Hateful Love

Chapter Fifty-Eight

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

*****************

Cassie P.O.V.

          I wake up the next morning curled against Draco on the floor beside the couch, my back pressed tight against his chest with his arms around me. My left hand is still clutched around Katherine’s limp one, and I blink sleepily as I look up at her. She’s sleeping peacefully and her face looks calm, but I don’t miss the fact that her skin is so pale it’s almost white.

          It’s got to be almost time for breakfast, so I try to sit up. Draco’s arms tighten around me and pull me back against him, giving a frustrated grunt in his sleep. I wiggle around to face him with a small smile on my face, looking up at him. His eyebrows are furrowed from my moving around, and his lips are slightly parted as he breathes softly. I stretch my head up and kiss him gently without thinking.

          When I pull away, his eyes are open and he’s smiling down at me—a real smile, not a cheeky smirk or fake grin. Draco rubs his thumb along my shoulder and says in a raspy morning voice, “Well, hello.”

         Biting my lip to keep from kissing him again, I untangle myself from his arms and sit up. “It’s almost breakfast, you should go down.”

          “Why do I have to?” he complains. “I want to stay here with you.”

          I twist around and raise one eyebrow at him. “You know it’ll look odd if both of us aren’t in class. Besides, you don’t want to wait around here all day. I’ll just stay here with Katherine so she won’t be alone when she wakes up.”

          Draco groans and rolls onto his back, muttering another complaint about how I always have to be logical. I ignore him and stand up, stretching my aching back slowly. I turn to Katherine and bend over to look at her arm.

          “How does it look?” Draco asks, and I hear him sit up behind me.

I inspect the scar carefully, being sure not to touch the bite marks with my fingers. Letting out a sigh, I put her arm back against the couch and say quietly, “The bite marks look fine, I just—I don’t know about…the inside.”

My knees go weak as I really think about how bad this is for Katherine. For the first time, I think about what’s going to happen when she finally wakes up—if she’ll still be in pain, if she’ll be a…a—

I don’t realize I’ve sat down until Draco scoots up beside me, wrapping a strong arm around me and pulling me close against him. While I do my best not to cry, Draco kisses the top of my head and stays quiet. After a long moment, I tilt my head up to look him in the eyes. “Thank you so much. For helping her. I’m sorry for being so snappy earlier, and I’m sorry I had to ask you to do something like that. I’m just—I’m sorry.”

“I’d do anything you ask me,” Draco says seriously, and I can tell he really means it. “And you don’t have to be sorry for anything, Cassie.”

The two of us sit there for the longest time, holding on to each other in complete silence. Then Draco can’t contain himself any longer and asks cautiously, “…do you think you could tell me what happened last night? I’m just—I still don’t know why you went to the Forest in the first place.”

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair, knowing he’s been waiting all night to ask me that. I take a deep breath and say, “Neville got in trouble the other day for knocking his cauldron over in Potions, so Amycus said his punishment would be to get twenty Death-Cap mushrooms from the Forbidden Forest in one night.” Draco scoffs, and I nod in agreement. “Exactly. We were all angry about it because that’s insane, I mean, no one can do that on their own. So the four of us decided we’d sneak out and help him.’