Things Change

Chapter 5

| "Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do."

-Voltaire |

Draco's POV

I woke with her name on my tongue. Hermione. I had to make sure she was okay.

I had had a nightmare. Voldemort was there, and he was putting words into my mouth. I tried to tell Hermione to run, to get away, but I couldn't find my voice.

Suddenly everything went black, and I heard Hermione screaming my name. Then I woke up.

It's all a dream, Draco, it's not real. But everything seemed so real. It felt as if He were alive again.

I started towards Transfiguration, when I ran into Pansy, literally. As I turned the corner, she ran head on into me. She was panting, and her cheeks were rosy.

"Pansy, what the heck are you doing?" She kept looking back, like someone was chasing her, and I was holding her up.

"The mudblood...I-I hexed her... she hit the wall... an' di'n't get up...so I-I ran..." She tried to tell me between labored breaths.

It took me a second to process that. The mudblood; Hermione, was hexed by Pansy. She had hit the wall, and didn't get up. Pansy fled the scene, not wanting to get in trouble. I felt a pang in my chest.

But I remembered that it was Hermione Granger. The one who I've despised since day one.

It was just a battle between myself, wether I cared or not.

I have to at least check on her. I feel like something is wrong.

No. You don't care about her.

There they go again. My body is just a battlefield, and I'm afraid that neither side is winning.

I stood outside the door, taking deep breaths, mentally preparing myself.

You're not going to stay and make conversation. You're just seeing if she's okay.

I opened the door to the hospital wing, it was empty, other than a bed occupied in the back. The curtains were pulled shut, Madam Pompfrey probably didn't want anyone to see her. Oh well.

I drew the curtains back. She was lying on the bed, looking quite peaceful. There was a bandage above her left eyebrow.

That's probably where she hit her head. No duh, Draco.

I could swear I saw her lips start to curve into a smile, but it was quickly replaced by a look of pure terror. Her hands grasped the sheets for dear life. Her head started to thrash back and forth, and she started to kick around her legs.

Do something. Wake her up.

But at the same time, I wanted to run in the opposite direction.

I started to panic. I was so confused on what to do. Who do I listen to?

I decided she deserved it. "Hermione? Hermione, wake up!"

Her fists slowly uncurled, and her face returned to neutral. Her eyes fluttered open, still glossed over.

"Wh-Where am I?" Then her eyes found me.  She reached for her wand, but it was nowhere to be found. "Wha-What are you doing here, Malfoy?

I felt another pang, one of guilt. Had I really made the impression that the only time I would come to see her was to taunt her? I opened my mouth to speak but didn't get that far.

She scrunched her eyebrows into a look of anger. "Save it. Now leave. Get out of here, the last thing I want to see is you."

I bit back the retort that was fighting to come out. I didn't need to make things worse. Instead I turned and walked away.

She clearly hated me. And I thought we could be friends.

She's okay. I don't know if I was glad or not.

OxMrsFeltonxO