Ride or Die

High Heat, No Sleep

Chapter 13: High Heat, No Sleep

The image of Hermione walking away from him shook him harder than the lingering headache that still thudded against his head, crawling around in his brain and taunting him, chattering with manic laughter. He watched her reach up as she walked, rubbing out an obvious cramp of exhaustion in her neck before taking a breath and throwing her shoulders back - but as she glanced at the surgeon beside her and nodded her recognition, Draco saw again what he'd witnessed in her that first night; that moment of sharpened concentration, the breathtaking intensity of her mind.

It was that moment of stillness and focus right before the engine roared to life - the certainty that preempted the pull of a trigger. Watching her, he could hear a pin drop.

Draco felt a certain degree of shame at forgetting why he'd come - at knowing it was Darian's life that hung in the balance and yet he could only manage to focus on that spark in her eye - but he trusted her, somehow, despite knowing another surgeon likely held the scalpel. He trusted her presence. There was something about knowing she was there that made Draco, an unapologetic cynic, somehow hopeful; somehow eased.

After all, she'd saved him once, hadn't she?

"Hey," Potter said, interrupting Draco's thoughts and jogging over to them. "Sorry," he offered hastily, waving a hand. "Bureaucracy. Anyway," he continued, as though he hadn't just been absent for a considerable length of time, "as I was saying - "

"So you're saying this was Greyback," Draco supplied, crossing his arms. "You're sure?"

Potter nodded. "Positive," he said, and he certainly sounded convinced. "Call it a gut feeling," he conceded, "but I've got a pretty good gut."

"What about Astoria, then?" Theo asked, rising to his feet to join them. "You think that was someone different?"

Potter paused, hesitating. "I'd had a theory," he replied slowly, his mouth twitching into a frown. "Honestly, I thought it was Tom," he murmured, glancing somewhat sheepishly between them.

Theo and Draco looked at each other for a moment and then instinctively stepped closer, lowering their volume.

"You thought? Past tense?" Draco repeated, looking around; he knew Tom didn't literally have ears everywhere, but still, it didn't seem safe to discuss at any reasonable volume. "You don't think so anymore?"

"Couldn't have been him," Potter ruled, shaking his head. "I checked - Hermione was right. He was here when it happened."

"Well, so it wasn't him personally, then," Theo said brusquely. "It's not like Tom doesn't have plenty of other people who could have done it for him - "

"Everyone else is accounted for," Potter told him, shaking his head. "Every other Death Eater was either at the shop or here at the hospital," he added, gesturing pointedly to Theo, "like your dad, for example, which is who Tom was here to see."

Theo made a face of semi-predictable revulsion, and Draco shook his head. "You're sure?" Draco pressed. "Everyone's accounted for? Even - " he hesitated, holding his breath slightly as he toed a somewhat indefinable line of betrayal. "Even Lucius?"

Potter grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't take this personally, Malfoy, but I checked him out first," he muttered. "He was at the shop with the others."

"Oh, sure, that's not personal," Draco muttered sarcastically. "Let me just let that one slide - "

"Avery, then? Or Rowle?" Theo cut in, but Potter shook his head again.

"Only two people are unaccounted for, and that's the two of you," he said pointedly, gesturing between Draco and Theo. "Care to tell me what you were up to?"