Alone Together

Death is a Good Joke

The next day, Draco groaned as he sat up, forgetting he was in the dungeon, next to Hermione Granger. He rubbed his eyes blearily, the clinking of the chain on the cell bars reminding him of his situation. Looking down in disgust, he remembered he hadn't changed his clothes in around five days. They felt nasty, and Draco had every urge to just take them off if it weren't for Hermione Granger's presence. He couldn't do anything he wanted because of her.

But he couldn't complain, lest word get back to the other Death Eaters about his lack of enthusiasm about "serving the Dark Lord"

Draco rattled the chain against the bars to try and get Granger to awaken, and for a split second, he thought she might be dead, but she rose slowly, wincing in pain, looking like death, but still alive.

"You look awful." he told her. He could tell this was not what she wanted to wake up to.

"At least I'm not dead." she replied, her voice raw with pain, rising up from her cot in stiff movements that made her look like an elderly woman.

"Yeah but I don't look like it. If anyone had to guess between us they would guess you."

"Good. Then maybe they'd let me rest in peace." she grumbled. Draco couldn't help but shake his head disbelievingly.

"You get tortured daily, and have barely any sleep, and yet you still manage to come up with these stupid lines."

"Was that a compliment?" she asked, tilting her head curiously, her frizzy hair barely moving.

Draco scoffed. "No."

"Phew. I was worried there for a second." Draco honestly couldn't tell if the relief in her voice was real or not.

They silently walked up to the door, and he assumed they were both steeling themselves for the day. No matter how many people they passed, how many days would go by, Draco didn't think he would ever get used to the looks, or going to class chained to another person.

As usual, they reached the top of the stairs and paused. It had become part of their routine, and whoever felt more ready would open the door and go through first. It was usually Granger.

But today they just stood there, neither of them moving, neither of them wanting to open the door. Last night had obviously had a great effect on her health, and she looked worse than usual. He felt a slight guilt, a rather foreign emotion to him, especially towards Mudbloods.

Usually he would just reason that they didn't deserve the guilt of a Pureblood, but now he felt he couldn't claim that status anymore, especially since the blood he had was from a Mudblood, not to mention he had been lowered into the ranks of undead.

"I'm tired of going to class." the Gryffindor finally broke the silence, uttering a sentence Draco never thought he would hear from her.

She must have noticed his surprise because she scowled.

"I'm not just a teacher's pet you know." she sniffed, and added, "Or a nerd."

"The fact that you admit that you-"

"I think, you're more of a nerd than me." she interrupted him, smirking. Draco was taken aback. He glared at the smug Gryffindor.

"What? That's not even possible."

"First of all, who decked who in their third year, and second, who cried like a little girl when a hippogriff bit them?"

The nerve she had to bring this up offended Draco greatly. Did she know how annoying she was?

"First of all, I don't hit girls," she looked skeptical, which aggravated him even more. Yes, he tended to bend rules quite frequently but he had standards, which he reminded her for the third time in less than 24 hours.