Hades Beckons
Chapter 3
The Morning After


Hermione Granger had been having a wonderful morning. She woke up right before her alarm went off. She slid out from under the covers and meandered to the bathroom. She knocked on the joint bathroom between the bedrooms. After waiting about five seconds she opened the door surprised to find the tiled room for once empty.

"Malfoy?" She called. "You are going to be late for class!" She paused listening for movement from his room. "You will only have ten minutes to do your hair if you don't get up now!" There was no answer.

'That's funny. Usually he gets up way before me." She tried the door that lead to his room. It swung smoothly open and revealed a darkened space.

"Malfoy?" She repeated. Through the gloom she could barely make out the heavy oak furniture. Cautiously she entered Malfoy's lair. She groped for the bedside table and realized that it was on the other side of the bed.

Berating herself for leaving her wand in the other room she journeyed around the bed. She had not been expecting that Malfoy would leave anything on the floor so when she encountered the obstacle she promptly tripped over it and landed in a sticky puddle.

"Ew! I don't even want to know what this is! Malfoy what were you doing?" She could not tell what she had landed in. She made a slight noise of frustration as she hauled herself up using the bedpost, the carpet making soft squelching noises.

"Fine Malfoy if you want to ditch classes today I am not going to try to wake you up!" She stormed out of the bedroom and back into the well lit bathroom. She was passing the mirror when she stopped cold.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the reflection of herself. Covered in blood. Her brown eyes widened as she realized what she must have tripped over. She ran for her wand and returned to the dark room.

"Lumos!" Every candle lit and the fire roared to life. She again walked to the foot of the bed and realized that she had tripped over a leg. Feeling a sense of dread she circled to the other side.

"Malfoy! Oh my god what did you do!?" She fell to her knees landing in the congealed puddle of blood. She searched for his injuries and a pulse at the same time. She caught sight of his tattered wrists.

"What made you do this? Oh thank Merlin." She had found a very faint pulse. She levitated him and ran for the Infirmary.

"Pomfrey!" She called as she neared the mediwitch's office."

"What is the matter dear?" Hermione and Draco's body came into view. Quickly Pomfrey assessed the situation carefully noting the blood that the girl was covered in and the wounds gracing Draco's arm. She took control of Draco's body and hustled him onto one of the beds casting healing spells as she went.

"Go inform Dumbledore about this." Once more Hermione dashed off unaware of the students looking at her with wide eyes in the hallways. She skidded to a stop in front of the gargoyle.

"Let me in please!" She practically screamed at it.

"Is there something bothering you Ms. Granger?" Hermione turned around with relief at the sound of Dumbledore's calm voice.

"Malfoy tried to kill himself. I found him in his bedroom almost bled dry!"

"It will turn out fine Ms. Granger. May I suggest that you get yourself cleaned up and to class? I will give you a note so that Professor Snape will not remove any house points." He conjured up a letter of permission and handed it to the head girl. Hermione thanked him and dashed back to her rooms to clean off.

Dumbledore made his way to the medical wing taking his time to greet every student that acknowledged him. When he arrived he found Madame Pomfrey in a state of great agitation.

"What is the matter Poppy? He should be fine as you replenish his body."

"That is the problem Headmaster." She was wringing her hands nervously. "His body is rejecting all the blood I put into it. I have tried twenty different types already."

Her voice cracked with strain. She was going to lose her first student to death shortly. She could feel it. "Then we must hope for a miracle." Dumbledore sat on one of the visitor's chairs.

"I wonder what could have pushed Mr. Malfoy so far." Pomfrey shrugged before excusing herself to research some spells that might be able to aid Draco's condition. Dumbledore's kind eyes surveyed the damage that Draco had inflicted upon himself.

The slashes started straight and sure and then grew more frenzied as they traveled up his forearm. Though Pomfrey had healed them the scars would take awhile to fade. The Headmaster gently laid Draco's arm beside his body.

"What were you thinking? You had such promise." Dumbledore sighed as he settled himself into his chair. "For your own sake I hope that we find something to help you." He looked at Draco's ashen face.

"Before it is too late."