Stillness

Chapter 25

Hermione sighed as she woke up the next morning, she was so comfortable she didn't want to move. Draco's scent engulfed her, his hand clutching the back of her shirt. She shifted a bit so she could look up at his face. He was still asleep, his eyebrows furrowed and mouth tense. She ran her thumb across his forehead to ease the stress there and his eyes flew open. Panicked gray eyes took her in for a moment before he closed them again and took a deep breath.

"I didn't mean to wake you." She said softly. "Pansy would have been mad if I let you wrinkle your forehead though."

He let out a breathy laugh as he stretched out.

"It's better that you did." He mumbled.

She knew he had been having a bad dream, she had seen him sleep peacefully before and his face was never that tensed up. She didn't know if she should ask about it though. He had said he has nightmares about what happened at the manor and in other circumstances she may have asked him without hesitating but the casual conversations yesterday had brought a lightness back into Draco and she didn't want to weigh him down again. She knew he would be pissed if he found out she was tip toeing around him, but he really should expect it.

"I get to leave today." He said, glancing around for Madam Pomfrey.

"Are you ready for that?" She asked him and he glared at her, no tip toeing.

"Yeah, there's some things I need to handle." He growled out.

"Like what?" She asked.

"Like kicking Theos ass for giving you that letter." He said, pushing himself out of bed.

He grabbed the bag that held the clothes he had come in wearing and glanced into it. Slowly he pulled his shirt out, the left side stained completely red.

"What do people know?" He asked her, his eyes still on the shirt.

"Just that you got hurt." She told him gently.

"What do your friends know?"

"They know how you got hurt."

"Ginny seemed awfully nice to me, considering the shit I said to you." He said, his gray eyes searching her face.

"They don't know about that." Hermione mumbled.

"Why?"

"Because you didn't mean it."

"You didn't know that." He said, Hermione looking up into his face at his hard tone.

"Yes. I did." She said, firmly. "Do you want me to get you clean clothes?"

"It would probably be best not to be wandering the school covered in blood." He said, throwing the shirt and bag back on the chair.

Hermione left when Pomfrey appeared, feeling a little awkward at the fact that she knew Hermione had spent the night with Draco. She found Pansy and Theo in The Entrance Hall, about to head inside for breakfast. Pansy led her down to the dungeons, pushing open the 7th year boys dorm.

"That's one's Draco's." She said, pointing out his bed and trunk.

"I know." Hermione said softly and Pansy smiled.

"Of course you do."

Pansy left her to return to Theo while Hermione opened Draco's trunk. She felt weird, like she was invading his privacy, but he had agreed to let her get him clothes so there wasn't anything in there he didn't want her to see. She pulled out a black pair of pants and a white t-shirt, staring at his clothes trying to picture what he would wear when they didn't have class. She grabbed his Quidditch sweater, digging a little deeper to find him clean socks and underwear. She smiled a little when she touched silk and grabbed the green silk boxers, hoping they were ones he actually wore.