The next day was classes once again and Draco headed late to arithmancy, making it about 5 minutes late. All the students were already sitting at their chosen desks and writing on their pieces of parchment, text books out and open. Draco noticed with a sinking feeling that once again the only empty seat was next to Granger.
He did not feel like being interrogated this early on such an empty stomach, or so he told himself as he avoided her eyes and sat down as far away from her as possible while still within the perimeter of the desk they shared. He kept his eyes glued to the wooden surface of the desk as he pulled out his quill and a piece of parchment and opened his text book.
Quickly he busied himself with the assignment, trying to block out everything else, but it was difficult. The thought of what Granger had seen kept sneaking into his head and it made him blush with shame and maybe want to cry if he was to be honest, but he kept his face blank and kept writing. After a few moments he noticed Granger was staring at him.
Her quill was lying besides her parchment, her assignment completed. She was observing him intently and it was driving him crazy, his hand holding the quill began to shake. Finally He scrawled the rest of his assignment out quickly and dropped the quill. Voices were beginning to speak in his head, louder and louder like drums beating, accusingly, and he wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He couldn't take it…Very distantly he heard the girl next to him whisper cautiously, "Malfoy…are you alright?"
He grasped in his mind for something, anything, to act as a lifeboat as he was drowning in the chorus of voices and whatever it was that was making his hand continue shaking under Grangers hidden observation. Suddenly he grasped at an image and pulled with all his force, and the voices stopped as he saw a pair of bright green eyes in his head, no longer be speckled but free to shine almost impossibly, eyes of a color and shade he could not forget and just could not get out of his thoughts.
His hand stilled and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a neatly folded piece of parchment. He reached over and placed it in front of Granger, and with great relief he felt her gaze finally slide off of him, now directing itself on the note. He felt his insides squirm a little as he thought of how she would open the note, read the contents, and go look up the book and page number in the library to check the spell. She would then go to Harry with the spell, and they could use it…
The thought made him feel a little better, that he would be the reason those green eyes would not be hidden, one good thing at least that he could contribute to teh wizarding world. Hefeltlike his head was clear, which was a feeling he missed lately. He was pulled for a moment out of the whirling torrent of his mind. He thought over her earlier question and wondered what she would have said if he had said no. No he wasn't. Would she care? Would it matter? Most likely she'd be spooked and not say anymore.
Just as she turned to him to ask about the parchment the class was dismissed and once again he was saved by the Hogwarts Schedule, always excusing him at just the right moment. He turned and looked at her and the fact that his face held no malice or sneer seemed to surprise her just as much as the note he'd given her. His eyes were clear and his face blank over a hidden anxiousness, her mouth was already working on pushing something out to him, most likely an inquiry on the note, the spell, his reasons, and she was holding it out in her hand, but before she could say a word he turned quickly and left.
In the hallway he nearly bumped into Blaise Zabini who Turned and exclaimed "Draco, there you are! Quidditch practice now remember? Everyone's almost there waiting for you; I know it's weird how early it is right? I mean, with free periods and all this year, it's pretty great actually, we don't have to go into our free time for practice…" the boy continued to rant as they walked down the Hallway toward the entrance hall to the quiditch pitch. Draco just followed him, tuning out to whatever the boy was saying and noticing the tinge of nervousness in his voice.
The rest of the players must have sent him to fetch Draco, and the rant was not only due to the fact that Blaise was just extremely obnoxious, but because he was nervous to be pulling Draco to the pitch. The Blonde rolled his eyes and kept walking.
When they broke out onto the pitch the bright sunlight blared in his eyes and made him feel slightly dizzy. They reached the group of Slytherins in quiditch uniforms all looking anxiously at them, shuffling their feet on the moist emerald shaded grass. Draco spared them half a glance and went quickly to get changed. Once he was ready and had his broom out the practice started swiftly.
He climbed onto his new firebolt and rose gracefully into the sky and their practice game began. After a few short minutes he had spotted the snitch flying near their chaser's ear. Just as he made the dive toward it a bludger began to hurtle toward him and he had to race to dodge it. The quick movement made everything momentarily go black and he heard a scream from behind him and some yelling.
He hoped it was not for him and he panicked, trying to get control of his vision while bile rose in his throat, But as he landed with a thud and regained his vision, He turned and saw what the commotion was about. The bludger that had missed him had hit one of their chaser's square in the head and blood was flowing alarmingly fast onto the grass, turning it to a dark muddy color as it pooled.
Half the team rushed to get the injured player to the hospital wing and the captain and Zabini came up to Draco, both watching the bleeding player being carried away. The captain shook his head sadly and Blaise snorted, "Can you believe it? By one of our own players…Those beaters are almost thicker then Crabb and Goyle were…" he said. "Now where am I going to get a new Chaser?" The captain, a tall Blonde seventh year said.
"Try Millicent Bulstrode" Draco said offhandedly as he headed to the locker room to change. The over exertion had not had a pleasant effect on Draco and he put it off as just that, the cause being exhaustion, though he knew better. He took the opportunity to get out of the practice early and go back to his Dorm seeing as the afternoon was clear of classes.
Once there he threw himself on his large bed and pulled out his bag where he had stored the thick stack of parchment copied form the book. He pulled out a quill and his DADA book, then reached under his pillow and pulled out the magazine, hiding it underneath all his materials but making sure that he could still see most of the face displayed on the cover and the unforgettable green of the eyes.
He began to go through the pages, writing down the spells he wanted to practice the most and reading them. He found a curse that slowed the effects of poisoning, a spell to detect the presence of hidden others within a certain radius of the caster, a shield spell for more then 4 people, though that one took a lot of power, and various other anti-dark arts spells. He found the patronus, which he was still learning, a project he had set out on his own for a short time ago. His had already begun to form the shape of some big four legged animal, but didn't yet have distinct details.
He also needed to practice another powerful spell, similar to the patronus. But for that he needed the room of requirement, seeing as the spell was a heavily dark spell. He made a note in his mind to make a trip to the room of requirement later to correctly practice these spells.
After a while he rubbed his eyes with his hands, feeling their tired surface and seeing black spots. He needed a break, and was extremely surprised to see that it was already dark, past 8 in fact. He quickly got up and put his things in his bag, knowing that if he wanted to reach the library as he had planned he had to get there fast. The library would be closed at 8:30.
Once he had everything he headed out of the dorm quickly and out of the common room, making the journey from the dungeons to the library walking rapidly, having to stop occasionally to catch his breath. He glanced at a clock on the wall and saw that it was 5 minutes to 8:30 and he was only halfway there. He began to sprint now, knowing that he could go there tomorrow but for some reason desperate to get there on time anyway, and get it today.
He came to a skidding stop at the end of the hallway and into a large hall opening up into 4 other directions. As he was about to head forward to the library his stomach gave an angry lurch and rumble and a salty taste began to spread through his mouth. He knew he would not make it to the library in time, and as his vision began to blur. He took a sharp left and began to walk fast down that hallway. As his vision was beginning to go black he reached the portrait with the pear he needed to tickle, but as he was about to reach up to do it his hand knocked into something hard, though in front of him there was just air. He barley registered it as suddenly a rush of dizziness forced him to sit down.
He was painfully aware of missing all his meals that day and the day before, the full effect only hitting him now. As he tried to get up his vision swam once again, all the blood draining from his face this time, leaving it cold. And before he could take more then one step he was forced to sit again and almost lost his balance in doing so. He let out a helpless noise like a whimper or a moan and braced his hands on the cold tile beneath him, his hair falling over his face. He clenched his eyes tightly trying to keep consciousness.
A sudden disturbance in the air in front of him startled him as he clutched tightly at his stomach, wondering how badly his eye sight was fucking up as the very fabric of the air began to rustle and stretch. Out of the thin air the figure of a person appeared, and the sight of blazing emerald eyes told him exactly and unmistakably who it was as the person bent forward to help him with an exclamation of surprise and worry.
Draco himself let out an exclamation of surprise as the figure pulled him to his feet and tried to steady him, but once again his body failed him and his vision swam. Eyes registering almost nothing, he tried to take a step and tripped, clenching his eyes tightly and closing them and falling forward into arms that quickly encircled him and tried to hold him and steady him.
When things began to fall back in place he opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Bright green uncovered eyes, nose almost touching the nose of his rescuer, Harry Potter. His Stomach gave a leap completely separate from the trouble it had been enduring. He felt as if it had tied into a not near the bottom, trapping something hot and boiling at it's floor, as the result of being suddenly so close to Potter.
Through the quickly clearing haze of pain he could feel their chests touching and his heart was racing, he wondered if Harry could feel the alarming rate of his heartbeat against the boy's chest. In the stillness his head cleared, but he knew that if he began moving again he would start slipping, close to passing out again. This wasn't the first time this had happened to him.
"Malfoy! What's wrong?" Harry Potter asked with a strong tinge of worry and panic in his voice. Was Harry Potter worried about Draco Malfoy? He wondered to himself vaguely. The blasted hero was here to save him…he would be another victim of Potter's hero complex, he though almost aridly, but slightly bitterly at the last part. The closeness of their accidental position was still blurring Draco's thoughts slightly and he slowly became aware of a diffrent feeling spreading along his stomach, making him blush slightly.
"MALFOY!" Harry yelled "Can you hear me?" Draco pulled out of his thoughts quickly andnodded his head, his loose blond hair fluttering across his cheeks with the movement. "Fuck your pale…" he began. "I need to get to the kitchen…need something in my stomach" Draco muttered, pressing his head into Harry's shoulder, knowing this would probably be the only opportunity he'd ever get to do that.
"Okay, Okay" Harry began, unconsciously placing a hand on Draco's head, feeling the sweat that had collected at the front of his silvery hair. "Let's get in there then" Harry said, beginning to shift to get closer to the pear. "Wait!" Draco exclaimed suddenly in helplessness. He griped Harry's shoulder tightly and said "Just, get something, anything, and bring it to me, I can't…"He trailed off, choosing not to finish his sentence. Harry nodded and slowly lowered Draco down on the floor, leaning him against the wall.
He gave the slumped figure of the blonde boy one last look before tickling the pear and heading through the opening portrait into the kitchens. Draco Ran his hand shakily through his hair, hating himself for this. His stomach rumbled, and he knew this dangerous habit of forgetting to eat had to stop. After nearly fainting the first time it should have stopped. He couldn't even fucking feed himself well enough to keep his body running for Merlin's sake!
One of his feet slid forward on the tile a little and bumped into some sort of material, causing a rustling noise. He realized it was an invisibility cloak, Harry's invisibility cloak. He reached out with one hand to run his hand over the material, running it's silkiness through his fingers.
He heard the portrait push open wider and then fall closed. Footsteps beat on the tile beside him and then a figure stooped before him. Harry handed the slumped over blonde boy a large sandwich and sat down in front of him, holding another in his hands. Draco took it quickly and began stuffing as much of it in his mouth as possible while trying to eat gracefully, barley registering the sharp taste of cheese and banana.
When it had disappeared from his hands he finally looked up into the face hovering uncertainly before his. The Emerald green eyes held a worried look in them and Draco noticed with much pleasure that the normal barrier of glass wasn't there, and it made him feel slightly better that it was because of his research and his spell, that much he could assume.
Draco reached out for the next sandwich and ate this one slower and less sloppily, trying to avoid looking into the bright orbs observing him intensely, but at the same time unable to look away for more then seconds at a time. Finally when he had finished eating Harry broke the silence and spoke. "Draco, what just happened?"
Draco's molten grey eyes were drawn quickly back to Harry's attentive ones as he heard his first name being uttered from unexpected lips and his heart leaped into his throat for a split second. "Um…"Draco began, casting his gaze to the shining tan patterns of the tiled floor. "Just…over exertion, that's all…needed some energy, I was running...", "Then why did you need food so badly?" Harry asked skeptically.
Draco's bite suddenly returned with his sense of reality, and he retorted sharply "It's not really any of your business", though it came out with less conviction then he would have liked. Harry stood up and dusted the crumbs off his hands and Draco instantly regretted saying what he had said now that it looked like Harry was leaving, and for some reason he desperately wanted him to stay.
Unexpectedly, the dark haired boy reached out a hand and said "Are you okay to get up now?" Draco looked up and said "I think so", with that he reached out timidly and then grasped the hand that was offered to him. The warm contact sent a feeling of surprising warmth and comfort through Draco as he was pulled up and onto his feet, and then the contact was broken and things were cold and awkward again.
"Are you sure you're okay now?" Harry asked. Draco hesitated and then said "Ya, better now". Then once again reality began to impose itself on him and on the scene in the warmly lighted hallway where for a short while defenses had been lowered and barriers dropped. "I have to go…" Draco said quickly, then thinking that he didn't even need to give warning really… "Ya, me too" Harry began, turning to pick up his invisibility cloak, "But I should walk you, just incase", but as he turned, Draco was already turning the corner out of the hallway quickly heading back to his dorm.
authors note:I´ve fixed this chapter so that draco isnt going to check ou the book this day, but the next, seeing as he gets the pass he mentioned in the old chapter, in the chapter 8. Woops.