Ten reviews on the last chapter! I love you guys so much I can't even right now. One more review until I put up this story from Draco's point of view which probably means later today. That's my goal since you are all so amazing! The next chapter of this is about half done so I'll shoot for an update tomorrow. Enjoy.
I was woken by the sound of rain on the roof. It was still storming outside, and yet I was incredibly warm. An arm was casually draped over my shoulders as I lay in the bed and I could feel Draco's stomach rising and falling against my back.
I inhaled sharply, hit with the realization that at some point he had rolled over and pulled me against him... and I didn't mind. I opened my eyes.
It was lighter in his room than last night and I could just make out the black ink staining Draco's arm.
Go on mudblood, talk.
No! I was safe.
The dark mark shone on his forearm as he rolled up his sleeves, picking up a knife.
I pushed myself back, so I was pressed even harder against Draco.
A knife ripping apart the flesh on my cheek and the mark on his arm hovering above my face.
"Hermione?" He asked blearily.
"Draco! Draco!" I kept pushing back.
He pulled my closer,with his left arm.
"Your... your arm! Draco the mark!" I whimpered.
He released me and yanked his sleeve over his Dark Mark. I took a couple of calming breaths.
"I'm sorry, I... forgot," he murmured.
"It's okay. I... I overreacted, that's all," I said sadly and rolled so I was facing him and moved back, creating space between us.
"You didn't overreact, I shouldn't have let that arm so close to you," he paused. "Not to be insensitive but, why does it..."
He trailed off but I knew what he was trying to ask.
"The night I was captured, you... I saw the mark when you were... my face," The sentence made no sense but he seemed to understand anyway.
Neither of us spoke until my breathing had steadied and my heart stopped threatening to pop out of my chest.
"Can I see it?" I requested.
He raised his eyebrows at me but pushed up his sleeve slowly. I rolled over and turned on a lamp on the nightstand. When I turned back around I saw it clearly for the first time. The ink was dark black on his forearm, a sickeningly obvious reminder of what he was.
Draco sat up and went to pull his sleeve back down but I shook my head and sat up. My back pressed against the cold wall, a stark difference from Draco's back last night.
"Draco, can I please touch it?"
He yanked his arm back, "What?!"
"I might not be so scared of it if I know it's a physical thing," I explained, silently willing him to understand.
He gave me a look and reached his left arm across his body. With my pointer finger I gently touched the skull. The snake writhed under my touch and I flinched.
"Hermione," Draco started.
I ignored him and my fear. My fingers traced the black ink tenderly as it wriggled on his arm, and I felt his eyes boring into my forehead. I looked up at him and registered the panic in his eyes. That what? That I would say I hate him for the mark on his arm?
Because I didn't. I should but I didn't. He was a death eater, one of the people who had been hunting Harry, Ron, and I. Who was probably still hunting the boys. He had tortured me. And somehow I still managed to feel something for him, and judging by the last few days, he felt something too. A big something.
"If it weren't so ugly it would be beautiful," I stated.
"It's hideous. But it wasn't a few months ago, or even a few weeks ago. It was just a few days ago that I realized how ugly it truly was. That it wasn't something to be proud of, but something to fear. Something that I was disgusted to wear," Draco whispered.
I barely believed that those words had just come out of his mouth.
"Can I see yours?" He requested after a moment.
I felt panic rising up in my chest. Draco softly took my hand and pulled my left arm to him. He looked up at me to make sure it was okay. I held in the tears and nodded my consent. As he pushed my sleeve up I turned away, not wanting to see the scar again.
"Hermione," Draco murmured.
I felt his fingers stroking the pale raised scar. Terrified I looked up at him, and his eyes met mine.
"Don't cry," he said.
I hadn't even noticed that I was silently crying until then. He lifted his hand from my scar and wiped the tears off my cheeks, letting his hand brush the laceration running down my right cheek.
"Our scars don't have to define us," I whispered, not sure where that came from.
"I wish that were true Hermione, I really do."
Draco followed me into the dining room, and made sure I was seated before disappearing.
"I'll be right back," he called as he left.
With a heavy sigh I piled food onto both of our plates and proceeded to wait several minutes for his return. The slam of a book on the table signaled that he was back.
"You don't have to wait for me. It's not like you owe me anything," he said.
"Don't I?" I answered.
"No. You don't."
"You rescued me. I will never be able to repay that."
"I tortured you and I will never be able to undo that."
"But the point is, that's not you anymore. You regret it. I can see it in your eyes everytime you look at me."
"I-," he started and then seemed unable to find the right words, something that must be new to him.
I pulled the book he had dropped on the table closer to me and spun it around to read the title. Moste Potente Potions.
"Why do you still have this?" I asked.
Draco came around to my side of the table and sat next to me, bringing his plate with me.
"I think I may have found a potion to heal this," he pointed to the wound on my face. "But I wanted you to have look at it."
He opened the book and flipped to the page. Surprisingly, I had never heard about this potion in great detail. Of course I had seen it during second year but I had been too focused on polyjuice potion and the chamber of secrets to study it in great detail.
The potion was designed to heal wounds that were still open but couldn't be healed by magic because a spell had been cast on whatever had caused the wound. If it worked it wouldn't heal my arm, but my face wouldn't be scarred anymore. I skimmed the ingredients. Nothing listed was too difficult to come by and since I was in the house of a family of death eaters I was sure these things would all be here.
It looked relatively simple. Simmer for eight hours after all the ingredients were added, a lot of specific stirring instructions, but easy enough otherwise.
"Can we do it?" Draco asked eagerly.
"Depends. Do you have pickled slugs, squid ink, and newt spleens?" I replied.
"Upstairs in the potions room. We have a little of everything in there."
"It's definitely doable then. A little difficult but I made one of the most difficult potions ever as a second year. Between us two I think we can handle it."
"Let's go then!" He shot to his feet but I stayed seated. "You coming?" He asked.
"Sit down and eat your breakfast. We are not working on this potion with empty stomachs," I ordered.
"God! You sound just like you did in school," he sighed, but sat down and ate.
"Two newt spleens are next. They need minced," I commanded and he obliged.
I crushed some beans with my knife to get the juice out and squeezed them over the bubbling cauldron. Draco added the newt spleens and stirred three time clockwise and once counterclockwise.
We had been at it since ten am. It was almost nine pm now. He had screwed up on step two on our first attempt, so we had scrapped that one and started over.
"That's it," he said inspecting the instructions one last time.
We sighed in relief at the exact same time. Draco looked up at me and laughed. It was such a new, beautiful sound. Perfect in every way.
"Let's eat," he turned the burner down so the potion was simmering.
It would be done around five tomorrow morning.
We hadn't taken a break during the potion making. I would never admit it, but I loved brewing that potion. It reminded me of Hogwarts. And I felt like the old Hermione. But the old Hermione would never have hung out with Draco Malfoy. Then again the old Draco Malfoy would never have hung out with me either. This war, this confinement, was changing us both.
For better or worse was yet to be seen.
Okay it was kind of but not really a filler chapter but some more character development for both of them. I feel like Draco is left handed so that's what I'm going with. Please keep reviewing I love them all tons! Thank you again for reviewing, following, favoriting, and just reading this story. Remember to look for this from Draco's point of view later today. I'll just call it Blood Red (Draco).