Chapter 6: A Little Help

"Are you alright?" I heard a very similar voice say. I knew who it was and I began to wonder why he always helped me up from the floor.

"I think so...I think I need to go to the hospital wing for some ice."

"Would you like someone to help you there?"

"Sure, I could use a little help getting there. You've already seen my grace and agility."

"Actually I saw everything that happened and that has nothing to do with your grace and agility."

I couldn't look at him; I just looked at the ground as he put his hand around my waist to lead me to the hospital wing. I could feel my face getting hot and my eyes welling up. It was nice to be able to just walk with him. I hadn't done anything or talked to him for awhile and it made me so sad to only be in his arms under the circumstances. During the months that we went out, I was the happiest person in the world. Now, I couldn't even stand to be this close to him and not cry. I was thinking of the times when we were going out, when I was interrupted by a question.

"Hermione, are you ok?"

I didn't look up from the floor, but nodded my head.

"Do you want me to stay with you here in the hospital wing or you o.k. by yourself?"

"I don't care, do what you want," I said quietly, almost whispering.

"I'll leave you here since the nurse is coming, but if you're not back to class later, then I'll come and check on you, o.k.?"

Once again I nodded in agreement. I looked up in time for him to walk out of the room. I almost cried there but a sharp pain all of a sudden reminded me of the black-eye I was probably starting to get.

"Ms. Granger what happened?" I heard the nurse ask. I couldn't rat out Malfoy but I didn't want to lie either, but I did anyway.

"I accidentally got hit going down the hallway because I wasn't paying attention."

"Alright, I'll go and get you some ice for your eye, I'll be right back."

She brought me back some ice and told me to keep it on my eye for about fifteen minutes. Then she walked to another patient.

In the middle of holding the pack of ice Blasie came in.

"How's your eye?" He said looking at the giant ice pack on my eye.

"It hurts like crazy."

He walked over to me and sat beside me. He looked my face over and reached for my hand that was holding the ice pack. He placed his hand over mine and gently pulled the ice pack away. Shock swept over him as he saw the black- eye and reached to touch it. It was very tender, and when his gentle hand touched it, I flinched. He pulled away and muttered something under his breath. I didn't catch what it was but I didn't really care. We sat in silence for awhile before I realized that his hand was still holding mine. We both looked down and he became uncomfortable. He gently placed the ice pack back over my eye.

"How long do you think you'll be down here?"

"I don't know. I may be back in time for the last class or dinner at the latest.

"O.K., I'll see you later then."

"Bye."

"Bye."

And then he was gone again. The nurse walked back to me and told me to hold it on there for another 5 minutes. She looked at me suspiciously.

"So...was that your boyfriend?"

"No, actually that's my ex-boyfriend. He helped me over here and came to check on me."

"Hmm...interesting."

"What is interesting, might I ask."

"I find it kind of odd that your ex-boyfriend is here checking up on you, that's all....Hold that on there for about another minute."

As much as it pained me to say, she was right. It was kind of awkward to have my ex-boyfriend come and check on me rather than me friends. I mean, I'm sure Harry, Ron, or Ginny must have heard I was in the hospital wing by now. Or at least when I didn't show up for class they should have wondered where I was.

The nurse soon released me and I went on my way to the Great Hall (I missed my last class). I saw Harry and Ron at a table and casually walked over to join them.

"Nice black-eye Hermione," I heard Ron say, mashed potatoes coming from his mouth. "What happened?" Harry said with worry.

"I ran into somebody when I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Oh, I see, well are you ok?"

"Yeah, it just hurts a little. It's kind of numb from the ice."

"That's good, I guess, at least you can't feel it...Aren't you gonna eat?"

"No, I think that I'll go back to the Gryffindor common room and relax. I'll probably put more ice on my eye.

I walked back to the common room and relaxed in one of the chairs. I wanted my book so went up to the beds and grabbed my book. On top of my book was a note, and it wasn't a note that I had written to remind myself of something.

Dear Hermione,
I know that it's been a really long time since we've sat down and talked about anything. Which leads me to ask you if you want to go to somewhere with me today at 6:00? All you have to do is show up at the front of the school at 5:45, and if you don't then I understand. I hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
Blasie Z.

Hmm...do I really want to go with him, even with a black-eye? Hell yeah! I've been waiting for him to do that for a long time. I can try and cover up the black-eye, but if I can't then oh well. I had to get ready! I had to figure out what I was going to wear. Agghhh! What was I going to wear? That's a big question there.

I got ready, and figured out what I was going to wear. I decided on blue jeans, flip flops, and a blue short sleeve shirt with a white collar. I tried to hide the black eye with as much make-up, with out seeming to over do it. You could still see it, but I didn't care at that point and time.