HOKAY SO. Sorry I haven't uploaded.

But I'm totes into this story now. Yaaay.

Anyway. So I'm also doing a HGSS story at the same time.

SO I've been a bit busy.

And my other Dramione one is... not happening. Not yet.

Idk. Haven't been inspired as of late. But this chappy just fell out of me.

Longest chapter I've EVER written!

Thanks, y'all! Read and review!

~ Tati

DISCLAIMER: LOOK AT THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER. RINSE. AND REPEAT.

kthxbai.

Left Sleeve

"WHY DID YOU TAKE US HERE?" he roared at her, getting up and pacing around, wand out in front him.

"BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST PLACE OTHER THAN THE FORREST OF DEAN THAT CAME STRAIGHT TO MY MIND, I'M SORRY!" she yelled back at him.

"Did you take the time to check whether or not this place was safe anymore? You KNOW that Bill and Fluer got raided two weeks ago! Why else would they be living in the Manor right now? Because I ENJOY their company? No, Granger, no," he drawled, putting up basic wards around the small beach house.

"I didn't think!" she screeched, shoving past him and adding wards of her own."Cave Inimicum," she mumbled softly, swishing her wand.

"That's a goddamn first," he growled under his breath, pushing her over as well, casting a Caterwauling Charm around them.

She stumbled and glared at him, blood boiling. Shaking her head, she ventured over to the front door of partially burnt down cottage.

"If you really think about it, I don't think the Rogues wouldn't come here. Why would they? It's deserted. Besides, I didn't want to compromise our safehouse in case the Rogue were to hang onto us," she tried, reigning in her anger, nose up in the air.

"Justifications don't suit you, Granger. They want you to think it's deserted. We have to make sure it's not booby-trapped," he argued, walking over to her and peering down at her. "For you especially…" he added softly as a side note.

He saw her fidget with her left sleeve. Catching him looking at her, she glowered at him. He pulled his eyes away abruptly, looking at the door sheepishly.

"I'll… go in first," he offered, stepping forward onto the porch stairs, wand at the ready again. She felt his magic in slow waves. Nonverbal curse detecting charms, she concluded, chancing a step behind him.

"Stay RIGHT there, Hermione. This place is not okay for you. Stay. Back," he warned, reaching his arm out to block her from taking a step on the stairs.

"But—" she retorted.

"HERMIONE, you will be killed if you take another step," he said rather panicked.

Dread washed through her and she stayed rooted in her spot. He wouldn't be this protective if he weren't serious. He felt more intense waves of his magic, thick with concentration and force. As she watched him shrug out of his sling, she suddenly shook with fear. What if his breaking the charms made them detectable. What if there were Rogue Death Eaters already stationed there. What if—

"It's okay, Hermione. Calm down," he reassured, turning around to look at her with soft eyes. Had she said any of that out loud? Replying to her confused look he mumbled gently, "I can feel your erratic magic." She heaved a sigh, thoroughly shaken. She looked up at him again and he was already turned back. Before she could say anything, he turned around abruptly.

"Okay. I think we can go in. I disarmed all of the killing curses. If anything… you'll just feel a lot of …pain. And there might be other enchantments inside, so just stay behind me, got it?" he said, looking at her with his big grey eyes.

"Y-yes," she managed to choke out. Why hadn't she thought of this before? She disregarded it and shook her head. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath. "Let's go."

He nodded, ushering her to get close behind him. She stepped timidly onto the stair, wincing at the impending pain, but she felt none. She opened her eyes and let out her breath, continuing more confidently. They reached the screen door and he motioned for her to pause. Creaking it open, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it slowly, pushing the white cracked door gently. It swung open little by little, screeching eerily and sending chills down her spine.

Suddenly, a gust of green wind shook through the doorway. Draco turned around and wrapped his arms around her instinctively. Even through his pureblood-shield, she still felt an overbearing feeling of nausea wash over her. She clutched onto his shirt, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. Her knees weakened and he held her up. She cracked open an eye and she could see the green air still looming around them. She felt an overwhelming tingling from his skin, his magic practically explosive.

Wandless AND wordless? That is definitely not in the Auror handbook… not for another 3 months for him... Or is his wand still in his hand?...

He looked down at her. Her face was pale and he could tell she was shaking. He doubled his efforts, gritting his teeth. The magic was flowing off him, now surrounding both of them. Suddenly the green mist fell, surrounding them in deep green ashes. He felt her gasp for air, eyes fluttering shut, knees finally giving in. He caught her with one arm around her waist, and tilted her chin up with his free hand.

"You okay?" he asked a bit out of breath.

She just nodded, apparently unable to form words. She disentangled herself from him, mustering all she could to drop her backpack and run over to porch ledge to retch over the edge of it. Her body convulsed with every upheaval. He cringed but walked over to her decidedly, consoling her in the best way he could, awkwardly, yet gently, holding her hair back.

She choked back a few breaths and could finally breathe. Her eyes were tear stricken, cheeks blotchy, and lips slick with saliva. Resting her forehead on the ledge, she wiped her mouth and took in slow, less urgent, breaths.

"Good thing I covered you up as best I could. It would have been worse…" he whispered soothingly, tone evidently suppressing a smirk.

She chuckled, shaking her head. She straightened up gingerly, gripping (unwillingly) onto Draco. He hooked his arm around her waist again, hoisting her up and put her around his neck.

"We didn't even go inside and I'm already reduced to shite. Maybe I should just wait out here. Sleep on that broken hammock," she rasped, voice raw from the stomach acid.

"Granger, for the brightest witch of her age, you really are so thick. Do you see the dark clouds? It's going to be another storm," he argued, holding her tighter to him.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Ferret. Fine," she gave in, looking up at him with sheer amusement in her eyes. He just looked down at her and smirked, his own eyes shimmering with that same amusement.

"Um… Could you go inside and check first?... I'll… I'll stay put," she tried in a small voice, scolding herself for sounding so weak.

He smiled softly down at her and nodded. Maneuvering her over to the ramshackle loveseat hammock, and set her down gently.

"I'll be right back," he murmured, brushing a curl back and tucking it behind her ear. He turned quickly and walked into the house, missing the look of pure shock that was frozen on her face.

What was THAT?

She saw his foot disappear through the threshold into the house, yet still feeling his magic seeping out to her, keeping her skin tingling where he had held her.

"Hey Malfoy?" she called out to him, clutching her stomach.

"Yes?" he replied, sounding a bit distracted.

"How do you project your magic so far out? Auror training only lets you extend it within a meter radius. I'm a good 2 meters from you."

"Um. Think about it. What other training to I have other than Auror training, Granger," he bit out a tad insensitively.

Oh god! How could I forget…, she thought, smacking her forehead for her plain idiocy.

"Right… Sorry," she grumbled, curling up her legs and resting her chin on the top of her shins.

He sighed, flicking his wand and exposing a hidden ditch in the ground. Out of nowhere a distorted apparition of a hooded man appeared, decayed and ever still snakelike. Draco's heart pounded in his chest. The man's mouth opened and stayed like that.

"I AM LORD VOLDEMORT! SET FOOT IN HERE AND BE TORTURED UNTIL YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND WHO YOU ARE ANYMORE. I AM FOREVER STRONG! I WILL KILL ANY AND EVERY FILTHY MUGGLE AND MUDBLOOD! I WILL KILL HARRY POTTER ONCE AND FOR ALL!" the strong voice boomed out to Draco.

"TOO BAD YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD, SNAKEFACE!" he yelled back. "HARRY POTTER VANQUISHED YOU YEARS AGO!"

Draco was shaking as the figure pelted towards him.

"Finite!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the murky form. With an explosion, the curse was broken, showering Draco with red flairs of magic.

"It's okay, I think, Hermione, but be on guard," he called out to her.

"Could you come get me?... I… I don't trust my legs yet," she responded in her shy tone. He never tired of hearing the ever independent Granger so vulnerable and needy.

"Be right there," he responded, backing up slowly. God, this is taking forever.

Soon they were both walking through the house, alert as ever. She was behind him again. Gods, how she hated being so dependent on him. She grimaced at the idea of it. She hated needed anyone, needing help. She could very much take care of herself. Right? She sighed in defeat, knowing that giving him control was the only way she was going to live. Damn those racist Rogues.

Her face was contorted in a scowl, unaware of Draco lacing his hand in hers, pulling her around the hidden ditch in the ground.

"Specialis Revelio!" he chanted out, revealing a rope tied in a noose leaning towards Hermione, as well as many voices circling them, choking them and constricting the air around them.

"Terminus!" they cried out together as best they could, feeling as though the walls were closing in on them, fortunately the rope recoiling and falling limp.

"Protego Horribilis!" Hermione shrieked as the ground below her seemed to shake, heart threatening to burst out of her chest.

There was a loud thud around them and green and red sparks flew everywhere. And suddenly everything was fine. The voices were gone, white gentle walls back to normal. They could feel a certain darkness lift from their bodies. Sighing, he turned to her to see that she was shaking violently.

"Did you feel any of that?" she asked, voice tired, not looking up to him.

"What? The rope? I saw that," he answered, waiting for her eyes, chest heaving in and out, pocketing his wand.

"No, the voices, the walls closing in on us, th-th-the ground shaking," she whispered, tilting her head up, eyes watery.

He looked at her somberly, shaking his head gently. She just nodded and looked back down, pocketing her own wand. Shrugging off his backpack, he brought it in front of him, and unzipped it. He pulled out a small baggie with wedges of what looked like Belgium chocolate.

"Still queasy?" he whispered, handing her the bag.

"A bit. I thought you said Lupin was a quack for thinking chocolate works," she grumbled, setting aside her pride and taking the bag, smirking up at him.

"I did. And then I found out he took it from Madam Pomfrey. She's no quack," he responded, returning the smile.

"Was that an underhanded compliment to someone? Are you sure you're not sick?" she bantered, taking a bite from the deliciously smooth chocolate and letting the warmth of it soothe her back to some semblance of regularity.

He shook his head and shoved her playfully. He zipped his backpack back up and slung it over his shoulder. Looking down at his left arm, he noticed that he had started bleeding through his bandages.

"Oh. Let me fix that," she said, pulling her wand back out. "Ferula."

And with that, not only was a bandage created, but a splint as well. Grinning at her handiwork, she looked up at him.

"Thanks. But I thought you said no magic," he asked, rubbing his extremity appraisingly.

"We've used enough that it can't hurt. After that, no more, though. Unless it's for wards. Speaking of which... (at this she pocketed her chocolates)... Salvio Hexia, Protego Totalum, Repello Muggletum…" she began, her hands out, eyes closed and focused, turning from him.

"While you're doing that, I'm gonna go upstairs and make sure there's nothing left to do," he spoke, pulling out his wand.

She nodded, casting a sideways glance at him. Her eyes spoke for her.

As did his.

Thank you.