Out of Time

Chapter 2

He thought he was awake for good, but the exhaustion of trying to maintain it keeps him in the deep underwater of magically-enhanced sleep for hours and hours on end.

When he wakes next, his mother is back at his bedside. He's astonished and hopes it doesn't show; he's never seen her so dishevelled, her eyes so red, her face so swollen.

She gasps to see him, wiping her face rapidly with her free hand. "Darling? Are you really awake?"

He nods, unsure if his voice will let him speak or merely croak, and he'd rather avoid upsetting her more.

She looks around, seeming paranoid. There are a couple of other people around in the ward, but none paying them any attention. His mother hunches over his bed, her hair brushing his cheek and he wishes she'd back up a smidge. He can't flinch away to regain any personal space.

"There are many things we can't talk about here, no matter how alone we seem, but there's one thing I must get out. News of - of your - of her has reached us."

Draco's paralysed in fear. He recalls someone telling him this recently. It was Pansy's voice saying it and now his stomach sinks. He'd been hoping that had been a dream, but this lends credence to his ability to tell it wasn't.

He doesn't think any of the flashes he'd had were dreams. They were all memories, all in a big jumble, but they'd happened. Deep down, he knew it had been real. He just hadn't wanted to believe her.

His wide eyes lock his mother's ice blue ones and she closes hers briefly. She's having some sort of internal struggle and he waits with bated breath.

"Draco, your father is downplaying it. He's dismissing it as a - a dirty schoolboy affair, having your fun. The sort of forbidden fun teenagers seek out, the kind many pureblood men indulge in before settling down, but -"

Talk like this is mortifying, to Draco and clearly to his mother, but neither of them feel particularly consoled in the other's awkwardness. A tray goes clattering to the floor to their right and they both jump. Narcissa glances over her shoulder and drops her voice further.

"If it isn't, darling -" she chokes out, eyes darting wildly, "- don't let them know that. It's - it's crucial that you make them believe they're right."

* * *

Hermione has a hard time hearing from this distance. She's crept closer and closer, but after knocking the tray off the side table she's afraid to move.

She'd come down to visit Draco after swiping the Invisibility Cloak from Harry without a speck of guilt. It had been easy to sneak into the boys' dormitory, and the way she figures it, they owe her - Harry, in particular.

But Draco had been asleep and before she could leave, Narcissa Malfoy had walked in. Hermione knew she shouldn't have stayed; shouldn't have listened. And she wasn't trying to. She'd been moving towards the door, but she'd been on the far side of Draco's bed. To leave, she had to pass right by them. And then, she'd heard snippets, things like 'news' and 'her' and she'd frozen.

Now, her curiosity is excruciating. She'd figured Draco wouldn't want people knowing about her, but then Pansy had figured it out and he'd seemed indifferent. And with the way he'd confronted Seamus, she isn't surprised it's gone school-wide.

Gryffindor Tower was in an uproar - another extremely valid reason why she yearned for the cloak.

Ginny's tried to catch her several times but Hermione's been dodging her. She doesn't want to hear more lectures. She's been lecturing herself plenty, already. After the way Draco had acted, she was justified in her reaction. And she wouldn't have gone back