The Dark Side (Unedited)

Chapter 30

White lights made her eyes crinkle as she edged toward reality. Her mind was awake, a million thoughts rushing around her head, but she could not make her eyes open. She was lying in a strange bed, the pillow too high for comfort. The sheets felt starched and heavy, as if they were trying to tie her down. Hermione tried to part her cracked lips, and a short groan escaped. She immediately heard footsteps rush over to her, and a warm hand cover her forehead.

"Hermione, it's me. It's okay, you don't need to wake up. Just rest." Draco's comforting voice vibrated through her, but she couldn't make sense of the words. Her head pounded and she felt an overwhelming sense of weakness, and she began to get frustrated with herself. Why couldn't she speak or move?

"Miss Granger, dear. Stop resisting the medicine, you need to have some rest." The voice was quite familiar, but she couldn't attach a face to it. She eventually gave up and focused on what the voice had said. She was resisting the medicine? Why did she need medicine? Why did she need rest? What had happened to make her end up in this uncomfortable bed?

Suddenly it hit her like a train. Her mother. Her father. Missing.

All of her senses came alive and she opened her eyes to a room filled with light. Madam Pomfrey was leaning over her, and Draco was sitting in a chair beside her, looking extremely anxious. She sat up, words forming in her frantic brain.

"Draco, where is everyone? We have to leave right now. Where's my wand? Have Harry and Ron already left?" She swung her legs out of the sheets, but was immediately attacked by Madam Pomfrey.

"Miss Granger! You must not get up. Lay down and try to sleep, dear. You are not going anywhere." Hermione didn't even hear her words as she pushed past her and grabbed her wand from the table next to her. Draco began to argue with her, but the doors to the infirmary burst open with Harry, Ron and Ginny sprinting from them.

"Harry, what's happening? Where are we going? Does anyone know where-"

"Hermione, listen to me. You can't go anywhere okay? I know you feel like you need to help your parents, but you aren't in the right frame of mind. You need to stay here and rest. Ginny is staying as well." The room erupted into screams of protest from the girls. Apparently, Ginny had not known that her boyfriend had been planning on her missing out on the action, and she was not happy about it. Madam Pomfrey gave up trying to calm everyone down and stomped into her office.

"Harry, I really don't care what you think right now, my parents are gone, probably taken by Death Eaters and you expect me to just sit back and relax?" But Harry barely heard her, he was focused on getting Ginny to calm down and sit in the chair that Draco had evacuated. It was Draco who hurried towards her, trying to make her see sense.

"Hermione, I know that you want to help, but you need to rest, at least for a while." Hermione was still shaking her head, trying to push past him. He put his arms around her, holding her to him. "Please just listen. If I knew that you are out there, where my father can get you, I would not be able to focus. It would be a danger to us both. I need you to stay here, where you are safe, so that I can concentrate on getting your parents back."

"But Draco, I can't feel safe when you aren't here. I need you to come with you, I need to be with you right now." Even as she was speaking, she knew she had lost the fight. Draco shook his head, bending down to kiss her.

"I love you, Hermione. Be safe." She tried to latch herself onto him, but he got away and walked out of the room with Harry and Ron. She wondered if it would be the last time she saw him, if she would ever feel his lips against hers again.

Eventually, her gaze floated from the door to the chair, which now held a fuming Ginny.

"How dare they leave without us! Im pregnant, not disabled! Do you know how worried I'm going to be? He hasn't even told the Order! He's not thinking clearly, Hermione! He's going to be hurt! Oh god, what if... what if he gets killed? He can't leave me Hermione, with his baby. Oh, Hermione! What am-"

"Ginny, shut up for a sec. Let me think." Ginny looked offended, but Hermione hardly noticed. She began muttering. "It's not like we need their permission."

"What was that?" Ginny snapped, her emotions running high.

"They can't tell us what to do. We can leave right now." Ginny nodded eagerly, and carefully rose from the chair. Hermione wondered if it was a bad idea to let her into the fight, but knew that she would never be able to leave without bringing Ginny. "Where do you think they went?"

"I think I heard Ron mutter something about the Malfoy Manor." Hermione nodded, preparing to apparate. She wondered if Ginny was supposed to travel by apparition, but decided that she shouldn't be worrying about that in the circumstances. She grabbed Ginny's arm and they began to be hurtled towards the place she hoped she'd never have to go again.