Hey, I've got a new story for you all! Don't worry, this doesn't mean that I've given up on "Gazing at a Broken Heart", but I'm working on both of them. I just had this one in my head and I had to get it out. Enjoy!

Gift of Spirit

Chapter 1

Hermione

The feeling is awful. I ache all over, and I have a dreadful feeling like any minute now I'll be horribly sick everywhere. I am vaguely aware that I've been Apparated somewhere, and I hear people yelling, though I can't make out the words. I peel my eyelids open, and glance around my blurry surroundings. People are bustling about, chattering noisily as they hurry to take care of me. It seems like I am in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. Of course, I can't be sure – my mind is all fuzzy. It appears, though, that I am not the only patient there. And with that last thought, darkness takes me.

---

I wake up sometime later, I'm not sure how much later, feeling much better. I've still got a rather nasty headache, but I no longer ache or feel the need to vomit. Sitting up in bed, I take in my surroundings. I was right – I am in the Hospital Wing … and I am not alone. There is one other person lying two beds to my left, by the window. He is lying on his side facing away from me, so all I can see is his hair. That's all I've got to see to know who he is. I mean, who else do I know that has short blond hair nearly as white as the bed sheets themselves? But why is Draco Malfoy here?

I haven't got much time to think that over, however, as at that moment, Madam Pomfrey rushes in, her eyes lighting up when she sees me.

"Ah, Miss Granger, you're finally awake!" she exclaims, coming over to me and setting a tray of food on a small table beside my bed. "Do you feel well enough to eat something?"

"Yes, I think so," I say, nodding, and she smiles. "I still have a headache, though. Is there something you can give me for that?"

"Oh, yes, of course, I will be right back. In the meanwhile, eat up," she orders, placing the tray gently on my lap, before hurrying off to get me a headache relieving potion or something.

Obediently, I gobble up my eggs and toast, and drink down a glass of orange juice. I hadn't realised how hungry I was until just now. Madam Pomfrey is back a minute later, carrying with her another tray of food, and a glass filled with some sort of purple liquid.

"Here you go, dear, drink up," she says, handing me the glass and vanishing my empty tray with her wand. "It may make you a bit drowsy after ten minutes or so," she adds as a warning, before walking over to the other bed where the blond Slytherin is lying. "Mr. Malfoy!" she barks when she gets close to him. "It's time to wake up!"

I notice she isn't speaking to him nearly as nicely as she did to me. In fact, she's speaking to him rather irritably, as if she really does not like him. I don't blame her, of course, he's a bloody git, but still, I don't think she should be doing that.

I drink down the potion she gave me quickly, making a face at the horrid taste, but sigh contently when my headache disappears. I look back over at the other two people in the room, and see Malfoy slowly shifting into a sitting position in his bed, wincing slightly in pain, and glaring at Madam Pomfrey.

"Don't look at me that way, boy, don't forget that I'm the reason you're alive right now," Madam Pomfrey snaps angrily, setting the tray down loudly on a table, making Malfoy jump slightly before his emotionless mask returns.

"I didn't ask for your help," he snarls, his nasty glare back in place.

"Maybe not, but you were brought here by someone who wanted me to help you, so I have an obligation to get you better, whether you like it or not," she bites back. "And trust me, I don't like this anymore than you do."

With that, she takes the tray and sets in roughly on his lap, then walks away quickly. Malfoy growls deep in his throat, staring at the tray as if it's at fault, then he looks up at me, and I gasp at what I see. This is the first time that I realise exactly why he is at the Hospital Wing. He has a painful looking black right eye, and a nasty bruise over his left cheek, flawing the perfect creamy white skin of his face. He also has swollen and cut lip, and a deep cut over his right eyebrow. His right arm is in a cast, held close to his body by a white sling. That's all I can see, since the rest of his body is covered by a hospital gown and bed sheets. What happened to him?

"What are you looking at, Mudblood?" he growls nastily, his face curling into a sneer.

"Oh, nothing, Malfoy, just admiring whoever did that to you," I shoot back lividly. "You've had it coming for a long time. Won't you tell me who it was so I can properly thank them?"

Despite the fact that he is obviously hurt pretty badly, he makes it so easy for me to still be angry with him, though I kind of feel bad for saying it when his face pales considerably.

"Shut up, Granger, you don't know what you're talking about," he snaps, turning back to his tray and picking up a fork with his left hand, stabbing at his eggs clumsily.

I wrinkle my nose and look away, deeply annoyed with him. He is so infuriating sometimes … no, all of the time!

A moment later, I suddenly feel very tired, and I feel myself slowly drift off to sleep once more.

I know that was rather short - I originally had it connected to what what will now be Chapter 2, and I just felt it was too long.