Choice's Curse {d.m.}

Choosing Forever

a/n: I love you all. Enjoy<3

The second the sound of the heavy hospital wing door shutting reverberated through the nearly deserted space, Draco's eyes fluttered open, and the sharp silver of his eyes might've been my favorite sight I'd ever seen. I had to grip the arms of the chair I was sitting in to stop myself from throwing myself onto him.

"Do you always talk so highly of me when I can't hear you?" Draco's voice was a throaty croak, the sound so scratchy and raw that I could almost feel the rough grate of it in my own throat.

Hot tears pricked at my eyes for what was at least the tenth time that hour, and I let out a wet laugh, sniffing and not even bothering to hide the trails of moisture that slid down my face. "You heard that? How long have you been awake?" I asked, but I couldn't find it in myself to be angry. Not when seeing Draco's open eyes eased so much anxiety in my chest that I finally felt I could breathe again.

His skin was too pale still, and the heavy bags under his eyes were as dark as bruises, even though he'd been asleep for days. The scrape of his voice must've hurt enough to make him wince, but he didn't show it. But he was awake, and he was okay enough to make jokes. The amount of sheer relief that washed over me felt as warm and wonderful as stepping into a hot shower after being out in the cold winter snow all day.

"Since Granger and the Weasel left. They had no bedside manner, you know. Who lets a door just swing shut in a hospital wing?" Nothing in the entire world was better than that faint hint of humor that lined Draco's voice, I decided. In the few days we'd been apart, even though I'd been asleep for much of it, I hadn't realized that I'd missed that sound quite so much. "I won't lie, Potter's apology wasn't bad. What he did to you this year still makes me so angry I want to break his nose again, but...not a bad apology."

"It was a good one, wasn't it?" The healing of Harry and I's relationship had soothed a wound that I hadn't let myself acknowledge had still been festering. "He said some nice things about you, too, though I'm sure you didn't miss those parts."

Draco twisted toward me, or tried to, but the movement pulled on the gauze wrapped around his body, making him cry out through gritted teeth as the burnt skin spanning most of his side was jostled. He stilled immediately, but I could tell from his clenched jaw and shallow, quick breaths that the pain was still persisting. I whipped my head around, searching for Madam Pomfrey, but Draco stopped me with a gentle, cold hand on mine.

"I'm fine," Draco grunted. The bravado of bearing the pain might have impressed me if it hadn't been accompanied by the agony that had pinched his face. That was still drawing his straight nose into a scrunch as he did his best to breathe through the flare of hurt that he'd caused himself by moving too much.

"Liar," I argued, but much like Draco, the sharpness of my voice was dulled by the worry that had seized my chest when Draco had let out such a pained, terrible noise.

A few seconds passed before Draco could respond again. "It's fine. Stupid of me to forget half of me is more burns than skin."

"Are you sure you don't want me to get Madam Pomfrey?" I asked, worried that the movement might've somehow disrupted the healing that had taken place so far.

Draco nodded. "Yes. I...if you'll allow me to be selfish for a moment, I'd like to keep you to myself for just a bit longer. It's been-it's been days since we've been able to talk."