The Sickly Secret Is Out
It seemed that the twins and Lavender had in deed done their part, because the regular talks and shouts were instead whispers. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped off of their horseless carriage, and they caught traces of the whispers as they walked along towards the front steps.
They tried not to laugh at some of the things they overheard, and at the same time, they tried not to turn around and stare at the talkers in disgust. They finally reached the front steps through the crowds and walked into the main hall.
"I'm not going past that table," Ron whispered to Hermione and Harry as they came to the large doors.
"You'll have to if you want to join the Gryffindor table," Hermione said impatiently.
"But what about Harry?" Ron said, thinking up a fast excuse. "What if Malfoy reaches for his butt-"
Harry grimaced and turned around to blush heavily.
"Oh, sorry, Harry," Ron said quickly, "but it's only the truth!"
"Don't be so ridiculous!" Hermione said.
"What's the hold up?!" people started shouting from behind the three. Hermione blushed, open the doors, and shoved Ron and Harry inside. She gripped them by the arms and pulled them along past the Slytherin table, Ravenclaw table, Hufflepuff table, and when they finally came to the Gryffindor table, they sat down at the very end.
"I can't believe so many people know," Hermione muttered as she leaned in closer to Harry and Ron.
When the last of the students had piled in, the sorting began and ended, and finally, Dumbledore made his big speech, which ended it, "Eat like pigs!" making Professor McGonagall glare disapprovingly at him.
Harry couldn't eat, though. Hermione, who had noticed this a while ago, reached across the table and felt his neck. "Oh, Harry! You have a temperature!"
"The news is making me sick too," Ron said, swallowing his meat pie with difficulty.
"Hush!" Hermione said, looking around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "What we don't need is for someone to find out exactly who Malfoy likes!"
"Oh, calm down," Ron said as he reached for another meat pie. "No one will find out."
"You're kidding," someone said excitedly from behind the three. "You know who Malfoy likes?!"
It was Colin Creevy and Denis Creevy.
"It's probably Harry," Colin said, turning energetically to Denis. "Everyone likes Harry! There's no reason why even his enemy shouldn't be attracted to him!"
The Gryffindor table came over a sudden hush and they turned to stare at Colin and Denis.
"It's true!" Denis squeaked. "I bet Malfoy really does like Harry!"
"No, no, hush!" Hermione said, waving her arms around wildly. Ron started chocking on his meat pie, and Harry sunk beneath the table in humiliation.
The whispers started again. As Harry sat underneath the table, he could literally hear the news spread from the Gryffindor table to the Hufflepuff table, which had just suddenly become quiet too. It was a matter of time before the Ravenclaws knew, and then the Slytherins... Malfoy would know Harry knew! That would be bad, very bad! Not just for Malfoy, but for Neville also! Oh, what the hell, what about Harry himself? He could all ready hear it: "Who's going to be wearing the dress, Harry?"
Ron, who seemed to have recovered from his meat pie trauma, had peeked under the table. "Get out of here!" he advised. "Go into the halls and wait for us there!"
Hermione peeked under the table at the moment. "No, stay! You'll get in trouble!"
Ron turned and glared at Hermione. "Do you really want piled upon piles of people to tackle the poor boy and demand whether Harry was gay too and whether they were getting married?"
Hermione couldn't back herself up, because at that second, someone had asked loudly, "Wait, is Harry gay too?"
Hermione sighed. "Fine. But if you get detention, it's not my fault, not my fault at all."
Harry was both shocked and upset at how fast gossip was spreading. As he crawled carefully underneath the table, he could hear each person tell the person next to he or she, and their comment.
"Malfoy likes Harry! Pass it on!"
"Oh my God."
"Oh my God is right! Now pass it on!"
Harry, carefully avoiding the many pairs of legs, crawled to the other end of the table. He crossed the small gap from Gryffindor to Hufflepuff, and he started to carefully avoid the legs again. He apparently wasn't careful enough, however, because he trotted over someone's foot.
"Ouch!" the girl cried, looking underneath the table.
Harry quickly put a finger up to signal to be quiet. The girl's eyes widened, and then narrowed, and mouthed, "Why?"
Harry mouthed back, "Please, just be quiet... You'll find out soon enough..."
The girl nodded then looked up from underneath the table. As Harry began crawling away, he heard, "What was that, Amelia?"
Harry supposed the girl shrugged, because he didn't hear her answer.
Finally, Harry reached the very end of the Hufflepuff table, which was closer to the Hall's doors. He took a deep breath, then leapt from underneath the table, making the people at the end cry out in surprise. Harry opened the doors without a backwards glance to see if the teachers were angry, surprised, or angry and surprised.
Harry opened the two doors, slammed them shut, and sprinted through the halls.
He slowed down on his way to Gryffindor Tower, not only because he was tired, but also because he needed the password. What was he going to do? Not only was he stranded in the hallways until a Gryffindor Prefect could come along, but he was positive that the Prefect would have Gryffindor students following along behind him. That meant questions among questions and jeers among jeers. Harry was also starting to feel a little more sick.
He felt his neck like Hermione had done. She was right, he had a fever.
"Perfect," he muttered. He leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position. Not that he was supposed to wonder - it was because he was bored - but... How was Malfoy taking all of this? Besides anger and humiliation, was he feeling relieved that it was off his chest? Was he wondering what Harry was wondering? Had he fled from the Main Hall as well? Was he someplace down in the cold dungeons, sitting up against the wall as Harry was doing?
"Potter," a simple word interrupted Harry's thoughts. Harry jumped and looked up into one of the last people he wanted to see - Professor McGonagall.
"I - I-"
"You've received detention," McGonagall said in irritation. She crossed her arms. "What has gotten into you, Potter? Leaving the Main Hall like that!"
"I - well, I-"
"Honestly," McGonagall said, her shocked expression becoming into a dark, mean stare. "You must be out of your mind!"
"I feel sick," Harry said, thinking quickly.
Professor McGonagall bent over and felt Harry's forehead. "You do seem warm... Since it's your first day back at Hogwarts, I'm feeling generous, and you have a fever, you will not receive detention. Now hurry, come with me to the infirmary. I don't want your fever to grow anymore than it all ready has."
Harry reluctantly jogged behind Professor McGonagall, who was striding quickly along to the infirmary. Finally, they came to the halls with Hogwart's past nurses in paintings, and Professor McGonagall opened the infirmary door.
The first thing Harry noticed was that Madam Pomfrey was bending over a student in the middle of the room. The student was sitting down in a hard, wooden chair, so Harry couldn't see who the student was until Madam Pomfrey moved -
Draco Malfoy?!
The very last person Harry wanted to see. Malfoy was staring out of the window, and he seemed flushed. Malfoy didn't even glance to see who had walked in. It was like he was in a trance.
"Oh, not another one," Madam Pomfrey said, turning to Harry and Professor McGonagall. "Two in one night, this definitely means that a bug is spreading. I bet it was those meat pies that was at the dinner table! The meat was Bulgarian, and Bulgarian meat pies don't suit the English very well!"
While she was saying this, she had grabbed Harry and said an order to a hard wooden chair in a corner, which had suddenly started walking. It stopped next to Malfoy, and Madam Pomfrey forced Harry down into the chair. She took the wand out of Malfoy's mouth, gave it a small twirl, and red sparks fired out.
"Oh, goodness!" she said. "You are definitely staying here overnight, Mr. Malfoy!"
"Is it really that bad, Poppy?" Professor McGonagall said, putting her hands onto her hips with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, it is," Madam Pomfrey said busily. She took out a second wand and popped that one into Harry's mouth. She bustled up to Professor McGonagall, and the two started talking in low voices. Harry, a natural eavesdropper, picked up a few words they were saying.
"Yes... Afraid so... Dangerous... Highly contagious... Mr. Malfoy will be staying... Mr. Potter might have it... To think, the Boy Who Lived, being killed off by a disease... Horrible, rather horrible..."
Harry had a sinking feeling in his gut.
'Please, don't let it be red,' he thought as Madam Pomfrey came over, popped the wand out of Harry's mouth, and gave it a little twirl. Red. Dear God. Not only did this mean that Harry had whatever highly contagious disease Malfoy had, but this meant that he'd be staying in the infirmary too! Alone! With Malfoy!
"Oh, goodness, it seems you have the bug as well," Madam Pomfrey said. "Poor boy," Madam Pomfrey added, talking about Malfoy. "You need rest... You haven't even eaten anything."
It then occurred to Harry that Malfoy must've come here immediately after the train ride. He didn't have time to ponder this, however, because Madam Pomfrey was suddenly ripping off his shirt. Harry blushed heavily as the cold hit him like a sack of bricks. Madam Pomfrey then turned to Malfoy and took off his shirt as well.
Harry didn't know why, but he looked away.
"You'll need to burn those, Poppy," Professor McGonagall advised.
"Yes, in need," Madam Pomfrey said, throwing the two shirts into a pile.
"I'll be coming back up to check on them," Professor McGonagall said as she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "And goodness, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, don't quarrel. Both of you need your rest," she added. She closed the door behind her.
Harry shivered and glanced at Malfoy. Malfoy was still staring blankly out of the window.
"Come now," Madam Pomfrey said. She grabbed both boys by their arms and pulled them into standing position. "Come, you must sleep."
She pulled them to their beds and made sure they were tucked in tightly; she made Harry take off his glasses. After Madam Pomfrey had turned off the lights, left the main infirmary, and had left to her own office, Harry put on his glasses and turned on his side to face Malfoy.
"Malfoy!" he whispered.
Malfoy snapped out of the trance and looked at Harry as if he was only now seeing him. "What do you want?" he muttered.
"Jeez, just asking why you're here," Harry
"It's none of your business," Malfoy muttered back.
"It is so!" Harry shot back. "I have whatever you have, and I don't know what it is-"
"Is that talking I hear?!" Madam Pomfrey yelled from her office.
"Old bat," Harry muttered more quietly.
"Shut up," Malfoy whispered. He rolled over onto his side so his pale back was facing Harry.
Harry wanted so badly to ask Malfoy if it was true - if all of this gossip was false, if maybe, just maybe Neville had panicked just a little too much and misunderstood what Goyle had said...
"Why are you watching me?" Malfoy muttered in annoyance.
Harry jumped and blinked. "What are you talking about?" he asked, averting his eyes away.
Malfoy rolled over and glared at Harry so that his ice blue eyes flickered. "I know you were watching me. Don't even pretend you weren't."
Harry blushed slightly. He then heard the bustling sound that alerted Madam Pomfrey's return. He quickly rolled over.
"I knew it," she said, standing over Harry. "You two shouldn't even pretend you're sleeping. Mr. Potter here is giving it away with evidence."
Harry blushed as he realized his glasses were still on. He could hear Malfoy's muffled and evil, cold laughter. Harry received a nice, long scolding, and Madam Pomfrey practically ripped his glasses off of his face and rested it on his nightstand.
"It's sleep you need, sleep! Both of you! Stop laughing, Mr. Malfoy! You two are absolutely impossible! Always fighting, childish behavior, really! Now sleep, or I'll refuse to ever let visitors come in here!"
Malfoy shut up nearly immediately. Harry had stiffened. Madam Pomfrey was saying that he'd have to stay here only a night, but everyone knew she over did it. He would probably end up doing all of his school work in the infirmary for a month. And with Malfoy as his only company... He wouldn't ever be able to survive, especially without Ron's sarcastic jokes and Hermione's long lectures.
So when he heard Madam Pomfrey's door close again, he laid there in silence. It seemed that Malfoy felt the same way, and couldn't imagine a month without Goyle and Crabbe, or any other Slytherins for that matter.
It seemed that the twins and Lavender had in deed done their part, because the regular talks and shouts were instead whispers. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stepped off of their horseless carriage, and they caught traces of the whispers as they walked along towards the front steps.
They tried not to laugh at some of the things they overheard, and at the same time, they tried not to turn around and stare at the talkers in disgust. They finally reached the front steps through the crowds and walked into the main hall.
"I'm not going past that table," Ron whispered to Hermione and Harry as they came to the large doors.
"You'll have to if you want to join the Gryffindor table," Hermione said impatiently.
"But what about Harry?" Ron said, thinking up a fast excuse. "What if Malfoy reaches for his butt-"
Harry grimaced and turned around to blush heavily.
"Oh, sorry, Harry," Ron said quickly, "but it's only the truth!"
"Don't be so ridiculous!" Hermione said.
"What's the hold up?!" people started shouting from behind the three. Hermione blushed, open the doors, and shoved Ron and Harry inside. She gripped them by the arms and pulled them along past the Slytherin table, Ravenclaw table, Hufflepuff table, and when they finally came to the Gryffindor table, they sat down at the very end.
"I can't believe so many people know," Hermione muttered as she leaned in closer to Harry and Ron.
When the last of the students had piled in, the sorting began and ended, and finally, Dumbledore made his big speech, which ended it, "Eat like pigs!" making Professor McGonagall glare disapprovingly at him.
Harry couldn't eat, though. Hermione, who had noticed this a while ago, reached across the table and felt his neck. "Oh, Harry! You have a temperature!"
"The news is making me sick too," Ron said, swallowing his meat pie with difficulty.
"Hush!" Hermione said, looking around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "What we don't need is for someone to find out exactly who Malfoy likes!"
"Oh, calm down," Ron said as he reached for another meat pie. "No one will find out."
"You're kidding," someone said excitedly from behind the three. "You know who Malfoy likes?!"
It was Colin Creevy and Denis Creevy.
"It's probably Harry," Colin said, turning energetically to Denis. "Everyone likes Harry! There's no reason why even his enemy shouldn't be attracted to him!"
The Gryffindor table came over a sudden hush and they turned to stare at Colin and Denis.
"It's true!" Denis squeaked. "I bet Malfoy really does like Harry!"
"No, no, hush!" Hermione said, waving her arms around wildly. Ron started chocking on his meat pie, and Harry sunk beneath the table in humiliation.
The whispers started again. As Harry sat underneath the table, he could literally hear the news spread from the Gryffindor table to the Hufflepuff table, which had just suddenly become quiet too. It was a matter of time before the Ravenclaws knew, and then the Slytherins... Malfoy would know Harry knew! That would be bad, very bad! Not just for Malfoy, but for Neville also! Oh, what the hell, what about Harry himself? He could all ready hear it: "Who's going to be wearing the dress, Harry?"
Ron, who seemed to have recovered from his meat pie trauma, had peeked under the table. "Get out of here!" he advised. "Go into the halls and wait for us there!"
Hermione peeked under the table at the moment. "No, stay! You'll get in trouble!"
Ron turned and glared at Hermione. "Do you really want piled upon piles of people to tackle the poor boy and demand whether Harry was gay too and whether they were getting married?"
Hermione couldn't back herself up, because at that second, someone had asked loudly, "Wait, is Harry gay too?"
Hermione sighed. "Fine. But if you get detention, it's not my fault, not my fault at all."
Harry was both shocked and upset at how fast gossip was spreading. As he crawled carefully underneath the table, he could hear each person tell the person next to he or she, and their comment.
"Malfoy likes Harry! Pass it on!"
"Oh my God."
"Oh my God is right! Now pass it on!"
Harry, carefully avoiding the many pairs of legs, crawled to the other end of the table. He crossed the small gap from Gryffindor to Hufflepuff, and he started to carefully avoid the legs again. He apparently wasn't careful enough, however, because he trotted over someone's foot.
"Ouch!" the girl cried, looking underneath the table.
Harry quickly put a finger up to signal to be quiet. The girl's eyes widened, and then narrowed, and mouthed, "Why?"
Harry mouthed back, "Please, just be quiet... You'll find out soon enough..."
The girl nodded then looked up from underneath the table. As Harry began crawling away, he heard, "What was that, Amelia?"
Harry supposed the girl shrugged, because he didn't hear her answer.
Finally, Harry reached the very end of the Hufflepuff table, which was closer to the Hall's doors. He took a deep breath, then leapt from underneath the table, making the people at the end cry out in surprise. Harry opened the doors without a backwards glance to see if the teachers were angry, surprised, or angry and surprised.
Harry opened the two doors, slammed them shut, and sprinted through the halls.
He slowed down on his way to Gryffindor Tower, not only because he was tired, but also because he needed the password. What was he going to do? Not only was he stranded in the hallways until a Gryffindor Prefect could come along, but he was positive that the Prefect would have Gryffindor students following along behind him. That meant questions among questions and jeers among jeers. Harry was also starting to feel a little more sick.
He felt his neck like Hermione had done. She was right, he had a fever.
"Perfect," he muttered. He leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position. Not that he was supposed to wonder - it was because he was bored - but... How was Malfoy taking all of this? Besides anger and humiliation, was he feeling relieved that it was off his chest? Was he wondering what Harry was wondering? Had he fled from the Main Hall as well? Was he someplace down in the cold dungeons, sitting up against the wall as Harry was doing?
"Potter," a simple word interrupted Harry's thoughts. Harry jumped and looked up into one of the last people he wanted to see - Professor McGonagall.
"I - I-"
"You've received detention," McGonagall said in irritation. She crossed her arms. "What has gotten into you, Potter? Leaving the Main Hall like that!"
"I - well, I-"
"Honestly," McGonagall said, her shocked expression becoming into a dark, mean stare. "You must be out of your mind!"
"I feel sick," Harry said, thinking quickly.
Professor McGonagall bent over and felt Harry's forehead. "You do seem warm... Since it's your first day back at Hogwarts, I'm feeling generous, and you have a fever, you will not receive detention. Now hurry, come with me to the infirmary. I don't want your fever to grow anymore than it all ready has."
Harry reluctantly jogged behind Professor McGonagall, who was striding quickly along to the infirmary. Finally, they came to the halls with Hogwart's past nurses in paintings, and Professor McGonagall opened the infirmary door.
The first thing Harry noticed was that Madam Pomfrey was bending over a student in the middle of the room. The student was sitting down in a hard, wooden chair, so Harry couldn't see who the student was until Madam Pomfrey moved -
Draco Malfoy?!
The very last person Harry wanted to see. Malfoy was staring out of the window, and he seemed flushed. Malfoy didn't even glance to see who had walked in. It was like he was in a trance.
"Oh, not another one," Madam Pomfrey said, turning to Harry and Professor McGonagall. "Two in one night, this definitely means that a bug is spreading. I bet it was those meat pies that was at the dinner table! The meat was Bulgarian, and Bulgarian meat pies don't suit the English very well!"
While she was saying this, she had grabbed Harry and said an order to a hard wooden chair in a corner, which had suddenly started walking. It stopped next to Malfoy, and Madam Pomfrey forced Harry down into the chair. She took the wand out of Malfoy's mouth, gave it a small twirl, and red sparks fired out.
"Oh, goodness!" she said. "You are definitely staying here overnight, Mr. Malfoy!"
"Is it really that bad, Poppy?" Professor McGonagall said, putting her hands onto her hips with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, it is," Madam Pomfrey said busily. She took out a second wand and popped that one into Harry's mouth. She bustled up to Professor McGonagall, and the two started talking in low voices. Harry, a natural eavesdropper, picked up a few words they were saying.
"Yes... Afraid so... Dangerous... Highly contagious... Mr. Malfoy will be staying... Mr. Potter might have it... To think, the Boy Who Lived, being killed off by a disease... Horrible, rather horrible..."
Harry had a sinking feeling in his gut.
'Please, don't let it be red,' he thought as Madam Pomfrey came over, popped the wand out of Harry's mouth, and gave it a little twirl. Red. Dear God. Not only did this mean that Harry had whatever highly contagious disease Malfoy had, but this meant that he'd be staying in the infirmary too! Alone! With Malfoy!
"Oh, goodness, it seems you have the bug as well," Madam Pomfrey said. "Poor boy," Madam Pomfrey added, talking about Malfoy. "You need rest... You haven't even eaten anything."
It then occurred to Harry that Malfoy must've come here immediately after the train ride. He didn't have time to ponder this, however, because Madam Pomfrey was suddenly ripping off his shirt. Harry blushed heavily as the cold hit him like a sack of bricks. Madam Pomfrey then turned to Malfoy and took off his shirt as well.
Harry didn't know why, but he looked away.
"You'll need to burn those, Poppy," Professor McGonagall advised.
"Yes, in need," Madam Pomfrey said, throwing the two shirts into a pile.
"I'll be coming back up to check on them," Professor McGonagall said as she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "And goodness, Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, don't quarrel. Both of you need your rest," she added. She closed the door behind her.
Harry shivered and glanced at Malfoy. Malfoy was still staring blankly out of the window.
"Come now," Madam Pomfrey said. She grabbed both boys by their arms and pulled them into standing position. "Come, you must sleep."
She pulled them to their beds and made sure they were tucked in tightly; she made Harry take off his glasses. After Madam Pomfrey had turned off the lights, left the main infirmary, and had left to her own office, Harry put on his glasses and turned on his side to face Malfoy.
"Malfoy!" he whispered.
Malfoy snapped out of the trance and looked at Harry as if he was only now seeing him. "What do you want?" he muttered.
"Jeez, just asking why you're here," Harry
"It's none of your business," Malfoy muttered back.
"It is so!" Harry shot back. "I have whatever you have, and I don't know what it is-"
"Is that talking I hear?!" Madam Pomfrey yelled from her office.
"Old bat," Harry muttered more quietly.
"Shut up," Malfoy whispered. He rolled over onto his side so his pale back was facing Harry.
Harry wanted so badly to ask Malfoy if it was true - if all of this gossip was false, if maybe, just maybe Neville had panicked just a little too much and misunderstood what Goyle had said...
"Why are you watching me?" Malfoy muttered in annoyance.
Harry jumped and blinked. "What are you talking about?" he asked, averting his eyes away.
Malfoy rolled over and glared at Harry so that his ice blue eyes flickered. "I know you were watching me. Don't even pretend you weren't."
Harry blushed slightly. He then heard the bustling sound that alerted Madam Pomfrey's return. He quickly rolled over.
"I knew it," she said, standing over Harry. "You two shouldn't even pretend you're sleeping. Mr. Potter here is giving it away with evidence."
Harry blushed as he realized his glasses were still on. He could hear Malfoy's muffled and evil, cold laughter. Harry received a nice, long scolding, and Madam Pomfrey practically ripped his glasses off of his face and rested it on his nightstand.
"It's sleep you need, sleep! Both of you! Stop laughing, Mr. Malfoy! You two are absolutely impossible! Always fighting, childish behavior, really! Now sleep, or I'll refuse to ever let visitors come in here!"
Malfoy shut up nearly immediately. Harry had stiffened. Madam Pomfrey was saying that he'd have to stay here only a night, but everyone knew she over did it. He would probably end up doing all of his school work in the infirmary for a month. And with Malfoy as his only company... He wouldn't ever be able to survive, especially without Ron's sarcastic jokes and Hermione's long lectures.
So when he heard Madam Pomfrey's door close again, he laid there in silence. It seemed that Malfoy felt the same way, and couldn't imagine a month without Goyle and Crabbe, or any other Slytherins for that matter.