Chapter 14: In the Hospital Wing
"I'll kill him!" Moira said viciously, pacing around Dumbledore's study. Snape was recounting the story of Harry and Draco's duel and after this last statement Dumbledore was staring, shocked at Moira. She stopped pacing and unintentionally glared at him. "You know what I mean." Snape ignored her and continued the story now talking about some book and his suspicions about Potter. Moira wasn't listening, but fuming instead. "I mean...who does that? Who experiments with spells like that on anyone but a test dummy? Professor Dumbledore, I think something's wrong with your boy."
"Moira," Dumbledore said, trying to be serene but Moira ignored his tone, "Why don't you go and see to Draco? He'll be glad to see you. This only happened an hour or two ago. He's still in the hospital wing."
"You sound like Voldemort," she muttered, thinking of how Tom had tried to kick her out for his 'man's conversation' with Draco. Dumbledore seemed not to care about the insulting comparison; he knew she didn't truly mean it but Snape snapped at her. "You aren't helping. In fact you're distracting. Go." She turned aggressively to him. Who was he to tell her what to do? He had formerly been her teacher, and she had been good in his class, but she had been out of school for several years now. She had been about to tell him where he could go when Dumbledore spoke.
"Go see your friend," the Headmaster said gently to her. Her anger deflated immediately at those words, like helium being let out of a balloon. Why was she arguing with them? Why was she fuming about Potter? She should have been going to see Draco the minute she had learned of his injuries. Damn her pride. Why waste her time here in a battle of wills against Snape when she should be in the hospital wing. She gave Dumbledore one quick 'see you later' glance and left the room.
As she hurried down the spiral staircase, she put her Disillusionment Charm back on and when her feet hit the solid stone floor at the bottom of the stairs, she tore off in the direction of the hospital wing. The doors were open which was convenient for her as it would have been awkward for the doors to suddenly open of their own accord. She saw there was one bed with the hangings drawn around it and knew they were concealing Draco. She waited until the nurse was out of sight before pushing them back a bit, slipping past them, and closing them again.
Draco was not looking in her direction when she entered, and he appeared groggy and bleary eyed as he looked at her. He blinked several times trying to clear his vision as she sat beside him on the side of the bed. "How are you?" she asked after putting a spell on the surrounding area to prevent the nurse hearing Draco talking to...well no one as far as the nurse would tell, "You look like hell." He was still paler than usual and the curse seemed to have made it difficult for the gashes to heal. She could still see the mark on his cheek.
"That's about right," he said and actually managed a small smile. "I'll be alright." He paused, seeming unsure if he wanted to continue or not. He bit his lower lip, looking almost nervous, then said, "You're not going to leave again are you?"
She was stunned. He was genuinely nervous to ask her that and seemed apprehensive of her answer. It was several seconds before she spoke. "Look I'm sorry. I was off, trying to figure out a way to make that damn cabinet work-," This was perfectly true. She had thought a long time ago that she knew what the cabinet needed, but she had been wrong, twice now, and it was driving her mad.
"I know," he said, cutting across her, "but you'll stay here with me until she lets me go?"
Moira nodded. "Of course." He actually gave her a real smile at that and she laughed a little, and looked down. "Want me to kick his arse for you? 'Cause I will."
Draco laughed too, knowing her and her temper well enough to know that she would. "I think Professor Snape took care of it already. I heard Potter's got detention until the end of term. He'll miss the Quidditch match on Saturday."
"That'll teach him to use Dark Magic."
"Says a Death Eater," Draco joked.
She gave him a mock glare and said, "Just because you're wrapped up like a mummy from your chest to your waste does not mean I won't hit you." He rolled his eyes. Of course she'd say that.
"What am I supposed to say? You are, however unwilling. Like me."
"Ah! Shut up!" She whacked out at his arm but he blocked her and they had a sort of childish cat fight, both laughing.
"You're gonna scratch me with your long pretty fingernails!" he said and she immediately stopped their fight to look at her nails.
"What are you on about?" she asked, "I don't have long nails. Ow! No fair!" He had whacked her hand as she looked at it.
"The hell it's not fair!" He was smiling and trying to sit up so he could play both offense and defense from a better angle.
"Mr. Malfoy?" said Madame Pomfrey from the other side of the curtain.
"Ssh!" Moira said. She seized both his wrists and pinned him down, silently removing the spell she had used earlier. As the nurse pulled back the curtains Moira stopped pressing so hard on Draco's wrists, lest it look strange, like he was pressing his hands into the mattress.
Draco took the opportunity to sit up and Moira gave him a stern look. "I'll need you to take this." Madame Pomfrey handed him a small goblet of clear liquid. "It's the same as before. I'm going to keep you overnight, give you another dose of that in the morning and see how you are." Draco nodded. "Drink that before you go to sleep," she reminded him, "Goodnight." She turned and left, drawing the hangings closed behind her.
Moira immediately replaced the Muffliato spell from before. Draco sniffed the smoking goblet and asked her, "You can drink this stuff?"
She nodded. "I don't expect it'll taste very good and if I were here I'd have stayed here to make sure you drink it. There's a spell you can put on it so when you drink it it'll sort of get absorbed into your blood. It's for when the wounds are fully closed up like your are now but when you know there's still damage, or there could still be damage deeper than you can see. Hold your nose and drink it." He looked from her to the little goblet in his hand, then pinched his nose and tipped the contents of the container into his mouth. He coughed and shuddered and Moira took the vial from him and set it on his nightstand. She grinned at him. "I told you."
"I didn't volunteer to drink it," he defended himself. Their playful banter escalated into playful striking within minutes, and that lasted for quite some time. Moira eventually caught Draco's wrists and held them fast. He twisted away from her but she held on and moved closer to him, preventing him from using his shoulders to help free himself. "Not fair!" He said, trying to push her, but she had gravity and years of training as a beater on her side. "Change of topic?" he suggested.
She laughed and let him go, sitting back again. "Tired?" she asked him, after a minute or two of sitting there silently. He looked it, and he blinked sleepily at her before answering.
"A little."
"Me too." She looked over at the space next to Draco's nightstand and the faint image of a large squishy chair appeared there. Draco watched curiously as the image became sharper and more real. Finally, Moira stood up and sat down on the chair, sinking comfortably into the leather cushion. Draco smiled at her as she pulled a lever to make the chair recline.
"I didn't mean you actually had to stay here, in the hospital wing with me. You can go sleep somewhere more comfortable if you want to."
"Do you see this chair? It's amazing, plus, I said I'd stay." She gave him a slight smile, which he returned. Something changed in her eyes and her smile faltered. Draco wondered what it was but before he could ask her, she spoke. "Moaning Myrtle was with you. She never leaves her bathroom. Why was she there?"
"Change of scenery?" Draco suggested, not really wanting to admit that he had been panicking again. She looked at him.
"If that's the kind of change in scenery she wanted there must be a whole lot more to her than I ever knew about." His eyes widened as he understood what she meant.
"Moira!" he said, sounding halfway between disgust and laughter, "that wasn't what I meant. She was talking to me." She gave him a 'go on' look, seeming to know where this was going. He took a deep breath and looked up at the dark ceiling. "She was offering to help." Moira looked concerned and spoke before he could continue.
"Look. We've talked about this. We're gonna be fine. You don't need to panic and consider accepting help from slightly sadistic perverted ghosts." She leaned forward and took his hand, lacing their fingers together and holding on tightly. "We're gonna be fine," she repeated. He was looking at her hand and even though she knew he had been, he didn't appear to be listening to a word she had said. "Go to sleep ok? You'll be better in the morning." she said after a pause.
"Thanks," Draco replied. She knew what he meant even if his thanks had been rather ambiguous. He turned onto his side and slept facing her and neither of them made a movement to disentangle their fingers.
Disclaimer: Don't own.
AN: If you missed my updates I'm sorry but I'll just say that I had a fantastic time sailing and swimming around on three different reefs on my vacation. I'm pretty amazingly sunburnt but it's progressed to the itchy stage now so ...yeah. If ever you go swimming on the reef, avoid the moon jellyfish. They are nasty little bastards who sting you for no reason. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. No, Moira wouldn't actually kill Harry. She's just mad at him and face it, who wasn't mad at him when they heard this had happened? There are two more in this story. Let me know if you want me to post a sequel. :)