Chapter Six.

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"We've flushed her system of the potion," The healer informed the three men, who nodded. "I would like to recommend she be kept in for observation though, in our mental health unit."

Three identical gasps could be heard at this piece of information. Blaise glanced between the men on either side of him and saw the same reaction on both faces, concern and fear. He had been fraught with worry for hours, ever since he had gone to collect his friend from Harry's house and found her unresponsive in his guest bedroom, along with a simple note.

Blaise and Harry,

I am so lost without him.

I'm sorry.

Forgive me.

I love you.

That had been it, and he thought his heart had stopped in his chest when he realised the implications of such a note. God, how he wanted to kill him himself for making him feel like that. The idea of a world without Hermione Granger was unthinkable. She was too strong, too powerful, too wonderful for everything to fall apart like this and he needed her to wake up so he could tell her all of these things. But she wasn't waking up.

He had apparated her directly to St Mungo's and screamed for a healer to come and make her wake up. He had given them the empty potion vial and told them that it was an Anti-Depressant potion, and it had been full that morning. Their worried looks were enough make him sick to his stomach and when Harry had appeared next to him, they had looked at each other and dissappeared directly to the one person who could fix this. The one person she needed more than any other. The one man who could make her whole again.

To be fair to him, Draco had come with them immediately and had not left her side since. He looked utterly miserable and privately Blaise wondered if this was the one thing that might make him see sense. Even if they managed to become friends from this, and only friends, he thought that just having him in her life would be enough for her. He hoped that it would be enough for her. Watching his friends face as he listened to the latest information though... He saw love for her in his eyes.

"What happened?" Draco whispered once the healer had left, turning to Blaise and Draco who sat on the opposite side of her bed.

"You did." Harry muttered and Draco made a noise that none of the three recognised. Somewhere between a cough and a moan.

"Why would she do this?" He whispered, turning his eyes to her peaceful face, one which neither Blaise or Harry had seen in... Years.

Blaise pulled her note from his pocket and handed it to Draco. He watched as his friend took in her few words and saw a lone tear fall from his eye. Draco's hand rose and rubbed over his face roughly, likely trying not to appear weak in front of his once enemy sitting across from him and he turned to Blaise.

"This is why she lied." He muttered.

"Gee, ya think?" Harry snapped.

"Potter," Blaise groaned, nodding to Hermione's still form when the man turned to him. "Now isn't the time, okay?"

The room fell silent as the three men watched over her unconscious body, keeping vigil for any sign of life from her. Blaise occasionally cast his gaze over one of the other occupants in the room and they both looked like they were desperate for her to wake up, just as he felt.

"I could love her, you know?" Draco's croaky voice disturbed the peace of the room.

"You're just realising this now?" Harry sighed, "You've loved her for six years, Malfoy, you just didn't know it."

"Remember when you told me they looked alike?" Draco asked, sighing as he turned to Blaise. "I didn't listen. But I changed the hair on this photo and I realised..." he muttered, pulling the photo he had been looking at in bed earlier from his pocket and handing it to Blaise, who showed Harry.

"I don't think I've ever seen her smile like this." He murmured and Harry nodded his agreement.

"She looks so happy there." Harry sighed, "When was this taken?" he asked Draco who smiled gently.

"The night I first told her I loved her." he admitted, hearing Harry gasp.

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Hermione could hear voices, though for the life of her she couldn't recognise them. She opened her eyes and looked around, taking in where she had ended up. She couldn't figure out if she was dreaming or if she was really seeing what was in front of her. There were familiar voices, but as far as the eye could see before her was... Blank. Nothing. No colours, no shape... Just blank, empty, lonely whiteness.

She tried to move her head and her gaze, but no matter what direction she felt herself turn or how her eyes moved, the sight never changed. The voices floated in and out, never specific, and though Hermione tried her best to focus in on them, they were always crackled and fuzzy, like the sound of a radio that wasn't tuned in properly.

Was this the afterlife? If this was her afterlife, why was it so blank? Why was she so alone? Where was the person sent to greet her? Why wasn't she somewhere familiar with a friendly face offering her the choice to remain here or go back? Wasn't that what Harry had described his near death experience to be? Wasn't that what she had always imagined she would find when she arrived at a point post death? Would this blank white space be her forever now? Oh god, she hoped not.

"...she do this..."

Was that Draco's voice?

"...now isn't the..."

That sounded like Blaise!

"...she looks so happy..."

Oh god that's Harry.

Hermione focused on those voices and held all the love she felt for those three men in her heart and mind. She needed to reach them, she needed to know if this was real or if she was imagining this. Was Draco with her? Oh she seriously hoped for it to be true but she didn't know how... Why would he be here.

Her hand felt far too warm and heavy. She tried to lift it but the impulse failed to travel from her brain to her hand. Focusing on her heavy heart and sending the love she felt directly into her hand, she willed herself, she begged herself to move. She promised herself that if she could escape this blank empty whiteness she would do anything she could to never return. Squeezing her eyes shut, she focused all of her strength on her hand and...

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"Granger?" Draco gasped, causing both Blaise and Harry to snap their heads up from where they had been dozing against their chests.

"What? What happened?" Harry asked sharply, turning his eyes to Hermione's face.

"I thought... There! Look!" Blaise stood from his chair and rounded the hospital bed, focussing his attention on where Draco was pointing.

"What?" Harry asked again, looking to Blaise.

"Her finger, look," Blaise murmered, pointing to her pinky finger and Harry leaned across her body to look, "it's twitching!"

"Is she coming round, do you think?" Harry asked, turning to look at her face and gasping when he saw her eyes moving underneath her eyelids.

"I'll get a healer." Blaise muttered and sped from the room, hearing the two other men calling her name as he left.

He returned five minutes later and watched as the healer flicked his wand over her and smiled before turning to Blaise.

"You'll be pleased to know that her brain is dragging her from unconscousness... It might take a while but-"

"Dr-ay" Came an almost silent whisper and all four men snapped their heads up to look at her closely.

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Hermione willed herself to say something, anything. It didn't matter what she said as long as she said something. Those voices had called her back from wherever she had been and she needed to know if they were real. She needed to hear them again to know whether they had been imagined by herself or whether they were actually near.

"Draco?" She tried to whisper.

"Hermione?" Came a familiar voice, though it wasn't the one she had asked for.

Forcing herself to open her eyes, Hermione looked up at the tiled ceiling and became aware that wherever she was it was almost silent, too silent. She felt heavy, like something was tied around her chest and weighing her down towards the floor. Her thoughts were stilted and muffled, as though they were coming too slowly to her and her heartbeat felt painful in her chest. She thought she could feel the flow of blood within her veins. In short, she knew that she was alive.

She used all of her willpower, focused her energy on her head and, suppressing the urge to fall asleep that had been present since she had woken up in the white place, she groaned as she felt her head roll to the side, as though it was too heavy, too much for her neck to support.

"Blaise." She uttered, not hearing her own voice.

"I'm here, Hermione." Blaise whispered and Hermione felt warmth against her cheek as his face came closer to hers. His breath skimmed across her skin as she felt his lips brush her forehead and blinked her eyes shut before forcing them to open again.

"Who else?" She croaked, feeling it tear at her throat as she spoke.

Blaise moved back slightly and she saw two people, concerned and wide eyed, standing behind him. They were opposites in every way. Where one was pale one was tanned, one had colourful warm eyes and one had grayscale eyes that were usually so cold. Blonde and black.

"Harry." She whispered.

"Hey Hermione." He smiled, though his eyes swam with tears and she felt a warm presence on her hand, pressure there when he squeezed. She tried to squeeze his hand back but she could only manage to brush her finger along his before her energy ran out.

"Draco." She whimpered as her lip wobbled of it's own accord and the pale, blonde man nodded as he brushed a lone finger under his eye.

"I'm not going anywhere." He promised quietly, before Hermione's eyes closed once more.