Chapter 6
Her exploration had taken up the better part of the afternoon. She had eventually gathered a collection of books, some educational and some not. The library had no lack of comfortable chairs and over the afternoon she had found herself sitting in the lone loveseat beside the window. It gave a perfect view of the gardens and she loved being able to look out over them between chapters.
Malfoy had left at some point during her time amongst the shelves. When she had returned to their seating area he was gone, only a fresh cup of tea waiting in front of her chair. He didn’t reappear until Hermione noticed the sun had begun to dip below the horizon.
Hermione was in the middle of a rather promising section of evidence towards the use of unicorn hairs in healing potions. Something many believed to be an unethical component. She hardly noticed him leaning against the nearby shelf until his turning of a page rustled. She looked up to find him invested in a book held in his hand. Nothing seemed amiss until she studied him a little longer. His hand wasn’t still. The pages moved with the light tremors his hand shook with.
“Did you skip a potion?”
He didn’t even look up to reply.
“I assumed you might find it helpful to see some sort of symptoms”
Upon further inspection she could see other signs of discomfort. He moved his weight, almost noticeably, from foot to foot. His hands that are usually so calm looked tense, his shoulders even more so.
“This is after only missing one potion. How further does it progress?”
Hermione made conscious use of her words. Malfoy wouldn’t take to her using negative connotation.
“You’ll see”
That seemed to be the end of that. He continued reading, no further discussion. Hermione looked back to her book too, now wholly uninterested. None of the words seemed to process as her eyes skimmed the pages. After rereading the same page for the tenth time she finally stood with a light sigh.
“May I perform some diagnostic charms?”
He looked up this time, directly into her eyes. His gaze almost sent her back into her chair, but she held her ground. He took a moment before responding.
“Fine”
With confirmation of his consent Hermione took a few steps towards him. She stopped when he was within arms reach but before they began to be too close. Hermione didn’t know why she felt as though she should stand back. Something about his aura led her to give him space. He seemed like he wanted it that way anyway.
She removed her wand from her thigh holster and began the charms. The moment it was complete she realised just how wrong Theo had been. Malfoy had a much more severe case than they had thought. Or maybe than Malfoy had let them believe. Assuming Malfoy had an average baseline his levels had dropped a significant amount. Hermione stood stunned that this was after only missing one dose for what could only have been a few hours. If she multiplied the drop by four, then he would be in an almost cruciod state. She removed the current charm and moved to a more complicated one. She didn’t know where exactly she had learnt such a spell. She accredited it to her many book escapades that she couldn't remember where it had come from. Regardless, she spoke the incantation. The chart began flashing. She had never seen such a thing. Patients with this kind of chart, if alive, were left in the Jancie Thicky ward. The last time she had seen this kind of damage was the Longbottoms.
“You should be insane,”
Her spell stopped as she took a step back.
“How are you–”
He placed the book he was reading back on the shelf as he spoke, cutting off her sentence.
“I am a legilimens”
He said it so calmly, like it was nothing. The implication is there but it sounds impossible. He had occluded and protected his mind during the damage? Hermione had never seen such a thing; it shouldn’t even be possible. It would take so much skill, more than she had seen anyone have.
“Is that even possible?”
Her mind was still reeling. How was she supposed to treat this? Most patients like this were given 24/7 hospice care. They didn’t get better, just lived. What did Malfoy expect of her?
“I have been a legilimens since I was a child”
Hermione took a deep, steadying breath before thinking. If he had used occlumency to protect his mind, then his body would be in similar condition to the Longbottoms. She hadn’t been part of their treatment, but she had studied their files during her training. They were using a very strong sedative to combat the constant muscle strain. Without it they were almost constantly in a state of being cruciod. Their bodies would go into seizure like spams where it mimicked the cruciatus curse.
Would Malfoy be the same? His active mind would make the use of such strong potions unethical. He would be awake and lucid but unable to control his own body. That wasn’t an option. This potion he currently was taking, it had to be the key to his treatment. Maybe she could reverse engineer a second version that allowed for him to function normally. She might have to revise the potion every few years but that was fine. She would need books on the unforgivables, more than she already had at home.
Without speaking she began walking towards the section she knew such books would be in. The aisles gave off a chilling cold and light screams and whispers seemed to be echoing out of the books. She walked until she reached a section on dark curses. She began removing book after book, floating them beside her as she went. When she had a stack that almost emptied a whole shelf she turned back to walk to her previous seat.
Malfoy hadn’t moved from his spot beside the shelf. He just watched as she opened the first book in the stack. She read in silence until she finally came upon a section that required notes. She pulled out her wand and removed her hair tie from her wrist, turning it into parchment. Within moments she had charmed the parchment into filling with words from the book. She could revise it later when she had more time.
At this moment she was reminded of Malfoy standing observing her. She hadn’t even thought to ask permission to continue her reading in his library. She had to have been there for hours already.
“You can stay and continue reading. Any books you don’t get to you can take with you”
It crossed her mind that he may be using his legilimency on her. He had responded to her glance as if he could read her mind. Her eyebrows moved together before speaking.
“You aren’t using legilimency on me, are you?”
His mouth moved into the ghost of a smile that quickly disappeared as his face went blank.
“No. I don’t use it for anything unnecessary. You’re just predictable”
Hermione huffed at that and returned to the book sitting in her lap. She had a decent amount of reading to get through before she could leave. The sound of Malfoys retreating footsteps was the last sound she heard before falling into the literature.
On Hermione's fourth book a crack broke her concentration. She turned towards the sound to find a small house elf looking at her. The female elf was dressed in a black dress, something that showed her free will.
“Master Malfoy sent Star to check on Mistress”
The use of the title left Hermione a bit flustered. She was never addressed formally by anyone.
“O-oh I’m okay. You can call me Hermione”
The elf looked both happy and like she was going to burst into tears.
“Star can call Mistress Ms. Hermione?”
Her big eyes looked to Hermione full of tears as she sniffed. Hermione put down her book ready to comfort the poor elf, unsure what she had done to upset her.
“Yes, if that is alright with you”
The elf nodded so fast that Hermione was afraid she might hit her head on the nearby shelf. Her ears flopped with the movement in such a dobby-like fashion that left Hermione's heart burning in her chest.
Hermione had found out about Dobby passing after the war. He had been part of the rescue mission to get Ron and Harry. The same one that was supposed to save her. He died to save them; she didn’t know much else. Neither Ron nor Harry had wanted to talk about it, and she wasn’t one to push.
Star snapped her fingers and a table appeared before Hermione, a plate of food in the center.
“Ms. Hermione needs to eat”
Star disappeared before Hermione could protest anything. She turned back to the food realising it was some kind of dish she had never seen before. She sighed before deciding to eat, she truly hadn’t realised how hungry she was. From looking out the window she assumed it must be quite late at night, maybe around 11. The stars were covered by the misty clouds, only allowing the light of the moon to shine through. She stared at it for a while thinking of all the tasks she needed to complete. She also had the trial to attend. She made the decision to go see Harry and Ginny tomorrow, even if only for a few minutes after work. Harry would surely need the support and Ginny likely did too.
She moved her finished plate to the side before gathering the books she had finished. She had hoped to get through more, but she had to leave eventually. The books floated behind her as she made her way to place them back on the shelf. While placing the last one she heard the familiar crack, Star was likely back to clear her plate.
When she returned, she found a basket holding the remaining books. It must have been left by Star. She approached the basket to lift it only to find it had been charmed to weigh almost nothing. After placing her shoes back on her feet, she grabbed the basket and began making her way towards where she remembered the ballroom to be.
It took her a few minutes and a few wrong turns before finding the large doors. As she entered, she was again drawn towards the painting hung over the wall opposite the floo. She walked towards it, pausing a few steps away. It must be charmed to calm the viewer. The calmness that passed over her when looking at the piece had no other explanation. There were charms she knew that could draw you into an object. Just as she was moving to pull her wand out and cast a detection spell a cough from the door startled her.
“Going to hex the painting?”
Malfoy stood in the doorway, a smirk on his face. The sight fit right together; his hair blended with the room in a way that enhanced the sunshine feeling of the golden decor.
“Is it charmed?”
He didn’t respond, only motioned with his hand towards it. Openly giving permission to test the painting herself. She took the chance, casting the detection charm without a second thought.
Nothing.
The painting was completely ordinary. It wasn’t even a wizard painting upon further inspection, it was a muggle painting. The images inside are completely still. She stood looking at it for a few minutes, Malfoy forgotten in the doorway.
His footsteps snapped her attention back to him. He had approached her, taking his place at her side. He didn’t look at her, focused on the painting. Hermione took the time to look over his side profile. He looked just as he had in school but less…arrogant?
Something about him had changed but Hermione couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“Are you done staring?”
She moved her eyes to the ground, her cheeks heating again.
“Sorry”
Before she could embarrass herself further, she turned to walk towards the floo. She reached it only to find no floo powder anywhere in view. Before she could turn to ask, Malfoy was beside her holding out a small bowl. Where he had picked it up from, she had no idea but in her rush of embarrassment she didn’t care. Only reached out to collect some before immediately stepping into the floo. She looked up to Malfoy. She should say goodbye, it’s the polite thing to do after raiding his library all afternoon.
“Thank you,”
She raised the books in her hand slightly, drawing his gaze to them instead of her face.
“For the books. I'll return them next time”
The moment the words leave her mouth she wants to take them back. The implication that she would be coming back to his home and not have their meetings in the hospital was left in the air. He didn’t seem to react to it. He nodded in response.
“Take your time”
It was Hermione's turn to nod. After a few beats of silence where it became increasingly uncomfortable Hermione pushed out a quick farewell.
“Bye then”
She moved her eyes over his shoulder to the painting and let out a breath at the calm that enveloped her.
“Goodbye Granger”
She uttered her home address before dropping the powder. Her eyes moved to his as she was pulled, reminiscent of their parting at Nott Manor. This time, his eyes remained guarded. The cool grey swam before her eyes long after her departure leaving an unsettled feeling in her chest.