Ch 3 The Library

Ok, ok, Hermione was temporarily out of commission. He could work through this. His began to breath rapidly and had to concentrate on slowing it down. In, out, in, out. He couldn't afford to loose control, not when there was so little to be had. They had been through worse than this, the past year, the past few weeks, they could do this. They weren't running for their lives, they weren't waiting to be stabbed in the back. They could do this.

Malfoy sighed, and lay back against the pillows. All his life he had been taught to plan and to scheme, to have a silver tongue and mislead at every turn. He had begun to hope that there could be days without plans, lazy days in the sun, with nothing to do. Peace. He had allowed himself to hope for peace. He should have known better. Draco shook himself. Malfoys didn't wallow in self-pity, they got what they wanted no matter the price. And that's what he would do. He swung upright, throwing his legs over the bed. His head swam, and he cursed.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Malfoy?" Madam Pomphrey moved swiftly to his bed, her quick movements spoke of years of bullying students back into bed. But he was no longer a student, and he was motivated by more than missed Quidditch practice or homework or boredom.

"What's left of the library?" Books always held the answers. He knew that from years of always seeing a bushy head hiding behind them, and years of always placing second best.

"You are in no condition to go trolling about looking for books." Malfoy tried to think as the world slowly stopped swimming and prepared himself to test his weight on his feet again. "Mr. Malfoy, you need rest."

He stared the MediWitch in the eye, his own eyes blazing. "Apparently, I have been resting. For 6 months, which sounds like plenty of rest to me. So, if you would be so kind as to get out of my way, I won't tear apart your life for your incompetence."

"Good to see you still know how to make others feel like slime, Malfoy. I truly believe you're on the mend now." Weasley slouched, smirking against the wall. What Draco wouldn't give to wipe that smirk right off his face. The ginger strode forward and whispered to the plump woman that stood in way of Draco and his answers. She huffed indigently and stalked back to her office. Draco glanced at him. Weasley shrugged and stood by his side. "To the library right."

Draco was determined not to give Weasley the satisfaction. He would hold it together, he didn't need help.

"How's it going over there, Ferret? You seem to be leaning to the left a little there." Draco scowled, and righted himself. His vision blurred, he briefly wondered if Weasley would carry him back to the Hospital Wing if he collapsed. Weasley caught him before he fell and ducked under Draco's arm. "Alright, mate, hold it together. If you fall apart under my care, Madam Pomphrey is going to kill me." The corridor came swimming back into view.

"Ok, Weasel, you can get off me now," Draco tried to shrug him off, and his would went fuzzy again.

"You know what, Malfoy? I think I'm going to hold on to you for now. You can thank me later." Weasley supported Draco the rest of the way to the library.

The journey was rough, even with magic repairing a castle as ancient as Hogwarts took time. There was rubble strewn throughout the hallways, empty frames hung haphazardly on the walls. The floor was clean of the smaller debris though, no shattered glass, no small stones or shredded fabric that would come from an exploding castle. Head way had been made, but it would take years still to get Hogwarts back to its former glory.

When thy finally got to the library, he was sweating and wanted nothing more than to sit and breath. Even with Weasley's help, the trip had taken a much larger toll than he had expected. Weasley sat him on a bit of broken pillar out side the doors of the library to take a moment to breath. The redhead then traveled to the large oak doors and pulled them open. Draco took in a sharp breath. The library… looked like it had been the eye of the storm. It was pristine. Light shown through the windows, books lined the shelves. A fire crackled amidst a group of overstuffed armchairs. To top it all off Madam Pince sat at her desk looking disapprovingly over her spectacles.

"How...?" Draco whispered. He wished Hermione was here with him. He was sure that the love and care that had been given to her precious books would bring her right back to herself. Weasley shrugged and pulled Draco's arm back over his shoulder, pulling him to his feet.

"We finished last week," the boy said absently. "We had to start somewhere and …" he sighed. "We haven't brought her down yet. I don't know if I could stand it if it didn't help in some way." Draco nodded, understanding his companion more that he would have liked. Weasley deposited Draco in a chair by the fire and brought over a large stack of volumes ranging from ancient to recent editions, judging from the bindings. "I've been working through these as we found them. We're not sure what curse it was that brought the Great Hall down, there was chaos from there." His hands rand through his fiery hair. "There's so much that I realize your missing, but I don't know where to start, mate. It is easier in some way because I know you think like me. You just want to know how to help Hermione." Weasley smirked. "All those years ago, who'd have thought, eh? You and me discussing what we have in common."

Draco smirked back. "Hermione finally got what she wanted …" but at what cost? He sobered. "Have you made any progress?" Weasley shook his head.

"You're better at this than I am though. Merlin knows I wouldn't have made it through Hogwarts without Hermione. Now that your awake, we'll make progress. We have to." The last comment was whispered under his breath. Draco felt a spark of pity for the man. He himself was desperate to help, and he'd only known about Hermione's condition for 2 days. He couldn't imagine living with this helplessness for months on end.

"Well, then, Weasel King. Let's get started, shall we?" Weasley nodded and they each cracked open a volume