"Granger, Granger!" Hermione was shaken from her thoughts by someone running after her. She wasn't in the mood for talking so ignored them, hoping they'd take the hint. "Dammit Granger do you want your stuff or not?"
Her stuff. She'd completely forgotten to take her things with her when she stormed out of the classroom. Reluctantly she stopped where she was and waited, somewhat impatiently, for whoever it was to catch up to her.
Draco came panting into her line of sight. "Blimey Granger, I've been running after you for ages. Didn't you hear me?"
She shook her head "sorry," she apologised, "I was just thinking about something."
"It must have been something important for you to ignore me yelling at you halfway across the castle."
Hermione fought back a blush; she couldn't exactly say she'd been thinking about Draco, could she? "Not really" she said instead "I was just mulling over some stuff; that was all."
Draco frowned at her. They hadn't really spoken since he had first come to the Order but he had overheard her defending him when Ron publicly mocked and insulted him in their various classes. He had actually been the original cause of today's argument, although it had quickly escalated when Ron called Hermione a traitor. She had promptly issued a scream that a banshee would envy and set his hair on fire. Feeling partly responsible for her outburst Draco had packed up her things and excused himself from class, running down several wrong hallways before finally spotting her storming off in completely the opposite direction to her bedroom.
For the returning older students whose education had been disrupted during the war a private bedroom had been provided. Draco's was near the Slytherin common room and so he assumed Hermione's was near Gryffindor, which was at the other end of the castle. There were also two common rooms provided solely for them, should they wish, but Hermione rarely frequented them because Ron would usually show up and try to provoke her. On more than one occasion Draco had seen him with the same parchment he usually saw Harry with, muttering Hermione's name as he scanned it. It was either a tracking parchment or the infamous Marauders Map he'd fleetingly heard about in Order meetings.
"I hope you're not thinking about the argument today" he said gruffly, fixing her with a stern look, "because he's an idiot to have said any of that stuff. You're the furthest away from traitor out of everyone."
Hermione shifted uncomfortably, unsure what to say and just wanting to get back to the peace and quiet of her room. However, Draco still had her stuff and was clearly warming up to his topic.
"I mean, I know we all missed a year but I didn't expect him to get dumber in that time."
She sighed. "Ron isn't dumb. He's actually quite intelligent when he wants to be Malfoy. He's just currently being…" she tailed off, unsure what exactly her old friend was being.
"Dumb" Draco supplied firmly. "I don't care about book smarts; clearly he's people dumb if he thinks you're a traitor."
Hermione shrugged and rubbed her scarred arm, which had an annoying habit of itching like crazy whenever she felt awkward or upset, which was a lot more often recently. To her it had become a subconscious act but clearly Draco noticed it. He placed his hand on her itching one and pulled it away from her arm, frowning at her as he did so.
"Itch?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her."
She shrugged again and tried to pull her hand away from his, she really needed to itch her arm; it was driving her insane and would only get worse.
Without warning Draco pushed her sleeve up and Hermione flinched as her scarred arm stared up at both of them. Mudblood s was carved on her arm. "My aunt" Draco said. Hermione nodded, although it wasn't a question.
"She wanted to put mudblood scum, but, well, I'm sure you remember what happened." She said stiffly, wrenching her arm away from him and pulling her sleeve back down.
Draco paled. It was the closest they'd come to discussing events during the war; let alone what happened at Malfoy Manor when Hermione had been captured and tortured. "I didn't…" he started "I couldn't…"
Hermione softened "I know" she said, which was quite impressive to Draco seeing as he didn't even know what he meant. "I don't blame you, you know" she told him quietly.
"You should" he said bitterly "I certainly do." He watched silently as she started itching her arm again. "Come with me" he said "I have something that can help."
She wasn't sure why she did it but Hermione found herself accepting Draco's words and following him down into the dungeons. She wondered where he was taking her and part of her was tempted to just grab her stuff and run back to her room but something made her keep following him until they came to a stop outside a door she could barely see.
"It's charmed to be unnoticeable," Draco said, seeing her look of confusion "I'm not exactly the most popular guy in Hogwarts so unless I want someone to see the door they just walk right past it."
Hermione blinked in surprise but said nothing merely waiting for him to explain why he had brought her to his room.
"Madam Pomfrey gave me some new cream St Mungos created towards the end of the war. It heals most scars after several treatments. Obviously mine will take a bit longer as they're all about a year old, if not older, but they're getting better. I thought it might get rid of what's on your arm?"
Hermione stared at him.
"How come I've never heard of this?" She asked suspiciously.
Draco shrugged "did you ever tell anyone about your arm?" He asked. She shook her head "well that's probably why. It hasn't been highly publicised because it takes so long to make, but they made an exception for me when McGonagall told them about what had happened to me."
She accepted the small pot he handed her and stared at it. "Does Remus know about this?" She asked breathlessly.
"It doesn't work for werewolves; they tried with some of Greyback's victims." Her shoulders sagged but she was soon distracted by Draco at her side pulling her sleeve back up her arm to reveal her arm. She tried to pull away but he gripped her wrist. "Let me" he insisted, nodding at the pot in her hands "it burns the first time but feels better within the hour." He warned her, scooping some of the cream out and quickly rubbing it into her forearm.
The burning kicked in as quickly as he'd warned her it would. Once again she tried to wrench her arm out of his grasp but his grip was firm. "The quicker you let me do this properly the quicker it will be over with Granger" he hissed as he tried to apply the cream to her wriggling arm. She stilled at his words and out of the corner of his eye he could see her biting her lip until it paled. "I won't mock you if you cry you know" he told her.
She laughed "I don't cry anymore" she replied.
"You should get that checked out" he said seriously, screwing the lid back onto the pot of cream and putting it in the front pocket of Hermione's bag.
"Maybe" she mused, staring out of the window that showed Hogwarts' grounds. "That view isn't real, is it?" She asked.
Draco glanced over his shoulder at her and smirked "one of my perks" he told her "the view is whatever I want it to be, and nobody can see in." He raised an eyebrow at her suggestively.
"You wish" she scoffed.
Silence settled in the room as Draco walked around gathering up random things from shelves. Hermione was about to suggest she leave when she was distracted by the view of the window. It had changed to the night sky with the star constellation containing Draco. She turned to ask him why he'd changed it and froze.
Draco was standing with his back to her, his shirt obviously open as it hung down his sides. He was rubbing cream onto his stomach and hissing as quietly as she could. As she had the day he came to the Order, Hermione softened and walked over to him.
"Let me" she said gently, taking the cream from him and sitting on the desk in front of him. As quickly and carefully as she could she rubbed the cream into all of his scars, trying not to show her horror at seeing just how many there were littering his body.
Her feelings must have shown on her face though as Draco chuckled humourlessly "you should see the back" he said "Pomfrey can only do it once a week so it's a lot worse than the front."
She paused for a moment, clearly trying to make a decision about something. She leant back, having finished Draco's stomach, "turn around" she told him. He stared at her with wide eyes and she huffed "turn around and take off you're shirt."
"Why Granger, if only I'd known…"
She rolled her eyes at his joke "in your dreams," she retorted "do as I said and I can rub the cream into your back."
Slowly, as if expecting her to scream and run away, Draco turned so his back was to her again and allowed his shirt to fall to the floor at her feet. He was tense, as if expecting her to pass comment.
"I've seen worse" she reassured him. He glanced over his shoulder, the question in his eyes, "I accidentally walked in on Remus changing once" she admitted as she began applying cream to his back, trying to ignore his hisses as she did so. "I've never seen so many scars on one person before, or since."
Draco nodded, unsure how to reply. He didn't know the werewolf very well but knew Hermione was particularly fond and protective of him and didn't want to incur her wrath. She stepped back and placed the cream back on the table. "All done" she told him, "I'd leave your shirt off for a bit to let it dry." She picked up her stuff and headed for the door, pausing just before she opened it "I'll be back tomorrow to do it again" she said, her tone indicating he wasn't to argue with her.
"Thanks Granger" Draco said, surprised but grateful.
She smiled at him, the first one he'd seen from her that day, "that's okay" she replied, fixing her determined look back on her face and slipping out of his room to head back to hers. Draco stared at the door after she'd left, wondering just how he could have gotten her so wrong.