"Did you say Harry Potter?" Asked a voice from another table. "As in the boy that just woke up from a coma?"
Draco and company turned towards the intruding voice that happened to belong to the one and only Loony Luna. She was an odd girl, and Draco wasn't afraid to admit it. She one way or another would know crazy answers to crazy mysteries. No one would believe her when she announced her conclusions, and yet somehow she was always right. No one really liked to admit that they were wrong about her, including Draco.
"What do you know, Lovegood?" Draco inquired. Luna curled her finger at Draco, beckoning him closer, and he did. Draco's friends held their breath, in suspense of what Loony Luna was going to say.
Luna turned completely towards Draco, and whispered to him, "He woke up from a coma a couple of weeks ago." She gave a lopsided smile, and turned back towards the Professor.
Draco was stunned. "That's…that's all? Are you serious?"
"You should read the paper." Lovegood muttered haphazardly, as her eyes flicked over Draco. "You learn amazing things from it. The paper might have mentioned something else, but I cannot remember. It's as if it is slipping from my grasp. Sorry." Luna finalized the conversation, and turned around completely to continue with her project from Mrs. K.
Draco growled at Lovegood, but turned back to his cohorts nonetheless. "That was completely useless."
"Not entirely." Hermione said pursing her lips together. "Actually, Luna might have been helpful."
"Explain, Granger." Blaise said.
"Be nice, Blaise, and I just might." She said smirking.
"Touché." Blaise said raising an eyebrow.
"As lovely as this conversation is, what are you all talking about?" Ron exclaimed. "Loony Luna confuses me, and creeps me out. But that's besides the point, what did she say that possibly helped?"
"This is odd, but I agree with Weasley." Draco mumbled, but they all heard him anyway. "Hermione, explanation? I think you've held back long enough." He said exaggerating because it honestly wasn't that long; he was just impatient.
Hermione slowly organized her books as she said, "You men think you are the brightest bunch of the lot, but it's out there in plain daylight. Luna mentioned that she read about Harry in the paper, so basically all we have to do is search the old news papers."
"How do you suggest we do that? Searching all of the papers," Ron complained. "It'll take ages."
"Actually, Ronald," Everyone could tell that Hermione was about to go into teacher mode, "All we have to do is access the online database, in the library, and search the keywords 'Harry Potter' and 'coma' and the database will search throughout all of the papers, in the end giving us what we need."
Ron's eyes widened, "That's all?"
"That's all." Hermione said smiling.
"Sounds easy enough." Draco added.
"Gotta love Granger, I knew she was good for something." Blaise said. Hermione mock glared, and swatted at Blaise's arms. "Kidding!" He yelped as Hermione struck him against the back of his head.
"Settle down." Mrs. K said as she walked over to the table. "Sorry, Mrs. K." They mumbled together. "Do you all have your idea's for what you are going to base your cards on?"
"That's step 3," Hermione said looking her teacher's face, "We haven't even looked at step 1 or 2. You can't just skip two parts of a project. That's completely against the rules that you set at the beginning of the year."
"Mrs. Granger, this is an art class, do what comes naturally, and I know you lot. All of you do your work, so just skip on ahead to the third step. I'll give you the points."
"Thanks, Mrs. K." Blaise said, smiling. He knew she was one of his favorite teachers for some reason. "I actually have an idea." He looked at her, as if asking to continue, "Could I have on the back a family, and then on the face side, have different family members, plus the regular symbols that you would find on cards? Would that work?"
"It's not my project, you tell me." Mrs. K said. "Ron?"
"Well, on the back I am going to have a smiley face and then on the face side just have the symbols." Mrs. K nodded, "Draco?"
"I haven't got it all quite laid out, but I believe on the backside, I will have a serpent, and then on the face side, have different types of serpents represent the symbols, instead of having the regular symbols."
"Excellent idea, Mr. Malfoy. I look forward to seeing this." Mrs. K said, "And Mrs. Granger?"
"Since I had to think of this idea on the top of my head, and I didn't have proper time to think of a suitable idea, I believe that I will most likely have the Hogwarts school logo on the backside, on the face side have different Hogwarts students, and then have the regular symbols." Hermione concluded.
"Fine ideas, all of them." She nodded approvingly. "Remember, if you need your cards to be laminated, just let me know." They nodded, and Mrs. K continued her questioning throughout the class.
"Nice." Blaise commented. "I knew I loved this class." Ron nodded, "I know what you mean, it's not exactly a blow off class, because you actually learn something, and the assignments are fun. But it's also easy as hell." Hermione was about to reprimand him for his language, but as she opened her mouth, the bell rang, signifying the end of 2nd period.
--
School passed in the same duly manner for Draco, but for Harry it was a whole other story. Ever since he had arrived at the school, he had sat in that same seat, and endured students from 6 of the 7 classes, the seventh being planning period, staring at him.
Harry had kept his eyes down for the most part, but when the silver boy had walked into class earlier, he couldn't help but stare. He was shiny, and Harry didn't know why, but he liked it. He was also afraid to admit it, but it made Harry feel safe, something that he hadn't felt in a long time.
Throughout most of the day, Harry tried to understand what was happening in his life because quite frankly, it didn't make any sense. Earlier that month he had woken up, and been screamed at by a hysterical nurse.
All the nurses and doctors had told him that he had been in a coma for 6 years, and they wanted to know what had happened to him, but he kept silent. After that he was placed in the care of the bat, or Professor Snape, as he liked to be called, but Harry preferred bat because they were similar in style.
Harry could tell that the bat didn't really like him, well, the man loathed him, but he didn't know why. What had he ever done to him? Nothing. He didn't even know the man. Harry shuddered at the thought of the bat's strong grip on his face as he shook him. It was strangely familiar. Harry shrugged that thought off; it irked him. He didn't like the feelings that came with those thoughts.
When the bat had asked what was going on in his head, Harry didn't reply because honestly he didn't know. He didn't know why he flinched at random moments, why he stayed silent, where his relatives are, why he ended up in the hospital or why someone named Riddle paid for his stay in the hospital. The last thing that he remembered was walking into the living room to tell Uncle that dinner was done, but after that everything was a complete blank.
There, Harry admitted it, he couldn't remember anything from completing dinner till waking up in the hospital.
--
Draco shifted uneasily as the final bell of the day rang, signifying that school was over, and it was time for Draco to go home, as in where his unhappy father is. He really didn't want to go home, Draco would've preferred to stay at his godfather's place, but no such luck.
"Draco?" Hermione said, waving a hand in front of his face, "Are you alright? It's time to go." Hermione was the only one that had his seventh period, as Blaise and Ron had weight training, while Hermione and he had study hall.
"I'm fine," He said standing, "Let's go." He grabbed his bag, and along with Hermione he walked out of the building. Neither of them needed to stop at their lockers, so they proceeded to the school parking lot.
"Hermione, need a ride?" Ron asked, from the drivers side of his Ford Angela. Hermione glanced at Draco, "Go with him, if you want. I'm going home tonight, instead of Sev's." Draco commented.
"He's back?" She asked looking shocked. Draco nodded. "According to Sev, he called after he got back from his meeting." Hermione looked thoughtful, "Did he say how it went?" Draco turned away. "I see. If you need anything." Hermione offered.
Draco gave Hermione a brief hug, and whispered, "Thanks." He pulled back, "You're actually the second person who's said that to me. I'll be fine. No worries."
"Hermione, coming or going?" Ron yelled. "Coming!" She called back. "Call me, if you can, and I'll see you tomorrow." She said to Draco, who nodded. She ran to the Ford and hopped in the passenger side. "Later, Draco." Ron shouted, trying to be nice for Hermione, and Draco did the same.
Draco turned back to his vehicle, and stepped inside, and started the engine. He really didn't want to go home, but he knew he had to go there eventually, and it was always better now than later. Nothing would happen, really, he thought, trying to convince himself. "No worries, my ass." He mumbled, mocking his previous words to Hermione.
--
A/N
I felt that was an okay place to stop. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. : )
Sorry about the length, but since it is summer, I'm going to try to update regularly, and would you prefer more chapters with a shorter length and a faster update period, or less chapters/longer time between updates and more words? I prefer the former. : )
Also I need to mention that of course everyone in mostly OOC, and this is AU, obviously. Oh, and I don't own HP at all.
Anywho, please R&R. Reviews make me smile, and when I smile, I get happy, and when I get happy, my mind goes crazy with ideas, and when I go crazy with ideas, I write chapters!
Abbz