Chapter 16
The next morning, Blaise woke up to see the spot next to him where Draco usually slept in was empty. Frowning, Blaise sat up and looked around the spacious room from the neatly cluttered desk to the couch in front of the fire place where he saw Draco furiously scribbling something on a piece of parchment; with his brows furrowed in concentration.
"Draco? What are you writing?" Blaise asked slowly, slipping out of bed and putting on a robe to cover his nudeness.
Hearing Blaise's voice, Draco looked up in surprise, as if he just realized where he was, then down to the letter he was writing.
Sighing, he put down his quill and stretched slowly, cracking his back and neck quickly before standing up and going over to Blaise.
"I was writing a letter." He stated.
Noticing Blaise's confused look, he clarified, "to my mother."
A look of dawning lit up Blaise's eyes and he smiled at the blush that was slowly crawling up his lover's neck.
Draco, kissing him quickly on the lips, was about to go to the bathroom to take a shower when Blaise stopped him by grabbing his neck and deepening the kiss.
Wrapping his hand around Blaise's neck, Draco pushed his body into Blaise's reveling in the sensation of the hard body pressed against his own.
"Draco…" Blaise whispered.
Draco clenched his hand around the collar of Blaise's shirt prepared to rip it from his body, to get to his prize beneath. Before Draco could get any farther than raising Blaise's shirt above his abdomen, they heard a knock at the door. Freezing at the sudden interruption, they closed their eyes hoping that it was just a dream.
Hearing the knock again more persistent this time, they released their breath they had been unknowingly holding and Blaise shot a glance at Draco who he could see was scowling. Breaking away from each other reluctantly, they knew they needed to see who was at the door.
Stepping back from Draco, Blaise looked down at the bulge in his pants with longing and mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'Idiots! Couldn't have waited ten minutes', before yelling that they coming and to hold their horses.
Draco looked at Blaise funny before raising an eyebrow in question, rolling his eyes Blaise swung the door open with a vicious scowl on his face, ready to give whoever it was a piece of his mind.
"What?" he deadpanned, thinking it was some idiot sent by the headmaster to torment them, and then he looked up and, noticing that it was Madame Pomfrey, cringed in regret for his earlier harshness.
"Oh. Sorry Madame Pomfrey." He muttered, his cheeks staining a slight pink in his embarrassment.
"Oh, it's no bother Mr. Zabini. I've just come to let you know that you are needed at St. Mungo's in regards to Professor Snape and Miss Weasley." She said, smiling slightly, a blush staining her own cheeks as she saw the small bulge in his and Draco's pants, although, Draco's was a bit more noticeable then Blaise's. Realizing what she must have walked in on and that she was still staring, she blushed again and muttered that she had to go before fleeing as fast as she could without losing her dignity or falling on her face.
Draco and Blaise looked at each other once, before flying to the shower so they could go see Ginny and Severus as soon as possible.
Thanking all the Gods in the Universe that they had two showers instead of one, knowing that if they had showered together then they never would have gotten to see Ginny and Severus today. They stepped into their respective stalls and had a 5-minute shower, which was a record for them.
Stepping out of the shower, Draco grabbed a towel and went to his closet to get ready. Hearing the other shower door open, he heard Blaise opening and closing the shower door before sound of wet footsteps made its way closer to the closet too in search of clothes.
Putting his clothes on, he looked in the mirror, ran his hand through his hair once then turned to Blaise waiting for him. He realized this is the first time he was ready before Blaise and smirked slightly.
Noticing his smirk, Blaise raised an eyebrow at him in question, "I realized this is the first time I'm actually ready before you." Draco stated, grinning broadly.
Rolling his eyes, Blaise did the same thing as Draco and soon he was ready.
Both walked towards the floo, they each got some powder, threw it into the fireplace, and stepped in, with a yell of "St. Mungo's". They were gone in a swirl of green flames.
D-G-B
Stepping out of the fireplace in the waiting room, they walked to the receptionist and stated that they were called for Severus Snape and Ginevra Weasley.
The receptionist looked up, and blanched in fear at seeing Draco and Blaise. She then pointed, with a shaky finger the direction in which they were supposed to go and hoped they would go on their way.
Draco smirked at her, and Blaise smiled kindly at her before they walked to where she pointed.
Seeing Healer Wicker, they walked straight to her and waiting semi-patiently as she finished up with her current patient before they caught her attention.
Getting impatient, Draco cleared his throat quite loudly to get her attention before being elbowed in the side by Blaise.
Stopping in mid-sentence, Healer Wicker looked to see who interrupted her and saw it was Draco and Blaise.
"Oh! Mr. Zabini and Mr. Malfoy!" she exclaimed, surprised to see them there so fast.
Seeing their raised eyebrows, she blushed, and turned back to the patient who was waiting patiently for her.
Finishing up with her current patient quickly she informed then she would be back to finish the exams later that nothing was serious before turning her attention to Blaise and Draco and asking them to step outside with her so that they could speak privately.
"I'm sorry about that." She apologized. Shrugging indifferently, they asked her what news she had on Severus and Ginny.
Healer Wicker looked them both over and without answering their question said "Follow me." before turning on her heel and leaving the two to stare after her for a moment before following hastily.
"Healer Wicker, what's going on?" Draco asked, getting frustrated when she wasn't explaining anything. Stopping at a door, she turned around to face them, looking at them grimly.
"Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini." She said her face grim.
"Your – erm -" she started, then sighed and told them to follow her inside the room figuring it was better to let them see first before she started to explain anything.
Opening the door, she motioned them in first, then followed them in, unknowing that they had stopped in the doorway she bumped into a muscular back, stumbling backwards at the collision.
Stepping back so that she could straighten herself, she looked to see who she walked in, only to notice it was Draco Malfoy.
"Mr. Malfoy? What -" she started to ask before she moved around him to see what he was staring at.
Oh, that would explain why he stopped. She thought to herself, seeing him stare at both Ginny and Severus Snape.
Realizing that he wasn't going to move anytime soon, she sighed and squeezed past him to get into the room, mumbling something under her breath about men being over concerned for no reason.
Hearing this, Blaise shook his head, then took the Healer's arm and pulled her out of reach of Draco, not wanting her to suffer the repercussions of her unknowingly harsh words.
"Healer Wicker, may I ask what is going on with Ginny and Severus?" he asked politely hoping not to anger the healer and raise his own temper in tandem.
He watched as she opened her mouth, but then closes it quickly because somebody knocked on the door behind Draco. Sighing, he turned towards the door to see another Healer call Healer Wicker over; she then hurried from the room mumbling apologies and excusing herself from their presence.
Mumbling something to himself about Healers and ignoring their patients, Blaise turned towards Draco and tapped him on the shoulder, waiting patiently.
Startled, Draco turned towards Blaise with a questioning look in his eyes.
"You were gazing at them and drooling at Ginny," stated Blaise calmly.
Wiping off the drool that was on his chin, and closing his mouth, he sighed and put an arm around Blaise's waist pulling the other man close, taking comfort in his presence.
"I miss her, and I don't know what's wrong with her. I wish I knew, so that I could do something to help her. This is breaking my heart not knowing what's wrong with either Ginny or Severus." His words were muffled against Blaise's neck as he buried his face in the crook of his lover's neck seeking reassurance and comfort.
Lifting his head up with a sigh, Draco turned toward Ginny and Severus, pulling himself away from Blaise he flashed the other boy a smile before walking to the hospital beds and checking the resident's pulses, just to confirm to himself that they really were still. Draco noticed a dramatic drop in the rhythm of their pulses and dropped their wrists in shock. Moving quickly to the door past a worried Blaise he called for Healer Wicker to see what was happening. 'Surely if they were getting better their pulses would be getting stronger?' He thought to himself as he glanced worriedly between the beds and the vacant corridor.
Hearing footsteps coming from down the hall, he looked back down the corridor to see Healer Wicker jogging up the corridor to see what was going on. Turning away from the door for a moment, he stared over at the hospital beds praying to whatever deity may be out there that it was a false alarm.
"Gin, please don't die on us." He whispered to her.
Hearing the door open, he turned towards Healer Wicker and said, "Their pulse is getting weaker. What's going on?"
Healer Wicker slowed to a walk once she got in the room, and then walked over to both Ginny and Severus to see what was happening.
Checking their pulses, breathing, brain activity and magical core activity, she looked back to Draco and Blaise grimly and said, "After figuring out what's wrong with them, I realized that Mr. Severus Snape has been struck with a dark curse, that if not treated immediately, has a definite mortality rate. I must ask though, has Mr. Snape adopted Miss Weasley for his daughter?" She asked, but upon seeing their confused expressions continued. "If Mr. Snape did not adopt Miss Weasley, were they especially close physically and emotionally, this would also cause a bond to form between the two, though not in the traditional sense." She explained, but noticed they were still confused she hastily elaborated what she was saying hoping the duo would not get angry with her the longer it took her to explain.
"How close physically? You mean like lovers?" Blaise asked hesitantly not wanting to ask the question but needing to know the answer for both himself and Draco.
"No, no nothing of the sort, what I'm saying is that we found a piece of jewelry on Miss Weasley, that I presume Mr. Snape gave her? This object had some magical properties having been passed through numerous magical families throughout the centuries and has somehow bonded them together. Therefore, the curse that struck Mr. Snape has been slowly draining his magical core in an effort to kill him. The prime use of this curse is to drain a prisoner's magic, generally used in places like Azkaban to prevent prisoners storing up there magic and using it to escape." Healer Wicker explained taking a breath.
Draco, impatient as ever, interrupted her before she could finish explaining. "But that explains Severus; you still haven't told us what is happening to Ginny." Draco demanded stepping forward only to be stopped by a calming hand placed on his arm holding him back. Blaise smiled towards his lover before motioning for the Healer to continue.
"As I was saying, through the link connecting Miss Weasley and Mr. Snape, Mr. Snape has been able to delay the effects of the curse by distributing it through the bond between himself and Miss Weasley, successfully slowing down the effects of the curse. Of course, not being able to delay it any longer the curse' effects began to show through, resulting in their collapse from magical exhaustion."
"But why haven't they woken yet?" Blaise asked quietly before Draco could get a word in edge wise.
"With their magical cores being nearly decimated, their remaining magic put them into a magical sleep, somewhat like a coma to restore what has been lost as well as trying to fight off the remaining curse." Healer Wicker said solemnly.
"So they should be waking soon?" Draco asked, perking up slightly at the thought of having his friend and lover back beside him.
"I'm sorry no, because this is such a delicate situation there is no telling what could happen since the spell is connected to Miss Weasley as well. Miss Weasley's magic linking them through that piece of jewelry is the only thing keeping them both alive and stable.
Blaise and Draco looked at each other worried, thinking over possible solutions before Draco turned back to the Healer "Couldn't you just simply remove the curse and allow them to remain in the magical coma to restore their magic naturally?"
"No it isn't possible, as I mentioned earlier this is a delicate situation. This curse is, as mentioned, only used on prisoners and only ever cast on a single person. In that case, removing the curse would be a simple matter of performing the counter curse, but with the curse draining Miss Weasley as well, removing the curse could very well kill them both."
Draco paced as he listened to the Healer and absorbed what she said, while Blaise looked on sadly trying to think of what he could do to help. "Is there anything we can do, without risking both their lives?"
"Well we know what curse Mr. Snape has been hit with all we need to do now is find a secure way to keep their magical cores stable while removing the curse and then they should be fine. We have our best Healers on this Mr. Zabini, Mr. Malfoy, It is a relatively a simple procedure despite how things look now." She gestured towards the ailing patients, "things are not as bad as they seem."
She looked at them both, taking notice that they refused to show any emotion as they stood stoically in front of her, but she could see that beneath that calm, cool surface they were a light with fear and worry. Although, she knew that as pureblood heir's they would have been taught from a very early age that showing emotion was a weakness, that simply invited others to take advantage of. Thinking to herself, their lack of emotions probably wasn't helped by the constant gossiping of their wealth and their families rumored to be notorious Death Eaters.
Blaise and Draco looked at each other, than nodded once before turning back to the Healer. Draco looked like he was about to say something, but stopped when they heard the door opening revealing another Healer looking for Wicker. Apologizing to the boys, she excused herself, and followed the other Healer out the door leaving Blaise and Draco alone with Ginny and Severus.
Sighing, Draco looked between Severus and Ginny before walking over to both beds, standing in between them. Blaise looked dully at Draco before walking over to Ginny's bed, standing beside Draco.
"Draco, you have to stop feeling guilty." Blaise whispered to his lover.
Draco sighed, and then nodded. He was right; he was feeling horribly guilty for all of their pain. He didn't even know why he felt guilty. It wasn't his fault that they were going through with this, he thought; but then a little voice in his head that sounded awfully like Lucius Malfoy, said that it was his fault.
D-G-B
Blaise conjured a love seat for both himself and Draco to sit on and set it between the beds unwilling to leave either of their sides for another moment. Draco sat down with a sigh before leaning his head on Blaise's shoulder, and muttering, "I miss her Blaise," before falling into a much needed light sleep. Blaise looked down slowly at the boy – 'no man', he thought – sleeping on his shoulder before letting himself fall into a light sleep lulled by his lovers steady breathing.
Unnoticed to both sleeping men, Healer Wicker had returned to the room with a possible counter for the curse. After administering the antidote, she turned towards the men. Not wanting to get their hopes up, she decided to let them sleep, before leaving the room quietly and shutting the door softy behind her.
D-G-B
Hearing a sound coming from the bed, Blaise opened his eyes immediately, wondering where he was before remembering he was in the hospital. Looking sharply over at the bed he had heard the noise coming from, his eyes were drawn to the site of Ginny opening her eyes, groaning slightly in pain.
Slowly, he lifted Draco's head and put it on Severus' bed with his arms underneath to pillow his head on.
"Gin?" he whispered in shock. He couldn't believe she was up – or well trying to wake up he believed, hoped.
Slowly, he watched as she fluttered her eyes open, before looking at him with a tired smile.
"Blaise…" she croaked out hoarsely voice rough from lack of use.
Reaching for her hand, he gently picked it up and kissed her palm before placing it back down still in his own hand, careful not to wake Draco up. Thinking of Draco's reaction he smiled wryly, 'he would kill me if he knew I let him sleep once I knew she was awake.'
"Gin" he whispered, trying hard to stop the tears building in his eyes. 'I'm a Zabini, Zabini's don't cry!' He thought firmly.
Reaching out a hand, he gently brushed a stray piece of her blood red hair, out of her face before dropping his arm. She looked so damaged, compared to how – he didn't want to finish that thought. Shaking his head, he gave her a weak smile before sitting by her on the bed.
Clasping her hand in his, she slowly turned her head to kiss his palm with her dry, chapped lips. She felt so thirsty; she didn't think it'd be this painful to love three people.
Hearing someone clear their throat in the background, Ginny slowly turned her head to the left where she found both Draco and Severus looking at her with smiles on their faces – well, Severus' smile a bit weaker and slight then Draco's smile. She was starting to think that she had the best family ever, but stopped when she heard the door to the room swing open and close.
Flicking her eyes to the door, she saw that it was just a healer who had entered the room. Sitting up, but crying out in pain, she felt two sets of arms on her body, laying her back down gently. Whimpering slightly, she closed her eyes and waited for the pain to pass, when she heard Severus cry out in agony, clutching his side. She was able to feel his pain, but only a slight sliver of it.
'Geez, I think I've been in this hospital more times than I've been in school,' she thought wryly, panting slightly as she felt the pain become stronger; before crying out. She grabbed the first thing she could find – which happened to be Blaise's arm – and squeezed really hard, to the point where she almost bruised his arm. She heard him grunt in pain, but she couldn't do anything about it, she was hurting so badly.
Bloody hell, it feels as if it's ripping me apart, like giving birth to a child the very first time and I haven't even had sex yet! At least, not that I know of, she thought through her pain.
She was about to yell out, before it was suddenly gone. Panting for breath, she slowly opened her eyes, looked to the side of her at Severus, and found that he was looking at her too with an unrecognizable emotion clouding his eyes. Turning her head away from him, she looked in front of her to find there was more than one Healer by hers' and Severus' beds, not only Healer Wicker, but other healers as well.
Whipping her head to the right and soon regretting it as a sharp pain accompanied the quick movement, she turned to see Blaise was looking at her as well with an odd expression. Turning from Blaise to Draco, she saw that he mimicked both Severus and Blaise as well. Frustrated that everyone was staring at her and refusing to tell her what was going on she was about to snap at them angrily before Healer Wicker cleared her throat and caught the red heads attention with a polite smile.
"Miss Weasley, you're probably wondering what has us all so shocked? Yes?" seeing Ginny nod she continued. "Why don't you take a look at yourself in the mirror and see for yourself." The healer commented warmly "Go on dear, there's nothing wrong, it's nothing bad, not to worry."
Looking at her warily for a moment, she slowly reached with her hand – the one that wasn't gripping Blaise's arm – and took hold of the mirror. Dragging her eyes to the mirror, she felt all eyes on her as she saw a pair of black eyes looking back at her from her face. Her eyes had changed from their original chocolate brown to a glittering black like Severus'. Looking at the rest of the changes she had gone through, she noticed she had black hair, and that her cheekbones were much more defined giving her the look of an aristocrat, while her nose was slightly pointy. 'She looked like a female version of Severus except with a few mild differences' she thought idly. The only difference between Severus and her was that her skin was a tad bit darker than his pale complexion. Paling, she slowly touched her skin before dropping her hand as if it burned. She heard a voice from beside her, so she slowly turned her head, like a corpse, to the body of the voice.
She saw that it was Severus talking; she was finally able to recognize the emotion behind his dark eyes happiness, full of pride, love. Love for her, his daughter. She felt a smile creep up her lips. She turned towards Blaise and saw him smiling at her as well; turning to Draco, she saw that he was smiling at her as well. She never felt so happy in her entire life, well, not this happy at least, she thought ironically. She slowly leaned in towards Blaise, and touched her lips to his lightly, keeping her eyes open and looking him straight in the eyes. Pulling away, she was still smiling when she heard someone behind her clear their throat. Turning around, she saw that Healer Wicker was smiling down at her gently.
"Miss Weasley, we are happy to inform you that both you and Mr. Snape are free to go. We were able to produce an anti-dote for the dark curse that was placed on him." She explained.
Ginny was about to ask how, but the Healer interrupted her and answered her question, "The pain you felt, was the anti-dote that we placed in your IV so it was able to distribute itself throughout your bloodstream, to heal you both. Therefore, we will keep you here for a night, just for observations, just to make sure there are no complications, or reactions to the antidote given and you will be free to go tomorrow. Is that good?" she asked, looking at everyone in turn.
Everybody – Ginny, Blaise, Draco, and Severus – all nodded in understanding, before turning to one another to start talking about what had just happened and how everybody was feeling.
"Gin?" asked a voice on Ginny's right.
Turning her head, she thought it was Severus who called for her, but realized it was Draco who had called for her. Weird, he sounded a bit...different then he usually did, she thought, frowning.
"Yes Draco?" she asked, smiling at him and grabbing his hand from where they were clasped tightly in his lap.
She looked up at him from under her lashes, not wanting to seem vulnerable to him. She didn't want to seem vulnerable to any of them, even though she was vulnerable in the worst way possible.
"I um," he started, but then stopped, not wanting to continue, nor did he know what he was going to ask her.
Sighing, he just shook his head and mumbled "never mind" to her and turning away, letting Blaise hug her, consoling her.
Frowning, she looked up at him, and saw that he had unshed tears in his eyes, gasping, she slowly got off of the bed, and walked to him, slowly, being sure she didn't hurt herself; again.
Looking over to Blaise to see if he knew what was wrong with Draco, she saw that he just shrugged and continued to what he was doing before.
Sighing, she grumbled about idiotic boyfriends and their shyness before she sat on the bed Severus was laying on, and turned to face Draco. She put her hand under his chin and pulled his face so he would look at her, instead of his hands.
She noticed that he was frowning, so she made a silly face to get him to laugh, at which he did.
"There we go! Now, what were you about to ask me? Before you changed your mind and stopped talking to me altogether." She asked calmly.
Chuckling at her effort in trying to make him smile, he realized what he was about to tell her and sighed in resignation and defeat. Only Ginevra Weasley would be able to get him to say what he wanted.
"What I wanted to tell you was..." he trailed off, before he was stopped by the door swinging open by a one Pansy Parkinson.
What the hell is she doing here? His mind hissed at him.
"Parkinson, what a surprise. What can we do for you?" drawled Blaise emotionlessly, from beside him.
D-G-B
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, and for the cliffhanger. But I've been busy trying to find a new Beta and job, and also typing this chapter up. I actually like this chapter though. So hopefully you guys will like it too. Anyway, review please!