Broken Bits

41. Playing Dead

I love you all so very much, the support is catastrophic. 

Remember, you are all important, loved and valued. You are my friends, and I want to wish the uttermost happiness possible in your life. 

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Hermione wakes to her teeth chattering, and something cold pressing into her back. Though as she slowly wakes, she finds it's not just in her back but rather all over her. 

Peeling her eyes open, she inhales sharply. The air she inhales is cold, and coats her lungs painfully until her second gasp of breath. It slowly fades to a soft burn, and she turns her neck to find Fred slumped over the side of a bathtub. His hand is hovering over where her knees were under the water. As if he had been holding her, until she had slipped away. 

"F-F..Fred." Hermione croaks, it takes a burst of energy. But she heaves her hand out of the ice cold water, and drops it on Fred's head. Fred jolts, springing up. Her arm painfully crashes against the side of the tub, before falling with a splash into the cold water. The ice cubes rattle against the side of the tub, until stilling slowly. 

"It's alright, hey, I'm here." Fred begins whispering, he jumps up. Plunging his arm in the water, he unplugs the tub and Hermione slowly feels the coldness fade down her body. She's stark naked, but can't find it in herself to care. She's cold, she's too cold. 

Fred lifts her out by her armpits, and holds her against his chest as he attempts to wrap a robe around his body. 

"I'm..I'm..so cold." Hermione's teeth chatter painfully against each other, the sharp sound fills her ears as Fred finally gets both of her arms in each respective sleeve. 

"I know, just hold on." Fred whispers frantically, he ties the robe around her middle before turning and wrenching open the door. Hermione sags against him, unable to stand on her own two feet. 

"Bill! Bill!" Fred shouts down the stairs, before turning to draw Hermione into him. He whispers reassuring words that Hermione can't quite understand, as she is entirely focused on the feeling of his hands rubbing down her arms. It spreads a warmth over her, and she can't help but to lean into it. 

"Okay, hold her steady." Hermione blinks, recognizing Bill in the doorway. Behind him she can see the other heads of a couple more redheads. She doesn't have time to put names to faces as Bill presses his wand to the back of Hermione's head. 

Her vision goes white. It's pure, and clean. So opposite of what Hermione is accustom to. She likes it. She likes the white, and the absences of mistake. The absences of dark. 

It's a chant, a soft chant that draws her out of the whiteness. She doesn't want to, but the voice is warm. The first color she sees is red, but slowly the other colors swim into focus until she's staring down into an off-colored white porcelain toilet bowl. 

"Don't look at it." 

The hand on her back is smooth, caressing as it rubs circles into her skin. But the hand holding her hair back is firm, steady even. 

"Have you finished?"

She must nod, because her vision changes from the off-colored white to a yellowed shade of wallpaper. It then swims towards a red, then all she can see is brown. 

"I am so sorry dear, I don't..it's been months." 

As Hermione pulls away she sees a deep plum color, then she recognizes Kingsley's gentle voice. Somehow she had been taken from the bathroom, brought downstairs and is now stood in the living room of the Burrow.  

Stark naked under a thick robe. 

"I'm so glad you are still alive." He whispers, and she's engulfed again. But it's not hot or cold, or warm even. It's just a simple embrace that Hermione sinks into. She lets it reassure her, until she's pulled away and is handed to someone that will always provide her warmth.