magick-wolf: thank you...I think draco/Hermione belong with each other!

fieryred20: don't worry... I will. ;)

Chapter 10: Pain

Disclaimer: I own HP...yeah...in my dreams.

"Did Dumbledore tell you I was going to teach you?" asked Kingsley Shacklebot as they walked up to the DADA classroom.

"Yes", Hermione replied, "We just came from his office"

"Good," said Kingsley, "At least I don't have to explain much, and I see you have your spell books"

"Yes we do", said Draco forcing a smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Quit it", Draco thought so only Hermione would hear.

"Hah", Hermione thought back.

Draco ignored her.

They arrived at the DADA classroom to see it back to normal. The rows of chairs were back, and there wasn't a single trace of ivy. Nymphadora Tonks was already sitting there waiting for them. Hermione and Draco took their seats at the front row. Draco laid down the spell books in front of them.

"Stealth, Strength and Spells" Tonks said, "These are the three basic things that you will be learning in your program. This program will be taught to you over 5 weeks. Healing and Concealing will be taught to you during your summer break, over 3 weeks."

Hermione and Draco listened as Tonks oriented them with the things they would be learning.

"...Needless to say, you have to learn those spell books by heart. Dumbledore has approved our request of giving you extra time to study for your other subjects, so, you will be taking your finals two days after the rest of the school has, but with a different set of questions"

Hermione smiled, Draco breathed a sigh of relief.

Kingsley took Nymphadora's place in front of them. He wrote some notes on the board.

"Your first assignment," said Kingsley "is to write about the importance of the three basic things, Stealth Strength and Spells, in defending yourself against the dark arts. Explain in your own words, in no less than one roll of parchment"

"I myself wouldn't have given you homework on the first day, but it's the order of the ministry to see how much you know. They will grade your essays, not me and not Professor Tonks"

"Professor," said Hermione, "what kind of spells will we be learning?"

"The basic defense spells will be refined, and then advanced spells will be mastered. But first, you must learn stealth"

"Okay, well, we won't have lessons tomorrow," said Kingsley, "the ministry needs your essays first. Hand them in to Professor Tonks on Wednesday"

--

Hermione and Draco went back to their common room and worked on their essays for about thirty minutes. It wasn't difficult, since Hermione was experienced, and Draco...well, Draco was...Draco.

They went down to the Great Hall and sat on their table to eat dinner. They didn't talk much, and neither of the pendants was glowing.

--

That night, Hermione and Draco went to bed at nearly the same time. Hermione was sleeping very well, but Draco was turning.

"Ouch"

Hermione sat up quickly and clutched her wrist. It was painful. It really hurt.

"What is it?" Draco said. He groped for his wand and muttered "Lumos".

He held the wand to Hermione's arms. "There's nothing", he said and he rolled his eyes.

"Nothing?" Hermione said, "I felt something, it still—"

Hermione closed her eyes and touched her shoulder.

She opened them to see Draco touching his shoulder too. He was in more pain than she was. She leaned over.

"Let me see"

"No"

"Malfoy, don't be stupid, let me see"

"No..."

Hermione pulled Draco's hand away, and she saw that his shoulder was bleeding badly.

"What is this?" she said in a scared voice

"N-nothing Granger"

"You have to go to the Hospital Wing"

"No, I never went there for this"

"You mean, this has happened before?"

"It happens every few nights"

"Who's doing this to you?"

"No one", he lied. He couldn't tell Hermione the truth.

"Let me try and heal it"

"With what?"

"Muggle way"

"No, don't"

"Let me see your hand"

"No"

Hermione took it, and saw that his wrist was bleeding.

"What ever happened to you must've happened to me too, except mine's not bleeding"

"Because of the spell in Dumbledore's office?"

"Most probably"

Hermione took a spare sheet from the closet and muttered a spell to divide it into small pieces. She took a piece and tried to wrap it tightly onto Draco's bleeding wrist.

"Ouch", Draco winced in pain

"Keep it steady", Hermione muttered, "or it'll just hurt more"

Hermione managed to wrap it onto Draco's wrist. Then she turned to him and bit her lower lip.

"What about your shoulder?"

"It's okay"

"No it's not. It's bleeding"

Hermione couldn't do anything about Draco's shoulder. She just used a wet cloth to wipe the blood away.

"Malfoy," Hermione said, "Tell me the truth"

"What truth?"

"Who's doing this to you?"

Draco hesitated and looked Hermione in the eye.

"Granger, if you tell anybody—"

"I won't", she said calmly

"Lucius"

"Your dad?" Hermione stared.

Draco nodded.

"H-how could he do this to you?"

"Mind spells"

"W-why?"

"I'm not doing well enough at school"

"That's it?"

"I'm not the best student in our year..."

"Is that why you hate me so much?"

"Partly"

"Malfoy...Draco...I can't do anything about that..."

Draco nodded.

"I know"

"Let's get some sleep, okay?"

Draco didn't say anything; he just turned over to sleep after muttering "nox" to his wand.

Hermione held her pendant. It glowed so brightly that night; it made her smile despite the pain that was still on her wrist.

Draco on the other hand, couldn't be more thankful to Hermione. If it wasn't for her, his wrist would still be bleeding, and he wouldn't get to sleep well.