That evening, Hermione returned to the hospital wing with some clothes. Since Eva's clothes were in her dorm and the Slytherin girls were too lazy to bring her anything, Hermione had to lend her some of her own clothing, including a t-shirt which was slightly long on Eva and a pair of pyjama shorts.
For dinner, Eva was brought up a plate containing a slice of steak pie, mashed potatoes, and peas. She'd lost most of her appetite, so it was a bit of a struggle forcing food down her throat, but Pomfrey wouldn't let her go to bed without having eaten in anyway.
As Eva pushed some of the remaining mash and gravy around on her plate, Hecate's voice appeared in her head. 'You little idiot,' Hecate murmured angrily.
'What do you mean?' Eva thought back. 'I saved Malfoy's life, and I'm not dead, so no harm done.'
'No-' Hecate scoffed, 'no harm done?! That was so much of a reckless impulse of a decision that I couldn't even get to you in time! What if you had died, hm?! Imagine all the paperwork I would've had to deal with!'
At this point, as Hecate continued ranting, Eva's eyes continuously glowed bright red as she defeatedly swallowed down her meal. Each time she consumed another mouthful, it would send a sharp pain through one of her left ribs, and Hecate yelling at her didn't make it much easier.
'Well, it all turned out fine in the end,' Eva argued back mentally, 'so I really don't see your issue.'
'My issue is your complete recklessness and inability to act sensibly! This isn't over,' she hissed before her voice disappeared once more.
Deciding she was done with her meal, Eva picked up the half empty plate and placed it on her bedside table for someone to take away. Last time she'd attempted to get up on her own without assistance, she'd fallen over and Pomfrey had given her a long lecture on why she should stay in bed.
With perfect timing, Pomfrey entered from her small office carrying a glass of water mixed with Essence of Dittany. Eva had taken one every hour, and now she was consuming glasses at two hour intervals. She had tried just taking a shot of it one hour, but she instantly regretted it when she felt the burning in her throat.
"This is for you." Pomfrey handed her the glass and stepped over to her plate. "Are you sure you can't eat anymore, Miss. Infernum? You've hardly touched your slice of pie."
Eva cleared her throat. "I'm sure, thanks."
Pomfrey sighed and took the plate away. "Well, let's hope your appetite returns within the next 24 hours."
Once Pomfrey was gone again, Eva glanced up at the clock above the door. It was already quite late in the evening, around 8 o'clock, and the room had darkened significantly. In the course of the afternoon, she'd received several visitors, such as Cedric, Fred, and George, but they'd all been very soon kicked out again by Pomfrey.
She leaned over and picked up a book Cedric had left for her to read, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It turned out that the wizarding world, for all its absurdness, did have a few muggle classics they were familiar with.
Only a few pages in and the doors to the hospital wing burst open. Eva peered around the open door to see who it was, and to her surprise, Lucius Malfoy of all people walked in arrogantly. He was in his usual expensive black attire, carrying his walking stick with the silver snake head on the end.
Ignoring Eva, he made his way straight to Draco's bed. There, the father and son had a hushed conversation, so quiet that she couldn't hear in the almost silent room. Rolling her eyes, she went back to her book and continued reading. Occasionally, she could feel eyes burning into her head, but whenever she looked up, they continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.
"Well, well, well," Lucius murmured as he stalked across the room over to Eva with a forced smile. "Look who we have here."
Eva didn't even bother to look up, instead flipping over another page in her book. "Hi Mr. Malfoy."
"Did no one ever explain to you that it's rude to avoid eye contact during a conversation?" he questioned condescendingly.
With a sigh, Eva closed her book and glanced up at him. There were still deep set bags under her eyes, and her skin was looking much paler and less glowing than usual.
"What on earth happened to you?" he asked her, with a tone that should've seemed caring but was laced with sarcasm.
"A hippogriff happened to me," Eva answered. "A very upset and offended hippogriff, thanks to some people." She tilted her head to peer around Lucius and glare at Draco. "Besides, are you even allowed to be here?" she asked. "Weren't you kicked off the school governing board after what you did last year?"
"Actually, you will find that I am perfectly allowed to be here, Miss. Infernum," he snapped. "Parents of any child in the hospital wing have full authorisation for visits."
"Okay . . . then why are you talking to me, considering I'm not your child?" she asked dismissively, raising an eyebrow. "If anything, I thought you'd be a little less asshole-y too, considering I saved your precious little son's life earlier."
Lucius scowled at her. "How dare you speak to me with such blatant disrespect, you filthy little mudbl-"
"Mr. Malfoy?" Pomfrey questioned, walking across the room from her office over to Eva's bed. "Can I help you in any way?"
He shot a venomous glare at Eva. "Not at all. I was just leaving."
With that, he swept past her and stormed straight out of the door with his head held high in an entitled manner. "Drama queen," Eva muttered under her breath, even causing Madam Pomfrey to laugh.
That night, Eva made a weak attempt at sleeping. She pulled her thin duvet up to cover her chest and reclined onto her back with many fluffed-up pillows behind her to help support her back and ribs.
After half an hour of uncomfortably adjusting the way she slept, she eventually gave up and decided to simply stare at the ceiling in hope that she would fall asleep out of boredom.
"Infernum," Malfoy hissed from across the room. "Psst, Infernum!"
Eva lifted her head slightly and picked up her wand from her bedside table. "Lumos," she whispered, causing the tip to light up so that she could see the darkened room around her. "Yes, Malfoy?"
Malfoy was sat on the edge of his bed with his wand lit up too. He motioned for her to come over, but she simply shrugged at him.
"I can't walk properly," she whispered back. "If you wanna talk, you can haul your butt here."
Rolling his eyes, he turned the light out from his wand, climbed up to his feet, and walked across the room over to Eva's bed. He sat on the opposite end to her, extending his legs in front of him beside hers with his ankles crossed. Strangely enough, Eva hadn't ever seen Malfoy in his pyjamas before, or anything informal for that matter, but now he was sat opposite her in a grey t-shirt and blue tartan pyjama bottoms.
"Let me guess, can't sleep?" Eva asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
He sighed and picked up her book from her bedside table, examining it curiously under the light from Eva's wand. "If you must know, I'm an insomniac," he replied.
"Really? Wow, I would've never guessed," Eva mused. "I'm the complete opposite. Usually I'd be asleep by now, but these bandages aren't making it easy. How's your arm?"
"Fine," Malfoy mumbled as he glanced down at his arm which was still being held in a sling, "it's still quite painful though."
"Is it though? Or are you just being a drama queen?" Eva teased.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, of course it's painful," he snapped, tossing the book back over to the table. "How's your . . ."
She nodded, realising what he was asking about, and moved her duvet down and t-shirt up slightly, revealing her bandage-covered torso. Her skin underneath, which was barely visible from under the white gauze, had now gone an angry dark purple colour across her left side, the bruise stretching from her hips all the way up to the top of her ribcage.
Malfoy raised his eyebrows at the gnarly sight. He hadn't exactly been planning on Eva getting injured in the process. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure why he'd provoked the stupid horse in the first place. But watching as she winced when she touched the injury, he felt a pang in his heart, almost of . . . guilt? No, he never felt guilt, it couldn't have possibly been guilt.
"It's kinda rough, but it's bearable," she replied as she tugged her duvet back over herself.
He scoffed. "Bearable? Infernum, you were screaming bloody murder just a few hours ago."
"That's only because Snape was performing that healing spell," she argued. "Literally, just imagine getting cut open with a machete, and then someone taking a massive needle and sewing you closed again."
Malfoy cringed at the mental image. "If I wasn't going to be able to sleep before, I certainly won't now."
"Serves you right," Eva sniggered. "What were you thinking? Why the hell would you even go up to that thing and just insult it for no reason?"
"I could ask the same thing to you," he countered. "Why didn't you just let me get hurt by it?"
He raised a valid point. Eva sighed. "I don't know really," she replied honestly, staring down at her hands in her lap. "You're an absolute moronic twat, but not one who deserves to die because of how much of a selfish and reckless idiot you are. So, I've answered my question, now answer yours."
All he offered was a shrug. "It was unintentional, that whole fiasco. Still, father is far from happy about this injury, and he'll definitely be seeing this through, preferably with the suspension of the big oaf who Dumbledore convinced himself he can teach. I mean, who knows if my arm will ever fully recover? If I'll ever have the same use of this limb as before?"
She stared at him blankly. "Malfoy. You're joking. Literally, all you did was break your arm. Wanna talk about long-lasting injuries? How about broken ribs and large, deep wounds? I doubt I'll even be able to try out for the Quidditch team this year at this rate."
At that, Malfoy suddenly howled with laughter, falling forwards on her bed. After a few moments, he finally composed himself and wiped some of the tears away from his eyes.
"You? Quidditch?" he cackled, clapping his hands in amusement.
"Excuse me?" Eva drew her eyebrows together. "What do you have against me playing Quidditch? There's even an open spot for Chaser this year. Is it because I'm a girl?"
"Partly," he admitted, earning a glare. "Look, you're just so small, and so . . . you," he chuckled. "Gender aside, how on earth would someone like you play Quidditch?"
"I'll have you know I'm actually more athletic than you give me credit for," she snapped. "Back in muggle school, I was on the football team, the netball team, the hockey team, the athletics team, the rounders team, we had a badminton team for a while and I was on that-"
"I don't know what any of those sports are," he interrupted with a laugh.
She cocked her head to the side. "Really? Well, football's kinda like Quidditch, except there's only one ball you kick around into one goal rather than three hoops. And just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm bad at it necessarily."
"Do you even know how to play Quidditch?" Malfoy asked, clearly still finding humour in the whole situation.
"Of course I know how to play Quidditch," Eva responded. "When I spent the summer with the Weasleys-"
"Weasleys," Malfoy scoffed under his breath.
"Yes, the Weasleys," she continued, "they taught me the basic rules, and you already know that I was, not to toot my own horn, one of the best in flying class in our first year. I even gave the Weasley twins a run for their money when I played them."
"I still doubt Flint will pick you for the team," he told her. "The Slytherin team choose players based on size rather than skill. Not that you have either."
In response, Eva grabbed a pillow from behind her and whacked it around his head, knocking him sideways. She placed it back behind her and continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.
"You'll find that being small does have its advantages," she countered as Malfoy sat himself back up again. "For instance, because I'm so small and fast, I'm quite difficult to catch, especially on a broomstick. And I do have skill, thank you. I may not be the size of a fucking mountain troll, but I can play Quidditch. Just wait until next weekend and I'll prove it."
"Oh, there is no way you'll be able to get me to miss that," he laughed mockingly.
A bright light suddenly caught Eva's attention out of the corner of her eye. Pomfrey walked in from her office, carrying a small oil lamp, and glared at the pair of them.
She pointed at Malfoy. "You. Bed," she ordered.
Without arguing like he usually would, Malfoy grouchily picked himself up off the end of Eva's bed and slumped down in his own. Eva couldn't help but laugh as she turned over and continued her fruitless attempts at sleeping.
During the next week, Eva was ordered to spend the week out of class and instead 'in bed'. As much as she may have followed that rule for the first day, she eventually grew bored and began spending her days across one of the sofas in the Slytherin common room with a blanket over herself.
Annoyingly, due to Malfoy's father's connections, Malfoy was able to bargain himself the week off too without really realising that it would entail the pair spending an entire week in each other's rather irritating company.
On one of their final days, only two days before they went back to class, Malfoy was sat across the sofa opposite her, reading Unfogging the Future, the required text for Professor Trelawney's Divination class.
"Why are you reading that?" Eva asked.
"It's for Divination," Malfoy replied.
"You took Divination?"
He rolled his eyes as he read through the section on Crystal Balls. "I'm in the same class as you, Infernum."
"You are?"
"I was sat at that tiny table behind you," he responded exasperatedly. "Who did you think it was kicking you in the head during our entire lesson?"
She gasped. "You were sitting behind me? Are you sure you weren't just kicking some other redhead while assuming it was me?"
He sighed. "It was the lesson where Potter had the Grim in his teacup, the 'omen of death'." Malfoy wiggled his fingers mystically and sniffed a laugh. "Professor Trelawney is a true embarrassment to this school."
"I mean, who does she think she is with her 'use your inner eye to see the future' bullshit?" Eva laughed. "'Are you in the beyond? I think you are'."
"'The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book'," he mimicked humorously.
"'Your aura is pulsing'," she breathed in a Trelawney-like voice. "Seriously though, that woman needs to take a class on making tea. It tasted like . . . don't even want to remind myself about it."
"Pansy burnt her tongue on that boiling pond water," Malfoy added with a laugh, still without glancing up. "I had to bring her a glass of water up before it got worse."
Eva sniggered at the thought. "You know, on my way into the room, I walked past her and she told me that my aura's dull and lifeless. Who the hell tells someone that their aura is dull and lifeless? What am I supposed to do with that information?"
"'Consult the inner eye'?" Malfoy suggested, causing them both to burst out laughing.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: This chapter was a filler chapter more than anything, but yay, Eva's gonna play Quidditch! It just really pissed me off when I saw that there's literally never a girl on the Slytherin Quidditch team, the sexism is just too much oml
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!