Chapter 31:  Blades, Blood, and Little Else

            "Wow…" Azar breathed as Harry finished the story, "You boys have had a pretty full night.  Hey Draco, what happened to you?  When you disappeared, I mean?"

            "Hm?" he asked, shaking his head as though shaking away sleep.

            "Awww, is little Draccy-waccy tired?" Azar cooed with a smile.

            "No…not really," he answered, "I feel sick.  And a little dizzy."

            The smile quickly faded from Azar's face.  "Really?  You should be fine by now."

            She reached up, putting a hand on Draco's forehead, then drawing it away in surprise.

            "My gosh, Draco, you're burning up!"

            Harry turned around, and wondered why he hadn't noticed.  Draco's face was red, covered in sweat, and he looked absolutely miserable.  There was no denying that he was sick.

            "How did it come on so quickly?"

            "I don't know," Azar answered worriedly, "Could it be side effects of that one spell he was under, that Lotis something-or-other?"

            "No," Draco answered, shaking his head weakly, "A person can be taken out of the spell at any stage—but the last—and be perfectly fine.  If he reaches the last stage, then he…his soul is gone.  There are no side effects."

            Azar looked at him in surprise.  "How do you know so much about it?"

            "My dad threatened to put me under it a couple times when I did something bad, so I decided to look it up.  I-" Draco stopped short, taking a breath sharply.

            "Any way to speed things up, Harry?" Azar asked somewhat tensely, trying to comfort Draco.

            "I'll try."

            After about five interminable minutes, Harry squinted, spotting something on the horizon.

            "I see it!  Hogwarts, straight ahead!  We're almost there, Draco."

            There was silence a moment.  "Draco?" Azar said tentatively, "Draco!  Harry, he's fainted!"

            Harry kept his focus on the castle, flying as fast as he could.  They soon landed at the steps in front of the entrance.

            "Now what?" he asked, conjuring a stretcher underneath Draco.

            "You take him to the infirmary; I'm going to try and find Dumbledore."

            Azar quickly raced off, finding the gargoyle in no time.  To her horror, she couldn't remember the password.

            "Cream puffs!" she yelled, "Blackberry pie!  Fudge, I don't know!  Just open!"

            The gargoyle gave her a contemptuous look, which Azar returned.  Realizing she couldn't just hope for someone to come along, she started banging on the stone wall, ignoring the pain each blow caused on her fist.

            "Help!" Azar yelled, "Dumbledore, Hermione, anybody, help!"

            The door soon opened and she saw Dumbledore standing in front of her.

            "Oh Professor!" she cried, "Please come quick!  He needs help!  He's dying!"

            "Take a breath, Azar," he said, "Who needs help?"

            "Is it Harry?!" Sirius asked frantically, he and the rest coming out.

            "It's Draco," she said, calming down, "We don't know what's wrong with him.  He had a fever, and then he just fainted.  Harry took him to the hospital room."

            Dumbledore and Azar rushed off, the rest of the group following in a confused daze.  They hurried to the hospital wing.  Harry was waiting outside the door.  He didn't so much as get to say hello before he was suffocated in a barrage of hugs, Sirius' the hardest of all.

            "I'd okay," Harry said, half laughing, half choking, "Promise."

            "Where in Godric's name were you?!" Sirius yelled, getting over his elation and replacing it with anger, "Have you any idea how worried I've been?!"

            "I didn't have much choice in the matter, Sirius," Harry answered, "But I'll explain later.  Right now…Draco."

            Madam Pomfrey had just opened the door, looking worried.

            "Albus, I'm glad you're here.  Come in.  You too, Severus.  We'll need your skills."

            The two men entered and Harry motioned to follow, but Pomfrey stopped him.

            "You must wait out here, Mr. Potter.  He doesn't need your help…yet, at least."

            She closed the door and Harry turned around.

            "Harry, what's wrong with him?" Azar asked quietly.

            "I'm not really sure," he said, shaking his head, "I told her about what happened.  Well, summarized it anyways.  I think it has something to do with the cut on his arm."

            To everyone else, of course, the conversation was lost.  Ron made a move to ask something, but thought better of it and stayed silent.  Suddenly, the door opened again.  A grim Dumbledore looked out from the threshold.

            "Harry, Azar, Ron, and Hermione," he said quietly, "Would you come in?"

            With a solemnity of a funeral procession, the four friends walked into the room.  Sirius soon followed, as though frightened to let Harry out of his sight, and Remus entered after his friend, closing the door quietly.  Draco was lying in a middle bed, Madam Pomfrey by his side.  His eyes were closed and his face pale and clammy; his breathing was very labored and his body was as limp as wet grass.  Snape stood in a corner, his back to them.  His shoulders were hunched tight and he had one hand held stiffly against the wall, as though he was trying to hold something back.

            "What's wrong with Draco, Professor?" Hermione asked quietly, breaking the deafening silence.

            Dumbledore was quiet a moment, his eyes tired and the light that normally shone in them seemed to have gone out.

            "I won't try to soften it for you," he finally answered, "He's dying."

            Hermione's hand came slowly to her mouth, as tears did to her eyes.  The color drained from Ron's face.  Harry could no longer feel his feet.

            "D-dying?" Azar said with an almost nervous laugh, as though the severity of the statement made it absurd, "How can he be dying?  The Lotis Katura curse has no side effects."

            "It's not the curse," Pomfrey said, her voice hoarse, "It's the wound."

            "It's just a cut!" Azar yelled, angry though not sure why, "How can a wizard die from a bloody scratch?!?!"

            "He can't," Pomfrey said quietly, throat tight, "But he can die from poison."

            Azar's eyes went wide as she fell stiffly into a chair.

            "Poison?" Harry whispered in disbelief.

            "The blade was coated with the venom…of a Basilisk," Dumbledore confirmed.

            "So we're just going to watch him…die?"

            "We can save him.  We can remove the tainted blood, but he'll need to have it replaced with-"

            "I'll give it to him," Harry said urgently.

            Dumbledore smiled slightly, but shook his head.  "I'm afraid it's not that easy.  First there's the matter of blood type.  Draco's is A-positive.  That is not too uncommon, but he is also a pureblood.  There are very few wizarding families left that are completely magical, and the Malfoy family is one of them.  So he needs a donor of completely non-Muggle roots."

            Every eye in the room turned to Ron.

            "Whoa, wait a second," he said, eyes widening, "Why me?"

            "Harry is half-blood," Hermione said, "And both Azar and I are muggle-born."

            "You told me yourself about your wizarding heritage," Harry added quietly.

            "But…  Why can't Snape do it?" Ron said, pointing at the silent potions teacher, "He's a pureblood, and more than willing, I should think."

            "I would, Weasley," the man answered without moving, his voice hollow, "but I can't.  The wrong blood type."

            "Well, I probably don't have the right blood type either," Ron pointed out.

            "Yours is a match," Pomfrey said.

            "How do you know?!" Ron yelled, going a little frantic.

            "You've had your share of trips to the infirmary, Mr. Weasley."

            "B-bu-but…"

            "Ron, come on," Harry said, a little confused, "What's the matter?"

            "What's the matter?!  It's my blood!" Ron answered animatedly, "And you want me to put it in him?!"

            Storm clouds seemed to rush to Harry's eyes.  "A boy lies there dying, you with a chance to save him, but you-don't-want-to," Harry said, teeth clenched, "Who are you?"

            "R-Ron Weasley…"

            "No you're not.  The Ron Weasley I know would jump at the chance to save Draco."

            Ron stared at Harry.  "Well," he said quietly, "then you don't know him very good."

            "Ron," Harry said, trying to keep his anger from welling up, "We're not asking you to give blood to Voldemort.  This is Draco."

            Ron's eyes flitted to Draco a moment, then at the room of people waiting anxiously for his answer.  He looked back at Draco.  "I…I need some time to think, "he said, rushing out of the infirmary.

            Harry stared as the door slammed shut, anger being replaced by shock.  "I don't believe it…" he said, sitting slowly in a chair, "I just don't believe it…"

            "Did you really think he'd be eager to do it?" Hermione asked gently.

            "Well…yeah.  I mean, how can you hesitate when someone's life is at stake?"

            "And you're going to tell me you had no reservations about risking your life for Draco?" Azar said, smiling knowingly.

            "Okay, so I had second thoughts, but that was a completely different situation."

            "Yes it was.  And Ron's a completely different person."

            "You can't force him to do it, Harry," Hermione said, choosing for now to ignore the fact that she was left basically in the dark, "He has to make his own choice."

            "I know…  I just want him to make the right one."

            The room was silent but for the struggle of Draco's breathing.

            "Albus!" Pomfrey suddenly shouted, her voice in a panic.

            Everyone turned sharply.  Draco was shaking, like his bed was vibrating.  However, the shaking was increasing violently, as though his body were trying to pull itself apart.  Dumbledore quickly rushed over, and the trio stood to follow, but Snape pushed them back.

            "Get out!" he barked, rushing to Draco.

            The three backed off, but didn't leave the room, their eyes transfixed on the terrifying sight.  Harry couldn't take it any longer.  He bolted for the door.

            "Harry, where are you going?"

            He didn't answer, just running from the room.  Sirius set off to follow him, but Remus stopped him.

            "It's best if he's alone, Siri-"

            "Remus," Sirius said forcefully, "I am not letting that boy out of my sight."

            He pulled from Remus' grasp and ran out the door, leaving the chaos behind.

~*~*~

A/N: Well, back to writing the chapters seconds before I post 'em. Just expect not so frequent postings, though I'm going to try and get this story done before Thanksgiving.

Ah, no more of those confusing time differences. Everyone's at Hogwarts, so there should be less time gaps. (Though there probably will be some due to the fact that different people are experiencing different things at the same time. Er…yeah)

Hmmm… What to do now? I know so little of what I want next. (Though I do know whether or not I'll let Draco live. *grins maliciously*) Let's see, maybe I should… Whoops, shouldn't be typing that.

Thank you, wise and kind reviewers! Without you, I wouldn't even write, and thus would be swallowed up by the horrid monotony that is high school.

Moon Warrior: Weeeellll… You don't HAVE to put in a romantic interest. I just thought it would be interesting if Lili had some competition ('cause Herm won't be doing that anytime soon), whether real competition or just Ady wishing she were competition. ^-^ Whee, sounds awesome! Get writing! And thanks for the review!

Allison: *gets on knees and looks up at ceiling, holding hands up in horror just like in the movies* NOOOOOO!!!!! Shoot, I love nice, crazy reviews! And it's been so long since I had an Allison review, and that's one of the best kinds! *sigh* Ah well, it's the thought that counts. Thanks!

Kiana: *can't stop grinning* I love getting new readers! Thank you, though I'm sure JKR could come up with a much more exciting method of Wormtail's demise. Hurray, I'm glad you like Azar! And I pronounce it Uh-czar (as in a Czar of Russia), but it doesn't really matter. I think the correct pronunciation is Uh-sar, since I got it from my Spanish dictionary. Oh wow, thank you again. I am writing a series of novels, and may one day post a chapter or two, but I was recently rereading bits and pieces of my first and I realized how much I've improved, and thus need to change. Oh, I do that all the time! In fact, I now often pull up the review window first before reading so I can write things down that I want to review on. I actually first thought that a cooking class might be fun and wrote that in, but then one day the line "When will cooking ever save your life!" "Well, you never know." just popped in my head, and so I thought how interesting that would be for a trial. *shrug* The mind is an odd thing. Ah, I realize now how many characters were a lot more unlikely than Moody. Now Voldemort would have been an interesting one. ^-^ Well, as to Sirius, I'm not absolutely positive here, but I think in most scenes, the people there know about him and his innocence (plus, he was at Hogwarts much of the summer, something I'll go further into in year 7). Draco didn't know in year 5 about Sirius' innocence, and wouldn't know but for the fact that he spent the summer in close quarters with him. So to most people, he's just Harry's godfather, though I plan on having a few instances where we see more of his unwanted fame. ^_^ *cough* I'm sorry, but that is classified information. ^-^ Oh, it takes 473 licks to get to the center of a tootsie-roll pop. Hey, I have to have something to do in math class. Ooh, I should bring in more of our favorite twins. I don't know how JKR manages it w/ all her minor characters. I simply have trouble fitting them all in. Yes, I'll write year 7, and then I have a few more ideas. I don't know if I want to go on writing about Harry after Hogwarts, though. *shrug* Never know. "Be excellent to each other" comes from the movie "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" (I believe Ted's the one who says it.) That's an extremely funny movie, especially if you watch it during your last day of history class. ^_^ No, don't apologize! I LOVE long reviews! They're the best! (Sadly, I have trouble writing long ones myself, something I'd like to change) Again, thank you! (Holy cow, what a long reply!)

Super saya-jin Gotan: Yes, I have plans for year 7. (I could pretend that Harry might not live long enough to get to year 7, but I'm not smart enough to fool ya.) Thanks!

jona: Ha, good point. Yep, yep, an Azar thing to do. ^_^ Thanks!

Freda Potter: Thanks!

Be excellent to each other!

-Ady