AU: This is my very first Dramione fic and it's twelve years old, so be kind. Just Hermione dealing with asthma and Draco being unusually kind.
"Granger! What are you up crying for?" Draco Malfoy demanded, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
Hermione and Draco had been living in the head boy and head girl's quarters since the beginning of term. It was slow progress, learning how to live with each other but for the most part, they had done pretty well. However, Draco did not appreciate being woken up from his slumber.
"Do you realize it's like 3:45 in the morning?" he asked as she continued to cry.
"Yes, I do, ferret! Just shut up and leave me alone!" Hermione yelled back.
"You woke me up. I'm not going anywhere," he said smugly, taking a seat in the desk chair across the room.
"At least you've gotten sleep," she huffed, throwing herself back onto the pillows.
"For crying out loud Granger you went to bed at eight! You should be more than well rested." Hermione glared. "You mean this entire time you haven't gotten any sleep?!" Hermione began crying again. Ever since Hermione had been told she had stress-triggered asthma, she had been forced to learn how to deal with the constant annoyance of her symptoms. Tonight had been one of the worst nights in a while and no matter what Hermione did, the coughing and wheezing would not stop, and sleep would not come.
"I've tried everything, and nothing is helping! I don't know what to do! But I can't miss class tomorrow!"
"Granger, sometimes you care way too much about class." Hermione glared again.
"You're not helping Malfoy. Just go back to your own stupid room and go back to sleep."
"Have you used your inhaler?"
"Ya. I've lost track of how many times."
"What about the stronger medicine?"
"I used it earlier in the day."
"Did you happen to have any caffeine earlier in the day?"
"Yes, I did. Why should that matter?"
"The caffeine can cause a reaction with the inhaler and cause your heart rate to speed up a bit. But if you still can't breathe, why don't you use the stronger one again?"
"I don't like to use that one at night. It causes me to feel jittery and makes me nervous, which makes it hard for me to sleep. And sometimes it gives me headaches."
"Well, it's almost 4 in the morning and you're already losing sleep. Why don't you go ahead and try it? You can take a sleep potion and calming draught afterward so that you can sleep. Perhaps take an anti-inflammatory potion too."
Hermione absolutely did not want to admit to herself that Draco may actually have a point. Obnoxious and cruel as he was, he seemed to have a natural wisdom and fascination for the human anatomy. On more than one occasion, Hermione had found herself surrendering to Draco's orders because somehow, they always seemed to lessen the pain that came from her labored breathing. Draco stood up and walked over to the dresser where Hermione kept all of her asthma medications. He grabbed the compressor and brought it over to the bedside table. He plugged the air tube into it and filled the kit with the liquid medicine. Unfortunately, Draco thought, he had more experience helping the obnoxious, mudblood know-it-all with illness than he ever cared to admit.
"Do you prefer the mask or the mouthpiece?" he asked.
"Mask, I guess," she sighed.
Much to Hermione's surprise, Draco slipped the mask around her head and then climbed onto the bed behind her, pulling her into his lap so that her back was against his bare chest. He flipped the machine. "Match your breathing to mine, Granger," he instructed. For the next ten minutes, Hermione focused her attention solely on breathing, inhaling when she felt him inhale and exhaling when she felt him exhale. Every once in a while, she would cough, but it didn't hurt anymore.
After the treatment was finished, Draco had everything cleaned and put back in place with a flick of his wand. "How are you feeling Granger?" he asked, taking her wrist in between his fingers to count her pulse.
"Weak. But not as tight." She yawned.
Draco sat back down in the chair at the desk. "You're not going to class in the morning, Granger. You need to rest," he said, handing her a couple of vials filled with potions.
"But…" She started to protest but he cut her off. "It does you no good to go to class if you're too exhausted to pay attention. I'll let McGonagall know that you're resting after being ill."
Hermione huffed. "Shall I force the draught down your throat? I would quite enjoy that since you would undoubtedly see it as a form of torture."
Hermione quickly swallowed both potions Draco had given her before handing back the vials and finally falling back onto the pillows. She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to clear every thought from her mind. This was going to be difficult to do knowing that Draco Malfoy was watching her. Unfortunately, she could no longer deny her affections toward him. At least not to herself. Especially while he did such a wonderful job taking care of her.
In just a few moments, Hermione had drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a blonde ferret who took pleasure in caring for her.