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The English Rose	By : TempestLore Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Draco/Hermione Views: 20463 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Harry Potter Universe, nor do I make any profit off of this story or any others.

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The English Rose

Chapter Twelve

     “Draco?” I nudged the blond but he didn’t rouse. I swathed a hand across his forehead and he was burning up. “Katy, he’s hot with fever. I need to get some of these clothes off. Would you be a dear and bring me a cold compress?” I asked, sounding very much calm, cool and collected but inside I was worried when he didn’t rouse and come to. His skin was hot to the touch and he was paler than usual. I pulled back the covers and took a deep breath as I began to unbutton his shirt. Soft wisps of blond chest hair fell into view and I was all at once reminded of our time together. He was still completely attractive, and that bothered me as I smoothed my hands over his chest and arms, sliding his shirt down and then off. I held my breath as my eyes fell below his navel. My hands shook as I undid his belt buckle and then I hesitated.
     “Here you go,” Katy said and she passed me a cold, wet washcloth. “Gosh, he is so…fine—I can take over here if this is hard for you?” she offered and I felt the innermost pangs of jealousy when I saw her drooling over his bare chest.
     “No! I told him that I would be here for him and he trusted me to look after him. He knew something like this might happen when we did the procedure and he warned me—not you,” I bit back.
     “Mummy, did the Liege—I mean did my Daddy catch my sickness?” Malcolm said when he finished his second bowl of morning cereal. He padded over to the cot where Draco lay delirious with fever and he frowned. He looked as if he might cry upon seeing Draco so pale and lifeless.
     “No, he’s going to be just fine!” I smiled and hugged my son. “You look so much better Mal. The Liege would be happy to know that and when he wakes I will tell him. Now, you don’t worry about him he’s in good hands.” After that I whispered to Katy that she should take Malcolm back to the English Rose. I promised Malfoy that if he took a turn that I would get Malcolm out of there.
     “If you need help—“
     “I have all the potions I need to care for him. Hopefully he comes out of this sooner rather than later,” I said as I gently lifted the blond’s head and forced him to drink a fever reducing draught that I brewed.

     I dabbed the cold cloth over his face and neck observant of every little movement he made. Like when he swallowed, and his Adam’s apple bulged, or when he took a deep breath and his chest swelled and then fell. It was just me and Malfoy in the tent alone in the middle of the forest as the rain pattered against the roof of the tent. “Malfoy, you in there?” I said softly but there was no response. I dipped the cloth into the basin of cool water once more and wrung it out. It felt childish, but the act of rubbing the cloth over his exposed body felt sensual to me. It was silly really. If it were Malcolm or Ron or anyone else for that matter I wouldn’t have batted an eyelash but it was Malfoy and that complicated even the simplest of chores. He was burning with fever, he needed to be cooled down so it made no sense my hesitation. I huffed, angry with myself and then I went to work as I caressed the wash cloth over his chest once more and then down one arm and then the other. I really liked his arms. Hell, I’d always liked his arms. They were lean but cut and the hairs on his forearm were entirely masculine. I turned his arm over and began to rub the cloth on the inside of his arm. His hands were hot to the touch so I wet them too and that’s when I noticed that he was looking at me with those piercing silver pools for eyes. “You’re awake?”
      “If you say so,” he mumbled groggily. “Freezing,” he shivered.
     “I know it feels that way, but it’s actually quite the opposite. You have a fever. I gave you a draught to combat it and I’ve been trying to keep you cool.”
     “Thank you,” he said in no more than a gruff, low whisper.
     “Uh—you’re welcome,” I replied nervously.
     “The procedure…? Mal…out of danger?” he uttered through strained breaths as if he were in pain.
     “The procedure went well. Malcolm was a new boy this morning. He ate all of his breakfast and asked for more. You passed out when we drew your blood. At first I thought that perhaps you were squeamish at the sight of blood, but then you’re a Death Eater so it shouldn’t bother you…That’s when I became worried. Are you in any pain?”
     “Yeah,” he said, his voice full of anguish. “I’m pleased it went well and he’s out of danger.”
     “I have some Potion of the Poppy on hand. Let me get it,” I said and I rummaged through the rustic wooden shelf in the tent’s kitchen and plucked the bottle from the cupboard. His eyes were closed and he was moaning when I returned to his side. “Malfoy, you need to take some of this,” I said and I poured a small amount of the thick liquid onto a spoon. “Malfoy?” Nothing. He was out again.

__0__

     Pain, searing, as if his very flesh was being torn from limb was how Draco awoke. The tent was dark, all but the soft orange glow of the sleepy fire. He reached for his wand where he clenched it between his teeth in order to keep from crying out as the pain engulfed him. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He was certain that his arm was on fire and he knew he had to cool it down before he burnt to death. That’s when he remembered the nearby river. He’d seen glimpses of it when he and Granger walked into the camp the day before. His heart thudded in his chest as he exited the tent where he sprinted through the late winter sleet and freezing rain to where he thought the river should be. “Blast!” he spat as he swatted at the tree branches that impeded his path. He checked his arm, though in the dark it was hard to see at all but when he peered at it he could have sworn that he saw the serpent on his arm move and strike at him. He howled when he stepped on a sharp rock but the cool mud that squished between his toes cushioned his step. That’s when he realized that not only had he forget his boots but he also forgot his clothes as he ran through the forest with only a pair of boxers on and nothing else. White hot pain, burning with the intensity of a thousand suns scorched his arm and he looked down just in time to watch his arm literally ignite into an inferno of fiery flames right before his very eyes. When at long last he reached the river’s bank Draco dropped to his knees and let out a guttural howl when the pain ripped through him. He thrust his arm into the icy waters without hesitation. He gasped, relieved, when the lapping flames were extinguished and the painful throbbing began to subside. Minutes passed as he held his arm elbow deep in the icy waters as pebbles of hail reigned down from the sky, pelting his stinging back. Got to get back to the tent or I’ll freeze, he reminded himself as he pulled his arm from the water and attempted to stand. No sooner had he done that did the feeling of being burnt alive consume him once more but this time it felt like his whole body was on fire so he did the unthinkable and turned, where he plunged into the frigid waters once more, this time dunking his entire body. He knew he was up shit’s creek. Literally. But what was he supposed to do? He held his breath and grappled for a hold on an old tree branch that had fallen across the river and was only half submerged. At least he could prevent himself from being swept down river by the raging rapids. With all the rain they’d received the river had nearly overflowed its banks and debris, tree limbs and eroded rocks threatened to bash his skull in if he didn’t get out and yet when he tried he felt as if his body would spontaneously combust. My wand, he thought to himself but it was nowhere. He either dropped it during his panicked run through the forest or it was washed away by the river. In either case he was royally fucked and he knew it. He had to get out of the frigid waters and he could hold his breath no more, so he pulled himself up. The pain was severe and he collapsed on the half frozen, muddy banks of the river. He chanted, willing his wand to come to him but then the blackness enveloped him and he passed out cold.
     “Mother is that you?” Draco asked when he opened his eyes and saw the vision of beauty that was his mother standing next to a blurry figure just at the edge of the tree line. As the second figure came into focus he recognized the man as Lucius Malfoy, his father. “Father?” he extended his arm, reaching out for his parents as they approached where he lay huddled and freezing next to the raging river.
     “Come with us, it’s beautiful here son,” Lucius said and Draco suddenly found himself in the middle of a blooming forest where the sweet aroma of honey suckles wafted in his nostrils and where songbirds chirped together in harmony. It was breathtaking and serenely peaceful and when Narcissa bent and reached out her hand, Draco took it and his pain was immediately replaced by nothing more than a dull, nagging ache.
     “It’s not his time Lucius, not yet. There’s still work to be done,” Narcissa said sweetly and she let go of Draco’s hand. His father nodded and they began to descend back into the trees once more, turning away from him.
     “No, don’t go! I miss you both terribly. I’ll come with you,” Draco begged.
     “And leave me? You swore your allegiance to me Draco, my son,” a dark and hideous voice said and chills shot up his spine for he knew the source of the voice. It was him, the Dark Lord. “You can be with them again, traitors that they are. Just take my hand and it will be done,” Voldemort said in sinister fashion as he thrust his pale, elongated fingers in his face. Draco clenched his eyes tightly shut when he heard the hissing of the snake in his words. “Just give me your magic and I’ll send you on your way,” the serpent said with a forked tongue that lashed at him.
     “No, you can’t have it. You’ll never have my magic,” Draco bellowed at the snake and Voldemort laughed, maniacally and then the sorcerer waved his hand and Draco was once again forced to listen to the agonizing shrieks of his parents as they were tortured to death. “Stop it! This isn’t real, it’s just a spell. I already lived through this, it isn’t real!” he shouted.

__0__

     I awoke with a start when I felt a cold draft snake its way up my legs. I tried to stay up through the night but I’d already been up for almost forty-eight hours, first to watch over Malcolm after the procedure and then to keep an eye on Draco who was dreadfully ill after saving our son. I parked my bum in a chair next to the blond’s cot and opened up a medical book to read but I inevitably fell asleep and awoke with the opened booked on my lap and an empty cot with no blond in it. He was gone! I craned my neck when I heard the sound of canvas rustling in the wind and rain and sure enough the door to the tent was opened and flapping in the breeze. I knew I’d fastened it closed and even checked the door to the tent twice. Blast you Hermione for falling asleep!
     It wasn’t hard to find him; with lantern in hand I just followed the muddy footprints. The rain slashed against my face and my heart was in my throat as I ran quickly through the dense woods. To say that I was worried was an understatement, especially when the sounds of the gushing river grew louder. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as I approached the banks of the river and my heart nearly stopped when I saw the Liege. He was sprawled in a heap next to the raging river and he wasn’t moving. Upon first glance, I thought he was dead. Tears sprang from my eyes as I called out his name again and again but it was to no avail. He didn’t answer my calls. With two fingers on the side of his neck I checked for a pulse and I was relieved when I found one. “Oh God you’re going to freeze if I don’t get you back! I can’t lift you,” I said as I took off my parka and threw it over his back to block out the weather. He was covered in ice pellets that hailed from above “Draco, please! Your wand, oh Merlin where is it?” I said and I did a frantic search for it. I didn’t have my own wand for Malfoy had disarmed me at the brothel. “Yes!” I said when by sheer luck I found his wand lying nearby on the ground. “Wingardium leviosa,” I chanted and his body was lifted from the frozen ground.

__0__

     I placed warming spells over the blankets that covered him once he was safe inside the tent. It wasn’t enough though. He was in danger of succumbing to hypothermia and there was little time to think. He was completely unconscious and the rennervate spell did nothing to bring him back. “Body heat,” I said to myself, my mind moving faster than the speed of light. I spared no haste as I peeled off my clothes leaving only my bra and knickers on before I climbed into the cot with Malfoy. His skin was so unnaturally cold. He was usually warm and sleeping next to him was always aces on a cold winter’s night because his body heated up like an oven when he slept. I never had cold feet when I slept with Draco. I pressed myself against him as close as I could without smothering him. With my breasts pancaked against his chest and my head lying just under his neck, I wound snug arms around him. “Please Draco. Come back to me,” I murmured. “Come back…Malcolm needs you…,” I urged and I hugged him tighter than I’d ever hugged anybody.

__0__

     He was still so cold yet I felt like enough time had passed that he should have been out of the woods so far as any permanent damage from hypothermia, but I wasn’t certain so I just lay there, naked and holding him. I was overly worried in almost an obsessive way as I listened to each labored breath that he took. “No, you can’t have it…” he murmured in his sleep and I popped my head up and gazed at his pale, angelic face.
     “Draco, what’s wrong? I’m here,” I urged again and I gently shook him. It was a futile attempt to rouse him.
     “This is the only way, otherwise he’ll take all of it,” the blond said this time louder and I gazed up at his face to see silver orbs deadpanned on me. “I’m sorry,” he said with a somber expression.
     “Draco, you’re not making sense. You’re very ill and I fear your suffering delusions,” I said and again I reached with my hand to check for fever only this time he caught my hand.
     “Look deeply into my eyes,” he whispered and I obliged as I stared into the depths of his very soul.
     “Legilimens,” he said with conviction and my eyes went wide.

__0__
Twenty four hours later…

     I awoke with a start and I sat bolt upright in the cot. I gasped when my breasts spilled into view and I realized that I was completely naked and laying in the cot next to a very nude Malfoy. Gone were my bra and panties and his boxers were nonexistent too as if those articles of clothing had just vanished into thin air. His arms and legs were wound around me and we were tangled in an amorous embrace. It had the look of a post-coital embrace as if we’d—had sex. I felt traces of that evidence in the form of a certain stickiness on my inner thighs. My heart was in my throat as I just sat there, stunned, having no memory of anything! He squeezed me tight around the middle and I felt the soft brush of his lips against my shoulder when he leaned up and moved my hair away in order to gain access to my neck. “Wha—what are you doing? What happened?” I asked, feeling completely confused and blown away. My nether region was moist and I had this sated feeling as if I’d just had a mind blowing climax and the expression on the blond’s face was scarily similar. “Did we have sex?” I asked, startled and in shock.
     “You don’t remember?”
     “No! I remember finding you by the river. I brought you back inside and covered you up.”
     “That’s all you remember?” the blond asked and he looped his arm around me which caused me to pull out of his grasp. I scooted to the end of the cot where I wrapped myself in the sheet to cover my nakedness.
     “I tried to warm you up, but—“
     “It’ll come back to you when it’s time,” Draco assured.
     “When it’s time? Time for what? Did you rape me Malfoy?” Tears formed in my eyes. I couldn’t remember a thing!
     “What you did for me could not under any circumstances be considered…rape,” he said and he was visibly wounded that I would ask such a thing.
     “You have to tell me what transpired between us and you have to tell me this instant!” I demanded.
     “You told me you’d say that,” Malfoy said and he shook his head in disbelief. “And then we decided it would be safer if you didn’t know. It’s how you wanted it.”
     “What? This is nuts! Tell me what happened Malfoy!” I said growing angry. I plucked a pillow off the cot and whacked Draco with it but the blond only chuckled, so I whacked him again with it. “Malfoy, this isn’t funny! Tell me,” I demanded but again he laughed.
     “It’ll come to you, when the time is right. I hope. It better or I’m in a world of trouble,” he said cryptically but there was deep worry in his words as if he had something to lose if I didn’t remember. “Do you remember the hourglass?” Draco asked.
     “No!” I said automatically. “I remember nothing—wait, it was an old hourglass with sands that were pink, is that right?” I asked when I suddenly had a picture of an ancient hourglass swimming in the forefront of my mind.
     “That’s right. See, you’re already starting to remember.” It was then that a cold gust blew through the tent and my eyes went wide when I saw the two redheads standing in the doorway of the tent both wide-eyed and slack jawed upon seeing the state of our undress.
     “Bloody hell,” Ron said and he looked away. “I’m sorry ‘Mione. I had no idea—and she threatened the lot of us with another raid if we didn’t take her to the Liege,” Ron said referring to the redheaded Lady of Blind Falls, Ginny Weasley--Malfoy.
    I reached down and cautiously fingered Draco’s wand that was lying on the floor where it’d fallen (probably during our sexual jaunt I assumed). I didn’t trust Ginny in the least and I was naked in bed with her husband, so needless to say I was on high alert as I sneakily held Draco’s wand on her, hiding the wand under the sheets.
     “What are you doing here?” Draco said to Ginny as if the mere sight of her was an unwelcome annoyance.
     “Nice to see you too sweet husband of mine,” Ginny said sarcastically. “It’s the package…You know, the one from up—North?”
     “Yes, the merchant can’t send for it and the roads are blocked from a late winter snow so nobody can get to—pick it up,” Draco said cryptically and I piqued and eyebrow. They both looked nervous upon speaking of this mysterious package. “So you needn’t worry and I will see you back at home after a while,” Draco finished.
     “No, uhh it arrived today. Surprising I know, but it seems the road was not so snowed in and many could get in and out so the package delivered itself—“
     “What?” Draco said and now his jaw was on the floor. Alarm bells were going off on his head which only caused them to go off in my head as well. “Right, I’m coming now,” Draco said. I averted my eyes when he hurriedly stood and dressed and then when he was about to leave I remembered that I still had his wand.
     “My Liege, you forgot your wand,” I said and he turned to face me.
     “I don’t really need it anymore,” Draco said but then he clammed up.
     “I know you can perform wandless magic, but still, some spells require a wand,” I said, suspicious.
     “Of course, you’re right,” he said and he reached out and plucked the wand from my fingers. “I’ll return your wand to you when I come to pick up Malcolm later today.”
     “Pick him up? You mean visit with him, right?” I said.
     “We already spoke about this Granger. Surely you remember our agreement, hmm?”
     “What agreement?” I asked, alarmed.
     “You agreed that you and Malcolm would come live in the guest house, the one at my Estate.”
     “I agreed to what? No way,” I shouted but it was right at that moment that I saw the shadow of a figure as it moved behind Draco. Without thinking I stood and took a swipe at the air in the place where I thought I saw something.
     “Ouch,” someone cried out and I went on alert when I hit someone.
     “Who was that?” Ron said and he pulled out his wand and took on a fighting stance.
     “Blast, you shouldn’t be here!” Draco hissed and then I darted behind the Liege where I literally ripped the Invisibility cloak off the intruder.
     “Hermione? That’s who you are right? It is! You’re Hermione Granger—my secret girlfriend! I remember you! I remember everything about you,” Harry Potter said and I fainted on the spot when I saw my first love and savior of the wizarding world, Harry Potter, standing there before me, looking manly and strong and very much alive.

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Thanks so much to those reviewing this story, it really helps me to keep plugging away! I love you guys and thanks for the link to my older stories :) You're awesome! I love to hear your thoughts as always. * I know the end of this chapter leaves more questions than answers, but it will all come to light in future chapters and it will all make sense lol Draco did NOT rape her in case there was any doubt..
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The English Rose