Twenty-One

The candle on the bedside table flickered with the final click of the door swinging shut. The Gryffindor girl barely blinked, watching over the Slytherin sixth year laying motionless at her side. The helplessness that she had felt not but a few hours ago weighed heavy upon her heart as she looked down upon his slackened features, knowing that there had been absolutely nothing she could have done for him.

She was useless. If Professor Snape had not arrived...

The Higurashi girl felt like she was drifting endlessly, holding onto that sense of the future that told her everything would be all right. But what if it had not been? What if her vision of foresight had been wrong in that moment? What if… she had been stuck in the rift that occurred when rare cases like her started to develop the gift of prophecy early?

There were so many unanswered questions, and nobody to turn to for any of them.

Professor Trelawney tried her hardest to guide her, she really did, but Kagome knew that her favorite Professor was lost in the veil herself at times. And even if she could teach her more, what use would foresight have been while she was sobbing in a pool of blood? What good came from being able to see the future when it only involved herself?

A soft sigh escaped the Gryffindor, as she finally looked away from the boy sleeping peacefully. She had failed the Malfoy as much as she had failed herself. She should have studied harder, paid attention in class more, and endlessly begged for answers to questions she had had about magic since she could remember. It was true that the advanced magic needed to heal him was not taught until seventh year, but she should have known enough to try. She should have been able to help, even if only to signal for someone who could.

"If you keep scowling like that, I'm going to assume you're jealous again."

His voice was so soft, it was a miracle she even heard it.

"Oh, and you can tell exactly what a scowl is for by simply looking at it?" Her blue eyes sought out his familiar gray orbs immediately, drinking in the sight of him finally opening his eyes after so many hours of anxiously waiting. She felt her soul breathe a sigh of relief, though it did little to relieve the ache in her heart. "Probably because you're always doing it yourself, right?"

Those fiery gray eyes shifted in her direction, as he replied, "At least I always look devilishly handsome when I do it."

Kagome rolled her eyes at the statement, before finally allowing herself a moment to simply look away from him. She had been so worried; so overwhelmed with her own helplessness, and the first thing he did was start throwing around his ego the moment he awakened. It was so like him. "That's what you think," she mumbled, though she did not quite believe the statement herself.

"I must be right," he said. He slipped his hand off the bed and into her own, watching as she snapped her eyes toward him with the action. Draco's face twisted into a slight smirk, catching the way her eyes shifted into a light silvery blue, before she blinked away the telltale sign of foresight and gazed upon him with those dark blue orbs she possessed. "I am a Malfoy, after all."

She could not breathe.

His fingers shifted, lacing between her own, and she could only stare at him in confusion, her heart beating furiously within her chest. He squeezed her hand, before shutting his eyes and taking in a deep breath, leaving her to only wonder what was going on inside his head. Was this really the little twelve year old boy that used to sneer at her and throw insults in her face?

The Gryffindor glanced down at his hand, and tightened her grip a little. What did it matter? He had almost died, and she… she was not sure if she could have handled the loss. The thought alone caused a new array of tears to appear along the corners of her eyes, and she knew that her mother had been right. She had tried so very hard to run away from that which was constantly whispering in her ear that she had run straight into it instead.

Because she… she…

The Malfoy boy had already slipped away again when she lifted his hand to her forehead, pressing his warm skin tight between her hands. The tears started to trickle forth slowly, barely a sound escaping her, as she felt the veil unravel around her. Her eyes shut tight, trying to stay here, with him, instead of getting lost in the future that she knew all too well.

She never wanted to see that bright truth extinguished, and she knew that she needed to be here in order to make sure that happened.