Nothing Else Left

Chapter 6

Panicking, Hermione ran down to the main hall where the other students were finishing their breakfast.

Draco looked up, sensing Hermione coming. Her eyes had a wild look to them. He turned to the second year sitting next to him and told him to move. Hermione instantly sat down in his place, not caring if Draco was being rude.

Draco took her hands in his and looked at her intently. "What's wrong? What's the matter?"

"What happened yesterday, in the cavern, it happened right? I'm not going insane?" Her eyes now had a pleading look to them.

"Hermione, calm down. Of course you're not going insane, although I wish yesterday never happened. Why would you think that?" Draco was confused and mildly alarmed by Hermione's unexpected questions.

"Then how do you explain this?" Hermione moved the neck of her robe's aside, revealing the silver chain of an extremely familiar necklace.

"Did you go back for it?" Hermione shook her head. "How did it get on you?"

Now Hermione was nearing hysterical. "I don't know!!" Several people turned around to look at her. "And look!! There aren't any burn scars! They're gone! What does this mean?!"

"SShhhh, calm down, we can't figure this out with you in this state. Here, let me try to get it off." Draco cautiously stretched his fingers towards the clasp of the necklace, which was halfway down her neck. As soon as he touched it, a sharp jolt of electricity ran through his arm, leaving it numb. "Ouch." He tried to wriggle his fingers, but found that he couldn't. Uh oh.

"Draco? What happened?"

"It zapped me. I can't feel my fingers. Hermione, you should go and tell Potter and Weasley what's going on while I have Madame Pomfrey check out my arm. I'll be back soon, and we'll find out what that thing is doing back. I'm so sorry I gave it to you in the first place. It's my fault." Draco stood and kissed Hermione on the forehead. "It'll be fine," he whispered.

Hermione watched as he left, then stood and headed to the Gryffindor table.

Harry had been watching the whole deal between her and Draco, and although he hadn't been able to hear the conversation, he caught the urgency of it. Hermione walked over and sat down in her usual seat. She tapped Ron on the arm to get his attention. "I need to tell you guys something. You know the necklace that Draco gave me?" She motioned towards it hanging about her neck as if it had never moved. Both boys nodded. Hermione proceeded to tell them what had happened yesterday after the Quidditch match.

When she was done, Harry looked thoughtful. "Do you think this has anything to do with what happened on the train?"

Hermione was surprised, not at the actual question, but at the fact that she hadn't thought of that first. "I don't know. I never really connected the two, but maybe. Hmmm, how much time is left for breakfast?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, she rushed on. "I'm going to look something up in the library. Anyone wanna come?" Ron shook his head, reluctantly saying he had to do the Care of Magical Creatures homework that he hadn't done last night. Harry, on the other hand, wanted to know what was going on with this whole deal. It was amazing how fast Hermione could calm down.

* * *

Both Hermione and Harry had no luck looking up spells that could do something similar to what had happened to Hermione, but then again, they had all of ten minutes before they had to head to their first class.

When they got down to where Hagrid's hut was for the class, Hermione searched for Draco, wondering if his arm got better. When she spotted him, she parted from Harry and went to him.

"Is your arm okay?"

"Yeah. She said that circulation had completely stopped in it, but that I had gotten there in time so that there was no permanent damage. She fixed it right away. Weasley told me that you and Potter went to the library. So? Any luck?" His expression was anxious. She knew he was worried about her, and she felt a pang in her heart when she thought about the stress she must be causing him. She felt a rush of love and admiration towards him, and she leaned on him affectionately.

"No. But we only had a few minutes. There has to be something on a spell pr hex that's making this happen."

"Yeah, well, if anything ever happens, anything at all, let me know."

All through the lesson, they held hands.