La Vie Comme Un Infirme-Chapter Twenty-One: In the Long Run
Draco yawned as he lay down onto his new bed. The pillows were downy soft, and the mattress was flexible and absent of the rough springs that a lot of mattresses had. It was the quilt that he had a bit of a problem with.
Purple flowers.
What kind of boy would sleep under a blanket with purple flowers on it? Ted had asked the same question upon seeing Andromeda lay the blanket across the guest bed where Draco was going to be sleeping, but it was the only spare blanket that she could find. Well, spare winter blanket, that is. There plenty of light summer sheets that Draco could have slept in, but Andromeda didn't think that they locked in enough warmth for a snowy night like this one.
"You'll catch pneumonia," she had said, explaining to Draco why the sheets would not be best. "Or at least a very bad cold in weather like this."
With that explanation, Draco was forced to get through his embarrassment by sleeping underneath the girliest blanket he had ever seen in his life.
At least no one at school is able to see me, Draco thought as he huddled under the blanket and stared at the large wooden dresser across from the bed.
The room was not particularly large, at least not nearly as large as Draco's room at his parents' house. There was only a closet, a dresser (and a very small one at that), a bed, and a window without curtains, which was casting so much moonlight through the room that Draco could not bare to look at it and had to face the other direction.
A streak of moonlight caused a line to form across the front of the dresser. Draco, unable to sleep, reached out his hand from under the absurd blanket and began tracing the line with his finger, all the while thinking of what would happen from here on out.
Would he ever be able to apologize to Harry? Would Sirius ever allow him to go anywhere near Harry to apologize? Would his parents ever accept him as their son again? How was Dobby fairing in a house run by cruelty and hatred?
Draco's eyes widened at this last thought. What if Lucius beat Dobby while trying to get information on where Draco was? A pang of guilt jabbed through Draco's gut like a dagger.
Everything was his fault. He understood that the boy in forest green was indeed himself. That mischievous, evil smile was his smile. The boy who had judged everyone, the boy who had decided to push Harry Potter down the stares, was himself and no one else.
Was there a way that he could make it better? Draco rolled over on his back and stared at the dark ceiling. I'm such an idiot.
Suddenly, a faint thump pulled Draco from his thoughts.
Again, for the second time that night, fear flooded through his veins and his palms began to sweat. What if the Aurors had suspected the Tonkses and were here to arrest them and take Draco back?
Draco pictured his aunt and uncle being led away and being sentenced to life in Azkaban for "child abduction", as Draco was sure that was what his parents would have called it. But, he couldn't let them get in trouble. He had wanted to hide in their house. They had not stolen him from anywhere, but had rather chosen to shelter him from a life of hatred.
Draco would have to turn himself in. He could not risk the safety of the only family that truly cared for him.
Slowly getting out of bed, he walked toward the door, wondering why he had not heard any shouting or had seen anyone coming in and grabbing him from his bed to take him back to his parents.
Opening the door, Draco peaked his head out and looked down the long hallway. There was no one around. Only one light appeared to be on, it was coming from Dora's room.
Draco crossed the threshold from his room to the hallway and made his way over to Dora's room in a matter of seconds. The door to her room was ajar, allowing only a tiny slit of light to come through, although it looked like a lot more from far away.
He gently pushed open the door and found Dora, now with spiky purple hair, trying to put all the covers back onto her bed.
Draco breathed a sigh of relief. Nothing was wrong after all.
It took Dora a moment to realize that Draco was standing there.
"Oh, hi Draco." She smiled, throwing the largest blanket on the bed and attempting to straighten it out. "What's going on? Do you need something?"
"No," he replied. "I just thought I heard a thump and came to see what it was."
"Oh…" Dora laughed and gestured toward her nightstand. "That was my lamp. I had just finished reading and was putting my book back on my nightstand when I accidentally pushed my lamp off and it landed on the floor. Luckily, the floor's carpet, so the lamp didn't break."
"Oh." Draco nodded and chuckled a bit. Of course Dora would be the one to cause a riot.
Then, almost out of nowhere, as though it had Apparated into Draco's brain, a question formed in Draco's mind and he became more serious.
"Hey, Dora…" he said hesitantly, his stomach turning.
"Yeah?" Dora was using her wand to take the wrinkles out of the top blanket.
"Is…is Harry okay?" It was a very random question, but Draco had to know. He had never known for sure what had happened to the boy he had pushed down the stairs.
Dora flicked her wand to stop the charm on the blanket and looked at him sadly. It was strange seeing her like this. Draco had never seen her unhappy before, which made him feel even more guilty.
"Well, mentally, yeah. But not physically. He can't walk or see."
Draco felt as though he were about to collapse. He had known that he had hurt the other boy, but he did not think it was that bad.
But, of course, it had to be that bad for Sirius to yell at him and give him a cold shoulder. What other reason would there be, besides his being from a prejudice, stuck up family? Actually, that pretty much would send anybody over the edge, but it was beside the point.
"I feel so bad," Draco said, speaking from his heart. He stared at the wooden door panel, waiting for Dora to chew him out.
"Well," she walked closer to him until she was standing right in front of him. "You should feel bad. I mean you did cause it. But, then again, everybody makes mistakes. I know. I've made a lot in my life, more than I can ever admit. But, that's the power of forgiveness. I'm sure Harry will forgive you if you just ask him to. Provided of course, that Sirius allows you to see him."
"Yeah." Draco looked at his feet. But, Draco had never known the power of forgiveness. He had never had to ask anyone to forgive him because, before, he had never thought that his actions were wrong.
Abruptly, Draco felt Dora wrap her arms around him.
"It's okay, Draco. Everything will be set right in the long run, that's what my grandfather always says."
"Your grandfather?" Draco asked.
"Yeah. He's a minister."
"Neat," said Draco, really meaning it. He had never known anybody who had a minister in their family.
"Hey, it's near twelve in the morning. I think we should be heading off to bed," Dora said, giving Draco a squeeze.
"Yeah," Draco smiled. "Thanks for the talk."
"No problem," Dora giggled, now back to her normal self. She stretched her arms over her head and let loose a big yawn.
Seeing that made Draco feel awfully tired himself. "Good night." He gave her a quick smile.
She waved at him with one hand, holding the other one over her arm because she was still yawning.
Draco made his way back to his room and lay flat on his bed, exhausted by now. He closed his eyes tightly, the words of Dora's paternal grandfather echoing in his mind.
&&&&
Three hours earlierThe door creaked open as Sirius unlocked it. He sighed in relief that the day was finally over. Having to take part in a search for Draco Malfoy while knowing that the boy was not missing at all was a waste of the valuable time that he could have been spending with Harry.
Besides, all the time that Sirius spent out meant less time for Jana to go to work. Although, sometimes he wished that she wouldn't go.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Sirius told her hastily as soon as he walked into the living room where she and Harry were.
Jana smiled and made a motion with her hand. "That's okay. The secretary before me always works over time anyway. Sometimes I get there and she doesn't leave for thirty more minutes."
Sirius coughed to hide the blush that he knew was on his face. Hopefully, though, if Jana saw it, she would think that it was just from the cold weather.
"Well, thank you, as always, for watching Harry," Sirius said honestly after removing his hand from his mouth.
Looking at Harry sitting on the couch, Sirius could tell that he had had a very good day. He had a smile on his face, something that Sirius rarely saw on him these days, and was tracing Braille letters in the Defense book that Remus had given him.
"Hi Sirius." Harry looked up from the book and smiled in the direction where he thought Sirius might be.
"Hi, Harry." Sirius ran to him and held him tightly.
"I had lots of fun today," said Harry happily. "I learned how to distinguish different foods by smell."
"Huh." Sirius, still holding onto Harry, pondered this for a moment. Interesting. He didn't know what else to say, but he knew that it was something normal that blind people did. Because they couldn't see, their other senses were often stronger to make up for their lack of sight.
"And he read to me a bit from his book," Jana said, gesturing to the book Harry had just been reading. "He's progressing very well."
Jana's beautiful eyes darted toward the clock on the wall. "Well, I better go," she said, "Before my boss has a dragon over me."
She reached out to hug Harry, who returned the hug without any protest, something that Sirius had not seen before. Harry really was progressing if he now hugged Jana without being forced to have anything to do with her.
"Bye, Harry." She said, giving him a kissed on the cheek. "You're doing very well."
"Thank you," Harry replied cheerfully.
Jana then turned to Sirius and held out her hand for him to shake. Sirius took it and shook slowly.
"I really do enjoy spending time with Harry," she told him. "We're really getting to know each other."
"I'm glad that you two are getting a long," said Sirius.
Jana let loose one of her dazzling smiles and walked toward the fire to Floo back to the Ministry. Sirius watched as she disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. He wished he could tell her how he felt about her, but would that be appropriate? Being as disabled as Harry was, would it be right for Sirius to start dating or carry out any relationship with a woman? And even more, how would Harry approve of Sirius' having a girlfriend?
&&&&
Sirius would later find out the answer to that last question after dinner and before Harry had fallen asleep for the night.
As Sirius was tucking Harry into bed, the boy asked out of nowhere, "Do you like her, Sirius?"
Sirius was a bit confused for a moment. He lay down beside Harry and asked him, "like who?" It was only right after the words had come stupidly out of his mouth that he realized who Harry had meant.
Harry laughed a you-know-who-I'm-talking-about sort of laugh and said, "Jana, of course. Do you like her?"
Sirius did not answer for a moment. It had always been hard admitting his feelings to Harry for some reason.
"Well, do you mean as a friend or as a girlfriend?" Now, that was a nice, smooth answer that didn't quite give anything away, although Sirius knew perfectly well what Harry meant.
"A girlfriend," Harry said, his green eyes twinkling for the first time in a long time. Before, that had always been a sure sign of nosiness or mischief on Harry's part.
"I…." He had to be honest. If he weren't, Harry would certainly be able to tell by the tone of his voice that he was lying. "I guess…both. I mean, she's really pretty and sweet. I kind of have mixed feelings about her." Now, that was not a total lie. Sirius did have mixed feelings, but they were not about whether or not he had romantic feelings for Jana, but rather about what he should do when it came to having a relationship with her.
"Well," said Harry, pulling the covers up to his chin with one hand and taking Sirius' hand with the other. "I think you should ask her out on a date. I really like her. I think she'd be a good mum."
Sirius felt his eyes about to pop out of his head. "What? A good mum? Where did that idea come from?" He felt Harry's forehead for any sign of a fever. "Are you sick?"
"No," retorted Harry, pushing his godfather's hand off his face. "I'm just saying. If you and Jana were going to get married, I just think she'd be a good mum."
Marriage? Sirius thought the idea was so out of place. He had not even asked Jana out yet and Harry was talking about marriage!
"I…don't think we should focus on marriage just yet, Harry." Sirius brought his hand up to Harry's forehead and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "A relationship needs to be strong before it goes anywhere near marriage."
It made since, though, in a lot of ways why Harry would be talking about Sirius getting married. For one thing, he had always wanted a mother figure in his life, but had never gotten one. Well, Andromeda might have qualified, but she was not around nearly enough nor was she married to Sirius.
"I know," Harry responded, a slightly sad expression on his face. "I guess I'm just a little impatient. And I guess a little impulsive, too. I mean, I thought Cho was going to be my girlfriend at first sight, but she wasn't. Maybe I'm just thinking the same about you and Jana."
Sirius' brain instantly filled with confusion. That was a lot Sirius had not known. When had Harry liked a girl?
"You liked a girl?" Sirius finally voiced his thoughts once he was finally able to speak again.
"Yeah." Harry smiled a bit sadly, evidently thinking about everything before it had all happened. "Her name was Cho. Cho Chang. She was a Ravenclaw, but I don't remember what year she was in. She was the Seeker for their Quidditch team and I played against her during my match. She was really nice about losing, though."
"Was she from China?" asked Sirius, now interested, as he had heard none of this information before. The name certainly sounded Chinese.
"No," said Harry. "I think her parents were, though. She was definitely of Chinese descent, but she had kind of a Scottish accent."
"I bet she was pretty," Sirius remarked, trying to tease Harry, but wasn't sure at first if it was actually working.
"Yeah. She was," said Harry, letting out a long sigh. "I hope I meet up with her again."
"I hope so, too, Harry." Sirius rolled over onto his left side. "I hope that you'll be able to do and see a lot of things before too long."
End Note: Hi guys! I hope you liked this chapter. I think it's one of my favorites, actually. I thought both of the conversations (Dora and Draco and Sirius and Harry) went pretty well. What does everyone else think? Please remember to leave a good review so that I know what to improve on. The party will be in the next chapter. Also, are any of y'all Sailor Moon fans? I'm in the process of writing my own story for that, too and I need more readers. I only have three reviews so far. So, if any of y'all are in to anime, please check it out.
Merci Beaucoup,
Amélie