Chapter 9: Nightmares and painful truth
"Sometimes we hurt the ones we love, but hurting ourselves to avoid it doesn't make it better."
― Shannon A. Thompson
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Hermione woke up feeling disoriented and pain wrecking every part of her body. She tried to sit up straight, eyes fluttering to get used to the lights in the room she was in when she was bombarded by a displeased Madam Pomfrey.
"Miss Granger! Don't just sit up like that. Your body is still very weak. You need to rest." she chastised the poor girl who just shook her head and sat up straight much to the old lady's indignation.
"Madam Pomfrey. How did I end up in the infirmary?" asked Hermione.
"The explosion in the potions class was no silly little joke, Miss Granger. You could have been seriously injured." Madam Pomfrey informed her.
"Luckily Mr. Malfoy pulled you out of harm's way and took most of the impact, otherwise it would have been bad." she shuddered, "Anyways, I'll be off, just call my name if you need anything, Miss granger and remember to rest properly. Your friends must be coming visit you soon." Madam Pomfrey smiled kindly and left leaving behind a confused Hermione.
'Malfoy?'
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Draco walked restlessly from one end of the dorm room to the other, agitated at the thought of his mate being in the infirmary, injured, without any news of her well-being. Tired from watching his friend shuffle around aimlessly Blaise suggested, "Why don't you just go and check up on her. It isn't as if you are a stranger and she might Avada Kedavra you on the spot if you go see her. You will have to tell her the truth at some point. You can't keep it a secret from her forever. It is unfair to her."
Draco turned around, frustrated not with his friend, but himself. "How can I go and check up on her when I am worse than a stranger, her nemesis? Draco asked air quoting dramatically around his sentence.
Blaise looked blankly at his friend long past bored of his antics," Don't act coy with me Malfoy. I saw you and Granger talking in potions and from what I saw and understood from those shuffling steps and soft smiles was that something happened between you too, something good." he stated. If Blaise was anything, it was perceptive. He picked up things others often missed. He knew he was right when he saw his friend blushing a faint red which was the first time he saw color coat those deathly pale cheeks and Draco Malfoy never blushed!
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Draco had escaped his friend's clutches to avoid the taunts and jibs he was sure to be showered with later, but right now he had to talk to Hermione.
Blaise is right, he thought. I have to tell Hermione the truth and then she can decide what she wants. He swallowed hard realizing his throat was parched dry but then moved the thought aside and caught hold of the doorknob between his slender fingers opening the door to the infirmary.
".....feeling fine 'Mione." he heard before hiding behind some curtains to avoid being seen by the Gryffindors. His sensitive ears caught on to their every whisper as they conversed around his ailing mate.
"Even though it's hard to admit I have to say I am thankful Malfoy was there to save you Hermione." He heard Potter as his eyes widened listening to his long-time enemy not bad-mouthing him.
" Before we understood what was going on we were already following the crowd to escape the dungeons and I thought you were doing the same." Harry's voice shook with remorse as Ron placed his hand on his shoulder feeling the same.
Hermione was their best friend, the annoying know-it-all who had always been there for as long as they could remember. She was their sister. It was their job to look after her, yet they failed her, again just like before. They shivered remembering the Malfoy Manor. They couldn't believe Malfoy had saved her, the same girl he seemed to have hated all their school years, yet here they were. Harry made a mental note to thank the white blonde.
" You don't have to be so hard on yourselves. I am perfectly fine like I said before. I don't expect you to look after me all the time," Hermione answered softly with a gentle smile looking at her friends. She didn't want them to think they were at fault. If it was anyone's it was her fault for not paying proper attention.
"No Ginny not anymore," she said still gentle but firmer than before when she saw the red-headed girl open her mouth and squeezed her hand which she was holding. "I told you it's not your fault, now quit it and stop wasting the few precious minutes we have left before Madam Pomfrey comes rushing in and ushers you all out. Tell me about the work I missed. That thought has been eating me up all day!" Hermione whined resulting in the lifting of the damp mood as laughter bubbled up out of her friend's mouths. The laughter was cut short when the group was disturbed by the rough opening of the door and arrival of a figure huffing and puffing, clearly having run.
Malfoy gritted his teeth, hiding further into the curtains as he recognized the figure as the Russian blonde.
Ivan stood up straight having regained his lost breath and rushed towards Hermione's side grasping her free hand in his hold. Anger coursed through the veins of the hidden blonde as he fought hard to control himself and left quietly before he could do something he would regret.
" Are you ok Hermione? Are you fine? Does it hurt a lot? I came as soon as I found the infirmary." He questioned away before giving the startled girl a chance to answer who was still trying to come out from the shock of his abrupt entrance. Even her friends seemed pretty surprised by his antics. After calming and assuring Ivan the group talked about various other subjects including Hermione's missed schoolwork which she was glad to note was not much, before being ushered out by Madam Pomfrey.
After taking her medicine Hermione settled in bed with a weirdly painful feeling which she had been feeling since the time she woke up.
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Draco quietly laid down in his bed still seething with anger. His clenched fist raised and hit the nearby bedpost with a thud. He raised his head when he heard some shuffling and saw Blaise turn around on the bed next to his with a snore. Stiffly he laid back down trying to control the tsunami of emotions surging through him. Sadness, heartbreak, disappointment, and anger. Majorly anger. He was outraged at the audacity of that git.
'Trying to steal my mate, my Hermione.'
Closing his eyes he willed himself to calm down and welcomed a much-needed sleep. But it wasn't a night of gentle snoring and delightful dreams. It was a night of pain and self-realization.
Draco groaned when he felt a slight prickling in his chest. He felt chilly sensations wash over him as a feeling of loneliness set in. He felt this irresistible pull towards some unknown destination. It was indescribable. The excruciating pain kept increasing as he writhed and twitched on his bed as if being cursed by the Cruciatus curse in his half-unconscious state. First groans and then painful screams filled the dark dorm room as the pain spread through his body. One particular loud shriek woke up Blaise as he wondered who was being murdered while scratching his head. Removing his hair from his face and followed the direction of the scream only to find his best- friend thrashing in pain visibly shivering as his blanket lay forgotten on the floor.
"What's going on...?" he heard a slurred voice before remembering the two other Slytherins he shared the room with. Quickly grabbing his wand he spelled them into sleeping until the next evening!
Seeing his friend being tortured by some mysterious force filled Blaise with panic and concern. But grabbing a hold on his emotions he quickly quietened Draco before his screams woke the whole house up and lifted him in the air with the help of his wand. Walking with an urgency he made his way towards the infirmary where unbeknownst to him a brunette was suffering in a very much similar way.
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"Among my stillness was a pounding heart."
― Shannon A. Thompson.
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Madam Pomfrey was woken up at midnight to groans and shrieks of her only patient of the night. She reached Hermione's bed thinking the poor girl was having a nightmare. Nothing seemed to work as she saw her usual methods and spells to wake the girl up being rendered useless. Lost and desperate Madam Pomfrey tried to recall all the various illnesses, curses, and spells which could have put the brunette to such a predicament when suddenly lightning struck with a roar of thunder as Madam Pomfrey's mind got stuck on one very possible cause.
"Oh dear Lord!" escaped the old nurse's lips as she started rolling the sleeves of the agonized and unconscious girl, even stripping her of her woolen sweater so that she could get much better access to the skin searching for only she knows what. As Madam Pomfrey turned Hermione a little she saw what she was looking for.
Green ink was spreading agonizingly slowly just a little beneath the lower region of her neck, swirling and shaping up to form the image of a majestic dragon.
Madam Pomfrey marveled at the sight she was seeing, clearly a first in all the years of her working at Hogwarts. She had heard great legends about Veelas and their mates and from what she knew and was seeing she could tell that miss Granger was a mate and that her Veela needs to be found immediately. Millions of thoughts ran through her mind concerning the possibility of the Veela being someone from Hogwarts or any other corner of the magical world, as she hurried to put a wet cloth over the burning forehead of her patient and another one to try and soothe the blistering red rashes forming around the magical tattoo.
There was nothing else she could do except watch the girl suffer and vainly try to lessen her pain for it was not in her hands. Only Hermione's Veela mate could free her of this pain. Madam Pomfrey couldn't even fathom if Hermione was in this much pain what must her chosen Veela mate be going through. Not forgetting to inform the Headmistress she sent a quick word with the infirmary owl asking Professor Mcgonagall to come at once.
Her head snapped towards the sound of doors being slammed open followed by hurried footsteps as a disheveled Zabini came into sight, still in his nightwear, an agitated and deathly pale blonde floating behind him.
Madam Pomfrey stood up leaving Hermione for the time being and focused on her new patient, gesturing towards the panicked boy to place his best friend on an empty bed.
Zabini placed Malfoy on the white bed before speaking, "He... he just started screaming out in pain in his sleep thrashing around violently. I don't know... what happened to him?!"not hiding his troubled expression and concern for his friend.
'Could it be.....'
Madam Pomfrey moved towards Draco before starting to unbutton his shirt giving a silencing look to Zabini who tried to speak puzzled by her actions.
'I can't believe it. It's true.'
She grew grave faced but just as awestruck was she as the now wide-eyed Zabini who couldn't believe what he was seeing.
For the second time that night the doors were slammed open as the headmistress hurried inside with a worried inside. Facing Madam Pomfrey she gave her an urging look questioning upon the urgent calling but the old nurse just pointed towards the left chest area right above the heart of the pale blonde where a beautiful phoenix tattoo could be seen being formed.
Madam Pomfrey sucked in a sharp breath as she stared warily at the strange magical tattoo.
"Looks like we have a Veela and a mate in the school headmistress."
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