Say Something

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For the past few days, Draco had seen Hermione as little as possible. He put all his trust in the nurses to take care of her and check her vitals. They brought daily reports to him everyday on how she's doing. By the looks of it, not so well.

When he asked the nurses if she spoke, they say all she ever does is look out the window. This isn't really saying much considering all she had to look at was the sky, holding no specific interest.

Still however she ate her meals, slept soundly, and even took her own baths and showers. It was safe to say Hermione Granger was doing fine on her own, but even he couldn't convince himself of that.

She was dying, and although he could do nothing to stop it, he was still in charge of taking care of her, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Draco gave a soft knock on her door before entering. And just as they had told him, she was staring blankly out the window. "Granger?" he called out to her, "I'm here to check your vitals."

"I thought you would be sending one of your nurses again. Do you usually neglect your patients?" She replied not bothering to look at him.

"No!" he quickly denied, "I've just been rather busy-"

"Attending to your other patients who actually have a chance of making it out of here alive? Yeah, I figured."

Draco brushed off her comment and proceeded again checking her vitals. He silently observed her as he did, noting that she wasn't showing any signs of death other than in her eyes. Otherwise, she had a neutral color complexion, a petite figure, and the same bushy hair she had when they were in school.

"You certainly take longer than all your nurses," she slyly added, breaking his reverie.

"What? Oh no, I was just checking. You're fine," he said quickly as he put his stethoscope back around his neck.

"As fine as can be for a dead person," she mumbled.

Finally, in an act of frustration, he removed his stethoscope and his lab coat and tossed it on the chair. "Okay, Granger. As of right now, I am not your Healer. It's just me now, Draco Malfoy. Your worst enemy since our First Year and the heir to the Malfoy fortune."

"Is that supposed to get me to open up to you? Because that is the opposite of helping me," she stated, "Besides what is there to open up about?"

"I don't know, maybe what you're feeling? What I can do to make you feel...something? Just say something, Granger. Anything." he said, defeated.

Hermione eyed him wearily, with a look of apprehension and reluctance. "Forget it," Draco muttered, "Forget I said anything. See you tomorrow, Granger." He grabbed his coat and stethoscope and made his way to the door.

"Wait," her voice stopped him.

He turned around and replied, "What?"

She sighed heavily and reluctantly replied, "Hopeless. Okay? Hopeless. That's what I'm feeling."

"What else?" he asked.

"Defeated."

"And?"

She looked up from her lap and gazed into his deep grey eyes. "Lonely," she responded heavily, "Without Harry and Ron...I have no one."

"Not even your parents?" he asked curiously, sitting down beside her.

"During the war, I had to erase their memories so the Deatheaters wouldn't find them. Now they're somewhere in Australia, having the time of their lives with absolutely no recollection of me." Draco suppressed the urge to wince at his former title. Being a Deatheater was not following a belief, it was following a mad man. "It doesn't matter anymore. All I have to do now is wait to die in this god forsaken hospital bed," she mumbled.

Draco didn't know what to say. For she was absolutely right, but telling her that would not help her in any way. He touched her shoulder gently, and she lifted her chin enough for him to see the tears in her eyes. "We can help you here, you know. Maybe we don't have the cure for whatever happened to you, but we are still here."

She sniffled and for a brief moment, gave the smallest smile. But it vanished as fast as it came. "Thanks, Malfoy."

Draco continued staring at her until they became uncomfortable. " I should go," Draco said as he grabbed his things and left the room without another word.

•••

At the end of the day, just as Astoria was getting ready for bed, Draco sat on the mattress waiting patiently for her to come to bed.

"Astoria?" he called out to her. She was in the bathroom with the door open. She called out, "Yes?"

"Do you ever feel...lonely here? All by yourself when I'm gone?"

She walked out of the loo with a concerned expression. "Sometimes, but I'm fine with it. Why?" she asked whilst removing her earrings.

"I was just wondering. Thought about taking a day off tomorrow. Maybe we could spend the day together," he mentioned hopefully.

She climbed into bed and curled up onto her side. "We do plenty of special things together. You don't have to waste a vacation day for me."

"Well, I wouldn't be wasting it. I'll be with you," he said caressing her cheek. He moved in to kiss her but she shifted to her other side. "Don't be silly, Draco. I'll be fine," she said and turned off the lights before Draco could say another word.