Affliction

A/N: Thank you all so much for the fantastic reviews, it pushes me to get the chapters out faster. Thanks goes to NelStar7 for doing a marvelous job at beta reading this fic! As always read and review, remember reviews are my fuel!!

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Affliction

Chapter Three: Unexplained Affections
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Everything was foggy, she felt very cold and there was this annoying beeping sound in the far off distance. She heard people talking, their voices sounded croaky, and she couldn’t make out anything that was being said.
She opened her eyes and was blinded by a white light, she was in a room, a room with beings dressed in white, everything else was blurry.

She tried to sit up, but she couldn’t, she started to panic. Her arms flailing out wildly, she started to cry and yell. How did she get here? Then came a soothing voice and a warm hand on her shoulder,
“I’m here Hermione, everything’s going to be alright,”

she started to feel a warm liquid flow through her hand that soon spread up her arm and into her body, and she started to panic again, but everything on her felt too heavy to move, her mouth felt full of lead, eyelids getting heavy, and the soft far away beeping beckoning her to sleep.


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The next time she woke, she heard soft snoring. She figured it was Ron; she turned over and tried to slip her arms around him, but all she felt was a pillow. She opened her eyes and looked around, she could still hear snoring. “Ron?” She called out, the snoring stopped, she tried to blink her eyes clear, but it didn’t help, “Ron, where are you?”

She felt a warm hand on her back, and the same gentle soothing voice from earlier came back, “No, Hermione, Ron had a game tonight, he couldn’t be here, I’m sorry.” Everything came rushing back to her and she sighed, trying desperately to fight back the tears that sprung to her eyes.

“Of course, how can I forget, he has a game,” she spat out.

She felt the warm hand began to rub soothing circles on her back.

“Who are you?” She mumbled, she really was curious; she wanted to know who would stay with her all day and night if her own husband couldn’t be bothered to take time out of his busy schedule to sit with her.

“You really don’t know? I didn’t know they had you sedated that heavy.” She felt a shift in the bed, behind her. He put his arms around her and began to rub her shoulders.

“Blaise?” She croaked.

She felt a nod against the top of her head. She started to cry, relieved that she didn’t have to hold it in anymore, she could cry, sob and fall into desolation again, but this time he would be there catch her.

She felt him slip his arms around her and she began to bawl, and sniff, soon she started to gasp for air, her throat felt so strained from all the crying, she was in so much pain both mentally and physically, but she couldn’t stop, she cried harder, her body trembling with the force of her sobs.

“Gods, Blaise, why?”

He didn’t have an answer, he didn’t know why. He knew she had probably found out about Ron and Lavender, and he was happy. He felt she should know, he wanted to tell her, but he knew this was something she would have to find out for herself, she needed cold hard proof of Ron’s infidelity, or she would have taken him back like she always did.

It was sort of a bitter sweet moment for him, sweet because in time she could go back to Hermione Granger, the Hermione they knew and loved from school; bitter because he knew his best friend lost herself in Hermione Weasley, and he wasn’t so sure she would be able to be Hermione Granger again, today’s stunt just proved it.
He didn’t say anything; he just flipped her over to face him, and held her while she cried.

She took her comfort from Blaise, and cried, cried because of the cheating, cried because of the lying, cried because she still loved her husband, and cried because that stranger wasn’t too late, he had saved her, only thing is, Hermione Weasley didn’t want to be saved.
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Hermione got up early that morning drained. She felt even more tired this morning, then she did last night. Her head was heavy, and she had a mind splitting migraine, but what was worst, was the flip flops in her stomach. Everything just felt so weird, everything just seemed so lonely. She got out of bed to walk to the window, it was still dawn, the sun had barley risen and the only sound coming from outside was chirping from the birds. She opened the balcony windows, a cold breeze danced into the room, sweeping up her hair and fanning out her white hospital gown.

Her feet started to feel so cold against the hard unforgiving marble floor. The air felt so good, it felt calming, and suddenly she felt she would do anything just to dance with the wind, have its calming effect soothe her into tranquility. She closed her eyes and let one foot dangle over the banister, she felt the curve of the wind under the ball of her foot, she shivered as the wind danced around her foot up her ankle and wrapped around her calf. It was alluring her to just jump into it, and she wanted it, she wanted anything it could offer her.

She stretched her arms out, took a deep breath, and let go.

Her heart started racing, adrenaline started pumping, as she fell, she closed her eyes, prepared to accept the eternal embrace of death when the wind started to push her up and float her back threw the balcony and back on to the hospital floor. She fell in an ungraceful lump on the floor, “great just my luck, the fucking wind doesn’t even want me,” she cried.

She heard a man clear his throat and she looked up into a pair of steely grey eyes, she scowled.
“It wasn’t the wind Granger, just a simple levitation charm learned by most witches and wizards in their first year at Hogwarts,” he said.

She blanched; of course it wasn’t the wind, just another fucking savior, here to rescue the one witch who didn’t need to be saved, didn’t want to be saved!

“Is that all I get for saving your life twice in less than two days?” He glared.

She sputtered, “That was you!” She screeched pointing an accusatory finger.
He grinned and nodded, she glared, “Nobody asked you for your help Malfoy, and what in the hell were you doing in my house anyway!” She screamed.

He arched his brow, “Don’t tell me Hermione Granger the brightest witch of our age tried to take her own life.”

“It’s none of your fucking business Malfoy, I don’t ask you about your affairs, so stay the hell out of mine!”

He rolled his eyes, “Look Granger, I went to your house because you never showed up to work and we had a meeting with the Minster of Magic."

The former rivals stared at each other in silence before Draco sighed and said, "I just came here to see if you were okay, it looks to me like you’re not. Is there anybody else here with you besides Blaise?”
She said nothing, just glowered at him.

He sighed rolling his eyes at her childish antics and sat down in a chair next to the door.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing Malfoy?!”

He folded one leg on top of the other and picked up a magazine sitting on an end table and began to read. A few more moments of silence passed and….

“I asked you a question, you arse!”

He glanced over his magazine at her and smirked, “keeping watch, obviously.”

“I’m not a fucking dog you jerk, I don’t need a baby sitter, now get the hell out!” She yelled.

He threw down his magazine, “Obviously you do because every time your alone you try to fucking kill yourself,” he yelled back.

“Gods, Malfoy I didn’t know you cared,” she quipped.

“I don’t I just don’t want my best mate crying on my shoulder because you decided to share your big ass brains with everyone, on the fucking pavement in front of St. Mungo’s!” He bellowed.

To his horror, she began to cry, he didn’t mean for her to cry, “Come now Granger, don’t cry,” please don’t cry he silently begged. “I was just jesting; your brains aren’t that big.” She sobbed louder, “I mean they are big, just big in a good way, okay? Stop crying.” He walked over to her and welcomed her into his embrace, to his astonishment, she leaned into him.

“Don’t cry Granger, you’re going to get all puffy, well puffier, you don’t want Weasel to see you this way do you?” She began to bawl harder.

He looked around helplessly he hated dealing with emotional women, they unnerved the shit out of him;

‘Where have you been?’ He mouthed as Blaise walked through the door with drinks and pastries.

Blaise rolled his eyes and gestured to the food he just sat on the end table.
Duh, he could have smacked himself, ‘help me,’ he mouthed.

Blaise walked over and sat on the other side of Hermione and cradled her like a baby.

“There, there Hermione, I’m here, and everything’s going to be fine,” he whispered as he stroked her hair.

He shifted her to his other side and reached over for the cup of water, he couldn’t reach it.
Draco got the hint and got up to hand Blaise the cup.

“Here, Hermione drink this, all these tears, your throat must be dry,” he soothed.
She let him put the cup to her lips and took a few sips.

After a few minutes of Blaise’s shushing and rubbing, she began to drift off into sleep.
Blaise gently laid her on the bed and kissed her forehead he turned around to see a shocked Draco, “What the hell is this all about?”

“Shhhh, let’s go outside, I’ll explain there.”

Blaise got up to leave and waited by the door so Draco could exit. Draco looked down at Hermione’s sleeping form, and looked up to the windows; he did a quick locking spell, just in case, and then followed Blaise into the hallway.

Blaise raised a brow, so Draco began to explain this morning mishaps. At the end of Draco’s play by play, Blaise was definitely worried for his best friend; he began to tell Draco everything he knew about Ron’s infidelity and the effect it had on Hermione’s current emotional state.

“So… what are you going to do, Blaise?”

Blaise sighed, “Well the healer released her into my care, since its Weasley’s touring season. Right now I’m just going to be the best friend I can be to her and keep her busy so her mind won’t wander to…. other things.”

“Yea, but you can’t play baby sitter all day, you have a job, not to mention a social life,” Draco said.

“I can, and I will, I’ll just have to take leave from work and as for my social life, she is my social life, she is one of my closest friends, and I know without a doubt if the tables were turned, she’d do the same for me.”

Draco, looked at Blaise, really looked, he was surprised by the way Blaise articulated his loyalty to the former Gryffindor princess without a reservation in his voice. ‘I wonder if he’d do the same for me,’ he thought.
Blaise got up and began to walk away.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to get Hermione some fresh clothes, because their releasing her today, and then I’m going home for a quick shower.”

“But who’s going to watch her?”

“I just gave her a sleeping draught, she’ll be out of it for at least a few hours, and if not, she can’t go out the window, you charmed it shut and her wand’s at home, and I highly doubt her healer would just let her walk out.”

Draco agreed, he had a good point, both men said their good byes, and left to their own destinations.

An hour later found a freshly clean Blaise staring into an empty, hospital room.
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A/N: By the way..... Anybody know how to get bold and italics to show on this site?