A/N: I own nothing, all characters belong to J.K Rowling, I'm just using them for my own fun :)
I haven't written in a really long time, so I'm a little rusty! Bear with me as I muddle my way through my first ever Dramione fic.
Rated M for future language and themes.
Comments and faves are always welcome!
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It was eerily quiet as one might expect, following the momentous catastrophe that had claimed so many lives. After the rage of battle had dissolved along with the of the last of Voldemort's followers, the grounds seemed to grow impossibly still, as if they too were mourning the losses felt by those who survived. Light was breaking over the tops of the trees from the Forbidden Forest, dust from the razed castle swirling thickly in the golden haze. The low murmurs of people treating the the injured and quiet sobs of mourning soon turned to white noise as Hermione Granger sat on the steps of the courtyard stairs, kicking absently at the dirt. She wasn't really sure how long she had been sitting there. It's had eventually become too much to sit with the the Weasley's while they sat vigil for Fred. The weight of all the loss had become suffocating. She had hoped the fresh air would help to clear the ringing from her ears, the numbness and exhaustion from her limbs, but so far it was decidedly unsuccessful.
Hermione absently rubbed at her left arm, the cursed wound itching and throbbing slightly.
Maybe I should sleep. She mused to herself silently. Letting out a raspy bark of laugher when she realized she couldn't remember the last time she actually had slept. How many days had it been since they had left the quiet comfort of Shell Cottage? Two? Three? Closing her eyes Hermione decided that she had slept in worse places than the floor of Hogwarts, so a short nap would not be remiss. She laid there in silence, focusing on making her breaths even, and slow. Trying to quiet her mind, the screams battle echoing in her ears, flashes of light and explosions still racing behind her eyes. Eventually her breathing became less forced as sleep claimed and her awareness was washed away.
It's had only been a few painfully short minutes before she was plagued with nightmares. The maniacal laugh of Bellatrix Lastrange as she leaned over Hermione on the floor of Malfoy Manor, an evil glint steeling her eyes. Hermione thrashed in her sleep, fighting against the invisible force that held her down as Bellatrix carved that hateful word into her arm. Mudblood. She felt someone grasping at her wrists tightly, holding her in place and listened as Ron screamed for her. "HERMIONE, NOOOO HERMIONE!!" She struggled against whatever was holding her wrists down but remained at the mercy of the mad woman. "HERMIONE , PLEASE! HERMIONE!" She began to shake violently, slowly, her consciousness returning, but still hearing the screams echoing in her mind.
"HERMIONE! Wake up! Hermione, you need to wake up!" She heard the words, but didn't register them. All she knew is that the weights on her wrists were not just a dream. She struggled against whatever was holding her down, trying desperately to blink the exhaustion from her eyes so she could see her attacker. Unable to focus, her vision blurry and eyes burning she opened her mouth and tried to yell, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
"Hermione, stop it now. Focus now. It was just a dream!" The voice was frantic but commanding. "Hermione you're okay. It's over now." She let out a whimper, still half heartedly struggling against the grip on her. "I'm going to let go of you now, okay?" The voice said again. She nodded, her eyes following the voice, starting to make out the bulky figure of someone sitting sitting next to her. Suddenly the figure receded, just as the pressure on her wrists let up. Heart beating erratically, she whipped her head around, searching for the person whom that voice belonged to. A tall figure stood slightly in the shadows away, their hands held up in front of them in a sign of surrender. Male. She determined. He was speaking slowly and in low tones, but just loud enough for her to hear.
"You need to breathe." the voice commanded. He moved towards her slightly, out of the shadows. She blinked again, worried for a moment that her vision had not returned properly, as she took in the sharp angles and gaunt eyes. He was tall and lithe, his hair was overgrown, covered in dried blood and dark soot, but there was no mistaking the shocking white blond hair of Draco Malfoy.
"...Malfoy?" Her voice cracked as she spoke. Draco frowned slightly as her saw her hand creep towards her front pocket where she kept her wand. "What are you doing? Why are you here?"
He rolled his eyes slightly and she heard him mutter under his breath. Her annoyance flashed and she rose slowly to stand. Her legs wobbling slightly and Draco lurched forward as she stumbled, as if to catch her. She righted herself quickly, sending him a sharp look that stopped him in his tracks. Hermione took a deep breath planting her feet firmly and locking eyes with him. "I asked you a question Malfoy. Why are you here?"
Draco dragged a hand over his face, taking a deep breath. "Who the bloody hell knows." He eyed her, waiting to see if she would reach for her wand again. She sent him a scowl and pulled it from her pocket and held it at her side. He slowly raised his hands up again, eyes narrowing. "Listen Grang...Hermione. I was just out for a walk, minding my own bloody business when I heard yelling. I came over here and saw you thrashing about on the ground like a dead fish. I tried to wake you up, but then you punched me in the face you daft cow! I was just trying to help!" He said the last part defensively, as though she might argue with him about the semantics of his "helping".
Hermione losened her hold on her wand and eyed Draco. "Well thanks I guess... Although I'm not sorry about punching you." She cracked a hollow smile briefly. Draco narrowed his eyes slightly, and a small snort escaped him.
"Yes will, I probably deserved worse. And it wouldn't be the first time you've maimed me." This time it was Hermione's turn to snort. She lowered herself slowly down to the ground again and scrubbed at her eyes with the heals of her palms. She turned back to her view of the forest, silently cursing her own mind, all she'd wanted was a little sleep. Shuffling noises and a throat clearing brought her attention back to Draco. This time he was standing at her shoulder, and she peered up at him with squinted eyes.
"If you're going to sit down then sit. Don't just stand there like an overgrown tree." Hermione turned her attention away from the Slytherin and back to the gentle calm of the forest, leaning her weight back on to her arms. She was surprised when Draco dropped onto the steps next to her, sitting close enough that she could hear him speak but not so close that they could be mistaken as sitting together. For a while they sat in silence, neither acknowledging the other.
The silence was broken by Draco who looked over at her. "Granger, your arm is bleeding."
"Hmmm?" She sat forwards, pulling her hands into her lap. The blood had soaked through her sweater by now and was dripping freely from her sleeve. She shrugged her sweater off, shivering slightly as her bare arms met the morning chill. All of the healing that Fleur had done at Shell Cottage completely undone, her wound was split open and angry looking "Oh buggar." She hissed a sharp intake of breath as she prodded it with her wand, attempting to stop the bleeding.
She laid down on the ground and turned her head slightly to look at Draco. He was avoiding her gaze, staring at the ground. Suddenly he turned to face her, his eyes harsh and red-rimmed. "You're not going to start thrashing around again, are you? I don't want people to think I've cursed the Gryffindor Princess." Hermione decide to ignore this and Malfoy continued talking. "Gra... Hermione. Hermione, I wanted to say... well I wanted to say that... what happened in my home... I just stood by and watched as she.. as she..." Draco cut himself off and looked away from her. "I've come to regret many things in my life Granger. My family and I are probably going to be carted off to Azkaban now, a sentence which no one would contest that we deserve. I mean the Dark Lord was basically my bloody roommate for the last year and a half. There's no escaping that." He let out a short, bitter laugh. "There's no escaping anything anymore." His eyes flicked towards her quickly, then away. "Anyways Granger. I just wanted you to know, before they give me The Kiss... I regret what happened in the Manor."
Silence followed as Hermione absorbed the words Draco has said. The world really had turned on its head with the defeat of Voldemort.
"Are you just saying this because your family was on the losing side?" The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to stop herself.
"I didn't have you help you just now, you know. Next time I see you thrashing around like the Giant Squid, I'll be sure to keep a wide berth." He sneered at her. "Believe what you want Granger. I've said my peace." His blank, emotionless mask slid into place on his face. Draco dusted off his pants slightly and made to stand.
"Malfoy, wait. That was rude of me." Hermione "Not like we've ever been particularly polite to each other, but no time like the present to start I suppose." Still laying down, Hermione extended her right hand to him. He eyed it warily. Exasperatedly she waved it around slightly. "It's a hand, it's not going to bite! Or are you afraid you'll get mudblood on you?" Draco scowled at her words, and she waived her hand around again. Muttering under is breath about "bloody Gryffindors and their need to make a big production out of things" he scooted over so he could reach her and grasped her right hand firmly with his own, shaking it once before dropping it completely.
"There! That wasn't so hard, was it!" She said lightly. "Really though, Malfoy, there's nothing you could have done for me in the Manor. That woman was a bloody psychopath, if you had tried anything at all to help us she would have murdered you without a second thought. You did what you could by not identifying us. I don't blame you."
"Granger, you don't have to say it just because I'm going to probably die in prison." He folded his arms and stared at her, a thin eyebrow raised and disappearing behind his fringe, but his face still a mask, betraying nothing.
She rolled her eyes. "I thought it was Hermione now?" His expression didn't change as he stared at her. "I know you didn't necessarily ask for my forgiveness but I'm giving it to you." She let out a heavy sigh. "Sometimes I forget how young we both are. We're just kids. Forced into a fight by grownups who bloody well knew better but decided to use us as pawns anyways. We both deserve to move on from this in whatever way we can. I think carrying around pointless grudges for someone else's crimes defeats the purpose of moving on. So. Whether you want it or not, my forgiveness is there." His lips pressed together into a tight line, saying nothing. Hermione could see his jaw moving, teeth clenched together.
She felt warmth envelop her hand again, looking down she saw that he had grasped it tightly, but quickly withdrew his hand. He looked down at her and smirked drily. "You look like shit Granger." She flipped him off as he stood up.
"So do you Malfoy." He said nothing, standing up and brushing the dirt off his hands, and turning away from her.
"Malfoy?" She called as she heard him start to walk away. "Send Madam Pomfrey or maybe Harry if you see him would you? I don't think I can stand up." She waited for him to reply, but was not surprised that she received none. Laying there arm still bleeding Hermione contemplated her encounter with Draco Malfoy, wondering if anyone would believe what had just happened. Maybe twenty minutes later, just as she was steeling herself to try and make her own way back to the Great Hall she heard footsteps rushing in her direction. Unruly hair and bright green eyes hidden behind cracked and dirty glasses staring down at her with worry came into her line of sight. She cracked a smile at his expression. "I'm okay Harry, just some blood loss from my arm," she lifted it and waved it slightly for emphasis "I don't want to fall over and crack my head open so I've just been laying here." Harry chuckled slightly and strong arms circled around her back, sitting her up.
"I've been looking all over for you Hermione. You've been gone for hours." She felt fabric being draped across her shoulders and snuggled into the thick warmth of Harry's sweater, the familiar scent washing over her comfortingly.
"Sorry, Harry. I fell asleep and then I ran into Malfoy. Or I guess he ran into me." Harry's arms tightened slightly around her at her admission.
"I know. He told me you were out here and half dead, I thought maybe he had done something."
Hermione snorted softly. "Opposite in fact."
One of Harry's arms slipped under her knees and in one smooth movement he picked her up, cradling her against his chest. Hermione protested at this. "I didn't mean for you to carry me, I just needed a hand so that I don't fall! You've filled your hero quota for the year Harry, I don't need you to rescue me." A deep chuckled vibrated through his chest at her words.
"But rescuing is all I know how to do Mione." He said cheekily. She glared up at him and smacked him lightly on the chest. "So what happened with Malfoy?"
Hermione leaned into Harry's chest, exhaustion and blood loss catching up with her. Her eyes fluttered closed as she murmured "He said sorry."
Harry hummed noncommittally and continued trudging his way back towards the Great Hall, taking care not to jostle her as she drifted off into sleep.
