LAST CHAPTER...
Draco glanced up in time to see Ginny hit the ground. "Weasley?" he queried. "Need help walking now?"
There was no response.
"Weasley?" he questioned again worriedly. "Ginny?" he whispered as he got down on his knees. He slid his hands under Ginny's back and slowly lifted her up into his arms. He looked down at her pale face. Her breathing was shallow and she lay dangerously still. Draco quickened his strides to reach the infirmary. He pushed open the door with his back and as he turned, an outraged voice boomed in his ears.
"What have you done to my sister!?"
CHAPTER THREE - IN WHICH RON GETS REALLY MAD
It dawned on Draco how bad this looked. Ginny was covered with mud, grime, and sweat. His own normally immaculate appearance was tousled with mud that covered his knees, legs, and arms.
Draco took in the scene before him. He could see Potter's shocked eyes peering out from behind the hospital curtain. Hermione was sitting in a stool with blank confusion on her face. Draco would have smirked at her expression because for once she was speechless, but he had greater concerns.
Abruptly, Ron stood, knocking over his stool. His face somehow managed to look furious, concerned and appalled simultaneously.
"Malfoy…" Ron shouted, lunging towards Draco, only to stop himself after realizing his sister was in the way.
Madame Pomfrey burst in. "Ron! You should know better by now," she scolded. "This is a place to rest, a place for peace and quiet! Out! Out!" she whispered angrily. Ron shuffled slowly towards the door glaring over his shoulder with every step he took. Hermione walked behind him, gently nudging him forward. She murmured whispers of comfort into his ear.
Draco envisioned Ron as an angry horse with Hermione purring comments to calm him. At the moment, he even looked like one. The thought brought out the infamous smirk that he had been holding down. The last thing Ron saw through the closing door was Draco Malfoy holding Ginny in his arms, wearing a snide smile.
Madame Pomfrey directed him to a bed. "What happened, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked, as she bustled about to gather brews and medicines.
Draco thought back to Ginny's detention. "Weasley was weeding a section of the lawn for detention. It was my job to supervise her. After a few hours, she sat down and announced she was finished. I then pointed out a few weeds she missed. When I turned, I saw her hit the ground." He said this all calmly and clearly without a hint of hesitation or guilt. "I carried her up here and you know the rest."
She nodded. Her enchanted wand was traveling up and down the length of Ginny's body. Suddenly, the wand began to spin furiously, coming to a stop at Draco's face. Bits of twinkling dust spritzed out of the end and evaporated into the air. Draco raised an eyebrow.
Madame Pomfrey looked up and blinked. "Draco, I think you should leave her with me."
There was a long pause. Draco stood. "Of course," he said, brushing off his robes. He seemed to walk a bit slower than usual, shutting the door gently behind him.
Madame Pomfrey starred at the scintillating wand. With the absence of Draco, the wand had gone back to floating above Ginny's body. "How strange," she thought. The wand had been enchanted to search for any signs of magical involvement with a patient. It would spin if a curse or potion were detected.
Never had the wand lit up or pointed at another individual. It was almost as if the same curse had affected both Draco Malfoy and Ginny Weasley. Madame Pomfrey sighed and opened another cabinet, rummaging for her old spell books.
******
Ron sat in a common room chair, glaring angrily at the chessboard. The fireplace crackled behind him, marching his hot rage. He muttered something about splitting Malfoy in half first thing in the morning. "I bet he caused this!" he grumbled. "When I get to him, I'll…I'll…"
"Umm…Ron. It's your turn," Hermione said with a mix of concern and annoyance. "Your king can't move four spaces!"
Ron gazed at the board and moved his castle. "Check-mate," he said.
"Ron, are you okay?"
"What do you mean am I okay? My little sister was put in the infirmary by Malfoy and you ask me if I'm alright?" he roared in response.
All the Gryffindors turned their heads toward the yelling at the end of the common room. When they saw the cause of commotion, they turned back around. It was just another one of Ron's frequent outbursts. A buzz of gossip began to travel quickly.
Hermione sighed. "Well, if that's how you're going to be, I guess there is no point talking to you." She swept out of her chair and started up the steps to the girl's chambers. Ron blinked and dropped wearily into his chair. He would have to apologize to Hermione in the morning. He returned to his thoughts of Ginny lying in the hospital bed unconscious. He pictured Malfoy beating her violently into the ground and his rage fired up once more.
******
Harry strolled down the corridors to the Gryffindor tower in a daze. Madame Pomfrey had wrapped his sprained wrist in a bandage with some magical ointment. Apparently he had sprained his wrist so many times, that he developed an immunity to the spell that could heal it. She sent him on his way with a worried look on her face. Harry sighed and directed his thoughts to Draco Malfoy. He had a growing hope that Malfoy had changed this year. At least he had reduced the number of rude comments and immature pranks. Harry then visualized Ginny lying prone on a pure white bed, her fiery hair spread our around her. Over the years, he had begun to see Ginny as his own little sister. Harry quickened his pace, his angry thoughts still focused on Malfoy. He turned the corner sharply and ran straight into the one person that he did not want to see.
******
The dark Hogwarts halls resonated an eerieness similar to the Malfoy mansion. The endless, twisting corridors were empty except for the occasional mummers from ghosts and students out of bed. Draco placed one foot carefully in front of the other. As a child, he was denied many "normal" games and toys so he made up his own. One had been to walk as silently as possible, to seem as he was floating. Even now, he continued this practice. A Malfoy never shuffled or scampered and he may as well be as graceful as he could. He heard some clipped footsteps coming down the corridor. "Probably a lost first year," he thought smugly as he opened his mouth to give the student a piece of his mind. He decided against it when the familiar sight of tousled black hair and broken glasses clumsily crashed into him.
"Still getting lost, Potter?"
"Still being a git, Malfoy?" Harry retorted, pushing himself into Draco's face. "It's not enough to put fifth year girls in the hospital? Haven't filled out your daily quota of cruelty?" He shoved Draco back against a wall.
Draco's eyes narrowed as he grabbed Harry by the collar of his robes and shook him. Harry pulled his fist back for a punch when approaching footsteps were heard.
The unmistakable sound of Filch's shuffling feet echoed hauntingly in the empty hall. Draco immediately released Harry and headed swiftly towards the sound of Filch.
Harry grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?" he hissed. "We've got to hide."
"It's moments like these that prove the simplicity of Gryffindors," Draco scoffed, irritably. He brushed off Harry's hand and continued walking. Harry crept after him, waiting for Draco to be knocked off his pedestal.
"Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing in the halls at this hour?" Filch's unpleasant voice dripped with suspicion and astonishment.
Harry listened in amazement as Malfoy adopted a honeyed tone.
"I was returning to the dungeons from the infirmary when I heard you coming by and I thought I should come thank you for all your work around Hogwarts."
Filch looked thoroughly taken back. "Y-you-you're welcome," he answered awkwardly.
Draco continued in his most grateful tone. "You might find some students out of bed down the hall. I heard some noises."
Filch peered hopefully down the corridor. "I must be going, Mr. Malfoy. Go straight to your dormitory."
"Of course, sir," Draco replied. He turned slightly and winked smugly at Harry before sauntering sedately towards the dungeons.
Harry cursed silently and scampered off as Filch came towards him.
*********
Ginny woke up the next morning, feeling calm and refreshed. She stretched lazily in bed and opened her eyes only to find herself in the hospital wing. The night before flooded back to her in a rushing stream. There was that one last patch of weeds. Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember more.
"Missed a spot," Draco had said in an every so irritating tone. At that moment, she had wanted to be very far from him, to never see him again. He was the reason she got detention. If only he would just go away… Then all of a sudden, dizziness had overcome her. It was as if all her thoughts were rushing into each other, causing an explosion into darkness. The last thing she heard before completely blacking out was his voice hoarsely whispering her name.
"Virginia," Madame Pomfrey entered the room. "Good morning."
"Good morning," she piped merrily. She wore a bright smile, but her day had dimmed to a dreadful gray.
"You seem fine. You must have passed out from exhaustion."
"No kidding," she thought.
Madame Pomfrey continued. "If it were up to me, I would keep you here a day more, but your headmaster wishes to speak to you in his office."
"In his office?"
"Yes, dear. Now hurry along to your dormitory to change. He's expecting you in an hour."
"An hour? But what about class?"
"It's Saturday dear."
"Oh."
**************
Ron stormed down towards the Slytherin dungeons with Harry and Hermione at his heels. He had vowed to himself that he would make Malfoy pay for whatever he did to Ginny.
"Ron, stop," Hermione pleaded. "This won't do any good."
Ron stopped and turned sharply to face Hermione.
"You think you know everything, don't you?" he snapped. "You may not care about my little sister, but I do!"
Harry was torn between his two best friends. Before he could do anything, Ron opened his mouth once more.
"What do you have against Ginny anyway? You're the one who got Harry."
Hermione glared at Ron. Both of them were oblivious to their dumbfounded friend beside them.
"Well, Ronniekins. If you think I don't care about Ginny, then go on! Go pound on Malfoy! Get sent to the infirmary again for all I care!"
"Fine!" He turned and resumed walking. Hermione ran in front of him.
"You stupid git!" she screamed. "What good would it do if you killed Malfoy? You don't even know what happened."
"Fine, then. Pray tell. What did happen?" Ron answered with a scowl.
"Ginny had detention last night."
"We all know that."
"I was supposed to supervise her, because I'm the top student. However, I wanted to watch Harry play at quidditch practice."
Ron rolled his eyes. Harry looked at him, then at Hermione. He resolved to remain silent.
"Professor McGonagall probably left her in the care of her second best student. I didn't realize it before, but that would probably be Malfoy."
Harry and Ron gaped at her incredulously. The thought of Malfoy being remotely near the top of the class was just too hard to believe.
"Yes, it's Malfoy."
"So you left her with Malfoy?" Ron asked, practically shaking with fury.
"Well, I didn't realize it would be him at the time. Ginny must have over-exerted herself in detention and Malfoy simply carried her to the infirmary."
Both Harry and Ron looked prepared to argue.
"Think about it," she continued. "Would he bring her to the infirmary if he was the one who hurt her?"
Ron and Harry closed their mouths. Hermione had a point. It was Harry who spoke first. "Why don't we go visit Ginny?"
"Yeah. And if you still want to bash Malfoy's head in after that, it won't be too late," Hermione pointed out.
"You're right," Ron said, brightening up a little. "Yvette might even be there.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other knowingly.
"What?" Ron said.
END OF CHAPTER THREE
Yeah, we know. Short chapter. Not much happened. Stuff happens in chapter four though. Review and we'll post chapter four. ^_^
~ Sellene and Mignonne