Kindle the Fire

Chapter 6

He woke up to knocking. He wanted it to stop. Taking a pillow, he pressed it against his ears. It muffled the sound but it didn't silence it. The knocking continued to grow louder and louder.

"Bloody hell," he mumbled, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The knocking stopped.

Draco sighed and sunk deeper into his bed.

"Malfoy?" It was Granger.

"What?" He snapped.

"I need to talk to you..."

He groaned as he sat up, stretching and waiting for his vision to return to him. He looked at the miniature clock on the chest. It said it was six thirty in the morning. Six, fucking thirty in the bloody morning. What does she want to talk about in the bloody morning? Did she not understand that he is fu-

"Malfoy," she interrupted his thoughts, "Are you still in there?"

He removed the sheets that were on his body and went to the door.

"What do you want?" He asked through the door.

"Um, well, I kind of wanted to speak to you about something," she said.

"You can just tell me now," he responded.

"I think it would be better if we did it face to face."

He ripped the door open out of irritation. "What?" He snapped.

~•~

Hermione's breath caught in her throat. He didn't notice that he didn't have a shirt on. Her eyes immediately went to the Sectumsempra scar line on his chest. She knew Harry did that, but she couldn't help but feel guilty about it.

"Didn't you want something?" Malfoy asked irritably, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.

"Oh, um, I wanted to talk about what happened on the train..." She trailed of.

"What about it?" He asked with brows furrowed.

"When you, when...you, um, what happened with me and Ron. You can't tell anyone."

His face remained emotionless.
"You can't tell Harry or Ginny or anyone for that matter. Okay?"

"What's in it for me?" He asked. She sighed. Hermione guessed she saw this coming. When you make a deal with the devil, he always wants something in return.

~•~

"Why should I keep it from your friends?" Draco asked.

Granger shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "Well," she started, "I don't want them to see Ron as the bad guy, and I really don't want them to hate me or Ron. I mean, whenever Ron and I fought, Harry would choose his side and Ginny's his sister, so no doubt that she might-"

"Is it really worth it?"

She was dumb struck for a second but soon recovered. "What do you mean?"

All of a sudden he dropped to his knees, feeling this pounding in his head. He groaned, clenching his stomach that felt like it was about to burst. His breathing was labored, coming in and out in short gasps.

This is what it feels like then.

He could hear her shouting his name but she was muffled through the intense pain. His vision was white.

He felt a hand on his cheek, slapping it as if to wake him up. That was probably what he appeared to be doing, sleeping. He found the strength to grab her wrist and bite into it. He didn't inject the venom he needed to mark her as his. No, he wasn't matured enough as a Veela for that.

Draco just needed the feel of her blood rushing out of her wrist to his lips. He could taste the tang of iron. Then his vision was black, and he slipped into the black abyss.

This is what it feels like then, he thought to himself, this is what it feels like to be...on the the brink of dieing.