To the End of the Earth and Back [[Hr/D romance]]

Chapter Twelve

Only, it wasn't. Borgin did not reply with any sort of help for Draco. It was a letter saying that he was looking into things to help fix it. It was already almost an entire week into the school year and he was nowhere nearer to having this bloody box fixed than when he had originally left. Normally, a week would seem like nothing to him. That would just be the start of Quidditch practice and the start of classes. They wouldn't even be doing anything fun yet. But he had a mission. If this mission was not complete, many lives that he was close to would be lost. His father would be killed as soon as he failed.

It was then, the moment that Draco felt as if his entire world was beginning to swallow him whole, that Professor Snape decided to make his presence known.

The day was long for Hermione. It was one of the longest days she had to deal with for quite some time. Her body ached. Her mind was cloudy. She felt like she was going to be physically ill every couple of hours. She wanted to believe that it was just because she was getting over an illness but she couldn't shake the feeling that it was something different, something else entirely. When Harry and Ron asked her about why she was so off, she couldn't even come up with a lie even if she wanted to. She could barely come up with some sort of reason. She was just off. Ron tried to get her to go to the Hospital Wing early but she refused. It was a gut feeling.

Snape had spent most of the day cornering Draco, asking if he had thought about his offer any more. He just wanted to snap! The pressure was enough as it was without Severus Snape, a loving follower of Lord Voldemort, trying to make sure that everything went without a hitch. While the help would have been greatly appreciated any other time, Draco did not want it now. He certainly did not want it from Snape either. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had to have something up his sleeve when it came to helping him. It couldn't just be for the welfare of the Malfoy family. Snape was not like that. He was not afraid of the Dark Lord and her was definitely not afraid of Lucius Malfoy. Snape was held in higher esteem with the Dark Lord. He was not going to be executed at any moment like Draco's father was. If anything, Snape was probably the most loved by Voldemort.

And here he was again, standing over Draco's shoulder as he calculated and contiplated what his next step was going to be. This box was not the only quest that he had been given. On top of fixing the vanishing box that would allow for hundreds of Death Eaters to enter the grounds unnoticed, he also needed to do something that he had never even fathomed.

He needed to kill Albus Dumbledore.

"And how are you feeling today?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she made her way over to the bed that Hermione had sat down at. It was the same bed that Ron had laid her down on just the night before.

She let out a deep sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "I've felt off all day," she replied honestly.

Madam Pomfrey handed her a cup filled to the brim with hot liquid. "Growing up in a muggle setting, I know that you are used to the feeling of the flu. Feeling "off" as you put it is just your body and mind getting over the potion that you drank last night. You will feel a little off tomorrow as well and possibly the next day but you should be back to being yourself by then." Hermione sniffed at the cup before taking a tentative taste. She was pleasently surprised to taste chamomile tea. When she gave the woman a questioning stare, Madam Pomfrey just laughed. "The second dose of the potion is less potent than the first. I find that putting it in a cup of tea has always helped settle the mind and body before sleep. I hope that it will also help you feel more like yourself in the morning."

"Thank you," Hermione said before taking another sip of the tea. The woman bowed her head and left the room. Hermione was the only person in the Hospital Wing tonight. Everyone else must have just been getting over whatever it was that they had. She placed the cup on the table next to her and began to lie down. She knew that she would have to finish the entire cup before drifting off to sleep but she wanted to do that as comfortably as possible.

"I bet he did something to her," Ron told Harry when they were alone. "I have this horrible feeling. I bet he slipped her something when they were patrolling. Look at her! Two days later and she is practically a walking corpse! She's just going through the motions of being a living person but, really, she's empty." He ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh before throwing himself down on his four-poster bed. He was well aware of the fact that he was acting like a chid. He just didn't care. He was watching someone that he cared about go about life without a care in the world. "I know that she has been really off since...well...since you know. But this is different. This isn't our Hermione!"

"Do you even listen to yourself when you speak?" Harry asked. "She's sick. It's the flu. People catch it. She will be fine. Muggles take way longer to get over the common flu than a day."

Ron rolled his eyes. "I am telling you, something is wrong. I can feel it in my gut."

"That's probably just gas Ron, go to sleep." Harry placed his glasses on the nightstand before crawling into his four-poster bed. He had his mind on other things. He knew Dumbledore had something planned for tomorrow that he was going to have to go to. Also, the Marauder's Map was missing. He was sure that he had just misplaced it but it was still something that he did not want getting into any of the wrong hands.

The halls were empty. Everyone was supposed to be in their Common Room or asleep by now except for the prefects who were patrolling the halls that night. Draco, of course, was not in his Common Room. He wasn't even close to it. He had just reached the Hospital Wing. He had seen Hermione throughout the day. He always knew where she was now. It had just become a habit since he had seen her on the train to find her in whatever room he was in. If she wasn't in the room, he felt like he could be his usual self, the self that everyone was so used to seeing. But when she left the Great Hall that night, he knew that she was not going to be in the Gryffindor Tower that night. He had overheard someone talking about how she had gotten sick the night before and that she was being forced to stay in the Hospital Wing again that night.

That was where he was now. He was at the Hospital Wing again. Quietly, he entered and saw her there. She was the only person in the wing tonight. She looked beautiful, the way the moonlight hit her through the window took his breath away. He had spent so many years hating her that he couldn't see her beauty shine through the veil.

"Hi," he whispered as he walked over to her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, taking a sip from the cup in her hands.

"I came to see you. I know that you're not feeling well," he replied as he took a seat at the bottom of her bed.

Hermione blushed and ran a hand through her hair. "I've felt worse but I have also felt better," she replied before taking another sip from the cup. "Are we still patrolling tomorrow?"

"If you feel up to it. I'm sure you would be able to switch with Weasley if you didn't," he replied. He partially wanted her to switch with Ron just so he could keep some distance between him and Hermione before he inevitably hurt her but he didn't want to have to go that long without being near her. It was much harder than he had originally expected.

"I should be fine," she said as she placed the now empty mug on the table. She tried to stifle a yawn and smiled at him. "Meet by the statue?" she asked.

"Of course," he replied with a smile on his face. He leaned forward and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before standing up. "Rest well," he said as he kissed the top of her head and disappeared into the shadows. Sometimes, Hermione felt as if she was just dreaming these moments with Draco Malfoy up.

[[A/N: I know that this is kind of a crap post. Well, I don't think it's crap but some of you may. It's one of those filler chapters that no one likes. But I have been writing for a decent amount of time and am trying to get the story and the next posts where I need them to be. Please comment and vote and tell me what you think! Also...YOU'RE WELCOME FOR THE DOUBLE POST! <3 I love you all!]]