A/N: Hi, all! THANK YOU! You guys make me so happy! I can't believe this story finally reached a milestone! (Yeah, Last Kiss finally reached 100+ reviews.) Sorry if I'm making this kind of a big deal… Hehe. So in celebration, I'm giving you another chapter. Anyway, since I'm kind of busy at the moment, you might see some typo/errors all over the place so please bear with me. I have no time to edit and stuff. I hope you'll like this chapter. I hope you won't be confused since I'll be changing POVs a lot. Don't worry though because it's still in the third person. ENJOY.
Dedicated once more to the ff. reviewers:
MysticalStormz, Riverchick1998, auroracat, michelle, Arial, Cynnamon Flakes, Scarywhenhyper, KAOS, C, krinGa, jess, Akira Gown, Sandy, J'amais, maxzoid, Iris leonhart, flamer-grL, SpilledInk, Xenia, Fiona, Unicorn777, TigerLily, dracos-baby-girl, Ron and Hermione fan
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the characters, setting and the details but I own the plot.
Summary: Draco is dying, he only has a year left to live and no amount of magic can save him. Now Draco promises to change- to make his few months of living filled with laughter instead of tears. Will be D/Hr, sooner or later. R&R please.
Recap: Malfoy decided to go to Hogwarts!
Chapter 5: Suspicions
The Hogwarts express finally jerked to a stop. Hermione, Ron, Harry, Neville and Ginny all rode on the first carriage while Parvati, Padma and the others rode on the second carriage. The ride was quite uneventful. Harry and Ron were both quiet during the ride while Neville and Ginny were laughing quietly. Hermione, however, was staring blankly outside. She's been thinking of the same things over and over again. It was starting to get to her. She hated thinking about it and worse; she couldn't bring herself to share it to anyone just yet. Hermione sighed heavily; she got bored staring at her side of the carriage so she decided to look on the opposite window. It was quite dark, but something caught her eye… four people moving towards the entrance hall. Hermione's heartbeat quickened its pace as she realized what she was seeing… There's no mistaking it… it was no other than…
"Malfoy!" Hermione burst out suddenly, causing Harry Ron, Neville and Ginny to jump in surprise. Hermione curiously followed him with her eyes as he saw him with Narcissa, Snape and Dumbledore entering the entrance hall.
Harry, Ron, Ginny and Neville all peered out to where Hermione was looking only to find Dumbledore in the entrance.
"Where is he?" Ron asked, squinting his eyes to get a better view.
"Too late, Ron. He's already inside." Hermione answered.
"I wonder what happened to him…" Harry said, frowning.
Ron sighed dramatically, "Too bad, isn't it? Just when we thought he's gone…"
"Well, he still has every right to go back to Hogwarts, you know." Hermione said, certain.
Ron rolled his eyes, "Whatever! I'd still prefer him gone. Gone for good!" he said.
Hermione shook her head and kept quiet. Ron was really mean sometimes. If he kept that attitude, he'll be more like Malfoy sooner than he thinks.
They finally reached the entrance and went to the Great Hall. Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Ron then settled themselves on a good spot.
Hermione chanced a glance at the Slytherin table to check whether Malfoy was there or not. She scanned the first few rows but she couldn't find him.
"Something is up!" Hermione thought as she tried to find him at the end of the Slytherin table. "What's happening to him?"
Dumbledore stood up. Gave a short speech about new rules by Filch and about the forbidden forest but Hermione was just half listening. A lot of thoughts were bothering her. She even wondered why she's wasting her time looking for Malfoy. Hermione shook her head to shake her muddle thoughts aside and tried to concentrate instead on Dumbledore's speech. She tried… but she failed.
"Damn, Malfoy!" Hermione muttered angrily to herself. "Of all the days to be weird, he chose the first day of school!"
"Er… Hermione?" Began Ginny. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Hermione smiled at her. "I'm fine." she said unconvincingly. Ginny looked at her with utter concern. She was trying to figure out the cause of Hermione's weird behavior.
"I'm fine, Ginny!" Hermione repeated, smiling.
Ginny just nodded and turned her attention again to Dumbledore, who just sat down on his high chair. Ginny looked unconvinced as usual. Hermione sighed.
"Hey, Hermione!" Ginny whispered suddenly. "Where do you reckon Snape is?"
Hermione looked at the long table in front of them and sure enough, Snape wasn't anywhere in sight. Hermione shrugged in reply. But deep inside, she knew, it must be a Malfoy related issue.
Professor McGonagall, with a bunch of first year students suddenly entered the Great Hall carrying her usual scroll of names and the sorting hat. Professor Dumbledore nodded at her as though he was signaling her to start. McGonagall nodded back and thus the Sorting commenced.
"Andrews, Phoebe" called McGonagall and a girl that somehow looks like Ginny minus the red hair, came up and with trembling hands, put the sorting hat in her head.
Hermione stared at the girl. In a way, she thought, she was just like her in her first day at Hogwarts.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The sorting hat bellowed.
Everyone in his or her table applauded, including Hermione. She smiled as she watched the excited first year join their table for the first time.
"Draco, I'll be back on Saturday to check up on you." Narcissa said as she gave her son a small peck on the cheek. Draco nodded. "Professor Dumbledore told me I could stay here for the night but I have to keep the household together first. I also need to attend to your father. Do you understand?"
"Yes, mum. I understand." Draco answered automatically.
"I'll be staying here three times a week. Is that okay with you? Or-"
"Yes, mum. It's fine with me." He said.
Narcissa gauged Draco's reaction, "If you need anything, Professor Snape is here to assist you."
"I'll be attentive to his needs" Snape promised.
"I know I can trust you with this, Severus. " Narcissa said, smiling. "Thank You."
"Don't you mind it" Severus replied.
"By the way Draco, keep the 30th of every month open, okay? Agushen and Simms will check up on you."
Draco nodded. Even though he hated check ups, especially with that irritating, muggle loving Dr. Simms, he would take his chances. His mother needed her, most especially now that his father wasn't home.
"If you run out of painkillers and I'm not around, call Severus immediately. He'll know what to do" Narcissa said.
A carriage that was supposed to bring Narcissa back to the Hogwarts express stopped in front of them.
"By the way Severus, only me, you, Draco and Professor Dumbledore should know about this!" she reminded, as she entered the carriage. Snape nodded.
"Bye Draco! I'll see you soon!" With that, the carriage moved and left.
"Do you want to rest?" Snape asked him gently. "Or do you want to join the feast?"
"I don't know," he said.
"Well," Snape started. "I still need to go to the feast… And to tell you the truth, I suggest you go with me there."
"Why?" Draco asked.
"Isn't it more suspicious if you don't show yourself to people?" Snape answered. "I mean, that will obviously lead to unwanted questioning."
Draco hated to admit it, but Snape has a point.
"What do you say?" Snape asked, "Of course I don't want to force you, if you don't want to."
Draco sighed and nodded. "I'll go."
"Good answer." Snape said. "Do you have your medicine with you?" he asked.
Draco took out the small container out of his pocket and showed it to Snape.
"Okay good," Snape said. "Just incase…"
"Vladimir, Marquee" McGonagall shouted frailly over the crowd.
A boy, who looked somehow like Crabbe, walked in front of everyone and sat on the stool. He had this unpleasant vibe in him that people knew he'd be in Slytherin. The sorting hat was placed in his head and to everyone's surprise… the sorting hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
Ginny giggled as Marquee sat down at the Hufflepuff table. She definitely didn't expect it. Hermione was also laughing. Ginny smiled inwardly. She was watching Hermione closely, monitoring her bizarre behavior. Ginny felt a little bit at ease now that Hermione seemed uplifted.
Finally, to everyone's delight. Mya Zephyr, who was the last first year in the list was sorted in Ravenclaw. Dumbledore once again stood up, gave a short saying and finally shouted, "Let the feast begin!"
Ron, who seemed like he had been starved to death during the sorting, ate vigorously. Harry and Hermione were laughing loudly as Ginny told them about Ron's encounter with Fleur and how he tried to impress her but failed miserably. Ron chose to ignore them and just enjoyed his food.
Malfoy could hear the noise from the Great hall. Although a part of him doesn't want to go, he went along with Snape for the sake of saving face. He knew it was a petty excuse, but that's all he has - a reputation to keep. He sighed, as he watched Snape open the door of the Great hall. Draco impulsively put his hands to his pocket, making sure the bottle of painkillers was still with him. He sighed in relief, holding the painkillers like a charm. Not here, he prayed, not where anyone can see.
He scanned the Great Hall and was greeted by the Slytherins. He greeted them back and was kind of surprised to see a lot of death glares by the other tables. He smirked at them in retaliation and they looked away from him, obviously pissed. He sat down in between Pansy and Crabbe, and greeted them pleasantly while they greeted him back. He sighed. He was hoping they wouldn't ask any questions. He was also hoping, fervently, that Pansy wouldn't notice a thing.
Hermione looked up, and was a little bit surprised to see Snape and Malfoy enter the Great Hall together. She frowned, as thousands of thoughts ran through her brain, as usual. She was starting to hate herself for getting worked up over an irritating enemy. She watched Malfoy, as he joined his minions over the Slytherin table.
Harry followed Hermione's line of gaze and chuckled softly. "So, a certain Slytherin caught your attention, huh?"
Hermione immediately looked away and stared instead at Harry's bright green eyes.
"Don't be stupid!" she said, defensively. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Harry chuckled at Hermione's reaction, "I'm kidding! Lighten up!" he said, smiling. "You look so serious!"
Hermione grinned, apologetic. She sighed and began to chow down her food. "What is happening to me?" she muttered to herself. "Why am I so worked up over this?"
Malfoy looked up from his table and by chance, saw Hermione staring at him from the Gryffindor table. "Weird," he thought, as he stared right back at her. Malfoy looked over his shoulder just to check if she was staring at someone behind him. There was no one, he then looked right back at the Gryffindor table only to see her talking to Ginny. "Weird," he repeated, quietly to himself. Maybe he just imagined it all. He then remembered his weird encounter with Granger at muggle London.
"Hey, Draco!" Pansy called, startling Draco out of his thoughts.
"What?" He asked.
Pansy looked at him with a mixture of worry and concern. "What happened to you?" she asked.
"Huh?" Draco asked nervously. "What do you mean?" He was hoping she'll never ask anything but there she goes. Observing him as always. There's just no escaping her. Pansy was just too good to overlook this kind of thing… persistent and smart. "Damn!"
"I said," began Pansy. "What happened to you? Why didn't you come by train like the rest of us?" she asked.
"Oh, about that…" Draco said while thinking hard of what to say to her.
"What?" she asked again, waiting.
"Well, uh…" Draco started. "My mother felt kind of sick this morning so I had to accompany her to the doctor." He lied, smoothly.
"Oh my! Is your mum okay? I hope it's not serious or anything," Pansy said worriedly.
"Uh, no. It's nothing serious, don't worry." Draco assured her. "She just needs some rest."
Pansy smiled, "Well, that's good to hear." She said, finishing her food.
"Where's Goyle?" Draco said suddenly, trying to change the subject.
Crabbe and Pansy started laughing loudly. Draco stared at them confusedly, though he felt relieved that they finally changed the subject.
"What's going on?" Draco asked, "Did I miss something?"
Pansy tried to stop herself from laughing; she then rearranged her features and said with mock seriousness, "He is in front of you, Draco."
Draco stared, then blinked, and then gasped. "NO BLOODY WAY!"
Sitting right in front of him was a very good-looking boy, with muscular built, brown hair, and hazel brown eyes. It couldn't be Goyle, can it? It can't be... "No way! Is that you, Goyle?" he asked, flabbergasted.
The guy right in front of him smiled brightly.
"Yup!" Pansy said. "That's him alright!"
Draco couldn't believe it. The person in front of him was actually built and wasn't fatty like Crabbe and Goyle. He looked him up and down, impressed.
"I win the bet, Draco." Pansy said suddenly, as she held out her hands. "50 galleons, remember?"
"What? Oh yeah… I remember!" Draco said, as he remembered daring Pansy 50 galleons if he could make Goyle look like a hunk. He got his small leather pouch bag and gave it to Pansy.
"That is exactly 50 galleons" He said, laughing. He couldn't believe Pansy pulled it off. Changing how a person looked based solely on transfiguration was really heavy stuff. You need to be adept in transfiguration to be able to pull off changing an eyebrow. Let alone, changing the whole body of a person.
"Well," Pansy got her wand out of her pocket and muttered something and Goyle went back to normal.
"Hey, Pansy!" Goyle said, suddenly looking disappointed. "What did you do that for? I was quite enjoying the attention!"
"Attention?" Draco asked Pansy.
She started laughing again. "Would you believe? Lavander and that Patil girl actually asked Goyle out! It was so… hilarious!"
"What?" Draco said in mild shock. "They asked HIM out?"
"Yes!" She said, giggling.
Draco laughed light-heartedly for the first time in weeks. Finally, after 2 months of self-pity, depression and loneliness, he felt as though nothing was wrong. He felt like he was his old self again. All worries forgotten… even the fact that he was dying…
A/N: R/R please! I promise it will get better soon. Anyway, to answer some questions, no, it's not tuberculosis. I was looking for something much worst actually. So yeah, I'm still looking for options. As for the white dress in the funeral dream sequence, the standard colors in funerals are either of the two: black or white. I chose the latter to make it unique. I mean, since everyone wears black… I wanted something different for the power couple.
So there, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I know it was kind of short? I'll try to make it longer in the next chapters.
Please review and as usual, NO FLAMES.