Love Changes (Dramione)

[fifty eight]

Pain.

That was the first thing that Hermione could think of when she woke up. Her back didn't feel like hers—it felt like a slab of cardboard glued to her bones. Her arms were sore, like they were bruised beyond measure. Even her head didn't feel right.

Something wasn't right.

"She's awake." She heard someone announce, probably Harry, as she stirred from her slumber.

"Harry?" The voice that came out of her throat didn't sound like hers at all. It was raspy, like she hadn't used it in a while, or like someone had torn through her windpipe.

"Hey, I'm here." A hand gripped hers tightly, causing her to wince "Sorry, sorry. Does it still hurt? Where does it hurt?" Harry's voice sounded terribly worried in her ears.

Hermione blinked a few times, her sight adjusting to her surroundings. She was on a bed in their common room. Around her, her friends stood, eyes watching with caution.

"I'll get madame Pomfrey." Elena said quietly, hurrying out of the room to retrieve the school's healer.

"What happened?" Hermione cleared her throat, desperate to get rid of the hoarseness. Blaise walked over to the small kitchen to pour her a glass of water, which she accepted with shaky hands "Thanks." She murmured.

"How much do you remember?" Ron frowned, worried she might've been suffering from memory loss.

Hermione shook her head "I remember being dragged to the dining hall by Rookwood and getting tortured by Rodolphus in front of everyone. In front of Theo." Her voice broke at the mention of his name "He managed to get Rodolphus to stop and ordered Rookwood to take me back, but everything after that was much too hazy for me to..." she trailed off, looking up at Harry "You came for me?"

Harry could only nod "Celine helped Ginny, Ron and I get into the manor to save you." He tentatively pushed his eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose, something he often did when he was anxious "It was very... chaotic."

"How long was I out?" Hermione whispered, looking down at the healing wounds on her body. Some had already closed, barely leaving any scar, but most of her cuts were still pink and several bruises colored her limbs.

"Just for a day." Pansy answered as she watched Hermione observe the damage done on her body "We were at Grimauld, but we managed to get you back here. Harry insisted you be nursed inside the common room and not at the hospital wing. Nobody in school knows what happened at the Burrow, and we want to keep it that way to help Theo."

Hermioned nodded numbly, still unable to place what else was wrong. She knew where her wounds were, she knew where she'd been scratched and whipped and cut, but something else was wrong.

Something else wasn't quite right.

Her emotions... Her mind...

It was silent.

"Where's Draco?" She whispered, looking up to meet her friends' eyes.

Ron was the first to break her gaze, choosing to look down at his feet somberly. Ginny only glanced at Harry in question, unsure what to do. The green-eyed boy managed to suppress he a deep sigh as he shut his eyes in frustration, unable to speak. He had been practicing how to break the news to Hermione ever since they got back to the castle,

But it was Blaise who answered "He went away, Granger."

Hermione's doe eyes snapped to meet his, wide with uncertainty "Away?" She glanced at the balls of fists that he held to his sides, taking note of how white his knuckles looked.