Head Duties

Three

I awoke with a start, shooting up, eyes wide. I whipped my head around the room until I realized once again that it was just a dream. This was the third time tonight that the nightmares dragged me out of my sleep. I dropped my head into my hands. I don't know how much more of this I could take.
This castle will be the death of me.

How ironic.

How fitting.

I cried. The tears were silent but they were there as much as I didn't want to admit it.
I cried for the souls I put out, for the families I tore apart, for the evil I put into this world.
I stood up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. I flipped on the light, meeting my eyes in the mirror. I was disgusted with myself. 

I turned the water on and bent down to splash my face with it. I stayed there, with my head sunken and my hands limp over the sides of the sink. I closed my eyes. 

"Draco?" I shot up and turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway that connected to her room. She was wiping the sleep from her eyes and her voice was groggy. 

"Yeah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you-"

"You didn't wake me." I studied her, she looked like she'd been having a rough night as well.
"Are you- Hermione are you okay?"

She'd been wiping tears away, not sleep.

"No." Her answer was so small, it was heartbreaking. Hermione Granger, one of the strongest witches I knew out there and to hear her, to see her like this... 

I stepped forward without thinking and I wrapped my arms around her. She was still but just as I was starting to pull away in embarrassment, she melted into me. I looked down as she burrowed her head into my chest and snaked her arms around my back. Her body shook ever so slightly as she cried into my shirt. I tightened my left arm around her shoulders and brought my right hand up to stroke her head. 

"It'll be okay." I don't know what made me say it, I just did. I didn't think about it, the words just slipped out in an effort to comfort her. 

We stood there in silence, our arms tight around each other, afraid to let go. She had stopped crying and I had rested my head on hers. I heard a small chuckle. 

"We're not getting much sleep tonight are we?" I smiled gently as I pulled back and looked down at her face. She refused to let me go so we held on as if we'd fall apart if we released the other.

"No, I suppose not-"

"Is that Fitzgerald?" I looked back into my room where she was staring past me, "you're reading Gatsby?" When I turned back to her she was staring at me and I couldn't help but give her a small smirk.

"Of course, it's one of my favorites," my smirk turned into a smile as she grinned. 

"My mother would always read that to me before I went to bed," she dropped her arms as she walked past me into my room. I felt a tinge of sadness letting her go and it startled me.

Sure Hermione was attractive, she was incredibly smart and cunning but to have feelings for her? Yes, we just stood clutching each other for fifteen minutes but that was two friends comforting one another.
Wasn't it?

I shook my thoughts away as she grabbed the book and sat down on my bed. She crossed her legs and then pulled the covers up to her waist. "Come 'ere, I'll read to you," she smiled sheepishly and dropped her eyes to the book. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at how cute she looked.

How cute she looked?

I needed to get a hold of myself. I will not ruin possibly my only chance at friendship here over a silly infatuation. 

I walked over to my bed and slid under the covers, propping my head up on my elbow, facing her. I could've sworn I saw a slight blush tinge her cheeks but I dismissed it, chalking it up to my subconscious just looking for reasons to catch feelings.

"Chapter 1: In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since." She paused and lowered her voice to that of an old man.
"'Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,' he told me, 'just remember that all of the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.'
"He didn't say any more, but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that."
She had returned her voice to that of the one she used for Nick Caraway after finishing the quote from his father. Lost in her words, I closed my eyes as she continued.
_________________________________

I opened my eyes from sleep and for the first time in months, it had nothing to do with nightmares. I had simply awoken. I was however slightly perplexed as to why there was a yellow glow to the room. I moved my gaze from my ceiling to my left where the lamp sat- and was even more confused. There, on top of my pillow was a mass of messy brunette. 

I must have stared at her head for five minutes when "Draco?" Her voice was infused with sleep. "Listen, I know we were enemies and all but you're really not that bad," I smirked at the lazy way she talked and the carefree tone she carried on with. "And this is the best sleep I've gotten in-" she paused, and her face scrunched into deep concentration but when she spoke again it sounded as if she decided to guess anyway, "in a year?" She flopped her head towards me and I was beginning to think she was delirious. "Bloody hell I don't know, but it has and there's no way I'm moving. If that's okay with you." She stopped her rant and gazed at me.

"Okay" it was all I could get out but it seemed to satisfy her and she flicked a wrist at the lamp pitching us into darkness. 

To say I was stunned was an understatement. I knew she could do wand-less magic but she was more than half asleep! I laid back and returned my face to the ceiling though I couldn't see much of it. Either she's brighter than anyone could imagine or she wasn't quite that taken by sleep.

Hermione rolled toward me lying across my chest. She nuzzled her head into my neck and her hand came to rest on my shoulder. I was paralyzed. I didn't know what to do.
"Relax Draco. It's just me." I intently studied the ceiling not believing what was happening. "Draco, please." I closed my eyes and released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. As my muscles relaxed Hermione again melted into me and I couldn't help but think that it was everything I had ever wanted. I wrapped my left arm around her that was previously above my head. I held onto that woman like it was the only thing I had left.

Because she was.