DISCLAIMER: The author does not own any recognizable characters, features, or anything regarding the Harry Potter series.

Chapter 6

Hermione broke out into a wide smile, stretching from ear to ear. "Great!" She exclaimed. "But first, I need to check if any of your conditions have been making progress or gotten worse."

She rose from the chair, looking relatively better than she had before, with a radiant glow accompanying her face. Giddily walking over to her fancy doctor equipment, she stabilized a few things Draco had no idea about, and began inspecting him in a little too close of a proximity that was way out of his comfort zone.

As she circled around him, he could smell a heavenly-cinnamon like smell coming from her heavenly-cinnamon like color of her hair, which he thought was a nice touch. Her curls accidentally brushed across his face, and he inhaled sharply, hoping she hadn't heard him. Unfortunately, his hopes did not come true when she quickly looked at him and furrowed her brows, forehead creased with worry.

"What's wrong? Does something feel out of place?" She inquired.

"No, nothing. Just a little weak, that's all." He replied, trying to not make it too obvious his heart was beating twice as fast as normal.

Unfortunately, once again, she was a very successful and qualified doctor. She narrowed her eyes at his odd behavior, checked her doctor equipment one more time and muttered, "Huh, that's abnormal." Raising her voice so she was audible she asked, "Draco, your heart rate went up significantly high in the past minute. Are you sure everything is okay? You look a little pink."

He inwardly rolled his eyes, while at the same time calming down the nervous butterflies in his stomach. Leave it to Granger to not know that he was blushing (probably for the first time in his life) because he might have thought that he might have a tiny, little, itsy-bitsy and very small kind of but not really likable type of emotion for her.

If that was even a thing.

And if he actually did feel emotions.

Shaking his head slightly, he nodded his head to confirm that he was alright. Hermione must have been convinced, because she started inspecting his head and scribbled at least two pages of notes on her clipboard, then making her way to inspect his left arm. She frowned a little, but Draco didn't know why. Last time he checked, it seemed perfectly fine to him. It had healed remarkably well in such a short period of time.

But after she had stood still there for a complete five minutes, he started to worry. She was staring off into the distance, not blinking even once the entire time he was staring at her.

"Hello? Hermione?" He asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

She finally blinked, and looked down at him suddenly. For a moment he thought he saw apprehension and fright on her face, but then she relaxed and smiled down on him, her brown eyes warming up again. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thought I lost you there Hermione!" He grinned, softening his features as his trademark smirk grew.

"You're not going to get rid of me that easily!" She joked in return, and went back to checking his arm. After she had finished, she said cheerfully, "It looks like you've improved a lot, so I don't think we have to worry about any immediate danger. But like we discussed before, I think it's important that we start the research as soon as possible, because of, you know. . ."

Draco simply shook his head in reply, solely concentrating on the fact that when she was talking to him, she always referred to them as "we," which for some reason made him feel more happier than he should have been considering that he was dying.

Hermione was a terrible person. She had always tried her hardest not to judge people based on their past, but on their present and how they would become in the future. Ever since they had met again, Draco had not once shown even a hint of disliking her, and here she was judging him for something he was forced to do, otherwise he would've been killed.

Yet, she couldn't help but remember that that left arm represented all of her bad memories of the war.

The Dark Mark.

Death Eaters. Bellatrix torturing her. Dumbledore falling off the Astronomy Tower. Sirius, Remus, Fred, Tonks, Dobby. . . so many of her loved ones dying. And her parents.

Then her thoughts changed to sad ones after the war, ones that weren't the fault of anybody's but her friends. Ron cheating on her just days before their wedding, Harry and Ginny both supporting Ron, the Daily Prophet mocking her as if she wasn't good enough.

She was lost in thought of all of these horrible memories that she would never be able to escape, when Draco jolted her back into reality. Merlin knows how long she would have been trapped in that misery if he hadn't snapped her awake.

And she didn't ever want to associate Draco with the bad guys again. She knew that he had changed for the better, and even if he didn't say it, she knew that he wasn't going back.

So when she was absolutely sure of what she believed in, only then did her fear ease away, and she began to see him as a friend, not just a casual acquaintance. And only when her fear eased away, did she give him a reassuring smile. Although if it was more for her or Draco, she wasn't sure.

Putting her thoughts in the back of her mind, she erased the doubt she might have planted in Draco's mind and focused on her goal. She needed to help him before time ran out.

He shook her out of her thoughts once more and cheekily smiled, "Let's get started then." Draco stated.

A/N: I hope you guys liked that chapter. It certainly contained more Dramione interaction than the previous updates.

And remember, if there's anything you want to add or want to change, all you have to do is DM me or reply in the comments below!

Also, in case you were wondering how often I'll update I can't say for sure. My schedule for updating is pretty random, but since my chapters are only around 1,000 words, I'll try to update at least every 2 weeks. A lot of times I'll update sooner. Remember what I said before, this story will NEVER be abandoned. Even if I don't update for 5 years, don't think it's abandoned.

If I ever even consider abandoning this story, I will tell you and I will delete it. But the chances of this happening are 0.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% (because nothing is ever 0%) :)

PS: My birthday was on Sunday! I finally feel older and wiser than before!

Thanks for reading, and please remember to read and review!