When Madam Pomfrey left, Draco looked over to his bedside table. When he first saw Crabbe and Goyle's things, he was actually really pleased. He didn't think they would even figure out that something had happened to him. And it really must have been hard for them to give away a jelly bean, even if it was a dirt-flavored one. He threw the jelly bean away and read the parchment:
Drayco,
Git betre.
Frum, goule & crab

Draco threw that in the trash along with the bean. Then he saw the things that pansy had left him. He picked up the card. It was folded into the shape of a heart, he unfolded it slowly and read:

Dear Draco,
I really do hope you are feeling better. What happened to you? I'm sure it wasn't your fault, whatever it was. Be sure to do everything Madam Pomfrey tells you, so that you can get better as soon as possible. Everyone in Slytherin misses you, (though not as much as I do) and we wish you the best. Get well soon.
With Much Love,
Pansy Parkinson

Draco folded the letter back up and smiled to himself. she must really like me he thought to himself, Its too bad that I don't feel the same way about her. Draco picked up the package that came with the card and started unwrapping it.

-------

Just then Madam Pomfrey came hurrying in. "Now, now you need your sleep, Mr. Malfoy. You can look at that later. Come on now, get some rest." She pulled Draco's sheets over him and took the package and put it on his bedside table again. Normally, Draco wouldn't have listened to her, but the curse seemed to have drained him of all his strength. He laid his head down on his lumpy pillow, and fell asleep instantly.
Draco woke up again, looked around, and saw that it was dark outside. In fact, it was so dark he couldn't even see his hand right in front of him. He thought about opening pansy's gift, but thought better of it, since he knew he wouldn't be able to even locate the box.

---------

"Wake up, Malfoy!" Draco heard yelling by his bed.
"Harry, be quiet. You don't have to wake him! Just leave the work here." came a softer, quieter voice. Draco's eyes were still closed, but he heard the voices loud and clear. "did I ask your opinion, Hermione?" came the yelling again. Draco didn't know what they were doing there. He rolled over, getting ready to wake up. "ok, Harry calm down, I didn't mean to offend you. Look, he's waking."
Draco felt a jet of pain in his stomach. "Ow!" he exclaimed. He heard Hermione's voice again "Harry! I know you don't like him, but you don't have to hurt him more than he already is."
"shut up! Come on! We gave him his books, now we can go!"
"Harry! You rammed the books into his stomach. What's gotten into you lately?"
"What's gotten into me?? I think you should be asking yourself that question! Defending Draco Malfoy, of all people!"
Draco opened his eyes now and saw Hermione standing by his bed, her hand on his stomach, on top of the books. Harry was walking out, looking outraged.
"Harry! I'm not defending him, but I mean, come on, he's not even awake!"
"yea, I am" Draco grunted.
"oh," Hermione's cheeks turned a darker color and she then said "well, here are your books, the homework is written on this parchment."
"why are you bringing them to me?" said Malfoy looking at her coldly.
"Snape told Harry to bring them."
"ok, then you can leave now." Draco said

----------

Hermione rushed out of the room, but Harry stayed. "what do you think your doing? Saying things like that to her?"
"you were worse." said Draco calmly
"what? When was I worse?"
"just now, you went off on her about defending me. She wasn't defending me, she was just trying not to get you expelled by killing me." Draco saw Hermione's head peek in the room. She looked too scared to say anything.
"a few books in your stomach won't kill you, It would just wake you up."
"well, it woke me up alright."
A small squeak came from the doorway. Harry spun around and saw Hermione. "what are you still doing here?" Harry roared.
"see, I told you. You're worse." came Draco's voice
"I'm not worse"
"well, I have an excuse for being how I am. I'm a Malfoy. I've always been rude to you and her. Why should it be such a shock now?"
Harry stormed out of the room, grabbed Hermione's arm, and dragged her away. Malfoy couldn't help feel sorry for her. What was going on with Harry now? Harry had always been nice to her, and he had never cursed anyone before. Why the sudden change?
Draco didn't have any time to worry about this now, because Madam Pomfrey came in again, and gave him a potion to drink which tasted strongly like butterbeer.

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The potion made the pain go away instantly, but it made him fall asleep just as quickly. When he woke up again, he was determined to get to opening pansy's gift now, before Madam Pomfrey put him to sleep again. He sat up and looked outside, it was getting dark, probably around 7:00. Draco picked up pansy's gift and noticed that it was really, really heavy. He wondered what was in it, and so he unwrapped it. What he saw made him gasp. It was a huge box full of potions ingredients. It had everything from monkshood to powdered devil's snare to toads legs. Draco had never even considered buying something like this for himself. He had thought and dreamt about it many times, but he never though he would get it. It must have cost her a fortune.

----------

He was looking carefully at everything in the package, when madam Pomfrey came in.
"you don't have to say it. I'll go to sleep"
"no, no" she said quickly, "you can leave now, you seem better. Just take this before you go."
She handed him a goblet full of thick, brown, smoking liquid. Draco gave her a look that said clearly 'I'm not going to drink this,' but she poured the liquid down his throat, and he nearly spit it all out. He managed to keep it in and force it down his throat. "what was THAT?" Draco asked rudely.
"It will make you better. Be sure to come back to me if you feel anything strange."
Draco looked at her for a second, and then left the hospital wing.

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At first, Draco didn't know where to go. He didn't know how far into the day he was, so he couldn't tell what class he was supposed to be in. he decided to head for the common room. He got there pretty quickly and laid down on one of the couches. He let out a long sigh and started thinking about that night when Harry had cursed him. The insult that Draco had thrown out was nothing but a little way to pass the time until they could get their duel started, it had been not a big enough insult to curse someone over. Then Harry thought about that time in the hospital wing when Hermione and Harry had come to see him. Well, he couldn't really say that they had come to see him it was more like, they were forced to get him his home work, but that was beside the point. Harry had gone off on Hermione too, he wasn't nice to her, not even a little bit. After a long time of thinking, Crabbe and Goyle and a bunch of other Slytherins walked in. They were all talking loudly and soon they walked toward Draco and he was swept away with them to lunch. As they were leading him out, Draco noticed something. It wasn't his or Hermione's fault at all, there was something going on with Harry, and Draco had to find out what, before Harry got worse and cursed someone else.

A/N: OK, I'm almost getting to the best parts of the story… don't give up on it yet…! Please R&R! J

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, places, or anything that is in any of the Harry Potter books. All of that belongs to the extremely talented J.K. Rowling. The only thing I own is the plot.