I am a very, very,very terrible person. I left all my wonderful readers with a killer cliffhanger and then did not update for weeks =( I apologize. No excuses, I'm just notorious for procrastinating! So, once again, really sorry, but I hope this chapter makes up for it!!! Oh and thank you so much for your wonderful reviews!! I love you alll.
Nothing here is mine.
"Oh my god, oh Merlin, Draco!" Hermione cried out, staring into his half open eyes and colorless face. She wanted to reach out and hold him, to console him and tell him everything would be ok but he looked so battered everywhere that she didn't know where to put her hands.
"Help me up..." Draco muttered as he closed his eyes and held out a hand for Hermione, which she attentively clutched and hoisted him up, placing her other hand gently on his lower back to help him keep his balance which elected a painful moan from Draco.
"I'm ok," he groaned as he sat against propped pillows on the bed, one hand rising to grab the side of his head. "My head is driving me crazy..."
"Wait here, I have a book I-I got it from my parents as a congratulatory gift for becoming Head Girl I thought it was a great gift since Harry always gets hurt-well never mind," Hermione stammered, confused at why she was going into such a detailed story about a book while Draco lay battered on the bed. "It contains spells that heals wounds, both ones inflicted by magic and non-magical objects, I'm going to go fetch it. Just wait here, don't move." What was the matter with her? Of course he wasn't going to move.. he couldn't!
Forcing herself to rip her eyes away from Draco, Hermione rushed out of his room and burst into her own just the across the hall. She threw herself at the chest at the end of her bed and flung it open.
"Where is it.. come on now," Hermione muttered as she pulled out her Ancient Runes and Herbology textbooks and threw them aside.
"Aha..!" Her eyes lit up as her hands reached down and grabbed 1001 Remedies of the Body.
In the short amount of time it took for Hermione to leave the room, get the book and return, Hermione found that Draco had drifted into a light sleep.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Hermione tenderly moped away the beads of sweat on his forehead and began to flip through the book. She had never tried any of these spells before and did not know if they would be painful or not and thus decided maybe it would be for the better if Draco remained asleep while she did this.
I should start off with something small..cuts would be a good place to start..or perhaps bruises. Satisfied that there was a spell in the book for bruises, Hermione mumbled the spell twice to herself quietly before performing it on Draco.
Hermione bit her lip and winced a little, partly from being scared that the spell wouldn't work properly and partly from being scared it would hurt Draco even more and wake him up.
However, her worry proved to be futile as the angry bruise on his arm faded into creamy white and Draco remained soundly asleep. Feeling relieved, Hermione tucked her wand under her chin, unbuttoned Draco's shirt and carefully slipped his arms out of the sleeves.
After finishing with the bruises, Hermione moved onto cuts and gashes, and as she continued, she became beyond pleased at how well these spells were working.
When both of Draco's arms finally returned to normal, Hermione silently congratulated herself and moved onto his chest which looked like a battle field comprised of bruises, cuts, gashes, what looked like burns, and scars.
Hermione bit back her tears at the thought of Draco being hurt like this before and pressed her fingers to her lips then touched an old, ragged scar that ran across his lower abdomen. She inhaled deeply and began to fix up Draco's torso; the bruises, cuts, scars and gashes were simple enough, but it was the burns that really made Hermione nervous.
The spell was complicated and required very specific wandwork which left even the smartest witch in Hogwarts a little shaky. However, after a few encouraging words, Hermione put her faith to the test and yielded optimum results.
Happy with her success, Hermione proceeded to the fix the rest of the burns but stopped when she saw that one burn on his lower abdomen extended under the band of his boxers. Hermione bit her lip, it seemed to be crossing the line to reach under his boxers, but this was a dire situation and it wasn't like the burn could reach any further than a few centimetres below the band anyways.
After reassuring herself a couple of times that this was strictly professional, Hermione reached down to gently push Draco's boxers a little lower. However, as soon as the burn was completely visible and Hermione was ready to perform the spell, a clammy hand grabbed her wrist and Draco's groggy voice croaked out, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I-I-I'm healing your wounds.. one of your, um, burns, it, er-" Hermione stammered, unable to talk normally, as if she were a child caught in the act of stealing.
"Oh," Draco sighed and released his iron grip on her hand. "Sorry, here," he muttered and roughly pushed the band of his boxers down even lower, unaware that Hermione had already done that. "O.K.?"
Still unable to speak, Hermione simply nodded, grabbed her wand and quickly murmured the incantation.
"I've finished the front of your torso, so just turn around and I'll do what I can for your back."
Draco hoisted himself up to his elbows and looked down at his chest. It was only then that he realized Hermione had unbuttoned his shirt, and that his previously scarred and battered torso was once again, looking brand-new.
Hermione must have also noticed, as she quickly told him to turn over and remove the rest of the shirt so that she could hide her blushing cheeks from his sight.
"For someone so badly beaten you sure recover fast." Hermione said, with a small smile on her lip.
"Hmm?"
"Your grip, Draco, and the fact that you're awake are simply astounding."
Draco stayed quiet for a moment, and then replied, "It's not the first time, Hermione. I've grown used to it. I had to suck it up..man up. If I fell apart like a doll every time my father-" Realizing that he said something he shouldn't have, Draco quickly sat himself upright to face Hermione, whose face was a painting of shock.
"Your...father?" Hermione whispered, tears stinging her eyes. "Your father did this to you?!"
"I-I didn't mean to say anything, Hermione, please, just forget it."
"How can your father do this to you?" Hermione cried out, "No matter how heartless or cruel he is, you are his SON! How, how could he hurt his own flesh and blood?!" With each word, her voice got louder, more desperate, more shrill. "I don't understand! What could you have done that was so terrible that he had to resort to this kind of disgusting, spiteful, pure evil behaviour! How long, Draco? How long has he been doing this, why haven't you told anybody? Surely someone could—"
"Hermione, Hermione," Draco said her name soothingly, reaching for her wildly gesturing hands and collecting them in his own.
"Nobody can do anything, my father has connections everywhere. He's a very powerful man, more powerful than people think. There's no one I can trust. You are the only one who knows about this besides my mother, Hermione. "He stared pleadingly into her frenzied brown eyes. "You cannot tell a soul. If word gets out to him that I've told someone, especially you, of what he's been doing to me it could mean big trouble. Not just for me, but for you too."
"You can trust me, I promise, I just can't believe that he would.. I mean I always knew that he was evil but even then.."
"Shh," Draco pressed a finger to her lip. "Thank you for finding me, and healing me."
"You're welcome; I finished your back too.. just before you turned around. Are you sure you don't want to see Madame Pomfrey too? I'm sure she could do more."
"I've got some spells of my own that will help heal up whatever is remaining. You've done more than enough for me."
"Oh, Draco..I had no idea of what you were going through.." Hermione muttered as his finger moved to trace her chin and cup the side of her face. Her hands had found their way to his hair and neck. "I feel so terrible, I wish there was something more I could do."
"Stay the night with me, then." Draco whispered, his eyes pleading. "Please?"
Hermione's heart began to race and skip a beat. Standing here in this position, she could once again see how built Draco was, and how chiselled his muscles were..how flawless his skin was.
"I hate being alone after these things, it helps to have someone close. We can talk all night, nothing more, I give my word." Draco scooted over on the bed to make room for Hermione, and held out his hand to her, hoping with all his heart and she would take it.
"Of course," She whispered with a smile and took his hand and helped herself onto the bed next to Draco.
Hermione's heart was racing at a speed she didn't think was humanly possible. They laid side by side with their arms grazing each other, and ever so slowly, Draco's hand moved to hold Hermione's.
They laid there in silence for a few minutes, neither of them was sure of what to say. Hermione's mind was so clouded with happiness that she couldn't unscramble her thoughts quickly enough. By the time she had the end of a sentence figured out, the beginning was scrambled yet again.
Draco laid so still beside her that she wasn't sure if he was still awake.
"I'm sorry, by the way, for how I acted after I kissed you the other day."
"Why did you do that?"
Draco sighed. "I guess I was afraid of what he would think, and do to me. Me and you, because if we were ever a couple, he wouldn't just want to hurt me, he would want to get you too." He squeezed her hand. "I was trying to do the right thing, and end it before it had a chance to blossom...that way you would be safe...But I just find myself thinking about you constantly. You're always on my mind, you and that kiss. I can't fight it anymore, I can't fight YOU anymore."
Upon hearing those words come from his lips, Hermione turned her head to face him and found herself to be greeted with his face facing her as well.
"I don't care, Draco, what anyone thinks, or threatens to do to me" Hermione whispered. Her desire to be with him was so overwhelming that she could think of nothing else. If Lucius came after her, she would fight him. If Harry and Ron got mad at her, she would convince them to give Draco a chance. Hearing that he felt the same way she did, that he had feelings for her too and felt something in that kiss gave Hermione all the courage in the world to fight off anything that could come between them so she could have the chance to hold him in her arms and tell the world that he was hers.
"Are you sure? It's going to be dangerous."
"I've never been so sure of anything in my life." Hermione replied, and the second the words left her mouth Draco's lips came crashing down. Warm, sweet, soft, loving lips enveloped her own and Hermione buried her hands in his hair as they kissed passionately. When they finally broke away, Draco kissed her forehead and tugged her closer to him so he could wrap his arms tightly around her.
Hermione couldn't help but smile as she snuggled her head in the nook of his shoulder. With her body pressed tightly against his, she began to drift off to sleep.
Draco closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her hair as he felt her breathing stabilize.
"I'm never letting you go, Hermione."
Hope you all enjoyed that =) Please leave me something nice.. and I hope I haven't lost all of you!