Author's Note: Hmm. I really don't have anything to say up here, but I really don't want my title to get shifted to the left by that stupid "share" bar on the right. Read and review, I guess! Haha.
Chapter 54
A loud crack wakes me from my sleep, and I immediately sit up, snatch my wand from the bedside table, and shoot a Stunning Spell towards the source of the noise.
It gets blocked. Panicking, I turn the lights on with a flick of my wand and see Naree on the ground, next to an obviously incapacitated Draco.
I've never seen anyone so pale in my life.
"Oh my god—Draco!" I exclaim, hopping out of bed.
He whispers something to Naree that I don't catch, and I move closer, sensing that Draco must want to leave—he made Naree take him away last night when I pointed out his weakness.
"I am sorry, Master!" Naree squeaks. "Right away!"
As he grabs onto Draco's arm, I get a hold of his shoulder, and when he Disapparates, I get pulled in as well.
We appear in another bedroom a moment later, and I look around. It's huge, but sparsely furnished. A very eye-catching crystal fixture serves as a light source—small white lights dance around the crystals, giving off a consistent, dim glow.
"Miss Granger!" Naree says, surprised. "You aren't supposed to be here!"
My attention falls on Draco, and I levitate him onto the bed.
"Get… out…" he says.
I'm alarmed by how hoarse his voice is—it's almost unrecognizable.
I turn to the small elf. "He's not in his right mind. Go on, Naree. Get back to your work. I'll take care of him," I say.
The house elf looks at me suspiciously.
"Out. Now," Draco says.
"He's talking to you, Naree," I say. "You should probably go. Warn me if anyone's coming."
Naree seems to believe me, so he Disapparates.
"Are you trying… to get us… both killed?"
I look at him, and the sight of his pale face makes my chest twist painfully.
"Don't be stubborn," I say, flicking my wand to pull the covers out from under him.
I reach over to pull the covers over him. Then Naree reappears with a glass of water. I take the glass from him and thank him. He only bows respectfully and Disapparates again.
"Can you sit up?" I ask Draco.
He doesn't seem to hear me, so I pull him up into a sitting position. It's much harder than it looks, because he really seems to have no strength at all. I shift to sit on the bed behind him so that he can lean on me, and then I hold the glass up to his lips.
After he's finished drinking, I put the glass down on his nightstand and notice the thick volume that's sitting there. Hogwarts, A History. Looks like Naree wasn't lying.
"Don't be stupid. Get out of here," he says.
Oh, at least his voice sounds much better.
"If I leave, I'm taking you with me," I reply.
"Fine. Take me. You can't stay here."
I frown. We're at the Manor—how did that not occur to me before? Surely… surely, the wards wouldn't accept me, and Death Eaters should be coming to grab me, right?
"What are you waiting for?" Draco says.
Then I realize that I was traveling with a master of the house, technically. He must be allowed to bring people in and out of the wards undetected.
I get a hold of his arm and Apparate back to Draco's bedroom at the cottage. I put him in bed and cover him up. There has to be something I can do for him. Naree said it was overexertion that he suffered from when he returned from meeting with Voldemort, so the best way for him to recover is to have natural sleep.
I guess I could get him some Rejuvenating Potion, but I'm pretty sure that it should only be used if he's dying—otherwise, I've read that there could be extremely painful and lingering side effects. I've never had much experience with overexertion, so I honestly don't know what to do.
"Take me outside," he says.
"No," I say immediately.
"Couch," he murmurs.
"Draco, just sleep. You look awful. If you're not any better in the morning, I'll give you some Rejuvenating Potion," I decide aloud.
"Couch…" he repeats.
"No, Draco," I say, shaking my head. "You're staying right here."
I put a hand on his cheek. His skin is cool to the touch.
"Sleep," I say.
He looks at me, but I feel like he isn't really seeing my face. Then his eyes close, and he appears to be unconscious.
I get to my feet, wondering what time it is. Then I decide to go to the kitchen to check if he has any Rejuvenating Potion prepared. The clock in the living room informs me that it's about three in the morning. Why on earth would Voldemort be meeting with Draco at such odd hours?
I silently open the door to the kitchen and stop, surprised.
"Ron," I say.
He jumps. "Bloody hell, Hermione. You scared me."
"What are you doing in here? It's the middle of the night."
"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to practice my potions work a little," he says, placing a lid over the cauldron that he's working on.
"And you can't do that during the day?" I ask.
"I already told you, I couldn't sleep."
"Well, what are you making?" I ask him, stepping closer.
He doesn't remove the lid, and I frown.
"So secretive," I say.
"I'm bad at it," he says, his cheeks reddening a bit.
I smile. "As if I didn't already know that."
I open a cupboard that I know is full of potions and look for a Rejuvenating Potion. It's sitting on the lowest shelf, in a small, neatly labeled glass bottle.
"Hermione…"
I glance over at Ron and see a familiar expression on his face. It's the same one he had on his face when he said that he still loved me. Oh, god.
"Ron, we're over," I say gently. "We've been over. Please just accept that."
He watches me sullenly, and I exit the room quickly. I cross the living room and reenter the bedroom, where I sit on the side of Draco's bed. I place the potion on the nightstand and then reach out to touch his cheek. I brush a few stray strands of hair out of his face.
Somehow, he still looks so tense, even in sleep. There's a pang in my chest. I've never truly thought about his situation before. Is he really so stressed, so alert in his waking hours, that it carries over into his dreams?
I gently rub at the small crease between his eyebrows, trying to even it out. Then I cup his cheek with my hand, marveling at how perfectly unblemished his skin is. It's so smooth… if this isn't natural, then he probably takes better care of it than most girls do. He turns his face slightly toward my hand, and a fluttering sensation starts up in my stomach.
I have a sudden urge to steal a kiss. His lips have never looked so enticing to me.
Didn't I tell myself not to let this go too fast? I don't want to get too ahead of myself. This is too fast for me. But it feels like I've just hopped onto a train that's steadily increasing in speed—I'm terrified of crashing or running out of track, but I won't even consider getting off.
This revelation scares me. I've really, really fallen for him, haven't I?
"Draco?" I whisper.
There's no response, so I utter his name again, a little louder this time. When he still doesn't respond, I'm convinced that he's asleep. I slowly lean forward and press my lips to his. Tingles course through me, but I crave the sensation of his lips moving with mine, and I wish he would kiss me back.
Then he makes a soft, humming noise low in his throat, and I quickly back away.
He still seems to be asleep. I can't pull my hand away from his face—it's as though if I let go of him, he'll vanish. I run my thumb across his eyebrow, much in the same way that he did the night that I pretended to be asleep.
A hand rests on my shoulder, and I practically jump out of my skin, ripping my hand away from his face.
"What's he doing here?" Ron asks.
I turn to look at him. "It is his house. He has every right to be here."
Ron looks at me for a long moment, and I wonder what he'll say. But then he turns around and exits the room, closing the door behind him. I stare at the door for a while, surprised by how calm he was. I'd expected an outburst from him.
Maybe he finally is accepting that we're over.
I stifle a yawn and rub my eyes. I'm so sleepy…
I consider slipping under the covers beside Draco, but the memory of what happened the last time we shared a bed stops me. Cheeks flushing, I conjure myself a chair and sit down facing the bed. I lean forward and fold my arms on the bed, resting my head on them and looking at his still face.
Then I reach under the covers and pull out his hand, slipping my fingers between his. I wonder what he'll think when he wakes and sees that I'm holding his hand…
I kiss the back of his pale hand. How many times has this hand saved me from death, from capture? How many times has it defied all for me?
I feel like I've stumbled on the truth—that Draco turned to our side solely because of me. Why else would he have chosen that particular moment to turn? It had been almost right after he saved me at the Forbidden Forest, so he knew that I was still alive. And what were the odds that Shacklebolt and McGonagall had decided on me, a student, to be his contact? He must have chosen me.
The more I find out about him, the more I seem to fall for him.
I get another good, long look at his face before putting my head back down to go to sleep.
Author's Note: While you're waiting between updates, I have a suggestion for you. I usually hate reading work-in-progress stories, simply because I'm too impatient to wait for updates. And more often than not, people take forever to get their chapters written and posted.
That said, I've actually discovered three stories that are sort of just beginning, all of which I genuinely enjoy reading, and I wanted to share them with you. All three are pretty well-written, with only minor errors (I wouldn't recommend them otherwise, to be quite honest) so if you're a spelling/grammar freak like me, you won't have too much to worry about. The term, "diamond in the rough" comes to mind.
I was going to try to summarize them, but since I have no idea where the authors are actually planning to go with their stories, I decided not to botch anything and to just list the stories with no explanation. The ideas all seem pretty original to me. I'll just leave it at that.
Oh, and just to clarify, neither of these two authors asked me to recommend their stories—I'll only recommend something if I really like it. So in case anyone has this in mind, please don't ask me to publicize your story, because then I most likely won't, unless your story really does blow my mind.
Anyway, here they are (in no particular order, mind you):
Stop the Whole World by Seleen
The Possibility by Jazzy1
Torn by Jazzy1
Sorry if the uber-long Author's Note misled you into thinking this was a longer chapter… I'll put up the next chapter soon, I promise! Until then, look up these stories! I hope you like them as much as I do (: