A/N: Hello all! Well… I am officially done with school! yay So… I should have a lot more time to write now. I will however be gone for the next two and a half days… which is why I worked my butt off to get this out first. But when I get back I'll have a blissful 2 ½ weeks with nothing to do but sleep and write.
Also…
I got a request last chapter that I go back to the writing style I
used in the first couple chapters (third person). I am going to do
that for this chapter (sort of)… but I need everyone out there to
tell me which way they like it better. I can't put it all in 3rd
person. Draco's part must be in a POV… and you'll all see why
very soon!
The Bold, Italic, and/or underlined words during Draco's POV… are the voices in his head. Yeah… enough said.
Anywho… it's chapter time!
Recap: "Granger?" . . . And I know the spell's back. But this time I'm not running. Something is happening… something about the spell is weaker, and there's no way in bloody hell that I'm going to hide away again.
Voices
Chapter 5
SPG
Hermione Granger was… shocked. There was simply no other word for it. Her heart was pounding so heavily in her chest that she feared it would break out of her ribcage.
It had just been a moment. An infinitesimal moment… but it had happened all the same. In that instant, where he had said… or whispered really… her name and she had looked into his eyes, she knew that something was different.
When she had first entered his room that night, the sight of his once molten silver eyes transformed into something so lifeless had been etched into her memory forever. And she knew… she was positive… that the eyes she'd seen in those short seconds were anything but lifeless.
They were exactly how she remembered them, only now they weren't so guarded. She could easily see the weariness, the hopelessness, and even defeat burned into his smoldering silver gaze.
She exhaled a shaky breath and ran a hand raggedly through her tumultuous curls. So many emotions had flared up inside her when she met his familiar stare. First, she had flinched with worry that this Draco… the real Draco… was going to yell and call her names that sent an ache straight to her heart (no matter how much she pretended that it didn't affect her). She of course felt confusion and a desire to solve the mystery that had suddenly developed before her. But there was something else… relief?
Had she been glad that maybe he was back to normal? Is it okay to be happy for Draco Malfoy? It's not as though he deserved being crazy… or did he?
Her head was spinning and all she really wanted to do was close her eyes and wake to find that this was all a dream. It would be great not to wake up to find Draco Malfoy… but to a normal psycho. She laughed at her own oxymoron… well… as normal as people in St. Mungo's can be.
Unfortunately, despite her wishes, Draco Malfoy was her patient. This was real. But suddenly she found her self questioning just how real his insanity was.
But why would he fake it? To avoid being tried for war crimes? But wouldn't there have been a hell of a lot more publicity if that was the case?
She sighed and shook herself from her thoughts. She, unfortunately, was not being paid to sit here and think.
That's when her eyes were drawn back to the man before her. He was currently laying flat on his back, making motions much like a child making a snow angel. Only, his movements were jerky and spastic and every couple of minutes he would close his eyes tightly and mumble something that sounded oddly like "won't, won't, won't."
She took her time as she scanned his form. She noticed again his ripped clothing, scars, and unkempt hair. He looked like he hadn't been bathed or even been cared for in months. Then a section from his file flashed before her mind. He wouldn't let anyone touch him. They'd tried to restrain him several times and give him calming droughts, but when they tried, he had performed what they called ,"natural defensive magic" which successfully prevented them from being about to bath or groom him (except for the one time when he'd fallen asleep).
She frowned when she remembered that he rarely slept… only once had he slept for more than an hour.
Something swelled within her. At first, she would have called it pity, but it seemed slightly stronger.
Her bookworm determination took hold and she decided that she would be the one to do what no healer had done. She would prove her skill not only by helping him, but by forgetting her personal opinion of him and their rather turbulent history.
She sighed deeply (she seemed to be doing that increasingly… today) and made her way cautiously towards Malfoy.
"M—Draco." She murmured as she carefully rested her hand on his forearm.
He didn't react to her at all… but at least he didn't feel the need to protect himself against her. She wondered vaguely why out of all people… he didn't feel threatened by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was slightly offended that he feared other healers and not her. Surely she, more than anyone else, had a motive to harm him.
"Draco, I'm not going to hurt you."
'But I should…" she thought to herself.
"I'm just going to clean you up a little," She wrapped her arms around his middle and with some difficultly dragged him shakily to his bed.
After she got him settled, she looked him over.
"Merlin, I don't even know where to start." She mumbled.
She decided to start with his hair. It was greasy and tangled. She mumbled a spell and it became clean, but the tangles remained.
She groaned and thought, 'I've never been that gifted with hair charms.'
She began directing the strikingly blonde hair with her wand, attempting to get it to untangle itself.
"Oh… forget it." She growled.
She conjured a small bowl of warm water and a comb. She then proceeded to work out his tangles the muggle way. She was surprised to note that his body didn't respond in any way to indicate that he actually knew what she was doing. Could he really not feel her? Was his mind that separate from his body?
After about twenty minutes of tugging and combing she managed to get his hair untangled. She did one last cleaning charm and smiled at her results.
It was a little longer than it had been in school, but it didn't look bad. If the real Draco Malfoy were here he would probably demand that she slick it back and then get her filthy mudblood hands off of him. But he wasn't here…. so she didn't slick it back and she didn't move away from him.
She then moved to stand over his bed. She decided that he desperately needed some new clothes and probably a bath, but she wasn't about to tempt that. He could live with a cleaning charm. She looked at his ripped shirt and decided it would be easier just to rip it the rest of the way than to try and slip it over his head.
The shirt was ripped from the bottom up about 4 or 5 inches. She grabbed at the top of the rip, pulled, and watched as the rip grew until it reached the neckline. She lifted up his shoulder enough to slip the shirt out from underneath him.
She blushed a deep crimson when she realized how odd it would sound if she went out with Harry and Ron only to tell them, "I ripped off Draco Malfoy's shirt today."
She allowed herself a small giggle before she returned to her work. She looked curiously at her pants and decided against trying to remove them herself. Instead she banished them with a swish of her wand.
Her blush deepened when she looked down to see that Draco Malfoy…HER PATIENT… laid before her clad only in the hospital issued white boxers. She shook her head fiercely to derail her thoughts and muttered a cleaning spell. She then conjured a new set of clothes. She was about to put them on him, when she decided to look him over… He was fairly calm. His fists were clenched tightly and his muscles pulled tight. His eyes were clenched shut and he was shaky mildly.
But he still looked ten times better… and not just because he was practically naked. She scanned his form and was captivated by the scars littering his body. It would have been very easy to become enthralled by his body. He was still lean and muscular despite having been locked in the place for nearly half a year.
She might have been the least bit aroused by the body in front of her, but that feeling was quickly overpowered by pity once again. She studied all his scars and wondered briefly, "Did he do this to himself?"
She saw several scars across his chest and remembered with a pang the "sectumsempra" curse that Harry had hit him with in their last year at Hogwarts.
She saw a large gash on his left side that looked like it began at his second rib and stretched almost to his navel. She gasped and fell to her knees. She was positive that he could not have done this here. And she remembered seeing him after the incident with Harry and there certainly hadn't been a gash on his side that large.
The smaller cuts were obviously self-inflicted with his fingernails, but this had to have happened sometime between sixth year and six months ago when he was admitted. She tentatively reached her hand forward and traced lightly from the top of the scar to the bottom. It was smooth with a few ridges that had remained from the healing. The shaking of his body subdued with her touch.
She frowned when she realized that tears were gliding steadily down his cheeks.
She whispered, her voice laced with worry, "Where have you been all this time Draco… and what happened to you?"
DRACO'S POV
I'm not panicking. Malfoys…. I mean I… I do not panic. I can hear a voice calling me and it sounds exactly like my father.
Draco? Ah, decided not to hide like a coward anymore, did you? Where are you? I know you're here…. I can sense you.
Can you sense this, Fuck off!
Tsk. Tsk. Language, Draco. I think it's time you learn to play nicely, perhaps I should teach you.
I don't do anything nicely. I'm a Malfoy.
That's where you're wrong I'm afraid. You're NOTHING!
No! No I'm not!
Hah! You're pitiful. You're not worth the dust on my shoes. You're worse than that mudblood bitch taking care of you…
NOOOOOO!
I'm not nothing. You're nothing!
Do you hear me?
Where are you?
You're evil, Malfoy.
Potter? Just what I needed… Potter's voice in my head.
You deserve whatever you get Malfoy. You're just like you're father.
I… am… NOTHING… like … my…. Father, Potter!
Hah! You keep thinking that way Malfoy. I saw you. I saw you that night on the tower. It's your fault that Dumbledore's dead. You're a killer.
No. I didn't kill him. Severus did. I… I… I didn't.
You would have. You're nothing but Death Eater scum, just like you're father. You'd do anything Voldemort told you to do.
No. No I wouldn't! He made me. He threatened to kill my mum. I had to!
You wanted to do it. You wanted to be just like him.
NO! I DON'T! I hate him! I wanted nothing to do with him. It's why I ran! I ran for Three bloody years!
Three years Potter!
I'm not a death eater! I don't even have a dark mark!
Draco? Is that you darling?
Mum? Mum!
Yes Darling, no need to shout, we wouldn't want to appear uncivilized.
Mum… Mum. I'm so sorry. I tried to save you I did. I… Lucius… the Dark Lord… I tried Mum, I promise.
You failed me Draco.
No… no… I tried. I would have died for you. But Lucius… he was holding me back. I tried Mum.
You were a disgrace Draco. A disgrace to the Dark Lord.
No… don't talk about him Mum… he killed you… he's the disgrace!
To your Father…
Mum… he let Vol-Vol—him kill you. He didn't care about either of us!
And to me Draco. You failed me. It's your fault I died.
I LOVED YOU!
I loved you, mum.
… I'm sorry… so sorry.
It's entirely my fault. I'm sorry.
… I miss you…
Mum? Mum…
". . . been Draco… and what happened to you?"
My heart begins to pound heavily, but my body relaxes. I'm vaguely aware of wetness on my cheeks, but my entire mind is focused on one thing… the spell.
It's gone again and I can hear Granger. And… and…she's touching me… I think.
And… it's c-cold in here… I feel like I'm practically naked.
I open my eyes slowly…not used to having control of my own body.
"Gran—Granger?" I whisper and my dry throat burns.
I feel her hand abruptly draw away from my side and she leans over me to look in my eyes. Her eyes widen and again I can just tell that she recognizes that this is the real me.
"D-Drac… I mean Malfoy… Is that you?" she asks.
I tried to say yes, but it burns so bad that I just manage to give a quick nod.
"What… what is going on? What are you even doing here? And what's with the crazy act? Are you acting crazy? Or is this an act? I'm so confused… What is going on? Why does it say your name is only Draco and not Draco Malfoy? Why will you let me touch you, but you've attacked every other healer?" She rambled.
"Just shut up Granger!" I whisper fiercely and I wince with the pain.
Her mouth is open in a small "o" and she blushes lightly and closes her mouth quickly.
I clear my throat and clench my fists at the pain, " Not… much.. time. "
"Not much time? I don't understand… just quit pretending to be crazy… really… this is quite ridiculous—"
I summon my fiercest glare and she shuts her mouth quickly. I open my mouth to tell her everything again when I feel my thoughts start to slow… I'm losing control… it's coming back.
I gasp trying to get out a word… any word. Granger's eyes are wide and she looks like she's about to cry from worry.
"C-curse…" I stutter and then all my control is gone.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Curse? What curse?" Hermione whispered urgently as she leaned over his body.
"Malfoy? Draco? Come back! What's going on?" she yelled.
His body began to convulse violently and she grabbed him by the shoulders in an attempt to steady him.
"Ssshh… Draco… calm down… it's okay… everything is okay."
She is startled by a resounding knock on the door.
"Hermione? Are you in there? It's Harry."
Hermione jumped to her feet in panic. She couldn't let Harry see Draco.
"Uh… yah Harry… I'll be out in a moment. Just finishing up." She yelled over her shoulder and she dressed Draco's body with the flick of her wand.
She waved her wand to restore all the overturned chairs and things to their rightful position.
She took a deep breath, stepped out the door and closed it behind her quickly. She immediately stepped in front of the file on the door that held Draco's information in an effort to prevent any curiosity on Harry's part.
"You do realize that you were officially off-duty twenty minutes ago…" he smiled.
"Haha…" she laughed and raked a nervous hand through her hair, "You know me… I was just so excited. I guess I went a little overboard."
"You guess?" he chuckled.
"Okay… so I did go overboard… a lot." She smiled sheepishly.
He gave a bark of laughter and then took her hand, "Well… I'd love to hear everything about your day, but I'm afraid I have some rather important news."
Relief filled her, knowing that would have time to come up with some story to cover up everything about her first day at work.
He tucked her hand gently behind his elbow and smiled brightly, "I, my fair lady, am here to escort you to quite the celebration."
"A celebration at this hour of the night?" She laughed, "Whatever for?"
He turned to face her and the excitement on his face was evident…
"We captured Lucius Malfoy."
A/N: Hmmm… I believe that was my longest chapter yet! Yay!
So how did everyone feel about the writing style? Was it okay? It was a little weird to switch back and forth between 3rd person past tense to first person present tense…. But I think I did okay.
Anywho… like I said… I'm out of school which means… "I'm a crazy writing fool" mode!
BUT… it also means you all have to keep me motivated. If I'm going to try and get out a chapter every day or every two days… then you guys are gonna have to keep me excited!
So…. Review, Review, Review!
Love, Peace, Potter!
SPG
