RP: Cry Foul

[pb_hermione]

Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy
Date: 31 May 2000
Location: Contego Terrace to an obscure field in Wiltshire
Status: Private
Summary: Hermione decides it's time to play and Draco has slept long enough.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[pb_draco]

"No!" He called back to her. "I'm calling you a cheater! And believe me, I know a cheater when I see one. I'm king of the cheaters!" Draco did a loop, partially to show off, partially to give her a chance to catch him, and partially because he was enjoying himself so much that he felt like he needed it. At the top of his loop, he twisted around and spun out upside down, laughing to himself. He was having a great time, and Granger was....

Stopped in the air. Draco hovered for a second, trying to figure out what was up, if she'd decided to try some sort of stalling tactic on him, but that didn't look right. He flew to her and knocked the tip of his broom against hers, not enough to nudge her out of the air. "C'mon, woman, we've a race to finish." He looked at her more closely and really did not like her expression or the way she was biting her lip. Normally that was an attractive look on her; now it just looked pained. "Granger. Hermione. Love, what's wrong? You swallow a bug?"

[pb_hermione]

Hermione made a soft noise when he knocked against her broom but she had her teeth in her lip and managed not to cry out. "Down," she managed to squeak out. He'd help her get down.

After Bellatrix Lestrange had her go at Hermione, she'd suffered a few after effects of the rounds of Cruciatus. The residual muscle and joint pain had mostly disappeared and she'd not had a spasm like this one for well over a year. That didn't reassure her now. Hermione's eyes were watering and she was trying to breathe but each breath she sucked in only made the pain worse. "Down," she repeated.

[pb_draco]

"Down? You're done?" Draco dipped his head to look at her and his broom dropped a couple of feet when he caught her expression properly. He swore under his breath and clawed his way back up to her level. "Down. We'll get down. Right now." He could worry about why after he'd got her back on the ground.

He put his hand on the shaft of her broom and pulled them together, side by side. "Can you fly down, or do you want me to take you?"

[pb_hermione]

Why was he talking and not doing? "Ah!" Hermione tried not to tense up, that always made it worse. Her eye was ticking now too. She hated that but it was annoying enough that it gave her something else to focus on beyond the fact that she could barely breathe and she was starting to have trouble controlling her leg muscles. If he wasn't going to guide her down, she was going to have to try it herself. She doubted he'd let her fall on purpose but Hermione didn't think he was strong enough to catch her if she did. The spasm eased enough that Hermione was able to catch a good breath. "Guide me down," she told him softly.

[pb_draco]

"Oh, hell." Draco clamped his jaw on a few more curses, his mind stuttering. "No, Hermione. Hang on." His first few wild thoughts didn't seem like they would work out, and Draco grabbed onto the most rational one he could find. He shifted back and swung around and slithered onto her broom behind her, kicking his to spin away from them.

He put one arm around her to hold her against him and wrapped the other around her broom. "Down," he said, guiding her broom into the shadows under the oak trees. At the ground, he jumped off and held his arms out to help her off the broom, his feet planted firm to steady her. "Come on, love. You're down, you're safe."

[pb_hermione]

Draco climbed on her broom and took control. She felt relieved that she didn't have to try to guide her broom anymore or do anything except not impede his ability to steer them down. The heat of his body on her back helped ease the spasm a little, too.

Instead of dismounting, Hermione commanded her broom to drop and she followed it down to the ground. She'd learned early on that rocking a little on her hands and knees helped ease the strain. If only it would ease up enough that she could get a few more good breaths, she'd be able to talk. "Satchel," she managed to squeak out.

[pb_draco]

English wasn't good enough for swearing in, and in the back of his mind, Draco heard a litany of every curse and profanity he'd learned from the Durmstrang boys in his fourth year. He needed the harsh, rough tones of Russian for this. Hermione was hurt.

He shoved up his sleeve and snatched his wand from its sheath, Summoning the satchel with such force behind his shouted Accio that the satchel stung his hand when he caught it out of the air. Draco dropped to his knees beside Hermione, heedless of the grass and dirt staining his breeches, and pushed the satchel in front of her. "What do you need?" he asked, his voice tight as he held back a spike of fear. He put his hand on her back and bent to get close to her so she wouldn't need to raise her voice. "Granger, what do you need? What can I do?"

[pb_hermione]

"Potion. Yours," she got out. She wanted the one he made for her. She wouldn't be able to fly anymore today but she doubted she'd want back up on a broom today anyway. Another spasm started and Hermione gave a strangled cry. This one was lower on her back and it felt as if it was in a vice.

[pb_draco]

Draco couldn't breathe. Granger, curled up on the ground, in pain and trying not to scream. He'd seen this before, and for a moment, the purple walls of the Manor's drawing room popped into his mind. He hadn't been able to do anything to help her then, and he'd felt guilty about it for years. Not again.

He grabbed the satchel and yanked it open, hauling the contents out. Picnic basket, shoved to the side. Shrunken pillows and blanket, tossed into the grass. His fingers closed around a potion bottle and he jerked it out of the satchel, recognizing the shape of it instantly. He'd made this one with ap Hywel. Clutching the bottle, he shifted on his knees closer to her. "Here. Here it is," he said, as he snapped the seal. "Hermione, here."

[pb_hermione]

Hermione hadn't needed what he'd brewed for her before. Malfoy was so good about giving her back rubs, she decided to save the potion he made for her. She was glad she did but she had no idea how much to take. Hermione had read the label so long along that she couldn't remember and she wouldn't be able to measure it even if she did. Her eyes were brimming with tears when she shook her head. "Can't. You."

[pb_draco]

"Okay. Okay." Draco sucked in a deep breath, rummaged through the picnic basket for a cup to measure out a dose, and knelt up beside her. He patted her hair gently and rubbed the back of her neck. "You have to sit up, love. I don't want you to choke." He urged her to sit up and lean against him, and he held the cup for her. "Drink it, Hermione. You'll be dizzy but we're not moving for a while. Drink it all, love. Please. Drink it and I'll set up the blanket and-and-and, and whatever you need. Need to throw up, need to cry, whatever. Let me help."

[pb_hermione]

"Okay." Hermione cried out a little as she shifted but it wasn't so very bad now that she was on the ground. It had been more tense in the air because she was trying to do too many things at once. It hurt but she'd felt worse. If she could only breathe properly, she was sure it wouldn't hurt as badly.

Once she was in position, she put her hand on his and moved the cup up to drink the dose in the bottom. It wasn't large and she had to tilt her head back but with him there behind her it wasn't too difficult to manage. She stayed leaning back against him since the warmth helped. Hermione whimpered a little when she shifted. "Long?" she asked. "How long?"

[pb_draco]

"Not long, sweetheart. Couple of minutes." Draco tossed the cup aside, then maneuvered to settle cross-legged into the grass and ease her into his lap, grimacing each time she made another sound. He cradled her to his chest, both arms wrapped around her and his head bowed to hers. "Just hang on, love, it'll be over in a minute. Just keep breathing and hang on. I'm here. Hold on, love, it'll start working any second now."

[pb_hermione]

"Can't b-b-reathe." She winced as she tried. "Hurts."

They sat like that while Hermione tried to keep from tensing up each time she took a shallow breath. After a minute or two, Hermione tried a normal breath, and when that worked, a deeper one. The deep breathe caused her to cry out because it stabbed but at least she wasn't struggling to breathe now. "Little better." Hermione patted his hand to reassure him she'd be okay.

[pb_draco]

Draco murmured reassurances under his breath, holding her carefully. He still wasn't certain quite what hurt, but he had a few suspicions from the way she'd acted and from her demand for that potion. He was almost afraid to hold her, but more afraid not to. She was tactile and affectionate, and when things were going wrong, she wanted to be touched.

Draco held her close, with his lips against her hair, and very quietly, in efforts to distract her from worrying about how long the potion would take, sang to her the same lullaby he'd sung her the night she'd come to him after her nightmare. When she patted his hand, he raised his head, looking down at her with his brow creased in worry. "Are you sure?"

[pb_hermione]

Hermione nodded. It was easing up. Being able to draw breath was a vast improvement and helped her relax. "I'm sorry." She knew she'd ruined his day and after she'd dragged him out to play with her, too. He was never going to want to get up early for her again.

She could feel the spasm retreating into just a flutter now, although the eye tic hadn't disappeared. "Thank you," she said now that she could get out more than one word at a time.