Stolen Paradise - Dramione (ON HOLD)

Ch. 6

She couldn't remember the last time she had actually taken a real shower, and that thought embarrassed her. While she made sure that the trio had wipes to clean themselves off and weren't entirely dirty as they travelled, it wasn't the same, and she was both surprised and grateful for the different types of soap and hair care products that were available.

The shower also allowed her time to plan more how she was going to utilize her day, and her thoughts kept going back to the large library off the kitchen and dining area; there had to be something in there that was going to be helpful towards figuring out what the last few Horcruxes were and where they were hidden.

As she turned the water off, she mentally cursed Dumbledore for not giving them more information for their mission and for the cryptic messages he did leave them.

Ignoring her reflection in the mirror as it was much skinnier than she remembered, she quickly dressed herself and towel-dried her hair as best she could before cautiously exiting the bathroom. She left her old clothes in the bedroom and searched through her bag for a sweater, pulling it on and then leaving to go start her day's mission.

It wasn't as daunting now, the thought of facing Malfoy; it still wasn't something she looked forward to but she wasn't as hesitant to leave the room this time.

He was standing at the small island in the middle of the kitchen, leaning forward against it as he ate what looked to be French toast. She still found it odd seeing him wear t-shirts and jeans; they were such normal clothes, and completely the opposite of what he would normally wear.

As she walked in, he looked up at her and immediately straightened, setting down the fork in his hand.

"Good morning," He said, turning around to grab a plate. "Are you hungry?"

He began loading up a plate before she could answer, and she paused as she watched in confusion. When she realized what he was doing she quickly said, "Oh, that's plenty; I don't think I'll even be able to finish that."

"Well there will be plenty of leftovers then." He turned back around and held the plate out to her. "There's syrup here; I don't have any powdered sugar but I can probably run into town and grab some-"

"Syrup is fine," She interrupted quietly, looking down at the plate. "Thank you."

She saw him smile out of the corner of her eye as she turned away and set the plate down, reaching for the syrup bottle and a fork. He leaned back down and continued eating, and she noticed that he would look up at her every so often as if he were checking on her.

"Did you sleep alright?" He asked after a few minutes of silence, looking up at her.

She looked over at him as she finished chewing the bite and swallowed it before answering, "Yes, I slept fine."

He nodded at this and continued, "I do have more pillows if you don't like the one you have."

"No, it's okay," She said, shaking her head. "The pillow that's in there is fine."

"Okay," He said slowly, straightening up again. "Let me know if you change your mind."

He turned away to put his plate in the sink and she watched his back, noticing that even though he was wearing another short-sleeved shirt, his left forearm was bandaged again.

"Did you do something else to your arm?" She asked then before she could stop herself.

She immediately regretted the question as she saw him pause and stare down into the sink, and she realized exactly what it was that he was covering. His shoulders raised as he took a deep breath and then lowered as he sighed it out.