Alone Together

Rooftops Have Good Views

About an hour later, he felt the chain shift against his leg. Draco's head whipped up, watching Granger stir in her bed. It was the first time he had seen her move since carrying her into the infirmary. Her eyelids fluttered slightly as she stiffly moved her arms around. It felt strange to see movement after the long period of stillness. She turned over on her side towards Draco, the chain clinking on the bed frame. Her mouth opened, and she tried to mumble something, but it was too raspy for Draco to tell what it was. He leaned closer to her.

"What?" he whispered, not wanting to fully wake her and have to deal with the look she would have, or what she would say, but too curious to know what she was saying in her sleep to ignore it.

"R-ron, Ha-arry." she rasped out softly. He recoiled in bitter disgust. What had he expected? Even though he had been the one carry her in his arms to the infirmary, and helped in her attempt to find a way out of the collar, she was still fawning over them. The precious Chosen One and his idiot peasant friend. He had seen how much it had bothered her that they had gone on without her and left her here, but here she was mumbling their names in her sleep. Typical girls.

As if called by his thoughts, the youngest Weasley barged into infirmary. Judging by how furious the fiery haired stick girl had been at just the sight of the collar, Draco considered cowering beneath the bed for a brief moment.

The cursing and yelling that ensued woke Granger from her slumber, fully this time, and she sat up to a scene of Ginny Weasley being restrained by Madam Pomfrey and Draco sitting there, probably looking rather exhausted. He knew he at least felt exhausted.

Her hands immediately went to her neck, feeling the collar, and now the scar, still partially bandaged. Draco thought he could actually see her hopes physically crumbling before his eyes. Even the annoying and imperceptive Weasley girl noticed and ceased struggling against the nurse and began to tear up. Hermione didn't look at her, only at her covers.

"Just let me sleep." she said in a soft, gravelly voice, "Put me back to sleep."

Madam Pomfrey left the Weasley girl with her arms hanging limply at her sides, tears streaming down her face. With a sorrowful look, Madam Pomfrey waved her wand above Hermione, and she dropped into a slumber once more.

"It's her fault. She did this to herself." Draco reminded himself, but could not get the image of her terrified face and hands clawing at the collar as she realized the temperature was steadily rising.

***

The extra day Madam Pomfrey had fought for was over.

Granger was awake, sitting up in her bed with a book in her hand. Somehow without Draco noticing, her clothes had been changed, or repaired and cleaned. He wasn't sure.

A dark mood hung in the room, passing over anyone who entered into the infirmary. Somehow everyone knew what had happened, and everytime the doors opened to the infirmary Draco caught a glimpse of crowds of students craning to get a look inside, most likely at Granger's newest acquisition around her neck.

She ignored them, and didn't speak at all. Draco tried poking fun at her once or twice to goad her into speaking, but she just shook her head, which worried him even more than a simple eye roll did. Usually when she didn't respond it meant she was thinking, and planning something, but now it was because of her voice and how it sounded.

Everyone knew what was coming, even though no one actually said anything. It seemed as if the whole infirmary was holding its breath.

Luckily, the Carrows didn't come until after dinner, giving Madam Pomfrey, and Draco being chained to her, time to walk Hermione around the infirmary to work out her stiff muscles. Most of the time when she stumbled, she grasped onto Pomfrey, but on a few occasions, she clung to Draco's arm as she caught her balance. He tried not to stiffen at her touch, but now it was tied back to her limp in his arms dying, and her pressed tightly against his chest in the shadows as Filch prowled the floor. It was nearly impossible.