Of Silver and Green

Ch. 09 Soft Awakening

Brynne regained consciousness slowly. The last thing she remembered was being in the Great Hall, Draco squeezing her hand, so she was quite surprised to see the stark white walls of the hospital wing when her vision cleared. She did notice however, that Draco still had hold of her hand. Only now, he had her hand in both of his.

She tried to turn her head to look at him, sitting in the chair next to her bed and was shocked when she realized she couldn't. She tilted her head down, to examine what was impeding the movement of her neck. She saw there the last thing she suspected. There was Draco, his head nestled in the side of her neck, asleep. As she moved, Draco shifted slightly, his soft hair tickling her throat. His grey eyes remained closed, giving his face a nearly angelic countenance. She smiled at the thought. He was far from angelic. Well, maybe not as far as she had previously thought. His actions were definitely speaking volumes more than words ever could. Then she grinned devilishly. She had just had an evil thought.

Brynne took her free hand and held it over Draco's head, contemplating her action. She grinned again. 'Why am I hesitating?' she thought. She reached down and ran her fingers through his hair. He must have charmed it into its usual style, because she could feel no residue from styling products as she ruffled his hair. She inhaled deeply. His hair smelled of peppermint.

She soon grew annoyed that he wasn't waking up, so she began to work more vigorously, sending his hair flying in all directions. Unfortunately, Draco was a sound sleeper and was completely unaffected by this. So, with his hair completely disheveled, she had no idea what to do next. Her fingers traveled around his face and neck idly as she tried to think of a creative way to rouse him. As her fingers drifted from his slightly bobbing Adam's apple to his warm lips, a thought occurred to her.

Smiling faintly, her head dipped slightly, and her mouth found his. Draco was unresponsive at first, but then, it seemed as though he were coming around, because he began to kiss her back, although his eyes remained closed and his face remained expressionless. Brynne then pulled back, playfully licking the tip of his nose.

Draco could not control himself. His eyes popped open and his face broke into a smile. "How are you doing?" he asked, sitting up.

"I'm ok," she replied. "I don't really remember what happened though, or why. I just remember being extremely nervous, and then black."

"Well," said Draco, "you passed out. Madame Pomfrey believes it was an anxiety attack," he said, raising an eyebrow. "I caught you before you hit the floor and carried you here," he continued. "You've been out cold for almost five hours."

She stared at him in disbelief. "You carried me all the way from the Great Hall?" she asked. "Why didn't you just levitate me? It would have been much easier."

Draco blushed, which with his pale complexion was absolutely adorable. "Well, I just wanted to carry you," he muttered.

Brynne smiled, a knowing look on her face. "Oh," she said simply. "Well anyways, have I really been unconscious for five hours?"

Madame Pomfrey entered the room just then and, casting a disapproving glance at Draco, said, "Yes, Miss Dharielle, and Mr. Malfoy absolutely refused to leave your side." If it was possible for someone so pale to redden further, Draco certainly managed it. "Anyways," Pomfrey continued, "if you're feeling better and aren't experiencing any dizziness or nausea, I can see no reason to keep you here."

"I'm fine now, Madame Pomfrey, and please forgive Mr. Malfoy," she said, arching an eyebrow in his direction, "for any rudeness or stubbornness. I'm sure it wasn't intentional."

Pomfrey raised her own eyebrows. "Yes, of course," she replied. "The two of you are free to go." Brynne smiled. Draco helped her get out of the bed and held on to her arm tenaciously as they left the room.

It was nearly midnight when Brynne had woken up, so she and Draco both were quite surprised to see the black-haired, blue-eyed girl waiting outside the door. She was short, only about five feet tall, and very petite. Her sleek black hair was cut in a chin-length bob and flashed as the girl looked from Brynne to the tall blonde standing next to her, holding on to her arm, seemingly for dear life. Being in his very presence made her nervous, so she was quite relieved when Brynne spoke up.

"What are you doing here so late, Blair?"

"I was worried about you Brynne," she replied, eyes repeatedly darting back to Draco. "Now was the soonest I could get away unnoticed. The common room is always full of people studying until midnight or so," she said quickly, her slight French accent quavering.

Brynne noticed the other girl's nervousness and hid a smile. Blair had never been good around people. Worse than Brynne actually. She knew for a fact that she was one of the few that Blair was comfortable around. "Of course. Well, I'm fine as you can see. Better than fine, actually," she said with a smile, squeezing Draco's hand lightly. "Draco, I'd like you to meet Blair Richelieu, my best friend," she stated, turning to him. Draco smiled slightly and offered his hand. Blair's hand shook as she took it reluctantly. "Blair, this is Draco Malfoy."

"I can see that my reputation has preceded me," said Draco playfully as he lowered his eyes and kissed her hand.

Brynne smiled approvingly. This was just the way to earn Blair's confidence. Draco's gesture would do wonders in replacing the image Blair's mind obviously had of him.

Blair smiled faintly at Draco before returning her gaze to Brynne. "I was wondering: have you finished that essay for Potions? I need to have you look over mine before I hand it in. Potions is not my strong suit."

"Of course," Brynne answered.

Draco looked slightly confused. "You are a Ravenclaw, right?" he asked Blair, who nodded slowly. "And yet you're asking Brynne for help? Forgive any offence, but I'm afraid I don't understand."

Blair reddened slightly. "Well," she said, not meeting his eyes, "Brynne is second of our year, and simply amazing at Potions. Plus she is my best friend. It would be an insult to ask Hermione Granger for help," Draco saw Brynne visibly cringe at the mere mention of the Gryffindor's name. "Anyways," she continued, "Hermione's no good at Potions anyways, so that doesn't matter. And although I know that you are the best of our year at Potions, there was no way that I was going to ask you for help when my best friend is the second." She turned back to Brynne. "I have the paper right here, so I'll leave you two for the night before I get caught out after curfew." She handed a scroll of parchment to Brynne. "And I hope I'll be able to speak with you tomorrow Brynne, perhaps at breakfast?" she asked, an odd look on her face as she turned and hurried quickly away.

Brynne had caught on immediately. Blair wanted to talk to her about Draco, and obviously didn't want for him to be present. That was fine. Draco was never awake in time for breakfast anyways.

"That was odd," Draco said thoughtfully as he led her towards the dungeons.

"Not so much, really," she replied, more to herself.

"Hmmm?"

"She wants to talk to me about you, you git," she said playfully. "It was terribly obvious!"

"It was, was it?" he asked with a smirk.

"Of course, to one who knows Blair as well as I do, her intentions are quite transparent."

Arriving at the entrance to the Slytherin common room, Draco and Brynne said the passphrase simultaneously. As they entered the room, they noticed they were not the only ones still awake at this hour. Not that they had expected to be, this being Slytherin after all. Disregarding everyone in the room, who had all turned to stare at them when they had come in, Brynne and Draco had simply gone up the stairs to the fifth-year hall. Draco led Brynne to her room without a word and then stood in front of her door gazing deeply into her emerald eyes, holding her hands in his. He leaned down, and kissed her on her forehead, his soft lips lingering on her smooth skin far longer than was necessary. "I want you to get some sleep. You need it." She turned to go in and he pulled her back to face him. "Just remember, no matter what anyone says to you, it doesn't matter."

Brynne kissed the tip of his nose, and before he could say a word, disappeared into the darkened room.

Draco smiled to himself and walked back to his room. He lay down on his bed with his hands folded behind his head. It took several hours before he finally fell asleep. His mind was too occupied with a certain coy redhead. He still wondered what had happened earlier in the Great Hall...