Allegra nervously walked into the hospital wing. The curtains were drawn around Draco's bed. She tiptoed over to the fortress of drapery and gently pulled the curtains aside. Draco looked up at her scornfully before turning his head back to look in front of him.

"Hi, Draco," Allegra whispered.

Draco stared stonily ahead.

"Erm…Sorry about what happened earlier. I guess…I just lost my head. I was very worried about you." When there was no response, Allegra wrung her hands and bit her lip. "I really am very sorry."

"Sorry?" Draco growled, shooting her a deathly look. "You nearly exposed us! What was going through that dense little head of yours? I'll tell you. Nothing!"

Allegra was taken aback by his hostility. But something triggered inside of her.

"Well, maybe you wouldn't be so angry now if you just let me tell people about us," she scoffed. "What's so wrong with it? We're not hurting anyone."

"Don't you get it?" Draco groaned. "I can'tbe with you publicly. I have a reputation to uphold. I can't date someone who associates with the kind of people that you do."

"What do you mean?" Allegra gasped, folding her arms over her chest. "What's so wrong with the people I associate with?"

"They're not our kind, Allegra!" Draco snapped. "They're beneath us. It's our job as purebloods to keep their sort in line."

Allegra was shocked. Her face contorted into fury and rage, which scared Draco, but not enough to make him back down on his point.

"No one is better than anyone else, Draco!" she yelped. "That is so awful for you to say! My friends are my friends and nothing will ever make me ashamed of them."

"Then you're no better than one of them," Draco growled. "And that's why we could never see each other publicly. You're not socially acceptable for me to date."

Allegra bit back her need to spit in his face. Her fingernails dug into her palms as her fists clenched harder and harder. And finally, she exploded.

"SO YOU'RE ASHAMED OF ME? IS THAT IT? WELL, I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING, MR. MALFOY…"

"BE QUIET!" Madam Pomfry's voice sounded from out of nowhere. "THERE SHALL BE NO YELLING IN THE HOSPITAL WING!"

Allegra looked away for a second before looking back at Draco, daggers in her eyes.

"I'll tell you something," she whispered, "we're through. You could never date someone of my social views? I could never date someone who is so stuck up, pig-headed, and rude as you." She stomped towards the exit.

"CEASE THAT HORRIBLE RACKET!" Madam Pomfrey shrieked.

Allegra took a deep breath and tiptoed out of the hospital wing, nose high in the air and hips swerving indignantly.

Once she had gone, Draco laid back on his pillows, letting out a sigh.

You don't need her, old boy. She's stupid. She doesn't understand how things work. Besides, you didn't really like her any way. Just a pretty face atop an attractive body. That's all.

And with his thoughts, he drifted off to sleep.

...

The cheering echoed in the Emptiness. He couldn't see the crowd, but he knew they were there. His eyes peered into the endless white sky, searching for a flash of gold as he hovered on his broomstick. Then, he saw it. The Snitch whizzed past his nose and into the blank sky. He bent low over the broom handle and sped after it. As he neared it, he stretched out his hand.

"I'm going to win!"

Suddenly, a slit of black appeared in the golden orb and the Snitch swelled in size until it was a giant, yellow eye. A roar sounded through the Emptiness as the shape of a snake's head and body began to melt into color.

He shrieked and turned his broom sharply, trying to escape the beast. But, without warning, his broom dropped from beneath him and vanished. He began to fall. The serpent was striking in slow-motion, its jaws gaping and fangs glinting menacingly. He closed his eyes, preparing to feel the crush and sting of the bite.

He landed hard on his back. Opening his eyes in shock, he saw the snake hovering in the air for a moment before a white door slammed shut, blocking it from view and sealing him again in the Emptiness.

He scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding in his chest and his breath resonating. Terrified, he glanced all about him, trying to find a way out. He began to wander off in one direction, hoping that it was the right one.

But he hadn't gone very far when he saw a misty, silver shape hovering towards him. A smile spread across his face for he suddenly felt safe. He reached out and it glided towards him like a ghost. His fingers graced the mist and all the anxiety and fear he had once felt drained out of him immediately.

However, he only touched the shape for a moment before it evaporated. He stumbled back and looked around him. The shape was a few feet away, gesturing for him to come towards it. He obeyed, arms outstretched, but as soon as he reached it, it disappeared again, forming another few feet away.

Once more he ran towards it and once more it vanished. He began to panic.

"Wait! Come back!"

The figure began to fly backwards at an alarming speed and he couldn't keep up. He hadn't noticed yet, but the white Emptiness surrounding him had eventually melted into black Nothingness. The silver mist continued to move away quickly until it disappeared one last time, leaving him in the dark.

"No! No! Please! Come back! I need you! Come back! Come back!"

...

"Come…Come ba…Co… back…" Draco Malfoy muttered incoherently in his sleep. His face was drenched with sweat and the white nightshirt he was wearing was soaked through to the skin, sticking to his chest and back. He was violently tossing and turning every few seconds.

Madam Pomfrey stood over him, holding a bowl of cool water and a rag. Seating herself on a chair next to the bed, she dipped the rag into the water and began to gently press it to the young boy's face. She gasped in alarm when Draco Malfoy screamed, his voice echoing off the stone walls of the hospital wing. The other patients rustled in their sleep, but didn't awaken.

"Mr. Malfoy," she whispered, touching his shoulder and holding the cold washcloth to his forehead again. "Mr. Malfoy, please wake up."

Draco's eyes shot open and he jerked up into a sitting position, his hands clenching the sides of the mattress as if terrified that it would vanish from underneath him. Tears were streaming down his wet face and his chest rose and fell rapidly with his breathing. He stared ahead for a few moments before falling back on his pillows exhaustedly.

"Are you alright?" Madam Pomfrey asked quietly as to not disturb the other students.

"I…I'm fine," he panted. "I'm fine. Just a dream…Just a dream…"