THE PINK UMBRELLA
A/N: Next Chapter...
Disclaimer: I don't own HP.
CHAPTER SIX: THE DREAM POWDER
"Time for your dinner, children!" I heard Madam Pomfrey call out. I sat in my bed and tilted my head towards the direction of her voice and saw her enter the Hospital wing, levitating two trays of food. I was gonna have my dinner at last.
Madam Pomfrey placed breakfast tables in each of mine and Malfoy's bed and then lay the trays of food.
"Call me when you're done, children. Enjoy!" Madam Pomfrey happily went out of the wing.
"Children? For god's sake, I'm 16!" I heard Malfoy mutter in annoyance.
I chuckled at his remark and felt his head jerk towards me. I looked at him, and I was right, he was glaring at me.
"What?" I asked innocently.
He snorted before looking away and started eating. I smiled lightly before eating my own dinner too. It was a silent dinner. No one talked. I could only hear the chewing of our foods and the gulping of our pumpkin juice.
This was my chance...we were alone together. This only happened once in a blue moon.
I turned my head to look at Malfoy. What I saw made me laugh. Draco Malfoy was eating femininely. Different from the way he usually ate.
He looked at me with furrowed forehead, "What now?" he asked with irritation.
"Why are you eating in such a slow pace, Malfoy?" I asked him, still laughing a bit.
He raised his eyebrow, "I don't eat like your friend, Weasley, so what do you expect?"
"Well," I put my chicken down. "On the contrary, you do." I said very certainly as if answering a 'what's your name' question.
He scoffed, "How can you say so?"
"Because," I said slowly "Whenever I look at you in the Great Hall every meal, you always devour your food like there's no tomorrow." I grinned.
He stared at me with his emotionless face before arching another eyebrow, smirking. "So, am I to understand that you feed your eyes by molesting my features every meal?"
"I-what?"
He laughed, "Does Potter and Weasley know you fancy me, Granger?"
"I-I don't fancy you, Malfoy!" I denied, frowning at him and went back to eating my food. He was really arrogant! Getting annoyed to him could not really be avoided. I could feel heat slowly creeping in my face out of embarrassment.
And how stupid of me for saying I look at him every meal! Now, I have to be cautious or he'd catch me and get more embarrassed. What if he told his friends that I fancied him? I'd be in a big trouble with my own friends.
I heard him chuckle and whispered, "The Mudblood Gryffindor gets obsessed with the Slytherin Prince...hmm, nice headline for the Daily Prophet. What says you, Granger?"
"The Slytherin Prince gets thick again, says I, Malfoy."I said not looking at him.
"Ew." I heard him say. I turned my head to look at him confusedly.
"Huh?"
His forehead creased, "I didn't realize I was talking to you, mudblood. Forget this ever happened." he focused back to his food.
Reality struck me. Yes, I was indeed talking to Malfoy. I didn't realize we were having a conversation, finally! He laughed, at one point...he chuckled...he did those while talking to me! I smiled realizing I was working quite alright. This was probably his first laugh after Pansy's incident. I even made him forget he was not supposed to talk to me.
I grinned stupidly before thinking of another topic I might start with. I looked at my plate...I nearly finished my chicken. There were just berries and cheese in there. I smiled as an idea dominated my head.
I coughed falsely, "Malfoy, do you like cheese?"
I didn't expect him to choke in his pumpkin juice, but he did. I chuckled at him. I knew that was a ridiculous question, that was why I purposely asked it.
He looked at me like I asked him if he had panties. It was hilarious.
"Just what kind of question is that, Granger?"
I shrugged, smiling at him.
"Cheese? Do I like cheese? Are you losing your sanity now?"
"I just want to have a conversation, honestly, Malfoy." I answered.
"And what? You expect me to want to have an intelligent conversation with you about bloody cheese?"
I sighed and pretended to roll my eyes on him, "Just answer it, Malfoy."
"Well, no!" He spatted.
"Really? Funny, I think I know why you don't. You're scared of it, aren't you?"
His forehead creased even more if it was possible. "Scared? What the hell are you up to, Granger?"
"I saw her this morning, scolding you...you know, your mother? Micheese Malfoy?"
"Micheese Malfoy?" he repeated incredulously, "What have you done to your head, Granger? On which wall did you happen to bang it with? You're screws are loosening a bit." he shook his head slowly.
I laughed not minding his snide comments, "Isn't it funny? Don't you know what that is, Malfoy? That's what you call, a joke. It doesn't hurt other persons...unlike your usual jokes."
"That kind of joke, is boring Granger. Micheese Malfoy..." he snorted," Madam Pomfrey!"
At once, Madam Pomfrey came running to us. She levitated our trays and table away before giving us medicines. After making sure we consumed our medicines, she left us to rest.
It was, I assumed, midnight when I was awakened by a loud and piercing scream not far from me. I bolted up right then and turned to look at Malfoy. He was sweating in his bed. He was twitching and panting and moving his body everywhere. His eyes were deeply shut. I stared at him in horror and when he screamed again, I quickly jolted out of bed and hurried towards him.
"Malfoy...Malfoy, what is it?" I worriedly went near him. His feet were stirring, kicking the bed. His hands were stiff in his sides, but veins were starting to stick up his skin. He was throwing his head back against his pillow, panting and moaning.
"Not Pansy please...not Pansy...Pansy...NO!" he screamed again. His body was covered with his sweet scented perspiration. He was having a dream. A very bad dream.
"JUST KILL ME! NOT PANSY! I BEG YOU!"
There were now tears sliding down his eyes. I knew for sure those were tears, because he definitely was crying. He was having a nightmare...about Pansy Parkinson being tortured.
"NO! AHHHHH!" he screamed in agony. I couldn't bear hearing him in this state anymore. I had to get Madam Pomfrey. I had to get help.
I ran as fast as I could to her office. "Madam Pomfrey!"
No answer.
"Madam Pomfrey, I need your help!" I shouted again.
But I just heard my own voice echoed through the walls.
"MADAM POMFREY! Where the hell are you when I bloody need you?!" I ran outside the Hospital wing, shouting with all my might.
"HELP!"
"AHHHH! NO!" I heard Malfoy's scream again.
"Malfoy, hold on...I'll get you some help." I muttered after another shout of help.
Why the bloody hell were people gone when you needed them the most? I was panicking, Malfoy kept on shouting and so have I but no one seemed to have heard any of us. Were they all out for some fresh air? Were they enjoying themselves while Malfoy was having a nightmare here?!
"What should I do? What should I do? What in the name of Merlin's beard should I freaking DO?!" I muttered in annoyance. I couldn't just let him succumb in his bad dream. I needed to help him. I needed to think...come on Granger, you were the brightest witch of your batch, it was time to use your brain for something important...AHA!
'That's right!'
I rushed to the first flight of stairs I saw. I ran and ran and ran not worrying if Filch or Peeves or whoever might caught me until I reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady.
"On this dead of the night?" the Fat Lady muttered.
"RUMPLESTILTSKIN!" I basically barked the password in her face. I didn't care at the moment. All I cared about was to get through this freaking portrait and get the dream powder I kept under my bed sheet.
"No need to shout, lady!" the Fat Lady complained. The portrait swung open and I immediately crawled inside. I felt sorry for having shouted at the Fat Lady's face. I'd just ask for apology in the morning.
As I have expected it, the common room was totally deserted. I was the only one who usually stayed this late to do assignments or read books or talk with Ron and Harry.
I climbed up the spiral staircase to the girls dormitories. I harshly opened the door to our room, luckily no one woke up. They stirred but continued sleeping. I ducked down my bed and reached for the bag of dream powder I got from Fred and George. They said, it killed away unwanted dreams of any sort and change it into something happy or the opposite of your previous bad one...just the thing I needed. I just hoped against hope that Fred and George were not messing with me about this product of theirs. If it made Malfoy's nightmare worse, I swear I'd decapacitate them first thing in the morning after asking Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's permission and Ron and Ginny's apology.
I hurriedly went out of the room and basically fell from the staircase as I was rushing down. I gasped in pain but stood up at once forgetting the bruise I just got in my knee. I crawled out of the portrait hole and didn't bother looking back at the Fat Lady who made an irritated noise about how disrespectful I was.
I was running for nearly 20 minutes before I reached the Hospital wing again. I entered the room to find Madam Pomfrey in her sleeping gown, looking at Malfoy who was still twitching forcefully in his bed worriedly.
"Miss Granger, what has happened to Mr. Malfoy? And where have you been?" she asked me. But I didn't have the time to answer her. I ran to Malfoy's bedside and poured the dream powder in Malfoy's face.
"Miss Granger, why are you putting dust in Mr. Malfoy's face?" she asked frantically.
"It's a dream powder. He'll be fine..." I said almost out of breath after the long run.
"Dream Powder?" she asked. I nodded still focusing on Malfoy. I was waiting for him to get calm.
But he was still twitching!
Oh my god! It didn't work...what the hell...I was going to kill Gred and Forge Weasley-
"He's stopped wriggling Miss Granger." I heard Madam pomfrey said with amusement.
I looked at Malfoy again. And Madam Pomfrey was right. He'd calm down..
His face was still sweating but his expression was back to being peaceful...like he was having a better dream. His panting stopped. His breathing slowly went back to its normal pace.
I heaved a heavy sigh. "Thank god..." I muttered.
"Impressive, Miss Granger." Madam Pomfrey smiled at me. I smiled back.
"Are you okay now Miss Granger? No more headache?" she asked.
I nodded, tired.
"I was doing some checking with my Dragon juice. I still can't believe it didn't work on you the first time. It always had before. I didn't hear Mr. Malfoy's screams until I finished my experiment with the juice. Nothing's wrong with it, so I'm still wondering what had gone wrong when you drank it."
I smiled, trying to wash away my guilt. She stayed all night just to check her medicine for some fault...when the truth was, it was really me pretending to have headache when I took the juice first.
"Now, I can see you've worked this out Miss Granger. Go back to sleep now. Mr. Malfoy seems to be okay."
I nodded. Madam Pomfrey smiled before turning back, out of the Hospital wing.
When I heard the door slammed quietly. I looked at Malfoy again. Indeed he was back at peace. I smiled while staring at him.
His face really was angelic.
"Pansy..." I heard him murmur.
So, Pansy was the star of his dreams bad or good? He truly loved her. If Pansy only knew how lucky she was...
I turned to go back to my bed when I caught him murmur something else.
"I feel cold..."
I glanced back at him. He was having goosebumps.
I went near him and pulled his blanket to his chest to protect him from the cold.
"Pansy...stay with me...keep me warm." he murmured once again.
As much as I wanted to...I couldn't. I was not Pansy...I was Granger...
I sighed and started backing away again when I heard him say, "Please stay with me...I need you."
I smiled. I wanted you to need me too Malfoy.
Not thinking twice anymore, I climbed up to bed beside him. Unexpectedly, he snuggled close to me. He wriggled his face on the crook of my neck...he was too near I could literally feel his breath brush against my skin. I threw my left arm over his head and used my other hand to caress his sleeping face. I brushed my hand against his soft and delicate cheek. I traced his nose with the tip of my index finger. I touched his pink and very soft lips and as I worshiped his face I concluded: I wasn't wrong when I said he was perfect. He really was...
"I love you..." he muttered silently.
A small smile escaped my lips. I knew it wasn't for me...but I was with him when he said that...so it was all the same...for me at least.
I stroked his blonde hair and it felt nice against my hand. I never, in my life, touched a hair as beautiful as his. I once saw hair like Malfoy's when I was a kid...it was wet from the rain but I was not able to touch it.
I bent down to kiss his head as soft as I could, careful not to wake him up.
I couldn't imagine Ron or Harry or anyone else's face if they saw me on bed with Malfoy...him cuddled close to me and me kissing his head affectionately.
I didn't mean to feel this way to Malfoy. He made my life difficult for the last 5 years and here I am...confessing the truth that from the start, my 'hate' towards him never existed. It was barely just annoyance and irritation...a bit of anger, yes...but never hate.
I could never hate someone I silently admire from the first time I saw him in Hogwarts Express almost 6 years ago until the present time.
Why was it I liked him?
God knew...
"Don't leave me..." he said softly.
"I won't..." I whispered back.
If only he knew it was me comforting him...me, Hermione Granger.
"Pansy..."
But then again, sadly...he don't.
A/N: so, how was that chapter? Please leave any REVIEW and let me know what you think.
