Bad Blood: A Dramione Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty

Draco

My eyes open and my head spins for a moment before focusing on the blue, cloudless sky above me. We're on the boat back to the island. Hermione's head is laying on my chest, and her arms are wrapped tightly around me. Her eyes are closed, and her breathing is steady; she is finally getting some sleep. As much as I want to wake her, I do not.

I try my best to distract myself from thinking about what happened before I passed out. The fear I felt in those moments was greater than any other fear I've ever experienced. However, I did it for Hermione, and that made it all worth it. Obviously, she saved me, but I have no idea how she did it. That doesn't matter, anyway; the only thing that matters is that we are finally here, together, and nothing stands between us in this moment.

My hands absentmindedly brush through her hair, which is frizzier right now than it ever was in our first year at Hogwarts. I scoop up some water from the sea to wipe the dirt off of her face. Once I finish, I kiss her on the forehead, waiting for her to wake up.

A few minutes later, I hear her stomach growling. She surely hasn't eaten in days, I think to myself. She begins to shift, trying to get comfortable. She switches her head to face the other side, and when she does, her eyes open for only a moment. She's looking straight at me before her eyes close once again, but only for a moment; once she realizes that I'm awake, her eyes pop open again, and she sits up.

"Draco! I am so glad you're alive... I-I was so worried," She exclaims, wrapping me in a tight hug. A tear falls from her face and onto my shoulder, causing me to pull away from the hug.

"Sweetheart," I whisper, wiping the other tears off of her face, "don't cry. We're alright. It's all over now." She lays her head on my shoulder as I pat her shoulder.

"I know. I just never thought I would see this moment. I didn't even know if you were going to live just a few minutes ago," Something inside of her seems to break as tears fall from her face much faster, and she continues, "Everything just went downhill so quickly. You're the only reason I haven't gone insane. I thought about you every second in that horrid place, and I didn't even know if you were going to-"

"You didn't know if I was going to rescue you?" I ask, "Hermione, if you thought that I wasn't spending every second, every breath trying to find you, then you have gone insane."

"No, not like that. I just didn't think that you would know that I was in Azkaban. Even I don't know how I ended up in there."

"A man can do anything when he's in love, I suppose," I laugh, and she smiles her sweet smile. Oh, how I've missed that.

The mood darkens once again as a moment of complete silence passes. She looks at me and asks, "Do you know, Draco? Do you know how I ended up there?"

Although she has every right to know, I don't want to tell her; the more I think about it, the more I know that it is all my fault. But I could never keep it from her.

"I know how it happened, Hermione. It was my father," I admit, and she nods her head. As I explain to her what happened, she doesn't say a word; in fact, she doesn't react at all. I'm sure she's thinking it is all my fault as well, which couldn't be more true. It just hurts because I know what is necessary to keep her safe.

"Hermione, all of this stuff that has happened to you recently... It's all because of me. Surely you realize that," I pause as she tries to think of what to say. As she opens her mouth, I speak again, "I can't bear to see you go through this anymore. Without me, your life would be so much safer, and a lot less complicated." I half-expected her to interject at this point, but she doesn't. She just continues to listen, expecting me to go on.