The Invisible Wars

Chapter 11

Draco's bones have properly healed, three broken ribs, after a week of bed rest in the Hospital wing. Blaise Zabini had been considerably kind to visit him but Draco find it nothing but pestering and thus giving him threat after threat until he finally leaves.

One day Blaise happen to found him staring straight at the ceiling.

"Trying to sort out your morning wood problem in your immobile state?" He said casually, biting in an apple he brought himself for Draco.

He wanted to curse the git into non-existence, if only he wasn't feeling a tiny gratitude that there was someone to talk to at the end of the day, keeping him from losing his sanity.

The first thing he did after he was released from the hospital wing was went to the owlery, even if he knew there is most likely no letter to arrive, the prospect of waiting and checking for something somehow calm his mind. And as expected, there was nothing there but a motley collection of owls and obvious disappointment.

Draco hated the routine, wake up, class, eat, sleep, and then repeat. He didn't hate it because it's ordinary, it's the normalcy along knowing that outside the boundaries of Hogwarts there was an imminent threat growing with his family being one of the target. Watching his classmates knowing full well they can sleep without having a nightmare, receiving regular letters from their parents, not worrying about anything at all except recovering from the war. He once was them, how he wanted the innocence and yet how far away it is now like an imperceptible dot in the universe. There was a point when his life was steady, it was a cliché in a standard plot. He was rich, the top of his class, feared by his friends, pureblood. Then Voldemort came back. That's when the ink on his story started to blotch the remaining parts of his life, and suddenly things are no longer black and white but an array of different colors he has no idea where to fit himself, although recently he's getting quite familiar with the color brown.

Funnily enough, her eyes are whiskey brown. Her hair is caramel brown. And she was moving her mouth standing beside him in potion class saying something Draco is not paying attention to and when she finished she was looking at him expectantly.

"I have no idea what you just said." Draco said haughtily.

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh and pushed the book closer to him. Professor Slughorn decided to keep the partners until the end of the school year, meaning damning them both for the rest of their stay.

"I said, Professor Slughorn has demonstrated how to do this before and I was asking you if you still remember." Hermione repeated.

Draco pulled at the corner of the book and read the name of the potion to himself. Amortentia.

"I think I do know." He drawled.

"You think? That's not enough!" Hermione cried out in a panicked tone.

"You want me to say I memorized every single page, letter and dot in this book?" Draco derided. "I'm not mad like you, Granger."

"What made you think I memorized that book page by page?" Hermione retorted.

Draco raised one eyebrow challengingly at her. "Where can I find the cure for tree barked skin problem?"

"Page two hundred and fif—completely accidental that I happen to know." Hermione's cheeks grew red, turning her back to him to hide her embarrassment but still she could feel him roll his eyes behind her.

As much as they can, the two tried their best not to hex each other. They found a common ground in wanting to be the best in class. Hermione was surprised to discover this behavior in Draco, not knowing he always came second in highest next to her. Draco doesn't boast it, because he doesn't want anyone to know he came in second best to a girl, and not just a girl, a mudblood to make it worse. But now the blood status hardly matters. With a few sarcastic comments and heated comebacks the two were able to produce their potion without anyone being sent to detention. Hermione smiled smugly as she examines the gold colored liquid swirling inside their cauldron. She lifts up the lid and they both dip their heads to catch the scent billowing in the atmosphere.