BRINGING HOPE TO HOGWARTS

This is my first EVER fanfic, guys! Please R&R, it'd really help an aspiring writer!

DISCLAMER; Harry Potter is copyright JK Rowling, all rights reserved. I do not own Harry Potter or any of the trademarks associated, no profit is being made from this piece of Fanfiction.

Chapter Eleven – Not Well

"Hey, Meena, this was given to me by a third year today." Draco said, plopping himself down on the sofa next to her arm chair.

She unravelled the scroll and read the short note. "What is it?" He asked when she tucked it into her pocket.

"Another invitation from Slughorn. Hey Blaise!" She called softly across the room to the desks where Blaise was sat with a pretty fifth year girl.

"Yeah?" He called back.

"You got one of these?" she asked, holding it out for him to see.

"Yeah, you coming?"

"I'll go if you go?"

"Alright then, that's settled." He said, and he turned his attention back to the girl he was with.

"Ohh fantastic, Meena, we can get some new clothes for you tomorrow in Hogsmede." Daphne said from across the small table between their circle of chairs.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" Meena asked.

"Oh nothing, but you wear that purple jacket every day, you need to mix it up a bit."

"But i like my jacket, its comfy." Meena complained.

"Please? Let us help you chose one new item for you?"

"Oh fine, but just one." Meena warned.

"I promise." Daphne smiled brightly.

The next day in Hogsmede, Meena was rather grumpy. Daphne and Millie had dragged her to a seemingly endless amount of clothes shops, claiming that Meena never gave them a limit to how many shops they could go into, just how much she could buy.

Meena grumbled and moaned, but it seemed nothing could break their spirit, as they held item after item against Meena, either shaking their head and throwing it away or smiling viciously, only to have Meena throw it away.

"Oh come on, Meena, not everything you wear can be black." Millie moaned.

"This isn't black," Meena protested, "Its grey."

In the end, Meena settled on something grey with apple-green embroidery. It was a sort of elongated waistcoat, that reached mid-way down her thighs and it had big, shiny black buttons down the front and an apple green collar that dipped low on her chest, and it was sleeveless.

"You'll be able to wear it like a dress." Daphne had said when Meena had slipped it over her long-sleeved shirt in the shop that was called Feminine Fancies, selling everything from pretty summer dresses to formal grieving robes. Meena thought Daphne had lost her mind if she thought Meena would ever wear something so short as a dress.

Meena stood outside the changing rooms whilst Daphne and Millie tried on clothes in the next woman's' clothes shop. Once they were inside and she knew they would be partially clothed, she called over the curtains;

"Oh Girls, i just remembered! I have to go pick up a book! I'll see you later at the Three Broomsticks, okay?"

"Ohh really?" Came Daphne's disappointed voice. "Well okay, be careful not to slip on the ice!"

"Will do!"

Meena left the shop, carrying her bag from Feminine Fancies rather begrudgingly. She didn't have to pick up a book, she had just never liked clothes shopping, and so she wandered the streets of Hogsmede aimlessly, looking in windows and popping into some of the smaller shops the boys hadn't taken her to on their last visit.

She was just turning down an alley when she collided with someone who was moving rather quickly and, slipping on the ice, they both fell sprawling to the ground, Meena landing painfully on her side, her companions knee hitting her thigh savagely.

"Bollocks." Meena mumbled to the ground.

"Oh man, i'm so sorry." The other person – a male student, Meena decided- said, standing up and brushing himself off.

"S'alright." Meena said, heaving herself up onto her knees.

"Here, let me help you up." A lightly tanned hand emerged into her vision, and she held onto it as they lightly and easily pulled her up.

"Thank you. Potter! Hello, thanks." She said, brushing ice and snow off of her jacket.

"Hope, hi. Sorry for running into you like that." He smiled sheepishly. "I hope i didn't hurt you too bad."

"Nothing i can't handle." She smiled back. "Where were you going in such a hurry anyway?"

He rolled his eyes. "Urgh, i slipped away from Hermione and Ron."

"Granger and Weasley?" she asked.

"Yeah, i swear, the only people who don't know they're in a relationship is themselves." He grimaced. "It's becoming unbearable." He explained.

"You have my sympathies." Meena chuckled. "Though i had hoped Granger would have had better taste in partner material."

He chuckled uncertainly. "Sorry, that was rude." Meena apologised.

"Nah, i understand." He said with a flippant wave of his hand. "Ron's just being an ass about you, he spends every Herbology lesson mumbling to us about how you and Nott are going to one day try and curse Ernie and Neville."

"Oh heavens no! I think Ernie and Neville are brilliant! Very clever people, and interesting too."

"And yet Ron will be Ron." He concluded with a shrug. "Anyway, what about you? Why're you alone?"

"Oh, i was hiding." Meena said. At his confused look, she held up her shopping bag. "The girls in my dorm roped me into clothes shopping. I hate clothes shopping. Where were you headed?"

"I didn't really have a direction, i just wanted to get away really." He replied.

"Well, feel free to say no if i'm being a bit rash, but would you care to join me for a drink?"

He grimaced. "You're not asking me to Madam Puddifoots, are you?"

"That horribly pink and frilly teashop down on Witches Walk?" He nodded. "Uhm, no, i was thinking more of a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?"

He smiled. "Sounds much better."

They walked to the Three Broomsticks together, Meena slipping once but Potter quickly catching her elbow, which made her grimace, but she thanked him anyway.

Once inside, Potter spotted an empty table. He gave a Sickle to Meena and she headed off to the bar, ordering two warm butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta, and heading trough the crowds to the secluded table at the back of the pub Potter had chosen.

Sitting beside him at the table, Meena handed him back his fourteen Knuts' change. He frowned at her hand.

"How did you get that?" he asked curiously.

Meena looked down at the scar that ran long her palm, and wondered a moment how to answer, but he spoke once more.

"Sorry," He said, face slightly flushed. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"Thank you, i'd rather not."

"Its fine. I of all people can understand."

"Indeed." Meena said and took a sip of her butterbeer, sighing as the smooth creamy liquid warmed her up from the inside.

"Merlin i love this stuff." Potter commentated, sipping from his own drink.

"Me too." She looked at him and chuckled.

"What?" he asked.

"You've got foam." She smiled, indicating her upper lip.

"Oh." He said before hurriedly wiping it off with his sleeve.

"So, Potter-"

"Harry."

"What?"

"Harry, please call me Harry. I'll still call you Hope, if you like, i understand most Slytherins use last names but just please don't call me Potter. The only people who call me 'Potter' are either teachers, Ministry officials or assholes."

"Right, okay, er, Harry. You can call me Meena if you like, i'm not weird about names like some. Anyway, are you looking forward to our game next week?"

"Hey you made the team?" He asked smiling, and she nodded happily. "Well done! I'd wish you good luck for your first game, but well, that'd be counter-productive for me." He smiled crookedly.

"I understand the sentiment." She laughed.

They continued to talk Quidditch all through their drinks and then some, until Weasley and Grenger walked through the door, snow caught in their hair and their cheeks flushed. Their eyes searched the room and they landed upon Harry, and they smiled, then Weasley frowned when he saw who Harry was sitting with. He turned to whisper quickly to Granger.

"Uh, i'd better go." Meena said back at the table.

"Oh no, don't, honestly, Ron's just being a prejudiced prat, but he doesn't know you." Harry protested.

Meena looked up at the unhappy face of Weasley, being dragged to the table by Granger, and she stood up.

"Honestly, its fine. I'll go find my house-mates."

"I'm sorry." Harry apologised.

"Don't worry about it, thanks for your company. I'll see you around, Harry."

"See you, Meena." He said.

Meena headed for the door, passing Granger and Weasley with a pleasant, "Granger, Weasley." And an inclination of her head, and getting a "Hullo, Hope." from Granger in return and a rather rude "Go away" from Weasley.

Meena could hear the repercussions of that all the way to the door.

She found the boys of Slytherin in the book store.

"Thought we were meeting you girls in the Broomticks?" Theo asked.

"Change of plan." Meena shrugged. She looked around. "Where is Draco?"

"Transfiguration detention." Blaise supplied.

"I told him to do his essay sooner rather than later." Meena rolled her eyes.

Meena, Blaise, Theo, Greg and Vince casually wandered around Hogsmede, the boys showing her the few shops they had yet to point out in their previous visit, like the writing and art supplies shop, the florist ("Very busy near Valentine's day."), and a multitude of shops selling old used items from furniture to wands.

"Annnd...that's pretty much everything, apart from the residential streets, of course." Theo said, turning on the spot to face Meena.

"Okay." She looked up at the sky that was a dull grey. "Shall we head to The Three Broomsticks? I think it's going to snow in a minute."

"Haven't you already been today?" Blaise asked curiously.

Meena shrugged. "I wouldn't say no to another butterbeer." She said as she shivered from the chill.

At the Three Broomsticks, they met up with all three girls – Pansy boasting about the shops she had visited whilst Daphne and Millie were with Meena – and they got some drinks and enjoyed the warm atmosphere of the pub, before having to leave before it got too dark.

"It's the beginning of winter, Scotland, and it's snowing, of course it'll be getting dark by mid-afternoon." Blaise explained.

"But it's always winter in Hogsmede!" Pansy complained.

"I think it'll be snowing up at the castle," Meena said, pulling her cloak tight about her against the wind chill. "I think it's set in for good now."

And sure enough, the snow didn't turn into sleet and then eventually rain like it normally did as they wandered up the track to Hogwarts, instead it remained snowing in thick flurries.

"Thank Merlin for these trees, otherwise we'd be frozen by the time we reach school." Millie stated as she observed the think evergreen trees either side of the track.

"I've never figured it out, does this track lead through the Forbidden Forest?" Greg asked from the back of the group.

"No," Blaise said, slipping slightly, but righting himself before he fell, with a grace most people could only be envious of. "The trees to the left dwindle off into mountains. The ones on the right flank the school and curve round the lake. We're on the opposite side of the castle to the Forbidden Forest, it stretches back for miles."

"Yeah well, at least the snow doesn't really fall too well down here." Vince said, looking up at small strip of sky above them, and how most of the snow got caught in the high branches of the trees.

"Greg, Vince, stop staring, if you hurry up we should be back just in time for the Hall to start serving dinner." Daphne called from a little way in front.

The idea of food made Greg and Vince practically run up to the castle.

The next day saw Meena, Blaise, Greg and Vince have their last Quidditch practice before the Gryffindor – Slytherin match the following week, so they were down on the pitch early, playing in the freezing treacherous conditions; the wind was so strong it threatened to pull them off their brooms, the snow was continuing to fall heavily, the wind whipping it up into a full blown blizzard, making visibility so poor it was a feat to see the other players, let alone the Bludgers that continuously tried to knock them from their brooms.

Overall, by the time practice was over, they were in such foul moods even Greg and Vince skipped going up to the hall for lunch, instead following Meena and Blaise to the common room to sit beside the fire and warm up.

Meena was sat right beside the fire, on the stone hearth her green and silver team robes spread about her, with her hair out of its bun and frizzing up from the heat melting the snow that had gathered there. Her fingers were numb from cold, and she joined Blaise in rubbing them together by the flames, massaging the knuckles to get her circulation once more running, and there was a bright pink flush to her otherwise pale cheeks.

It was a little while later that Draco wandered down from the dorms and slammed a copy of Most Poisonous Poisons onto the small table beside the chairs circled around the fire and slumped into a chair with a sigh.

"Afternoon, Draco."

He grunted in response, and Blaise looked affronted slightly.

"How did your detention go yesterday?" Meena tried, "We didn't see you in the Hall for tea last night."

"It was fine." Draco replied, and Blaise made a What the hell? So he'll talk to you... gesture with his arms.

"Why weren't you at dinner? Are you feeling alright?" Blaise asked.

"No, i feel awful." Draco replied, and turned his face into the firelight.

Blaise hissed through his teeth. "Ohh, yeah mate, you look awful."

A pillow bounced off of his head with quite some force from Draco's direction.

Draco did indeed look bad. His skin was waxy and his pale complexion made him look almost grey, even in the golden light from the fire. His eyes were hooded, their usual silver dimmed to a slate-grey, and bloodshot. There were slight circles under his eyes as if he'd hardly slept recently, and his hair was dishevelled, sticking out in random ways.

His usual controlled, proud demeanour was slipping.

"Do you want anything? I could go up to the hall and get some tea or sandwiches? Or a trip to the hospital wing?" Meena asked.

"A potion for headaches and nausea would be so good right now." He said, leaning forward and placing his hands in his temples.

"Okay, i'll be-"

"Sit down, Meena, i have something to say." Pansy ordered, leading Millie and Daphne over to their little group and sitting down on the arm of Draco's chair.

"Pansy, i'll hear whatever it is you want after i-"

"Shut-up, Meena, no-body cares. Anyway, guys, i have brilliant news!" Pansy almost squealed, making Draco wince and the boys just look sceptical.

Theo, who had been quietly reading a Prophet folded it up and watched Pansy expectantly, and Meena crossed her arms and glared at Pansy, but didn't argue, as she could see how every noise made Draco wince.

Meena suspected she only heard it because they were together in front of the fire, but she heard Blaise mumble "I seriously doubt it." She smirked lightly.

"A Gryffindor has been cursed!" Pansy pronounced far too excitedly.

The reactions were mixed. Millie and Daphne covered their mouths, Blaise frowned, obviously wanting more information, Greg and Vince seemed like they hadn't heard her, Draco stiffened significantly, head still in his hands, and Theo leant forward and did what Theo did best.

Studied.

"Who?" He asked.

"A seventh year, from the Quidditch team. Kathy, or Kelly or something common." She replied flippantly.

"When?"

"Yesterday, in Hogsmede."

"What was the curse?"

"That, i don't know."

Theo frowned. "What were the damages?"

Pansy shrugged. "I'm not sure, i've only heard bits and pieces. She had like, something she wanted to do, but something happened and the curse pulled her up onto the air, screaming like a banshee."

Pansy was smiling. I can't believe it, she's actually enjoying this... Meena thought wondrously.

"Is she going to be okay?" Theo asked once more.

"Who cares?" Pansy shrugged in a very conclusive manner.

"Fuck this." Meena hard Draco mumble, right before he stood up quickly, knocking Pansy almost off the side of his chair. He began to sway, his face looking even paler and stretched than it had before.

Meena jumped up from her position on the floor – which had been close to his feet - just as it seemed he was about to lose his balance and caught his elbow to steady him.

He blinked rapidly a couple of times before he seemed to control himself, before turning to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Pansy whined.

"I don't want to sit here and listen to your twisted idea of good news." He said with venom. "Besides, i don't feel well. Meena was going to go to Madame Pomfrey for me, but i think i'd rather go with her, now." He took a few steps away and instantly started to sway once more. Meena hurried forwards to hold him up.

"Thanks." He breathed.

Meena supported him through the Common Room and through the Dungeons, then once they were out, he straightened up and took a deep breath. "Thanks. I think i'll be alright on my own now."

"Only if you're sure." She said, holding out her hands lest he start to sway again.

They made their way up to the Hospital Wing very slowly, Draco sometimes leaning on walls to catch his breath.

"What is wrong, Draco?" Meena asked.

"Just a really bad headache, i think." Draco replied quietly.

They turned the last corner to the hospital wing and found a small band of teachers outside, who turned to them quickly.

"What are you two doing out?" Professor McGonagall asked tartly.

"It's Draco, Professor. He's not well." Meena explained.

Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sinistra, and a man wearing the crimson robes of the Aurors all turned their attentions to Draco, who was leaning against a wall. His skin was still pasty and he was sweating slightly. He had his eyes closed and one hand pressed to his temple.

"What's the problem, Mr Malfoy?" Flitwick asked.

Draco moved as if to reply, but turned abruptly to a large vase beside him and vomited nosily into its depths. The teachers all recoiled slightly. Draco pulled out his wand and quickly vanished away the mess.

"Nausea inducing headache, Professor." Meena explained for him, whilst he wiped a hand across his mouth.

"I see," Professor Flictwick said in his disturbingly squeaky voice. "Well, Mr Malfoy, if you would like to come with me." He said kindly, moving slowly towards Draco, holding out an arm as if to escort him.

Once again, Draco moved to lean on said arm, now looking deathly pale, but the Auror stepped forwards.

"I'm afraid that can't be aloud, Sir." He said, looking down harshly on Professor Flitwick. "This is a criminal investigation," Behind her, Draco groaned, "my team is with the girl and they mustn't be disturbed."

And with that, he placed himself firmly in front of the infirmary's closed doors.

Professor McGonagall looked furious. "This is a school catering to many children! You cannot ban access to their only reliable source of medical treatment!" she exclaimed, her Scottish accent becoming more pronounced the more she spoke.

"I can and i will. Just following orders, Professor, i'm sure you understand." The Auror replied.

"Professors! This can't be serious! I understand the situation is a dire one, but surely you can all see that my friend needs medical attention!" Meena strongly whispered, afraid to cause her friend more pain.

"Meena," Draco croaked from behind her, and she turned to look upon the sorry sight that was her friend. "It's okay, i think its passing anyway. Let's just go."

"Draco, you can't honestly expect me to believe-"

"Please." He pleaded desperately.

Draco never pleads for anything...of course, he's probably embarrassed by the situation he's in. "Of course, Draco." She said, stepping forward and offering him her arm once more, which he leant on heavily.

"Professors," Meena nodded to her teachers. "Sir." She said rather bitterly to the Auror on guard.

Meena and Draco slowly walked to the other side of the floor of the castle, and Meena sat Draco in a sun-set lit window seat.

It did appear that his illness was past; he was no longer swaying, and the light sheen of sweat that had developed on his forehead had vanished.

However, now he was staring at nothing, his face contorted in what looked vaguely like fear. His face was still pale and he was still breathing a bit odd, and he flinched violently when a door down the corridor banged in a breeze.

"Do you still have a headache?" Meena asked in soft tones.

He nodded lightly.

"Anything else?"

"I feel cold. And confused." He said. Meena looked at him and saw that he was also shaking, though they seemed the light shakes more from fatigue then from the cold.

"Did you sleep last night?" Meena asked.

He shook his head.

"And the night before?"

"A little."

Meena sighed. "Okay. Let me try something."

She turned away and softly said to the empty corridor, "Is there any house elves free?"

Three light pops filled the air, and three little house elves stood before her in tea-towels bearing the Hogwarts crest.

She sighed in relief. "Oh good, i had no idea if that would work." She then looked at the elves in turn. "Thank you for your rapid response."

"Student Mistress is too kind." Said the left-most house elf with a high, wavering voice. Meena suspected it to be female, and it had a nose not dissimilar from a pig's snout. "What can Bobbin be doing for Student Mistress?" Definitely a girl.

"I would ask you to fetch me the silver throw from the bed of one Draco Malfoy in Slytherin, whom i have here."

The little elf bowed and disappeared with a soft pop. She turned to the next house elf. "What's your name?"

This elf seemed older, and had a wheezy kind of voice. "I is being called Sunny, Student Mistress." This one is male...

"Sunny, i want you to go to the kitchens for me. Make some hot chocolate with cream, cinnamon and honey."

Sunny bowed and disappeared with a pop.

"And you?" She asked the third house elf.

"The peoples be naming me Stock." The elf said in a scratchy, high voice, like a person walking over gravel. I have no idea about this one...

"Alright, Stock. I'm going to ask you to get something for me, and i am telling you now, you are to tell no-one what it is or that i even sent you here, including the other elves, okay?"

"Stock lives to serve the Students and Professors of his Hogwarts masters."

So male, then...

"Alright. You are to go to my bed in the Slytherin girls Dormitory. Under my bed you shall find a small trunk. Within the trunk are four more boxes of varying size. Get the box made of Oakwood and bring it to me now, then return to your other duties. Come straight to me and detour to no-one, okay?"

"Stock understands, Mistress Student." And with that, be bowed and popped out of existence just as Bobbin and Sunny returned.

Meena took the throw and thanked the elf, and Bobbin popped away, and she then took the two steaming cups from Sunny, putting them on the sill beside Draco, and he too, disappeared with a small pop. Stock returned a moment later with the Oakwood box and handed it to her. She thanked him too and be bowed and left with nothing more than an echoing pop.

She then turned back to Draco, who had been watching the whole endeavour with exhausted curiosity.

"What is that?" He asked, lifting a still-shaking hand to the lid of the box.

"My crest." Meena said, and tilted the box so he could see the engraved wood of the lid; The spherical crystal ball surrounded by falling stars, and she opened the lid with a light creak from the hinges. The box itself held three more boxes, about the size of a brick each.

She pulled out one of the boxes and snapped the lid of the Oakwood box shut from Draco's wandering eyes. The box in her hand was of a smooth black enamel, the cut for the lid barely discernible from the polished surface. Meena knelt in front of Draco and put the box on the floor.

"Engorgio." Meena mumbled, and the box shone icy blue, and swelled to four, five, six times the size of its original, leaving behind a box that was about the size of a small travelling case.

She lifted the lid off and began to rifle through its contents. Bottles and jars and phials clinked as she moved them about, small, large, square, round, triangular, glass, metal, enamel and ceramic.

"What is this?" Draco asked throatily.

"My personal store." Meena mumbled, her hands moving around with determined fluid movements. "Salves, potions, herbal remedies. The odd bottle of something a wee bit stronger."

"Did you brew them?" He asked curiously.

"Most of them."

She pulled out four items and a small goblet.

Out of a glass bottle she poured a cup and handed it to Draco. He looked at it sceptically. "Drink it," She scolded, "It'll make your headache disappear."

He drank.

Next, she poured a dark liquid from an opaque jar and handed it to him. "That's a Pepper-Up potion."

He knocked it back and shook his head as steam fuzzed out of his ears.

Next, she unscrewed a small metal tin and moved to sit next to him. The salve was clear, tinted with green.

"Is that mint i smell?" Draco mumbled.

"Mmhum." Sitting next to him on the window seat, she dipped her index and middle finger of her left hand into the salve.

"Face me."

He turned his head obediently and she rubbed the salve in small, light circle on his temples, highly aware of how close they were sat and the way his eyes slid closed as her fingers traced the circles on his face.

He let out a low groan of relief. "Oh Merlin that's amazing." His voice was thick and low.

"For the nausea."

She screwed the lid back onto the salve and placed the three into the box once more. She then got a small tin out, popped the lid and held it out to him.

"Take one."

Draco picked up one of the small, white sweets and looked to her for confirmation.

"It's a mint." She chuckled lightly.

"A mint?"

"Well, vomit-tasting hot chocolate shan't be too tasty." She said, cocking an eyebrow.

He smiled and popped it on his mouth, sucking lightly.

"And that one?" He asked, cocking his head at a small bottle still on the floor.

Meena smirked wickedly and unscrewed it, pulled one of the hot chocolates towards her and added a dash. "Something a wee bit stronger." She winked and then pushed it towards him. "Drink."

He watched whilst Meena closed up her stash, re-shrunk it and placed it back in the carved Oakwood box.

"What's in the other two boxes?" Draco asked.

"Other things i don't really want people knowing about."

"And i'm okay?" He asked.

The sun was setting proper now, casting pink and gold hues through the clouds. The light surrounding them was golden, and it illuminated his hair, making it glow like spun gold. His eyes were returning from the dull from the dull slate grey back to their usual fantastic silver.

"Yeah," She smiled up at him, "You're okay."

She then got up from the floor, picking up the silver throw from where it had been levitating from Bobbin the house-elf's magic. She stood before Draco and wrapped it around his shoulders.

"Drink you're chocolate, get warm, let my remedies take hold, and then we can make our way back, before we're told off for being out late when there's a full criminal investigation going on." She said lightly, and placed herself beside him, picking up her own hot chocolate.

"It wouldn't matter, i'm a Prefect."

"Thats a good point." She said, tipping her shoulder and blowing on her chocolate and taking a sip. "Mmm, just how i like it."

Draco took a sip of his and Meena watched as his eyes widened comically. "That was Firewhisky you added?" he asked incredulously.

She chuckled. "You needed a pick-me up."

"You needn't have. You being here is just enough."

She looked at him out the corner of her eyes and smiled a little.

"I mean, you know, letting me lean on you and these potions and uh..." Draco stammered.

Meena laughed lightly. "It's okay, i know what you meant."

They finished their chocolate and placed them down on the sill, where the empty cups disappeared with a pop like that of a house elf disappearing, Meena scooped up her box, and Draco huddled the throw around his shoulders as they made their way down the corridors.

He was still looking a little pale. "How're you feeling?" Meena asked.

"I feel great. I mean, i'm still sleepy, but the only thing that would help that would be sleep." Draco shrugged. "Thank you so much."

"Anytime, Draco, i think it's absurd they closed off the entire Hospital Wing."

"Where have you two been?" asked a surly, and very recognisable, voice from behind them both.

They whipped round and Meena had to stifle a giggle at how the throw around Draco's shoulder created a fantastic arc.

Their Head of House was standing at the end of a corridor, arms folded, only visible due to the pale colour of his face. He strode towards them and stopped a few paces away. His eyes landed on the throw.

He cocked an eyebrow.

And it was the most insinuating eyebrow-movement Meena had ever known.

"Professor," Draco said, his voice wavering slightly, which Meena suspected had everything to do with the face that he too, understood the questioning behind that eyebrow. "Good evening. I was unwell, and Meena here tried taking me to the hospital wing, but we were turned away, and-"

"I know you were turned away from the infirmary, Mr Malfoy." His dark eyes swept over to Meena and back again. "I wish to know where you have been since, with a blanket, and in the presence of a young lady."

Meena blushed lightly, and looked down at her feet.

"It's not how it appears, Professor." Draco started.

"Indeed?" The Professor asked. "Well then, i would advise you to return to your common room with haste; it is almost curfew and a poor girl has been hospitalised today."

The Professor glared at Draco, and then Draco spun and, with a hurried Goodnight Professor to Snape, Meena followed him.

A/N: So i hope the thing with the House Elves was okay! I always imagined they received orders from Dumbledore, but the students of the school were sort of like sub-masters, and they had to follow their orders too.

So i hope that wasn't too unbelievable for you.