Chapter 3
Her eyes where heavy and refused to open when she regained consciousness. The first thing she registered was that she was warm. She heard the distant roar of the chaotic wind, as if from very far away.
She tried to stretch, to see if anything was hurt, when something else registered.
She couldn't move.
Her eyes shot open.
She was lying down on an old, stiff burgundy leather couch, next to a crackling fireplace.
Was this Hogwarts? Hermione tried to clear her head. She felt all fuzzy and sleepy…No, the walls were a light cream, and there were tacky expensive-looking decorations in gold around the room.
Why couldn't she move, though?
She looked down at herself. A blanket was tucked tight around her, trapping her arms and legs. She felt so weak, she couldn't even break free of it. Not that she was trying too hard. She was enjoying the feeling of warmth, the thick blanket scratchy on her skin.
On her skin?
Suddenly much more awake, she struggled to free one of her arms, and lifted up the blanket.
She was naked! Well, ok, so she still had her underthings on. What the hell was going on?!
"Oh, so your alive." Said a cold, sharp voice from the doorway. A male voice. A familiar male voice.
Hermione pulled the blanked tight against her. "You!" was all she could manage to say. Draco Malfoy was here? She must be in the Malfoy, er, Lestrange ski getaway, but what in the hell was Malfoy doing here?
More importantly, if he was here, that means he had seen her naked! Well, nearly naked. In any case, alarm bells were ringing, telling her to get the hell out of there!
She sat up, clutching the blanket. She glared at him, matching his own look at her.
"Oh, please, Granger. You don't have anything I'd want to see, anyways, Mudblood."
Hermione blushed. It's hard to act tough when you don't have clothes.
"Malfoy…wh..what's.." Hermione cleared her throat, and straightened her shoulders. "What is going on? Why am I here? And for God's sake, where are my clothes?"
Draco snickered, a mocking smile on his face. "I dragged your sorry, dirty blood ass out of certain death, that's what."
Hermione forgot to glare for a moment, surprise showing on her face. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, some of our alarm spells went off so I went outside to investigate. And who should I find KO'd from an extremely simple, first on the property, easy to counteract security spell? Non other than the "Chosen One's" favorite little girl toy."
Hermione ignored the insult and thought through the situation. The last thing she remembered was the cold, feeling like she was about to pass out, and a shot of lightning running through her that finally made her body give up on the whole "consciousness" thing. In her condition, she hadn't even realized the fence had obviously been part of the Malfoy place, or that it would of course be safeguarded by spells of all sorts. She could have easily got herself killed, but what choice had she had? Either take her chances with the spells or curl up and die. In retrospect, she had made the better decision.
"…and my clothes?" She asked, all of her righteous indignation blown out of her with a sigh.
"You were soaking wet! I didn't take all the effort to drag you in here to have you die on my patent leather sofa, now did I?"
Hermione sighed. He was trying way too hard to cover his good deed with insults. Well, fine. It wasn't like she was going to be falling over with gratitude, either. But still…
"Thanks, Malfoy…" She said, falling back into the couch in a slouch. She still had no energy.
Draco sneered. "And just what are you thanking me for? How do you know I'm not just waiting for the dark lord to arrive to deliver you all prepackaged?"
"Well…then why bother saving me if you're basically going to deliver me for slaughter? What would be the point? The only difference is that way it would technically be your fault if I died." 'And you would get the credit with Voldy' she added in her head, but didn't want to ruin her attempted guilt trip.
Draco paled a little at that. He looked completely taken aback. However, he recovered quickly with his usual belittling smirk. "You don't need to worry about that, Granger, I wasn't going to turn you in. It's not worth it. Besides, it's not in my job description."
"Job? Why are you here?" She asked, fighting to keep her eye's open, suddenly realizing the room was frightfully hot.
"Like I'm going to tell you anything." He said in a haughty voice. He moved like he was about to leave the room, then thought better of it and took a few steps in, towards Hermione on the couch.
Hermione felt like she was on fire, like her brain was boiling inside her head, and she fought to stay awake as Draco drew near. He reached out towards her.
"Stay away!" She yelled, feebly trying to push his hand away. He touched her forehead, despite her outburst, and none too lightly.
"Calm down. You have a temperature. A hell of one, too, it seems. Just go to sleep, I'll see what we have in the way of fever potions…."
And that was the last thing she heard before everything went black.
***
She awoke shivering. She still felt so hot, and the blankets restricting her were almost too much to bear. Yet she couldn't stop shivering. She reached up and touched something cold and wet pressed against her forehead. It was a bag of ice.
Hermione groaned loudly, and kicked at her blankets. She felt like the world was swirling around her.
"Hold on! Don't go throwing them off!" a voice said reproachfully. Strong hands pushed her shoulders back down onto the couch.
But the blanket was trapping her! She suddenly saw it for what it was: A snake! A huge green snake wrapped firmly around her body. She screamed, kicking at it.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Granger? Stop thrashing around like a mad woman!"
She struggled, finally throwing the snake off of her while at the same time connecting her fist with something.
She heard the loud "thunk!" of her fist connecting with flesh and the groan that followed from the floor. It was the groan, probably, that snapped her back to reality.
She looked down and saw the blanket, plain old green blanket, next to Draco Malfoy.
'Oh, crap.' She thought, but out loud she said nothing. All she could do was sit dumbstruck.
"Why did you have to go and hit me for, you barbaric bitch! That's gratitude for you!"
Draco said from the floor, his cheek red in a way that let you know there would be a hell of a bruise later. He rubbed it tentatively, and winced.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said, reaching down to him from her spot on the couch. Her fingers brushed his cheek lightly before she realized what she was doing. His gray eye's met her brown one's and for a second she felt frozen in place. She quickly withdrew her hand.
Hermione grabbed the ice pack from its fallen place by her head and held it out to Draco.
"Sorry…I saw…a snake.." Hermione said, realizing too late she had said something ridiculous.
Draco grabbed the ice pack forcefully. His face was red; perhaps a bit more than from just the injury? He placed the ice pack on his cheek and stood up. Hermione guessed he couldn't stand having to look up at anyone, ever.
"What snake? Should I be insulted or something?" Draco asked, glaring down at her. His expression changed very quickly, from glare to…what? Something else, something that left Hermione feeling vulnerable. She suddenly realized that the blanket had been her one source of clothing, and blushed dark red.
She reached down and clutched at the blanket, intending to cover herself up as quickly as possible. But the sudden quick movement made blood rush to her head, causing her to feel dizzy. Her attempt at modesty only made the situation worse as she fell off the couch.
"Shit!" she exclaimed, becoming frustrated at her weak body. The fever had taken its toll on her: fainting, dizziness, and even hallucinations. And all this embarrassment right under the eye's of her school-days enemy.
Draco kneeled down next to her. "Just stop embarrassing yourself. You need to rest; I couldn't find any medical potions. This place is pretty cleared out. Your going to just have to wait for the fever to break."
"What then? You'll just let me go?"
Draco was silent for a moment. "Try not thinking so much, for once. You just need to rest- ask the complicated questions after you stop having hallucinations and such."
He almost sounded…kind? Comforting? Now Hermione knew she was still sick. No way was this not a hallucination!
Draco wrapped his arms around her, and she let out a small sound of protest.
"Relax, stupid Mudblood." Draco said. His soft tone ruined the effect of his insult. She noticed she was shivering uncontrollably again, and was still dizzy. Draco placed one arm under her knees and one around her shoulders as he lifted her up, just enough to place her back on the couch. He let out a strained grunt as he dropped her back into place, and Hermione blushed. Was she that heavy? Wait, why would that bother her at a time like this!? She shook her head, willing her blush away.
Draco didn't even notice, as he was already grabbing the blanket from the floor and tucking it around Hermione's body. He seemed to be taking a bit longer than she thought was necessary. As he tucked the blanket slowly around her hips his body was leaning over her, almost like he was embracing her. He looked up just then, and the eye contact made Hermione feel…strange. Like she wanted him closer, closer than he was now.
He broke the eye contact suddenly, and hurried to finish tucking the blanket around her.
"Now, just go to sleep and don't give me more trouble, ok?" he grumbled, placing the ice pack back on her head. "This'll help break the fever, or at least I think it should help. I'll go get my own. Don't want your used Mudblood sweaty one on my face."
And with that, he left the room. Hermione let her heavy eye's droop down, and fell asleep to strange unremembered dreams.