Mine

[29]

*Draco's POV*

I woke up the next morning to find Gemma in the same curled up position beside me. I sat up in bed and peered over her shoulder. I hated that I had to wake her up, but if I didn't, she would miss breakfast and probably class as well. I didn't know how to wake her though. Was there a specific way she preferred to be woken up? The one thing I did know is that I didn't want to scare her since she had been in such a vulnerable state the night before.

I leaned over her more, placing a hand on her shoulder. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. It honestly scared me a bit as I wasn't expecting her to snap awake that easily.

"We've got to get up." I said softly, "It's almost time for class but I think we can still grab some breakfast."

Gemma slowly released her grip on her legs and rolled to her back, straightening her legs in the process. I could only imagine how sore her body must feel from having been in such a tight position all night.

"Gemma?" I said softly when she still said nothing.

"I'm not going." Gemma mumbled, closing her eyes once again.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I got out of bed. "Are you sure? It's the last day of classes for the week."

"I'm not going." She repeated, her tone a little harsher.

"Okay, okay." I said, pausing in front of my dresser. "Do you want me to stay here with you?"

"You should go." She said quietly, rolling back onto her side. It pained me to not know what was going on in her mind, especially since her stare looked so blank and empty.

"Please talk to me." I said softly, making my way to crouch beside the bed so that I was more eye level with her. "What happened? What can I do?"

She just stared at me in response, her expression remaining blank. I held her stare for a minute, waiting for her to say something, anything. When she didn't, I stood up, huffing out a breath in frustration.

"Dammit Gemma!" I shouted, causing her to flinch slightly. "How am I supposed to help you if you just lay there unresponsive? I'm not a mind reader! I don't know what you want or need! You have to talk to me!"

I regretted yelling at her as soon as I had finished my rant. I knew that was not the way to go about getting her to open up, but something just snapped inside of me. Gemma slowly sat up in the bed, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress. I watched silently as she shoved her feet into her shoes and stood up.

"Wait," I said as she grabbed the handle of my door. I raced after her, catching her before she had finished making her way down the stairs. I grabbed onto her arm and she stopped, but she didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry." I said quietly. "Just – stay in my room. Okay? You'll be alone there, and no one can bother you."

I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding when Gemma finally turned around to face me, nodding her head ever so slightly. I moved my grip on her arm down so that I was holding her hand as I led her back up the stairs and into my room. She sat on the edge of the bed and I kneeled down to remove her shoes for her.

Once she was laying down, I pulled the blankets up to her chin and tucked her in. "I'll be back at the end of the day." I murmured as I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

* * *

"What do I do?" I asked Blaise as we sat at lunch. I had told him about what had happened since I brought Gemma back to the common room the day before, including this morning.