Chapter Two

Hermione woke up and began to panic. She didn't remember coming home last night; she had assumed she would wake up in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. She wondered if Malfoy was still there. She remembered how pale his face and the deep scratch on his check. She jumped out of bed and over to her cupboard to get ready. She would visit him and hope he would enjoy her company. She had so many things to work out; their night had ended so quickly and they seemed to get along but at the same time was it only because they both had nobody else? Malfoy could have been with Crabbe and Goyle she supposed but she had never thought of them as his friends, only as his accomplices. She heard a bang from lower in down in the building. Hagrid bounded up the stairs of Hermione's apartment block. She opened the door is surprise. Her head still hurt from last night and she wasn't sure she as ready for a serious conversation despite needing to know what was wrong with Malfoy. She hoped it wasn't her fault. Hagrid sat down on the couch.

"Well, your friend Draco will be out cold for the next week."

"That's horrible! What happened to him? It wasn't the chocolate was it; I'll kill that Weasley boy."

"Calm down, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sorry Hagrid, go on…"

She put her cup of tea on the table and sat down on the chair facing him. She realized that Hagrid wouldn't be the one telling her about Malfoy if it didn't have anything to do with that animal.

"So it was that panther, bird thing…"

"Yes, well… I have an idea of what it would be but could you describe it again?"

"It was red, a real bright and brilliant red and it was really sleek like a panther. It had huge bug eyes which you'd think would look really strange on a cat but it was quite beautiful. Oh and I can't forget the feathers on its head and tail. Oh and they were white, blue and black. I'd never seen anything like it before."

"Yeah, that's right. The one I'd seen was a kind of mustard colour with green feathers but I'd never seen one in the forbidden forest."

"How would it have gotten there?"

"I don't know Hermione. Magic?" He chuckled and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so tell me why he's unconscious."

"Oh right, almost forgotten. Well if it's a chatevol then…"

"A chatevol?"

"Yeah. They're pretty violent; they cut you up and suck your blood."

"Like a vampire?"

"Yeah… but they aren't dead and it's not all they live on, they just like the taste of it really. Apart from that they're vegetarian… "

"I see…"

"Normally, they only hurt other animals if they've been provoked though. That's what I've been told anyway."

"So somebody's trying to kill Malfoy?" Hermione said in disbelief.

"Or just put him out of the picture for a bit." Hagrid said this with a side glance like I didn't really want to be discussing this.

"Hagrid… is that… Chatevol just going to live there now?"

"Don't see why not, they're quite cute little things. Maybe I'll introduce it to Fang."

"It's a cat…"

"You've got muggle parents, Malfoy's got wizard parents. I don't see the difference."

"They're completely different species! And me and Malfoy aren't friends…"

"Ron's here Harry," Ginny shouted upstairs from the Kitchen. Harry swooped down stairs to open the door; Ron barged in, sat down at the table and put his head on the wood.

"Not a good morning Ron?" Ginny sympathized, "You drank quite a bit last night…"

"I didn't actually; I hate my brother."

"What are you talking about Ron?" Harry asked.

"Hermione sprayed me with this stuff that did weird things."

"Oh…" Harry and Ginny said sniggering.

"So you still love Hermione Granger…" Harry mentioned.

Ron's head shot up, "How did you know I said that?"

"Things get around Ron," Ginny said sternly, "So, what's the gossip?"

"I don't love her, that's ridiculous."

"Of course, completely out of the question," Harry joked.

"Okay, well… maybe I still like her a bit. After I left her I realized what I had given up but it was too late to get back then."

"It was never too late you idiot!" Ginny said.

"Hey Ginny, could Harry and I discuss this in private, guy to guy?"

"Fine!"

Ginny walked quickly out of the kitchen to go look after the baby in the next room.

"Harry, it's complicated. I don't want her back; I just said it because I had to."

"But you're not seriously going to go through your whole life loving her and not actually talking to her about it are you?"

"Of course not – maybe – I mean – it wouldn't be that wrong. It would probably be better for her and I'd probably get bored again."

"I never realized you had commitment issues."

"I don't have commitment issues, you have commitment issues."

"Wow… really? No, I'm just married and have a baby."

"Okay, you have non-commitment issues. That's a real issue, you're way too young. 25, come on Harry…"

"Ron…"

"Sorry Harry but I think I'm going to go and sort my head out."

"Good Luck with that."

Ron began to walk away from the house to his favourite pub. It was old and wooden and the bartender was amusing. Most of all though, the pub was always quiet; this probably meant it was going out of business which was a bad thing but for the time being it was his favourite place to brood over life. He entered the pub, ordered a butter beer and started to read the Daily Profit; it was mostly boring. He told himself he was going to have 20 minutes to not think about Hermione and then he would have to begin to figure things out. It was as he was skipping to the comics at the back of the paper he realized that he wasn't alone in the pub. There were a couple canoodling in a corner and it horrified him. How dare they break his silence with their giggling? The bartender caught Ron glaring at the two.

"The blonde came in at about 12. She was furious, started complaining to me about how her boyfriend hadn't invited her out to some party and that he'd stood her up today then that other chap over there swept her off her feet… with vodka," He chuckled.

Ron took another look at them and realized he knew both. The guy stroking her blonde hair was none other than Gregory Goyle. The blonde was harder to put his finger on but realized she was secretary at the ministry. He suddenly groaned, she was the last person he wanted to see; she was more annoying than Moaning Myrtle. Her name was Amanda and she'd conned Malfoy into dating him a couple of weeks ago but he came crawling back to his office after he dumped her a week later. Ron laughed out loud at Malfoy's misfortune, she was obviously still deluded.

He suddenly remembered last night; Draco had left the party with Hermione. 'He couldn't have actually left with her could he?' Ron fretted. He got up quickly and apparated to Hermione's door step. He knocked on the door but no one answered. He was suddenly furious at Malfoy.

Hermione entered the hospital wing and walked quickly to the side of his bed. His eyes were still cold, he was pale and the scratch was still a deep red. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching and then she stroked it. She didn't know what she was there for but she did not want to leave. She opened her bag and got out a book. She started reading and occasionally looked over at the boy she used to despise so much.