10
Olivia
I woke up forty five minutes late on Tuesday morning to another dream of Death Eaters and Voldemort. I missed all of breakfast and five minutes of History of Magic. I was screwed.
I sprinted down the stairs and through the halls, straightening my clothes as I went. Although it wasn't doing much good since the buttons on my shirt were already crooked and my tie was uneven. I ran my fingers through my tangled hair and tried to stop the shaking in my hands. My latest nightmare started out like all the others but the new face that popped up still had me wanting to get out of my own skin.
When I finally entered Professor Binns' room, the entire class stared at me like I knew they would. And just like I guessed, Binns didn't even falter in his lecture. I hid my burning face and dropped into my seat, trying to pretend that I wasn't mortified. I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a quill, parchment, and my History of Magic book.
"Where were you?" Rhys whispered, looking both amused and worried at the same time. "You're lucky, Binns didn't even notice you were gone." None of the Slytherins in the class looked surprised that I was late but the Hufflepuffs were giving me concerned glances that I stubbornly ignored.
"Overslept." I muttered, opening my book. "What page are we on?"
"Hell if I know." Rhys snorted, leaning back into her chair and pointing her wand to her hair which was lazily shifting colors.
I stopped myself from making some sort of bitter comment and started thumbing through the pages. With each page I flipped faster and harder, feeling every ounce of patience I had left dwindling. I couldn't stop the angry thoughts that were flying through my head and I had to bit my lip to keep from screaming.
"Liv-" Rhys mumbled, but it was too late. I swiped the next page aside and sliced my pointer finger down the edge. I hissed angrily causing the whole room to turn once again and see me cradling my bleeding finger. And it wasn't just bleeding. It was gushing.
"Jesus Christ, that's just unhealthy." Rhys exclaimed, staring at the long thin cut that was now gracing my finger. Blood beaded faster than any paper cut should and that's when I decided today was just not my day.
I stood from my chair, swung my bag over my shoulder, and stomped out of the room. Every eye was on me but I didn't care. I only saw red as I stalked into the hallway. I couldn't help but slam the door shut on the whispering and giggling that followed.
The corridors were almost completely empty as I made my way to the infirmary, holding my injured finger and wishing I just hadn't woken up at all. On the first corner I turned there was a boy that must've been in my year sitting in front of the Battle of Hogwarts Memorial. He had his head between his knees and was running his hands through his dark hair, making it stick up everywhere. He just barely glanced at me as I passed and we made the kind of eye contact that people make when they're both in a shitty situation and they seem to just get each other.
The next hallway was empty and the echoes of teachers lecturing and students chatting made me feel like I was underwater. It was both creepy and pleasing at the same time. I was about to slow down and enjoy being out of class for once until I looked down at my hand and saw a puddle of blood that was slowly becoming a lake of blood. I walked just a little bit faster.
When I finally got to the infirmary I was surprised to find it empty. Or nearly empty because at the far end of the room was someone I really didn't want to see, sitting on one of the beds with his head bowed.
"Are you kidding me right now?" I muttered, quiet enough that Draco Malfoy couldn't hear me complaining about him. His back was turned to me and for a split second I thought I might be able to get in and out without him noticing but the big oak doors behind me closed in a very loud manner and suddenly I wasn't hidden anymore.
"Is Madam Pomfrey here?" I asked, ignoring the blank look that crossed over Malfoy's face when he realized it was me. He didn't look very sick or at least he didn't look any paler than usual. Why was he even here then?
"She went to talk with McGonagall." He answered in a monotone. "She'll be back soon."
"I hate to say this but it's kind of urgent." There was a lot of blood now. If there was a world record for world's worst paper cut I would win by a landslide. When Malfoy saw my finger his eyes widened only a bit before he nodded to himself and went into Madam Pomfrey's office.
I heard rummaging and something fall to the ground before he came back, several items in his hands. I sat on the edge of one of the freshly made beds and watched as he spread out the supplies on one of the rolling tables.
He ripped a piece of paper towel from a roll and wet it in a sink nearby. He stood before me and hesitated for a moment before handing the towel to me. I gingerly wiped the blood from my hands, watching out of the corner of my eye as Malfoy cut up gauze and ripped open Neosporin packets. He caught me staring and I thought I saw his lips twitch upwards for a half a second.
"This is the only muggle thing I'm good at." He said quietly, holding the Neosporin awkwardly in his hand. I put out my hand before things could get any weirder and let him cover the cut in the cold substance. It stung for a second but I refused to make a sound. Not with Draco Malfoy in the room.
It only took a minute for him to carefully wrap my finger with gauze and tape it so that it would stay. He did it all without a change in his cold composure and I was beginning to marvel at how well he could keep a straight face. I didn't let myself say anything until he was a good distance away.
"Why are you here?" I asked, watching him clear up the supplies he had pulled out. I thought he hadn't heard me at first because he didn't say anything but when he did I could see a crack in his disguise.
"Nightmares. I keep waking people up." He had a weird look on his face. Something I had never seen before. It looked a bit like shame. Who knew the infamous Draco Malfoy could feel such a thing? He tugged nervously at his sleeves.
"I get them too." I said as quietly as possible, not liking the way the words stuck to my tongue.
He sat down on the bed across from mine and laced his fingers together like he was in deep thought. I could see no trace of the snotty boy that had bullied everyone around him for so long. It was like staring at a completely different person. For once there was no gleam of greed or arrogance in his eyes. They were tired and sad and scared.
"Pomfrey is asking McGonagall for advice about if I should be in school or not. My grades are getting better but my health...isn't. The problem is I'm not sure if being at home would do me anymore good than Hogwarts is." This was all said in one breath, like a confession of some sorts. I had never heard that many words come out of his mouth at once and it was almost terrifying. I felt like anything I said could break him into little pieces. He looked up at me with a sort of shocked look on his face. "I don't know why I told you that."
"Do you want to stay?" I asked, ignoring his last statement. I was curious now. When did Draco Malfoy become nice?
"I think so." He looked at me like he was the one who had asked the question. "I want to be better." He said it like a question and I wasn't sure if he meant his health or his personality. "I just need to figure out how."
"That's easy." I blurted in a matter of fact way, forgetting who I was talking to. Malfoy raised his blonde eyebrows and I figured it was go big or go home.
"The best way to get better is to change in some way and the best way to change is my making new rules for yourself." I continued.
"What do you mean? What rules?"
"The rules that you play by from day to day. Like say for example every morning you eat cereal for breakfast. Change the rules by eating toast instead."
"What does toast have to do with anything?" He said it in a pompous way, like he hadn't asked in the first place but for some reason that made me want to prove him wrong even more.
"You have to start somewhere." I shrugged. "You begin with toast and make your way up to how you talk to people and how you present yourself. It's like giving yourself a total makeover."
"Isn't that one of those things you aren't supposed to do? Change? What happened to being yourself?" He seemed to be grasping the concept but it scared him and I knew it.
"You don't want to be yourself though right? You said you want to be better so this is how you get there. Sometimes being yourself hurts people and I think you know that well enough."
Malfoy was quiet for a second, processing what I said. My finger throbbed and I felt like crap but somehow things seemed to be turning up and I couldn't explain why. I was still trying to decide if giving Malfoy a pep talk in the empty infirmary was a good thing in the first place.
"Let me think about it." He answered after a few minutes, looking unsure but less troubled. I nodded, holding back a smile before standing up and slinging my bag over my shoulder.
"I should get back to class." I said, checking the clock on the wall. "Good luck with your nightmares."
"You too. If this new crap she gives me works I'll let you know."
And with that I left the infirmary feeling like the world's worst paper cut just made my shitty day better. Maybe Draco Malfoy wasn't all that bad. Like Wes said, people aren't always what you make them out to be. Sometimes you just have to bend the rules for them.