Beyond Us (Dramione)

[12. The Last Straw]

"How is he?" Harry asked, quietly pushing the curtain to the side as he stepped inside.

"He'll be okay." Hermione answered with a heavy sigh. "Apparently, he lost a lot of blood when they were healing him." She shared solemnly. "I probably should've been the one saving him," she sighed out, her voice full of regret and sorrow.

"Hermione, you couldn't have possibly saved both of them at the same time." Harry reassured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You did a good job."

"Yeah, I guess so ..." She said and licked her lips. "Could you go check on--"

"Already on it." Harry nodded and quickly exited the room, closing the curtains behind him.

"Oh," An exasperated groan escaped from his lips as he stirred awake in bed. "Hermione?" He called out hoarsely, barely opening one eye.

Hermione quickly walked over and sat on his bed. "Hey, you're awake. How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.

"I've had better days," He answered, struggling to open his other eye.

"Don't overwork yourself." The concerned witch warned, placing her hand on his shoulder gently. "Take it slow, you had a big operation."

The owner of the steely grey eyes nodded and looked away. "Right,"

"You were in great hands. He--Doctor Miller is --"

"Is he as good as you?" He asked, peering over at her.

Hermione paused and nodded. "Better," she finally whispered.

"Well, then I guess I'm lucky." He stated bitterly.

"I'm sorry,"

"For what?" He asked, staring at the wall.

Hermione licked her lips as she stared at the ring on her hand. "I, I dunno ... I'm just sorry."

"If you're apologizing for having chosen Weasley over me back there, then I don't want it." Draco said, glancing up at her. "There's nothing to apologize for, Granger. Compared to Weasley, I'm nothing but an auror doing his job."

"No, Draco--"

"You know, I'm really tired. I think I need to ..."

"I understand. Get some rest, I'll ... uhm, check on you in a little bit." Hermione resigned and walked past the curtains with a heavy heart.

That wasn't how she wanted it to go. That wasn't how it was supposed to go.

Draco watched as Hermione closed the curtains and sighed. Instantly, he relaxed his muscles and glanced down at himself. He saw bandages covering his left arm and when he pulled his shirt down to see bandages over his chest. He put his shirt back down and groaned.

Why had he said the things he said? Why had he acted the way he did?

It was too late to change anything, now. He turned to the side to see his wand and clothes on top of the small side table. "I need to get out of here."

+++

"Hermione," Ron smiled at the sight of the brunette witch. "Thank you."

Hermione grinned and nodded. "It's my job, Ron." She said, walking over to his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a lot better, thanks to you."

She chuckled and shook her head. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. Thankfully, you weren't in critical condition. You did have several deep cuts all over but I was able to close them back up. But you will have some scars." She explained, checking his clipboard. "Other than that, this will take you about one week to recover. You got lucky, Ron."