[Draco]
Draco finished putting his clothes in front of the fire along with Hermione's. She was currently in the shower which gave Draco a chance to cover up his burning mark. He had never gone this long without sending himself to the Dark Lord and was surprised he hadn't yet passed out. Hermione was the only thing keeping him there. He needed to protect her.
Draco felt tired and dizzy. He stumbled on to the sofa and slumped down, rubbing his head gently. He looked across to the weird muggle contraption Hermione had been on before she went in to the shower. There was a screen with words on saying 'Rutilus Parvulus'.
"Red Child?" Draco muttered. They were just old urban legends. Fairytales. His brow creased in confusion slightly and Hermione walked in. She gave Draco a worried look.
"Are you oaky? You don't look too good," She sat next to him and took his left hand in hers. Draco pulled away, scared the pain would get worse and stood up, getting an instant head rush.
"I just.." Draco blinked a few times as one last head splitting surge of pain seared up through his arm, and the darkness took over him...
**
"Draco?"
Draco could hear a sweet voice calling out to him. One he recognised.
"Draco?" The voice seemed distressed, Draco didn't want the nice voice to feel like that. A powerful feeling in his chest wanted to voice to be happy, as if he needed the voice to be happy.
He felt someone slap his cheeks quite harshly. "Draco!"
Draco opened his eyes a tiny bit, which took a lot of effort out of him. His vision was slightly blurred so he blinked a few times and Hermione came in to focus. She was looking down on him, the tips of her hair brushing his cheeks softly.
"What happened?" He asked, his voice weak.
"You collapsed." Hermione whispered. Draco thought about trying to sit up but the thought of trying seemed to take a lot out of him. He tried to remember what happened and was reminded when a sharp burst of pain went through his arm. He twitched sharply, making Hermione jump slightly. He clutched his left forearm, squeezing it hard, nails digging in. Anything to focus the pain somewhere else.
Hermione lifted her head and looked at his arm. Draco watched her eyes widen in horror and he looked down. The Dark Mark was slowly coming through his skin, with every pulse of pain, with every beat of his heart, it became clearer. He heard Hermione gasp and his eyes closed with anger. He never wanted her to find out like this.
He braced himself for her legs to disappear from under his head. He braced his ears for the screaming...but none came. Draco opened his eyes as he felt Hermione's hand wipe away the hair that was sticking to his forehead from the sweat. She wiped the side of his cheeks and continued to stroke his hair.
"What are you doing? Why aren't you running away? Why aren't you leaving me?" Draco asked confused.
"I'm waiting for you to explain..." She said with a hesitation. She didn't look Draco in the eye, but her own eyes didn't show fear. Draco sighed and pulled himself up. He leaned against the sofa for support and took his wand, casting the weak charm that covered it up for a few hours.
"You shouldn't have to look at it," He muttered. He lifted his head and looked at the ceiling. "I never wanted this. It happened the night she died. They brought me down to the dining room where he was waiting for me." Draco uttered the words with sadness and hatred. "My mother was screaming in protest. She never wanted this life for me. She wanted me to have a good life, to finish my education, to get a good job, to have a loving wide and make a family of my own. She wanted me to have a future, not a life of darkness. My father started saying things about how it was the insanity talking, an illness she had since giving birth to me. That made me angry and I lashed out; I was so close to killing him. To giving him everything he deserved." Draco stared in to the fire, his eyes beginning to sting as the thoughts came back to him. His voice began to break as he got closer to the memory that had been haunting him for a while now.
"Voldemort held me back. He held me back while I watched my Father kill her. I knew he was under a curse, but even so, she still died by his hand. I caught her limp body before it hit the ground but the Death Eaters look it off me and threw her in to the corner, as if she was nothing but a doll. Voldemort told me that the like she was talking about was the future with him. I was numb and taking nothing in. I was lifeless like a puppet when they did it. I locked myself away until I had to come back to school.." Draco finished off.
Hermione looked at him, her own eyes shining. She crawled over to hit next to him. She took his left arm, more pain pulsing through it at her touch, the mark becoming more visible. "It won't cover up amy more. He's been calling me since this morning but, I couldn't go. The pain's been increasing all day."
Hermione still didn't say a word. Her hand was lingering just to the side of the mark on Draco's skin, her face emotionless. She took a deep breath and ran the tip of her finger lightly over the swollen mark. Draco clenched his teeth and gripped his hand in to a fist. Her touch bringing even more pain; she pulled away, seeing the effect it had on Draco.
"You need to go." Hermione whispered. Draco shook his head angrily.
"NO! I am not leaving you." He said through gritted teeth.
"Why?" She whispered again, her eyes still gleaming. "What am I to you?"
"I.." Draco breathed. He knew how he wanted to answer that question, his voice just wouldn't say the words. His breath quickened and he tried again to try and tell her what she meant to him, but still it didn't come. Draco leaned forwards and took her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers, hoping to tell her how he felt.
He felt the tears Hermione had been holding back fall down her cheeks. Draco went to pull away but she leaned in to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding on to him not wanting to let go. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in to him as much as he could. The mark was pressed against her back, burning. He felt the tears of pain fall but he still didn't let go. Hermione gripped on to his hair as she felt the burning too but still leant in to him.
Draco screwed his eyes tight, concentrating on the girl in his arms. On how the feeling in his heart was exploding a million times over right now, on how she felt against him, how her hands felt in his hair, how her lips felt against him. He concentrated so hard on how much he meant it when he promised he would take care of her, how he wanted to protect her from what was going to happen, how he vowed to stop it.
How he loved her.
'I Promise.' He thought one last time at the brink of crying out from the pain but then...it stopped.
Draco and Hermione broke apart suddenly, breathing deep gulps of air. "What happened?" She breathed.
Draco looked down at his arm. The pain had stopped and the mark was no longer swollen, it had faded back to a dingy black. "He stopped." Draco whispered. He lifted his head to see Hermione let another tear fall. Draco wiped it away with his thumb and held her face in his hands. "You stopped it." he looked deep in to her eyes. "Thank you." He said with a small smile. Hermione leaned her head forwards slightly, leaning their heads together.
Draco suppressed the urge to yawn as drowsiness swept over him. Hermione stood up, taking his hands as she went, pulling him up. "We're sharing a bed again, I'm worried that he'll call you in the night and you'll be in pain alone." She whispered pulling him in to a tight hug.
"I'm the one that should be worried." Draco said in to her soft hair. "You shouldn't have to worry. Don't take this burden on your shoulders. Right now, you're my top priority." Draco said with a small worried look on his face. He gave her a small squeeze and followed her to the bedroom.
They climbed in together and Draco held her close.
"Can I ask you something?" Hermione asked in a small voice.
"Go on." Draco replied, stroking her hair which was slowly becoming a habit of his.
"Your mother. She wasn't really insane was she?" Hermione asked leaning on Draco's chest, drawing small circles on his warm skin with her finger.
Draco swallowed. "Yeah she was." Hermione sat up sharply with a questioning look on her face.
"They don't know what happened ti her. She started showing signs when I was just 5. Just small things like forgetting where she left her book or what she was going to find. It gradually became worse. She started forgetting my name, calling me Lucius, calling him Draco. She forgot her way around, forgot who she was occasionally. She sent away all the staff one day, screaming about how they were trying to kill her.
When father and I had returned from a small trip, she was locked in her bedroom in the dark. When we eventually got in, she was paler than normal, she had cut her long hair off and there were scratched all on her face. On the walls she had drawn in charcoal or something all these pictures of one girl. Some of them looked happy. Some she looked sad. Others she was crying, others she was dying." Draco stared at the wall as if he was picturing them right in that moment.
"There was one, where the girl was lying down, leaning on a boy outside in the garden. The picture went on to show the boy killing the girl, but the other side it showed him saving her." Draco whispered.
"That's not the worst off it." He said in response to Hermione's shocked face. "The summer I returned after the first year of Hogwarts, she tried to kill me, saying I was a stranger. She had forgotten her only son. I had to tell her some story that Lucius had hired me to help her. At first she didn't take too kindly to the idea, but eventually, she came to me one morning, asking if I would brush her hair.
She sat on the end of my bed and I brushed it without a word. She asked me if I knew where her son was. Of course I didn't say it was me, the Doctor said she wouldn't he able to cope. She went on to say that he was an angel, blue eyes, golden hair, big, gleaming wings. But he had fallen. Darkness had ripped the wings from him." Draco had a slightly confused look on his face.
"So she never remembered who you were again?" Hermione asked, her eyes gleaming once again.
"No, the day I was called to be marked, she came to me in the morning with her hair brush again, it became something I did every time I was there. She turned and gave me a hug, her arms frail and weak." Draco whispered, pained. "I remember her whispering that she had found her son and she was so happy with he man he had become. That he was every thing she ever wanted and that even if she could have had a million angels from heaven, she would have chosen me. Because I fell to her," A tear ran down Draco's face and he wiped it away. "Of course it's all nonsense she made up. I'm not an angel, she was just creating something to believe in. The son she adored was being warped in to a dark warrior but she knew there was still good in me. She brought it out."
Draco finished and stared hard at the Dark Mark. He had covered it back up as he didn't want Hermione seeing it but once again, it was pulsing to his heart beat, letting him know that he was still connected to the Dark Lord.
"That's so sad." Hermione whispered, more tears running down her cheeks. Draco leaned to the side to each for tissues. He heard her gasp as he turned around.
"What? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked worried. Hermione's eyes were big and round. She shook her head and took the tissue from Draco's hand.
"Thanks." She wiped her eyes and settled back down on Draco's chest.