It was mumbling. That was the first sound he began to hear. It was a dull mumbling that he couldn't understand. The voices were indistinct, muddy, and he couldn't tell what they were saying. But they wouldn't shut up, and he couldn't fall back asleep. He was angry, because in sleep he had felt so pleasant. His dreams were kind, beautiful, and filled with a warmth his own reality had never provided him.

Now that he was awake, he could tell something was wrong. The voices danced around him, clearly close at hand, but he still couldn't understand him. It was as though his ears were buzzing. It was as though he were underwater. Drowning. Except it wasn't a cold hand that gripped him, nor ice running through his veins.

He felt as though he were burning. Had someone tossed him into a fire while he was unconscious? Was he going to burn to death, feeling every last lick of pain along the way? It certainly felt like that. He tried to focus, to bring himself back. The voices, maybe they would hold the key to what was happening.

"Madam Pomfrey, nothing has been working," a voice spoke that Draco didn't recognize. It was feminine and young. "We've tried ice baths, cooling spells, icy potions. They all stop working after only a few moments, and he just keeps heating right back up."

He heard the elderly Hospital Wing healer tutting in thought. At least he wasn't being burned alive. What had happened to him. He struggled to remember, but only a shadow and the sound of shoes walking away would appear to him. The pain was too strong for him to focus on it for long.

"Well, we will just have to keep trying, Jo." Madam Pomfrey said. She had paused for quite some time, and Draco had a strong suspicion that she didn't have any ideas. "Please continue to attend to him. I have someone doing research at this time, and I need to go see if Horace has anymore potions that we can try. I also need to see the Headmistress. Someone targeted this poor boy, and if we can't figure out what's been done, he may not make it."

The click of her oxfords was Draco's only indication that she had left. He tried to open his eyes, and the light of the windows felt blinding. He groaned, though his throat felt so dry it came out as a heaving exhale.

"Oh! You're awake! Don't try to move. We have ice packed in around you, trying to keep you cool!" The girl, Jo, explained quickly. "Someone was quite cross with you. I guess that makes sense. Oops. I didn't mean that."

Draco watched her blurry form rush around him, trading out soft ice packs for newer, colder ones. He tried to speak, but his voice betrayed him. Every breath felt like agony, like a man in the desert begging for an oasis and only finding more sand.

"A drink, you probably need a drink now that you're awake. Madam Pomfrey told me you would need water once you were able to sit up. Can you sit up?" Jo began to swim into focus as she got close to his face. Her dark grey eyes peered at him, too close, waiting for a response. He shook his head once. He hated to admit it, but there was no way he could pull himself up under his own power.

"Ooh, dummy me. You're probably feeling like you've got an awful flu or something. I can't sit myself up when I feel like that, either," she looked away from him as other footsteps entered the room. "Hermione! Can you help me sit him up? He's going to be a bit heavy for me. Probably all those Quidditch muscles. He was quite the work for us to get out of the ice bath earlier."

Draco couldn't believe his situation. Invalid, in bed, and Hermione Granger was about to help him sit up. Not only that, but some slip of a girl, likely no older than fifth year, had helped him in and out of an ice bath. The fever could take him now, for all he was concerned. There was no coming back.

"Sure Jo, let me just put these down..." Draco heard a thump of books dropping. Granger had let the books down carelessly, and suddenly he felt four hands on him, helping to lift him forward. Pillows were hurriedly stacked to keep him upright, and then he was presented with the gloriously cool water. He drank greedily, trying to soothe his parched throat and mouth.

A hand that felt icy as death touched his forehead. He jumped and water spilled all over him.

"Sorry!" Hermione exclaimed, jumping backward. It had been her hand. She had been checking his temperature. Jo rushed to clean him up, muttering apologies and curses under her breath.

"S'Ok." He mumbled. It had felt nice. Like many things about Hermione Granger, it was a comfort he didn't deserve.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here to help. I was trying to read up on what might've happened." She spoke to Jo, and Draco felt as though he were invisible, because she wouldn't look at him. She moved away, back to the books she had dropped and began to pick them up and arrange them.

"Draco, do you know what happened? Or who has done this to you?" She asked, though she didn't look at him. She continued to arrange those damn books. To spite her, he shook his head rather than struggle to answer out loud.

"Draco?"

"He shook his head. I think the heat is drying him out. I'll go get him more water, if you can keep an eye on him. I just switched out his ice packs, and Madam Pomfrey ran to see Professor Slughorn." Jo eyed the two of them for a moment, then left. Her Ravenclaw tie fluttered behind her as she rushed towards the adjoining supply room.

"I wish I had better news, Malfoy." Hermione began, looking at him begrudgingly. "I've been researching in every spare moment I've had over the last two days."

Draco sputtered. "Days?" He croaked, "I've been out for..."

"Two days. Two and a half if you count what was left of the day we arrived back, I suppose." She began to busy herself as she spoke. She grabbed whatever her hands could reach to keep her busy, a robe to refold, an ice pack to adjust, a pillow to fluff.

He reached out for her when she came close enough. He didn't know what possessed him, and he regretted it immediately. She flinched at his touch, like someone who had been burned with hot wax.

"Malfoy, I don't have the answers yet, and I'm afraid for you." She told him, looking him in the eyes.

"Well, Granger..." His voice was labored, "If anyone will find the answer, it'll be you. Know-it-all." He forced a smile, though he certainly didn't feel chipper.

Hermione kept staring at him, though her lower lip began to quiver. Draco matched her gaze with his own stare. He wouldn't look away, couldn't even if he wanted to. She was his lifeline.

"Someone wants you dead, Malfoy. Madam Pomfrey is afraid to admit it, but I'll bet she hasn't left you alone the entire time you've been here. McGonagall won't tell me what she suspects, but I know she is suspicious. It doesn't help that half the world is your enemy..." She tapped her fingers on her chin as she thought. A metronome of thinking. It was soothing. It was annoying.

"You always solve a problem, Granger. Why should my demise be any different? Though I would love to know the answers before I get dragged all the way to hell."

Draco didn't know why he felt the need to cheer her, and he could tell that his dark humor wasn't working the way he intended. She frowned deeply and shifted her weight back and forth between her feet. Her hand dropped away from her face, and she kept looking as though she wanted to say something. But she didn't. He wished she would.

Jo returned, bringing Draco more water. It was a sweet relief, but every sip felt like a temporary stay of execution. Perhaps it would be easier just to burn away.

"Granger... I am... sorry." He struggled to get the words out as the pain began to drag him back into the darkness. If he wasn't going to make it, at least he had said the words to her. It was sad thanks, all things considered.

Author's Note: Thank you all for the wonderful notes on the story so far. I'm having fun writing it. I know it's not having a particularly consistent release schedule. I am trying to write daily, but the world and life being what they are - hahaha. I'll keep it coming at you on the regular is all I can say, though I do have a few other creative projects I need to work on as well.

Relatedly, I will eventually get back to my Fred/Hermione story. I have plans for it, but I needed a short break.

Love and peace!