Author's Note: Written for…
The 5 Drabbles Competition. Popular pairing: Draco/Hermione. Prompt: ice
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He punishes himself daily, and she knows it.
They're part of the team restoring the staircase. She's the only one who talks to him – everyone else glares and avoids. So he works harder, longer. He doesn't take breaks, he barely eats.
She brings him ice water and plates heaping with food, but he declines every time.
They sleep in the Great Hall. Cots and sleeping bags are positioned haphazardly all over the place with personal belongings and pictures grouped beside them.
He has a single blanket stolen from the Slytherin dorms. He keeps it in a corner all by itself. She's never seen him use it.
It alarms her, how much she's coming to care for him. And it saddens her every time she thinks that there's no way to help him. She can do what all she wants, but he's looking for redemption and she can't relieve him of his imagined sins.