Silver and Gold // Dramione

Burning

6th Year, September 27th

"It's your turn Draco" - the whispers krept up on him, screeching in his ear. The screaming voice was faint, the characteristic voice that stirred him, returning to intrude his brain.

"It's going to hurt Draco"- he recognised the next voice as safer, but couldn't place the person in the back of his head.

"You have your mission young Malfoy" - this one was more of hiss, that stung his ears - "complete your fathers failures"

He involuntarily shook at a faint scream in the distance. It felt so real, but so far away, like someone was in his head with him, but hidden the depths of his consciousness.

He heard the scream again, and this time it was louder, closer even. There was a clear gasp, and faint "no" that followed the scream. With each noise, it grew louder and closer to his existence.

The next scream woke him up. He jerked awake, still sitting in the armchair in the common room. The green quilt had fallen as he shook awake, and he was left sitting uncomfortably in the large armchair. The room was still dark, only the moonlight shined through the window, illuminating the area only slightly.

"No!" the scream came from beside him, where he found Hermione thrashing in her sleep.

She had discarded her blanket in her recklessness, and he noted her hair was sticking to the sides of her head as she bobbed around, shaking violently. Her legs were over the armrests, and her head rested on the other. Her arms were wrapped around her torso in the same protective manner they had been when Draco intimidated her on their first night in the room.

It only took him a moment to register the situation. She was having a nightmare, and was thrashing and screaming in her sleep. She was shaking so violently that he thought she might fall off the armchair, and jerk herself awake.

But she kept screaming, mumbling plea's and shaking in her spot.

She wasn't waking up.

He rose to his feet slightly. His legs still felt like jelly from the spell he had been hit with earlier, and he dropped to his knees in front of her chair.

She shifted as she unconsciously responded to his closeness, and her balled fists came up from her sides to try and thwart him defensively. He caught them in a swift motion, pinning them at her sides together with one of his hands.

"Granger" he whispered, but she only shook harder.

"Granger... Granger... wake up" he tried again, but nothing subsided.

He was getting annoyed. Apart from the fact that it took everything in his body to have moved from his armchair to try and calm her incessant thrashing, he felt the pang under his ribs as she kept shaking. He recognized the pang as the same feeling he had in the infirmary. He though she might fall again, and give herself another concussion; in his current physical state he was in no way capable of carrying her to Pomfrey again.

She screamed again, it pierced through his ears now that he was fully awake. Her scream was full of terror, more terror than he had ever heard come from her mouth.

He took his free hand, the one that wasn't holding her hands down, and grabbed her shoulder to try and nudge her awake.

"Hermione..." he drew his words calmly, trying not to heighten her terror.

Her eyes snapped open widley and there was anything but fire behind her scared orbs. She looked at Draco, and squealed in fear trying to wiggle out of his grasp.