Disclaimer: Harry Potter is from the creative genius of J.K. Rowling. We are not her. This is merely a fan fiction to tide us over until Book 6.
The next day things had cooled down a bit although many students still bore scars from the night before. Alaire saw Dean and Seamus sporting bruised chins and cheeks when she entered the common room the next morning. To her surprise, Lavender Brown was tending to Seamus while Pavarti was cooing over Dean who looked quite embarassed by it all.
Several students were actually in hospital including Harry. Her empathic headache was gone, so Alaire decided to go check on him. As she entered the hospital ward, she accidentally came across Hermione and Ron in one of the cubicles. Ron had his shirt off and Hermione was ardently applying a blue salve to several nasty bruises. Alaire couldn't tell who was enjoying themselves more: Ron, who was moaning with pain and pleasure as Hermione rubbed the salve into his skin or Hermione who was remonstrating him with every breathe while at the same time tenderly taking care of his wounds.
Walking further into the hospital wing, Alaire saw that it was packed with students with various curses and other ailments. It took her a few moments before she spotted the raven-haired Gryffindor she was looking for.
Alaire made her way over to Harry's bed. As soon as he saw her, he sat up and motioned for her to come closer. Harry still had several boils and bruises across his face. He certainly looked like he had gotten the worst of it.
"I'm sorry, Alaire. I wasn't thinking. I heard Neville got you away. Are you all right?" Harry asked concerned as she stood beside his bed.
"I'm fine. He took great care of me. What did that guy say to get to you? I can't believe that you caused that fight over nothing."
"He started it. He knocked over the bike and I just lost my temper. That bike belonged to someone very special to me."
"Your dad?"
"My godfather," Harry said sadly.
"Oh," Alaire said sitting down on the bed beside Harry. "You're lucky Dumbledore didn't expel you."
"I think he believes I've been punished enough. I've got bloody bruises everywhere. The side of my face feels like it got hit by a bludger."
"Aww, poor baby," Alaire said as she leaned down and carefully kissed the bruise on Harry's cheek as she casually held his hand.
"It hurts here, too," Harry said in a hopeful voice as he pointed to his busted lip.
"Harry Potter! I do believe you are trying to trick me into kissing you!" Alaire teased.
"You can't blame me for trying," Harry said a small grin on his face.
"How'd you get that one?" Alaire asked pulling her hand away to motion towards a large bruise by Harry's temple that vanished at his hairline.
"When Malfoy let loose with that magical burst after Ginny was struck, it knocked everyone in the Great Hall on their asses." "Where is Ginny anyway? I hope she wasn't hurt very badly."
"Ginny's through there," Harry said motioning to the doorway across the hall. A frown crossed his face as he looked at the doors.
"Why isn't she with everyone else?" Alaire asked in a slightly panicked tone. She had managed to forge a friendship with Ginny. She hadn't told her about her empathy yet but she still felt that she could trust her. Her optimism and mischief had been a buffer against the harsher emotions that Alaire encountered around her. She was the closest thing to a friend Alaire had had for over a year.
"It's the curse she was struck by. It wasn't something you would normally see or come across unless you were really in the Dark Arts."
"What happened?" Alaire asked with a waiver in her voice.
"I gather from what the professors are saying, the spell was just one step below an unforgivable," Harry sighed. "It removed half the bones in her chest."
Alaire cringed when she thought about the pain.
Harry almost reading her thoughts, nodded his head. "The pain isn't the worst of it," he said sadly. "It leaves a person very vulnerable. With no bones to protect her heart and other organs, just a stunner to the chest could have been fatal."
"Great Merlin," Alaire whispered.
"You know, I really didn't believe that Malfoy actually cared for Ginny. Then, I saw what happened after she was hit. It was like he had gone mad. He picked her up and raced to the hospital wing with her. He wanted to floo a specialist from St. Mungo's in, but it wasn't allowed. Hell, he wanted to floo her to St. Mungo's immediately, but it could have killed her." Harry sighed. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were here earlier when Madam Pomfrey gave her some Skele-Gro," Harry signed motioning back to the doors. "Nasty stuff, but she's got a few ribs back. Ginny will be in here for awhile, though. I feel awful. It was all my fault that the fight started to begin with."
"Harry, you didn't cause some idiot to throw a some sort of terrible curse," snapped Alaire. "Does anyone know who threw the curse?"
Harry shrugged. "It's not like whoever did it is going to 'fess up to it. Both Ron and Malfoy are determined to find out who did it. For once in their lives, they agree on one thing, whoever did this to Ginny will pay."
"I saw Ron and Hermione earlier tending their wounds," Alaire said sarcastically. "Where is Draco, by the way?"
"I don't know. He was with her when they first brought her in the room, though I doubt Madam Pomfrey let him stay. Snape went in there a few moments ago. He was brewing a potion to help with the pain."
A second later, the hospital matron swept out from behind a curtain surrounding a nearby bed where she was tending another student from the various curses and hexes thrown during the fights. Alaire and Harry watched her put some potions and tonics onto a tray and carry them into the room where Ginny was. The door did not close all the way behind her. Alaire and Harry hear her give a startled intake of breath, before she found her voice.
"Really, Mr. Malfoy, please leave immediately," came the stern voice of Madam Pomfrey. "You are getting underfoot. Miss Weasley needs her rest. There is nothing you can do for her."
"Listen carefully to me, I am not leaving," snipped the tired drawl of Draco Malfoy.
"Language, Mr. Malfoy," scolded the harsh tone of Professor Snape, though Alaire noted that he too seemed tired. "You wouldn't want to lose all those points Dumbledore awarded our house when you brought an abrupt end to that façade at the dance."
"I don't bloody care if he renamed the school after me. I'm staying right here since you won't let me take Ginny to a real hospital."
"I assure you, Mr. Malfoy, that I am perfectly capable of taking care of Miss Weasley," huffed Madam Pomfrey.
"I'm not leaving."
"Do not force me to remove you from the hospital wing," Snape sneered.
"I am not leaving her. I don't want her to wake up alone," Draco said in a stern, heart-breaking tone, before his voice took a sharper edge. "If you make me leave, I will not be responsible for what I do to the person who cursed Ginny. They'll beg for an unforgivable when I'm through. No one hurts a Malfoy woman. No one."
"She is not a Malfoy."
A whispered of a spell was uttered. "She will be."
"Draco, you just placed your family's ring on Miss Weasley's finger. I assure you that your father –"
"Is rotting in Azkaban, where the person who did this to Ginny should be!"
"We are looking for the culprit and rest assured he or she will not go unpunished," Snape said harshly.
"I will not leave her," Draco said in a whisper. "I won't."
A second later the door to the other chamber opened and Snape walked out. The potion master looked extremely tired and irate. He sneered at Harry and nodded at Alaire before turning with his robes lashing out behind him as he left the hospital wing.
Moments later, Madame Pomphrey looking just as exhausted left the room shaking her head and muttering to herself. Alaire waited until she had entered her office before tiptoeing over to the door and peeking in. What she saw almost broke her heart.
Ginny was lying on a bed breathing in a slow raspy rhythm. Beside her lay Draco, his head sharing her pillow and his hand resting lightly on her arm. His eyes were red and swollen standing out against his pale skin. She backed out slowly as the sadness began to encroach on her carefully placed emotional walls.
"Oh, Harry. Its-Its awful." Harry only nodded in silence. Alaire reached out to grasp his hand searching for comfort.
"Ouch!" Harry pulled back and rubbed a sore spot.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to. I . . ."
"That's OK. Why don't you tell me what happened to you last night? Did Neville get hurt?"
Alaire thought back to the dance that she and Neville had been sharing when the fight broke out. She tried not to blush and made herself get up to look out the window behind Harry's bed.
"Um, well. Neville and I were dancing. You had gone to get some punch."
"Literally."
"Yeah, well, literally," Alaired added with a smile. "Then the next thing I knew, there were waves of hatred washing over me. It was totally overwhelming. I couldn't see or hear what was happening. It was like being in some weird kind of movie."
"How did Neville get you out if he was fighting?"
"He wasn't. The first thing he did was grab me and get me out of there. He wasn't throwing curses."
"So much for house loyalty," Harry said with a snort.
"I thought it was kind."
"Yeah, I guess so. I'm sorry. It was such a mess last night. I didn't know who was doing what." He smiled up at her and gingerly took her hand. "I'm actually glad he knew what he was doing and took care of you. I'd hate to see you in here beside me."
"Would you now? I got the impression you wouldn't mind," Alaire reposted teasingly. "Although, I must say the boils don't do much for you. You'd look much better in a rash."
Harry had to smile. Alaire could always make him do that. It was one reason he liked being around her so much. She made him feel like he was a normal teenager more concerned about his grades than killing an infamous wizard. There were times that he wished that he could bottle her up and keep her with him whenever he needed her for all the rough times of his life.
"I'll try to remember that next time I get cursed."
"Ah-hem." Alaire turned to see Neville standing behind her. "I thought I'd come check on Harry. I'm glad you're feeling better, Alaire." Neville reached out to brush her hair off her shoulder.
"I owe you one, mate," Harry commented. "Thanks for taking care of her for me."
Both Alaire and Neville turned to look at him. Simultaneously, they asked, "For you?"
"Umm. Well, I couldn't do anything because . . ." his voice trailed off.
"Because you were fighting, Mr. Potter!" Madame Pomphrey's voice boomed out of nowhere startling the trio. "May I remind you that you also need your rest? Visitors will have to wait." She looked pointedly at Neville and Alaire who took the hint and stood to leave.
"We'll see you later, Harry." Alaire said with a wink as Neville reached out a hand to guide her out.
"Yeah, see you soon." Harry gave a feeble good-bye as Madame Pomphrey watched him warily.
"Why was he thanking me?" asked Neville as they walked out. "I don't know, Neville. I'm the one who should be thanking you." "Oh." "Neville?" He stopped walking and stood waiting for her outside the hospital doors. Alaire leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you." Neville blushed as they continued walking toward the dining hall. But his thoughts were troubled. Alaire seemed happy to be around him and he had almost kissed her the night before. But Harry had just spoken to him like Alaire was his possession. Something told him that Harry was horribly mistaken and the thought of it made his heart skip a beat as Alaire turned to smile at him.