Amicis

It’s been a long time

and seeing the shape of your name 

still spells out pain

Over the weeks that had passed, they found a very nice pattern. They would do homework together and continue to work in potions together. They sometimes went to the kitchens before lessons when things were getting too much for either himself or Granger. 

Draco heard the familiar knock again on the tapestry. They hadn’t made plans to meet per se but it was an unsaid agreement. She comes to his common room after lessons and they study for a bit, get sneered at by the rest of his house and then sit in comfortable silence occasionally punctuated with conversation. 

Blaise and Theo had started joining them more regularly seemingly more interested in what Theo had referred to Hermione as “his pet Gryffindor.” He didn’t know how to feel about that. He was unsure weather he liked them hanging around with his friend. Okay, okay he knew that he had no right to use a possessive pronoun because technically she didn’t belong to him but he was possessive over his things. His name meant dragon for merlins sake. 

He opened the door to let the silly witch in and made a mental note to himself that if she hadn’t gotten bored with him by this time next week, or showed any signs of foul play towards him then he would give her the password. 

He paused. She was in clear distress. Her hair was in a ponytail but part of her hair had begun falling out of it as if it had been pulled. The bags under her eyes which he had noticed seemed to be getting much darker weeks ago seemed to reach a new peak. Her eyes were red raw and she had definitely been crying. Despite the fact he knew that previous to this year he had made her cry himself, it still felt like a kick in his stomach that somebody had dared to make his friend cry. 

He grabbed her by the shoulders quickly looking up and down the dungeon corridor to see if there was anyone around who might have been responsible for this and pulled her into the common room. Lest she freezes outside because the stubborn witch refused to cast warming charms on herself. Before he even had the chance to ask her what was wrong she ran full pelt into his chest and began sobbing. He froze. He didn’t like tears. He hated it when girls cried. Hearing her muffled sobs against him instantly transported him to the drawing room in his manor. 

“I’m going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?”

Crucio 

“You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!”

Crucio 

“What else did you take? What else have you got? Tell me the truth or, I swear, I shall run you through with this knife!”

Crucio

“What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!”

Crucio

“How did you get into my vault?” Bellatrix screamed

Crucio

“Did that dirty little goblin in the cellar help you?”

Crucio

Draco didn’t realise he was on the floor. Blaise was looking at him telling him to breathe. Opposite him Theo was doing the same to Hermione. 

“What happened,” he croaked. 

“We walked in to see you both holding onto each other for dear life hyperventilating,” Blaise said bluntly. 

“It’s nothing to worry about it’s only-“ Theo was interrupted. 

“A panic attack,” Hermione finished for him. Hermione and Draco stared at each other with understanding and his cheeks flushed red. Did she know he had just had a flashback to what had happened at Malfoy manor over a year ago? Why was she crying in the first place? what had happened? Blaise and Theo shared a look of understanding. 

“Nobody is in our dorm right now if you want to go in there. I think you might have a lot to talk about,” Theo broke the silence. Draco was confused. What did they all know that he didn’t? 

Hermione nodded and whispered “please.”

Draco stood behind her and didn’t touch her. He was still mortified by what had happened earlier and the fact that he had been allegedly “holding onto her for dear life.” 

She walked into the dorm and took a seat in the arm chair which was surrounded by the most books. He raised an eyebrow. 

“I feel the most comfortable around books, they calm me down,” she admitted. 

Draco snorted. “How very Hermione Granger.” She whimpered slightly at her last name and that snapped him back into focus. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Hermione nodded and conjured up the daily prophet, Draco quit his subscription upon coming back to Hogwarts. He refused to read all the diabolical essays they writ about his family and even himself. 

‘Breaking news: Deatheaters escape Azkaban yet again.’

He felt himself pale instantly. Before he continued reading. 

Over 40 convicted death-eaters managed to escape Azkaban last night. Famous mentions go to: Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Rabastian Lestrange, Parkinson snr, Nott snr and Lucius Malfoy. 

His heart sank. No way. He wouldn’t have done this, surely. He wouldn’t have caused himself even more trouble. Hadn’t he learned his lesson the first time. He looked up at Hermione. 

“There’s more,” she croaked. 

He turned over the page. 

Whole muggle street in Australia left murdered. 

Last night Aurors were called to Australia to investigate the repeated use of unforgivables where they found a whole street murdered leaving two muggles insane due to the prolonged use of the curacious curse. Muggle couple Wendell and Monica Wilkins appeared to have had memories which were previously obliviated restored before being tortured to insanity. When asked if this was likely to be the work of Bellatrix Lestrange and the rest of the Azkaban escapees the Aurors dealing with this incident replied “no comment.”

Draco wasn’t stupid. He quickly put two and two together. During the war he and Bella were tasked with attempting to locate Hermione’s parents. They got as far as locating them to Australia before the battle of Hogwarts. The plan was to find her parents, use them as bait to lure Hermione back. Voldemort wasn’t stupid, he knew that if Hermione came Harry’s bleeding heart, hero complex would cause him to come too. But it was too late because the battle of Hogwarts occurred not long after that. 

He braved a look at Hermione who looked distraught. “Your parents,” he whispered. She nodded. Clearly not trusting her voice. He opened his mouth to apologise but realised that no apology would be able to fix the insanity that his aunt had bestowed on Hermione’s parents. 

“Did you know?” Hermione asked. He knew what she was asking but she clarified anyways. “That your father would be escaping.” He shook his head. 

“I-“ he began. He toyed with the idea in his head for a while before finally deciding to say it. He wasn’t searching for redemption through her. He knew this one admission wouldn’t be enough to balance the amount of lives he took in the war. It wouldn’t balance the fact that he worked on the project with his aunt to locate Hermione’s parents either. “I haven’t spoken to him since the night you, Harry and Ron were brought into the manor. I didn’t even say goodbye to him when he got sentenced to live in Azkaban.” 

Hermione nodded. “Do you think she’s after me?” He flinched at the question. Of course she was. Hermione sealed Bellatrix’s imprisonment. If there was any chance of her getting free Hermione threw that all away when she testified against her. Nobody else had, most of the people that ever came against Bella were either insane from torture or dead. And the rest were too terrified to bother. But not Hermione. She handed over memories, she spoke against her. She looked his aunt dead in the eyes and watched as she was sentenced to life. She made sure that Bella would die in a cell. However it all went wrong. It always went wrong. Draco nodded once. 

He saw Hermiones eyes closing slightly with the realisation. She looked shattered. He didn’t even want to guess when the last time she slept was. Before he could stop himself, “when was the last time you slept?” Hermione’s eyes shot open. He hated that it was likely that nobody else in Gryffindor had noticed how sleep deprived she was  

“I haven’t been able to sleep properly recently. Not for longer than 3 hours anyways,” she replied sheepishly. 

Draco could imagine why she wasn’t sleeping but he want confirmation anyway. He couldn’t bring her parents back. At this moment in time he couldn’t trace his dad and his aunt but there was something he could do. Her sleep he could definitely fix. 

“Nightmares.”

He nodded in response and then when to his cupboard. Opening the draw next to Hermione as her eyes widened with realisation that all the books were his. He smirked to himself before finally finding what he was looking for. Even when his godfather wasn’t working at Hogwarts, he still brewed endless amounts of potions for Draco. He had his own inventory at Hogwarts. Dreamless sleep potion and since Snape’s narrow escape from a death by Nagini: an anti-venom potion. Two things he always kept in his own private stash. He handed the potion to Hermione who looked up at him with teary eyes. 

“I can’t.” She paused. “I can’t go back to the common room. I can’t see everyone pitying me and being nice to me again all of a sudden just because they feel bad for me. I can’t do it,” she whispered. 

“It’s okay. I’ll keep Blaise and Theo out and you can sleep in my bed.” He realised what he had said. “If you are comfortable of course. I won’t let anyone in if you are worried about that or if-“ She interrupted him with a hug. He stiffened again realising this was the second time she’d hugged him in the space of an hour. “Jesus if I knew you’d get all soft on me I wouldn’t have offered,” he said before tentatively patter he on the back. He stepped away from her and went to his drawer pulling out a jumper and a pair of joggers before handing them to her and pointing at the bathroom door. She went into the bathroom to change and he audibly sighed. He had a lot to do. He waited for her to finish changing before he left in case she had anything to ask. 

She walked out of the bathroom and he smirked at how big his clothes were on her. “I- do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?” He asked. 

“Could you,” she flushed. “Could you just sit here until the potion affects kick in,” she asked. He nodded quickly. That was something he could do. She got into his bed and he sat an appropriate distance away from her watching as she downed the potion. She moved closer to him and he noticed she was cold. He wordlessly cast a heating charm on her and she quickly dozed off. He waited for a couple of minutes just watching her breathing before he decided to go downstairs and talk to Theo and Blaise.

Theo spoke first. “Is she okay?” 

“I didn’t realise you cared so much for Granger’s safety.” Draco said bluntly. He was tired himself. His fucking father had just escaped Azkaban. The stupid selfish man doesent even realise that he isn’t just affecting himself, he is now putting a target on his and his mothers head. 

“I didn’t realise you cared so much for her?” Theo countered. “Besides you guys have been practically stuck at the hip ever since Weasley’s outburst in the dining hall.” 

Theo wasn’t exactly wrong. They had been spending a hell of a lot of time together ever since that day. He didn’t understand why. He bullied her for years. He was a death-eater. He knew she hadn’t forgiven him. Hell, he hadn’t even apologised. But there was never any pressure when they were together. She seemed content with silence and besides what was there even to speak about? It was just easier when things were quiet. When they did speak they spoke about shallow topics, like the charms assignment or books they’d read. 

It wasn’t like how it was with Theo and Blaise. He spoke about everything and anything with they. It helped that neither boys had any filter and didn’t mind prying into personal matters. 

Everything had stayed shallow, until today of course. She had openly cried in front of him. He wondered why she had chosen him to cry to. But then again the rest of her house were complete twats and he knew he wouldn’t want fake pity from people. Especially people that let her be called words like slut and mudblood. 

“I’m guessing you know?” He asked Theo. 

“About what?“ Theo replied. Dracos eyes widened. There was no way on earth he didn’t know. He accioed the prophet and passed it to Theo. “Fuck.” He whispered. Draco was likely to agree with him. Fuck indeed. 

“Have you wrote to your mother yet?” Blaise asked. He was reading the prophet over Theo’s shoulder. 

“Not yet. I’ll do it now.” Draco returned to his dorm. He didn’t want to write in front of his friends. He also wanted to give the couple some time to talk things over. He knew Theo would be absolutely terrified and distraught. Draco remembered the day Theo found out his dad was going to Azkaban. He threw a party at his manor and invited everybody. Theo hated his dad. Seeing him escape from Azkaban likely made him frightened.

Draco entered his room. Granger was curled into a small ball, her chest rising and falling rhythmically. He pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote his mother. 

Mother,

If father reaches out. DO NOT. And I repeat. DO NOT. Answer him. He has brought enough shame to himself. Do not let him bring shame to you as well. Do not contact him. If he comes to the manor please write me immediately. 

Stay safe,

Draco. L. Malfoy. 

With a sigh he owled the letter off. He needed a plan now. His father and his fucking aunt had escaped Azkaban. He moved his letter opener off his desk so he could make room for books. The silver blade nicked his finger and began to drip onto his desk. His blood was pure red. All blood was pure red. That’s when it hit him. Who else does he share blood with? His aunt and his father. Both of whom he needs to locate, before they can do anymore damage.