Chapter 5 : Death of the stranger.
Draco's deterioration had come suddenly, He had gone pale… well more pale than usual and he was sweating and falling in and out of consciousness. Hermione didn't know what to do; she knelt beside him and whispered calming words. Only when he finally lay still, his breathing even and she thought Draco was unconscious, did Hermione allow herself to cry.
"Please don't die Draco… please" She sobbed. Her head was on his chest, there was a small sound, a weak chuckle, Draco's chest moving with the sudden sound.
"I'm not going any where just yet Granger." He grunted, she looked up at him her cheeks stained by tears. He blinked, he hadn't been expecting her to look so… distraught at the thought of his death… if the situation had been the other way around he would have left her to die. He reached up and smoothed the tears away, surprising himself and Hermione. "Hey Granger… if I didn't know better I'd say you were crying over me…. Will you stop it? You're getting me wet"
He didn't like the way her tears affected him.
"Shove it Malfoy" she retorted but there was no real malice to those words, they just filed the silence as she turned away to dry her tears. Draco felt the need for some conversation; the silence was making him uncomfortable.
"so Granger, What do you intend to do to me?" He asked coolly. She sat beside him once more.
"I… don't know… I hadn't got that far…" She admitted reluctantly. They fell back into that awkward silence. The silence was maddening, both Hermione and Draco couldn't bare it. Both of them searched their minds for some thing to say… any thing to say. Hermione didn't dare ask him any thing about the dark side, she didn't want them to end up fighting. Draco didn't know what to say, what exactly does one say to the enemy when they just saved his life? Hermione fidgeted in her bag and found a box, she smiled. Ginny had brought her these for her birthday, truth or dare dice.
She picked them up and looked at them, you rolled the dice and the one would say whether it was a truth or a dare, the other would say what the truth or the dare was (depending on what the first dice said, the second die would only have truths on there if the first die came out as truths and if it came our dare the second die would only have dares on. The only difference was there were spells on the dice to prevent one from lying.
"What are those?" Draco asked looking mildly interested.
"Truth or dare dice… a birthday present I never got to use…" Hermione said. Draco tried to look mildly interested.
"How do they work?" He asked unwilling to let the uncomfortable silence rekindle to echo in his mind.
"You just roll them" she said she demonstrated and rolled them into the box. She showed Draco the dice; it said Truth and the second said 'who's the hottest guy in the room' Hermione blurted out the answer before she could stop herself. "Malfoy's the hottest guy in the room"
Draco snorted "Granger it would never work."
"Draco I had to give an answer and you're the only guy in the room" She said rolling her eyes. For some unknown reason she offered him the box and he took the dice. That's how it began, before they realized it they were acting like friends. It was Hermione's roll. A truth; Name five of the hottest guys in school and the order you liked them in.
Hermione giggled and put her hand in her bag and pulled out some fire whiskey, she'd brought it for Draco but found now she needed it. She offered him some and he'd accepted gladly. "The hottest guy in school…. First was Blaise Zambini" she said pouring a large amount of the amber liquid into each glass and handing it to Draco. "Ron, You, Seamus and Justin"
Draco Spluttered indignantly "You put a Weasly before me?" He said blinking in horror.
"Why Malfoy I didn't know you cared about my opinion that much" She teased gently. Malfoy chose to ignore this and rolled the dice. Truth again. Tell your opponent all their best features, mentally and physically and exactly what you think of them. Draco grinned about to smash her with a few idle insults but found he was unable to. Then he remembered, the dice were charmed so he couldn't lie… damn it.
"Mentally, You're smart and clear headed from what I see, I don't really know you that well, You're loyal and trusting" He grimaced "Physically… you have great boobs and nice eyes"
He had to bite his tongue to stop from saying any more disturbed by the fact that he'd said so much and still had more to say. He was a Malfoy and Malfoy's did not compliment people. Hermione smirked and rolled the dice.
"Oh Malfoy." Hermione teased softly batting her eye lashes and refilling his whiskey. The alcohol would dim the pain she knew. She looked at the dice, dare: strip down to your underwear. She looked at Malfoy and he looked right back and raised his eye brows but then he went pale and cried out again, the dice hit to the floor and becoming forgotten. Hermione held his hand and tried to keep him still she put a silencing spell on him so his screams could not be heard. She smoothed his hair telling him he'd be ok, he soon stilled his eyes closed his face pale, She curled up beside him and whispered secrets to him, secrets that went unheard. Tears engulfed her as she sobbed over his limp body, her heart aching. In her head she could see his smile, the little jokes and gentle teasing, Thats when she realized the stranger had slowly died.