Everything has changed

Chapter 6- Draco

"Hey, I was just going to start on your shoulders and arms." I can feel myself pale but I nod anyway. She wraps my right arm in something before moving to my left arm. She holds the part of my arm that has that hiddeous Mark on it and I tense. She lets go and looks at the rest of my arm. Then she gets to my wrist. "Oh, please tell me that this wasn't you? You didn't do this to yourself did you?" She asks.

"It was only that once, but yes, I did that." I whisper shamefully. We lapse into silence and soon she finishes "healing" me. "Hey, I'm going to go to my room." I say, trying to sit up. I can't even do that.

"No. You are going to stay here. For one you can't even sit up on your own. Secondly, I need to be able to keep an eye on you. And thirdly, you need to be able to get to me if anything gets worse." She says quietly. "Hey what's wrong?"

"You called me Draco." I say quietly. She smiles and my brain turns to mush.

"That's your name isn't it?" She laughs and climbs into the bed with me. "Is this okay or should I sleep on a cot on the floor?" She whispers in my ear. Her breath tickles my neck and I shiver.

"No, no your fine. It is your room after all." I say. Then sleep pulls me under.

"Draco. Draco wake up." Hermione says, gently shaking my shoulder. "Hey I found a spell to get rid of the bruises." At this I open my eyes and she helps me sit up. She mutters something and all of a sudden I can actually see flesh. Since I can't hardly walk, I close my eyes and open them a few seconds later to see myself in my robes, then I notice Hermione is already dressed. Her hair is hanging loose around her face and she looks beautiful. "Come on. Let's go eat" I nod and she loops her arm aroudn my back. Leaning on her, we make our way to the Great Hall.

"Hermione. I can't. I can't go over there." I say looking at the Slytherin table from out side of the doors to the Great Hall.

"Okay. Then you will sit with the Gryffindors." She says as we step into the Hall. As soon as we get there the entire Hall falls silent. People are muttering something that has to do with me and Hermione as we make our way to her table. I am leaning on her with almost all of my weight and she doesn't even seem to notice. After what seems like forever, we sit down.

"Hey Her-" Harry stops talking when he sees me. "Hey guys." He is smiling, Weasel is staring daggers at her and Weaslett is talking to some other student.

"Draco, I'm going to go talk to McGonagall for a minute, I will be right back." I nod and she runs off. Then Ginny turns to me.

"Morning. Are you okay? You were limping pretty badly." She asks.

"Um, ya. I'll be okay. I just hope that I don't crush Hermione. I have been putting all of my weight on her. I'm surprised she hasn't collapsed yet."

"Trust me Malfoy, when she wants to help someone, she shows 3 emotions and 3 emotions only. Compassion, empathy, and care." I nod and then Hermione sits next to me again.

"Guys, I won't be in class for a few days." Ginny stares and Ron and Harry start to protest but she shoots them a look and they fall silent. "I need to help Draco get around. His anlke is really badly broken and he said that he wanted to heal like a muggle. Therefore since we don't have any crutches, I'm going to be his. He has all the same classes just at different times. I'll still be in Transfiguration and Potions with you guys just nothing else." They all nod, knowing that arguing is pointless and start eating.

"Hermione, a word?" Ron asks gesturng for them to go outside. They do and a few minutes later they reappear, Weasel has a broken nose and blood all over his face and Hermione is massaging her fist and looking at him with so much poison that it could kill Nagini. That is if she wasn't dead already.

"Come on Draco, we need to get to Herbology." She says gently. I nod and lean on her again.

The day dragged on and on. Finally, classes were over and the wierdest thing happened: both my ankle and my rib had healed completely. Hermione's spell must have done more than she thought. Everytime we had to get from class to class my nerves were sparking and I was resisting the urge to grab her hand.

I walked out of my room and saw Hermione sitting by the fire throwing something into it. After a moment I realized that the objects were pictures and she was crying. Slowly I walk over to her.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" I say as I sit next to her. She looks at me and wipes her tears. "Hey, what did Weasel do this time?"

"You know how he wanted to talk to me at breakfast?" I nod. "Well when we went into the hall he tried to kiss me. He said that he regretted cheating. But he wasn't telling me the truth. I could tell he was lying. When he tried to kiss me I pushed him away and told him to back off. He laughed and said I was stupid. He told me that he would get me back even if he had to force me, so I punched him. I thought he loved me, then I caught him with Lavendar. Now he is going to try to use force to get me to come back to him." She takes a breath. "I'm scared, Draco."

"Hey, it'll be okay. I'll protect you, I promise." Then she throws her arms around my neck, and sobs into my shoulder. Slowly, I rub my hand in what I hope is soothing circles on her back. "Nothing is going to happen. I won't let it." We fall asleep like that.

I wake up and see Hermione still curled up on my chest. 'Come on, you have to tell her. You can't just ignore it anymore. The feelings are to strong.' 'But you can't tell her. She is still getting over that stupid git Weasel.' Great now I'm arguing with myself. 'I know she is but your feelings are getting harder to control.' I shake my head and pick her up and take her to her room. I slowly open the door and walk in. Then I make my way to her bed. I set her down and just as I start to walk away, she grabs my hand. I turn to her and hear her whisper one word.

"Stay." The little voice told me not to, but the rest of my brain either didn't listen or didn't care. Slowly, I laid down next to her. The minute my back hit the mattress she clutched my shirt and laid her head on my chest. Unsure of what to do I wraped my arms around her and pulled her close. For the first time in years I slept through the night without nightmares.