Affliction

A white flash of nerve wracking pain shot through his gut as he bent over her, looking into her sunken face, hallowed cheeks, and deep-set eyes. He clutched the glass vials in his hand, praying to all deity that there was another way, any other way.



He stood over her, watching her chest rise and fall with her shaky breaths, her soft warm breath fanned lightly across his face as he leaned in closer, forcing himself to take in her features, reminding himself why he had to do this.



Bringing the vial up to her mouth, he paused, noticing the drastic difference in their coloring. She had always been slightly paler than he but the differences now were drastic, her pale porcelain skin looked



“White as snow.”



A voice completed his thoughts, not his voice though. He searched for the voice through the darkness of the pitch black room, just spotting a shocking flash of blond hair by the doorway.



Blaise watched as Draco took a few unsure steps into the room, the normal arrogant air that Draco usually displayed was gone, left in place of something…. Different. He didn’t entirely know what it was, but the look on his face made Blaise shoulders slump over in relief, he knew that he had his friend back and that he no longer needed to be strong alone, he also knew that there was too much pain in Draco’s eyes for them to go back to their brother affability any time soon, but for right now, at least, he was content in not doing this alone.



Hermione took a short shaky breath and his attention went back to his dear sister. This was his worst nightmare come true.



Forcing her to take something completely against her will felt brutal and unforgiving. He was rapping her mentally, snatching away her right to choose to be saved, forcing his will onto her and all while she was too helpless to do anything about it.



His feelings were definitely conflicted, he was the worst kind of criminal, but still he felt as if he was the best kind of brother.



He loved her, and even though they hadn’t grown up together as siblings, his time spent in the Order had given him precious time with his dear sister and drew them closer together than most siblings who’d spent eternity together.



And since he loved her, and since she was practically on the only family he had, he’d do anything for her, even if that meant hating himself after.



With shaky hands, he reached up and placed his hands on her jaw, murmuring a spell to hold her mouth open for him and placed the vial at her lips, before spilling the liquid over and into her mouth.

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Blaise was pacing in front of her bed, his hands fisted into his pockets and his hair in utter chaos on top of his head. He looked unkempt.



Through all of the drama and the worrying and the near death experiences, Draco still couldn’t help the small bubble of jealousy that rose in him as he watched Blaise watch her through worried eyes.

Rome wasn’t built in a day after all.

The floo roared to life and Blaise stilled, glancing at Draco. Draco shrugged before getting up out of his chair, he didn’t have a problem with seeing who it was…..it would have given him a chance to catch some fresh air.



“No, no, I’ll get it. Just alert me if anything changes.” He sighed.



Draco flopped back down in his seat and watched Blaise as he exited the room, all the while wondering why he had to be the one to babysit Granger.



Gods, it had to be the most boring thing he’d ever done. She was sleep after all, or in a coma, he wasn’t exactly sure, since he wasn’t exactly a healer. He had taken a few healer classes in uni though, but not enough to qualify him to diagnosis her.



He could understand that she was Blaise’s……gods dare he say it……sister, but this was something that she obviously wanted right? She wanted to die, because that’s the only reason why a person would intentionally overdose on pills, run away from the hospital, and refuse any kind of food. She wanted this, she had to have wanted this, there was no way that she didn’t……unless she was some sort of drama queen, hell bent on continuing to be in the spotlight.



That could have been it.



Her husband….the weasel was famous, constantly in the press, treated like a damn king wherever he went, even if he was now flaunting his affair all over the papers. People adored him….for some odd reason. Then there was her only other friend….Potter. Potter was always in the paper, famous for being lucky and having a scar only a toddler would thing was fascinating.



She must have felt left out, and on some deeper level of her self-conscious, this was her way of gaining it back.

But no, Granger didn’t work like that. Draco frowned as her remembered her skittering around Hogwarts with her nose buried in an aged tome. She was different than the other girls. Her hair was constantly mused and piled high on top of her head, usually secured with something they called a muggle pencil. Her clothes were always on the baggy side, and ink could always be found on her face or her hands. She couldn’t possibly be the type to do anything just to be noticed could she?



Draco decided that she could, everyone wants to be noticed, even if this everyone was considered to be a bossy know it all bookworm. Nobody liked being overlooked and pushed aside. He knew he definitely didn’t, and despite what Blaise continued to insist, Draco knew that Blaise didn’t like to be pushed aside either.



Draco sighed before settling back into his chair, he was done with being philosophical for the day, he was starting to develop a headache.

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Short update I know but…..I’m so so so so so so sorry for how long it’s taken me to update! Really, so so sorry. I actually had the first half of this chapter sitting on my computer for a while, there is really no excuse on why I hadn’t posted it sooner………other than I’m a jerk! I’ve read over this story before finishing this chapter and I’ve been cringing all the way through. I really want to redo this story but I realize that it’s not fair to you guys to have to read what would basically be the same plot over again, while waiting on updates. So since summer vaca is now upon us and my courses for this summer semester are very light, I promise to update while rewriting…..only if you guys think it’s a good idea though….Tell me what you think….should I repost the written chapters as a new story or just finish this one first before redoing the whole darn thing over again?

I know there are tons of grammar errors, but I hadn’t sent it to a beta yet. So please work with me here. I plan on the next chapter being up by Monday or Tuesday.