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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Hermione moaned as she blinked her eyes open at the heavy pounding that seemed to be coming from the door to her room instead of against the bone of her skull.
Merlin.
She pulled herself up, wincing at the onslaught of dizziness that the motion brought.
This was not going to work.
The pounding continued.
"Just a minute." she managed to croak out before taking her hand and grasping at the hangover potion that was sitting at her bedside.
Had Ginny left that for her?
She swallowed it all quickly, blinking as her vision cleared and her balance seemed to reorient.
She let out a breath before going to the door and opening it.
She blinked in surprise at Harry leaning against her doorway, his hair sticking up in random directions as he fidgeted and only marginally relaxed at the sight of her.
"Oh thank God, Hermione." He said breathlessly, "I was so worried you'd be out cold."
Her eyes widened as Harry began pulling at his hair and stammering his sentences.
"I'm sorry Hermione. I don't...He seemed ok while we were talking and then I left to come back in and he seemed to follow a minute or so later. He… And then he collapsed."
She grabbed Harry by the arms holding him steady, trying to ignore the grip of fear that was tightening her chest and forcing her heart to race.
"Who Harry?" She said softly.
Harry's face crumpled as he opened his mouth, with no sound coming out.
"Merlin and Morgana what are you lot shouting about?"
She turned briefly to Theo who was stepping out from his room just down the hall and walking in their direction. He froze a step away, taking in their positions.
"Oh gods." She heard him mutter before she turned back to Harry, willing herself not to just shake the information out of him.
"It's Draco, Hermione. I found him on the ground having this really bad nose bleed and…."
"Move Harry, talk to me as we walk." She said barely registering more than the words Draco and blood as they all practically raced down the corridor toward the hospital.
"And there was just a lot of blood." Harry stammered, shaking as she led him forward, "Then he started shaking and I only just managed to get him to McGonagall."
"McGonagall?" she asked as they turned and approached the lit hospital wing.
"Healer Warren is away. Ireland or something and she's covering and...Mione I'm so sorry."
She shook her head, dropping her hands from Harry's arms and bolting the rest of the way to the wing. She could hear Theo muttering lowly something about he should have made him go earlier, but barely had time to comprehend as she rushed inside.
She'd barely taken two steps in before her eyes were automatically drawn to Draco's stretched out form.
He was sweating, shaking atop the bed muttering to himself.
She stepped closer and made out dark spots against the pale white hospital drab he'd been changed into.
Blood.
His sleeves had been rolled up and the skin beneath his right wrist looked red and swollen beneath the magical brace.
"Miss Granger. I'm glad you're here. Mr. Potter seemed convinced you could help us in figure out all that is going on with Mr. Malfoy while we wait for Miss Patel."
"I…" She stammered, suddenly feeling that the whole of the Infirmary wasn't enough room for her to breathe.
"Miss Granger." McGonagall said softly, forcing Hermione to look up and meet her former professor straight in the eyes.
"Whatever you know will be most helpful."
Her eyes drifted to Theo who gave her a small nod before he returned his gaze to Draco, growing seemingly paler by the minute. The only motion coming from him was the twisting of the family ring around his finger as he grew lost in thought.
She took a breath and recounted all that she remembered from Padma's first check up of Draco, but as Professor McGonagall continued to press for more information she found herself at a loss for how to respond.
"And what about anything that may have happened before now. Anything that could have lay dormant and only just manifested?' McGonagall pressed.
Harry came close to her, dropping his arm over her shoulders as she shook.
"I...I don't…." she trailed off, "He… He mentioned he'd been very sick way back before Hogwarts but I don't. -"
Draco let out a moan effectively cutting off her words as he jerked in seizure like movements while his muttering grew louder.
"Please. Please stop." he whimpered, "Please no more."
He shook. His one arm reached over, scratching at the one that held the brace at his wrist.
She made out the echo of two sets of footsteps clambering into the room along with Padma's voice as she began talking aloud of all that they needed.
She tore herself out of Harry's grasp and went to the edge of Draco's bed, gasping at the gashes he was making with his nails as he continued to tear at his arm.
"I don't want any more. Please.." His protests grew louder as his desperation increased.
"His core is putting out numbers I've never even…" She heard Padma say behind her.
"What kind of illness did Mr. Malfoy have?" McGonagall suddenly spoke up.
She stammered.
She'd never asked.
Never even tried to broach the subject.
She looked helplessly to Theo who looked like he was seconds away from being sick. At this point he was almost as pale as Draco appeared but for an entirely different reason.
He looked haunted.
"Theo." She called out to him.
He shook his head fixing his gaze on Draco. He seemed panicked, something she herself was beginning to feel as the air around Draco seemed to thicken with his magic as he jerked and attempted to claw at both his arms.
"Please. Please." He murmured, tears glistening down his face as he began to cough blood decorating the sides of his mouth as he continued to hack.
"Miss Patel remove the brace." McGonagall said firmly just an edge of panic in her voice.
Padma looked at the professor with horror, "But…oh Merlin. Shacklebolt."
"Remove it!" The older witch then turned to Theo who was frozen with Greg in a similar state beside him.
When had Goyle gotten here? Had he come with Padma?
"Mr. Malfoy's childhood illness. It was Venenum -"
"Tenebris" Goyle breathed as Theo nodded numbly beside him.
Her former professor paled but nodded as she began moving her wand over Draco as Padma bent over and began working to remove the brace at his side.
Venenum Tenebris
The Dark Infection.
Her eyes widened as she nearly stumbled to the ground as her gut tightened.
The brace broke around his wrist and Padma vanished the offending hackle as she turned to them all.
"I need to ask you all some questions." She said as Draco seemed to stabilize under McGonagall's care.
She nodded, unsure she could manage a much more complex form of communication.
"Has he been fatiguing faster? Any headaches? Breeches in his magic? Outbursts….nosebleeds?"
"Yes."
She turned surprised that it had been Harry who'd been the first to speak.
He shifted uncomfortably at all the attention now directed toward him.
"I...Earlier today with Seamus, I felt and saw him struggle for control and there was the other day while he was arguing with Ron….He had a nosebleed then."
She gaped. How had no one said anything?
How had she not noticed?
"They started earlier." Theo said hoarsely. He cleared his throat, looking near close to tears as he spoke.
"Pansy saw it in London, and she wanted him to go see someone about it.I should have pushed harder yesterday. Oh fuck. I knew I should have and I…" He choked, and suddenly it made sense.
"You knew." She whispered.
Theo jerked his head in her direction not even bothering to mask the bits of guilt tugging at his features.
"You knew or at least suspected that something like this could happen." She said, her voice growing louder as her accusations grew bolder, "You...you should have told me or dragged him here. You know how he is Theo -"
"You know that wouldn't have worked." he said cutting her off, "He was stuck between accepting it himself and wanting some semblance of normal and safe and fuck; who was I to stand in the way of that?"
"You should have." She said now standing barely a foot from her brother, trembling with rage, fear, and just a hint of adrenaline.
"Maybe and maybe not." Theo said his voice louder, "But don't wave all that self-righteousness at me Hermione or act like you even understand."
She recoiled and opened her mouth to protest, but Theo simply continued on his tirade.
"No. I've lived through this. I know this disease Hermione. I've seen it almost kill Draco before. I've seen it kill my mum."
Her eyes stung and suddenly the entire rush of the situation and the war of her emotions broke her composure as a sob shook her.
Theo's expression immediately softened and without even hesitating he drew her up in his arms as she sobbed into his chest.
"No. Theo. No. He can't. I can't lose him. Not again." She broke as Theo's grip around her tightened.
She cried, burying her face even deeper into Theo's chest.
Her control had shattered. And even if she didn't know anything but the bare minimum of this malady she knew some and those glaring facts were playing out in her head in between the bits she'd seen when she'd delved into Narcissa's diary.
Theo was silent as he held her until she felt no more tears threatening to burst from her.
When she finally could peel herself away from the firm embrace of her brother, she found with a start that he'd moved them to sit on a bed further away in the wing to allow McGonagall and Padma room to work.
She sat numbly, with Theo still wrapping an arm around her as they waited for Padma or Professor McGonagall to finish and come speak with them.
In the end it was Padma who came looking exhausted, more than a little worried, and slightly guilty.
"He's stable for now, but we're going to leave him to sleep the rest of the night instead of waking him. Since we might be dealing with a possible relapse of Venenum Tenebris, it would be best for him to get as much rest as possible. Minerva is going to send for Healer Warren, and he should be back by morning."
She nodded before clearing her throat and speaking softly, "I'm staying with him."
To her surprise, Padma merely nodded in acceptance.
"I set up monitoring spells and I'm going to be in the Healer's lounge in the back so I can stay close."
She muttered a thank you as she watched Padma walk toward the back of the Hospital Wing only to be joined by Greg halfway. The sight of their hands linking loosely as they disappeared into the Healer's lounge brought lumps to wedge themselves in her throat.
She turned and walked to Draco's slumbering form, pausing at the foot of the bed.
His skin at his arms still looked red and angry even though the wounds he'd made by digging his nails into his flesh had long been healed.
The rest of him though looked so pale and fragile nestled between the white sheets of the bed.
Without even thinking, she charmed the bed bigger and crawled beneath the covers.
She leaned against the pillows, her hand coming to brush her fingers at his forehead.
"I'm so angry at you." She whispered, "For keeping this a secret, but love-" She choked swinging her other hand around his waist and pulling up closer to him. "Please. Please wake up and get better. Come back to me." She whispered pressing a few kisses between his shoulder blades.
She closed her eyes and heard Theo murmur that he was leaving to go to sleep and that he'd be back in the morning.
She didn't even respond as she heard the footsteps sound and then fade as she was left in the quiet of the wing really only hearing the sounds of Draco's shallow breaths as he slept.
It seemed like the night was meant to be one of the most restless ones of her life.
He woke her the first time nearly screaming out in agony and muttering like he was possessed words she couldn't understand.
He was dreaming.
An act that was stressful on a normal day, now it was damning.
Padma had shot out of the healer quarters and stared in shock as she tried to calm him.
Based on her face though, Padma had figured it out.
If that wasn't enough, the agitated movements of his body had opened wounds that had been only freshly healed hours before.
They were irritated, inflamed and near infected.
And he was burning up.
"We need to break the fever." Padma murmured before placing her wand on the sheets and charming them cool.
She nodded, unbuttoning Draco's pajama and stripping him of his shirt. Unconsciously, she winced at the numerous silver scas not because she didn't know they were their but rather that she had to unveil their presence to Padma.
Something flashed in the other girl's eyes, but she didn't say anything only once more turning to cast a cooling charm against another thin blanket that she placed on Draco.
She bit her lip watching chills wrack his body and felt something in her chest snapping.
"He's cold." she whispered.
Padma nodded.
"He probably feels that way, but he's too warm for us to put heavy blankets on him."
Padma placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Having you close will probably help." She said softly.
She felt her cheeks flush slightly, but found that she didn't care enough to be truly embarrassed by the insinuation.
Padma's lips quirked upward before she dropped her hand and strode back toward the healer's quarters.
"Padma." She said before she'd even thought to stop herself. She bit her lip, "You and Greg…."
Padma smiled slightly to herself.
"Yeah." She replied softly, twirling her long dark hair with a finger, "But don't worry. He sleeps like the dead. He won't have noticed."
She bit her lip from saying anything to that and instead nodded with a soft smile of her own at her lips before she slipped back beneath the covers and immediately pressed her warm body to Draco's shivering one.
She pressed a kiss to his neck before closing her eyes listening to his breathing that was slowly calming.
Her lips pulled at the sides.
"Sleep love." she murmured before sleep finally pulled her into dreams.
When she woke next, the day was finally starting. Draco was oddly calm beside her. A quick touch to his forehead showed him warm but not feverish.
A relief really.
She slipped out of bed and reluctantly left the Infirmary in search of a shower and fresh clothes.
Her bag with all her books was firmly in her hands when she returned.
She was going to do what she knew. Research. If anything, it would help calm her to know all the facts.
And she had to be calm.
She had to be calm for him.
Andromeda was at Draco's bedside when she finally made her way back. She looked up briefly at her before turning back to look at Draco.
"Junior Healer Patel tells me we should leave him to wake naturally instead of inducing it magically." Andromeda said softly.
She nodded.
Andromeda looked exhausted and something in her eyes stopped her breath.
"I had to distract Teddy with everything imaginable to keep him from coming here. He truly is attached to him."
"He's so good with him. I'd be surprised if he wasn't attached." Hermione said.
Andromeda smiled wistfully before eyeing her. She tried not to squirm under the older woman's gaze.
Andromeda nodded to herself as though she'd somehow managed to confirm something by simply watching her.
"I've been told since I am his closest family that any decisions are to be passed through me." She began carefully.
Hermione nodded, not particularly surprised at the information. It would have been either her or Luna, and bright as the girl was it would be best to have Andromeda in charge so to speak.
What confused her was why she would mention it.
"You are Draco's intended dear." Andromeda said with a soft smile on her face, "It's your decisions that should matter perhaps more than my own."
She flushed and looked down at Draco finding her hand had rested inches from his own fingers.
"He is so important to me." She said quietly reaching out and brushing her fingers against his. "And I'd rather trust someone who knows more about this. I mean I don't even know how it was the first time."
Andromeda winced, her eyes turning to Draco.
"Narcissa was so terrified."
She looked up quickly. She hadn't expected that.
"She wrote to me to meet and when I showed up, she flung herself into my arms and cried for what seemed like hours."
Andromeda's voice was so low she had to strain herself to hear it.
"She kept blaming herself for...for all of it. And Draco, the poor dear, he didn't really feel the weight of it all until he came into St. Mungo's and they told him he couldn't leave." Andromeda shook her head, "He was already such a small and bony child, and he kept getting sicker and sicker."
She held her breath, so engrossed in Andromeda's tale. She found it heartwarming that Narcissa had reached out to her much earlier than she'd suspected. Some bonds, she supposed, could never truly be broken despite the pressures to do so.
"He scared everyone near the end. Even Lucius halted all business and stayed for days just wandering the hospital like a ghost." Andromeda's eyes glazed over as though remembering it, "Draco was barely conscious that week, and when he was, he was hardly lucid. Narcissa...she seemed to break the further away he seemed to drift. If she'd lost him then...I don't think my sister would have lived long after."
She tore her eyes away from Andromeda and glanced back to Draco.
"He loved her so much too."
Andromeda nodded.
"Most of the time, they truly had only each other." She said thoughtfully before her jaw tightened and her eyes flashed with an unspeakable sort of anger, "Of course, if Lucius had only curbed his ambitions and his narrow mindedness; especially on getting those infusions earlier…" She closed her eyes and took a breath, "But we won't make that same mistake this time."
She said nothing, opting instead to sit back on Draco's bed and part his fridge, swiping the blonde strands to the side.
No. This time they definitely would not be making those kinds of mistakes.
They sat like that, in near silence for quite some time before Andromeda stood and reluctantly left to check on Teddy.
She stood slowly and summoned her bag, rummaging through pulling out a few runes textbooks and after some deliberation the books she had on dark magic.
Her mind quickly grew lost in the world of words, but after she'd taken note on the only two books even relevant to the situation her attention seemed to drift elsewhere.
She found two books in her hands before she even realize what they signified;the alchemy book Draco had tossed into her bag and his Shakespeare book.
She'd just started re-reading Henry V when she heard the softest sound of a body moving against tucked in sheets.
She stood quickly nearly dropping her books before she walked carefully over to the one bed that housed an occupant.
Draco was turning on his side rubbing at his eyes slowly, still in the process of breaking away from sleeps firm grip.
She slipped on beside him, giving him space to move but close enough that she could watch her sleepy boyfriend come back to her.
He blinked his eyes open and a tired sort of grin broke out across his face as he seemed to focus on her.
"Hi" he mumbled, his voice still thick and rough from disuse.
She didn't say anything, and before she could even think to re-evaluate her actions she'd launched closer and began kissing him hungrily.
She'd been starved of him, and so incredibly worried.
His response was slow and still somewhat sleepy, but he seemed quick to wake up completely as she nibbled his lip.
He broke away, gasping for breath, dropping his head to nuzzle his face into her neck. His nose moving softly up and down softly against her skin.
"As great of a wake up this is." he said quietly, "What's going on?"
She pulled away to face him, the tips of her fingertips dancing at his jaw, feeling the thin dirty blonde scruff that had begun to grow from a day of neglect.
"Love." she dropped her voice low, fearing she wouldn't be able to speak if she attempted to be any louder, "Harry found you unconscious in the hallway having some sort of seizure."
Draco paled, pulling himself up into a seated position with his knees bent and brought up to his chest.
"Oh gods." He mumbled, burying his face in his hands.
She let out a shaky breath.
"Draco...they...Padma and Professor McGonagall, think you might be sick the same way you were before." She said carefully.
Draco dropped his hands, not particularly shocked at her words.
"How" he cleared his throat, "How long have I been out?"
"A day." she breathed before hardening and slapped him against his arm.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you felt so terrible. I...Do you have any idea how scared I was and poor Teddy has been bugging Andromeda wondering why you're out cold." Her chin trembled as she felt tears sting the corners of her eyes.
She shut them tight, focusing simply on taking in long and deep breaths.
She felt his arms circle around her as he positioned her between his legs, dropping his chin to rest on her shoulders from behind.
"I'm sorry love. I'm really sorry." he whispered.
She gripped his arms tight.
"I was just really scared myself." He admitted quietly.
She blinked and turned her head to the side to meet his stormy gaze.
"I know Gods, I do…" She said, "Just never again."
He bit his lip before nodding.
She let out a breath before pecking him lightly and relaxing into his firm embrace.
They stayed like that huddled together as a peace tentatively settled between them until Padma broke their temporary peace with a grin threatening to break across her face as she took in Draco awake and alert.
"Well welcome back Draco." She said.
Hermione blushed, starting to move to extract herself from Draco's arms, but if anything his grip tightened.
Padma didn't even blink at their position before she crossed her arms and stared Draco down.
"I suppose I got you into the hospital wing after all." She said dryly.
"I expected nothing less." Draco said flatly before sighing. "So...what's the verdict?"
Padma hesitated a second before speaking.
"Venenum Tenebris." She began, "Which based on what Theo has said, you already knew."
Draco nodded, loosening his grip to allow her to re-position herself beside him.
He rubbed his eyes before he seemed to notice the absence of the magical brace on his wrist.
"Right." He said tracing the irritated skin.
Padma met her gaze for a moment before focusing back on Draco.
"I need to build a medical history for you, so I'm going to ask you a few questions."
Draco nodded, not lifting his head from where he was staring down at the skin of his arm.
"When they treated you the first time…"
"Infusions." He said breaking her question, "I got multiple magical infusions from Luna and a few potions that were still considered experimental at the time."
Padma frowned.
"You didn't undergo a cleanse?"
Draco shook his head.
"It was still a spotty procedure and my...my parents didn't want to risk it until last minute and by that time I was already showing some signs of improvement so they left it alone."
Padma looked a mixture of confused and concerned.
"Just when were you sick?"
"Diagnosed a few months after turning 9." he said shifting uncomfortably.
"But it started earlier, didn't it?"
He nodded.
"The healers at the time suspected I'd always had it, and it was just triggered at that time."
He looked up and met Padma's expression. He winced before continuing.
"They thought it might have been something I had at birth. It was always manifesting itself somehow. My growth was delayed. I couldn't gain weight, and no matter how much I ate I was always deficient. When I got sick for any reason, I would always get really sick…" he trailed off before clenching his jaw and continuing. "My magical outbursts were so frequent and after a while dangerous that my father forced me into lessons to help control them."
She reached over and gripped his hand tightly.
Padma shook her head, her brows furrowed as she seemed to mull over all that Draco had said.
After a moment, with a frown in her face, she spoke.
"If you had it at birth, that would mean-"
"My very birth was induced because of an argument turned duel. I think that alone gives you a clue for what kind of environment my mother was in while pregnant." Draco said sharply.
Padma looked horrified. Frankly, she wasn't the only one. Hermione felt sick at the thought that Narcissa had essentially been attacked whilst pregnant with dark magic. Draco had said it had been a difficult pregnancy and birth, but it seemed she was only now realizing how true that was.
Padma schooled her features into a professionally blank face.
"I think that's all I need to ask you about now." she said quietly, "I think I'm going to keep you a bit to just run some tests and start the potions. It'll give us time to decide if you want to do the cleanse with infusions, but regardless we'll need to start infusions as soon as tomorrow."
Draco paled, but nodded without so much as protesting.
"Hermione." he said looking at her, "You don't have to wait. I'll meet up with you after Padma is done."
She opened her mouth to protest, but seeing his face she thought better of it.
"Ok." she said softly pressing a kiss to his temple. "I'll see you soon."
Draco watched her go, and turned back to Padma when he could no longer hear the soft sound of her footsteps.
"My odds aren't good are they?" he said lowly.
Padma looked pained.
"They aren't great, but not impossible."
He nodded, having already known that was probably already the case.
"But Draco." Padma said with a determined expression on her face, "You have no reason to lose hope."
He smirked slightly and bent his head on a small nod.
She returned the gesture before beginning her series of tests.
He tried to keep himself from fidgeting, but he was suddenly so exhausted he felt he would surely fall asleep if he didn't move at all.
Eventually Padma seemed to take pity on him, letting him doze off for a while with strict orders to eat well after he woke.
She was certainly something else. He'd never paid he rich mind in school, but she was rapidly becoming a close ally...a friend.
A strange occurrence when it came to him to be sure.
He didn't sleep long about half an hour, but it was enough to make him feel substantially more awake.
But not less achy.
He stiffly managed to climb out of bed and somehow shower all his fever induced sweat off him before throwing in the first articles of clothing in his reach.
Though, it went against everything he'd been raised to do.
His mother would have probably had a fit if she saw him with mismatched socks, much less leaving the confines of his room in a less than perfect image.
And he was doing both.
It bothered him too, though at the moment he couldn't bring himself to care.
He was just turning into the hall when he was nearly tackled by a person with a shock of black hair.
He gasped, staggering under the weight.
"Pans."
Pansy hugged him tighter.
"Oh thank gods." she muttered against his chest before withdrawing and smacking the same spot her head had just been laying on previously.
He winced, resisting the urge to double over at what had obviously not been meant to hurt him.
He was already so weak.
"You are so stubborn sometimes it borders on stupid." She hissed, "I can't believe you let it get so bad you collapsed. For fucks sake Draco."
She glared up at him and for a second he saw tears start to form in her eyes before she scowled.
"I know Pans. I'm sorry, but-" His voice cracked, "But I'm so fucking terrified. I almost died from this once." He let his gaze drop to the floor, studying it like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
He could be like this with Pansy.
She'd seen him lower than low before and never used it against him.
"Oh Dray." Pansy muttered, wrapping her arms gently around him. He blinked furiously before burying his face in her hair.
"When did you get here?" He cleared his throat, unable to bring himself to pull away from Pansy's embrace yet.
"She came with me."
He lifted his head, blinking back the threatening moisture from his eyes before he took in both Theo and Blaise
"You sure know how to kick up a fuss, don't you mate?" Blaise said with a weak smirk on his face.
He shrugged, wiggling out of Pansy's embrace.
He ran a hand through his hair.
"Oh you know me. I live for creating chaos."
"Well if we're being fair, it wasn't just you this time." Theo interjected with a small smile.
They all chuckled lowly before letting the air fill with tense silence once more.
Pansy snaked her arm around his waist and after a moment she cleared her throat to speak.
"What have the healers said?" She whispered.
He shook his head.
"You know it's not good Pans. Getting this once is rare and terrible, twice is…"
Her grip tightened.
"We're all here for you mate." Blaise said and Theo was quick to nod at the other's words.
"I know." He said flashing them all his first genuine smile. "Thank you." He said softly letting Pansy lead him into the hall.
She seemed fully prepared to force food in his despite his protests.
For once, the thought filled him with warmth.
Hermione sat at the edge of her seat, impatiently waiting for Draco.
She hadn't wanted to leave him, but she had only to give him the privacy he so desperately wanted in order to speak with Padma.
When he finally did appear, it was with Pansy, Blaise, and her brother surrounding him almost protectively as they walked.
He looked haggard, though his eyes were bright and alert.
She noted, with some amount of dismay, that he hadn't bothered to properly dress himself as he normally would. A testament in and of itself for how he felt. Though the thick sweater he was wearing in spite of the relatively pleasant temperature would have been enough to clue her in had the rest not been enough.
Though, even now at his worst, he still looked relatively put together.
She'd said it before, and even if she'd been more than tipsy at the time, it didn't make it less true.
It wasn't right for a boy to be so beautiful.
It wasn't right for a boy to be so breathtakingly broken.
He slipped in beside her, tiredly dropping his head to rest on her shoulder.
She smiled slightly.
"Are you going to actually eat or just sleep on my bony shoulder?"
He shook his head against her skin.
"Sleep." he muttered with just a hint of a smile in his voice.
"Eating."
Draco lifted his head and huffed at the sight of Pansy, who'd been joined by Andromeda. The two of them were staring him down with a challenging sort of expression.
"Don't huff Draco." Andromeda chided setting a full plate before him, "Just because you're named after a dragon doesn't mean you have to act like one."
Draco flushed, and she heard a series of low laughs sound around their table.
"I'm not huffing." he muttered, and she resisted the urge to laugh along with the rest of them at his obvious flustered state. It made them all seem so young.
"Of course not dear." Andromeda said patiently, patting him lightly on the shoulder before instructing him on the benefits of each dish she'd chosen for him.
Draco shook his head and flashed her a wink before pretending to be engrossed with all his aunt was telling him.
Her breath stopped at the mirth in his eyes.
He never ceased to amaze her really.
It wasn't long before her own fear and uneasiness melted away at the happy atmosphere Andromeda and the rest of the Slytherins were attempting to create.
The sight of Draco's half smile, which never strayed from his lips despite how tired he looked, made hope flare in her chest.
He would be fine, because he would fight, and Draco was for sure one of the fiercest fighters she knew.