"Sorry... I'm so sorry Hermione"
Everything was still fuzzy around the edges. She was looking at a face, but she could no more see a nose or eyes through all the blurriness than she could tell who's face it was. Except for thefamiliar coloured tell-tale holo where hair should have been, Hermione would not have known at all who she was looking at, at that moment.
"Sorry"
Another apology and she thought she heard a sniffle breaking the end of the word. Her senses were almost too floaty for this to be real. She was ready to dismiss it as a dream but something was grounding her to the moment. Slowly, feeling seemed to trickle into her arms and she realised that she hadn't been feeling her body until then. No wonder she felt floaty.
But she was supposed to be on the run! An important realisation as her vision cleared in increments, with small slow blinks. Someone was sitting beisde her. A familiar someone, head bowed over so he hadn't realised that she had started regaining conscience. but...
What was he doing here? She hadn't seen him for months, being constantly on the run, even messages had been sparse and coded. Vital information that had kept her on her feet and helped her keep Harry safe. Harry, oh Harry! Where was he?!
She must have moved, because Draco was looking up at her the next moment with a stricken face. She could finally see enough to watch relief flash across his features before they contorted again.
"Hermione!" He movedd to immediately gather her in her arms, but she must have flinched because he stopped right where he was, arms suspended in the air and face looking ready to crumple. She couldn't bear to see him like that anymore, so she tried to smile at him through the numbness in her body and he settle for taking her hands. She didn't think she could move her arms yet but his hands were wrapped warmly around hers. Softly cradling them as if it were her heart in his hands.
"D...Draa...," she tried, but her voice came out rough and raspy before a coughing fit took over. Draco quickly leaned over and helped her swallow a small vial of some grass green potion which quickly soother her throat. By the time she settled back to look at him again, Draco had moved to give her the personal space she had been comfortable with, though she wished he would move closer now. She wanted him to hold her and tell her how he had found her, and why she was lying numb and woke up to him apologising.
Her vision had completely cleared and she took in what she could see without moving around too much. She seemed to be in a big bedroom, with the light filtering in from the windows across from where she lay. It was setting off Draco's hair like a halo around his head, but his face was anxious and she focused back on his worried eyes.
"Draco, what happened?"
He gave her that look again, as if whatever had happened had been his fault. But she didn't have to wait for his answer as memories began to trickle back now that her mind was clear. Being found out. The Snatchers. Harry and Ron being locked up. Bellatrix.
She jerked forward again, eyes going a little wild as Draco tried to reassure her, but she couldn't hear him through her panic. Trying to move limbs only made her twitch this and that way, uncoordinated limbs twitching as if to flail. Her heart thumped hard. Harry and Ron were in danger! She had to help!
"Herm…Hermione! They're okay! They are okay!" Draco had to take hold of her shoulders and shake her, just a little. She stared at him, wild eyed and almost uncomprehending. He repeated for her sake, enunciating each word clearly. "Mi. you are alright. They are alright. You are all safe."
Finally realising what he was saying, she drew some long breaths, listing into his side as she exhaled. His arms moved around to help her lean against him properly, hands settling to move in soothing motions on her upper arm once she was in a comfortable position. She only had to look up at him and he read the question in her eyes.
"I am sorry Hermione." He started with an apology again. She knew him well enough to know that he would keep asking for forgiveness until she said she'd forgiven him. It was something she loved about him; he never brushed aside the need for apologising. She remembered how he would keep saying sorry after he upset her with something. Even when she made up with him, he kept asking sincerely until she verbally expressed that she had forgiven him. Just for this moment though, she squeezed his wrist, wordlessly imploring him to go on.
"Do you remember…." He trailed off but she knew Draco was asking if she knew she had been tortured. She did. Her body shuddered a little against his involuntarily and he had a regretful expression on his face again before he soldiered on. "When I got out of the room, I set Potter and the rest free first. Dobby took them…. Wherever he took them. And when I got back, Aunt B…. Aunt was taking out her dagger so my mom stunned her and I took you out of there quickly."
"Th..then what happened to your mother Draco?" she clutched desperately at him. The idea of Bellatrix terrified her but she didn't want Draco to lose his family or get injured trying to protect her. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if he lost anything anymore. He had already helped so much while living with a monster in his own home, and now he had involved himself personally. This could not end well in any possible way.
"She sent Whippi to help heal you. I don't know what she did with Aunt Be… with Aunt but she told me not to worry about her." But she did worry and he huffed a small laugh at her anxious look, though his eyes remained tinged with sorrow. "Look Mi, everyone is okay."
"Don't we have to move before Voldemort shows up?" She knew any reprieve was brief until Harry completed his mission. They couldn't afford to let their guard down until everything was over.
"No, we are safe here." His embrace became even more protective, though he continued the soothing motions of his hand on her arm. "The Manor's wards are up and we are on lockdown."
"But we can't just stay here forever Draco." She proded gently and he exhaled an almost defeated sigh.
"Let us worry about that after you recover from…. After you recover." Draco swallowed and she didn't need to look up from where she was cocooned against him to see the look of regret on his face. He shifted her a little and gazed at her, his stormy eyes beseeching. "I am so sorry you got hurt Hermione. Sorry I couldn't protect you. Sorry it was my aunt… who did all this."
"Please Draco, stop." She couldn't bear to see him contrite anymore. "You don't have to apologise for this. We knew very well this could happen and it was a risk we took."
Mustering all her strength, she moved her hands to cradle his face. Brushing her thumb along his cheekbones, she said softly, "you've been so, so brave today. You saved me. You saved all of us. I should be thanking you Draco. Please don't beat yourself over this."
He looked like he wanted to protest, or apologise- or both- but he subsided at her whispered "please" and pressed a kiss to her forehead instead. Draco brought up a hand to smooth her hair back from her face and helped her settle again. she didn't know what to do but he helped her back to sleep, talking in soothing tones until she slipped into a blissful dream.
Later, she thought that that moment was the moment that kept her moving through the protracted war. It was her strength, even more than the impossible hope of defeating Voldemort. It was only a few days, but it was if Draco's love and care healed her very soul rather than just the torture her body had endured. But that would me much, much later.
For now, Hermione whispered Draco's name as she slept and smiled when he told her he was there. He was always there.