Stillness

Chapter 23

Hermione cleared her throat and his entire body tensed, his expression morphing into a look of boredom as he turned and saw her. She saw his adams apple jump as she walked toward him and the journal had vanished from sight, shoved under his pillow. She sat down in the chair beside his bed as he watched her carefully.

"Hi." She said quietly, unable to find anything else to say.

"Hi." He breathed out, looking down at his hands.

"I met your mother." she said, fiddling with the edge of her sleeve.

"You've met before." he muttered.

"Yes, well, it was a lot nicer than when I was on your drawing room floor." she said and his head snapped toward her.

She watched him with wide eyes, she didn't know why she said that. They never spoke about that, he got tense at the mere suggestion of the topic and there she was, sitting beside his hospital bed, throwing it in his face.

"I should have done something." he breathed out.

"You would have been killed."

"So?" he snapped. "So what, Hermione? Even before whatever we became this year, at least it would have meant something. I stood there and listened to you scream.. I.. I dream about it.."

Hermione threw herself into him as his voice broke, wrapping her arms around his neck. She listened to his hard breaths in her ear until he buried his face in her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her fingers ran through his hair as he melted into her, clutching the back of her robes.

"You did do something, Draco." She whispered to him. "If you had died, I don't know who I would be now. You helped me see the war had changed other people too, and that that was ok. That it was ok not be the same as before." He let out a shaky sigh against her shoulder. "Just because you didn't do anything back then doesn't mean I shouldn't be here with you now."

"I wish I had helped you escape." He breathed.

"You would now. That's all that matters."

Hermione tried to blink the tears from her eyes but it was useless. They fell, blending into Draco's hair. His grip on her robes tightened as he lifted his head, his other hand reaching up to catch a tear on her cheek. Then he was kissing her and it was ok, she could breathe easy again because he was still there.

The two broke apart when someone cleared their throat. Hermione tried to push herself off the bed when she saw Narcissa watching them but Draco's arm around her waist held her in place. He looked at his mother, his face carved out of stone but she could see the spark of worry in his eyes. Narcissa just smiled at them.

"I'm glad you two worked things out." She said, evenly.

"What? I never told you we were a.. well a.. a thing." Draco stuttered out, glancing between the two women.

"Pansy, dear." Narcissa replied as though it should have been obvious.

"That fucking gossip." Draco muttered under his breath.

"Language, Draco." Narcissa scolded. "Now, I have some paperwork here. If you sign it it'll give me control of the Malfoy estate until you turn 25."

"We can do that?" He asked, letting go of Hermione as he grabbed the papers from his mother.

"You're the Lord of the estate, dear. You can do whatever you want." His mother told him.

"Do you know everything though? Will others listen to you?"

"You may need to make an appearance here and there but I can handle everything else, for now."

"Do you have a quill?" He asked her as his eyes ran over the words in front of him.