A Reason To Be

“How the hell do you understand this shit?!?!” Draco exclaimed in a frustrated voice. He had pulled his chair right up to the bed and had balanced his large Arithmacy textbook on Hermione’s leg. He also had placed his scroll on her stomach. He had basically turned Hermione Granger into a desk. He knew that she was quite proficient in Arithmacy, but obviously she didn’t offer him any pointers. He knew that if anyone were to walk in and see him carrying on a conversation with someone who was currently in a coma, they would have committed him straight away. He didn’t care though; he had talked to her more and more since he had come to visit it her.

“Fuck it! When am I going to need this?” He asked half to himself half to her. He closed his book and rolled up his scrolls and tossed them on the floor. He turned back to her and looked at her for a while. He just looked and said nothing for a long while.

“Did I tell you your parents were here? They were, a few weeks ago. They didn’t want to leave but they had to. I met them, you know. They were pre-occupied with you of course, though they were quite nice to me. Your mum especially.” Draco said finally, breaking the silence he had himself imposed. After he spoke he paused. Talking about Hermione’s parents had, for some reason, made him think of his own. He thought about Lucius and Narcissa, and what it was like to grow up with them as parents.

‘They raised me as they saw fit, and I obviously survived it. They provided me with the finest of everything; most at Hogwarts could hardly claim the same.’ Draco thought to himself, trying to rationalize they way they had raised their son. Very soon after, he thought to himself there was no use rationalizing anything. It didn’t matter. He sighed deeply and rested his head on the edge of the bed, slightly touching Hermione’s arm.

“My mother was never as nice as yours. There is only time I can remember her being that kind. The year before my first at Hogwarts, my family went traveling abroad. We went all over but the last country we visited was India. My father had other matters of business to attend to, so the last day we were there it was just my mother and I. I remember everything about that day. We went through the marketplaces and bought whatever we wanted. She laughed and smiled that day. I even remember the smell. The air is like the food, spiced and warm. That was a good day. I don’t miss my parents, but when I reminisce about that day I think I miss her a little.” Draco said softly. His head lay on the soft, red bedspread that over Hermione. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The spiced scent of India he had been reliving was replaced by the smell of jasmine.

He opened his eyes again and breathed in the scent of jasmine once more. He sat up and wondered why the blanket smelled of flowers. He leaned forward and brought his face close to hers and smelled her hair. It too smelled of jasmine. Draco concluded that jasmine must be the scent that Hermione wore.

“Mmmm…that smells nice, Granger.” Draco whispered. He moved away and settled back into his black chair. He tilted his head back and inhaled the jasmine again, letting sleep overcome him.



“Well, I’ve just returned from Hogsmeade, my shopping is done.” Draco announced to the comatose girl. He shrugged off his outer shirt and draped it over the back of his chair before taking a seat.

“You may be asking yourself, Granger; what could Malfoy be shopping for? Well I must say that it is none of your business. Have you never heard that you shouldn’t ask questions like that around Christmas time?” Draco said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I bought Christmas presents for people. Not exactly a Malfoy trait but if you don’t tell anyone, I won’t. The way I see it is that since I have inherited my family’s fortune, I have got ten times more money than I can ever spend in a lifetime. I’ve got to get rid of it somehow, right?” He explained to Hermione. It was true that he had more money that he would ever hope to need. The desire to buy people things was something that had only recently surfaced, and after some debate he had decided to indulge it. He abandoned his conversation about Christmas presents and just sat in silence.

Like so often, Draco found himself just looking at Hermione. Looking at her face or her hair or her hands. He had memorized every contour of her face. Her skin was always on the fairer side, but now she was quite pale. She was as pale as Draco was. It didn’t make any difference to him though. His eyes traveled down from her face to the left side of her neck. As he had noticed many times before, there was a small beauty mark in the hollow of her neck, just where is curved.

‘Oh to die and be reborn as that beauty mark. I could deal with it.’ Draco chuckled to himself. He stopped laughing and grinning as quickly as he had started though. He looked back up at her face, particularly her eyes.

“Quand vous réveillerez-vous, beauté de sommeil?”* Draco murmured as his hand slowly ventured forward. Draco had stepped out of his mind at this point; he was working solely on impulse. His large, strong hand gently cupped her cheek. His thumb slide over and gently ran across her lower lip. When did that he unconsciously licked his own lips and his hand moved lower. He let his fingertips run down the side of her neck. They went gently down her neck to her shoulder, where they slid slightly underneath the collar of her pajamas.

Draco was in a trance. He watched his hand like it wasn’t his own, waiting to see what it would do next. He soon found out that his hand became bolder. His fingertips went back to the center, to the hollow of her throat. Malfoy’s eyes darken and his breath caught in his throat as his hand slowly traveled lower. His fingers glided down the soft skin; between the girl’s breasts. His touched stayed there, in the valley between them. The pajamas prevented him from going further. He drew his hand back up and then lay back on her torso, on top of her clothes. His whole hand now moved slowly down from her chest to her well-toned stomach. When he felt her navel through the cloth he stopped. He flexed his fingertips slightly but did not remove his hand. It was then he did something that even he found surprising.

Draco leaned forward slowly until he could feel her shallow breath on his face. Then he let his eyes fall closed and pressed his lips firmly to hers. He found that even now her lips were pliant and incredibly soft. He didn’t expect her to kiss back, but in the back of mind he wished she would. It was then that the trance-like state came to an end. He opened his eyes slowly and looked down her closed ones. He pulled his lips away from the one-sided kiss and held his breath.

‘What the fuck am I doing?!?! You just kissed Hermione Granger. If she were awake she’d have castrated you by now!’ Draco berated himself silently. He sat up and swallowed hard. He ran his hand through his hair ad leaned back into the chair. Then suddenly he shot up out of his seat and grabbed his shirt that was still on the back.

“I’ve got to go.” He muttered, so softly he could barely even hear it. Then he swiftly left the hospital wing.




* - When will you wake up, Sleeping Beauty?