-

She sat him back down in his bed after checking him in at the front desk and officially assigning him to a fourth floor ward. She bustled to the kitchen and came back, carrying a tray of food.

He started on the sandwich first, scarfing it down like his life depended on it. Hermione made sure he didn't choke and then handed him a glass of water. There was no other patients in the ward. They were never bothered.

"I want to play a game." He said in the midst of shoveling the food in his mouth.

Hermione chortled. "You mean who can eat food the fastest?"

"Nah. I'll win that one," He said, throwing her a disbelieving look. "Another game. Like... hmm... Finding something... Beautiful!"

She tilted her head. "To find something beautiful? Sounds like a fun game. You first."

"Okay. Oh, and say a number, first. You can say more than one thing per turn, but you have to say how many beautiful things you see first. You lose if you run out of things to point out. Here, let me give an example." He was thoughtful for a moment. He pointed to the rose still tucked behind her ear. "Two. That rose and this meal."

She giggled. "Aww, I was going to say the rose. Hmm..." She looked around the room. "One. That vase."

He grinned and looked around, swallowing "Can I get one more sandwich?" He asked politely, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "The vase isn't that beautiful, by the way."

She frowned. "It's not?"

"No! That's what makes this game hard. Beautiful things are hard to find." He looked at her.

Hermione was on her way to the kitchen when Ron blocked her in the hallway again.

"What's this? I never see you anymore and all of a sudden, it's like I'm seeing you too often today!" He announced with an impish grin.

"Er, yeah," She shuffled her foot back and forth. "Now can you excuse me?"

"No, I wanted to tell you a joke! Well not a joke, really. But still, it's funny to me." He didn't move.

"Well, make it quick, I've got a patient waiting."

"Okay, so yesterday, I was walking home from this place. I saw some bloke wandering around in black robes. I'm never good at Memory Charms, so I wanted to try it on this guy..." He babbled. Hermione's face paled, but she continued listening. "So behind his back, I tried it out, and he froze on the spot! He was facing your house before I did anything, which was kind of weird but, anyway, he kind of turned around and I saw that it was Mr. Bloke himself!

"Malfoy was all in shock for a moment, which looked like the Memory Charm was doing its work. But then he just stared at me blankly until I walked away."

Hermione was very quiet. "Was that the punchline?"

"Yeah! It was Malfoy!"

"Funny," She strode forward until she was nose to nose with him. "He's now a patient at St. Mungo's because of that. Didn't you know that?" Her blood was rising. "You messed him up! Now I think he's under a death curse and he has one day left! HOW FUNNY IS IT NOW?"

Ron's face turned white. "Er- I didn't know all of that, but..."

"IT ISN'T FUNNY AT ALL, RON!"

"I didn't curse him, though!" He bellowed back in her face. "I didn't do anything to curse him like that, I just did a simple memory charm!"

She swayed on the spot. "You didn't?"

"No! I don't even know how! So he must have had it before or something, but I dunno..."

She shoved him and strode away, her jaw clenched.

-

He was writhing again when she came back. He was clutching the scar and this time, he was screaming. She rushed forward, dropping the tray on the side table and taking out her wand.

She tried every spell she could to try to numb his pain. None of it worked. Two more people rushed into the room, having heard the screams. They froze for a moment, staring at Malfoy, unsure of what to do.

"Can you stop staring and help me the fuck out?" She shrieked. They snapped to their senses and rushed to her sides, trying every spell they possibly could.

He finally grew still.

They all stared down at him. Hermione reached out and stroked his forehead, brushing his hair back. He turned his face into her hand and opened his eyes. He glared up at them all.

"Geroff me, you filthy Mudblood!" He shouted, shoving her hand fiercely, making her stumble back a bit. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Go away!" He yelled at all of them. The other two departed, casting Hermione weary looks. She shrugged.

They all knew of his curse.

"Malfoy... The curse..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" He didn't look at her. He was staring down at the still red, "1" embedded on his arm above the Dark Mark. "One more day. Fuck it all."

Her hands shook. "I'm sorry."

He glared at her. "Damn right you better be sorry. You could have done something when you had the chance. I mean about my memory. If I got my memory back sooner, I could have enjoyed my life for a bit more," He paused. "Speaking of which, whoever did this Memory Curse really sucks at it if I got my memory back now."

She lowered her hand. "I know."

"This place is filthy," He shoved the empty tray off his lap and stood up. "And it wreaks Granger."

He was walking out of the ward.

"You're not allowed to leave." She said feebly. He was still walking. She darted forward and snatched his arm.

"Let go of me, Mudblood!" He snarled. She released him as if she was stung. "And that rose!" He snatched it from its perch behind her ear. "Let me give it to someone who actually deserves it."

He strode out of the ward, slamming the door shut behind him.

-

What am I doing?

She stood at the threshold of the entrance to the rooftop, deliberating. She could see Malfoy clearly, sitting at the edge of the roof across from her. She knew he knew she was there. He was doing a good job of ignoring her.

I shouldn't be here.

"Go away." He said bitterly, echoing her thoughts. He was still not looking at her.

"I'm not supposed to leave you alone," She said firmly, squaring her shoulders and marching over to him. She stood for a moment, then sat down next to him.

"Old habits die hard." He hissed, edging away from her.

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean like that, I meant, this is my job. I work here."

"It's sarcasm, idiot."

She bit her lip. "Why do you still hate me so much?"

"What's this? Feeling emotional? Oh please," He scoffed. "The same reason I still hated you years ago."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"Your blood. You're a Mudblood. That's unforgivable. And I hate you because you were such a know-it-all. Wait," He frowned. "You asked me why I still hated you. What, you don't hate me anymore?"

She knew it was best to be honest. Deep inside, she knew there was no difference between the simple Malfoy in the park than the Malfoy next to her.

"No, I don't hate you anymore," She said quietly. "I see no reason to. I stopped a few hours ago. In my heart, really deep down, a part of me says that you really don't deserve to die this way."

He was silent for a moment. "I'm going to die anyway."

His voice was weak, now.

"You can be nice when you want to be." She said in a small voice.

His face hardened. "Well, that's not by my nature. I'm the kind that'll take your life and screw it over."

"Okay, so let's say that," She spoke, her voice shaking. "Let's say you like screwing up people's lives. Then what about you? What did you really want in life, anyway?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm here!" She snarled. "I'm listening! And I'm surrendering. I'm saying I don't hate you anymore, and here you are still being a prat!"

He was quiet. "I've always wanted to have kids. And marry. I've always daydreamed about being a dad. Probably a better one than my own was."

She looked down at the street below them. "I'm sorry."

He snorted. "For what? It's not like you did this death curse."

"I don't know. It's just... Losing you. I mean, not that I care about you, no offence. But just thinking about you not being here after sunset tomorrow that I just..."

"Finally try and want to figure me out." He concluded for her.

She nodded. "I'm sorry," She began, but she stopped. "Why were you going to my house in the first place, anyway? Ronald said you were heading towards my house before he did the Memory Charm."

He didn't meet her eyes.

"Hey, I asked you a question."

"I wanted to kill you. I've never done it before. I wanted to step out on the other side of the law for one last time. The first person that I wanted to... kill was you."

She felt her blood start to boil. "Really, Malfoy? And how do you feel now?"

He shrugged. "I don't care anymore. And for the record, I don't really care about you, either. Why did I have to be stuck with you in the last hours of my life?"

He stood up and strode away from her. She stood up and was about to walk after him when she stopped. He slammed the door behind him, leaving her alone on the rooftop.

Angry tears started rolling down her face when the door crashed open again. He marched across the rooftop and grabbed her face with both hands.

He pressed his lips to hers.

She was shocked for a moment.

But then she just stopped giving second thoughts. She wrapped her arms around his neck, molding herself to him. He he ran his hands down her waist and back up, twisting his hands into her hair.

He pulled her hair back, exposing her neck to him. He kissed there roughly, biting almost painfully. He pressed his lips back to her, tracing his tongue across her lips and finally exploring her mouth. Hermione made a small, content sound at the back of her throat, and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing his hips to hers.

She knew why he was doing this. He wanted to come as close as he possibly could to what he wanted out of life as possible before he died. In this case, he just wanted to have her before he died. She knew he just didn't want to die alone.

It was fine with her.

Review review review review review!

No, the story's not done yet :D

One more chapter to go, loves.