Need [ dramione ]

Chapter 25

1 January 1999 - One Day before the Full Moon

He hasn't seen her all week.

Literally.

One moment, Draco is watching her leave his room, and the next... she's nowhere to be found.

It doesn't help that there are no classes, but after exploring the entire castle over and over again, pleading at the Gryffindor Common Room door, asking McGonagall, asking Madam Pomphrey...

He has no idea where she is, but she's not in the castle, and she's not on the grounds, and she's not...

He can't bloody find her.

He knows why, or at least, he can guess. It's one thing for her to be without Wolfsbane because there are simply no resources, or for her to enter the Full Moon with poison in her belly, but for a werewolf to be gaining strength all week...

He knows what Greyback was like in the week leading up to the Full Moon. He knows the power in her veins. He knows the strength she now possesses. And he knows she's terrified.

It's his fault. All his fault. If he had just let her go, she would have set an alarm, woken up, taken the potion, gone back to sleep, and then... and then all would be well. They could have continued their interactions the next day, had sex in the morning, they could have...

They could have spent the past week together.

He stays busy.

The journals and notes become more organized, sort of like a book. There's a section on Wolfsbane potion and the various ingredients, how to best preserve them, how to brew, all of it. There's another section on the best meals, particularly after the Full Moon and during the New Moon. There's a section on theories about strength and the time of day the moon reaches her peak and her weakest point.

There's a section on soulmates... he doesn't know if that part has any truth to it.

But there has to be some truth. There has to be something. Being away from her for a week, knowing she's in pain... it cuts into his soul. He feels ill all week, the distance hurting him. He wants to save her, to protect her, but he... he can do nothing.

He's helpless.

So he keeps working on the book, on the research, because... because no one else should go what she's going through.

Because... what if she moves on, and it's another that cares for her?

What if he's lost her forever?

He toys with the idea of going down to the Shrieking Shack - he doesn't even know if she's still at Hogwarts - but the need to know, to be near her, wins out. Heading towards Hogsmeade is a heavy task, but he does it, not sure what he'll find. He sets down his bag, lighter than normal, and takes off the boards. There's no sound within, but the sun is still out, shining.

What greets him once the boards are off...

The window is covered. Fully. Not by boards, which he can peek through, but a full curtain. There will no looking inside, no watching...

She's here. He knows it. He can feel it.

"Hermione," he calls out, banging his fist on the glass.

There's no answer, no sound from within, although the glass is thick, so if she's just moving about, he won't hear it.

"Granger," he calls out again, and he bangs his fist a few more times.

No answer. No sound.

Just silence.