Love's Talent

Chapter 10: Contestant Consciousness

LunarianPrincess

A talent contest and performing class brings new alliances and blooming romance, but is a sinister force trying to prevent it from being successful?

Pairings: GW/DM; KS/DS; some HP/LL and HG/RW

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter Universe/Characters, I do own Darien Solaro and Kassara Saravati. This is in Ginny's sixth year and some of the characters might seem OOC, but bear with me. Feedback is appreciated, but please try to keep criticism constructive, Thanx in advance

This chap title is both literal and figurative, I hope that makes sense if not ask and I'll be happy to tell you what it means.

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Last Chapter-------

She took a breath and shook her head, her pain had intensified and her body felt weak. A few minutes later she sat down, Snape had called up Slytherin. Kasi looked at her in surprise, 'you didn't even flinch' she mouthed in wonder. She smiled wearily and laid her head down. A few minutes later her coughs caught up with her, she started hacking badly. She stood up intent on getting some water when she felt the world spin around her.

Now---------------

"Ms. Weasley, return to us," she heard Snape say wryly. She opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by the students. "Malfoy, Take her to the infirmary, I think she couldn't handle the spell," he said disappointedly.

"No sir, its just I can't breathe" she said defiantly before returning to the blissful darkness, he looked at her skeptically.

"Professor, shouldn't Ron or I take her, I mean he is her brother, and I am her best friend," Kasi said bravely. Snape looked at her before shaking his head.

"You both have classes you need to attend, Malfoy is my student assistant in the next class, so he is free to go," Kasi nodded at him, before turning her worried gaze on her friend. The bell rang as Malfoy stepped towards her. He lifted Ginny effortlessly into his arms and strode out the door.

Ginny opened her eyes slowly, hearing a familiar voice calling her. At first she winced because the light was so bright. A hand smoothed the hair off her face as she tried to breathe, she started coughing and someone lifted her to a sitting position. She gasped and opened her eyes. She was met by troubled silver eyes.

"What happened?" she asked weakly. He frowned at her and rearranged her pillows and laid her back, so she was reclining.

"You passed out again, Madame Pomfrey says you have a mild case of pneumonia, you know you shouldn't go to bed with wet hair," he said heatedly. She looked at him in confusion, why was he so angry about her getting sick.

"When can I get out of here?" she asked quietly. He looked at her inscrutably, but she could see the surprise in his eyes.

"She said if you feel better you can leave when class gets out, but she says I am to escort you to wherever you go after here, so how are you feeling," he said evenly.

"Well, my throat hurts but otherwise, my head doesn't feel as if it's stuffed with cotton anymore," she said gleefully. He shook his head at her cheerful spirits. "So, how did I get here?" she asked him.

"Well, when you passed out in Snape's I carried you up here, I'm his student aid in Potions so he said to bring you to the infirmary." He explained. She nodded before smiling at him brilliantly.

"Thank you, Malfoy," she said sincerely. He frowned at her, but she continued to smile at him.

"Yeah, well don't make it a habit, I won't always be there to pick you up," he said darkly. She shook her head disappointedly. She couldn't understand why he was so reluctant to be a good person.

Madame Pomfrey walked up and looked at Ginny. "You really must thank your Mr. Malfoy here, he carried you up here, dear you really must take more care of yourself," she said kindly, Ginny's already flushed cheeks darkened at her calling Malfoy hers. Madame Pomfrey stepped forward and felt her forehead. "Well, your fever has dropped, today's classes end in about half an hour so you can go down when classes are over," she told the prone girl. She walked away briskly, attending the other patients in beds further down the row.

"So, is there anyway I can have my meal privately, or with Kasi, I don't really feel up to facing my brother or his stupid friends right now," she said turning her gaze on him. He was perched by the headboard, staring out the window.

"I'm sure we can figure a way for that to work, we can eat in the astronomy room, I can get Dare to get Kasi there, if that's really what you want I mean, you could have most of your house at you beck and call with Weasley and Precious Potter running things," he said scornfully.

"I know that's why I'd prefer to eat away from them, I hate having people constantly bugging me, I never get a moment alone, they're always keeping an eye on me like I can't handle my own problems," she said vehemently. She was glaring at nothing in particular and her hands were curled in fists at her side. "Well, then if we want to get there before anyone knows where we went let's leave now," she stated decisively. She threw off the covers and swung her legs to the side and stood up, she was weak on her feet and it took her a second to catch her breath before she could do anything. He pushed lightly on her chest forcing her into a sitting position again, her eyes flew to his face, and he had a wry grin aimed at her.

"Hold on, I'll check that it's okay with Madame Pomfrey and then we'll go," he said. Handing her her robe, which was hung on the back of the chair he was sitting in, he strode off. She stared after him, she had known Malfoy had been much tamer since two years ago but she didn't know he had changed into a better person. He returned in a few seconds carrying a small bottle and a spoon. "She said we can leave now, but after you eat you have to take two spoonfuls of this potion," he said he handed her the bottle as she prepared to stand up, she set the bottle on her robes. Before she could stand up he had scooped her up and was walking out of the infirmary.

"Malfoy!" she said in shock. "What do you think you're doing? You're going to hurt yourselves, put me down this instant!" she demanded indignantly.

"How am I going to hurt myself?" he asked her complacently. He shifted her so she was more comfortable, at the feeling of shifting she let out a small squeal. She dropped her robes and the spoon and bottle into her lap and looped her arms around his neck.

"I'm heavy, you could pull a muscle or hurt your back," she said quietly, her face flamed as she admitted her secret fear. To her chagrin he chuckled.

"You... are not... heavy," his statement was punctuated by chuckles. She stayed quiet as he navigated the stairs and passageways. They reached the small astronomy room in a very short amount of time. Malfoy reached down and opened the door, they were pleased to note that no one was there. Malfoy set her on the shelf before bringing the few chairs that were under the windows to where she sat. "Now, classes will end shortly, I told Dare I'd meet him in the front hall, I'll have him get Kassara and they can carry the food up to us," he told her as he settled into a chair.

"Thanks, oh you can change you don't have to stay, I mean I know you have better things to do than take care of a girl who can't even take care of herself," she said self-mockingly.

"Which brings up a question I had, why did you go to bed with wet hair?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well, before I met with you I went to take a bath," she said with a small blush. "I snuck into the prefect's bath and decided to have a relaxing soak after yesterday's try-outs and our game," she explained defensively.

"Retract the claws, Vixen," he replied calling her the moniker the girls in his house had used last night. It seemed to fit her and she didn't protest. "Well, it's almost time, I'm going to go get Dare then I'll be right back, do NOT get up or do anything, Madame Pomfrey said you'll be weak until tomorrow," he said commandingly. She looked at him with wide eyes.

"Okay, I promise!" she cried. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "I promise I won't get up if you promise to feed me," she said jokingly. He gave her a dashing grin before walking out and closing the door behind him. "He is so infuriating!" she remarked to herself, smiling at his commanding antics. She lay back against the wall and looked up at the artificial sky. As she looked up at it she thought back over her last few days. She thought of Malfoy revealing his knowledge of Crup and his friend's surprising knowledge of it as well. She was staring at the Constellation Draconis when it hit her. She vaguely remembered the lesson on that constellation. It was created from the dragon which had guarded the golden apples of Aphrodite, the dragon's name was Ladon.

Ahh, the plot thickens, okay not really. Everyone already knew this tidbit, I have come up with my villain. I am going to model the villain after myself, and I plan that it will be quite predictable. It makes it more interesting if you know and the characters are a little too dense to realize who it is, makes it funnier, at least for me. Thank you for your responses, and for those of you that care I will be writing a companion to Midnight Sky. It will be called A Thousand Eyes after the poem by Francis William Bourdillon though if someone could stick with the theme and give me a better title I would be forever grateful. Please read the first chap of it and review before you suggest a title though, because if I don't get a good response I might just give it up.

Thank Yous:

Dracosbaby7: thanks for your reviews, I am working on the next story and I might ask for some help, thanks for offering! Maybe you can come up with a better title than I did.

pishcules: thanks for reading my story!

musicgirl141: hope the coughing was explained in this chap!