Draco spun around on his heels and the voice, once again, called out to him..
"Draco?" It was a croaky voice, like the owner of it was in desperate need of water. When he had turned fully around, he saw who had spoken.
"Hermione?" he whispered, half of him happy, the other half sad – sad at the way she looked, which was as if she was in sheer agony.
"Madame Pomfrey!" Draco shouted as loud as he could, and he waited for the old woman to come into the room.
"What is it, Mr Malfoy?" she asked warily.
"Granger's awake!" he exclaimed. The mediwitch spun on the spot, much as Draco had done, and looked at Hermione, gasping when she saw her.
"Dear, are you all right? Here, take this – it'll help the pain. How do you feel?" Madame Pomfrey bombarded Hermione with questions.
"Can I have some water?" Hermione croaked, ignoring the witch's questions.
"Of course, dear. Mr Malfoy – if you would help her," Madame Pomfrey instructed, holding out a glass of water. Draco took it and walked towards Hermione, lifted her head, and tilted the glass. Hermione did the rest; she opened her mouth and sagged as the water ran down her throat. When Draco removed the glass she sighed.
"How do you feel, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked again.
"Tired," she whispered. "And in pain."
"I'm so sorry, Granger," Draco whispered. Hermione almost didn't hear him.
"Why are you sorry, Draco?" she asked, and she looked into his eyes.
"Because it's my fault you're in here," he told her, looking at the ground.
"No, it's not," Hermione muttered, her eyelids drooping.
"Out! Miss Granger needs her sleep!" the mediwitch instructed as she watched Hermione's face for any signs of discomfort.
"Fine!" Draco said, and he stalked out of the Hospital doors.
"He did what?" Harry asked. He could feel his anger rising.
"'He' did nothing, it was an accident; and when I told him what the potion was doing to her, he was distraught. He even said he was going down there to apologize," the Headmistress informed both the boys. Ron, who until now had stayed quiet, spoke.
"You mean to say he's down there now with her, alone?" he shouted, forgetting who he was speaking to. His face turned red.
"Mr Weasley, watch your tone – and yes, I do mean that he is down there alone with her." McGonagall spoke, her voice stern.
"Well, if that's all, Professor, I think Ron and I will be leaving now," Harry told the Headmistress, dragging a still red-faced Ron out of the office. As soon as they were away from the old woman's prying eyes, they nodded at each other and ran to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived there, they hid behind the statue nearest the door. They could hear voices coming from inside the room. Suddenly the doors were flung open and Draco stalked out. Ron flew out from behind the statue and grabbed Draco from behind, throwing his hand over the other boy's mouth. Ron dragged him over to where Harry stood.
"We heard what you did to Hermione," Harry said calmly.
"What – apologize?" Draco smirked.
"No! We heard that the potion you gave her with is slowly killing her!" Ron shouted, punching Draco in the gut.
"Oh, that?" Draco heard himself say, as if he didn't care. He cursed himself mentally.
"Yes, that," Ron spat, punching Draco again.
Draco let out an involuntary "Oof!" of protest and growled. "What considerate friends you are. I've been in that Hospital Wing for a week, and I only saw you visit Granger once," he sneered. He knew it was the wrong thing to say, but at the moment he didn't care.
"That was because you were in there. We were going to see her right now, for your information," Ron lied.
"Sure you were," Draco said, smirking even more.
Ron yelled, a wordless sound of fury, and punched Draco repeatedly in the stomach. Draco instinctively placed his hands in front of his face, and grimaced when Ron finally stopped.
"Ron, that's enough for now. Malfoy had just better hope Hermione lives," Harry said. Draco heard the hidden warning and couldn't help himself.
"And why should I? You going to kill me?" he taunted, getting in a punch of his own to Ron's stomach before moving out of the way and squaring up to Harry.
"No, killing you would be the easy way out, wouldn't it, Malfoy?" Harry retorted, his voice laced with venom.
"If you say so," Draco said. He walked away, leaving the two boys standing in the hallway. As soon as Draco was out of their sight, he doubled over in pain and stumbled to Professor Slughorn's office.
When he arrived he knocked twice, then walked in. Slughorn sat at his desk; he looked up when he heard his door open.
"Mr. Malfoy, what can I do for you?" Slughorn asked, smiling.
"Madam Pomfrey sent me to collect a bottle of pain-relief potion for her," Draco lied.
"Oh, very well. Here you go," Slughorn said, still smiling and apparently unsuspecting.
Draco thanked the Professor and walked out of the room, holding the potion bottle. As soon as he got around the corner, he looked round furtively to make certain no one was around and then swallowed the potion, sighing in relief as it started to work. He carried on up the stairs until he reached the Heads' common room, and went straight to his room to sleep.
When he woke up it was dark outside and there was no noise from the common room. He got out of bed and stretched before going and checking the time. It was four in the morning, so Draco decided he might as well have his shower and get ready for school. He would have gotten up in two hours anyway.
Half an hour later, a sopping wet Draco stepped out of the bathroom and into his room. He pulled his uniform out of his wardrobe and set it on his bed. He didn't need to rush around; he had plenty of time to get ready this morning.
When it was finally time to go down to breakfast, he rose from the sofa and walked out of the portrait hole. He made his way down to the Great Hall and smiled. There were only a few people up, those who had things to do before breakfast. Draco didn't remember ever being at breakfast this early. He knew that Hermione, if she wasn't in the Hospital, would be here with the rest of the early risers. As soon as he had the thought, he regretted it. It made him feel sick with guilt. He didn't feel like eating, so he just sat down on Slytherin's bench and waited for his friend Blaise to get out of bed and come down.
When Blaise finally did get up, there was only half an hour of breakfast left. Draco still sat in the Great Hall, pushing his food around on his plate and staring over at the Gryffindor table, guilt still eating away at him.
"Draco, mate, what's wrong with you? You've not touched your food!" Blaise said, glancing at his friend.
"Nothing is wrong with me," Draco replied stiffly. He had thought about what he was going to tell Blaise, while waiting for him to get out of bed, but now the moment was here, Draco felt stupid.
"Something is wrong with you – come on!" Blaise placed his fork down on the plate and dragged Draco off the bench and out of the Great Hall. He took him back to the Heads' common room and pushed him through the door.
"Tell me," he ordered.
"It's Granger. I feel so guilty, like it's my fault she's in the state she's in. I wish there was something I could do," Draco said. He couldn't control what was coming out of his mouth, and now he had started, it all felt so easy to say.
"And?" Blaise prompted.
"I suppose I miss her. I want her to live, even if I don't show it. She was the only person, other than Slytherins, who would talk to me like I was human. She was like a friend to me. She was the other person I told when my father died and my mother disowned me; she sat with me all night and helped me forget about it," Draco told his friend.
At the last sentence Blaise raised his eyebrows, telling Draco to elaborate more.
"We sat on the couch and watched something called a film, on a Muggle invention. I'll admit, it was really good. Then we woke up the next morning with me leaning on her on the sofa," Draco told his friend.
"Oh. Well, why don't you just miss your lessons? You don't look too well, and I'm in all of your classes – I could tell the teachers that the reason I dragged you off from breakfast was because you were going to be sick, if you want," Blaise offered.
It was times like these Draco was glad he had real friends.
"Are you sure?" Draco asked, looking at his friend.
"Go to bed, Draco," Blaise told him.
"Thanks, Blaise." Draco said, and he headed off to bed.
A/N: I know! Way to long, it's not my fault, I was sick all last week, and couldn't do anything, I couldn't even get on my computer, I felt dead on my feet! I'm so sorry, I do love you all, though.
xx
