Chapter Twenty Five
"Oh my gosh," Danielle puts a hand over her mouth as she quickly makes her way across the hospital wing towards Draco's bed. When Tracy had told her what had happened, Danielle had taken off to see him immediately. It hadn't mattered to her who was to blame or who started it. Danielle's main concern was finding out if Draco was going to live. She marched up to his side and winced at the sight of the three large lacerations marring the pale flesh of Draco's chest and stomach. Madam Pomfrey, the nurse, was sprinkling something out of a pipette over him which bubbled and hissed as it came into contact with the cuts. "Dittany?" Danielle asks and the nurse looks up at her in shock.
"Yes," Madam Pomfrey holds up the bottle in confirmation. "But Mr. Malfoy isn't really in any condition to have visitors yet."
"I'm his fiancée," Danielle holds up the ring for a second. "I'm staying." Madam Pomfrey looked like she wanted to argue for a moment but after a second thought better of it. Draco was her main priority right now. "Will it scar?" Danielle asks her hesitantly.
"It is a very good possibility," the nurse says sadly. "I've never seen a curse like this before. It's definitely dark magic. That complicates things. But, Mr. Malfoy may just luck out. Professor Snape wasted no time in bringing him here." Danielle nodded her head in understanding before looking down at Draco who was squeezing his eyes closed and clenching his fists in agony.
"Remind me to thank you friend Potter for this later," he groans as Danielle watches the pieces of his severed skin try to knit themselves back together. It wasn't working too well and Danielle knew that would be because of the dark magic.
"Why did he do this to you?" Danielle asks sadly, "Tracy didn't have time to explain it all to me. What did you do to make Harry so angry?"
"Of course, it's all my fault" Draco croaks out, "naturally."
"I'm not saying it's all of your fault," Danielle frowns. "But, you had to have done something. Harry wouldn't just… do this."
"I heard Finnigan telling the dream couple that he was going to ask you to go out with him to Hogsmead this weekend," Draco grits his teeth as Madam Pomfrey begins spreading some minty smelling brown paste over the gashes.
"What?" Danielle asks in shock. Draco and her friends had gotten into a fight this serious because Seamus wanted to ask her out. Wait, Danielle froze, "Seamus is going to ask me out?" She asks.
"NO!" Draco growls before wincing in pain, "At least, he better not. You're engaged to me! And besides, you and I have prior arrangements anyway." Yeah, plans to work on the stupid vanishing cabinet, real fun. Danielle frowns and sits down in the chair next to Draco's bed.
"So Harry did this to you because you didn't want Seamus asking me out?" She asks in irritation. Madam Pomfrey finally stopped fussing over Draco's wounds and went to go get some gauze to cover them up.
"More or less," Draco mumbles. "And, I may or may not have aimed my wand at his girlfriend."
"You were going to hex Tracy?!" Danielle says, looking appalled.
"NO!" Draco defends himself, "But either way, he didn't have to hit me with this bloody curse! Anything else would have been better!"
"You're right," Danielle agrees as she looks back down at the puffy pink skin which seemed to be holding together now. "I have no idea why he would do something like this. You're a pain in the rear sometimes, to be sure, but this is crazy."
"Why are you here anyway?" Draco asks looking annoyed.
"I had to make sure my betrothed was going to live, didn't I?" Danielle asks with a teasing smile. "I mean, how would it make me look if I didn't?" Draco lets out a small laugh and rolls his eyes.
"Well, sorry to break it to you," He attempts a joke, "But it looks like I'll live to see another day."
"Darn," Danielle fakes disappointment. "My hopes are dashed at every turn."
"DRACO?!" Pansy Parkinson burst into infirmary then looking frantic.
"See what I mean?" Danielle whispers to the injured Slytherin before smirking, "Quick, pretend that you're dead." Draco laughs at this.
"Draco! Oh my gosh! Look at what they've done to you!" She squeals and throws herself over Draco who lets out a howl of pain.
"OUCH! Get off! Are you mad?" He screams at her. Pansy stands back up with tears in her eyes.
"He's not fully healed yet, you idiot" Danielle growls before looking over the still fresh wounds to make sure they hadn't opened back up.
"Are you ok Draco? Are you going to live?" Pansy ignores Danielle and begins attempting to assess Draco's damage by messing with the sheets and feeling the boy's forehead. Danielle lets out a sarcastic laugh.
"Don't worry your pretty little head," She tells Pansy. "The heir to the Malfoy fortune has been spared." The Slytherin girl stares at Danielle in confusion for a moment before turning to her fallen housemate.
"Draco! You can't marry her! Look! She's already having her friends try to kill you off!" Pansy pleads as she grips onto the blonde's hand. "She just wants you to leave her all your money!"
"You've got it all wrong, I'm afraid," Danielle smiles sarcastically. "It wouldn't do me any good to kill him now. I'll have to wait until after I'm married to do him in or I'll never see a knut of the Malfoy fortune."
"See! Draco! She has it all planned out already!" Pansy's voice was high pitched and piercing.
"I don't care," Draco gives Pansy a warning look. "Go away, you're bugging me." A look of hurt flashed onto the girl's face for a brief moment before being replaced with her fake smile.
"Ok Draco, I'm sorry I bothered you" She says in her soft girly voice. "If you need anything let me know." Pansy gives Danielle one more glare before leaving the hospital wing once again.
"Good lord, she's pathetic," Danielle says after the girl leaves. "She'd jump off the Astronomy tower if you told her too."
"Don't give me any ideas," Draco says with a sigh. He seemed more relaxed now that Pansy was gone.
"Does it feel any better?" Danielle asks him quietly as Madam Pomfrey came back over to help Draco sit up so she could wrap him up with gauze.
"The cuts themselves hurt less," Draco tells her. "But my insides feel like they're on fire."
"I'm afraid that won't go away anytime soon," Madam Pomfrey tells him sadly. "It's the effects of the dark magic. I can give you a potion to dull the pain but there isn't anything to make it stop entirely. It'll last a few weeks, a month at the most." Draco groaned.
"How deep were those cuts, anyway?" Danielle looks to the nurse curiously. "I heard about this spell once, Vulnera Sanentur." Madam Pomfrey raises her eyebrows in surprise.
"Very good, young lady" She nods her head at Danielle, "That's precisely the spell Professor Snape used to get Mr. Malfoy's wounds under control before he was brought here." Danielle looks down and blushes at the praise. "What's your name again, dear?"
"Danielle Emmings."
"Well, Ms. Emmings, I'm quite impressed that you know that spell. And you recognized the dittany right away too," The nurse was looking at Danielle with a smile.
"My father runs a chain of Apothecaries," She admits, "And I've always been interested in healing."
"It isn't an easy job, but I can tell you have a knack for it" The nurse then turns to Draco. "I'll be back to check up on you in a little while. Try to rest." Danielle and Draco sat in silence for a moment after Madam Pomfrey went back into her office.
"Well, I guess that means I'm going to be in here for a while" Draco sighs after a moment or two, "Just my luck."
"I'm sorry," Danielle tells him honestly. "I'm going to thump Harry on his head for doing this. He could have killed you."
"I guess it worked out though," Draco shrugs. "With me in here, we can't really work on… you know. So, if you want, I guess you can go to Hogsmeade… with… whoever… I don't care. Just try not to make a big show about it."
Danielle tried hard to hide her shock at Draco giving her permission to go on a date with Seamus. Of course, there was a small part of her that felt annoyed that he thought she needed his permission to do anything. But there was another part of her that had never thought she'd ever see Draco give a little. Giving her permission was almost like him trying to do something nice. Danielle was taken aback by his uncharacteristically selfless act.
"Well, thank you," She smiles at him before standing up. She appreciated Draco's offer but wasn't sure if she should take it. Even though she didn't want to be engaged to Draco, the fact remained that she was. She didn't know if she could go out on a date with someone else until the ring on her finger was gone. "I guess I should go now though. I need to have a serious talk with a certain boy-who's-going-to-wish-he-hadn't-lived-after-I-get-through-with-him," She tells Draco who shakes his head at the girl.
"I guess I'll see you later then," He says.
"Yep, get better" Danielle nods at him. "Bye."
"Danielle, I'm so sorry" was the first thing out of Harry's mouth when the girl found him and the rest of her friends outside by the lake. "Is Malfoy going to be alright?"
"He's going to live," Danielle states feeling like it wasn't her that Harry should be apologizing to. "He's in a lot of pain though. He might have scars and the dark magic from that curse is doing a real number on his body." Harry looked down at the grass.
"At least he's going to be alright," Tracy lets out a sigh of relief. "There was so much blood."
"I should have never used that spell," Harry mumbles. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd have killed him." Danielle was glad that Harry was showing some remorse for what he had done. She had sort of been expecting him to try and defend himself. But Harry seemed to realize that there was nothing that could justify his actions. Not even Draco had deserved to be hit with a curse like that.
"Well now you know not to go around shouting out spells that you don't know the effects of," Hermione crosses her arms sternly.
"Where's Seamus?" Danielle then asks to try and spare Harry from Hermione's lecture. He was already punishing himself enough for all of them right now, "Wasn't he there when it happened?"
"He's a little upset," Ron explains to her with a frown. "While they were fighting, Malfoy sort of said some things…"
"He said that you had chosen him over us!" Harry finally meets Danielle's eyes boldly.
"Well, that's just ridiculous," Danielle states but all her friends look at her skeptically.
"You have been spending a lot of time with him lately," Hermione voices her concern causing Ron and Harry to nod in agreement. Tracy was watching Danielle expectantly, wondering what she would say.
"Yes," Danielle nods her head. "I have been spending a lot of time with him. And I know how that must look to you guys."
"What has Malfoy done to you?" Ron asks her seriously, "What have the two of you been up to?" Hermione, Harry, and Tracy turn their full attention to Danielle now.
"I'm going to be as honest with you guys as I possibly can," Danielle says with a sigh. "I haven't forgotten about the way Draco has treated all of you, and I haven't forgotten what he's done to me. I'm not spending all this time with him because I want to, nor am I necessarily being forced. It was a choice. The choice was not between you guys and Draco though. It was a choice between right and wrong. And I know you guys, of all people, can understand that. Harry, you know how the ministry told everyone you were crazy for saying that you-know-who was back and they believed it? You were slandered in the papers and judged harshly by everyone around you. But you never stopped telling them the truth though. You never gave in just so that they would all leave you alone. What I'm doing, it's sort of like that. I know that people are judging me right now and thinking the worst. But, I can't stop."
"We aren't judging you," Hermione responds first. "We're just worried about you."
"Yeah," Harry nods his head. "And if you just tell us what's going on, maybe we could help you. We don't care what people think about us either."
"Whatever it is, you don't have to do it alone," Ron adds in his support as well. Danielle smiles at her friends sadly. She appreciated their eagerness to help her, but they couldn't. They wouldn't understand. There was nearly six years of bad blood between Draco and the three Gryffindors. They wouldn't be able to look past the hatred to see the scared, betrayed, Slytherin boy that Danielle saw.
"You guys," Danielle was having trouble finding the right words to say. "Think of all the time that I'm spending with Draco. I doubt that any of you would want to be around him that much."
"If we all worked together, maybe it wouldn't take as long" Ron offers with a shrug.
"Danielle may be right," Hermione then admits with a frown. "I don't know if we could work productively with Malfoy on anything. But still, you can at least tell us what it is can't you?"
"I can't," Danielle says regretfully. "Not without putting myself and Draco in danger. And, I hate to say this, but, you guys have your own prejudices that would blind you to the truth even if I told it to you." All four of her friends looked outraged by this.
"Our prejudice?" Hermione crosses her arms, "Malfoy is the one who looks down on everyone just because of who their parents are! He's the one that uses degrading names like 'mudblood' and 'blood traitor'." Danielle sighs again and shakes her head. If her friends knew that Draco had the dark mark, they would immediately condemn him with their pre-conceived notions about what a death eater was. They'd immediately label him as a narrow minded, psychopath worshiping murderer. They wouldn't give him a chance to prove otherwise; especially hot headed Harry and Ron.
"Danielle, what are you talking about?" Tracy asks sounding irritated.
"You've got to look at both sides," Danielle states. "The whole Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry… it's all prejudice and stereotypes. Every time you call someone a dirty Slytherin or something… I mean, you've never talked to some of those people. They can't all possibly be that bad, but you assume they are. They do the same to you, I know. I'm just saying that it goes both ways. And, I'm guilty of it too. When I stood up in potions that day I insulted every Slytherin girl in the room. It wasn't right. I don't know them. I don't know what they go through."
"Those girls deserved that," Ron says angrily. "They all were sending you dirty looks and talking about you behind your back."
"What about Blaise Zabini then?" Danielle looks to Tracy, "I know some of his comments annoy you, but he doesn't seem all that bad to me."
"He's best friends with Malfoy!" Harry shouts.
"He hasn't said a single mean thing to me since I've known him," Danielle defends the boy. "And I've never heard him say anything bad against muggleborns."
"Doesn't mean he isn't thinking it," Ron grumbles.
"And there's your prejudice," Danielle points out causing Ron's ears to go red in embarrassment. "Look," Danielle continues. "I'm not trying to lecture you guys. I'm just trying to get you to understand why I can't tell you what's been going on. You guys have no idea how nice it is to know that you all want to help and that you're worried about me, but this is really something that I need to do on my own. And trust me, Draco and I aren't too thrilled about this situation either." Harry and Ron were starting to look really annoyed with Danielle but Hermione was looking thoughtful.
"Danielle," She says hesitantly. "You said that the choice you made was between right and wrong." Danielle nodded her head and Hermione continued, "Malfoy… he had to make this sort of choice as well?"
Danielle felt herself smile a little at Hermione's question, "Yes, he did."
"And you both made the same choice?" She asks looking a little embarrassed.
"His choice was harder than mine," Danielle confesses. Honestly, she still couldn't believe Draco had gone against his parent's wishes and turned on you-know who. Danielle's choice to help Draco stay alive seemed much less dramatic. What Draco had done was actually really brave. "But yes," Danielle continued, "he made the right decision." Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked taken aback by this. Tracy was looking to the trio, hopeful that she wouldn't have to make a choice; a choice between her friends. She wanted them all to get along.
"Malfoy is actually doing something good?" Ron asks skeptically. Danielle frowned at that comment. Draco wasn't really doing something good, but breaking away from you-know-who had been good. Sure Draco still had his prejudices but he didn't want to be a death eater. He didn't want to be a murderer. And to Danielle, those were all good things.
"He's a work in progress," Danielle shrugs and lets out a little laugh.
"I believe you," Tracy states confidently and Danielle smiles to her thankfully.
"I just," Harry looked guilty for not feeling the same way as his girlfriend. "I just, don't know how there can be any good in Malfoy at all."
"He agreed to let me go to Hogsmeade this weekend with Seamus," Danielle offers and all four of her friends look shocked.
"He did?" Harry gasps, "After making such a fuss about it before? This whole mess would have been avoided if Malfoy hadn't started that argument in the first place!"
"Maybe he actually took some of what we told him to heart," Tracy shrugs as she remembers Harry reminding Draco of how terrible he'd been to Danielle before and how she deserved to be happy.
"I don't know," Ron frowns before looking at Danielle. "What's the catch?"
"There is no catch," Danielle says in amusement. "Except if I were to go on the date with Seamus, he wants me to keep it on the down low. But that's to be expected, nobody wants their fiancé going off on dates with other men. I wouldn't want anybody to really know either. It would make us both look foolish."
"I still wish you could tell me what's going on though," Harry frowns. "If you're doing something so important, I want to help." Danielle couldn't believe that Harry still wanted to help her even after everything she'd told him.
"You can all help by not telling anybody what I've told you," Danielle says honestly. "I've already told you more than I probably should have but I felt that I owed you all some sort of explanation."
"You haven't really told us anything though," Ron scrunches up his face in confusion.
"I know," Danielle agrees. "But if anybody makes comments about me and Draco, you don't have to try and defend me or anything. I know people are coming up with their own reasons for why Draco and I have been spending so much time together and looking the way we do. It's best to just let them assume. I don't want to attract any more attention to this than there already is."
"Alright," Harry nods his head. "We'll leave it alone. But, promise me that if Malfoy tries anything or if you end up needing help after all you'll tell us."
"Of course," Danielle smiles, "As long as you only hex Draco when he annoys you from now on instead of trying to kill him."
"I promise," He says seriously, "I never thought I'd feel so bad for MALFOY. I still can't believe I was so stupid."
"He's going to be ok," Danielle reassures the boy who obviously was still having a lot of guilt for harming Draco so badly.
"And we all get to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow," Hermione smiles. "That'll give us all a nice break."
"I say we all go as a group," Tracy decides. "That way Danielle won't look like a terrible fiancée and we'll all get to finally hang out together."
"Sounds good to me," Ron declares and everyone agrees. Danielle felt a lot better now that all her friends were on the same page. It was also nice to know that Harry, Ron, and Hermione still trusted her. It gave Danielle hope, and it got her motivated. Knowing she had the support of her friends made Danielle feel even more confident that she'd be able to get that cabinet fixed so that she could put all the secrets behind her.