Chapter 9

Hermione woke up in the hospital wing flanked by Ron and Harry. They looked down on her with dark-circled eyes and nervous, pinched expressions. Between the two of them, Ron looked worse, she thought.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, sounding like he feared that Malfoy had done the worst possible thing.

"What happened?" Hermione and Harry asked at the same time.

"I'm fine, Ron. Where am I?" Hermione asked, not ready to answer Harry's question.

"You're in the hospital wing, Hermione…" Ron said slowly, as though scared she wouldn't understand him.

"So I am," she muttered, looking around. "Well? How did I get here?" Harry and Ron looked at each other.

"We, er, found you in a wardrobe with Malfoy after we thought you were a boggart you were passed out neither of you were wearing robes he was on top of you his fingers were bloody his face was scratched, and you looked beaten." Harry said all of this very quickly and without pause for breath. He was unsure of which parts she needed filling in on.

Hermione stared at him, aghast. Then, surprising both of them, she began to giggle as she pieced together what had happened.

"Oh, I see." She noticed their expressions and stopped, realizing what they must think. "No, no! Nothing like that happened! It was all a big misunderstanding."

"Is she...hysterical, Harry?" Ron asked uncertainly.

"Of course I'm not," Hermione said briskly. "We were serving detention in Madame Nork's office when Peeves locked us in a closet. Both of us were overheating so we took our robes off."

"You stripped for Malfoy?" the redhead asked, incredulous.

"No, Ron, absolutely not. It was pitch black in there, and I was wearing something underneath."

"Like your knickers?"

"No! Well, yes, but I had my school uniform on top of that. And like I said, you couldn't see anything anyway."

Harry wanted to hear the rest of the story, so he gave Ron a quelling look. Ron muttered a bit to himself, but fell silent.

"And then what happened?" Harry asked, after it was apparent that Ron wasn't going to interrupt any more.

"As I was saying-" Hermione glared at both of them, "After that he insulted me, so I scratched him." Looking back on it, she realized this might have been rather rash of her. "He hit me back a little harder than he meant to, I guess, and my head knocked against the side of the wall." At this both boys looked ready to hunt the Slytherin down. "Malfoy actually seemed kind of concerned though, because then he turned me around and tried to find where the blood was coming from in the back of my head." Ron was confused.

"There was blood on your head?" he asked, wondering where that had come from.

"Yes, from when I banged my head on the wall. Anyways, I guess that was where the blood on his fingers came from. He was just touching and feeling around to make sure I was okay."

"He was WHAT!" Harry and Ron chorused, horrified.

"The back of my head, it was too dark to see so he had to feel the back of my head. Honestly." Hermione closed her eyes, trying to figure the rest out. "Then I passed out, so he must have moved me around into a different position. Then when the door opened he accidentally fell on top of me."

"Accidentally, right," Ron muttered. Harry elbowed him in the ribs, and Ron stopped talking as he rubbed his sore chest.

"Then, hmm." Hermione bit her lower lip. "Boggart…Oh, Madame Nork came in and said she would let us out next class. We thought she was just being evil, but she must have thought we were a boggart, banging around like that. So, what happened after we fell out?" she prodded, curious.

Harry shrugged. "We tried to get rid of the 'boggart'. People thought it was Ron's worst fear, you see, you getting raped by Malfoy." Hermione shuddered at the thought. "And then the teacher tried, and Malfoy said she wasn't a very good teacher." Again Hermione started laughing, but quickly stopped when she saw the expressions on her friend's faces.

"Sorry, go on."

"Well, that's about it. After Nork ran from the room Harry figured out that you were real, since no one could get you to turn into their fears. So we brought you to the hospital wing with Malfoy, who had passed out after he made some rude joke."

Madame Pomfrey bustled in, noticing Hermione was awake. "You two, out!" she ordered. Harry and Ron didn't complain since they had found out what happened, and knew Hermione was all right, so they waved goodbye and left. The matron gave Hermione an evil looking potion which Hermione downed as quickly as she could.

Madame Pomfrey left, and Hermione was left with no one to talk to. Draco was in the bed next to her, but it looked like he was still unconscious. She was proved wrong, however, when he opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Staring at me, Granger?"

"You wish, Malfoy."

"Not quite. I got enough of you last night to last me a lifetime, thank you very much."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked sharply. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Calm down. I just meant that you passed out on me and stayed that way for many uncomfortable hours. Not my choice way of spending an evening, let me tell you. I might need to burn my clothes now; they're so soaked with Mudblood-ness."

"Can't tell me you didn't enjoy it." Hermione winked sarcastically as she lay back, massaging a kink in the back of her neck.

"At least it wasn't Crabbe or Pansy, I'll give you that."

Hermione was taken aback at the phrase that might have been a compliment. "I thought you were going out with Pansy?" Draco shook his head vehemently.

"Not anymore. Simpering sycophant," he added for good measure.

"Stop insulting her, otherwise there's nothing for me to do."

"You know, Granger, you aren't that bad to talk to when you're in a hospital bed with none of your friends around you."

"Don't get any ideas, Malfoy."

"With my pure, innocent mind? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't make me laugh," Hermione said. Draco shrugged, then winced.

"Children…" Madame Pomfrey had returned. "You need rest!"

Draco closed his eyes and looked away from Hermione, who followed suit. She thought she heard him laugh. The matron left for her office, and they sat up again. "Actually, Granger, I should stop wasting my breath on you." He lay down and, to all appearances, went to sleep.

"The pleasure's all mine," Hermione muttered.

Draco gave a loud, unconvincing snore. She sighed and closed her eyes.