Not Quite Dark Magic

Mark of Darks

Draco was awoken in the middle of the night to his left forearm burning. He sighed, hopped out of bed and began dressing when there was a knock at his door, soft but firm. He walked towards it, threw it open in irritation and glowered down at Granger.

"You're leaving." She looked wide awake, like she hadn't slept yet.

"And you're stalking me."

She stiffened. "I felt you wake up and I could tell you were moving in here and I just figured..." she trailed off awkwardly.

"I go when I'm summoned." He looked her over for a moment. She was still in the same clothes she was wearing at dinner.

"I don't know when I'll be back."

She nodded. "Don't use the bind to reach out to me unless it's important. The more we use it the more—"

"Yes, Granger, I understand." He waved her off as he stuffed his arms through his black robes. "No need to look at me like I'm a broken child anymore, I don't want the bind to root anymore than you."

With that, he apparated away.

---

Hermione spent the rest of the night awake, studying the strategies for the upcoming raid next week. Malfoy would be on the opposite side, fighting for the Dark and she was attempting to devise a plan to make fighting on opposite sides as painless as possible for the both of them.

She rubbed her sleepless eyes and squinted through their dryness, trying to focus on the blurry words in front of her.

Sleeping had been difficult since Hannah's death. Trying to get a decent night's rest during war time was already difficult enough, but losing her partner had made it near impossible. She would toss and turn, sleeping for an hour or two at a time before rolling out of bed and beginning her day.

Needless to say, she accomplished a lot. But she missed sleep.

She thought things would get easier once she was bonded again. But even with Malfoy next door the ache in her chest still kept her awake, like an annoying flu. As soon as she started to doze it would twinge and jump her awake. The feeling was more frustrating than anything.

Now with him gone her tether to him was stretched taut and the emptiness burned with a bright intensity. Her hands were constantly rubbing above her breast bone but it did nothing in the department of relief. She supposed she would just have to suffer.

She contemplated going next door to steal one of his shirts, and even double checked that her Occlumency shields were in place so he couldn't hear her, but in the end her pride was too large. She wasn't taking anything he wasn't offering. It's not like she needed him.

On cue, another pang shot through her chest. It wasn't cause for concern but it did signal Malfoy's distress. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, concentrating on reigning in all her primal urges that insisted she apparate to his location and save him from whatever discomfort he was suffering.

She chuckled at the thought of appearing in front of Voldemort. It was such a mad idea that she might even get away with it before anyone had any clue what was happening. 

Of course, Hermione was smarter than that. Plans had to be well thought out and agreed upon by the entirety of the Order Council.

So she allowed herself twenty minutes to meditate before continuing to draw up her raid plans.

Distance was the key factor here. The pair of them had to either be as far apart as possible, or as close as possible to allow their magic to work properly. If not, they would constantly be seeking out each other and the distraction could very likely cause one of their deaths.