Saving Each Other - Dramione

Caring

As I slowly drift into consciousness I realise that I am holding something warm, soft and also quite large in my left hand. My head is resting on my arm so that when I crack my eyes open I see that I'm holding someone's hand. I sit up and see that it belongs to the sleeping Draco Malfoy who is lying on the hospital bed.

I quickly let go when I realise but my hand immediately feels cold and empty.

It is still dark around me so I guess it must be early morning. I must have fallen asleep sitting in the chair next to Draco's bed and my body had been bent over with my head resting on the mattress.

My sleeping position meant that now my back is quite stiff and sore but I am still quite tired. I lean back and try to make myself comfortable in the chair. Eventually, I manage to doze off again.

***

The next time I awake it is to the sound of birds chirping outside and Madam Pomfrey bustling around checking on her patients. The sun is up now and golden light splashes through the windows.

Draco is still asleep but his face is more it's usual pale colour rather than the ghostly white it was when I found him last night.

Madam Pomfrey walks over to me saying, 'ah Miss Granger I see you are awake.

'Now I would like to hear your explanation as to why Mr Malfoy is missing a large section out of his left forearm and then you should go down to breakfast.'

'I want to stay here so that I don't miss him waking up,' I say.

'Well, I suppose you are head girl so I may be able to make an exception. Now, where did you find Mr Malfoy exactly?'

I explain to her that I was trying to find him because we needed to do our rounds. I describe how I found him in the bathroom in a pool of his own blood and the knife lying next to him.

'I, I think he tried to get the dark mark off his arm,' I finish.

Madam Pomfrey shudders at the mention of Voldemort's mark but nods accepting my explanation.

'Well I must attend to my other patients but please come and tell me if he wakes up.'

I can't help but notice that she said "if".

***

The room slowly gets brighter as the sun climbs higher in the sky outside. I sit staring out the window or watching the boy lying on the bed in front of me, trying to spot the smallest sign of movement.

I can't help but think about how long Draco might have been lying there, bleeding. How much blood had he lost before I found him?

I'd grown so used to Draco's presence over the past couple of months. He always knew what to say and he had a kind of soothing effect on me after I'd gotten myself worked up about something.

If I was trapped in a ring of fire, Draco was drowning at the bottom of the ocean. I think, in some messed up way, that's how we could help each other.

***

I am staring at a bird perched on the window sill when Draco finally shows some sign of life. I immediately turn around and pull myself closer to the bed when I hear a soft low groan.

His hand reaches up to push the hair off his forehead before he opens his eyes.

"Hermione?' He turns to look at me, 'What... I... Oh,' he looks around the hospital wing and realises where he is then he raises his left arm to look at the bandage on his wrist.  He lets he arm fall back to the bed and I shake myself from my daze. 

'Draco,' I cry. 'Oh Draco.'  I abandon my seat on the chair and kneel next to Draco's bed.  'How are you feeling?' I ask anxiously.  'Are you alright?'

'Well I'm not dead,' he says with a weak smile.

That's all it takes for me to start sobbing.  I was relieved that he was okay but I was also annoyed that he couldn't even be serious about his own life.  Didn't he understand that I couldn't cope losing anyone else?  I had just spent the night sick with the thought that he might not wake up and that was all he had to say for himself.

'That's not funny,' my voice is high pitched, almost hysterical.  'I thought you were going to die.'

'I'm sorry Hermione,' he says quickly, 'I didn't mean it like that.'  He tries to push himself into a sitting position but he can't hold himself and he falls back onto the pillows so instead, he just settles for putting his hand on my arm.  'It's just, I didn't even really think you'd care.  No one would care if I died.'

'Care?  Care?  Of course I'd care!'  I stand up and yell down at him.  'Do you think I would have slept beside your bed and then missed an entire morning of classes to sit by you if I didn't care about whether you were alive?  How could you possibly think I don't care?'  In my peripheral vision, I see that my voice has drawn Madam Pomfrey out of her office.  My brain seems to have stopped working, I can't think properly.  I collapse back into the chair and my voice drops to a hoarse whisper. 'How could you do this to me?'

'Mister Malfoy, you're awake,' Madam Pomfrey sounds quite shocked to see him alive.

Draco doesn't appear to hear her and instead just looks at me but I just stare out the window. 

'Please, Hermione I didn't mean it to end up like this.  I wasn't thinking straight.  I just didn't realize... Hermione please just listen to me.' 

I look back at him and see the desperation in his eyes. 

'Alright, I'm sorry I yelled at you.'

'Well I'm sorry but all this will have to wait because I need to attend to my patient and Mr Malfoy, you shall not speak again until I am satisfied with your condition because frankly I am astounded that you are alive.' When Draco tries to protest Madam Pomfrey just gives him a look that almost dared him to challenge her and he closes his mouth.

Only after Draco has finished a goblet full of blood replenishing potion and the gash on his arm has been reduced to a thin scar does Madam Pomfrey step back a announces that Draco is free to talk and he can sit up if he wants but under no circumstances is he to leave his bed. 

'I didn't know that I wouldn't be able to just heal myself,' says Draco as soon as Madam Pomfrey walks away, pushing himself up into a sitting position.  'The knife I used, it has some kind of spell on it that means that when you use it you can't heal it easily.  It's a Malfoy heirloom but no one told me that it was cursed.'

'But why didn't you come downstairs to tell me?' my anger now forgotten and replaced with worry, 'Or you could have called for me.'

'Well, it took me a while to build up the courage to you know,' his hand is shaking so take it in my own and give it a reassuring squeeze,  'and then when I did it I told my self that I deserved to feel the pain.  Pain is the one thing that reminds me I'm human, that I'm not the monster people think I am.  I only tried to heal myself when I felt myself starting to black out and then it was too late.  I panicked and then I don't remember anything else.  I just remember thinking that no one would really care if I died anyway so it would be alright.'

'Oh Draco,' I say throwing my arms around his neck.  At first, he seems a little shocked but then his arms slide around my waist.  'I would care.'