Love's Enemy Rising

Scars

Hermione

It is strange, watching Hogwarts disappear behind the train for the last time. I stare out the window until the last spire has faded behind the summer clouds. Draco is in front of me in the compartment, pulling off his robes and pulling on his muggle clothes. I watch, enjoying the way his muscles ripple under his pale skin and I ache to touch him. But I resist. The Hogwarts Express isn't exactly the best place to get physical. Students are running up and down the aisles and it would be easy for one to look through the glass and see exactly what is going on in our compartment. 

"Why are you staring at me?" says Draco, watching me with his hands on his hips. He has pulled on a shirt that hugs his broad shoulders and lean waist in a delectable way. 

"Because you are hot," I tell him with a smirk. He rolls his eyes but laughs and leans in to brush a quick kiss across my lips.

"Your turn, baby," he says against my lips and plops down on the seat next to me.

"My turn for what?" I ask. 

"Your turn to change so I can stare," he answers.

I punch him playfully in the shoulder but I don't move to change. For one thing, I don't want anyone in the hall to look in and see. And for another, I don't want Draco to see me in the bright light of the day. In truth, Draco has not seen me undressed since everything that happened with Nicola. After he saved me and I was finally released from the hospital wing, it became clear that the scars she left behind were not just emotional. She sliced my body to shreds and everywhere her wand touched was left with an angry red scar that will never fade. 

I remember the first time I looked at my full body in the mirror and saw the true evidence of what had happened. I was getting ready to shower and had pulled off the sweat shirt and pajama pants they gave me in the hospital wing. Standing there in my bra and underwear, I barely recognized myself. Angry and swollen crimson lines crossed my body, standing in disgusting contrast against my smooth pale skin. My stomach, my ribs, by back, my arms and chest and legs. They are everywhere. An ugly reminder of what happened. 

I couldn't look away from the stranger in the mirror. It was my face, my body, but it wasn't me. When I finally pulled myself away and stepped under the shower, which was so hot every drop stung against my unfamiliar skin, I stayed there until Draco came looking for me. 

"Don't come in!" I shouted after he knocked on the door and called my name.

"Hermione, are you okay? You have been in there almost an hour." His voice cracked with worry. He had barely let me out of his sight the last month, but I couldn't let him see me like that.

"I'm fine. I'm coming out," I told him, shutting off the water and pulling on my robes without taking the time to dry off just in case he came in.

After that, I avoided mirrors at all costs and I made sure Draco never saw my bare skin. Knowing how perfect his body is and how beautiful he is, I couldn't let him see me. I can't let him see what my body has become.

"Hey, Hermione. Are you listening?" comes his musical voice, bringing me back to the present.

"Huh?" I ask, turning to look at him. 

Draco

Hermione looks like her mind is a million miles away. Her hair is pulled away from her face and her huge brown eyes are staring at something I can't see. I want to reach out and touch her, but it seems like every time I do, she flinches. Ever since Nicola poisoned her, she is so hesitant. She still kisses me and lets me hold her, but something is different. The intimacy that used to be as easy as breathing has become careful and reluctant.