Disclaimer: Please read earlier chapters
Author's Notes: Sorry everyone for not updating sooner but I was caught up in school and stuff. But the next chapter has finally arrived after the horrible cliffie and I promise to update soon! If you review that is! Cough cough. REIVEW!!!! Oh and I love everyone who has reviewed so far! Mwah! xx
J Wish – Yes, I did have to leave it like that hehe. And yes, you did have to wait for the next chapter lol. Here it is! X
Elven at Heart – Yay! You reviewed for both chapters! Thank you so much, for both the reviews and for what I'm doing! You'll find out in this chapter whether Hermione was really seeing what was happening. Enjoy! Xxxxx
Siriusly Mione – Which part don't you understand? I'll explain it for you if you like. Hermione falls asleep and thinks she sees what is happening to Malfoy. Wasn't trying to make it too confusing...anyway thanx for your reviews! X
Cathubodva – Thank you soooo much! I really like it when people say it's well written. It's one of the best compliments anyone can give me! Sorry for such a cliffie...and such a long wait as well, but it finally is here! Hope you stick with my story!
Alaranth-88 – I love mentioning you! And it's so very very great that you like my work! Please continue to!! Xxxxx
The elven princess – Yes, it was a tad different, wasn't it? A bit dramatic maybe. Anyway, this chapter is pretty much like the former ones, but a few dramatic ones will pop it from time to time lol. Glad it interested you!!
Hermy08 – THANK YOU! That is such a HUGE compliment!! Hope you continue to like it!
Draco's Bloody Valentine – Sending you lots of love! You're such a great reviewer, you always make me laugh and shine with joy!! I would love to read your book about Infinite Reasons to Love Draco, I'm sure that I'll nod with agreement with every point you make. It'll be such a good cure for boredom during my maths classes. sighs at the thought Lol. Xxxx
Nitengale – You're not bad for reviewing every other chappie! You're reviewing, which only means one thing in my eyes – GOOD! Anyway, fluff will hopefully be coming very soon, and more action too! Xxx
Midnight solitaire – Sorry for taking so long! Anway thank you sooo much for reviewing both chapters! Anway, hope the dentist trip wasn't too painful, I personally hate, and I mean HATE, going to the dentist's. shudders It brings back bad memories or horrible pointing things coming lower and lower into my mouth... xxxxx
AiRFiRe – Hate homework...I've got so much homework to do now as well, but I have to finish writing this because I have not updated it for sooo long! Anyway, thank you reviewing when you had so little time! By the way, your name's really unique, does it stand for anything special? X
Snowyangel83 – Thank you! I'm soo sorry I couldn't update sooner, hope you forgive me and review!!! x
Starrynightgirl – Thank you!!! You didn't have to wait for long for my update! Coz it's now here! Please continue to love my story!!!
Chapter 6: Drakey Poo
Out of breath, I apparated from that usual corner, unaware of anything but the thought inside my head. "Malfoy was in danger. I needed to find him fast."
With a soft pop, I appeared behind a van standing in front of Malfoy's flat and taking a deep breath, I ran up the stairs, faintly aware that I had never run so fast in my life.
I rang the doorbell. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. There was no answer. Panic bubbling up inside me, I forced myself to relax and try just one more time. There was a chance that he may be sleeping. 'Ding-dong!'.
There was not even the sound of footsteps.
"Malfoy?" I called softly as I tried the doorknob. It wouldn't budge. "Malfoy!" My voice was now alarmingly high.
Damn this door! I can't open it! 'You're a witch you silly girl.' Shut up! I screamed to that distasteful voice in my head – and then I realised it was speaking sense – as always.
"Alohomora!"
The door swung open heavily on its hinges. I took a small step forward and the modest flat came rushing into view.
I put a hand over my mouth to stifle the gasp. The images that my brain was processing through to me flashed wildly like a violent slide show through my head. Rubble. Flash of blonde. Dark red patches. Glass. Legs. Batteries. Pieces of my distorted reflection. And a complete and utter silence.
I ran towards Malfoy, kneeling next to his debilitated form. I shook him and saw a patch of blood growing in size through his shirt.
I heard someone scream. Was it me?
I felt my heart stop its continuous pumping of blood, as I digested this and remembered instantly what had happened to Mr and Mrs Longbottom. Oh dear. "Does – does this mean that h- he'll lose his sanity?"
The healer did not stop his inspection and did not look at me as he answered. "No, that is unlikely to be the case with this young man, although it may have been highly probable owing to the force of the curses thrown on him."
Blood began to flow around my body again and I felt the numbness and deathly cold, start to disappear.
"I suppose you're going to be staying with him?"
I hesitated for a moment, but was then reminded cruelly about my moral upbringing and knew I had to stay for my former classmate, even though the prick had insulted me less than twenty-four hours ago.
"Yes. I believe I am."
"Call me as soon as he wakes up."
The healer departed out the door and I turned my gaze in the direction of the bed. Strands of his blonde hair was scattered messily about the pillow, and his sunglasses, finally been taken off, revealed closed eyes. A long, half-healed gash cut across his left eye and I knew that that was what Malfoy had been trying to hide with his sunglasses. Ha! I wonder how he had taken it when he saw how the gash ruined his perfectly sculptured face. How agonising it would have been for him to think that his face had lost some of its value!
I know, I know. I was being horrible. And I knew that my kind heart had won in the end and I had asked the healer if he could heal the scar. He said he would – first thing tomorrow morning. Obviously, Malfoy could have healed it in an instant, if only he was not trying to escape from the wizarding world.
Feeling suddenly sorry for him, I fiddled with his hospital sheets, pulling them up over his chest, now clean and covered with the stiff, newly washed hospital pyjamas. During the time that he was asleep, I could imagine that he was the cute and carefree Tom, making my stay with him all the more enjoyable. Confirming this thought, I stepped out from the curtains drawn around his bed, preparing to leave the room for a while in order to get something to drink.
A little girl and her father were curled up in the hospital bed next to Malfoy, the one next to them had curtains around it and the two elderly wizard patients on the other side were busy playing a game of wizard's chess. Smiling at the two wizards as I passed, I stepped out onto the landing of the fourth floor of St Mungo's Hospital.
I poured myself a cup of tea and was walking back to Malfoy's room deep in thought, when I bumped into someone. My face was instantly surrounded by something soft and white.
"Professor Dumbledore! Thank goodness you're here!" I exclaimed, as I disentangled myself from his long beard.
His eyes twinkled behind his half-moon spectacles. "I'm glad to hear of it Miss Granger. Pray, will you be able to lead me to Mr Malfoy's room?"
"Certainly Prfoessor." Beaming, I led him towards the closed door from which I had departed from earlier.
Malfoy was still fast asleep when we entered, his cheeks a little rosy from the heat.
Professor Dumbledore looked grim as he gazed intently at Malfoy. "I highly suspect that this was the deed of a death eater. It seems that his determination and strong will to survive has prevented his being in a more critical condition."
I immediately knew what he meant. "If the death eaters wanted him so much, why couldn't he just take him? Surely they are strong enough to know of such spells?"
"Now that is an excellent question Miss Granger. Just shows how your clever mind remains unchanged." Professor Dumbledore smiled and I couldn't help but smile back earnestly at him. Compliments of the kind were still VERY welcome to me.
"You see, I happen to be accustomed to a spell that allows a person to only act on their own will. Mr Malfoy asked me to perform this spell on him just before he left in his seventh year and this has now been working well against the death eaters to whom he does not wish to go to. However, the danger that I told you of involves this. The spell can only work for certain periods of time only, and it seems to have been gradually wearing off lately."
I opened my mouth to speak, but he turned abruptly again to face me. "My students will be needing me shortly and I must return to Hogwarts. Is your workload at the Ministry still too large Miss Granger? In which case I will be asking another to take over from your at accompanying Mr Malfoy as he recovers."
I coloured a little as I remembered the ltter I had sent to Professor Dumbledore. "I, er, am able to ask Harry to take care of it Professor."
He smiled knowingly. "If you are sure Miss Granger. Very well, then, I shall be coming again once Mr Malfoy is in a better state to discuss some few things with me."
I nodded and with a 'take care' he walked out of the room.
Sighing gravely, I sat myself down on a stool next to Malfoy's bed and set my tea upon a small table, preparing for the worst. However hot, he still was Malfoy. Did I just say he was hot? URGH!
I opened my eyes and everything was dark. Huh? Where was I? Then, realising that my head was upon something, I lifted it and saw a bed in front of me on which I had been leaning my head, face down, upon. The memories of the past few hours came flowing back and noticing with a jolt of my stomach, that the familiar blonde head was nowhere to be seen, I uttered a soft scream.
"There's no need to be so alarmed Granger. Your waiter is still here."
Startled, I flipped my head around and saw that Malfoy was sitting on the windowsill behind me. My relief now over, I glared at him and noticed his scar above his left eye had gone. I was once again looking into those two mysterious silver orbs.
"Has Healer Jacobsen already gone?" I asked.
"Obviously." He replied lazily. "I wasn't awake to witness what he did to me, but my scar's gone, so I think that 'yes' would be the answer."
The curtain was closed in the window behind him and I asked slowly, "What time is it?"
"Eleven in the evening on the 17 of August. Yes Granger, you've been asleep for a whole day and a half."
What? My mind screeched. And I wasn't even the person ill! The others will be worrying about me! I hadn't even told them where I was going – maybe that tea I drank had a sleeping potion in it...
I stood up and brushed myself down. "You should have woken me up." I said accusingly.
Malfoy shrugged. "I didn't want to wake you up from your beauty sleep that you're in need of so much. I thought that maybe some sleep would make you at least tolerable enough to see, but I was most definitely wrong."
I cringed. For one thing, I knew I wasn't that horrible looking, I mean, if Malfoy had normal taste he would have been able to see that I shined from natural beauty, unlike that Pansy cow.
"It's a bit rich coming from you. I liked you much better with your scar above your eye. It hid their coldness form view and at least it also left something significant upon your face like Harry."
I knew I had touched a soft spot there. Malfoy had always been jealous of Harry, even if the jealousy was only little. Everything else Malfoy had, but never the label 'The Boy Who Lived'.
The look Malfoy gave me then was outrageous. Outrageously funny in fact. But he remained silent on the matter and I had the sense to keep quiet too. After a while, I said, "I'll send an owl to Dumbledore tonight asking him to come and visit you tomorrow morning or something."
Draco rolled his eyes at the wall in front of him and gave no answer.
"Excuse me? I asked you a polite question here."
Draco raised his eyebrows and turned away from the wall. "It's not as if I have any choice in the matter. It wasn't phrased as a question was it? What are you expecting me to say?"
He had a point there. But I was not going to agree that he was right. "Any person with manners would have told me whether the idea was suitable or not and expressed their opinions on the fact."
"Granger, I'm not sitting here so I can involve myself in some petty argument with you. I need to think and I believe that you have some matters of your own to deal with right now."
Pulling the curtain roughly around his bed, I stood up and stormed out of the room as I headed once again to the landing to pour myself another cup of tea. When I noticed the sign in front of it, my rage grew. It said,
TEA FOR PATIENTS THAT WILL HELP THEM GET TO SLEEP FOR PATRONS OR OTHER VISITORS, PLEASE GO TO THE GROUND FLOOR WHERE DRINKS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. THANK YOU
Well. No wonder I had slept for so long. And because of my stupidity, I had not been able to dwell in my fantasy of the sleeping Malfoy being Tom for longer! It wasn't my fault really. If only Malfoy hadn't caused me to go into such a fluster, I would have noticed the sign.
Storming through the hospital corridor, I seriously thought about returning back home. After all, Malfoy was now awake. However, remembering my promise with Dumbledore and the fact that I had already once tried to get out of it, I merely went to the ground floor, bought a cup of tea for three knuts, asked the blonde receptionist for some parchment and a quill, but she, too busy flirting with a young patient, did not answer, which concluded in me taking some from under her nose. How thick could anyone get?
When I arrived back in Malfoy's room, he had crawled back into his bed and closed his eyes. Good. I settled myself down comfortably in a chair next to his bed and placed my sheets of parchment on the bedside table. Dipping the quill into an ink hole on the table, I began to scratch my quill over the parchment. Dear Ginny, Harry and Ron
I'm sorry if you guys were worried about me! That is, I highly hope that you guys were worried about me...anyway I'll tell you all the more intimate details about it when I see you guys again, but I found Malfoy in a terrible state when I went to his flat and yeah, we're both now sitting in um, the place where someone usually goes to when they are in terrible state. I wasn't able to contact you guys sooner because I drank a cup of tea with sleeping potion inside it by mistake and was asleep for a day and half! You guys are probably wondering if I am ok, because I sound like an absolute nutcase but that is exactly how I feel, apart from the fact that I'm also furious at having to spend however long with Malfoy in this tiny little cubicle of this tiny little ward.
Anyway, hope you guys are all ok and missing me lots and lots!
Lots of love
Hermione.
PS. Send a reply back with this owl as it will know where to go!
Folding it up, I put it aside and started on another, more shorter letter.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
Draco Malfoy has now woken up and wishes for you to visit him anytime tomorrow. Please come as soon as you can!
Kind regards
Hermione Granger
Folding up this piece of parchment as well, I headed back downstairs so that I could find two hospital owls with which I could send the letters and to give the receptionist back her quill. As I was tying my letters onto two separate owls, another girl bumped into me.
"Sorry." She mumbled as she hurriedly went out of the hospital owlery.
A sense of familiarity swept through me, but I brushed it away and continued tying my letters to the owl. I couldn't trust my judgement now anyway. I think I was still feeling a little ditzy.
Huge numbers of thoughts were being processed in Draco's mind. He was trying his hardest to get to sleep, however flashbacks that had haunted him for years as well as memories of a few nights before kept peeping their annoying faces at him. Scrunching his eyes up tight, he thought back to what his mother had taught him when he was little and couldn't get to sleep. Herds of sheep began jumping over fences inside his mind. One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep. Four she...Arrgh! Where's Granger when you needed her!
The swishing sound of a curtain being pulled back was heard and Draco relaxed. He could now annoy her in order to keep his mind on something else. "Granger, where did you find that..."
Draco was interrupted. "Hi Drakey poo poo!"
Wait, this was not Granger! His mind screamed! He forced himself to open his eyes so that he could confirm what his brain was yelling at him. NOOOOOOOOOO!
Author's Notes: This chapter was slightly less on the action, but since there was lots of action in the previous chapter, I thought I'd soften that part of the story down a little bit. But everyone wanting more Draco Hermione action has now got it and it's sure to increase as I write this. Those who like more action as in drama action will get more soon as well, this is quite an actiony story. Please review!!!!! PLEASE!!! And then maybe I'll update a bit sooner. (