Hey guys :) got really into this so worte another chapter :D hope you like it. Please R&R it makes me want to continue :D thank you! xx
Draco hadn't been aware he was asleep until he awoke a little over an hour later. The harsh white lights of the hospital wing caused his pupils to instantly dilate leaving him somewhat temporarily blind.
"He does have a noble side then" Madame Pomfrey laughed from somewhere over the other side of the room.
"Saved the lot of us" Hermione's voice drifted over to him and he briefly wondered what she was still doing here. He involuntarily let out a groan and quickly Madame Pomfrey was as his side his eyes now adjusting to the light. Looking around he realised that she and Hermione were closer than he had first thought, in fact they were in the same position he had left them in the other day, Hermione sitting on the bed next to him her legs crossed.
"Mr Malfoy, although your actions may be deemed heroic I'm afraid you have damaged your arm rather more than previously." Madame Pomfrey explained with a slight tender smile on her lips.
"What I do?" He asked rather appalled at himself for his lack of grammar.
"You crushed the bones mid heal so unfortunately they have healed slightly… wrong. You'll need two more potions and regular visits back here at least twice a day I'm afraid" She replied and he just nodded pulling himself up into a sitting position.
"Hit me" He smirked and Madame Pomfrey smiled before bustling away. "Back again Granger?" He asked turning to look at her.
"Well I brought you in and I figured I might as well get checked over… since i'm here" She shrugged and he arched an eyebrow.
"Right checked over, funny thing is. I thought you got 'checked over' yesterday" He replied and she just shrugged obviously having practised this reply while he was sleeping.
"Can't hurt to be sure" She smirked and he rolled his eyes irritated with the answer she'd given.
"One day Granger i'm going to have you so figured out you won't be able to tell me you're crap lies anymore" He announced and she frowned not sure what he meant by that. She opened her mouth to reply but Madame Pomfrey had just reappeared holding an absolutely vial smelling liquid. Hermione gagged and covered her nose.
"Please tell me I'm not drinking that" Draco blanched staring at the brown liquid in disgust. All Madame Pomfrey did was hold out the glass mug with a smile, Draco didn't waste any time, he grabbed the thing and downed it in one. If the smell was bad then drinking it was worse. As soon as he'd gulped it back he had to fight every muscle to stop himself throwing it back up again. Hermione shivered in disgust and made a loud gagging noise.
"Try bloody drinking it" He called over to her but all she did was shake her head as the healer handed Draco a green substance, this almost smelt nice in caparison so he drank it quite happily getting rid of the other taste.
"So Mr Malfoy I want you back here after breakfast and dinner every day for a week." She instructed all Malfoy did was nod and flopped back onto his bed. Madame Pomfrey did not ask him to leave she knew how much pain he'd been in and she still had to change his dressing so she turned to Hermione once again.
"Shall we continue?" She asked and Malfoy opened one eye interested.
"What now?" The brunette asked casting a glance at Malfoy who appeared to be drifting into sleep.
"I don't see why not we need to find out the cause" The nurse sighed and Hermione nodded. "Lift up your shirt again" She instructed and Draco couldn't help but raise his head in interest. All he could see however was the back of Hermione's shirt as Madame Pomfrey seemed to inspect her chest. "It seems to be getting worse" The heeler contemplated as Hermione lowered her shirt.
"I don't know what to do" She sighed.
"Describe the pain to me Miss Granger" Madame Pomfrey instructed and Draco felt her sit on the end of his bed.
"It just burns, somedays its more painful than others but most of the time I just feel like i'm begging for something to make it stop" She sighed and Draco frowned not following the description at all. What was on her chest that was so weird?
There was a long sigh that came from the direction of Madame Pomfrey then something hard hit his leg and he flew into a sitting position.
"It's rude to eavesdrop Mr Malfoy" The healer scolded now glaring down at him, he had the dignity to blush. Without another word she began redressing his shoulder. He glanced around the room and his eyes settled on Hermione, she wasn't looking his way, her head was bent so her hair covered her face as she stared down at the floor.
"You can leave now Mr Malfoy but remember I expect you back here twice a day" She instructed and he nodded jumping off the bed and grabbing his cloak, as he headed towards the door he suddenly came to a stop and swivelled on his heel to look back at the pair behind him.
"Er…. Granger?" He called and the brunettes head snapped up to look at him. "Thanks… for you know bringing me here" He muttered and without thought she let a genuine smile slip onto her face. Her eyes sparkled as her plump red lips curved up into a gleaming smile. He felt the bludger hit him hard and almost recoiled at the amount of pain this action put him through, he nodded at her then quickly hurried from the room.
As soon as the Hospital wing doors were closed he let out a breath of air and shook his head.
"Bloody hell" He swore quietly before pushing off and heading down the corridor towards charms.
It was that evening as he sat in the high backed green chair in front of the fire in the Slytherin common room that he began to think about Hermione once again, he ignored the sting in his heart at the thought of her and instead tried to process what was wrong with the girl.
"You alright mate, look like you're troubled" Pucey chuckled as he flopped onto the sofa opposite, Draco glanced up at the boy and sighed. He risked a look around the common room and saw Blaise wondering into the room from the dorms, but apart from that it was empty. The boy joined Pucey on the sofa and looked at his blonde haired friend.
"How's the arm?" The latin american asked.
"Painful as fuck" Draco replied stoney face making the other two smirk. He'd been mulling over the idea of telling his two friends about his love for the Gryffindor girl for a good month now but he couldn't bring himself to do it. However the worry he was feeling for her now pushed him a little more in the right directions. "So there's this girl" He begun.
"Hermione Granger" Blaise filled in and Draco's eyes flashed dangerously as he stared at his two smiling friends.
"What?" He snapped.
"You can't seriously think we wouldn't notice drake, the way you look at her, the way you talk about her. It's so blindingly obvious." Pucey chuckled grinning from ear to ear.
"We were waiting for the day you told us about her" Blaise added blinking up at his friend.
"You both know?" He half shouted half mumbled.
"That you like her? Yea" Pucey nodded and Draco sighed slumping further back in his chair a little relieved a little angry.
"You could have said something it's been killing me" He grumbled and both his friends grinned. There was a long silence as Draco chewed over what he'd just been told and decided to leave it at that, he wouldn't go into details yet.
Draco trudged down the corridor towards the Hospital Wing, he'd woken up late so he had had to skip breakfast and go straight to see Madame Pomfrey well aware that she'd flip a lid if he was late for his appointment. He pushed open the wooden doors and was greeted by the sight of Hermione sitting on the same bed she had been yesterday swinging her legs back and forth and waiting for Madame Pomfrey.
"More tests?" Draco snorted as he dropped his cloak onto the bed next to her and leant against it. Hermione looked at him, unblinking and calm she let out a slow breath of air and shook her head. He looked up at her and saw the tears sparkling at the corners of her eyes, instantly he was next to her. "What's wrong?" He whispered uncaring that he was being kind and gentle towards her.
"Why do you care!" She suddenly spat angry with him for showing her kindness. He was caught off guard at this and stepped back so he was once again leaning against his own bed.
"I don't" He replied coldly the thud of bludger pain hitting his heart at the words. She stared back at him her eyes filling with more unshed tears at the words.
"Ah Mr Malfoy!" Madame Pomfrey greeted brightly as she appeared next to Hermione. The healer held a large vial of bubbling fluorescent pink liquid in her hands, Draco gulped at the thought of having to drink that but the healer handed the glass liquid to Hermione. The witch took it and gulped it down shivering at the taste Draco frowned, if she was drinking something there was something wrong with her.
"Yea, thought i'd turn up bright and early" He replied to the healers previous comment. Madame Pomfrey bustled over to him and inspected the arm, she changed the dressing once again and handed him a vial of green liquid she'd already made up. Meanwhile Hermione just sat and watched. Draco obediently drank it all then hauled himself up to sit on the bed.
"Don't think you're going to hide out in here get to your lessons, both of you!" she announced looking at Hermione as well, both students sighed and slid from their respective beds. Draco slung his cloak over his shoulder and swung his book bag up onto his left shoulder carefully. Hermione on the other hand, careful smoothed the wrinkles out of her cloak and made sure her Gryffindor badge was pinned the right way up on her chest. She then picked up her bag and looped it gently over her head pulling her soft curled hair from out under the strap and smoothing it over her shoulders.
Draco couldn't help the small smile that flickered over his lips at the sight of her miraculous care. She looked up at him and glared before marching past and out the door, Draco ran after her catching up half way down the corridor. She ignored him as he walked by her side finally after about 2 minutes she let out a long sigh.
"Is there something I can help you with Malfoy?" she asked all the anger drained from her now soft voice. He was yet again caught off guard by the change in her tone and blinked a couple of times to regain his thought process.
"Why are you always in the Hospital Wing?" He asked getting right to the point his heart hammering widely for the answer. She looked at him her eyes hard and emotionless, she didn't speak just stared directly into his ocean blue eyes. At that moment they seemed to reach some silent mutual understanding to never bring it up again. Draco nodded and continued on his way. It was wired to be walking next to her and it was making the pain in his chest grow so much more, his heart was aching.
He glanced over at Hermione and saw some kind of internal battle reflected on her face he frowned but didn't draw attention to it.
The pair of them walked out the Hogwarts doors and into the grounds, it had never really struck Draco how many lessons they shared until now. Currently they were heading into the Dark Forest to meet Hagrid and the rest of the students. Dumbledore had made Hagrid Magical Creatures teacher at the beginning of the year, it hadn't bothered Draco because it had made Hermione so happy when they'd all be told he had almost felt happy himself.
The pair of them walked in an uncomfortable silence as they headed over the grass, that was when Harry and Ron appeared from nowhere.
"Herms? Are you walking to Magical Creatures with Malfoy!" Ron asked aghast. Hermione simply rolled her eyes and adjust her backpack.
"No Ronald we just happened to be walking the same way, we're not walking together" She clarified and Draco felt a small hit to his heart at this announcement. Harry and Ron had now tagged along on the walk and Draco was now very irritated.
"Malfoy was in the library as well?" Harry asked as if Draco was not standing almost next to him. Draco arched an eyebrow at this, the library? Hermione flashed him a quick look of panic.
"No Harry we seemed to bump into each other, it does happen you know" She snapped seemingly annoyed. Draco was still stuck on the fact that her friends seemed to think she had been in the library that morning. The four appeared through the trees and into the clearing just inside the dark forrest where the other students had already arrived. Most of them turned to see the four walk towards them and appeared shocked that Draco Malfoy seemed to be walking with the golden trio. Malfoy seemed to realise this and quickly distanced himself from the three and walked over to Pucey and Zabini who did the manly hug boys always do before leaning against a large flat rock behind them.
Hagrid stepped forwards and cleared his throat, his confidence had grown over the few months he'd been teaching and he now felt confident enough to address the students confidently.
"I'd like you all to take a large step back" Hagrid announced and the group hurried to get back knowing that when Hagrid said something it was wise to do it. "Now please don't be shocked by what you're going to see, everything is completely safe" Hagrid almost shouted as he disappeared into the forrest. The students exchanged worried looks trying to see what the half giant was doing.
"What's he got this time" Blaise hissed nervous to what beast was going to be brought out. The Giant slowly came back into view pulling one of the most horrific things Draco had ever seen behind him. It had the body of a red lion and a human head with three rows of extremely sharp teeth. Large wings rested against its sides as they flapped gently in the breeze the tail was long and scaly reminiscent of a dragon. The thing was disgusting and grotesque to look at.
"Does anyone know what this is?" Hagrid asked as the beasts eyes scanned the students hungrily.
"That's a Manticore" Hermione replied "It has a trumpet like vocal chord and shoots paralysing spikes from its tail. It devours its prey whole leaving no clothes or bones behind as clues as to what happened to the prey. The manticore myth was of Persian origin, where its name was man-eater." She informed everyone who looked horrified at the beast before them.
"Very good Hermione!" Hagrid beamed "Don't worry guys its tail has been wrapped and it can't shoot spikes anymore. He's a good boy he wont eat ya either" The man grinned and everyone paled slightly. "So who wants to give him a pat?" He asked and everyone took another step back. Draco looked around and grinned before hoping of the rock and standing forwards. "Malfoy?" Hagrid frowned and the blonde grinned.
"Why not right?" Malfoy shrugged and Hagrid beamed at him before nodding for the boy to step forwards. He was about to move towards the beast, his hand was already outstretched, when he heard Hermione gasp in a sharp breath of air. He didn't mean to turn around but he loved the girl he just couldn't help it. He spun around so fast that he almost lost his balance, Hermione had collapsed on the ground people now gathering around her. She had her hand over her heart as she gasp her knuckles going white as she tried to grip onto the earth underneath her.
"Herms? Herms whats wrong?" Ron hurried as he bent down next to her. She shook her head and hauled herself to her feet.
"Nothing, nothing I'm fine" She announced shaking her head and forcing a smile. "Just took in too much air got a bit light headed and lost my balance, kind of embarrassing really" She announced and students chuckled turning their attention back to the scene before them. Draco's eyes lingered on Hermione for a while longer as he assessed her, she was lying, he could tell. She blinked and flashed an emotionless smile at him.
As eventful as that lesson had been built up to be nothing much more happened Draco retreated from the animal and they began taking notes, quickly the hour seemed to pass and students were packing up there books.
"Coming up to the common room Hermione?" Ron asked as they headed off to free period.
"Erm… no i'll see you in a bit I'm going to take out a book on a Manticore" She announced and Ron snorted shaking his head at her intent to work. She packed her bag slowly saying good-bye to each of the Gryffindor's as they left. Draco lingered as he saw her slow movements and both Blaise and Adrian chuckled before patting him on the back and leaving him behind. Slowly one by one everyone left leaving Hermione and Draco behind.
Granger sighed and dropped her bag onto the floor not aware of his presence behind her. She let out a long breath and put her hand over her heart.
"Granger?" He whispered and she jumped whirling around to face her.
"Malfoy… I… didn't know you were still here" She forced out and he frowned.
"I was just gunna head up to the hospital wing my shoulders killing me" He lied rather than acknowledging her statement. Her eyes sparked and she let a small smile flicker across her face as if she knew that was a lie.
"Oh I think I'll go to I need to see Madame Pomfrey about my test results" She announced and he knew she was lying too but he didn't say a thing.
The walk to the Hospital Wing was made in silence neither knowing what to say, once they arrived Draco took a seat on the bed he had now deemed his and Madame Pomfrey appeared from round the corner.
"Mr Malfoy I wasn't expecting to see you quite so soon" She announced and the blonde shrugged his left shoulder as he was unable to shrug his right without excruciating pain. Her eyes landed on Hermione who was now looking very pale. "Are you alright Miss Granger?" She asked and no longer caring the Draco was in the room she shook her head gripping one of the beds. Draco instantly jumped off his bed and ran to her side. She was breathing heavily one hand over her heart as she shook violently. He put his left arm underneath her and supported her weight easily.
Madame Pomfrey cleared a bed and he lifted her onto it Hermione still shaking badly. The healer pushed him out the way and started tending to the girl quickly her hands flitting over her body.
"Hermione, are you ok?" Draco asked and the girl looked at him her breathing hard and fast, she shook her head, no. "What's wrong with her?" He whispered and Madame Pomfrey pushed him away, Hermione gripped the older woman's hand.
