Chapter 15

Draco continued to send Astoria letters after she had gone back to Hogwarts. He was looking forward to when she would graduate so that he could see her again.

Draco was feeding and watching the peacocks. The young ones were still the only ones who let him pet them, and Gardenia still ate out of his hand. Malfoy prowled around outside of the cluster of the others, snatching up whatever food scraps he could find. Draco decided he'd go inside and get some lunch for himself. His stomach rumbled, seemingly in agreement.

After lunch, he decided to write a letter to Astoria, but while he was carrying the bottle of ink to the table where he was going to write, he suddenly dropped it onto the floor, causing it to shatter, ink splattering everywhere. No! Not another- Panicking as the flashbacks began overtaking him, he ran over to a couch and buried his face into a pillow, sobbing, as the flashbacks attacked.

Draco woke up later, panting and sweating. Narcissa was kneeling next to the couch, looking worried. He saw relief in her eyes when he looked at her. "Are you alright?" she asked calmly. Draco shook his head, still shaking. "Lucius, can you make him some tea?" she asked. "And put some chamomile in it," she added, apparently remembering that's what Draco had been doing. Narcissa stayed next to Draco, trying to calm him down with reassuring words and her gentle touch.

Lucius came back with the tea and handed it to Draco, who began sipping it. He started to feel a little better, and he was pleased to notice that it was indeed chamomile.

"It's going to be hard getting that ink out of where it splashed onto the carpet," Lucius grumbled. "But I'm glad Draco's okay," he added, seeing the glare from Narcissa.

About a month later, Draco was out running an errand. It wasn't meant to be a very long one - he just needed to get some more blueberries and chamomile. He kept looking around warily for any signs of trouble. Maybe he should've just asked his mother to come with him, but he really didn't want to bother her. And besides, it's not going to take long, anyway… he told himself. He just needed to get to the shop quickly and get back home without anything happening-

Footsteps! He heard the sound growing closer and began hyperventilating, looking around for the source of the noise. He saw a young man appear around the corner. Holding his breath, he wondered, Maybe he isn't coming to me - he could just be-

Too late - there was a flash of light, and Draco once again found himself immobilized on the ground. No! Not again!

"Well, look who's here," a voice sneered. The footsteps came closer to him. It sounded like there was more than one person this time. Draco was terrified. He didn't know what they would do, but whatever it was - it wasn't going to be good.

"This is that weak Malfoy," a different voice spoke.

"You know, we supported the Death Eater ideals, although we were never able to fight for them," another voice said. "We know all about you, Malfoy. You weren't a good Death Eater. We'll show you what good Death Eaters actually do!"

Draco was suddenly stormed with numerous spells and curses. His body was still bound, so he couldn't even try to get away, and there were too many people all throwing curses at him at once. He was in so much pain, and he felt like it would never end.

Finally, everything stilled, and he was left lying there on the ground, bleeding. He could feel the blood soaking into his clothes, and his vision was getting blurrier, until everything went dark.

O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - O

Draco could hear voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. He didn't know what was going on. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling very disoriented. What - happened? His brain was rather fuzzy. He moved his arm a little, and, remembering he had been petrified, was pleased to see he could move again - although he was hurting a lot.

"Draco," Narcissa gasped in relief. "You're okay." She came over to the bed he was lying in.

"M-mother?" Draco croaked. "Wh - where - am I-?" He winced at the sudden pain he felt.

"St. Mungo's Hospital - I'm not entirely sure what happened, but you were attacked or something," Narcissa explained.

"You'll have to stay here for a while," a woman, who was probably a healer, said. "I'm going to get you some medication." She left the room, closing the door behind her.

"I just wanted blueberries and chamomile," Draco mumbled.

"I can have Lucius get you some when he's able to," Narcissa said. "Don't worry about anything right now. You just need to rest."

"I - have to tell you something else…." Narcissa gave him an expectant look, and he went on. "You seemed to be wondering what exactly happened…. Well… my brain is a bit fuzzy, but I think I can remember-" he winced at a sudden pain he felt. "A few things-"

"Draco, you don't have to tell me any of this right now. Just rest," Narcissa interrupted, seeing that he was in pain.

Draco continued anyway, "There was - a gang of these - Death Eater supporters - I don't know how many there were - possibly like three or five? They attacked me - they said - they said that I had been a 'weak Death Eater'."

"Oh, Draco…" Narcissa said with sympathy. "Please - just get some rest." Draco finally did as he was told.

When Draco woke up, the healer was there again. She handed him a vial of liquid, "Drink this."

The potion tasted awfully disgusting, and Draco fought the urge to gag. When he finally finished forcing it down his throat, he laid back down to sleep some more.

Over the course of the week, Draco was feeling quite miserable. Between taking horrid tasting potions and resting, he wasn't doing much else. His wounds weren't hurting as much, but the healers still insisted he stay in bed, as they didn't want the wounds to go back to the way they were. Draco was getting very bored just lying in bed, doing nothing. His parents would come visit him - Narcissa spent most of her time with him - which he liked, but he still wished he could be getting up and around again. He tossed and turned in his bed.

Suddenly, the door opened and a healer came in. Oh, great, another potion… Draco thought.

"You have a visitor, Mr. Malfoy," was what the healer said.

Visitor? "One of my parents?" he asked, but the healer shook his head and opened the door again. He left the room and was replaced by Astoria Greengrass.

"Hey Draco," she said in her usual bubbly voice.

"Astoria - I - wasn't expecting you - I thought you were still at Hogwarts-" Draco's heart was beating rapidly in his shock.

Astoria giggled, "I was able to get some time off to come visit you." She gave him a more solemn look, "I heard what happened. It was all over the papers."

Oh great! Draco groaned. That's just what I need - to be "all over the papers"!

"I brought you something," Astoria smiled. She took something small out of her purse and enlarged it with her wand. "Here," she handed him a vase of flowers. "These are violets from my family's garden."

As much as Draco found it rather odd that she was the one giving him flowers, he was deeply touched by her kind gesture, and for the first time that week, felt quite joyful.