Nemo Autem Mei Amor
Chapter Ten


Her eyes widened slightly as she peered upon Malfoy who stood with his eyes flashing towards her before adjusting back at Harry. At that moment, Madame Pomfrey touched an area around her ribs that caused her to wince. "That's what I thought," she said, a short nod before turning around in a way where she wouldn't have caught sight of Malfoy and opening the curtain. "You've pulled a muscle nearby your lung, Ms. Weasley. Probably from when you caught that fever a while back, you pulled it from coughing or sneezing."

"Do I need any treatment?" Ginny asked, sitting up and pulling at the edge of her shirt, her eyes avoiding Malfoy and Harry.

"No," Madame Pomfrey said, turning back to Ginny before taking a double-take at Malfoy who offered a smile at the nurse. Smiling back at the Malfoy she fully turned at Ginny and continued instructing her. "Just don't do any physical activity for the next week and stay out of fights," she said, patting her hand gently.

"All right," Ginny said, touching her forehead gently and silently thanking for Malfoy coming because her migraine seemed to be ebbing away.

However it seemed Madame Pomfrey wasn't finished as she leaned forward and whispered into Ginny's ear causing a flush of anger to envelope within her. This caused Malfoy to step forward and pull her off the bed before wrapping an arm around her waist causing her cheeks to flush into a darker shade of pink, along with shutting her up long enough for him to drag her out of the wing. While Malfoy and Ginny left, it left Harry alone with Madame Pomfrey.

Outside the wing, Malfoy let go of her and tipped his head back as she spun around, her back pressing against the wall. "What did she tell you?" he asked, looking back at her before stowing his hands within his pockets.

"Depends," she said, titling her head slightly as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Why are you so angry with Harry?"

Malfoy smirked before shaking his head, his tongue tracing over his lips. Blinking she swallowed as another flush of heat touched her skin before she distracted her self by running a hand through her hair and looking towards the hospital wing's door, her eyes once trained upon his lips. Biting her lip she looked back at him and found him stepping towards her. He placed a hand against the wall and leaned forward; close enough for her to frown upon noticing the bags under his eyes. Unknown to her knowledge, probably it was the motherly instinct or maybe the curse but, she lifted her hand and touched his face.

"You haven't been sleeping," she whispered, eyeing his hand that reached up to touch her own.

She watched as his eyes closed, his head tipping slightly so their foreheads touched. A moment later he pulled away, their faces at a safe distance while he kept her hand within his. A grim smile appeared on his face and she frowned, an unknown guilt slowly beginning to eat at her.

"She told me to stay away from Harry," she whispered. She pursed her lips in seeing Malfoy's face light up a bit before looking away from her and dropping her hand.

"I should thank her," Malfoy said. She forced a small smile while clasping her hands together and lowering her gaze to the floor. It was silent as the doors opened, catching the attention of the two. Harry stared back at Ginny, profusely ignoring Malfoy, as he took a step towards them. Ginny lifted her self from the wall as she watch Harry come near her, her eyes flicking shortly to Malfoy who seemed unfazed by this before back at Harry who stopped short.

Another frown curved her lips as she looked upon Harry who forced a smile and held something within his eyes that made her heart wrench. Shakily, she asked, "Harry, is something wrong?" As her hand reached out to touch him but he took a step back and left her shock and slightly wounded by his actions.

His smile disappeared and his eyes went over to where Malfoy stood before back at Ginny. His expression changed stony and keeping his eyes on her, he spoke to Malfoy, "take good care of her, Malfoy." He turned his head slightly to look at Malfoy before leaving. Ginny eyed Harry's form with confusion before he disappeared around the corner. She turned and faced Malfoy whose eyes stayed to where Harry once was before looking at her, out of the corner of his eye.

"What did he mean?" she whispered, her voice low enough for her to be mumbling to herself rather then speaking to Malfoy. She lowered her gaze from Malfoy and took a step forward, as if deciding to go after him but soon drew it back. For some very odd reason, she felt as if that would be the last she'd hear from Harry in a while.

"You should head back to Granger's," Malfoy said, snapping her out of thought. She eyed him and felt her heart sink. "You wouldn't want her to worry, now would you?"

"Yes, I wouldn't," she said, biting her lip while lowering her gaze. For a moment, however, neither one of them moved to leave the other nor did they speak. Malfoy kept a steady gaze upon her, as if trying to figure out something before breaking the small tension by stepping towards her. Her eyes rose upwards, towards his while a forced smile appeared on her face. He paused again, eyeing her face and that foolish smile she had on her lips. Raising his left arm he reached out and pulled her into a one arm embrace which caught her by surprise.

"Stop crying, stupid," he said, sounding almost threatening which caused her to give a bitter laugh. She raised a hand to her face and closed her eyes as she felt how moist her skin became. Leaning forward, she buried her face into his chest.

"I'm not stupid," she said, her voice muffled so he could barely understand. He began pulling away but she clutched herself against him with a small shake of her head. She heard him give a low sigh before pushing her off slightly. At a distance so she had to look up at him while he kept his hand upon her shoulder and wore a weary smile on his face. "Sorry," she said quickly, her face burning.

Her eyes had dropped downward again while his lips curved into an upwards smile before he reached up and clutched at her chin. Lifting it gently, he watched as her expression stayed shy while her eyes watched him carefully. "Don't be," he whispered, "I should be the one saying sorry. I made a big mistake and I'm sorry."

"When did you…" she began before looking away from him and giving a small bitter chuckle. "Do you mean the proposal? Oh no need to worry about that," she snapped, a bitter anger showing on her face as she slapped his hand away from her.

They stood there for a moment longer, her eyes glaring into his eyes while he stared back with his usual blank expression. She bit her lip a moment later and closed her eyes, a soft mew of pain coming from her as she covered her mouth with the back of her hand, trying not to cry. Angrily, she wiped at the tears and kept glaring at him.

"You're such an idiot!" she snapped. "You don't know how worried I've been over this stupid proposal and now you tell me it was a MISTAKE!" He moved to touch her but she backed away, screaming out for him not to touch her.

He watched her carefully as she leaned against the wall, sobbing. Gritting his teeth he listened as she cried while repeating a sentence over and over again: "I hate you." Ignoring her wishes and pushing away his mother's as well, he reached forward and gripped her shoulders. Jerking her forward, he pressed his lips angrily against hers.

She froze.

Her sobbing subsiding slightly as her hands went limp and fell to her sides. Slowly, they gripped at his arms as she leaned forward, her eyes falling shut from their wide state. Her lips parted and he groaned, not at all expecting anything but to shut her up. Again, she was pressed against the wall while his lips moved against hers. His body felt warm against her as his hands gripped and pulled her closer. Her own hands did the same attempt before gripping at his chest and pushing him away, so much so that he stumbled out of her reach.

They stood there gasping and breathing harshly while looking at one another. The doors opened again and they both looked finding Madame Pomfrey standing there, looking cross. "I have patients in her Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley, so if you can start your bicker else where, I'd appreciate!" Before they had a chance to mutter an apology, she left, back through the swinging doors.

"We should go," Ginny said, her eyes avoiding Malfoy's.

"Back to Granger's?" he asked her as she turned to face him again.

A smile formed on her lips and a shake of her head came. His eyebrow shot up slightly as he eyed her before she answered his question. His lips curved upwards at that answer while he watched her walk away before following her. Her face, her smile, and what she said still flashing within him.

"No, I'm going with you."

It was quiet by the time Ron stumbled back into the common room; his eyes flickered back and forth before sighing with relief-- Lavender was no where in sight. Running a hand against his pant leg he ignored the younger years before seating him self on the couch. Before him, Hermione (who often visited to help the younger years) sat among a few first and second years.

He felt his eyebrow hitch slightly in curiosity before leaning forward on his knees and resting his head within his hands. The corner of his lip turned upwards while Hermione scolded a younger boy who nodded and shook his head at the same time. After the younger boy continued to work on his homework, Hermione looked his way. She pursed her lips a moment later before turning around to help a girl who didn't even look like she needed her help.

He soon understood why she ducked.

"Ronald Weasley!" he winced noticeably before looking at Lavender who stalked over to him. Her face looked flush from anger and her bright brown eyes shimmered with tears. He swallowed upon feeling guilty for hurting her and winced when her arm rose. However, she didn't hit him, no; instead she fell to his lap, wailing loudly. Shocked, he froze for a moment, not quite sure what he should be doing. After his cheeks flushed in embarrassment and he was sure to look around just a little bit, in case there were anyway out, he reached out and patted her head awkwardly.

"Er… Lavender," he began but she had already lifted her head and smacked his face. Turning his head back towards Lavender, he stared at her while she sobbed loudly and kept on brushing her hand against her face and wiping her tears.

"I'm sorry?" he muttered, his cheek burning.

She let out a pitched scream before stomping her foot onto the ground. "We're done, you idiotic, stupid, big-headed, JERK!" she snapped, turning on her heel and quickly running up the stairs. Her sobs still heard until she slammed the door loudly enough so that it seemed to echo in the dead silence that surrounded the common room.

Hermione was the one who broke the silence.

"That was certainly interesting," she mused out loud causing the younger years around her to laugh nervously. Standing, Ron scowled over at Hermione before leaving the tower, bumping past Harry who tried to catch him. Sighing, Hermione smiled at Harry, feeling a whole lot better then she had earlier.