A/N: Hi, its been awhile, largely because I forgot I was working on a story until I got a remind in the form of a review, anyway I'll try not to let it go so long again if I can help it but I do have stuff to take care of occasionally and all so yeah.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine. (small sob)
Chapter Five
I still don't know how I made it through that day; my nerves increased exponentially with every minute it drew closer to midnight. The entire house was riddled with tension; even though most of them couldn't possibly know what was to happen as the clock struck twelve. I'd spent most of the day locked in my room arguing with Harry and George; both were insisting on being with me when Draco arrived, and neither would listen when I said that their presence would draw unneeded attention from the rest of the family. After much deliberation they agreed that it was only necessary for one of them to be there, which of course lead to an argument over who it should be. In the end I threw my weight behind George, as his being in my room late at night would arouse the fewest suspicions, although it did run the risk of infuriating Molly. With that settled Harry left in a huff to find Ron and Hermione, and I set about working myself into a panic.
Dinner that night was nearly unbearable. Fred still refused to speak to George and spent most of the meal glaring draggers at me when he thought no one else was looking. Harry wasn't speaking to George or me and I spent most of the meal chasing food around my plate with a fork. Together the four of us were sending out enough awkward, hostile vibes to silence the rest of the group which meant for once we didn't have to listen to Mrs. Weasley prattle on about the wedding. Things progressed in pretty much the same fashion until midway through dessert.
Bill was the first one to notice anything wrong, he glanced over at Fleur and his mouth dropped open in shock and he tried to speak, no sound came out. One by one the others began to notice, Bill's attempts to speak were becoming more and more pronounced until finally he gave up and pulled a lock of Fleur's hair out from behind her ear bringing out to where she could see the now hot pink locks. That's when the shrieking started; she was soon joined by her brother as he realized he was now covered in feathers, and Gabrielle who had horns sprouting out of her head. The Weasley's stared at them in horror until Fred began to snicker; his laughter was nearly out of control before he managed to speak.
"Maroon really is your color, Ron."
The youngest Weasley boy looked down at his hands and groaned, "I hate maroon."
By the time everything was said and done everyone Bill's age and younger had been effected by the prank, with the exception of Ginny, which meant of course that she took the blame for it. She was sentence to chores, for the entirety of the next morning mostly because the Delacours have no sense of humor, it was all going to wear of by morning I don't see what the big deal was. I felt bad, after all the whole thing was my idea and George had helped me but we needed someone else to take the fall and she'd been the easiest to set-up; I made a mental note to help her if I could and then checked to make sure that the one 'prank' that I needed to work had done so, sure enough Harry was sleeping with his head on the table. I'd figured that Harry wasn't likely to stay away if he could help it so I decided to take the decision out of his hands, sometimes I amaze even myself.
At ten minutes to midnight, I threw Harry's invisibility cloak, which I had relived him of after he 'fell' asleep, over my shoulders and George led the way out of the room. Even though everything had been quite for a couple hours we didn't want to take any chances, we figured this was if we ran into anyone George could tell them that he couldn't sleep and decided to take a walk, and there would be someone visible to open and close doors as needed. As it turned out the ruse wasn't necessary, luck was on our side and we made it outside without anyone crossing our path. I checked my watch not quite midnight yet; we stood in silence and waited for their arrival.
It wasn't long before two shadowy figures made their way out of the darkness; one seemed to be struggling to remain up right. I slipped the cloak off and handed it to George, then watched as the clouds slide back and the moon lit up Draco's face. It was a powerful experience, seeing him for the first time in person, my heart wrenched at the haunted half-dead look on his face. He'd had such a terrible life, in so many ways one not that different from my own and unlike Harry neither of us had made friends to help us coop when we arrived at school, though I maintain that it wasn't for lack of trying. The isolation at school was probably the worst because you could see all of the others, the people with someone to care about them around you. Shaking my head I forced my thoughts back to the task at hand. No one spoke; I nodded to the professor offering my silent thanks before moving forward and pulling Draco's arm around my shoulder. He must have been exhausted because he didn't even try to resist, in fact he leaned on me, almost more heavily than I could support. George threw the cloak over the pair of us and we turned back toward the house.
The trip back upstairs took more than twice as long as the journey outside, and I was forced to cast a silencing spell on Draco's boots to keep them from making noise. I could feel the heat rolling off of him as we moved slowly through the house, despite the fact that he was trembling. After what seemed like hours we arrived in my room and I was able to pull the cloak off; George looked at me, asking with his eyes what we should do next, wracked with uncertainty.
"Go to the kitchen and ask Matty to show you were the potions are, we'll need any healing potions that you can find."
He left without saying a word, and I lead Draco into the bathroom sitting him down on the closed toilet. I reached into the shower and turned on the water before turning back to him to pull of his boots and socks and then using a cutting hex to remove the outer layers of his clothing, they were to filthy to clean, even magic can only do so much. He didn't react at all staring blankly at the floor. I coaxed him back on to his feet and then pushed him into the shower, still clad in his boxers; he didn't react as the water hit him, I couldn't help but notice how thin he'd become, almost like a skeleton. Deciding that there was little choice, he needed to be clean I stepped in after him, picking up the soap and washing him as carefully as possible. It took ages to get all of the dirt off, and he still wasn't reacting as I turned the water off, saying a quick spell to dry us, I pushed him back out and he sat down on the toilet once more, his first independent action. Opening the door I summoned clothes for him, dressing him as though he were a wizard size doll. Leading him out of the bathroom we discover George waiting for us, holding a box of potions, Matty by his side.
"I brought everything I could find," his voice was barely above a whisper.
"Please, miss Ren, Matty is wanting to know if she can be helping?"
I shook my head, "Not now but when he wakes up, I'll need you to bring up some soup and tea."
"Yes, miss Ren, Matty will do that." With a snap of her fingers she was gone.
"Come on let's get him into bed, so we can figure out what's wrong with him," George helped me steer Draco into the little bedroom and waited while I tucked him in, without saying a word. I quickly ran some diagnostic spells and determined that aside from a fever, some serious bruising, a major case of dehydration and boarding on starvation, Draco was fine. Which is a said statement, but he was better of then I'd expected, he took the potions that I held to his lips without question and soon he was in a potion included sleep. George and I left the room in silence, leaving the door open a crack behind us.
I cried again that night, while George held me, I'd never been so scared in my entire life, I knew what I was supposed to do but I wasn't sure that I would be able to do it. Fortunately George seemed to understand and he let me cry myself to sleep without saying anything. I woke up early the next morning, in my bed, and assumed George had carried me there again. His support meant more to me than I could say, and I couldn't help but smile as I slid out of the bed carefully so as not to wake him, after all it was largely my fault he was fighting with his twin and couldn't sleep in his own room. I tip toed around gathering my things before heading to shower, when I was finished I went directly into the other room to check on Draco, barely noticing that Matty had returned in the night to clean the bathroom.
Draco was sleeping peacefully when I stepped into his room, but that wasn't surprising given the amount of dreamless sleep potion I'd given him, still I wasn't the only one that relied on it more than was strictly healthy, and if he'd built up a tolerance like I had then it was likely that he would wake soon. I reran the diagnostic spells and was happy to discover that he was healing very well; he'd need rest and nourishment but everything else seemed to be clearing up, his fever was completely gone. I signaled for Matty and told her to bring up the food I'd requested the night before, and then sat down to wait for him to awaken.
As I'd predicted it didn't take long for Draco to begin blinking the sleep from his eyes, and trying to sit up, I moved forward to help him but his disdainful glance stopped me. We sat in silence until Matty arrived and handed me the tray, before disappearing to the kitchen again.
"Do you want to eat something?"
"Yes," his voice was hoarse. I set the tray in front of him, but after several attempts it became clear that he would not be able to feed himself. I conjured an extra pillow and put it behind his back before sitting on the edge of his bed and beginning to feed him. We let the silence take over until he'd finished and then I removed the tray before we spoke again.
"Is there anything that I can get you?"
"No," he looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself.
"What do you need?-feel free to speak up."
"Who are you? I figure that I should be in Azkaban, but unless I'm mistake I'm not."
I sighed I should have seen this coming, "No, this definitely isn't Azkaban, this is my house, and you will be staying here for awhile, until we decide what to do with you."
He looked resigned, "So I'll be going to Azkaban soon, then?"
"I'm not sure, for now you're here and I intend to let you stay here and to do my best to get you healthy again. You look tired perhaps you should sleep some more?" He didn't argue as I helped him lay back down and he was nearly asleep by the time I reached the door.
I could barely hear him when he spoke, "You didn't tell me your name."
"Ren Brooks, it's a pleasure to meet you Draco Malfoy." He murmured something and then drifted off to sleep again. I found George getting dressed for breakfast and waited for him to finish before speaking to him; he obviously hadn't heard me enter as he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of my voice. "You should talk to Fred today."
He scowled, "You know that I'm not ready to tell him the truth yet."
"I know but can you really tell me that you're happy with the way things stand?" I walked out of the room without letting him respond.
A very well rested Harry Potter was waiting at the table when I arrived. He glanced around to make sure no one else was in the room before speaking in a hiss. "Very funny, what were you thinking putting me out like that?"
Deciding that honesty would not be a good policy in this case, I was left with little choice but to lie through my teeth, "I don't know what you're talking about, I believe Ginny was responsible for the pranks at dinner last night, perhaps she felt you looked tired."
His annoyance seemed to be growing by the second, "You and I both know she wasn't behind it! You drugged me so I wouldn't follow you!"
"Guilty conscience there, Harry?"
He looked ready to retaliate but at that moment others began to enter the room; instead of continuing the fight he stared grumpily at the table. The twins were the last to arrive and they enter together with smiles on their faces, everyone seemed to relax as they realized that the pair was back to normal. If you watched them closely you could pick up on a little bit of unresolved tension, but otherwise things seemed okay. The meal was considerably more pleasant that the one the previous evening, only Harry seemed to be upset, although I have to say I found it a little odd that Ginny wasn't upset.
After breakfast Harry once again followed me to my room, this time waiting in the main room while I checked on Draco. After a brief argument he settled down and left to research horcruxes with Ron and Hermione. I retrieved my notebook and went in to Draco's room to keep an eye on him while I worked on a new spell. He didn't wake again until after lunch, at which point I had Matty bring up more soup for him.
He didn't speak until he'd finished eating, "Why are you taking care of me?"
"Does it matter?"
"I don't want charity."
"No, I don't expect you would." He stared at me waiting for me to continue. "Let's just say it because it's the right thing to do."
"That's not really the reason."
"No, and maybe some day I'll tell you, but today is defiantly not that day."
The wedding was fast approaching and it was taking up more and more of everyone's time. The only people who did not get roped in to helping were myself, because I faked a stomach virus and Draco because no one knew he was in the house. Life settled into a routine, George went back to sleeping in his own room, Matty brought meals three times a day for me and Draco and we spent the time getting to know one another. I managed to work on several spells but was not having as much luck as I would have liked, and Draco got lots of sleep. The time flew by and before I knew it, it was the night of the wedding and I was preparing to attend the ceremony. By that time Draco was up and moving around and I think a little annoyed that he would be spending the evening alone; despite what Harry said about him I was enjoying his company immensely; except when Harry stopped by because then he seemed to become a completely different person, one I can't say that I cared for very much.
An hour before the wedding was due to start found me standing before the mirror desperately trying to force my hair into some type of up-do, nearly ready to scream as it all came tumbling down again. I heard laughter from the other side of the room and whirled around to see who I needed to kill.
Draco was leaning against one of my bed post not even attempting to hide his amusement at my expense, "Having fun?"
"I'll show you fun," I growled ready to attack him.
"I don't really know why you're trying to put it up; you'll look almost hot with it down."
I tried to force myself to remain calm, but I couldn't stop the flush that was creeping up my cheeks. I was overcome with a strange mixture of anger and excitement, still torn on whether his statement counted as a complement or not. I decided to go with the safest route and just pretend that I hadn't heard him; Draco however seemed to be unwilling to let it go.
"You must be excited, first time you'll get to see your boyfriend in a week; it's interesting that Potter spends more time in here than he does."
Okay, I couldn't very well let that go, George may not have really been my boyfriend but he didn't deserve to be insulted. "He's been busy with work, not to mention getting ready for his brother's wedding, and I'll thank you to keep your mouth shut about things that don't concern you!"
"Touched a nerve, have I?"
"You know, you definitely haven't made it difficult for me to understand why they don't like you." I felt awful the instant the words crossed my lips and the look on his face made me feel like the slimiest thing on the face of the earth.
"Well then, I won't waste anymore of your time, after all why would you want to hang out with me." He returned to his room slamming the door behind him. Sighing I went back to getting ready, leaving my hair down as he'd suggested. I must say that he was right, by the time I'd pulled on my purple dress I did look hot, which defiantly did not go with my attitude, so after checking the time, fifteen minutes until I was needed downstairs, I knocked on his door. Not surprisingly he didn't answer, can't say that I blamed him. So I pushed open the door and entered.
He was standing with his back to me staring out the window. "What? I am I not allowed any privacy on top of not being allowed any freedom?"
"Look, I'll leave you alone, but I'd really like to apologize first. I had no right to speak to you that way."
The bitterness in his voice was heartbreaking, "Yes, you did, its all true isn't it."
"No, it isn't, the person that I've spent the past week with isn't anything like that. You've never treated me poorly and when you pointed out something that was true, I over reacted and that wasn't right."
"Fine, apology accepted or whatever."
"If you can't forgive me, just say so, and I'll leave you alone, but don't treat it like that, like it isn't real."
"What would you have me say then, I wonder?"
I sighed, "Fine, I really am sorry, but I'll leave you alone feel free to call Matty if you need anything." He didn't say anything else, and I turn and walked out of the room. I didn't feel much better but at least I'd tried. I don't suppose there was much more that I could have done, and I'd have more people to apologize to if I didn't get downstairs soon.
The gardens looked wonderful when I arrived, the work the others had put into them had really paid off. The group staying in the house, minus the wedding party, was gathered at the arrival point to greet the guest as they arrived by portkey from the Burrow. Overall it was going to be a small wedding, just family and members of the order so they were arriving in several small groups. The Weasley boys were occupied with the ushering duties leaving Harry, Hermione, and I in charge of the guest book, we spoke little maintaining pleasant conversation about the decorations when we did feel the need to talk. I think we were all relieved when it was time to take our seats for the ceremony.
The ceremony itself was over almost before I realized what was happening, mostly because I was too busy dreaming, rather pathetically given that I'm single, about the day when it would be my turn to get married, to pay any attention. Not that the part of the wedding that I saw wasn't lovely, it was and of course I wasn't in the least bit jealous, right well maybe just a little, but I was still really happy for Bill and Fleur. After they were pronounce man and wife the pair led the assembled party to the reception area. As we sat down to enjoy a meal, which my house elves had clearly outdone themselves on I got to talk to my date for the first time that night.
"I can't believe my big brother had finally gotten himself hitched."
"HA! Of course you can; beside you seem to be enjoying this event as much as any of the girls."
George shushed me; leaning closer to whisper conspiratorially, "Don't tell anyone I'm trying to keep that on the DL." I could only shake my head before he continued. "But I don't want to talk about me, fascinating as I am, you looked thoroughly miserable when you joined us earlier this evening."
"I don't have any idea what you're referring to."
"Sure you don't; spit it out already."
"Fine if you must know I got in a little debate before I came downstairs."
"Ah, this debate was with yourself, I presume?" His eyes twinkled mischievously and I had to fight to keep from giggling. "Now tell me what has you so frazzled, my dear."
"I pointed out to myself that my boyfriend is rather inattentive. I realized that I've been trapped I my room sick for a week and he hasn't come to check on me once."
Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, he leaned even close, his voice taking on a serious tone, "We both know you haven't been sick at all; you're just lazy. So I can't imagine that's really what's bothering you."
"No it isn't," I sighed, "Truthfully the fact that you haven't stopped by doesn't bother me in the least you have your own life to live. I think, rather I know, that I overreacted to those comments and said some things that I didn't mean."
"Should we sneak out of here so we can fix that?"
"Thanks for the offer but no, I don't think that will help. Not to mention I seem to recall you promising to dance every song with me and they're firing up the enchanted orchestra."
George spent the rest making sure my mind was too occupied for me to be upset. Overall the reception seemed to be a great success; I'd never seen a couple more in love that the bride and groom and true to George's prediction everyone else I knew was paired off. I couldn't help watching out of the corner of my eyes as Ron and Hermione danced together, blushing whenever they meet each others eye. Or Harry and Ginny who were alternating between arguing and becoming completely absorbed in one another until the outside world faded away. I imagine from the snippets of conversation I managed to over hear, that Ginny was trying to convince Harry that their break up had been a bad idea.
It was after midnight when we finally said goodbye to the last guest and returned to our rooms. Until I pushed open my bedroom door I held out hope that Draco would be waiting to tell me he'd accept my apology; the disappointment when I found the room empty was crushing. Resigning myself to having destroyed the tenuous friendship we'd been building the last week I began changing for bed, only to have the door thrown open by a scowling Harry. Figuring there was little point in modesty given my state of undress I continued changing, speaking to him without turning around. "What do you want, Harry? I'm tired and I would like to get some sleep. I don't have the energy to fight."
"I didn't actually come here to fight," he sounded as exhausted as I felt. "Look Ron, Hermione and I are leaving tomorrow…"
I waved him off, "I know you're going to look for horcruxes."
He looked confused for a second, "Right, I keep forgetting how much you know. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you two will be alright."
"I thought you said you didn't come here to fight," the irritation was apparent in my voice.
"You don't know him like I do. You don't understand what he's capable of. He'll turn on you the minute an opportunity presents itself."
"When I told you about this plan you agreed to give him a chance and you are most defiantly not doing that." I could feel the tears forming behind my eyes.
"I've been in here everyday, he's the same old Malfoy!" He was almost shouting know and I wasn't far behind.
"He only acts like that when you're around! Maybe he's not the problem!" I fought to keep the tears from sliding down my cheeks. "Just go, I'll be fine. I've been looking after myself for years; I don't need you to protect me!"
"That's what friends do they protect each other!"
"Hoping your little girlfriend will see it that way are you, Potter?" Both our heads snapped around to find Draco standing in the bathroom door way. My mouth dropped open and horror began to rise in my chest, sweet Merlin how much had he heard? I could feel the tension in the room rising and in a vain hope to avoid disaster a called out almost too quietly to be heard.
"Draco, please don't…" the voice didn't seem right, that whimper couldn't be me could it?
Rage flashed across Harry's face, "Don't you talk about her!"
He lunged toward Draco and I threw myself between the pair of them, pleading with them to stop, "Please, for the love of Merlin, don't do this!" Harry didn't stop, he tried to push me out of the way to get at Draco; I threw up a hand and shouted a banishing charm. Harry landed on my bed breathing heavily and looking disoriented. I forced myself to calm down before I spoke, "Harry, I know I promised you that I would keep you informed and I don't want to break that promise; I know as well as you do that you need to know what's going on but so help me if you continue to endanger the future that I'm working for I swear I will obliviate you."
"You would side with him!"
"I'm not choosing a side! I'm choosing a future! I can't help it if you are the one standing in the way of it at the moment."
"No! No, I refuse to believe that he is essential to the future that you are trying to achieve!"
I could feel Draco's eyes boring into the back of my head; and I could feel myself begin to tremble consumed by fear for the future. "I understand why you don't trust him; I really do, I wouldn't trust him if I were you. But Harry, have I ever given you any reason not to trust me?."
He jumped off the bed heading for the door, he paused just before he crossed the threshold calling back over his shoulder, "You have until McGonagall returns, if I still don't believe you after that, you're on your own."
He didn't wait for a response before stepping out and closing the door behind him. My strength gave out as the door closed, and I sank to the floor my tears finally escaping. Draco remained impassive, eerily still and silent behind me, waiting it seemed for me to regain my composure. As I rose to my feet sometime later he spoke, "Why did you do that?"
I brushed the tears from my cheeks as I answered, "Do what?"
"No one chooses Potter over me; even my father was more concerned about him than me."
"There's a first time for everything I guess."
"And if you lose him over this?"
"I won't," I turned to face him only to be confronted by a look of skepticism. "I have faith that everything will work out as it is supposed too."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then heaven help us all."
"I've decided to accept you apology if you're still offering it." I nodded vigorously and he gave with a curt nod in return before stepping around me and returning to his room.
