Chapter Five –
Unfounded Revenge
_Summer_At the Gryffindor table the next morning, the atmosphere was tense. Why, I wasn't altogether sure… Our evening meal yesterday had of course been an interesting experience. Yet, since the run in with Malfoy, I'd barely spoken to Mikey. He would try and start a conversation, only to have his voice die in his throat. The most annoying thing about this was that Frank would giggle each time he caught sight our attempts at conversation.
"If you don't stop giggling, Frank, I will make sure that you're singing an octave higher by the weekend." I hissed across the common room. It was a habit of my brother's to occasionally break into song at inappropriate times.
"Sorry, Sum. I can't help it; I'm glad to be back here." He answered cheerily.
So, when we reached the Great Hall for breakfast; I was stuck between Bella and a silent Mikey. Frank once again was to blame. He chuckled as he slid himself into a seat between Gerard and Ron the latter grumbling under his breath about some argument that he and Harry had had the night before.
Mikey sat for the duration of breakfast poking at a piece of toast with his fork. Misery etched into his face. I took one look at his morose visage and realized heavily that, there was little I could do to have changed his mood.
Each of us eventually gave up on breakfast and headed down in the direction of Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. Unfortunately, as we crossed the Great Hall; we came across the Slytherin Snake, whose announcement the night before was still causing me much mental distress, and his familiar group of cohorts. I had momentarily forgotten that we shared these lessons with the Slytherins. Therefore was disappointed when I checked my timetable to find that this fact was indeed still true.
Malfoy's face was set once again into his usual sneer. Obviously, he was as keen as I was to forget all that had been said the night before. The only one surrounding Malfoy who did not look 'happy', well, okay, happy wasn't the right word. I should have said normal, was his sometime girlfriend; Brooklyn. Her face was a mask of hatred; apparently, she too was not so happy with the events of the night before.
We passed by the group of scowlers, without any of them saying a word. Something that in itself I was slightly confused by; seeing as at any other opportunity, at least one of the Slytherin Snakes would have yelled an insult at Frank and Gee. They were on their way past us when Malfoy turned on his heel and aimed a smirk in our direction. Obviously, the effects of what I had presumed to be veritaserum. We followed at a distance behind them. Harry as shocked as we were at the civility with which we had been treated by the snakes.
We followed the Slytherins down the sloping lawns, so as to keep an eye out for anything else that was out of the ordinary. One other such occurrence was to be observed, not within our consortium, it occurred instead in the ranks of Slytherins in front of us.
I could see from a distance, the glimmer that was Malfoy amongst the throng of Slytherin girls. One of which was Aurora Jasmine (Harry had told me her name, seeing as my attention had been distracting during the sorting,) it was unsurprising to see that Brooklyn was on the other side of Malfoy, her usually impassive face was shooting glances at Aurora – if looks could kill, Jeez. I'd have been a witness to a murder many, many times in a short space of time.
Anyway, despite the fact that Draco Malfoy's hareem of girls seemed intent on destroying him, his soul and each other, we continued on the way to Care of Magical Creatures, Frank at my side, along with Gerard. The pair held hands as they walked, now, so obvious that they did not care what the likes of Malfoy thought of their relationship.
We arrived at Hagrid's; however, he was not alone. In front of his cabin, a selection of large crates stood. As we neared, Frankie bravely dared to take a look in one such crate, only to withdraw immediately and hide behind me.
"Come on now, Frank – they aren't that scary!" Hagrid chided with a deep chuckle.
Frank pouted and reappeared from behind me. "What exactly, are they?" he asked, peering over the edge again.
"They're Blast-Ended-Skrewts." It was Hermione who replied, her voice worried. "Those are supposed to be illegal to trade in Great Britain, Hagrid!" She warned.
Hagrid cleared his throat and smiled shyly through his bushy beard and Hermione let the argument go, at least for the time being.
The Slytherins also arrived, Draco's expression now furious as he strode forward, leaving Brooklyn and Aurora behind him.
"And, what the hell are these things?" He spat at Hagrid, his manner of speech almost a polar opposite to the previous night's delicate whisper when he had… Yes… Well, the less said about that, the better.
"They're Blast-Ended-Skrewts." Hagrid answered, raising himself to his full height and sighing indignantly. "I'll remind you once, Malfoy – I am your teacher!"
Malfoy crumbled under the intimidation that came with Hagrid's size.
I stifled my chuckle in Frank's shoulder and tried as best as I could to pay attention as Hagrid began to outline the plan for the term with these… creatures.
The lesson was one of Hagrid's more interestingly planned, but, nothing could distract from the fact that the Skrewts looked like shell less lobsters and then, couple this with Hagrid's plan to have us tend for our own Skrewt as a 'project' over the term was far from cheerful.
We heard the bell signal the end of the lesson echo out over the grounds and we set back off towards the castle. I had my arm linked with Bella and Frank's as we walked behind the Slytherins.
Soon, all Hell erupted. While I had predicted that Brooklyn would turn her wand on newbie, Aurora, I was not ready for what happened. Brooklyn had been arguing with Draco for most of the lesson; apparently, she was not going to forgive him for anything that had happened the previous night.
She spun where she stood, her wand withdrawn and pointing directly at me – before I could think about my own wand, I had seen her lips move and the hex was cast. The jet of light shot from her wand and hit me square in the stomach.
I heard the yell from those around me – Frank's yell of anger rent the air in two as he scrambled to find his own wand.
"Expelliarmus!" I heard the scream as I gripped at Frank to climb to my feet. I looked around and found the source of the spell.
"Mikes?" I groaned, clutching my stomach and staring at my best friend. "Why, dude?"
"That wasn't fair; it wasn't like you did anything." He answered, linking his arm through mine on my other side; his voice was deadly as he glared at Brooklyn.
"We need to get you up the Hospital Wing." Frank sighed, keeping his hand in mine as Mikey guided me up the sloping lawns to the Caste.
Harry, Hermione, Ron, Bella, Sophia, Kerry, Bob, Ray and in particular, Gerard were walking around me as a silent troop of protectors; each had their wand out, ready to protect, if needs be.
We traipsed through the main halls of the castle, following as the trio led us through the secret passages: they, better than any of us, knew the passages of Hogwarts Castle.
"Who's going to tell Moody where I am, guys?" I asked suddenly, remembering the fact that we were supposed to be in Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"I'll tell him, Sum – don't worry!" Harry promised, turning from our path suddenly.
"You just need to go up to the Wing and get better and we'll tell Moody where you are." Hermione and Ron added.
"Thank you, guys." I sighed, reaching an arm for Hermione and pulling her into a hug. She patted the back of my head softly.
We split into smaller groups and one half of us continued on to our next class, while Frank, Gerard, Mikey and I carried on the route to the Hospital Wing.
"Look, boys; you know I'm glad you're here," I groaned, patting Frank's arm. "But, we can't all miss DADA."
Frank stared at me and pouted – "Come on, sis, that's not the best idea,"
"No, it's not." I agreed. "But, if you don't go, then Moody is going to get suspicious."
Gerard nodded his understanding: mainly, he knew that I would not have appreciated them fussing over me and would rather that they were learning something, rather than the state of my health.
After a whispered argument outside the doors to the hospital wing, the boys finally agreed to leave me alone in the wing. It was vital that I could spend some time alone, mainly with my thoughts; I had many things to analyze: in particular the events with Malfoy.
Having been to the hospital wing several times in my previous three years at Hogwarts, Madame Pomfery was not surprised when I pushed open the doors to the wing.
"What is it this time, Miss Iero?" She sighed, skirting down to my side and looking me up and down.
"I got into a spot of trouble with a Slytherin." I sighed, following her to one of the beds and hopping up onto it.
"A male or female Slytherin?"
I took my time to reply, mainly because I did not want to say who had hexed me, but, I also didn't want to lie.
"A little from column A, a little column B." I shrugged.
She clicked her tongue and continued to mix a potion at my bedside. I recognized it as a Wiggenweld potion. She handed it me and encouraged me to drink.
"You need to stay here for an hour or so, just so that I can check your condition." She told me reprovingly.
I agreed and shuffled further onto the bed. The pain in my stomach had subsided a little – enough that I could move without experiencing a relapse in the pain.
No sooner had I settled against the pillows and slipped into thought when I heard Madame Pomfery muttering to someone. This someone appeared at the foot of my bed, and, in my addled state, I wasn't sure if I was really seeing them.
The Hospital Wing was lit by candles and in this dim glow and the afternoon sun that penetrated the high arched windows, Draco Malfoy appeared to be smiling, albeit, nervously.
"You're not looking so good." He said quietly.
"Are you out of your mind, Draco?" I hissed, pushing myself up onto my pillows. "Your girlfriend cursed me; I'm not exactly going to be doing my best am I?"
"Ex-girlfriend." He sighed, "And, I didn't expect you to be doing really well, I just thought, seeing as how you're normally such a strong person, that you'd be better than this."
I clicked my tongue and reached for my wand. Only to realize that it was out of reach.
"Look, Draco – I've been hexed, cursed, whatever." I said. "This is not the time for you to be here, I know after last night that you may think that you and I have something going on, but, I don't think so; you and I are too different: for three years you have openly bullied my brother and his boyfriend – that is one thing that I can never forgive you for!"
My words seemed to inflict physical pain. "I am sorry for how I treated Frank and Gerard – I don't know what else that I can do!"
I scoffed. "One thing; you could try and apologize to Frankie, rather than me."
Comprehension dawned on Draco – I could see that my words had made a lot of sense.
"You think that would make things okay?"
I tried not to laugh at the stupidity of the idea. Did he honestly think that only apologizing to Frank and Gee would be enough to make things 'okay'? Of course it wouldn't – Malfoy had put them through so much over the past three years that it would take more than that to appease my brother, never mind his outrageously protective boyfriend…
"It might try and ease the situation a little bit." I told him – he could tell that I had not told him everything.
So, he pulled up the chair at the side of the bed. "Look, I don't know what to say to you: I did not tell Brook to curse you, she's just under the impression that, after I told you everything last night that it's your fault that she and I aren't together anymore."
"Come on, Draco – we both know that you and Brooklyn weren't going to last; your eyes do tend to wander to any new student that arrives at this school: case and point, Aurora." I said smugly.
He raised his hands in defeat, and sighed. "I am sorry, you know." He said finally.
"I know, Malfoy; I'm not blaming you for me being here, but, I also need you to know that nothing can come from this; I love somebody else." I replied, thinking back to Bella's brilliant piece of observation. I did love my brother's boyfriend's brother; I now only needed to tell him such.