone would be back at school, leaving him and Hermione less time together. Sighing, he rolled over in his bed and fell into an uneasy, restless sleep.
The next morning, Hermione awoke early and took a quick shower. She got dressed in a baby blue long sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans, and socks before drying her hair and brushing it straight. She then grabbed a book and her headphones and went to the common room to read and listen to her Good Charlotte CD. Draco was still sleeping soundly in his room.
With the song Hold On blasting in her headphones, Hermione put down her book, climbed onto the couch, and started dancing around wildly. She stopped in the middle of the song, took off her head phones, muttered a spell under her breath while tapping the CD player, and all of a sudden the music was playing throughout the room. She continued dancing and jumping around on the couches, while the CD played.
Out of nowhere, the CD stopped playing and Hermione turned around, in mid dance, to face the CD player. She saw Draco standing there in a pair of his green and silver boxers, looking sleepy. She blushed at the sight of him in his boxers and sat down on the couch.
"Sorry," she mumbled, looking at her hands.
He mumbled something under his breath and yawned, walking up the stairs and into the bathroom. Hermione turned off her CD player and brought it into her room. She walked out again and went back into the common room to read while Draco finished his shower and got dressed.
Fifteen minutes later, Draco emerged from the bathroom, said hello to Hermione, and went into his room to get dressed. He put on his black hoodie over a black t-shirt and jeans. Then he found his socks and Timberland boots and put them on before going down to the common room to meet Hermione before going down to lunch.
"Hey," he greeted her, smirking and sitting down on the couch next to her.
"Hi," she said, not looking up from her book, "What time is it?"
"12:30" he replied, looking at his watch, "Wanna get some lunch in the Great Hall?"
"Sure, just let me get my shoes," she said, getting off of the couch, closing her book, and going to get her sneakers out of her room. She grabbed her sneakers from her closet in her room, put them on, and ran down the stairs. She smiled and said, "Ok, I'm ready."
He smirked at her once again and led her out of the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall where the professors and headmaster Dumbledore were sitting, enjoying lunch while the snow continually fell outside. Hermione and Draco sat down, put food on their plates, and ate.
In the middle of the meal, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in walked Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Hermione's eyes lit up and she ran over to them.
"What're you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Burrow?" she asked, in awe that they were actually there.
"Well, we got bored around the Burrow with the twins visiting Bill and Charlie and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley yelling at Ron constantly for talking about you. He's really mad still, if you couldn't tell," Harry explained while Ron shot her evil looks.
Ginny spoke up, "So how were the holidays with Mal-Draco?"
"Oh, it was good. My mom had the baby on the December 19th. It's a girl and her name is Emma Marie Granger. She's so cute. I have a picture of her in my room for you to see after we eat. Come on, have some breakfast with us," rambled Hermione, heading to the table in the middle of the hall with Ginny, telling her all about what had happened over the break.
"Wow, Herms looks like she had a lot of fun," stated Harry to Ron as Ron continued giving his best female friend evil glares. Ron and Harry began walking to the table, talking about quidditch.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted when they reached the table.
"Potter, Weasley," came the response from Malfoy as he glared at them. Ron just grunted a reply.
Hermione and Ginny were busy talking about Hermione's hair and how she had straightened it over the winter break. Draco realized that the only people he could make conversation with were the professors, Dumbledore, Harry, or Ron. He plastered his usual smirk on his face and got out of his chair, gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek, and headed back to their common room.
When he reached the portrait, he looked at it closely. He never really realized what it was. It was a picture of the first Head Boy and Head Girl. They looked, surprisingly, like Hermione and Draco. He didn't think about it, mumbled the password (serpent lioness), and entered when the portrait swung open. He wandered up to his room and blasted his Story of the Year CD. He laid on his bed and decided to work on his Potions essay. A little while later, he heard the portrait open again and heard the voices of Hermione and Ginny. They walked into Hermione's room, giggling, and shut the door. He sighed, changed the CD to Thrice, and finished his essay.
In Hermione's room, she and Ginny were giving each other makeovers. Ginny was working on permanently straightening Hermione's hair when a soft tapping on the window was heard. Hermione got up, to the protest of Ginny, and went to the window to let in her owl. She took the letter and the parcel from her owl and gave it a treat before noticing the handwriting and smiling.
"Who's it from Herms?" asked Ginny, looking up at her friend.
"My parents," came the reply.
Hermione ripped open the parcel first and saw a poster of her favorite actor, Johnny Depp, a gold nameplate necklace with her name on it in cursive, a diamond over the 'i', and a Christmas card from her family. She smiled and opened the letter.
Dear Hermione -
Merry Christmas Hermione! I hope you enjoy your gifts and I hope you had a god holiday. You're sister did and she's home from the hospital. She came home on Christmas Eve morning.
Hermione, I have some terrible news. Your mother got sick last night and isn't doing too well. She had emergency surgery on her lung last night and is stabilized right now, but the doctors don't know how long she has left. She might be dying sweetheart. The next 48 hours are crucial and if she survives them, she has a better chance of surviving. I'm sorry to tell you this through a letter, but I had to. I'm sorry sweetheart. I know you're mother sends her love to you too. I'll keep you updated, Mione, I promise.
Love, Dad and Emma
"Oh my god," gasped Hermione, her eyes watering. She handed Ginny the letter to read, jumped onto her bed, and sobbed into her pillow. Ginny read the letter, gasped, and sat next to Hermione, trying to calm her down. Seeing as nothing she said was helping Hermione, Ginny left the room and went down the hall to get Draco.
Ginny knocked on Draco's door and heard him say 'come in' before entering.
"Draco, Hermione's upset," stated Ginny, looking him in the eye when she entered.
"Why? What happened?" he asked, jumping off of his bed and following her to Hermione's room. Ginny handed him the letter from Hermione's father and he read it. When he finished, he handed the letter back to her and entered Hermione's room. He saw her crying her eyes out into her pillow and walked over to her.
"Mione?" he said softly. She looked up from her pillow, saw him, collapsed onto him and started sobbing into his shoulder.
"Oh Draco," she began, sobbing, "My mom's sick. She might even die and I don't know what to do. I'm so scared, Draco. She can't die. What about Emma? She's only a few weeks old. She'll be lost without my mom. It's not fair!" She sobbed harder into his shoulder and he did all he could to sooth her and comfort her.
"Shh! Mione, relax. It'll be ok. I'm sure she'll be fine. She wouldn't die and leave you, your sister, and your father. She'll be fine, don't worry. Shhh! Calm down, babe," he told her, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed. Pretty soon, she wasn't sobbing anymore and her breathing slowed down to normal and even. He realized that she was sleeping and that Ginny had left a little while ago. He laid her down on her bed and covered her up with a blanket before turning off the light and leaving.
When he left Hermione's room, he headed down to the great hall for dinner, ate, and then went back to his room to finish his Potions essay. He couldn't help but think about Hermione and her mother's illness. He fell asleep thinking off that.
When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt refreshed, but the memories of the night before made her sad and her eyes started tearing again. 'Be strong, Hermione' she told herself, blinking away tears that threatened to fall. Thinking that it might help wake her up, she went into the bathroom to take a bath. She turned on the strawberry bubble taps (a/n: strawberry is Hermione's favorite scent so she uses those taps the most often) and the water taps and undressed. When she turned off the water, she stepped into the bath and closed her eyes, relaxing. She let all her problems go away for the time being and didn't think of anything.
Forty-five minutes later, she stepped out of the bath, wrapped herself in her robe, and went into her room to get dressed. She dressed in a baby blue sweater and black jeans, light blue socks, and her fuzzy pink slippers. She dried and brushed her hair straight (a/n: Ginny had put a permanent straightening potion in her hair the night before) and stepped through the portrait in her room that led to the Gryffindor common room. She saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny playing a game of Exploding Snap in the center of the common room, by the fire. She smiled and walked over to them.
"Hey guys," she greeted them, sitting down in a chair by the fire. Harry and Ginny stopped playing and looked at her with concern in their eyes.
"How're you doing today, Herms?" asked Ginny as she and Harry sat down in the chairs next to hers.
"Yeah, I'm fine I guess," she said with a sigh, "Better then yesterday that is."
At that moment, Draco burst into the common room, holding a letter in his hand. "Mione, this came for you," he said, handing the letter out to her.
A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Well, how is it? It's the longest chapter yet. I'll update another chapter soon. Enjoy! R/R
Disclaimer: I only own the plot and Hermione's family. The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.
After the Christmas feast, Hermione and Draco returned to their common room and listened to Draco's Simple Plan CD. After listening to the entire CD once, Hermione retreated to her bedroom and changed for bed. Once she had her pajamas on, she grabbed an extra blanket out of her closet and walked over to her window seat. She wrapped herself in the blanket, sat down on the seat, and stared out the window.
Out of nowhere a rush of thoughts filled her head. She thought of all of her memories of Draco. When he called her mudblood for the first time, when she slapped him in third year, when he was turned into a ferret, when he danced with her for the first time, when he asked her to be his girlfriend, Christmas Eve, and Christmas night. She sighed and smiled, resting her head up against the cold window. Pulling the blanket tighter around her, she looked at the snow on the ground and a few minutes later it had started snowing again. The snow swirled around as the wind blew faster and faster. She sighed and got off the window seat. She walked to her bed, unwrapped herself from the blanket and draped it over the end of the bed. She climbed into her bed and was asleep within minutes.
Draco, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping. His bed felt cold without anyone in the space beside him. The holidays would be ending in a week and everyone would be back at school, leaving him and Hermione less time together. Sighing, he rolled over in his bed and fell into an uneasy, restless sleep.
The next morning, Hermione awoke early and took a quick shower. She got dressed in a baby blue long sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans, and socks before drying her hair and brushing it straight. She then grabbed a book and her headphones and went to the common room to read and listen to her Good Charlotte CD. Draco was still sleeping soundly in his room.
With the song Hold On blasting in her headphones, Hermione put down her book, climbed onto the couch, and started dancing around wildly. She stopped in the middle of the song, took off her head phones, muttered a spell under her breath while tapping the CD player, and all of a sudden the music was playing throughout the room. She continued dancing and jumping around on the couches, while the CD played.
Out of nowhere, the CD stopped playing and Hermione turned around, in mid dance, to face the CD player. She saw Draco standing there in a pair of his green and silver boxers, looking sleepy. She blushed at the sight of him in his boxers and sat down on the couch.
"Sorry," she mumbled, looking at her hands.
He mumbled something under his breath and yawned, walking up the stairs and into the bathroom. Hermione turned off her CD player and brought it into her room. She walked out again and went back into the common room to read while Draco finished his shower and got dressed.
Fifteen minutes later, Draco emerged from the bathroom, said hello to Hermione, and went into his room to get dressed. He put on his black hoodie over a black t-shirt and jeans. Then he found his socks and Timberland boots and put them on before going down to the common room to meet Hermione before going down to lunch.
"Hey," he greeted her, smirking and sitting down on the couch next to her.
"Hi," she said, not looking up from her book, "What time is it?"
"12:30" he replied, looking at his watch, "Wanna get some lunch in the Great Hall?"
"Sure, just let me get my shoes," she said, getting off of the couch, closing her book, and going to get her sneakers out of her room. She grabbed her sneakers from her closet in her room, put them on, and ran down the stairs. She smiled and said, "Ok, I'm ready."
He smirked at her once again and led her out of the portrait hole and down to the Great Hall where the professors and headmaster Dumbledore were sitting, enjoying lunch while the snow continually fell outside. Hermione and Draco sat down, put food on their plates, and ate.
In the middle of the meal, the doors to the Great Hall opened and in walked Harry, Ron, and Ginny. Hermione's eyes lit up and she ran over to them.
"What're you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at the Burrow?" she asked, in awe that they were actually there.
"Well, we got bored around the Burrow with the twins visiting Bill and Charlie and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley yelling at Ron constantly for talking about you. He's really mad still, if you couldn't tell," Harry explained while Ron shot her evil looks.
Ginny spoke up, "So how were the holidays with Mal-Draco?"
"Oh, it was good. My mom had the baby on the December 19th. It's a girl and her name is Emma Marie Granger. She's so cute. I have a picture of her in my room for you to see after we eat. Come on, have some breakfast with us," rambled Hermione, heading to the table in the middle of the hall with Ginny, telling her all about what had happened over the break.
"Wow, Herms looks like she had a lot of fun," stated Harry to Ron as Ron continued giving his best female friend evil glares. Ron and Harry began walking to the table, talking about quidditch.
"Malfoy," Harry greeted when they reached the table.
"Potter, Weasley," came the response from Malfoy as he glared at them. Ron just grunted a reply.
Hermione and Ginny were busy talking about Hermione's hair and how she had straightened it over the winter break. Draco realized that the only people he could make conversation with were the professors, Dumbledore, Harry, or Ron. He plastered his usual smirk on his face and got out of his chair, gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek, and headed back to their common room.
When he reached the portrait, he looked at it closely. He never really realized what it was. It was a picture of the first Head Boy and Head Girl. They looked, surprisingly, like Hermione and Draco. He didn't think about it, mumbled the password (serpent lioness), and entered when the portrait swung open. He wandered up to his room and blasted his Story of the Year CD. He laid on his bed and decided to work on his Potions essay. A little while later, he heard the portrait open again and heard the voices of Hermione and Ginny. They walked into Hermione's room, giggling, and shut the door. He sighed, changed the CD to Thrice, and finished his essay.
In Hermione's room, she and Ginny were giving each other makeovers. Ginny was working on permanently straightening Hermione's hair when a soft tapping on the window was heard. Hermione got up, to the protest of Ginny, and went to the window to let in her owl. She took the letter and the parcel from her owl and gave it a treat before noticing the handwriting and smiling.
"Who's it from Herms?" asked Ginny, looking up at her friend.
"My parents," came the reply.
Hermione ripped open the parcel first and saw a poster of her favorite actor, Johnny Depp, a gold nameplate necklace with her name on it in cursive, a diamond over the 'i', and a Christmas card from her family. She smiled and opened the letter.
Dear Hermione -
Merry Christmas Hermione! I hope you enjoy your gifts and I hope you had a god holiday. You're sister did and she's home from the hospital. She came home on Christmas Eve morning.
Hermione, I have some terrible news. Your mother got sick last night and isn't doing too well. She had emergency surgery on her lung last night and is stabilized right now, but the doctors don't know how long she has left. She might be dying sweetheart. The next 48 hours are crucial and if she survives them, she has a better chance of surviving. I'm sorry to tell you this through a letter, but I had to. I'm sorry sweetheart. I know you're mother sends her love to you too. I'll keep you updated, Mione, I promise.
Love, Dad and Emma
"Oh my god," gasped Hermione, her eyes watering. She handed Ginny the letter to read, jumped onto her bed, and sobbed into her pillow. Ginny read the letter, gasped, and sat next to Hermione, trying to calm her down. Seeing as nothing she said was helping Hermione, Ginny left the room and went down the hall to get Draco.
Ginny knocked on Draco's door and heard him say 'come in' before entering.
"Draco, Hermione's upset," stated Ginny, looking him in the eye when she entered.
"Why? What happened?" he asked, jumping off of his bed and following her to Hermione's room. Ginny handed him the letter from Hermione's father and he read it. When he finished, he handed the letter back to her and entered Hermione's room. He saw her crying her eyes out into her pillow and walked over to her.
"Mione?" he said softly. She looked up from her pillow, saw him, collapsed onto him and started sobbing into his shoulder.
"Oh Draco," she began, sobbing, "My mom's sick. She might even die and I don't know what to do. I'm so scared, Draco. She can't die. What about Emma? She's only a few weeks old. She'll be lost without my mom. It's not fair!" She sobbed harder into his shoulder and he did all he could to sooth her and comfort her.
"Shh! Mione, relax. It'll be ok. I'm sure she'll be fine. She wouldn't die and leave you, your sister, and your father. She'll be fine, don't worry. Shhh! Calm down, babe," he told her, rocking her back and forth as she sobbed. Pretty soon, she wasn't sobbing anymore and her breathing slowed down to normal and even. He realized that she was sleeping and that Ginny had left a little while ago. He laid her down on her bed and covered her up with a blanket before turning off the light and leaving.
When he left Hermione's room, he headed down to the great hall for dinner, ate, and then went back to his room to finish his Potions essay. He couldn't help but think about Hermione and her mother's illness. He fell asleep thinking off that.
When Hermione woke up the next morning, she felt refreshed, but the memories of the night before made her sad and her eyes started tearing again. 'Be strong, Hermione' she told herself, blinking away tears that threatened to fall. Thinking that it might help wake her up, she went into the bathroom to take a bath. She turned on the strawberry bubble taps (a/n: strawberry is Hermione's favorite scent so she uses those taps the most often) and the water taps and undressed. When she turned off the water, she stepped into the bath and closed her eyes, relaxing. She let all her problems go away for the time being and didn't think of anything.
Forty-five minutes later, she stepped out of the bath, wrapped herself in her robe, and went into her room to get dressed. She dressed in a baby blue sweater and black jeans, light blue socks, and her fuzzy pink slippers. She dried and brushed her hair straight (a/n: Ginny had put a permanent straightening potion in her hair the night before) and stepped through the portrait in her room that led to the Gryffindor common room. She saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny playing a game of Exploding Snap in the center of the common room, by the fire. She smiled and walked over to them.
"Hey guys," she greeted them, sitting down in a chair by the fire. Harry and Ginny stopped playing and looked at her with concern in their eyes.
"How're you doing today, Herms?" asked Ginny as she and Harry sat down in the chairs next to hers.
"Yeah, I'm fine I guess," she said with a sigh, "Better then yesterday that is."
At that moment, Draco burst into the common room, holding a letter in his hand. "Mione, this came for you," he said, handing the letter out to her.
A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNN! Well, how is it? It's the longest chapter yet. I'll update another chapter soon. Enjoy! R/R