Through tear streamed eyes
“Oh fuck!”
“Oh fuck!”
“OH FUCK!!”
‘My sentiments exactly Granger’, Draco thinks as he is now once again faced with the golden girl – her cheek imprinted with his knuckles and his Slytherin ring, hair flowing out from every direction of her head, and a wild look in her firewhiskey eyes flicking between relief, concern, a hint of embarrassment and godsfuckingdammit hope.
“Urm ok Dra-Malfoy,” she said his name – interesting – “ok you can’t talk right now, but I’m gonna go get the healers ok.” Is it a question – Draco can’t tell – and he frankly doesn’t care because if the golden bloody girl thinks he is letting go of her hand anytime soon she is seriously mistaken!
“Draco – fuck sorry – Malfoy, you need to let go of my hand” No! Hah, she said it again! “I need to get the healers for you” - don’t care - “I promise I will come right back to you!” Oh? Well, that doesn’t sound too bad to Draco so, very, very, slowly he relaxes his hand, releasing her. She gives him one more tight squeeze and then dashes out of sight.
Right ok, where is he? Yucky green walls – Mungo’s – perfect they are a sensible lot Draco reckons and so he will have been under the best care – especially if his bedside companion would have anything to do about it, he decides.
Hermione scuttles back to his side with a throng of healers at her heels, each bearing a different expression. Some seem relieved, others concerned, and a few that look outright disgusted by his mere being alive – Draco decides this is probably fair with him being a death eater and all – but Hermione, Merlin she only has hope on her face. “Mr Malfoy, we are going to remove your tubes and run some diagnostic charms and then we will explain everything I promise”.
Hermione’s grip tightens as the healer speaks, “Draco, Healer Merriweather is the best, he’s been looking after you since you got here, you can trust him.” Had his face been twisted up? Draco tries to relax it as the Healers descend, pulling all sorts of equipment from him and casting several charms over his prone form.
“Ok Mr. Malfoy, before we begin with what has happened it would be best if you didn’t try and speak too much, Miss. Granger if you wouldn’t mind getting him some water?” Granger moves a glass with a purple straw into his general face direction, but his muscles are so sore that he can’t even move his head, so the purple plastic thing is placed into his mouth by her gentle hands, swallowing was downright agony, but her hopeful eyes spurred him on for another sip.
“Good?” He nodded in reply “Oh Draco, I’m so glad you're awake, it was so awful when you passed out in the hall! Oh Merlin the curses you were hit with, I can’t believe you lasted as long as you did! I dragged Poppy over – you know Madame Pomphrey – as soon as you wouldn’t wake up – oh god Draco it’s been over a month!” Hermione had practically flung herself into his chest, tears streaming down her face. Hold on A MONTH! His rapid squeezing of her hand must have displayed his shock “Oh Draco Salazar that was theworst way to tell you! I’m so sorry! Yes, you have been completely out of it since the battle. So much has happened – well that’s what I’ve read in the paper and from what everyone that has come by has said, I haven’t left the hospital since we got you transferred here!”
Granger hadn’t left his side this entire time?! HOLD UP! Where had this come from? Why? Draco cannot reason it; he has never been anything but an absolute cunt to the girl! I mean his memory is hazy of her in 5th and 6th year, though he is sure that the many ingrained prejudices against people like her must have fuelled some sort of vitriol between them in that time. Then she up and disappeared for most of 7th year, popping up now and again in various places, posters of her face marked as ‘Undesirable No. 2’. But why on earth is she here, in the heat of the battle Draco can reason her humanity to him, but a month by his side? It is unfathomable!
Throughout his crisis of the world and morality and other such nonsense that Granger is the centre of, the healers are talking, planning, and casting more and more charms around his person. But Draco cannot hear any of it, and all he can think of is Granger, all he can look at is Granger. Her eyes are so sad, yet burning with hope (why is it always hope)! What has Draco ever done in his life to deserve her hope?!
“Draco…Draco… you need to listen to the healers, ok?” Herm-Granger’s melodic voice interrupts his spiral, pulling him back to the surface, back to the world.
“Ok Mr. Malfoy, as Miss Granger said I am Healer Merriweather. Now you sustained multiple cruciatus curses during the battle, as well as an assortment of other curses, hexes and the like,” Hermi-Granger’s (fuck!) hand is now tightening in his, whether to show support or simply relieving her own stress Draco is not sure, “you had multiple deep wounds and an array of surface level contusions. Not to mention the underlying physical trauma you must have endured prior to the battle as your body was immensely weak.”
The horror of the past two years, of his father’s frustrations and the Dark Lord’s disappointment, comes back to Draco, and the shame that Hermione (fuck it all) has to hear about it hits Draco like a bludger. “We were surprised you even had brain function after you arrived here due to the extensive damage of the cruciatus curse inflicted upon you. But after we removed any curses and treated your wounds, we had to put you in a medically induced coma,” Hermione’s breathing is ragged at this point in his ear, “to ensure that your brain had enough time to rest and recover.”
The healers, the lot of them, look rather relieved now that they know all their hard work hasn’t gone to waste. “We removed the medicine keeping you in that state a week ago, but it seems your body was rather resistant to waking up”
“Stubborn prat” Hermione whispers under her breath with a small smile.
“- yes well – over the last day your brain started to, well, turn on shall we say. The scans we have just completed confirm that aside from muscle decay due to your prone state and previous malnourishment, you are physically in good health. Your brain scans are very promising and aside from some long-term issues that we will discuss later, any previous curse damage has all but gone away. I must say, young man that you have a remarkably determined head, not many could survive what you have.” Hermione is now in tears which is slightly off-putting, and concerning and if Draco had any use of his limbs, he was sure he would wrap her close to him. Though he doesn’t even need to because the girl practically curls herself around his arm and into his neck, hiccoughing, and sniffling.
“Now your throat will be sore from the tubes that kept you breathing and lack of use, so I want you to keep drinking water and slowly start to talk quietly, and the physio healers will be in this afternoon to help you start moving again. We shall leave you to rest Mr Malfoy,” He casts a pitying glance at Granger, “Miss Granger.” And promptly leaves the room with the rest of the healers.
“G-gra-granger” His scratchy voice pulls her from his neck, and she promptly re-adopts her flustered and mother hen-like attitude.
“Oh, Draco! Here, here have some water” Shoving the straw in his mouth, “Oh Salazar Draco I cannot tell you how relieved I am!" She seems to be flicking between Salzar and Merlin, which is awfully confusing because the lions would never use his house's namesake typically. "Merlin, it was awful! But I stayed with you I promise, I would never leave you alone with some of the people walking around!” Who was walking around that Granger had to defend him fro… oh well yes that does make sense, but why was she- “And our- I mean your friends came round and visited, the whole crew, Blaise, Pansy, Theo. They were here just last night when you started showing brain activity!” She was going on and on, and although Draco thought she was absolutely adorable in her panicked state, with curls whirling everywhere, he was in a huge amount of pain.
Trying to slowly grab her arm to calm down, which took immense amounts of energy and was extremely painful, she finally quieted and gave him another pained look. “Gr-granger, water, please?”
“Yes, yes of course! Oh Draco, I am so sorry, Salazar I can hardly believe we are here. I am so sorry Draco, please you have to forgive me!”
Forgive her? Forgive her for what? The fact that she had to fight a war because his family and countless others thought themselves better than her? Completely insane behaviour frankly considering how absolutely brilliant she is! What could she possibly be sorry f-
“I just can’t,” she is sobbing now “I can’t believe I let you talk me into it!” What? Talk her into What?! “I listened to you of course, how- how could I not, after everything in 5th year, and then what we had to do to survive in 6th, I knew we had to but god Draco it hurt so much! It broke my heart!” WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK IS SHE TALKING ABOUT! Her eyes are streaked red, and she is gasping onto his hand, and Draco had no fucking clue what she is talking about, and clearly, his confusion shows because she delivers the blow to him with utter devastation in her eyes.
“When you told me I had to obliviate our relationship from your mind, Merlin Draco, I begged you not to make me, but you wouldn’t listen! You made me take away three years of us!”