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Song suggestion: Grenade, Bruno Mars.
Chapter Twelve: A Hard Pill to Swallow.
The heat from the potions beaded sweat on his forehead and he wiped it away irritably, before adding the liquefied Ibis beak. Stirring viciously Draco glanced around. Blaise was stood surprisingly close to Weaslette as they tended to two potions. Quirking an eyebrow, he looked over at Mrs Weasley and Lupin, who both stood looking worried and whispering in sad tones. Finally, Luna sat by the hospital bedside, humming quietly with the nut slices in her hands. Barring breathing and bubbling from the potions, the room was surprisingly silent.
But that was because she was asleep, enforced that way. Her pain forgotten in dark depths of dreams. He looked at the curly haired witch on the bed. Her breathing was stuttered and every now and then she would twitch, showing, even in her coma, the pain was still able to penetrate her peace.
When he thought back to the last twenty four hours he could not believe how far they had come. Leaving everything they knew and loved, changing their prospective on life, switching sides in a brutal war. All because of this girl. Without her, and her parallel to Pansy, Draco would never have thought to leave as they did. She gave him courage, bravery, and strength. It was strange to think that way, but it was the honest truth.
Then Harry Potter entered, looking weary and tired, dirt marring his cheek. He glanced at his best friend and sighed, his heart pounding painfully in his chest for her. When his gaze shifted to the potion creators, he had to force down a frustrated growl, he never felt so helpless. He was the Chosen One, and he couldn't even save his best friend, despite having to save the Wizarding world in the near future.
"Harry, dear, is everything alright?" Mrs Weasley asked, her hand resting on his shoulder in reassurance. Her motherly love surrounding him, comforting him, a simple affection given selflessly. It calmed him and he smiled weakly.
"Fine." Harry nodded, "I just wanted to check on Hermione."
"Nothing has change." Sympathy oozed from the matriarch, "I'm sorry. We'll tell you all as soon as we know anything."
"I know." He scuffed a hand through his eternally messy hair, "Would you like me to make dinner tonight?" Being a practical slave to the Dursleys did have its uses, being able to cook being extremely helpful when Mrs Weasley was attending the Hospital Wing, as one of the few people sufficiently trained enough to act as healers.
"No, I'll come and start dinner now." She patted his cheek and glanced at the two Slytherins worriedly, hesitant to leave them alone.
"I'll stay." Lupin vowed beside her, following her gaze, "Don't worry Molly, I'll watch them."
"Thank you." She smiled at her old friend before bustling away with Harry on her heels reluctantly. Lupin casually leaned against the bottom corner of Hermione's bed, non-obtrusively stationing himself as a defender. If either boy decided to turn on them, they would find themselves quickly dealt with.
"How long will these take?" Ginny asked quietly, praying these were quick potions for a quick cure. Everyone's attention turned to the two boys who continued to work on the potions with a fervent aura.
"Soon." Malfoy muttered, "Dark Magic may be formidable, but its cures are quick for the most part." He flicked in a pinch of pink powder and the smoke from the potion billowed into the air like a volcano, spreading its putrid scent across the room.
"So Hermione will be cured soon!" Ginny cried confused. First, he tells them her recovery would be long and arduous, but then the cure was quick? These conflicting views puzzled everyone, barring Draco and Blaise who rolled their eyes.
"The remedies are quick to create because of the dire conditions its magic provokes; however recovery is long and painful. Most is only fully cured on the death of the caster." He frowned and tipped his potion into a goblet, "The curses she is hexed with will never fully heal until Bellatrix is dead."
"So we kill Bellatrix and she is saved." Ginny shrugged, "Let's kill her." Blaise sighed quietly. Only a Gryffindor and their blind bravery would think it so easy to kill Bellatrix, second to the Dark Lord. Malfoy rolled his eyes as he swilled the nauseously dark green liquid around the goblet to cool before serving.
"Yeah, go running to murder her and kill half the order doing it." He scoffed, "Please control those courage urges Weaslette, before you get us all killed." Resolutely he marched over to Granger and withdrew his wand, "Rennervate." He muttered and Hermione's screams ground out between her clenched jaws.
His heart broke at her emitting excruciating cries in their expressive depths. The girl he had tortured relentlessly in their youth, but now fought to save, struck his heart in the strangest way. Swallowing the emotion away, he tipped her head back, feeling her curls tangle around his fingers, and poured the vile potion down her throat slowly.
She choked and gurgled and sputtered as the concoction trickled down, trying to protest. His brow furrowed and his fingers caressed her neck in encouragement to swallow. Her head flickered wildly around, looking for someone to help blindly, as she nearly drowned herself.
"Stop her!" Ginny screamed and pointed her wand at Draco, "She's choking!"
"Come on Granger, swallow." He tried to coax her but the girl just gargled her screams in the depths of fear. Hopelessness began to swallow him, Hermione was too stubborn for her own good, "Granger, look at me!" He yelled and was surprised when her head turned towards him in recognition, tears spilling down her cheeks like rivers tinged with red, "Swallow the potion, please…before Weaslette kills me." He murmured and Hermione shocked him by listening. He felt her shift slightly as she ingested the liquid, her face red with effort not to cry out in pain, "There we go, hush, it'll make it go away, I promise, just swallow." He sighed quietly and prayed she would be so easy to treat in future.