A/N: Woah, sorry it took exactly two months to update... first I kind of had writer's block, no ideas etc.. I think the chapter is rather boring, but I suddenly had the urge to write something again. I guess I just have to get back into the habit.
Tell me what you think, anyway!
And thanks for the reviews, they made my days!

ooOoo

10. No loving Malfoy

The next morning saw Draco coughing his head off, and sneezing his way to the great hall. The Pepper Up Potion didn't work, obviously. Madam Pomfrey was attacked by one of the curtains in the infirmary; somebody must have cast a Serpentia-spell on them…

I had a free period just before lunch, so I spent the time preparing my famous cheese pie. It was ready just before the break was over, and I told the house elves to let it cool down, and then send it to me. Draco wanted to go see the school nurse again, but it's no good, she wasn't able to help him yesterday! I told him to go lie down in the dormitory and wanted to send Ruber and Mareliza to tend to him; but being his usual stubborn self, he said all he needed was some more potions and he'd survive the day. Ha! Against my good advice, my well-meant counselling, he handed himself over to that good-for-nothing woman who calls herself a healer! Ha!

So he did survive the day, but he was listless, had a headache (he didn't say so, but I could tell) and no appetite. In the evening he poked his sausages back and forth, shoved the potatoes around on his plate and picked on his salad. But I still had a trump up my sleeve – the pie. Dun dun duuuun!

When I placed it gently in front of him, expectancy of his face lighting up all over mine, barely holding back a victorious grin, he gave me only a weak smile which faltered quickly, then said he was very tired. I basically freaked out. Draco Malfoy, Tail of Mine, not eating the cheese pie? Literally, I was jumping in triangles! I told Hermione to find a cure for a lethal disease, just any, sent Harry off to St. Mungo's, had Ron call the muggle emergency (which turned out not to be such a great idea, since Ron still doesn't know how to use a pellytone properly and they thought he was pulling their leg) and rushed off to McGonagall, after I had accompanied Draco to our dormitory and tucked him away in Harry's bed (Harry can sleep on the floor alright!). Our two house elves stood guard over him until I returned with the Headmistress, who scolded me for not taking him to the infirmary. Can you believe that? She scolded me! Me, who did everything to save his life, who would move mountains just to prevent the inevitable… yes, they ripped him from my embrace and carried him to That Woman, who's responsible for his dying soon because she can't even brew a simple Pepper Up Potion properly.

This all happened yesterday, ever since I've been in a state of agitated waiting. Draco tosses himself around in his bed, he moans and throws up any food we give him. Even fresh water makes him sick. His fever is very high, but Madam Poorly Educated says no need to worry, it's just a tiny case of influenza, and he'll have to sleep his way through it. I bring him fresh flowers which I mail order (I spent almost half my savings on them already), sit by his side whenever I can, hand feed him and don't even mind that he vomits all over me, and yesterday I didn't even forget to kiss him goodnight.

ooOoo

Finally, after another night of tossing and turning, he's better.

I had fallen asleep on a chair by his side, with my head resting on his bed, and woke up to find him smiling at something (he won't tell me what he was thinking about, though); when he saw me open my eyes (I left a wet spot of drool on the sheets from sleeping with my mouth open) he proclaimed that he was feeling hungry. And then he ate some of the soup I made for him (secret family recipe handed down from mother to daughter and daughters-in-law), and was able to keep it in. He can even drink some water without gagging immediately.

I knew I would get him through, no need to worry at all!

He said he's glad I didn't break our contract and kissed him goodnight both nights, and that it helped him get better more quickly. Liar! he just wants to make me feel like I need to kiss him more often, which I'm not going to do by the way. It's not like I couldn't live without him. I actually wasn't that worried about him, either, it's just that I knew my mum would be really upset if something happened to him, for she dotes upon him just like she does with all of my brothers, and my father sees quite the son in him, too. So yeah, my parents would be unhappy and I can't bear to have them sad!

Hermione pointed out (she does that a lot, doesn't she?) that I seemed out of my wits for the past two days, but that's just her over-exaggerating fantasy, you know. Since my parents consider Draco to be their son, I can't help but feel like a sister towards him, and I'd have done the same thing for any of my brothers. It's all sisterly affection. Yes, I cannot deny that I stopped disliking him, as I used to, and have started to be rather fond of him in a sisterly sort of thinking. I told her as much, and she said I'm not making any sense, which is not true; she's the one not thinking sensible enough. What with her being pregnant and all, everybody knows that hormones mess up a woman's logic.

So yeah. No loving Malfoy.

Fred and George inquired for the price of those green gloves, and it's so expensive! I can't believe any person has enough money to spend that much on a pair of Quidditch gloves, so I guess Draco will have to do with some other, less expensive present for Christmas.

ooOoo

I still haven't found out what he was doing in the Room of Requirement. He's not been in there ever since he fell sick, and I'm kind of busy. For the past two weekends, I have been working in my brother's joke shop in Hogsmeade; for I have to pay back the money I borrowed to get Draco's present. He'll like them, they're gorgeous!

Christmas is in two days, and I'm very excited for I think Fred is going to propose to Harry… he mentioned something while I was helping him check the items in store, and asked me if I thought Harry would fancy Emeralds. Ah, those two! They are so cute together. Harry spends a great deal of the weekend with Fred in the joke shop, and if it wasn't for my brother, I could start feeling a little jealous. For I have no one to turn to whenever I see something I fancy, who will share in my joy, and who will point out, in turn, something that catches his eye.

After Draco had gotten better, he begged me to bake him another cheese pie. He protests that his heart was bleeding the day he couldn't eat it because he felt lousy. He does that all the time, finds reasons for me to make the cake, looking at me like a Beagle with no home. I didn't see why I should oblige him, but then I thought he might fall sick again, and mum and dad would ground me big time if they ever found out it was because I had neglected him! I have prepared six cheese pies in the meantime, and whenever we kiss he tastes like them. Yes, of course we still kiss goodnight, and it gets harder every time to push him off of me and not turn it into a very long snog. I think he'd very much like to smooch me into oblivion. Hermione has 'read somewhere' that the symptoms of a heart attack imply rapid heart beat, and a pulling pain in the left arm. I must admit I do not feel pain in my arm, but the rest is just what I get every single time Draco embraces me tightly. I told him as much, yet all he did was smile warmly and hold me even closer. I think he's gone insane.