Eeep! I didn't realize how SHORT that chapter was!! So sorry guys! This one will be longer I hope. Also, sorry about the cliffhanger. I hadn't done it intentionally. ^_^
Faylinn: Sure you didn't
Hey, you WERE the one that decided to up and leave in the middle of the chapter!
Professor Dumbledore sat in his office looking at the other professors before him. He was suddenly tired, more than he had been in a long time. "This is a serious matter. I can feel someone on the ground, but I can not for the life of me figure out who it is. Everytime I search for him I get nothing, like they're not there."
"What I want to know is how they got on the ground in the first place." Snape hissed. "This is supposed to be protected. How did they do it if Voldemort couldn't easily?"
"They have help or they are very powerful."
"It's one of the Death Eaters, isn't it?" McGonagall asked. Dumbledore nodded.
"Why don' we jus' go out there an' take care of 'em?"
"We can't do that. There may not be just one. They could be hiding just behind the barrier. Besides, if we left the students alone, then who ever it was would have a free shot at them, and I will not allow any harm to come to the children."
"Are they the cause of the illness?" Professor Trelawney asked. Dumbledore nodded.
"There is not a doubt in my mind now. That many students would not pass out at the same exact time. It is not rational."
"So what are we going to do?" Professor Sprout asked nervously. "We can't just let them harm the children, and as it is they are losing much time in classes because of the rain."
"The rain is not natural. Whoever it is, is causing the storm as well."
"Do you have any idea who it might be?"
"I have my inklings."
"Who do you think it is?"
"Lucius Malfoy. He broke free from Azkaban not to long ago, and I'm sure he must have found out from someone-"
"Pansy Parkinson. She sent him a letter." Snape said quietly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Dumbledore looked very upset.
"Because I just found out a few hours ago. Blaise Zabini came and told me she had been talking about it."
"Ah yes. Blaise Zabini. While he may not have the greatest respect for those not born to pure families he CAN be decent some times. Add ten points to Slytherin for that."
"Professor, in all due respect, I do not think we should be talking about this at this time. We have more pressing matter." Professor Flitwick suggested. Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes. So I strongly believe that it is Lucius. His son it the only Slytherin who has gotten sick so far. Seems a bit suspicious to me."
In the hospital wing all the students were beginning to arouse from their potion induced sleep. Draco groaned as he looked at the white sheets. "Not again."
"Where am I?" Justin Finch-Fletchley asked from the left side of Draco. He turned to him.
"Hospital wing."
"But I feel fine."
"Well apparently you had a headache before." Draco frowned, almost wrinkling his face in disgust and how Justin was acting.
Dean Thomas groaned from his bed across the room, rolling onto his stomache. Hermione lay on the other side of him.
"Draco?" She asked, her eyes still shut." He sat up a bit.
"I'm here, Hermione." She opened her eyes and blinked a few times.
"Not again. This is really ridiculous." Draco nodded. Filia frowned from the other side of Hermione as Madame Pomfrey walked in.
"How are you all feeling?" Solange groaned.
"I do not want to be here anymore. I do not like this place."
"Well you shouldn't dear." She sat next to her and started to wrap a bandage around her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She demanded, clawing at them.
"Calm down. I think this may help your heads. It has a potion in it." She lied. In the bandages there was a spell that would hopefully prevent them from being attacked again. Solange frowned and blinked under the bandage.
"How can I still see?"
"It's enchanted. I'm afraid you are all going to have to wear this for awhile until the potion starts to take effect." She moved on to the others, binding each of their eyes as they grew accustomed to the slight frame around their vision. "Now you'll have to get used to not having the best peripheral vision. And don't worry about what the others think. Its very important that you keep these on. Oh! And they're waterproof, so there is no need to removed them for you showers." She left the room as they sat there, looking around.
"It's making my hair stick up, isn't it?" Draco asked, wishing he had a mirror. Hermione giggled and nodded as he reached up to feel it. The bandage had made his hair go all over, worse than it had been when he had styled it.
"Do we get to leave or not?" Tobias asked. They shrugged.
"Well she didn't tell us we couldn't." Draco pointed out. They agreed.
"I say we leave. I don't want to be here anymore." Solange complained. They nodded just as Pomfrey came in.
"Before you leave, take this." She handed them the potion again and the sipped at it, gagging.
"This stuff is horrible!" Justin said, repulsed by it.
"Well, it will make you better so be quiet." She said, and collected the vials when they were done. "Now remember, no matter what, do NOT take that off until I say it's all right." They nodded and got out of the bed, slightly dizzy from the tight wrap and walked out the door, feeling strange.
"I think it's very odd to be seeing out of this." Stariss said, touching it again. The looked at her, laughing.
"I keep thinking you're going to walk into the wall." Tristan laughed. They nodded in agreement and split up to head to their dorms. Draco walked with them for a bit.
"Take it easy." Draco said as they reached the stairs that led to the Gryffindor corridor. Hermione waited a second as Dean and Stariss walked up the stairs. They stopped at the top and she watched them before turning to Draco.
"I'll talk to you later, alright? Go get some sleep." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before running up the stairs. He waved to them and kept walking to his own dorm.
"So it is true, eh?" Dean grinned, his eyes eerily hidden even though he was looking directly at her. She nodded. "That's cool. He seems to be better than before. Not that I completely agree yet, but hey." He shrugged.
"You know this is actually really cool. Think of what we can do to freak them out with this!" Stariss said. They laughed and agreed.
"No really! I think I'm going to tell them I'm blind."
"How would we have gotten here?"
"Professor McGonagall dropped us off." She giggled. "Think of all the attention I could get from the boys." Dean laughed, leaning against the wall.
"Oh yes, I'm sure Starry." She giggled again as they stood in front of the portrait.
"My! What happened to you?" The Fat Lady asked.
"Don't tell anyone. We really can see. It's a bandage so we won't get sick anymore." Stariss answered.
"Elmaera Torvino." Dean said quickly and she swung open, letting them in. They pretended to stumble in. The other Gryffindors jumped up to watch as Stariss fell forward, "tripping" on the edge of the carpet. Dean clung to the wall.
"Starry!" One of the boys called, running forward and helping her stand. She groaned, Hermione barely keeping the laugh to herself.
"Who is that?" Stariss asked, knowing that it was Jayden Crossinbergh.
"You- you can't see me?"
"Well, please, I do have something on my eyes."
"It's Jayden!"
"Hermione? Are you alright? What's wrong with your eyes?"
"Madame Pomfrey had to bandage them, so we wouldn't get any more headaches." She looked the opposite way.
"You can't see?"
"What do you think! Can't you see it?"
"Well then how the bloody hell did you get here?"
"Professor McGonagall led us." By then all the Gryffindors had crowded around them.
"You gonna be alright Dean?" Seamus asked. He nodded, looking slightly over the shoulder of his friend.
"Yeah, Shay. I'll be fine. We just have to keep this one until she says so."
"What are you going to do about classes?" They paused before bursting out laughing.
"We're just kidding you." Stariss laughed. "We have to keep it on, but we can see just fine."
"What?" Ginny asked. "How can you see with that covering your eyes?"
"It's enchanted. We can see right through it."
"Oh yeah?" Lavender asked. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Hermione, Stariss and Dean looked over at her, and she held up both hands, showing seven fingers. They answered at the same time.
"Seven."
"Oh. Wow." She smiled and put her hands down.
Draco walked into the common room of the Slytherins and only Blaise stood up. But they all stared.
"What?" He sneered. "Think I can't see you staring at me? Well I can." He glared at Crabbe and Goyle who returned to their own amusements.
"Hey. What happened?" Blaise asked, walking up to him.
"Pomfrey told me I had to keep this on." He shrugged. "But I CAN see through it." He looked straight at the other boy who nodded.
"Um, Draco I have something I should tell you."
"What?"
"Come up to the dorms."
"That serious?"
"Pretty much so." Draco followed Zabini to the boys dorms where he sat on his bed.
"What's up?"
"It's Pansy."
"I don't want to hear about that bitch right now." He said, and flopped back onto his bed.
"I told Snape today, but she sent a letter to your father about-"
"SHE WHAT?" He jumped up, ignoring the dizziness and started walked quickly to the door.
"DRACO! Calm down. You can't just go out there and kill her! Look, I don't agree with you seeing Granger. I don't, but I don't want either of you do die. You know how much my family is against the Dark Lord, after what happened to my uncle." Draco nodded. Zabini's uncle had been a Death Eater until he was murdered for being a traitor, or so his father had told him. Since then the Zabini's had moved away from all dark magic, fearing for their own lives. Not that they were weak families to begin with.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Let Snape take care of it. He'll figure something out."
"But my FATHER! We could ALL be in trouble!" He started to panic.
"Like I said, let Snape take care of it. I'm sure he's told Dumbledore by now." He turned and walked to the door. "Just don't act like I told you, alright? I really don't want everyone against me." He shrugged and left. Draco sat down again, head in his hands.
"Oh this isn't good. This can't be good." He sighed before pulling his shoes off and laying done, falling to sleep.
Well it's longer! Hope the cliffhanger wasn't as bad! And don't think the bandage part is stupid. It will really make sense in a while if it doesn't now. I just think its cool to begin with. How awesome would that be to only see half of Draco, eh? ::giggles:: Just his lips. . ::sighs::
Faylinn: You really are pathetic, you know that?
Yup! And proud of it. I'm sure most of the girl here would agree with that statement about his lips.
Faylinn: Disturbing. You are truly, without a doubt, disturbed!