Chapter 30
"Draco?" The blonde man looked up to see his girlfriend standing there worriedly. Her face looked slightly flushed, and he knew that she had rushed straight to the hospital after receiving the letter from him.
As soon as Draco got Blaise to the hospital, he was immediately carted away by Healers. He had been so frantic, and had wanted to be put on the case so badly. It had taken his supervisor convincing him that he would be no good to his friend due to the duress he was experiencing. He watched from outside the room as the healers worked on his friend and a billion thoughts were running through his head. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, and he had to leave.
He had wandered into the waiting room and quickly scribbled a letter to Pansy and Theo. He knew they would want to be here with their friend as well. Once he had sent that off, his mind immediately had gone to Hermione. She would want to know immediately due to the fact that Blaise's attack was related to her case. But what he hadn't expected was for her to be standing here beside him.
"Hermione?" He asked in confusion. "I thought you would be at Blaise's home, looking over the evidence."
She shook her head, "Of course I'm not going to be there. Draco, you walked in on someone torturing your friend to death; obviously I'm going to be here with you. My team is more than capable of dealing with the scene by themselves."
He smiled at her gratefully as she sat beside him. Hermione held his hand in hers and stroked it softly with her thumb.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked him softly after a moment. She must have seen the worry and guilt all over his face.
"What if I was too late?" he couldn't help but ask her aloud. "I was late in going over to his house; I wanted to finish up some work quickly before going over. What if that is the reason he dies? If I got to his house on time, then maybe he wouldn't be here. We could have fought the killer together and then he wouldn't be stuck in that room, fighting for his life."
Hermione stopped him, "Draco, you can't blame yourself. You had no idea this would happen. No one did. Trust me, I care about Blaise too, and if we even thought he would be attacked, we would have increased security on his house tenfold. None of us predicted this."
He could see Theo and Pansy cuddled up in the corner of his eye. They were seeking comfort in each other. When they had arrived at the hospital, they had been devastated to find out that Blaise had been attacked. He knew similar thoughts were going through his friends' minds.
"Hermione, after the war I barely had anyone. My parents were both in jail, and the woman I was supposed to marry half hated me. I had no one, other than Blaise and Theo. They were the only ones who knew what I was going through and how I felt. We had been close at Hogwarts, but after the war we became family. And if he dies-" Draco's voice broke as he struggled to get out the words, "If he dies, I don't know what I would do."
"I know how you feel," Hermione said soothingly. "If anything ever happened to Harry or Ginny, I have no idea what I would do. During the final battle, when I saw Harry's body, I broke. But you need to have faith that Blaise will pull through this. You need to believe that everything will be alright. There are no guarantees in life, and every second is fleeting. The only thing you can do is have hope."
He could feel a few tears drip down his face. Draco Malfoy rarely cried. Crying was showing weakness; crying meant that others could see that you were vulnerable. If there was one thing his father taught him, it was that people would use your weaknesses against you if you gave them the opportunity. So for so long he always kept everything bottled in. If he had to show weakness, then it was never when anyone was around. He had gotten so used to being able to hide away his emotions from the world, and he knew it was why so many people only ever saw him as cold-hearted.
But with Hermione it was different. She didn't look down at him for being in pain or being upset. She didn't think that he was weak. She didn't judge him. Instead, she held him in her arms and shared comfort with him; shared her love with him. It had taken him nearly twenty three years to realise that he could be loved even at his lowest points.
They stayed like that until the early hours of the morning. He knew she was exhausted; they both were. But she stayed awake with him because she didn't want him to be alone. Pansy and Theo had gone to go get some coffee a while back, and promised to bring back some for the two of them. He could feel Hermione's fingers playing with his hair. He saw a few of his colleagues through the night, but there were no looks of judgement on their faces. Donna had offered some sympathy to him, and promised she would write to his mother and tell her what had been happening. He was grateful. He didn't want Scorpius to come to the hospital and see Blaise's broken body; he was far too innocent for that.
Hermione hadn't heard anything back from her team yet, and Draco supposed they were still going through the scene. She had mentioned that because the killer was interrupted, they might have gotten a bit clumsy in their escape. If that were the case, then it was highly probable that they left something behind.
It was a few more hours until one of the Healers came out to see them. Draco recognized the man as one of the Healers who dealt with magical emergencies such as what Blaise had gone through. The four of them immediately stood up, eager to hear the prognosis.
"How is he?" Theo asked before Draco could form the word. He felt Hermione squeeze his hand in support.
"He's recovering now," The Healer said, and Draco let out a breath of relief. "There was a lot of damage to his body, and if he was brought here a moment later then he wouldn't have made it. We manage to repair all the severed arteries. He had three broken ribs, as well as his leg, and we fixed that, but one of the rib cages punctured a lung. There were a few rocky moments when we nearly lost him, but Mr. Zabini is a fighter. He's going to have some scarring, but with a few creams and potions, it should be reduced to minimal. He's also in a lot of pain, so we used some Sleeping Draught potion so he won't feel it while his body continues to heal. Overall, he's going to be just fine. But he may have some trauma after he awakes. We have no way of telling his mental state until then. We're going to keep him under observation for the next few days."
"When can we see him?" Draco asked. He was glad to know his friend was okay, but he needed to be there to see him healed.
"Later today," the Healer said. "He could be sleeping for quite some time, so I suggest you all go home and get some rest as well. Miss Granger, I'll have the full medical report delivered to your office after."
Hermione nodded, "Thank you. It will be helpful to our case. And thank you for saving him."
The Healer gave them a nod of acknowledgement before leaving to go check on other patients.
"We should get some rest," Hermione prompted him gently. He looked over at his friends and saw that they were practically falling asleep where they stood. He wanted to stay, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't exhausted.
"Okay," he agreed. She held on to him and apparated them both back to her flat. He looked up in surprise when he saw her guiding him towards her bedroom. Even though they had been together for a while now, they had never spent the night together still.
"I don't want you to be alone tonight," Hermione explained. She pulled out a pair of sweats and an old shirt that Draco had left at her place. "After everything that's happened, I kind of want to be able to see you. Draco, I don't want anything to happen to you," she said, her voice cracking slightly.
He slipped his arm around her and held her tightly. The thought had gone through his mind while at the hospital, but he hadn't wanted to worry Hermione with that. It seemed as if she had gone to the same place he had.
"I won't leave you," he said soothingly. "I love you, Hermione." She held on tightly to him for a while, and when she released him, they climbed into her bed together. Throughout the night he held her in his arms as she nested her head in his chest. They both succumbed to slumber quickly.
Hermione woke up early the next morning. She had barely gotten a few hours of sleep. She had been absolutely terrified when she found out that Blaise had been attacked. For the first time it wasn't someone she barely knew. For the first time it was someone she began to think of as a friend.
She had a few nightmares; about seeing Blaise's dead body on her table as her team examined it. She had nightmares about seeing Draco right there with him. She imagined seeing his pale body cut up and butchered like all the other ones. Then she imagined seeing Scorpius' tiny body beside his father's. She had woken up crying, not sure how to react to what she had dreamed. Would Draco be a target now? Would the killer come after them? It couldn't be a coincidence that Blaise was one of the targets. She knew Harry had stationed a few Aurors outside of his room. They had yet to release an official statement, and she knew it was one of the things Harry wanted to talk to her about today.
Draco had kept his arms around her throughout the night, and he had awoken as he heard her sobbing silently.
"Hermione?" she heard him ask, a bit sleepily. "What's wrong?"
"I saw you and Scorpius," she wept. "I saw you dead. Draco, I thought you were gone."
She knew she was being irrational. It was just a dream after all. It wasn't reality; he was still here with her. He was alive. But she had seen it so vividly. It had felt so real.
He cupped her face with one of her hands and brought her in for a kiss. She calmed down slightly because of the action.
"Hermione, I will always fight to be by your side. I love you so much," he said softly. He held her close against his body and she took comfort in both his warmth and his words. They stayed like that for a bit, before Hermione got out of the bed.
"Ready to go see him?" she asked gently. She knew he had been anxious to get to the hospital and see his friend.
He stood up, and had a worried look on his face, "What if something happened overnight while we were gone? What if he has some sort of mental damage because of all the spells? I want to go see him so badly, but I'm so afraid of what his condition could be."
"That's the thing about not knowing the future. You could have a billion possibilities running through your head of what could happen, but you won't know for sure unless you go find out. Now, you've been here with me when I needed you, and I can promise you that I will be there for you as well. You won't have to go in and find out yourself," Hermione said as she grabbed an outfit from her closet. "How about you go get dressed, and we'll meet at the hospital in half an hour?"
He nodded; Draco pressed a kiss on her cheek before leaving so he could drop by his house.
Less than twenty minutes later, the two of them were back at the hospital. Theo and Pansy were waiting for them by the door. Hermione saw Draco take a deep breath before he pushed open the door to reveal Blaise.
He was lying on the bed, and was struggling to take a bite of his breakfast when he saw them enter. He quickly dropped his spoon and grimaced as he attempted to smile at them.
"Do you want more pain potion?" Draco immediately asked, going into Healer mode. "I can ask one of the mediwitches to grab you some."
Blaise shook his head, "It makes me feel nauseous."
"How are you feeling?" Theo asked as he sat on the bed beside him.
"Like I've been sliced to pieces," Blaise said softly. They were in a private room, so no one else other than a few hospital staff even had access to the room. Hermione looked around, assessing the safety of it. She could see the two Aurors stationed outside, as well as about a dozen warding spells placed on the room.
"I'm glad you're okay," Draco said as he looked at his friend. "There was so much blood when I found you, and I was afraid that you were gone."
"It's a good thing we made those last minute plans," Blaise said as he took a deep breath, "Otherwise I would be dead too."
She could see Harry standing outside the room, so she gestured for her friend to come in. "Blaise, I hope you don't mind, but we need to talk to you about what happened. What do you remember?"
Harry joined them at that point. She could tell that Draco, Theo, and Pansy were eager to know what happened as well. If she were following protocol, she would send them out of the room. But she figured that Blaise probably could use the moral support after everything he had gone through.
Blaise frowned. "I remember opening a bottle of firewhisky. I heard the floo sound, and I figured that it was Draco, showing up early. I guess it should have been a clue that something was wrong; Draco's rarely ever early."
Draco let out a choked laugh.
"I remember telling them that I would be a few moments. I was in my office looking over something, and then the next thing I know I feel a stunning spell. My back was to the door so I didn't even see them come in. But after that, I can't remember a single thing. All I know is that I woke up here, and I can't remember how I got here or what happened. A Healer had to tell me that I had been attacked."
Harry looked worried and Hermione didn't blame him. "Blaise, do you mind if I check to see if you've had a memory charm preformed on you?"
Blaise shook his head, "Go ahead. The more you can find out about the bastard, the better."
She used her wand and preformed a quick spell on him. She let out a frustrated sigh, "His memory has been modified. Whoever it was who attacked him may have been in a rush to get out of the house, but they were thinking clearly enough to remember to wipe his memories."
"What happens when they find out they didn't succeed?" Pansy asked, sounding a bit scared. "What if they come back for him?"
Harry shook his head, "That won't happen. Actually, it's one of the reasons I'm here to see you. Blaise, right now about three other people who are not in this room know you're alive. The way I see it, if the killer thinks you're alive, then they are going to try and come after you again. So what I propose we do is release a statement that you were rushed to the hospital, but died while the Healers were trying to save you. That way the killer thinks they succeeded and won't be looking for opportunities to come after you."
"So what happens to me? Do I just go into hiding until you catch the killer?" Blaise asked confused. "What if you never find them? Am I going to have to spend my entire life in the shadows?"
"We're getting closer," Hermione assured him. "We've had a lot of false leads, but we have a few concrete pieces of evidence to follow. It won't be forever, Blaise; just until we find out who it is and put them away for a long, long time."
Blaise let out a sigh, "Okay, I'll do it. But I don't want anyone going into my bank accounts because they think I'm dead. And if I have to get some sort of safe house, I want my friends to know where it is. Use a secret keeper or whatever, but I refuse to be trapped somewhere without company."
Harry nodded, "I can agree to those terms. Now, we'll come by later to finalize certain details about the arrangement. I'll let you get some rest and enjoy your friends' company. Hermione, if you don't mind, I would like you to come in and look over some things with your team."
Hermione placed a kiss on Draco's cheek, "I'll see you later, okay? Maybe you and Scorpius could join Jamie and I for dinner tonight?"
He smiled at her, "I'll see you then."
She gave Blaise a light squeeze before following Harry out of the room. She would have a lot of work to do given all that happened, but at least there was one survivor of the brutal killings. And that was enough to give her hope.