Later that day Draco woke her up, and dispassionately rattled off what he had healed and what still needed treatment. He barely looked at her, and it felt like Draco had built five hundred feet of brick wall between them both while she had been asleep as well as fixing a lot of her pain.
His irritated anger was a lot easier to mentally process, Hermione decided. She slid off his bed as he said he would return her to her dorm where she would rest until tomorrow. "I can go myself, I can cast an Invi-" she started saying, before her legs failed her and she fell to the floor, dizzy.
"Stubborn," Draco said sullenly, grabbing her arm and pulling her up. "Do what I say. Your sense of balance is off." He handed her bag over, and Hermione made an unhappy shocked sound as she felt how light it was and opened it, seeing he had taken her books.
"No reading. No spells," Draco said. "You need to not do anything for just under 24 hours to minimize head injury. Are you going to do that or should I Imperius you now?"
Hermione's eyes snapped to him, mouth open with shock, but she saw that he looked entirely serious. A moment passed as she considered that she was probably concussed, and concluded that Draco was probably right.
"Fine," Hermione replied, looking at her shoes in defeat. "I'm going to be so bored."
"I'll owl you tonight if you're going to behave," Draco said, casting a variety of obscuring spells on them both. "Alright. Let's go." He held her wrist tightly and lead them out of the dorm.
"How come no-one came in?" Hermione asked, curiosity back as she looked around the hallway – she had never been in the Slytherin quarters before.
"I put Greg under and put him on the door," Draco replied. "Be quiet."
They silently stepped out of the hallway into the common room, and Hermione saw Goyle was indeed standing by the doorway to the dorm, looking completely normal. There was hardly anyone else around and they easily made it to the common room entrance, where Draco aimed his wand back at his friend as they departed.
"You Imperiused him?" Hermione whispered.
He nodded. "Your spell broke when…and when I saw it was you, I put him back under," Draco replied. "It happened quick. He hasn't seen you."
She was surprised, but it wasn't like Hermione could really say anything after she had attacked the poor guy with the exact same curse that morning. She couldn't help but feel both impressed and inadequate - Draco's solution to two problems was much tidier than she had managed, and he had done it in half a second. "He looked normal," she commented.
"You overshot it," Draco replied quietly. Hermione looked away, heart thudding at the creeping feeling of failure.
"I hadn't done it before," she whispered back. "I need to practice." His grip on her arm tightened but Draco didn't say anything, and they walked silently towards Gryffindor Tower. There was a corridor near the Fat Lady that was empty, and Hermione tugged him towards it.
"Here," she said, and Draco loosened his grip on her slightly.
"Can you balance?" he asked, and she walked away from him for a few paces.
"Yeah," Hermione said. "I can get upstairs." Draco walked towards her and started removing the hiding magic on her. His face was carefully blank, but he sighed with a sort of – anger? Disappointment? Some sort of unhappiness, Hermione determined. She looked away guiltily.
"Thanks," she mumbled, and put a hand on his shoulder to balance as she reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "Sorry again."
With that, she broke away and headed to bed. Draco quickly disappeared from her perception as she stepped outside his array of Invisibility and Notice-me-Not spells, but she could still feel him watching her as she climbed unsteadily inside the portrait passageway, his gaze burning a hole in the back of her head.
After some easy lying to Ginny about having a cold and also whacking her head on a doorframe, she kindly brought Hermione a slice of pie from dinner and caught her up on gossip while Hermione worked on taking her braids out. Apparently both Ron and Harry had detention that evening after a disastrous Defence lesson the sixth-years had with Snape. Hopefully Harry was picking a fight because he was mad he didn't manage to break into the Room, Hermione thought while she detangled and Ginny bitched about Snape. If Harry had broken in though, he probably wouldn't have bothered going to class, she reasoned.
"…and then Lavender was all upset because Ron ditched her," Ginny finished.
"Mm," Hermione said, half listening. "Very dramatic."
"So Harry said Ron will be at the Apparation tests on Sunday, if he doesn't get detention again before then," Ginny said. "Will you be there? Can you Apparate if you've got a concussion?"
"Oh, good point," Hermione said, frowning. "I'll ask Madame Pomfrey," she lied. "She said I should be fine for class tomorrow though so it might be ok. Now, I need your opinion on something hair-related."
Ginny's eyebrows shot up. "Ok?" she replied uncertainly.
"I want to curse it so anyone who touches it without my permission gets hexed," Hermione said, and Ginny cackled. "But I don't want anything getting caught in it."
"Something that can project," Ginny said. "Let me get my reference book. This strikes me as something Fred and George might have a useful take on." Ginny stood up and headed to the doorway.
"If we come up with something good and they monetise it, I want a cut," Hermione called after her. A tapping sound at the window made her start, and she jumped up to let a familiar sooty black owl in.
The envelope was heavy and clinked. Potions, Hermione thought. She sent the owl back on its way and shoved Draco's letter behind a photo frame on her bedside table. Ginny returned shortly after with several books, chatting animatedly of ideas and her sincerest hope that Parkinson would try something and be on the receiving end of whatever they cooked up.
Ginny left with an idea she wanted to run past Fred and George before aiming it at Hermione's scalp, leaving Hermione to the first early night she had had in weeks. Evenings were usually for homework and whatever she was up to with Draco, until she crashed in the early hours of the morning.
With her hair fully unbraided and Ginny gone, there was nothing to distract from the thudding pain in her head and down the side of her body where he had cursed her that had become more painful over the afternoon and evening. Hermione reached for the envelope behind the photo of her with Ron and Harry, trying not to think about what the waving children in the frame would say about the choices she was making as of late, and hoping Draco had sent her something mind numbing and pleasant. She opened the envelope and tipped out the contents carefully into her hand: four tiny bottles and a letter.
She flipped open the parchment and saw his note was brief.
Green bottles are pain potion. One now and one tomorrow morning. Don't double them up.
Blue bottle is for sleep. Black bottle is for if you're bored.
Message when you've got this.
She pulled her bangle off, zeroing in on the black bottle.
Received, thank you. Can I have a clue?
She left the bangle off, hoping he would reply quickly, and held the mysterious potion up to the light. The bottle was totally opaque, and shaking it only sounded like there was a standard liquid in there. She looked back to her bangle.
What do you think it is?
She unscrewed the tiny cap to see if the scent gave anything away. Whatever it was, it smelt delightful – heavy, chemical and sweet, like petrol. The chemical scent was the most intriguing though. Is there a component that is non-magical?
She sent an evasive response and continued thinking
Well, I'm not sure! It smells good...I have a couple of ideas.
The bangle grew hot against her leg and she picked it up again to read.
Oh do you? Bet I can guess. Horny little witch.
A deep blush erupted across her face and her stomach squirmed as she read his message. Feeling reckless, she popped the lid off one of the green bottles too and downed the contents of both it and the mystery black bottle, lying on her stomach to focus intently on replying.
Caution thrown to the wind! Let's see how it mixes with a pain potion.
Replies started appearing and disappearing rapidly on the inside of her bangle.
I knew I could count on you being impatient and utterly filthy.
It's a mix of that Weasley daydream charm, Amortentia, and a muggle hallucinogen.
Let me know how fucked up it got you tomorrow.
She knew there were several points in his messages that made her surprised, but the illicit concoction had already started to kick in and detach her consciousness from her physical body. She figured she had a few more moments before her brain completely melted out of her ears, so Hermione focused on asking him the most pressing question.
WHAT mugglinogen
She fell off the bed into a warm green ocean, filled with beautiful merfolk with very long, reaching tongues and scratching nails, who pulled her down into a kingdom made of pearls and pine trees.
"-vati, come on, I don't want to miss breakfast!"
Hermione blinked blearily as a door slammed. She looked around at the red curtains and placed the voice as Lavender's. Her vision was blurred, and her body felt painful but well rested. I'm in my dorm, she thought.
Pushing herself up with some struggle, she found her wand and bangle.
"Lumos," she muttered, peering at the inside of it to see Draco's latest message.
So cute. Let me know when you've returned to reality.
She scritched in a message (I'm STILL high. oh my god), put the bangle back on, and dragged herself out of bed to look at how bad her hair looked in the bathroom mirror. She fell over slightly heading towards the bathroom, but it didn't hurt very much thanks to the ongoing drug buzz she woke up with.
Her hair was huge and totally wild. Hermione sighed. I don't know what I expected, she thought. Her bangle warmed against her wrist and she pulled it off to read it.
And still gagging for it?
Her heart skipped a beat, an intriguing combination of irritation and desire. She furrowed her brow while sending her response.
I'm a mess. She turned on the sink tap and splashed cold water on her face, trying to sober up while waiting for his reply.
Can't wait to see it in Potions.
"Ugh," Hermione sighed, irritated. I knew you were going to be unhelpful, she sent back, the shred of hope that he would relieve her tension that morning extinguished. She went back to her bed and started pulling on her uniform, swearing when she realised Draco still had all her textbooks. Ignoring the pinging flashes of heat against her wrist, she took the second pain potion and headed straight to Charms.