Chapter 8

Dumbledore watched them together, already needing to have contact with each other. He wondered how long before he would need to open the married students dorm rooms. It was refreshing to see young love, but it troubled him that they were so young and now expected to act in an adult way. He had watched them outside earlier and knew that they were still just children. He hated that this fate was robbing them of their childhood. In a way, he also knew that the two in question could handle it. They could handle being pushed into adulthood early.

After dinner, they all straggled out to their dorms to sleep. Draco walked Ivy to her dorm and repeating the night before, pushed her against the wall and kissed her. His kiss held an urgency that it hadn't before. "I don't want to leave you, but I don't know what else to do," he groaned into her hair after releasing her lips.

"I know. I don't want you to go." She whispered. Finally, after several longs minutes, he let her go and helped her through the portrait door. Turning to leave, he felt her hand on his shirt collar, pulling him in after her. He had never been in the Gryffindor common room before. It wasn't much different from his own, just different colors. Pulling him with her, she sat down on the couch and wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled and kissed her again, knowing that now was not the time to take it further, but wanting to feel her against him. Reluctantly they pulled apart and he settled in to the corner of the couch, pulling her towards him to nestle in the curve of his body. Soon, she was asleep and he marveled at how beautiful she was. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep as well.

"Bloody hell, this is not a scene I really wanted to wake up to see." Harry yelled from the bottom of the stairway, smiling, truly happy for his best friend.

"Oh, bugger off, Harry. We were just sleeping." Ivy growled at him with a yawn. She had slept peacefully and hoped that Draco had, too. He stirred beside her, feeling her warmth leave his side. Opening his eyes, he saw her looking at him and smiled. He could get used to this, waking up beside her every day. The day went much the same as before. Except that now, Ivy and Draco kept touching even when they weren't conscious of doing so. The more days that passed, the more that touch became a need. They either spent nights in one common room or the other, neither caring which, as long as they could be together.

Classes started back up and they were separated for hours at a time, which literally hurt. Ivy would be close to tears by the end of class and then he would show up and the sun would come back out in her life. They began to cope with being away from each other, barely. They did it only because they had to. Draco began planning a Valentine's Day event for Ivy. He wanted to show her how much he loved her and was working out how to do it. On the day before, in the two hour long potions class, he noticed Pansy spending an inordinate amount of time in front of the store cupboard where Professor Snape kept all the potion supplies. He shook it off as her having a hard time finding what she needed. Ivy had already gathered her supplies and was beginning to mix her potion. He stepped to the cupboard and immediately noticed a problem. The labels were wrong. He always felt the bumps on the labels to make sure that Ivy was getting the right thing, but today the bumps were all wrong. The written words were fine, but the Braille part was wrong, someone had changed them. He then realized what Pansy had been doing for so long in front of the cupboard.

Just as he turned to shout to Ivy not to use the ingredients she had gotten a loud explosion occurred. Ivy flew across the room as flames and smoke shot up from her cauldron. She was blasted into the wall, causing pieces of it to fall down on top of her as she slid to the floor, unconscious. Draco ran to her through the smoke as Professor Snape put the flames out in what was left of her cauldron. Arriving at her side, Draco began pulling pieces of rock off of her limp body, tears falling unnoticed from his eyes. Harry joined him in pulling the debris aside. Professor Snape ordered the rest of the class to the front of the room and told them that no one was permitted to leave. He sealed the door with his wand so that they didn't attempt to leave without his consent. He was angry, how could this have happened. Someone had done something, and he was determined to find out.

Draco took Ivy's hand and felt around her wrist. Faintly, very faintly, he felt the throbbing there indicating that she still had a pulse. Snape arrived at her side, waving his wand over her and muttering incantations to find out what was wrong. As he was doing this, Draco stood and charged Pansy. "How dare you? I know you changed those labels, knowing that was the only way she would be able to tell what the ingredients were. Are you such a selfish witch that you would hurt an innocent girl because you think she doesn't deserve me? Well, you're wrong, Pansy, wrong. I'm the one who doesn't deserve her. And you… well, you are nothing to me." Pointing his finger in her face, he jerked it aside and then went back to Ivy.

"She did what?" Harry whispered as Snape conjured a stretcher and placed Ivy on it gingerly.

"You heard what I said, Harry. She changed the labels so that Ivy would get the wrong things to put in the potion." Draco stated and stood, still holding Ivy's hand.

"Potter, help Draco take Ivy to the hospital wing while I deal with Miss Parkinson. Granger, run and get Professor Dumbledore." Snape said with a wave of his wand releasing the seal on the door as he made his way to the students in the front of the classroom.

Draco and Harry magically levitated the stretcher carrying Ivy and made their way out of the room and down the corridor to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey saw them coming and held open the door for them to enter. "Put her here," she said as she went to get her supplies. Using her wand to diagnose Ivy, she clucked her tongue and pursed her lips. "What has been done to you, little one?" she asked to no one in particular.

"She was blasted into the wall by an explosion in her cauldron." Draco said softly, not wanting to disturb the healer. She shook her head and muttered about children making dangerous potions. Before Draco could tell her what happened, Professor Snape and Dumbledore entered.

"Poppy, do you have a diagnosis?" Dumbledore asked.

Shaking her head again, "This needs higher medicine then I'm prepared for. She needs to go to St. Mungos." She said quietly.

"Very well. I'll take her." He said, stepping forward to pick her up and make his way to the fireplace. Glancing up, he saw the fear in Draco's eyes. "You may come too, Mr. Malfoy. She is your wife." Stepping in to the fireplace, he said his destination and vanished into the green flames. Draco followed without a backward glance at the others in the room.

In the stark white hall of the hospital, Draco paced outside a closed door. The healers refused to let him remain in the room while they worked on Ivy. Dumbledore sat in the seat provided for him, watching the young boy. "You really love her, don't you?"

Draco stopped pacing and stared at the older man, "How could I not? It even started before this blasted bonding thing. I don't know if you've noticed but the bond is becoming stronger. We can hardly bear to be apart for long than a few minutes. Nights are spent in one common room or the other, sleeping on the couch, holding each other. It's torture being away from each other for classes. Now this, I can't bear it. She's in there and I'm out here, it hurts," he said, tears spilling from his eyes.

"I didn't realize that the bond was getting stronger already. I should have, and I'm sorry. I will open up the married students' dorm for you when I get back. Your teachers will be informed that you will be staying here until she comes home." The headmaster said.

Draco nodded and began pacing again. Running his hands through his hair, he let out a huge aggravated sigh, looking at the door, willing it to open. Footsteps were heard in the hallway behind him and he was enveloped into his mother's arms. "Oh, Draco. We came as soon as Severus told us. How is she?" she said.

Draco began to cry even harder, now that his mother was holding him. "I still don't know anything. They won't let me in there." He sobbed into her shoulder.

Taking in his son's disheveled appearance made Lucius realize how stupid he was being about this bond his son had. "What happened?" he asked softly.

Severus looked over at Draco who looked as though he wouldn't be able to speak for a while, and took a breath, "I set Amorentia today for potions. They were in a two hour block, so they had plenty of time. Normally, Ivy goes first to get her ingredients from the store cupboard, since she has to feel the labels and not just look at them. Well, today, someone jumped in front of her and took a long amount of time getting her things. She kept glancing over her shoulder, but I really didn't think anything of it. She finished, and then Ivy got her things. She began the potion while Draco went up to get his things from the cupboard. They were sharing a table, have been for a while now. He always feels the labels just like Ivy does. He had McGonagall teach him to read Braille. So, as he felt the labels, he noticed that something wasn't right. The Braille didn't match the ingredient. He turned to yell at Ivy not to put anything in the cauldron, but he was too late. Right then, she put in something and it exploded in her face, throwing her across the room and into the wall. I don't know exactly what she put in yet, as everything was blown to pieces, but I will find out."

"Do you know who it was?" Lucius said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, and she is being held at the school until the headmaster returns to decide her fate." Snape told him. Draco's sobs were subsiding, in the comfort of his mother's arms. The door behind them opened, causing Draco to jerk away from his mother.

"How is she? Can I see her?" he asked hurriedly.

"Calm down, she's resting for now and I think we shouldn't disturb her." The healer said.

"Let me in there, you prick." Draco growled.

The healer's eyes grew wide at being called that by a teenager. Narcissa held on to Draco's arm. "There's been a bond, David. The two youngsters are bonded now. It's becoming very strong; you can't keep him from her." Dumbledore spoke up.

The healer nodded, "Very well, at least let me tell you what's going on first." When Draco calmed down a bit, he continued. "She has a very serious head injury. There were bits of cauldron stuck in her torso, but that's been taken care of and healed. Her head is a different matter. When she hit the wall, her skull cracked, and then the debris falling on top of her made it worse. We can't heal the brain with magic; it's just not something we've ever been able to do. We have healed the crack in her skull, but there's no way to know if there's been any damage to her brain until she wakes up, and I can't give you a time frame on that. She will wake up eventually, though, I'm certain of that." He said and stepped to the side for them to enter.

Draco put his hand on the doorknob and stopped, turning his head slightly, he said, "Thank you," and then opened the door. Stepping into the room, his mother and father behind him, he saw a curtain drawn around a bed on the opposite side of the private room. Cautiously he walked over and moved the curtain back. Taking in a sharp breath, he moved to the bedside and grasped Ivy's hand. She was so pale, and her lovely hair was gone.

"We had to remove her hair to heal her skull. There was no other way. It won't take long to grow it back." The healer said quietly.

Draco didn't care; he loved her no matter what. He leaned down to kiss her lightly on the cheek. A small glow appeared at the contact of his lips on her skin. The healer took in a breath and knew that what Dumbledore had said was true. They had a magical bond. Draco reached up his left hand to the side of her face and turning his hand palm up, skimmed his finger down her cheek, stroking her face lovingly. He didn't care who else was in the room, he was here with her and he wasn't leaving. His mother stood beside him, not knowing what to do to help comfort him. He seemed better now that he was able to be with her.

"Severus, we need to have the married students' dorm opened up for them when they return and also make arrangements for someone to come here to bring Draco his schoolwork and help him with it." Dumbledore spoke softly to the potions master.

Snape nodded, and with a last glance at Ivy turned to go back to the school to start the arrangements. Dumbledore followed behind him. The door clicked closed as they left. Lucius, worried for his son and, dare he say it, daughter-in-law, drew up a chair for Draco to sit in. He knew that his son wouldn't leave her side for anything other than a trip to the loo, and that would be few and far between. Draco sat down, still clutching Ivy's cold hand, willing his warmth to seep into her, willing her to know that he was there. Lucius touched his wife on the arm, gesturing with his head that they should leave. She nodded and bent over Draco to kiss his cheek.

"We'll be back later, son." She whispered to him.

Draco nodded absently, not taking his eyes off of the still figure of the girl he loved. He sat back in the chair, trying to relax and get comfortable. He leaned his head back in the seat and realized how exhausted he was. It had been a very emotional few hours and he fell asleep almost instantly. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, but still she didn't wake. Draco talked to her, kissed her, held her, and told her everything in his heart and everything that was going on. Professor Snape would come once a week to give him his lessons. Her hair began to grow back out and he knew that when she woke, it would magically lengthen to her liking. It was a different color, though. It had been a soft brown, now it was becoming a vibrant red, almost like flames.