Draco crept silently into Hermione's room. The curtains were still pulled together, letting only the tinniest slip of light through into the darkened room. He could hear her breathing, slow and stead, making it clear that Tonks had been wrong and Hermione was still asleep.
The boy tiptoed over to her bedside and gingerly set the cup down on the small table, careful not to spill any and trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to wake her suddenly and startle her.
"Mione?" Draco whispered, giving her a gentle poke, "Mione, you've got to wake up!" The brunette moaned and turned over, away from the thing that had the nerve to interfere with her precious sleep. Draco frowned, took a deep breath and began to sing 'Oh come all Ye house-elves' at the top of his voice, clapping in time to the tune.
But still, she did not stir…so, Draco proceeded to sing louder and louder until…
"All right, where is it?" Draco jumped and spun around as Moody rushed into the room, brandishing his wand wildly, "Did you see it?" He barked at Draco, "Where did it go?"
"Umm…where did what go?" He asked timidly, as the ex-auror began searching through the draws,
"Don't play games with me, boy." He growled, not looking at Draco, "The bloody banshee, that's what. I could distinctly hear it's wailing coming from up here…" Draco fought the urge to giggle,
"Oh…that was me." He admitted sheepishly, "I was, err…trying to wake up Mione." Moody turned around, very slowly, to face him,
"So, what you're trying to tell me is, that you, in a noble act to wake up the young lady who is slumbering here, not only failed to wake her, but now have the rest of the house searching for the escaped banshee? What have you got to say about that?" Draco blinked up at him, unsure of how to respond to this accusation,
"I-I, umm…"
"Well, I think you should be damn proud of yourself," Moody continued, "Not many people could such a realistic impersonation. Congratulations, kid."
"Oh, err, thank you." Draco stammered, not sure whether that was to be taken as a compliment or not,
"But," The man continued more to himself than to Draco, "The impression of a dangerous creature, no matter how good it is, is not a good way to wake someone up. "Observe closely, boy." He ambled over next to the sleeping girl,
"WAKE UP GRANGER!" He yelled, causing Draco to jump back in shock and Hermione to sit bolt upright, as though she had been awake the whole time,
"What was that for?" She demanded, furiously rubbing her head,
"You wasn't waking up, Mione." Draco said earnestly, passing her the cup, "Look, I brought you some tea."
"Thanks." She muttered, grudgingly taking it from him and yelping as it scolded her hands, " 'S hot." She said obviously, taking a tentative sip,
"You shouldn't drink it if it's too hot."
"Really?" Hermione knew she was being irritable, but she couldn't help it, nor did she particularly care. Having someone yell in your ear isn't a nice way to be woken up from a very pleasant sleep. Some people might even call it a rude awakening…as such, Hermione felt no obligation whatsoever to even try and be nice to anyone, for at least half an hour. Draco frowned,
"You're not being nice Mione." He stated accusingly, giving the her the 'Hurt Puppy Dog' eyes. She sighed,
"I'm sorry, I promise to be 'specially nice later, but right now I am utterly incapable. So, why don't you go and find Snape and pester him?"
"Kaaayy… but you have to promise to drink your tea!" Hermione rolled her eyes to the ceiling, which actually wasn't very much, as she was facing it anyway,
"Fine. I promise. Now leave me alone for an hour!"
"What are you doing?" Severus looked up from his task as his godson walked over to him, "Why are you puttin' all your things in a bag?" Draco asked curiously, pointing to the bag lain across the bed,
"I've got to go soon, Dragon."
"Oh, shall I go and get my stuff too?" Snape sighed awkwardly,
"No, Draco, I've got to go. You're to stay here." He bit his lip at Draco's dismayed expression and picked the boy up, "I've got to go back to work." He explained, "They need me there."
"But I need you here." Draco whispered, "Please don't leave me! Please, Uncle Sev'rus!"
"I need to work. Besides, Hermione will be here and Izzy and everyone else. They'll look after you." His stomach gave a horrible lurch as a tear trickled down Draco's nose, "I haven't got any choice, Dragon. I'm sorry…"
"You're just like Mama!" The boy yelled suddenly, his eyes becoming red, "Sh-she wanted you to-to take me a-away and now you're t-tryin' to get rid of me too!. It's not fair! You're supposed to be on my side!" Draco jumped to his feet, eyes full of resentment and reproach,
"Draco…"
"You're just the same as her! Leave the responsibility to someone else and let them get on with it! You don't care about me!"
"That's not true and you know it isn't." Severus replied, forcing himself to keep his voice even, "You know that I care about you. If I didn't you'd still be in there, waiting and waiting for him to let you out." He took one of Draco's hands in his, "I understand why you are scared," He said, voice gentler, "But just trust me to do the right thing, hey Dragon? Hermione, Izzy and everyone else will look after you, so you needn't worry. Okay?" Draco gave a small nod,
"Yeah. I guess… I'm sorry for being ungrateful, really I'm not…"
"I know Draco. It's not your fault. None of this is your fault." He sniffed and wiped his nose across he's sleeve,
" 'Kay."
A/N: Greetings! ho humm...not much to say this time...thinks Thankyou for getting me to 414! bows Many thankyous to everyone! And triple chocolate caramel filled dragon hugs to drum roll...
Josie, lollenk, luciousladyLucius, miniuncy, blueyedchibi, Nikki's Evil Doppelganger, Dark Princesses: I Estel vinta amarbarenna lomeo A Duath , Hogaboom, SailorHecate, PhantomStarlight, jarlytha, TimeMage0955, Hayes, MyStErIoSaNgEl101, -addicted-2-hp-, lindylulu, TwihlightDragoness (congratulations on gettingregistered!), Carmelita, Ilya of Smeg, 13BlackAngels and PerfectPureblood.
I LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH!
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