Chapter Seven.

xxxxxxxxxx

One thing that was causing the most concern was her lack of strength. Even when she was awake and looking at them, she never squeezed his or Harry's hand when they held hers, and she struggled to move her head to turn to look at them, oftentimes requiring their help in oder to turn her gaze. Today would make a week since she had been brought in, and they were desperate for her to turn the corner in the fight for her life. They'd said it had something to do with the potion ingredients being ingested in such large amounts, but none of them had really digested the information properly.

Blaise returned to her hospital room that morning with three cups of shitty hospital coffee in his hands to find two sleeping men and one, remarkably, awake woman. He froze as he spotted her, she was sitting up, supported by the bed and she smiled softly when he entered, pointing to her throat, mouthing 'damage'.

"Oh, god, Hermione!" Blaise muttered, quickly depositing the coffee on the table next to her bed and pulling her to him as he sat on the edge of the bed.

He felt her chuckling against him, but her voice never came, and he pushed her away from him, holding her by the shoulders. Her movements were sluggish, but she looked far more awake than any of them had seen her over the last week. She was smiling gently at him and he ran his hands down her hair and pulled her back against him.

"We've been so bloody worried!" He gasped as he clutched her.

He felt her hands push against his chest and released her allowing her to pull away. He watched her eyes as they glanced at Draco and turned her gaze back to him with her eyebrow raised as if to say 'including him?' Blaise nodded, chuckling.

"Even him." He agreed and she looked back at Draco, smiling. "Where is your voice, lovely?"

Hermione looked to him and gestured to her hands, where she was mimicking the movement of writing and he understood immediately. He held his finger up, indicating for her to wait and she nodded. He dashed out of the room and asked the healers at the desk for a piece of paper and a pen, before returning and handing it to her. He watched her write before handing it to him and he read it.

Healers gave me a drug to force me to wake up. They said it could damage my vocal chords, apparently it has.

"Will you get your voice back?" He asked, handing the paper back to her and read it when she handed it back.

No idea. Hopefully, but if not then I'll deal with it. I'm glad to be alive.

"Oh god." Blaise muttered, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Me too, lovely. Me too."

"Hermione?" Harry gasped, and Blaise turned to see him sitting wide eyed, ram rod straight in his chair. His knuckles were white where he gripped the arms of it.

"Her voice has gone, Potter." Blaise informed him and the man turned to him.

"Gone, what do you mean, gone?" Harry blustered.

Blaise pointed to the piece of parchment and Hermione nodded as she handed it to him. He took it and handed it to Harry who read it and gasped.

"Oh Hermione..." He uttered, standing and sitting on the opposite side of the bed to Blaise, pulling her into a hug.

Hermione hugged him briefly before pushing him away and shrugging, with her lips curved into a 'what are you going to do?' kind of smile.

"Can I get a minute with Gra- Uh, Hermione, please?" Came a soft drawling voice from behind Blaise and he turned around to see a worried Draco watching the scene. He nodded, turning to Hermione who smiled softly at him and nodded back. Blaise grabbed Harry by the shoulder and sighed in relief when he, albeit reluctantly, followed him out of the room.

xxxxxxxxxx

"What were you thinking?" Draco asked, sounding angry and hurt.

Hermione looked at him and saw that his eyes were full of conflicting emotions. She could see love and anger, shock and fear. It was nice to see them not look at her so coldly but she longed to see him look at her the way he had used to. She pointed to the parchment and held her hand open, palm up. Draco leaned across her and she squeezed her eyes shut at the sudden closeness of him. Silently breathing a sigh of relief when he pulled away and handed her the parchment, she wrote on it before handing it to him.

I don't know how to be without you any more. I'm trying, though.

She watched as he sighed and ran his hand through his hair before turning to look at her. He looked... Defeated. Resigned to a fate, almost. Hermione winced and pulled the cover up higher to wrap herself up, defending her heart from what was surely to come.

"I think I finally understand why you did it, you know?." He sighed, not moving his gaze from her and she gave a self depreciating shrug and mouthed 'I don't. Draco smiled slightly before continuing. "People do crazy things for the people they love, I guess." he shrugged.

Hermione watched him hopefully. Hoping that maybe this could be a fresh start for them, perhaps they could learn about each other all over again.

"I'm still angry with you." He said suddenly, shocking her when his hand hesitantly rested on hers, "You have caused me so much hurt, and I've done some stupid things to try and cover it. But I don't want you to think that I've completely abandoned you. I want to be in your life."

Hermione was wide eyed as she felt his thumb stroke her skin and felt her eyes begin to water as she listened to him speak. She opened her mouth to reply to him, but nothing came out and she slapped her forehead, frustrated that she couldn't say what she wanted to him. She heard him chuckle and he passed her the paper.

I'm sorry.

"Five years of being madly in love with someone isn't something I can easily forget." He shrugged, smiling gently at her.

Do you think we could get that back?

"I don't know. I guess we just start again and see what happens." He smiled and she brought her hand up to cover her mouth in shock as she cried happy tears.

"Come here, you." Draco sighed, sitting himself on the edge of the bed.

Hermione practically flew at him, throwing her arms around his neck and silently sobbing into his shoulder when she felt his hands rubbing her back, soothing her and taking away her pain. She wasn't sure how long she stayed in his arms, but when she pulled back she noticed that his eyes were wet too. 'Thank you' she mouthed and he nodded, smiling.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hermione had never stopped to think how difficult it would be to communicate without the use of speech. When the other two men had returned and started talking to her all at once, she had needed to hold her hand up to stop them talking and point at them in turn to ask their questions and allow her time to write her answers.

"When are you being transferred to the mental health unit?"

Wednesday, as soon as they're sure their potion to wake me up is permanent.

"Did you see anything? When you were unconscious?"

I would rather not talk about that.

"Do you still want to get a place together when you get out of here?"

Of course, you twat.

It was much easier when she had questions that they could answer. She could write them down and then sit back and listen, nodding or shaking her head in the right places, as they gave them their answers. She was shocked to see that Harry and Blaise seemed to get on rather well, and even Draco was civil to Harry, who returned the favour. Probably for her sake, but she found herself no reason to complain.