Chapter 2
Hermione let out a small scream of surprise. Draco was covered in blood. His hair was matted and dirty. He was breathing so slowly that Hermione thought he was dead for a moment. Her parents came running over as soon as they heard her cry. They saw the bloody boy on their porch and quickly moved to take him inside.
"I'm going to call an ambulance," said Hermione's mother.
"No," said Hermione, coming to her senses. "These are magical wounds, an ambulance won't help."
"Well we have to do something," said Hermione's mother. "The boy's almost dead."
"Call Dr. Klein, have him come here and look at Draco's wounds," Hermione was thinking quickly. "I'm going to go upstairs and owl Dumbledore."
Hermione's mother did what Hermione had asked her, but didn't look very happy about it. Hermione ran upstairs to her room, where, thankfully, Hedwig was sitting on her windowsill, carrying letters from Harry. Hermione snatched the letters out of Hedwig's clutches and hurriedly wrote a message to Dumbledore.
"Here, Hedwig. Take this to Dumbledore, and then come back for my letter to Harry. It's an emergency."
Hedwig hooted in understanding and flew off out the window. Hermione ran back down the stairs to see her mother and father laying Draco on the living room couch.
"Madam Pomfrey always says that the best thing to do for an unconscious person is let the wake up on their own," Hermione said when she saw her father trying to wake Malfoy. Hermione went to the kitchen to get a sponge and a bowl of hot water. She enlisted the help of her mother and had Malfoy stripped to his bare chest in no time. (Don't worry; he still had his pants on.) There were several deep cuts and bruises on his body and long gashes all across his chest and back. Blood covered his face from his nose down and the skin around his eyes was the color of the midnight sky.
Hermione and her mother took the water and sponge and began to gently clean the wounds on Malfoy's body. Hermione's father was looking out for Dr. Klein, who had said he was coming within half an hour. Hermione had just washed the last of the blood off Malfoy's face when her father brought in Dr. Klein.
"Everyone out of the way," Dr. Klein said. He was an imposing man, about 11/2 meters tall, with almost no hair, and a very round, red face. Everyone got out of his way.
Dr. Klein began examining Malfoy. His face furrowed with concern as he listened to the young man's heart and breathing. Finally, he stood up.
"I think he's going to be all right. But he's not out of the woods yet. He has a fracture in his right thigh bone and left ankle and those wounds are deep and strong. He also has major head trauma, which is probably why he's still unconscious. Our major problem right now is infection. If those wounds get infected, I don't think he'd be able to fight it. Keep them clean, wash them with hot water and bandage them with clean gauze and antiseptic three times a day. Incidentally, what happened to him?"
"We don't know," said Hermione's father. "We came home and there he was."
"I see. What's his name again?" asked Dr. Klein.
"Tom. He's my cousin from Romania," said Hermione. "I knew he was here on holiday, but I didn't expect to see him until middle of next week."
"Ah," said Dr. Klein, apparently satisfied, "well, put him in the hospital if you can, and if you can't then just call me if he doesn't wake up in three days. I would plan on him spending quite some time with you. I doubt he'll be able to move under his own power for at least six weeks, on account of his broken bones. I'll be in touch. I'm afraid I must be going now; I left an urgent case at the office. Call me and tell me of the boy's progress," Dr. Klein started moving toward the door. "Oh, and Mr. Granger, the boy's parents need to be notified. The threat of death is still upon him."
Hermione's father nodded and Dr. Klein left the house.
Hermione's family let out a collective sigh and all looked at each other. "Well," the look said, "what do we do now?"
Just then, there was a loud crack and Albus Dumbledore appeared in front of the fireplace. He looked straight at Hermione and said, "Where is he?"
Hermione led him to the couch, where the still unconscious Malfoy lay. Dumbledore bent over him, scrutinizing the boy through his half-moon glasses. Finally, he stood up.
"There has been dark magic at work here. I fear for young Mr. Malfoy's life. Not only are his physical wounds quite serious, his psyche is not at all well. You will all have your hands full when he awakens. If he awakens," Dumbledore made no pretense of hiding his last sentence.
"What do you mean 'if'?" said Hermione's mother.
"When magic this powerful is used in such an iniquitous way, the victim often never recovers. I am sure Miss Granger is familiar with an example of this in the form of Neville Longbottom's parents. The only thing we can do is hope that Draco wakes up and soon. The longer he's unconscious, the harder it will be for him to pull out of it."
Hermione and her family just stood in silence. "So, Malfoy may never wake up?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, I believe that's what I have said. But, I do believe that Mr. Malfoy is very strong of will, which is several points in his favor. So take heart, my dear; all is not lost. Now, I'm afraid I must return to that which I came from. I left several people in complete disorder. Take care of Mr. Malfoy. Do not tell his parents he is here. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy have been quite undistressed by the disappearance of their son. I did not even know Draco was missing until your owl took me by surprise. But I shall see you very soon. Term starts in just approximately eight weeks, I believe. I shall tell Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley of your situation. Good luck, to all of you." And with that, there was another loud crack and Dumbledore was gone.
"Well," said Hermione's mother, "what and odd man. What do we do now?"
"We do exactly what Dumbledore said," said Hermione, going into her take charge mode. "Dad, would you please loan Malfoy some of your pajamas? I don't think it's very good for him to be wearing wizarding robes in a muggle house. If anyone asks, he's my cousin Tom from Romania, that's the same story we keep with Dr. Klein. Dad, if you could dress him, it would be much appreciated. I think it would be best if we move him into the guest room."
Hermione's parents were used to dealing with her in this phase and they knew it was best to just do what she said. They prepared the guest room and put Malfoy into a pair of flannel pajamas. Malfoy didn't wake up the entire time. Hermione was beginning to worry.
Evening came and Malfoy still hadn't woken up. Hermione was very worried. She sat in the big cushy chair they kept in the guest room. It was Hermione's favorite chair in the whole house. It was so comfortable. Hermione remembered when she had first learned to read, she would always bring a book to this room and sit in this chair with all the lights off and read by the sunlight that spilled in through the window. These thoughts were the last ones she remembered before drifting off to sleep.
It was about 3:30 in the morning when she next woke up. She looked around to see what had startled her out of her sleep, and heard a noise coming from the bed. Draco was stirring.
A/N: Well, there's the second chapter! Much longer, as promised. Hope you liked it! Now REVIEW!!! And thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one. I just realized that I totally forgot the disclaimer. So here it is. All these character and such, except those that aren't in the Harry Potter novels or movies, belong to whoever it is that owns them, which is not me. I don't want to get in any trouble. I hope you liked this chapter! Coming up: does Hermione even want Draco to wake up? The next chapter should be up soon, I hope, but this next week is going to be kind of busy, so I don't know. But I'll work on it.
Hermione let out a small scream of surprise. Draco was covered in blood. His hair was matted and dirty. He was breathing so slowly that Hermione thought he was dead for a moment. Her parents came running over as soon as they heard her cry. They saw the bloody boy on their porch and quickly moved to take him inside.
"I'm going to call an ambulance," said Hermione's mother.
"No," said Hermione, coming to her senses. "These are magical wounds, an ambulance won't help."
"Well we have to do something," said Hermione's mother. "The boy's almost dead."
"Call Dr. Klein, have him come here and look at Draco's wounds," Hermione was thinking quickly. "I'm going to go upstairs and owl Dumbledore."
Hermione's mother did what Hermione had asked her, but didn't look very happy about it. Hermione ran upstairs to her room, where, thankfully, Hedwig was sitting on her windowsill, carrying letters from Harry. Hermione snatched the letters out of Hedwig's clutches and hurriedly wrote a message to Dumbledore.
"Here, Hedwig. Take this to Dumbledore, and then come back for my letter to Harry. It's an emergency."
Hedwig hooted in understanding and flew off out the window. Hermione ran back down the stairs to see her mother and father laying Draco on the living room couch.
"Madam Pomfrey always says that the best thing to do for an unconscious person is let the wake up on their own," Hermione said when she saw her father trying to wake Malfoy. Hermione went to the kitchen to get a sponge and a bowl of hot water. She enlisted the help of her mother and had Malfoy stripped to his bare chest in no time. (Don't worry; he still had his pants on.) There were several deep cuts and bruises on his body and long gashes all across his chest and back. Blood covered his face from his nose down and the skin around his eyes was the color of the midnight sky.
Hermione and her mother took the water and sponge and began to gently clean the wounds on Malfoy's body. Hermione's father was looking out for Dr. Klein, who had said he was coming within half an hour. Hermione had just washed the last of the blood off Malfoy's face when her father brought in Dr. Klein.
"Everyone out of the way," Dr. Klein said. He was an imposing man, about 11/2 meters tall, with almost no hair, and a very round, red face. Everyone got out of his way.
Dr. Klein began examining Malfoy. His face furrowed with concern as he listened to the young man's heart and breathing. Finally, he stood up.
"I think he's going to be all right. But he's not out of the woods yet. He has a fracture in his right thigh bone and left ankle and those wounds are deep and strong. He also has major head trauma, which is probably why he's still unconscious. Our major problem right now is infection. If those wounds get infected, I don't think he'd be able to fight it. Keep them clean, wash them with hot water and bandage them with clean gauze and antiseptic three times a day. Incidentally, what happened to him?"
"We don't know," said Hermione's father. "We came home and there he was."
"I see. What's his name again?" asked Dr. Klein.
"Tom. He's my cousin from Romania," said Hermione. "I knew he was here on holiday, but I didn't expect to see him until middle of next week."
"Ah," said Dr. Klein, apparently satisfied, "well, put him in the hospital if you can, and if you can't then just call me if he doesn't wake up in three days. I would plan on him spending quite some time with you. I doubt he'll be able to move under his own power for at least six weeks, on account of his broken bones. I'll be in touch. I'm afraid I must be going now; I left an urgent case at the office. Call me and tell me of the boy's progress," Dr. Klein started moving toward the door. "Oh, and Mr. Granger, the boy's parents need to be notified. The threat of death is still upon him."
Hermione's father nodded and Dr. Klein left the house.
Hermione's family let out a collective sigh and all looked at each other. "Well," the look said, "what do we do now?"
Just then, there was a loud crack and Albus Dumbledore appeared in front of the fireplace. He looked straight at Hermione and said, "Where is he?"
Hermione led him to the couch, where the still unconscious Malfoy lay. Dumbledore bent over him, scrutinizing the boy through his half-moon glasses. Finally, he stood up.
"There has been dark magic at work here. I fear for young Mr. Malfoy's life. Not only are his physical wounds quite serious, his psyche is not at all well. You will all have your hands full when he awakens. If he awakens," Dumbledore made no pretense of hiding his last sentence.
"What do you mean 'if'?" said Hermione's mother.
"When magic this powerful is used in such an iniquitous way, the victim often never recovers. I am sure Miss Granger is familiar with an example of this in the form of Neville Longbottom's parents. The only thing we can do is hope that Draco wakes up and soon. The longer he's unconscious, the harder it will be for him to pull out of it."
Hermione and her family just stood in silence. "So, Malfoy may never wake up?"
"Yes, Miss Granger, I believe that's what I have said. But, I do believe that Mr. Malfoy is very strong of will, which is several points in his favor. So take heart, my dear; all is not lost. Now, I'm afraid I must return to that which I came from. I left several people in complete disorder. Take care of Mr. Malfoy. Do not tell his parents he is here. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy have been quite undistressed by the disappearance of their son. I did not even know Draco was missing until your owl took me by surprise. But I shall see you very soon. Term starts in just approximately eight weeks, I believe. I shall tell Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley of your situation. Good luck, to all of you." And with that, there was another loud crack and Dumbledore was gone.
"Well," said Hermione's mother, "what and odd man. What do we do now?"
"We do exactly what Dumbledore said," said Hermione, going into her take charge mode. "Dad, would you please loan Malfoy some of your pajamas? I don't think it's very good for him to be wearing wizarding robes in a muggle house. If anyone asks, he's my cousin Tom from Romania, that's the same story we keep with Dr. Klein. Dad, if you could dress him, it would be much appreciated. I think it would be best if we move him into the guest room."
Hermione's parents were used to dealing with her in this phase and they knew it was best to just do what she said. They prepared the guest room and put Malfoy into a pair of flannel pajamas. Malfoy didn't wake up the entire time. Hermione was beginning to worry.
Evening came and Malfoy still hadn't woken up. Hermione was very worried. She sat in the big cushy chair they kept in the guest room. It was Hermione's favorite chair in the whole house. It was so comfortable. Hermione remembered when she had first learned to read, she would always bring a book to this room and sit in this chair with all the lights off and read by the sunlight that spilled in through the window. These thoughts were the last ones she remembered before drifting off to sleep.
It was about 3:30 in the morning when she next woke up. She looked around to see what had startled her out of her sleep, and heard a noise coming from the bed. Draco was stirring.
A/N: Well, there's the second chapter! Much longer, as promised. Hope you liked it! Now REVIEW!!! And thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one. I just realized that I totally forgot the disclaimer. So here it is. All these character and such, except those that aren't in the Harry Potter novels or movies, belong to whoever it is that owns them, which is not me. I don't want to get in any trouble. I hope you liked this chapter! Coming up: does Hermione even want Draco to wake up? The next chapter should be up soon, I hope, but this next week is going to be kind of busy, so I don't know. But I'll work on it.
