"I think we should go and check on Hagrid." said Harry.
Try as they might, they just couldn't find the concentration to do their Transfiguration homework. Bella's mind, however, was not focused on the Hogwarts Game Keeper. Before Buckbeak's deserved attack, he had said some things that Bella was struggling to comprehend. How could he expect her to believe anything he said when he acted like Jekyll and Hyde. When they were together, he was nothing but sweet; when he had an audience, however, he acted like the world biggest jerk.
"Are you coming?" asked Ron, pulling her from her thoughts.
"What?" said Bella.
"To see Hagrid." said Ron. "Are you coming?"
"You guys go ahead. I'm quite tired I think I'll go to bed." replied Bella with a smile.
Freya lingered behind the others, looking at Bella with concern in her eyes.
"I'll be fine. Go on." smiled Bella.
Freya pulled her into her arms, squeezing her around the middle.
"We'll talk later." Freya whispered in her ear.
She left Bella standing in the middle of the common room, jogging to catch up with the others. Bella sat back down at the table and tried to complete her homework. She sat for ten minutes staring at her blank parchment. She pushed the parchment away from her in frustration and stood abruptly, shoving everything into her bag. She left the common room hurriedly, before she could stop herself. She walked the corridors with purpose, intent on getting to her destination.
She stood outside of the Hospital Wing, debating whether she should enter or turn around and pretend she had never gone there in the first place. Eventually, she opted to enter and she found Draco lying in one of the beds close to the door. He was lying on his back staring at the ceiling, bandaged arm resting on his stomach. When he heard her soft footsteps edging closer to him he turned his head towards her.
"I wasn't expecting you to come." he said, pushing himself up into a seated position.
"I wasn't expecting me to come either." she replied.
"Why are you here?" he asked, curiously.
"I wanted to check you were okay." said Bella quickly, lowering her eyes to the ground.
"What was that?" asked Draco with a smirk, bending his head low to look at her face.
Bella huffed loudly. "I wanted to check you were okay." she said again, louder this time.
"Oh, you did, did you?" smirked Draco.
"I can just go." said Bella, turning her back on him.
"No wait!" said Draco hurriedly.
Bella turned her head over her shoulder to look at him with a smirk of her own. "Yes, Draco?"
"Stay. Now you're here, at least." he added with a flustered expression.
Bella took the unoccupied seat by his bedside and sighed.
"Why did you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?" he replied.
"You know what." said Bella.
"Well, I seem to have done many wrong things today so you'll have to narrow it down." said Draco.
"All of it. Why did you do all of it?" she asked. "Why did you make a mockery of me and Harry this morning? Why were you even telling Zabini in the first place and why did you do what Hagrid explicitly told you not to do and go and insult Buckbeak?"
"I wasn't making a mockery of you." said Draoc softly. "I didn't think."
"Yeah, that much was obvious." retorted Bella. "You're so eager to mock Harry every chance you get that you don't ever stop and think about what you're doing."
"I know. I'm sorry." he replied. Bella sighed again.
"I was telling Blaise what happened on the train because I was trying to understand it myself. I have never seen one of those Dementors and I've certainly never seen anything like what happened to you before. I was worried, that's all. There was no malice."
"There normally is." said Bella.
"That's not fair." replied Draco.
"I think it's entirely fair." said Bella, crossing her arms over her chest. "All you ever do is insult my friends, my family, but you think that if you show me some of that Malfoy charm that I'll just forget all about it."
"I - 'Malfoy charm'," he stuttered. "What are you talking about?"
Bella laughed at the look of outrage on his face.
"You bat your eye-lashes and think I'll fall at your feet." replied Bella.
"I do not bat my eye-lashes." retorted Draco.
"You do. Like this." Bella over-dramatically batted her eye-lashes with a sickly sweet smile on her face.
"Malfoy's don't bat their eye-lashes." said Draco.
"I know." said Bella calmly.
"W-Wh - You just said -"
"I was joking." she laughed. "I might be mad at you but it's funny to see you squirm."
"You're still mad at me?" he asked sadly.
"Well yes." she replied. "Everything won't just go away like that."
"I know. I'm sorry." he sighed. "What can I do?"
"You can stop pretending you're dying for a start." she retorted, looking to his bandaged arm.
"It's actually quite sore." he replied. Bella turned her hard stare on him and he huffed.
"Fine." he said reluctantly.
"It's a start." she smiled.
"Where are your stragglers?" he asked.
"Away to check on Hagrid." she replied.
"And you decided to visit me? I think someone might have a soft spot for Malfoy." he laughed.
"You'll have a sore spot in a minute." said Bella, smirking.
"I've been punched by you once before and that was enough."
"Do you remember that?" she laughed.
"It's hard to forget."
The two of them laughed softly. Draco turned to look at Bella just as she raised her eyes to his. They held eye contact for longer than necessary and Bella laughed awkwardly as Draco scratched the back of his neck with the hand attached to his uninjured arm.
"Well I better get back to the common room." said Bella. "I suspect Fred and George will be looking for me to test a new product of theirs."
"Goodnight, Bella." said Draco softly.
"Goodnight, Draco." she replied.
When she stepped out into the corridor she felt the cold air blowing through the corridors and it made the blush of her cheeks more prominent. Neither her brothers, sister or friends were in the common room when she returned and she rushed up the staircase to her dorm and closed the door behind her. Lavender and Parvati were whispering on Lavender's bed when she entered and they immediately stopped when they realised she had joined but Bella thought nothing of it. She changed into her pajamas quickly and buried herslef under the covers, pulling the hangings tight around her. She needed time to think and Freya's statement earlier made Bella think she knew something was going and she wasn't in the mood to talk to her about Draco Malfoy and everything that came with him.
