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Harry half carried, half dragged the semi conscious blond to her bed, and dropped him on top of it. Her eyes followed their movements, and she found it difficult to snap herself out of whatever stupor she was in.
"Hermione. Hermione!"
Her head snapped up and her eyes landed on her friend.
"Yes?" she yelped, finally shaking herself out of her distraction.
"He demanded to come here. I wanted to bring him to Mungos, but he refused. Hermione, he needs treatment!" Harry was using every bit of his Auror training to keep himself as composed as possible, but even she could see the stress and worry in his eyes.
Suddenly, she stood straight, and gathered herself piece by piece. She placed her hand on her stomach and took a deep breath. She could feel the anxiety rise in her once again, but her determination outweighed any trepidation she may have.
"Right," she said in a clipped tone, pulling her wand out, "I need you to go to his room and find clean clothing as well as any medicinal creams, salves and potions Draco has in his bathroom."
Harry nodded and left her alone. Hermione looked down at this man she had come to trust and worry over. With a nod to herself, she gripped her wand and dragged the tip along the front of his bloodied shirt. a thin tear followed the line of her movements and she flicked it away from his torso. She could see several gashes along his chest. She leaned closer to ascertain they were not very deep, but would probably still leave scars. She sighed and began removing the dried blood with another twirl of her wrist.
Harry returned with a folded pile of clothing for Draco as well as anything she may need for treating him. She proceeded to mutter any diagnostic spell she knew. He had three cracked ribs, a punctured lung, concussion, and a snapped femur. She swallowed down her panic, she could not afford to fail now because of her nerves.
She mumbled every incantation and healing spell she could remember. Slowly, his body mended properly, save for any bruising and scars left behind. Treating his punctured lung was difficult and terrifying, and he seemed to go into shock around the same time. She bit the inside of her cheek so hard, she tasted blood, but didn't care. Her lips and wand were moving so quickly over him, she refused to lose him this way.
After awhile, and several more diagnostic evaluations, she was satisfied with her mending. Once all the serious issues were addressed, she placed down her wand, and with trembling hands she moved to look at the potions. She could see pain, dreamless sleep, calming, and pepper up pots. She decided to go with a pain pot and a calming draught. She unstoppered each bottle, leaned over him and worked one hand behind his head to help prop him up in order to slowly drink the potions. Laying him back down, she turned her attention to the salves and creams. She picked up the salve best used on healing wounds, and began to work it into the sensitive skin of what were left of his newly acquired scars. The salve seemed to soothe him a bit as he immediately relaxed to her touch. Once that was complete, she moved on to applying the bruise balm. She then quickly removed his trousers, careful only to check for any other cuts, but there were none. With Harry's assistance, they were able to get Draco dressed in new clothing and tucked under the bed cover comfortably.
Hermione stood back and watched the steady rise and fall of his chest as he dozed into a deeper rest. Only then, when he was out of danger, did she allow herself to fall apart.
Harry swiftly caught her in his arms and they sunk down to the floor together, her sobs echoing through the otherwise silent room. Harry was rubbing soothing circles on the spot of her back between her shoulder blades while she remained slumped over clinging to him as though someone were trying to rip her away. She felt the pain of the panic wash over her, and tried desperately to shut out the thoughts of Draco dying, and if she hadn't been quick enough, he would have. She shook in her friends arms because she didn't understand what had gone so horribly wrong for him to return to her in such a state. She wanted to ask for answers, but she wasn't able to pull herself out of the chaos that was her mind and heart at war. Harry couldn't bring her back the way Draco could.
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It was awhile before Hermione managed to calm herself enough to release Harry from her clenched fists. He helped her over to the table by the window and summoned a hot pot of tea from his elf. He poured her a cup and prepared a scone for her as well, pleading that she eat. She refused at first, but Harry pointed out that he and Draco were in eyesight and she had nothing to fret over at the moment so she may as well eat. Conceding, she slowly pulled bits of said scone apart and ate quietly. Harry began to speak while staring out the window to the now darkening sky.
"When I received your Patronus, I was shocked to say the least. I hadn't realized Draco told you any of what he was doing. I also didn't realize he'd told you he was an Auror... see, Hermione... he's been on administrative leave for the past few months. The Minister doesn't want to fire him because he's a bloody good Auror, got through the training program in less than a year, but he also became too obsessed with your parents killer. He was making himself sick, never eating, barely sleeping. I hated him, so I didn't pay much attention to it, but once I'd found out he was spending alot of time with you, I had to be cautious. He basically lives and breathes your parents case, Hermione." Harry looked at her with concern. Hermione felt something coil tightly in her chest. She wanted to tell Harry what Draco had said earlier before he left, and that he'd kissed her like his life depended on it, but she knew that would probably send Harry into hysterics. He already didn't trust Draco, she didn't need to add fuel to that fire.
"He has never given me any indication he is a danger to me. To himself, perhaps..." She looked in the direction of her bed, and sighed heavily. "Harry, whatever his motivations are, I can't say that he's not being sincere. It's just something I have felt from him since the night he came to me. I just trust him, and I honestly don't know how he's done it, but I'm beginning to feel more like myself than I have since that day in St. Mary's Hospital."
Harry looked dejected at that. He'd tried so hard to help her. He wanted so badly to save her, the way she'd saved him so many times before, but he just couldn't. He nodded though. She knew he was grateful, whatever the reason, that she was healing.
"So, you gonna tell me what happened?" she asked carefully. She didn't want Harry to refuse in fear she would break down again. "I'm really fine now, I can handle whatever it is."
He picked at a splintered spot of the table before clearing his throat some and spoke.
"Malfoy told me about this lead of his. Since he is on leave, he's not technically allowed in office at the moment. Our department Head wasn't too happy, and refused to allow Malfoy our assistance or resources. He was pretty upset. He really believed he was close to solving the case and tracking down the killer." Harry paused to take a sip of his tea. Draco stirred in the bed but quickly began breathing steadily again.
"His source told him the killer was just some low rank death eater that desperately wanted the approval and praise of Riddle. Once his precious Lord was killed, I guess he sunk into the shadows and no one knew he was even a supporter. Name was Mullen, I think. Greg Mullen... Well, anyway, Malfoy was just arriving to the Riddle home when I got there. I tried to tell him to wait. Let me try and convince the boss to allow a raid. He refused and went inside. As soon as he got in there, Greg shot curse after curse at him. Malfoy got out of the way and I rushed in to help, but not before Mullen shot a spell at the deteriorating house and part of it came down on top of us. I was fine, clearly, but Malfoy got the brunt of it. He was trying to free himself of the rubble, when Mullen shot a spell similar to sectumsempra at him. The gashes on his torso... Well, before he collapsed, Malfoy shot off a good stunner that punched him back into a wall. I sent my Patronus, and in a second the Aurors arrived to collect him. That's when Malfoy demanded I bring him here, no matter what I tried to say. He passed out, and against my better judgement, I did as he requested and came straight here. Tom's not going to like it when I tell him his anti apparition wards don't work too well."
Hermione let everything Harry say sink in, but both of them were suddenly drawn to the sound of a throat clearing at the bed. She turned her gaze in the direction of Draco to see his head tilted to the side, watching them both. She guessed he must have been listening to Harry speaking, as well. He looked sad. He really looked so sad. That's the only way Hermione could describe how his face fell when she looked at him.
"Malfoy," Harry rose to his feet, Draco's eyes followed his movement. "The Minister and our department Head is going to want to speak with you. I'll arrange for a meeting in a few days."
Draco gave the smallest nod of acknowledgement. Harry turned to Hermione and leaned over to peck a kiss on her cheek.
"Love you, Hermione. Take care of the git, but take care of yourself, too. See you in a few days."
She nodded and watched as Harry excused himself and shut the door as he walked out. She turned her attention back to Draco and sat on the bed beside him.
"Do you need another pain pot?" she asked him quietly. He shook his head. "What's the matter, Draco?" She couldn't understand why he looked so sad.
"I almost broke my promise. I almost didn't come back. Whether it would have been me dying to that bastard, or Potter not bringing me here like I asked, or getting sent to Azkaban for the killing curse I wanted to use... I almost broke my promise and left you here alone. I'm sorry, Hermione."
Hermione was stunned for a moment, but then smiled sweetly at him. His eyes widened at the unexpected response, and she could see tears glittering in them. He let out a shaking breath and cupped her cheek.
"You are so beautiful when you smile like that." He said, and she smiled wider.
"You are such a surprise to me, Draco. Everytime you speak, you say something I could never have predicted."
"A good quality, I hope."
She nodded and silent tears fell onto his thumb still gently caressing her cheek. He wiped them away and pulled her down to lie with him. They both turned to their side's so they were facing each other and Draco managed to slip the cover over her as well.
"Was it really him, Draco? Did he really kill my parents?"
"I think so, yeah. We won't know until we get a confession, but I have no reason to believe my source was misinformed."
She touched her hand to his face as more tears fell. That tightening in her chest was beginning to hurt.
"Thank you. Thank you so much for doing this, even long before I knew you were. I can't understand why, but thank you."
He grasped her hand in his and looked intently into her teary eyes.
"You really can't understand why, Hermione?" he breathed, and she felt her heart flutter. "You really don't see how deep in love I've become? I will do anything for you. Anything."
She couldn't take it anymore and sobbed into his chest. He held her tightly, and allowed her to cry. She believed him. He pushed through training for her, he risked his job for her, he almost died for her. She believed him without a shadow of a doubt.
"Don't leave me, Draco. Stay here with me please."
He tilted her face up to look at him, studying her, wiping away all her tears. The knot in her chest grew. He leaned in and kissed her, gently but with every ounce of passion he had. He poured his heart into that kiss and she accepted it graciously. Pulling back, he brushed his lips over hers as he spoke.
"I'll stay as long as you allow me to. I promise."
End Chapter 9Okay, next chapter will be the last for this story. I would love to continue it with a Sequal though, let me know what you think!