𝐄𝐔𝐍𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐀

☾ Chapter 49

☾

There was a soft panting besides her. Quiet and feeble, like a small animal in pain.

The blankets shifted around her body and yet she lay still, slowly awaking from her sleep despite the darkness that swallowed their quiet safe house.

Hermione felt him sit up, and she was immediately at his side.

He was shivering, but not from the cold. A layer of fear blanketed his goosebump covered skin, crawling up his spine in a paranoid chill.

"Draco, what's wrong?" Hermione leaned towards him groggily, curls untamed from friction against her pillows, "Has something happened?"

He didn't answer with words. He only sobbed, salted tears streaming down his cheeks as he reached for her desperately, burying himself in her chest.

"Draco..."

"Nightmare," he choked out, shallow breaths overtaking his lungs once more.

"Do you want me to stay up with you?"

He fell quiet for a moment.

"No," he finally whispered, sniffling, "Just — just stay with me. Please, Hermione."

Draco wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her closer before softly sobbing into her heart.

"I'm here," she rubbed tender circles into his skin until he calmed, "I'm not going anywhere."

............

A letter from Blaise had arrived the next morning.

"D,

Fireplace

- B"

Was all it stated.

They immediately scurried to the charred fireplace, now dry and flameless. Draco felt around the inside and found a piece of paper, signed with Blaise's name and an address, linked to the catacombs of Paris.

They no longer had to search every inch of the two thousand acres of the catacombs. He'd narrowed it down to fifty feet.

"We leave at dawn, Granger."

That night, thunder rumbled menacingly in the distance as they sat on the front porch of their run down safe house. Hermione lay her head upon his shoulder, listening to the soft pattering of rain and his calm breathing.

A lightning bolt illuminated the dark sky, revealing three trailing clouds of smoke. Her heart began to pound within her chest.

"Get inside, Granger."

Draco lifted her to her feet and they reentered the old home, locking the door behind him. The thunder grew louder as droplets of rain began to leak through the eroded roof, invading what was once warm and comfortable.

"Hide until I tell you otherwise," Draco handed Hermione her wand, showing her to a closet where she perched behind a pile of old clothing, musty from disuse.

He'd flipped the lamp switch off, and all that was left was a simmering fire and the candles he'd lit an hour ago.

Hermione's breath caught in her chest as heavy boots clunked against the porch's surface. The door hissed open agonizingly slow, wooden floorboards creaking underneath whom she could not tell.