Bound

Chapter 16

Later that night, Draco went to the hospital wing to...get Hermione?

He knew she would be able to go to the common room by herself, but with all the Hufflepuffs that have been throwing hexes at them, it was unlikely that she will arrive with no scars.

Why do you care though? A small voice in his head kept repeating the same exact sentence.

And if he is being honest, he didn't know or he was not ready to come to terms with his answer.

The voice kept repeating and repeating until he arrived at the hospital wing. Hermione was sat on the side of the bed, tying her shoe laces.

Draco leaned against the entrance door, his ankles crossed as he surveyed the wing.

The Hufflepuff was still there.

Good, Draco thought as he fought to keep the smirk at bay.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

He looked up and met Hermione's brown eyes, she was standing a few feet across from him, her hands on her hips and a curious smile on her face.

He shook his head, "Nothing."

She furrowed her eyebrows but changed the subject nonetheless, "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged, not having a reasonable excuse if he is being honest.

She lifted an eyebrow before a huge grin broke on her face, "Are you here to escort me to our common room, Malfoy?"

He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Coming?"

The grin was still on her face when she said, "Yeah."

Hermione walked the few steps between them and both of them exited the hospital wing, leaving only the Hufflepuff with the company of the ghosts who were flying around.

***

After countless of times trying to persuade Draco to change their route, he finally agreed to take her to the Astronomy tower since Miss "I am not ready to face those many faces." wanted to have some time alone.

Alone was apparently different in her dictionary since Draco was still with her, leaning over the railings of the Astronomy tower as Hermione looked over the forbidden forest and the stars.

"Do I want to know why we are here?" He asked.

She huffed, "I already told you. I am not ready to answer all those "Are you okay?" questions when I am obviously okay."

He lifted an eyebrow, "Why are you so sure you are going to attract that much attention anyway?"

She smiled mischievously, "You—"

"I don't want you to answer that." He interrupted her once he figured how stupid that question was, in the end, it was worth it, because she laughed at how he changed his opinion so fast.

If he could get drunk by only her voice, then her laughter can put him into a dreamless sleep for the rest of his life, because damn it if Hermione Granger's laugh is not the best thing he had ever had the pleasure to hear in his life.