Chapter Fourteen

Agonizing

Dinnertime found Draco slumping down in a seat next to Harry's bed, nearly asleep. It had been a very long day for everyone, after all.

Ron and Hermione had gone to the Great Hall to get some food into their stomachs, and nick some for Draco so he could stay at Harry's bedside. They had asked Draco to come with them… Begged, really. They told him he looked like hell and that he should come eat something. He waved off their pleas with a simple "I'm not leaving him."

And he hadn't yet. Every since Pomfrey pronounced her findings from the exam, Draco had sat down by Harry's side and not moved since. Draco lifted Harry's limp hand and set a soft kiss on it. I just wish you would wake up…. He put Harry's hand back on the bed where it had been laying.

Draco sighed deeply and glanced around the room. His eyes fell on the empty bed that had recently held his father. He hadn't even moved when his father left.

An hour ago, Cornelius Fudge and a couple other ministry officials had come to collect Lucius Malfoy. Draco felt a twinge of guilt at helping send his father to prison, but not too much. He had never really been proud of Lucius' dealings with the Dark Lord. And he was quite happy he would never have to worry about being forced into joining the Dark Forces.

Draco's eyes wandered back to Harry's face, pale and slack. Oh Harry, Draco thought sadly, why did you have to fight him alone? You must have known you'd get hurt. Please wake up…. Draco leaned toward the unconscious boy and ran his fingers down Harry's cheek. Draco whispered his silent plea. "Please, Harry… wake up."

Nothing. Draco sighed sadly and looked up toward the door. Ron and Hermione were just coming back from the Great Hall, grim looks on their faces.

"No change?" asked Hermione, passing a filled plate to Draco.

"None," said Draco, slowly tucking into the turkey on his plate. "None at all."

"Damn," said Ron. He dropped heavily into his chair next to Harry's bed. Hermione settled herself on the bed next to Harry, a book on one knee, her meal on the other. The three students sat together yet each very alone in their thoughts and they ate in silence.

" "

Some time around three in the morning, Draco's eyes drifted open. He was having a lot of trouble sleeping in the very uncomfortable chair in the Hospital Wing, so he kept waking up. Mostly, he was quite angry at the situation, but there was a part of him that was happy he kept waking up. Whenever he was awake, his eyes drifted to Harry's still form.

Harry had not yet stirred. Draco's heart was aching with a pain he'd never really felt before that day. He just wanted Harry to be alright. He reached forward and brushed Harry's bangs off his face. His fingers still trailing across the lightning bolt on Harry's forehead, Draco voiced his new mantra again, this time not bothering to drop his voice to a whisper. "Please, Harry… wake up."

As though he had been waiting to hear Draco's words, Harry's eyes started to slip open slowly. Draco retracted his hand quickly, sat back in his seat, and tried to look like he was dozing. He heard the rustle of crisply starched sheets as Harry sat up and looked around. Then Draco heard a clatter as Harry's hand hit his glasses in its search for them on the bedside table.

Draco could almost feel Harry's eyes drifting around the room and landing on Hermione and Ron. Then Draco figured Harry's eyes must have finally landed on him. Harry's confused "M-Malfoy?" confirmed Draco's suspicions.

Draco let his eyes flutter gracefully open. He looked around in faked confusion, finally letting his gaze land on Harry after a moment. "Oh. You're awake then."

Harry stared at Draco, obviously completely puzzled by Draco's presence. He nodded mutely.

"Well good." Draco nodded curtly. He looked at Harry, willing his eyes to become the hard steel he usually showed Harry. Inside, his heart was singing for joy because Harry had woken up. "I'll go get Pomfrey then. She'll want to know you're still alive."

Draco stood to make his way to Pomfrey's sleeping quarters, but a hand on his wrist stopped him. His skin tingled at the feeling. When he glanced down, he saw Harry's fingers wrapped around his wrist, and Harry was still staring at him. Draco frowned. "Potter, let go. Why are you staring at me?"

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" asked Harry, letting go of Draco's wrist.

"I was making sure you were still alive so I wouldn't get in trouble for not helping you fight You-Know-Who," lied Draco easily.

Harry nodded. "Oh." He looked again in Ron and Hermione's direction. Ron's arms were dangling over the sides of the chair, his head drooped back as far as his neck would go, and his mouth had dropped open with drool spilling out.

"Weasley's quite a sight when he sleeps, isn't he?" asked Draco, trying to sneer but only ending up with an amused smirk.

"A picture of sheer magnificence, isn't he?" said Harry with a laugh. Harry's eyes landed on Hermione. She was curled up on the bed next to Harry's, her head resting lightly on top of a pile of her old textbooks, and another book held tightly to her chest. Harry raised an eyebrow and turned back to Draco with a questioning smile.

Draco bit back a smile of his own. "She's been trying to reread all our old books without leaving your side. After this afternoon's memory loss, Granger got all worried that she wouldn't remember something that would be important on some test." Draco shook his head. "Girl has a complex, I swear."

Harry laughed again. "No kidding. Try spending the last five and a half years with her goading you to study every second."

Draco shook his head again. "No thank you. One evening was bad enough." He sighed, glancing over his shoulder toward Pomfrey's office. "I should go get Pomfrey. And then I'm off to my bed, thank Merlin."

Harry opened his mouth to say more, but Draco had already started down the ward. Draco made his way to Pomfrey's office, woke her, and informed her of Harry's change in condition. As the sleepy nurse hurried off to tend to Harry, Draco slipped out the door without a backward glance.

" "

Draco lay on his back under the soft, green cotton sheets adorning his bed, trying to sleep. He couldn't. No matter how many nights he'd spent in that bed, molding it to his body, making the mattress perfect for only him, he could not bring himself to sleep's edge that night.

His mind was reeling, his brain too filled with thoughts of Harry. He was happy that Harry was all right. Ecstatic, really. But there was a huge part of Draco still worried about what would become of himself in the morning. He wouldn't be able to look at Potter without remembering what happened between them during their period of memory loss.

And he couldn't stop wondering how he had fallen for Potter…. Or when, for that matter. All Draco knew was that when he and Potter had kissed that afternoon, it was right. Now Draco wondered what was to become of his rivalry with Potter. It had, until that afternoon, had been raging happily on without complication.

Draco sighed, turned to his left, and settled himself on his side. He hoped this position would be more sleep-inducing than the last. He closed his eyes and prayed for sleep to come quickly so he could stop thinking for a while.

Unfortunately, Sleep was on holiday that night.

" "

Harry sank back into his pillows when Madame Pomfrey was finished her latest inspection of him. It seemed that his energy, physical and magical both, had been drained incredibly and thrown him into something of a coma. Once he had a chance to rest and renew his strength a little, his magic brought him out of the coma.

Harry's hand trailed up to his face where his glasses were still resting. He pulled them off and set them back on the bedside table. He closed his eyes and tried to get himself back to sleep, but too much was going on in his head to let him drift off quite yet.

Why was Malfoy here? wondered Harry. Draco had given him an excuse, but Harry wasn't buying it. Draco could care less about Harry living… right? Harry took a deep breath and rolled onto his right side. How was he supposed to act around Draco tomorrow. Pomfrey had said that as soon as she thought Harry was up to it, he would be back to classes.

Harry let out another sigh, rolled onto his back again. Harry wished he could just sleep instead of worrying about Draco's intentions and why Draco had been at his bedside.

Unfortunately, Sleep wasn't planning on coming back from its holiday any time soon, not even if it was the Boy-Who-Lived who was begging for it.

" "

Ron snorted and woke up. He looked at Harry's bed. He didn't see any change at all. With a frown, he glanced over his shoulder at Hermione.

He smiled. She's adorable when she sleeps. I just hope she'll stay this adorable when she finds out who did that Memory Spell…. Ron grabbed the blanket from the foot of Hermione's bed and pulled it up to her chin. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead and settled back down, intending to go back to sleep.

When he was settled again, he glanced over toward Draco to check- but Draco wasn't sitting in the chair on the other side of Harry's bed anymore. Ron glared angrily. Of course, thought Ron savagely. Once we're back to normal, you realize that you were snogging Harry all day, so you run for the hills. How very Slytherin of you.

Ron shut his eyes furiously, his arms knotted tightly over his chest.

Sleep's holiday was rudely interrupted a second later as Ron snatched at it grumpily and fell asleep quickly.

" "

A half an hour later, Neville Longbottom sat up and looked around in confusion.

"Where am I?" he asked nobody in particular, which was nice, since nobody was particularly awake at the moment. He looked around for his classmates and Hagrid but saw none of them. He frowned. "What happened to the wittulsnees?"

TBC