Chapter 5
(Hermione pov)
Hermione was in the main command room when Malfoy was helped in to take a sit. McGonagall told Hermione to please look after Malfoy for a few hours. She said "You don't have to talk to him, just make sure he doesn't hurt himself." Hermione had been more than happy to do so. She brought her homework down for herself and then got his. At first it was quiet in the room, but once they were done with their homework Hermione saw it was dinner time.
She looked over to Malfoy, wondering if he was going to eat. 'Well it won't hurt to talk to him,' she thought walking over to stand in front of him. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly. Draco just shrugged before looking up at her.
"Why do you and your friends need more material to laugh at me?" He slightly snarled as Hermione stared in to his deep gray eyes. Though his face showed no signs of it Hermione could see he was filled with deep sadness.
"No one was laughing Malfoy." She said as she sat down. She kind of felt bad for him. "I was just wondering if you were feeling well enough to go down to dinner." He looked her over, shrugging his shoulders. "Do you want me to have something sent up to you?" Draco looked up into her eyes once more.
"Why so you could poison me?" He sneered, his eyes still looking upset. Hermione made a face as she reached out and ran a hand down his face.
"You know Malfoy, not everyone is out to get you." He stared at her in wonder. Hermione felt a hand on hers. Looking down, she saw Draco had taken her hand and was slightly pulling her forward.
"Sit with me," He said softly, moving over in the big chair so they could sit together. Once settled in he put a blanket over their legs. "Sorry for snapping Granger, it's just that I am sick of being sick." Hermione smiled, nodding. "And don't get the wrong idea I just asked you to sit with me because it's becoming too much for me to speak louder then a whisper." Hermione thought for a long while, not knowing what to say at first.
"Malfoy can I ask you if you're the person in black robes?" She asked coyly, not sure if he would answer her. The lights dimmed a little, making her uneasy. She looked over at Malfoy and wondered why he had done that. He hadn't answered her either when their eyes met. He nodded his head 'yes'. "Why are you wandering the halls at night in a black robe in your condition?"
"It's not like that Granger; I am only in the hall in that robe around 11:50pm and 1 or 1:30 am. It's just to hide who I am while I travel through the halls from here to the Hospital Wing and back every night." Draco whispered to her.
"Every night?" Hermione asked and Draco nodded his head. "I don't understand. You have all your potions in your room…I saw them when I got your homework. Why do you have to go to the Hospital Wing each night?"
"To have a very painful surgery done," Draco said as her eyes widened in disbelief. "It gives me the energy to make it through the day. My potions are just for odds and ends. The surgery is really the only treatment they found that helps any."
"Yeah but every night; that seems a bit much for so little." Hermione said, feeling Draco move away from her some.
"It's either that or spend my life in bed not being able to move." He looked sad again in such away she wanted to help him out.
"Tell me about it." He looked back at her, at a loss for words. "Look I know we're not good friends, but you need someone your own age to talk to and well hell I already know so just tell me about it." She watched as he thought it over.
"Where would I even begin?" He asked, softly looking down into his lap. Hermione took his hand in hers trying to be friendly and comfort him in away everyone needs. Draco had no one in the school to do this for him. Gods knew the teacher would be nice, but none of them would hold his hand. That might be considered too friendly with a student.
"Start from the day you first noticed it and go from there." She said, feeling his arm wrap around her waist. He was moving her to lean on him. "Try to give detail too, it will help I promise," She said, still holding his hand and laying her head on his chest.
"Well, it was two days after we had gone on summer break… The day started out like any other, I felt a little sleepy as I had tea with my mum in the garden, after which I went for a walk around the grounds before going up to the library to do some light reading. Nothing had happened on my walk; I didn't get bit by anything or cut either. I was just on my way up the steps when I felt a little winded." He said as they got cozy with each other.
"Go on," She said closing her eyes to just listen to his voice.
"Well I didn't think it was anything more than a cold or maybe some joke someone had played on me that took a few days to kick in." His voice was so soft it was virtually smooth. "Two days passed while my house elf and I treated it as a cold. It was on the third day the first med-witch came to see me. She checked me over and told my mum it was all in my head nothing was wrong with me."
Hermione couldn't believe someone would say there was nothing wrong with him. It didn't take an idiot to see he was under the weather. "I just kept getting sicker; my mum had all kinds of healers come in to look at me. Most of which said it was all in my head or a vampire was behind it… Nothing was helping and I had been in bed for two weeks. Mum was getting disport, she even took me to a muggle Dr. in hopes something would turn up." Hermione's eyes snapped open in disbelief. "There was no change except I was getting worse…Mum had taken to sleeping in my room and crying a lot. She thought I was dieing."
Hermione felt badly for Mrs. Malfoy, having to sit there helplessly watching her only child waste away. It must have been a fate worse than death. "Finally, this one med-witch came in and declared she wasn't leaving until they had something to at lest help me a little bit. That woman went through everything in and outside the house. She even tore open walls looking for a clue as to what was happing to me. She also started to give me potions for this or that." He took a deep breath "Well, she was at it for a week before she suggested the surgery."
"And that helped?" Hermione asked as he nodded his head 'yes'. They were both unaware dinner time was ending. "Well at lest that was something."
"I got energy enough to make it through the day and have a somewhat normal life again. I'd say it was a lot more then something. Plus, my mum got peace of mind out of it, no longer having to worry if I was dieing or not." He had moved in away that brought them closer together. Hermione's heart skipped a beat when she felt his hand brush over her leg.
"That's good to hear, I feel bad for your mum having to sit their watching you waste away." Their eyes locked and hers were filled with sadness "That must have been just awful for her…" He nodded as they moved their faces a little closer. "Did she sit with you during the surgeries?"
"Just one, she tried to hold my hand to make me feel better." They moved until they were only inches from each other. "She cried through the whole thing, making it worse than it already was." He closed his eyes as did she moving so close they could feel each others breath on their lips. "I told her after that I would rather be alone." His lips lightly brushed hers as if testing to see her reaction.
"It wasn't true though was it?" She now brushed hers over his also testing the waters. "You wanted someone to be there, you just didn't want her to have to sit there and watch them do whatever they did."
"I still do," He said softly before they finally took a chance and kissed each other a little.
"Malfoy, if you want I'll hold your hand tonight." She whispered with heavy breath as they kissed again. This time the kiss was a little longer.
"I'd like that a lot. He whispered back before they stop talking all together and replaced words with gentle kisses. Hermione heard the door opening, making her fall out of Draco's arms and on to the floor. She saw her friends come in looking kind of worried.
"Uh hay guys," She said, making it look like she had dropped something as Malfoy pulled his blankets around him and looked like he was trying to sleep even though she could see a blush on his cheeks.
"Hay Hermione we were worried about you, you missed dinner." Harry said as they moved into the room.
"Oh gee I did, I was so caught up in my homework it total slipped my mind." She just hoped this lie would take and they would drop it.