By Artemis Teranika Ryann
Chapter Two: Tormented Daily.
Hermione's face split into a radiant smile as she accepted the graduation scroll from Professor McGonagall. She stepped up to the podium and delivered the speech due to the class valedictorian.
"Class of '98… We are here today to leave one of the places our hearts will –"
Hermione sat up in pain, clutching her stomach, all illusions of the happy dream gone. After a moment, the pain subsided and the black spots cleared from her eyes, permitting her enough sight to see the Head Girl suite in the minimal pre-dawn light. Hermione sank back down onto her purple pillow, a light sheen of perspiration covering her forehead. A bleak acceptance had engulfed her. She would not live to see her 21st birthday, but she would live each day as if it were her last – which it could, plausibly, be.
Hermione bit her lip, and almost unwillingly climbed out of her bed, moving into the bathroom she shared with the Head Boy. Another piece of bad news, she remembered with a jolt. The Head Boy alongside her this year was none other than Draco Malfoy. But that wasn't what she'd come in here for. Hermione pulled open the drawer that had all her female necessities in it and withdrew the twisting, elegant bottle that held the Draught of Painless Sleeping Death from its hiding place at the bottom of the drawer. She sat on the edge of the many-tapped spa bath and held the bottle in her hands, her fingers tracing the refined carvings of the delicate aqua glass, almost in a reverie. Angrily she came back to herself and returned the bottle carefully to its hideaway in the draw, slamming the draw shut. The potion called to her, demanding her attention several times a day. Numerous times in class Ron and Harry had discovered her doodling a likeness of the bottle, becoming concerned when she tore up or burnt the parchment the picture was on, even shocking Professor Flitwick by burning a revision test that had had an image of the bottle on it.
Hermione sighed, her anger ebbing away as she locked the door to the bathroom, running a bath and sinking in it, losing herself in jasmine-scented bubbles and oils, her spirit soaring away from her body for the much needed sleep.
~*
When she came to, her first thought was that there was an earthquake. She quickly realized the bath she'd drawn was cold and that the 'earthquake' was pounding on the door of the bathroom.
"Granger! I don't know what you are doing in there, but hurry up! Classes start in two hours, and I need a shower. Granger! Out, out, out!" Malfoy's voice drifted through the door and Hermione struggled out of the bathtub, pulling the plug to allow the water to drain and wrapping herself in a royal purple towel, her damp hair hanging around her shoulders. She unlocked the door and opened it, glaring at the blonde male who stood, his fist raised to rap on the door again, dressed only in a pair of Sponge-Bob Squarepants boxers. Hermione stifled laughter and met his angry and stunned grey eyes.
"Honestly, Granger, put some clothes on, no one needs to see you in a towel in the morning… wait, no one needs to see you in a towel ever."
Hermione smirked at him. "This coming from the pureblood fanatic who is currently clad in naught but a pair of boxers printed with a Muggle cartoon – Sponge-Bob Squarepants, no less." To Hermione's surprise and delight, Malfoy's cheeks went pink with embarrassment.
As Hermione pushed past him to the Head Girl's door and opening it, she tossed over her shoulders, "Very stylish, Malfoy." She closed the door on his sputtering outrage and burst into laughter in the safety of her own room.
~*
Hermione pulled on her other shoe and, fully dressed and ready for class, left the security of her bedroom to enter the Common Room. She heard a scream of frustration from the bathroom. Curious, she opened the door to the bathroom and peered in to where Malfoy stood, up to his knees in grey-green sludge, which was beginning to lap at the bottom of his towel.
Hermione couldn't help herself; she laughed.
Malfoy glared at her. "Granger… I command you to fix this mess!"
Hermione only laughed harder.
Malfoy sighed, and wincingly added a whispered, "Please?"
Hermione abruptly stopped laughing. "What?"
Malfoy swallowed his pride and winced again, "Granger, could you… please… help me?"
Startled, Hermione waved her wand and muttered the cleaning spell, leaving Malfoy standing in a towel in the bath. She turned away from him, and just as she left the bathroom, she heard a whispered, "Thank you," that she was certain she wasn't meant to hear. She paused in the doorway, and, looking over her shoulder, replied softly, "You're welcome."
She stepped out of the bathroom, and, just in time to ruin the sentimental moment, broke into a series of body-wrecking coughs that made her reach for the door-jam to stay upright. A hand whacked her on the back a few times, and through watering eyes, Hermione was shocked to see Malfoy patting her back.
When the coughs subsided Hermione sagged against the door, breathing heavily.
"That's a nasty cough, Granger. You should get it checked out." Malfoy sounded… almost concerned. Hermione looked up at him, confused.
Malfoy fixed a sneer in place. "I wouldn't want to have to do all the Head duties myself." He stalked off.
Hermione shook her head in disgust and sunk to the ground.
~*
The next day, Malfoy had already left when the coughs kicked in, and Hermione was grateful. She didn't need him to see her so weak. But that night, she wasn't so lucky…
~*
The golden-scaled dragon opened one eyelid to reveal silver eyes as Hermione's chest constricted and her throat burned.
"Granger?" He asked, lifting his golden head. An earthquake shook the valley they were in. "Granger, I thought I told you to get that cough checked out? For crying out loud, Granger, I need sleep. Stop your bloody coughing and get a drink or something. Granger!"
"Granger! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Hermione's eyes snapped open and she realized she couldn't breathe. She gagged and sat bolt upright, hitting her head on something hard. As breathing returned to her, she saw a dark form stumble away from her bed, swearing blackly.
"Bloody hell, Granger, you have a really hard head!" Malfoy rubbed his forehead, glaring at her as he snapped on the lights.
Hermione stared at him with wide eyes, then realized he was in her room, at night, while she was only wearing her night-gear.
She screamed.
Or, at least, she tried to. But you need your voice to be able to scream, and Hermione's was… well, absent. Her hand flew to her mouth, shock written all over her face.
"What is it, Granger? Cat got your tongue?" Malfoy sneered. "Oh well, at least you've stopped coughing. Now I'm going back to sleep."
He turned and stalked from the room.
Hermione crawled out of bed, grabbing her wand and a dressing-gown and she stumbled out of her bedroom and into the common room, where she pushed open the portrait and staggered to the Hospital Wing.
~*#*~
Sorry it takes so long to put up chapters, peeps, but year nine has me bogged down with assignments on melanoma and homework on trigonometry. Not happy.