Hello! Welcome to the twelfth chapter.
Firstly, I'd like to clear up any misunderstandings about the changes of time in this fanfiction. All text in italics is in the past. All normal text is in the present. I apologise that some of the recent past text hasn't been in italics, but it was in italics in the doc manager, just not on the actual story pages (don't ask me why because I have no idea.) I was just too lazy to check until Nizuna Fujieda pointed it out for me, thanks for that.
Secondly, I just like to say that I hope Draco isn't too OOC in this chapter. It is hard to make him likeable, normal and macho enough all at the same time. This chapter is not a filler! Yes, I know it is short compared to the latest ones, but it is a build up to Draco's and Rae's relationship, as well as the disastrous and horrible occurrences that will happen in the next chapter. I will try my hardest to make it as realistic and horrendous as it would be in real life. So I say here now and I will say at the start of the next chapter, it will contain mild, err, gore/dark/whatever. I don't know what to call it, but I hope you readers will find it good.
Lastly, I apologise for the lateness of this chapter, but it was only because I lost my prime writing time because my laptop charger went bust. The next chapter will be faster and longer. Thank you.
The whiteness of the school hospital did nothing to soothe Rae's headache when she woke. It seemed that the more she slept, the worse she felt, which was completely unfair in her opinion.
Madam Pomfrey shuffled in. "Are you feeling any better dear?" She asked. Rae grumbled, feeling the headache grow larger. Madam Pomfrey frowned, putting her hand on Rae's forehead and sucking in her breath. "That's a nasty temperature you have there, I think you better stay."
Rae put her hand up to shield her eyes. "What time is it?" Her voice sounded hoarse.
Madam Pomfrey stopped smoothing down the bed sheets to glance at the clock. "It's just before dinner; I'll get something to eat if you think you can stomach it."
Rae nodded, but stopped short when it sent her sight spiralling in all directions. She covered her eyes with her arm. "That would be great, thank you Madam Pomfrey."
She made sure a sick bowl was near Rae's bed before wandering off to get some food. Rae struggled not to fall asleep again, not wanting to have any more weird dreams about the past. They could only get worse anyway. A creak sounded from the door and Draco Malfoy's voice erupted into the room.
"Crabbe! Crabbe! Where are you?" He shouted. Rae would have smacked herself for her bad luck, if she had the strength. This was the last thing she wanted. The grumbles of other patients could be heard around the room and Draco went round, ripping open the curtains of each segment to look for his friend. Rae managed to pull herself up into a sitting position and smooth her covers over her stomach before he came barging in. He paused looking at her and then around the room, as if he wasn't quite sure what to do.
"Your friend is probably not in the hospital, Malfoy. He's probably hiding from you, too." She told him.
"Very funny." He scowled. "What are you doing in here anyway?"
Rae frowned and glared at him at the same time, her face screwing up in an ugly fashion. "If I'm in the school hospital that means I'm not well. You're such a dimwit! And do you think it's acceptable to run around in such a place, shouting at the top of your lungs!"
He frowned back at her. "Why on earth are you getting so angry? If I thought this, err, alliance would let you shout at me, I would have never agreed in the first place."
Rae groaned, deciding that she wasn't going to participate in this conversation properly anymore. She pushed herself back down under the covers. "That's because you're bigheaded. What do want anyway?" She mumbled, closing her eyes and pretending that he wasn't there anymore. There was a gap void of noise and she thought that he had gone away. She opened her eyes but immediately regretted it. Malfoy had gone round her bed and stuffed his face into her personal space. She was now staring directly into a pair of grey eyes.
Slightly disturbed, Rae drew back sharply. "No, seriously, what do you want?" She asked, annoyed that her heart had skipped a beat.
"I just wanted to see if the girl who set me on fire really is in a weak state."
"Huh, so what did you find out?"
"You look positively horrible." He said, smirking.
Rae growled at him. "Shut up and go annoy someone else. Someone less ill."
"Ah, but you're the only one in this school who has the guts to give me backchat. Potter used to be fun to annoy, but he gets angry a lot lately and I'd rather not have to have another fight. I suppose you'll have to entertain me for today."
In the midst of his talking, Rae had grabbed the emergency red button positioned on her bedside table and had been pushing it repeatedly, only half acknowledging the fact that no one was going to come because Madam Pomfrey was out.
"What are you doing?" He asked while you shouted over the top of him.
"Madam Pomfrey! Madam Pomfrey! Someone! There is a loud and obnoxious boy in my room and I want him to go away." She called, as loud as she could with her weak voice, which spluttered and died at the end of her sentence. Draco took this as a chance to irritate her further.
"I mean, I don't prefer annoying Potter to you or anything." He said, genuinely concerned that she might be hurt by what he just said. She had a hard time trying to figure out whether he was being serious or just taking the piss out of her. She grabbed a glass of water and gulped it down, hoping it would restore some of her voice.
"And I can't annoy a girl too much, can I? Not that you count as a girl..." Draco continued, oblivious to everything apart from himself.
"Get lost, Draco." Rae croaked, wondering why she had to live with such frustrating people.
"Huh? What was that?"
"I said get lost!" Rae cried as loud as she could, throwing the empty glass at him. He dodged and it slid over the floor and smashed at the other end of the room. Draco scowled.
"Okay, okay, I'll go, calm down. You are ill after all, shouting isn't going to help."
He was doing this on purpose, she knew it. The bad thing was that he was good at it, very good at it. He left the hospital much more quietly than he came in and Rae's tiredness overwhelmed her again. Madam Pomfrey arrived with dinner for the students and Rae ate as much as she could but ended up throwing most of it up in the bucket next to her. After that, she began to feel better, assuming that the flu or bug, whatever it was, had gone away. She couldn't, however, get rid of her sleepiness. In fact, it increased every second and she found herself slipping into yet another deep sleep.
Her hangover was disastrous, so much so that she decided to skip another day of school. She had planned to go to classes as usual, unlike the other girls in the council, but had been smothered by peer pressure, something she was still hesitant to admit. She found herself making up for it at night, studying until the small hours of the morning. She didn't know if it was the stress or lack of sleep, but she had found herself eating more than twice the amount she usually did. Even more than Maria, and she likes to eat. At least Gwen seemed to be in a similar state to she was. The again Gwen always ate like a pig and she drank even more than Rae did. Much, much more.
To make matters worse, Lene had moved this week's meeting forward to tomorrow and Rae could already feel the veins in her temples pulsing. She had to be thankful that she made some progress with Leo early, so she didn't have to go in empty handed. Amelia had said something about how it was because of her first favour that the meeting had been moved forward, but she had been mumbling so much that Rae couldn't really understand her.
Actually, Amelia was worrying Rae a great deal. It didn't help that they hardly saw each other, being in completely different classes, not that they attended much. Rae had no idea where she hung out and who she was friends with. If Amelia was strong, like Gwen or Maria, she wouldn't have to fuss so much.
A commotion down the corridor brought her out of her thoughts. A girl with black, spiky, tied up hair ran past her, nearly knocking her over. She tripped over her own feet after reeling, realising that she'd knocked into a council member, and was sent sprawling over the floor. A group of very solemn looking bronze council members, led by a shaking Amelia, came marching down the corridor at a fast pace. The fallen girl tried to scramble up, but a bronze member grabbed her by her collar and pulled her backwards.
"Jane Minieve, for rebelling against the council you will be taken and locked in the council prison until your judgement time, nine o'clock tomorrow." One member said in a monotonous voice.
The screeches of the girl could be heard throughout the school as they dragged her by her arms and hair to wherever the 'prison' was. Amelia didn't look Rae in the eyes; she didn't even look her in the face. Rae had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to for a while, and for the first time, she realised what she'd gotten herself into, and she felt truly and utterly afraid.
