Velvet: Heyo! Just sayin hi before the story! Nothing really to report, so enjoy!

Chapter 4

I finished collecting my things, and cleaning my area, and headed over to Professor Slughorn.

"Sir, you wanted to talk to me?" He looked at me, his eyes filled with concern, a look I saw all to often nowadays.

"Yes, Mister Malfoy, I wanted to discuss what happened." I looked at him, angry because he had asked once already. I didn't have a clue, he knew that!

"Very simply, you must have added the wrong ingredient, but why was that?" Rhetorical question, I know one when I see it. "You were not paying attention, you obviously had other things on your mind." Yep, I did. Not that i'm telling you, it's bad enough Professor Snape knows.

"Yes sir. Is that all?" He nodded at me, and I left. What a stupid waste of time! He just confirmed what was on his mind! Urgh. I left the classroom, slamming the door behind me, and stomping towards the first floor. I turned at the bathroom, realizing I should check my face. I stood at the mirror, and pointed my wand at it. The bruise still looked pretty nasty, and I realized I should probably get something for it. After recasting the charm, I used the free time from the early dismissal to go to the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey?" I called in to the room, and received an instant reply. Her voice obviously coming from her office.

"Yes? Oh, Mister Malfoy what brings you here?" I pulled out my wand, and recited the counter charm for the glamour charm.

"I banged my... face... on the bathroom door on the train, and I was hoping you could fix it?" She looked at me like I had three heads, and nodded.

"Of course I can. Take a seat, i'll be right back." I nodded at her, and sat down in a nearby chair. A student ran in shortly after.

"Madam Pomfrey! Carol's been bitten by one of the plants! She isn't moving!" Indeed, the poor girl was followed by Professor Sprout, who was carrying an unconscious fifth year Ravenclaw. I recognized her from second year from when she was being sorted. Madam Pomfrey burst through the doors of her office, holding my remedy, and had Professor Sprout lay the girl on a bed. She shooed them away, and began casting spells.

"Mister Malfoy, I cannot leave this girl alone, and I need something from Professor Slughorn, would you get it for me please?" I nodded reluctantly, I mean, she's just a Ravenclaw for Salazar's sake! Despite my unwillingness in my head, I rushed to Professor Slughorn's office.

"Mister Malfoy, what brings you back here?" Alright, I am tired of this 'Mister Malfoy' business. He looked at me strangely, I had forgotten to hide the bruise.

"Sir, Madam Pomfrey needs a potion, a fifth year was bitten in Herbology." I ignored the stare, and he seemed pretended he hadn't seen it. He turned around and started sifting through the vials in the cabinet behind him. He extracted one, and turned back to me. I took the vial from his hand, and left before he could utter a sound. I didn't want any questions about my face.

I was lucky not to run in to anybody, because I could feel the pain. I had only cast the glamour charm counter charm, not the one for the pain reducer. When I got back to the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey was looking flustered. Her back was turned to the door, so she didn't see me come in, which was probably why she was wondering aloud as to where I was. I cleared my throat, and she turned around, and sighed in relief.

"What kept you!" She was all but screaming at me, and I found it almost difficult to speak around her. Mediwitch's had that affect on some people.

"Professor Slughorn had to find it... Ma'am." I sighed, for a full grown witch of Merlin knows what age she didn't think much, did she? I sat down, my cheek hurting more than it had before, when that Ravenclaw girl came back in. She turned to me, obviously unsure of who I was from her peripheral vision, and got a look of terror on her face. I smirked, glad to know even doubled over in a chair in pain I still had that affect on people. She made a noise somewhere between a shriek and a wince, and moved away as fast as possible, without actually running. Smirking again, I got up, and headed over to Madam Pomfrey.

"Ma'am? My..." Unfortunately the pain was getting too intense. I gripped my cheek in agony, unsure of why it hurt so bad. That's when I remembered, I was taking the pain from all the injuries covering my body, from hastily repaired ribs to a barely healed concussion, and taking it all out on the bruise. She gently removed my hand, and dabbed on the remedy. I winced quite a bit as she did that, and stared at the Ravenclaw girl. She had a smug look on her face, and she was staring at me. Aw, bloody hell. She had some dirt on me. I glared daggers at her, and she turned away. "All done!" She smiled cheerfully at me, which was odd to say the least.

"Thanks..." I stepped outside, and ended up face to face with Pansy again.

"Draco, I've been looking everywhere for you! C'mon, we have History of Magic next!" Another class with her? Shoot me now. I followed her reluctantly to class, when we passed a bathroom.

"Pansy, just head to class, I know where the room is." She looked at me with uncertainty. No one trusted me anymore. "I'll be there shortly." With that, I walked in to the bathroom, and stood in front of the mirror. I sighed, and cast the pain reducer spell, and the glamour charm, before leaving the bathroom. I walked to Binns' room, and stepped inside. He glared at me, unhappy that he had to pause in his lecture, and I took my seat. I took out a piece of parchment and a quill and my ink, and started taking notes.

The rest of the day passed uneventful. Correction, the rest of the bloody week passed uneventful. It was so boring, I actually spent time with Pansy. Now that I was bruise free, the pain was less intense. That didn't mean that I was completely safe though. Every time I passed Professor Snape, he'd give me this strange look. I got to the point of giving him my best return glare every time he did that, and he seemed to do it less often. So it's saturday. Whoop-dee-bloody-doo. I was bored as hell, as usual. Crabbe and Goyle were in the Great Hall, eating themselves sick as usual. In fact, I was alone by the lake.

"ARGH!" I had found it the perfect opportunity to scream. The scream lasted at least a minute, before I returned to staring at the black lake, wanting nothing more than to jump in and be gone forever. Hell, Hogwarts would have a party in the Great Hall if I did, so might as well... Alright, if you thought I was serious, go. Just go. You really must be stupid if you thought I'd let that happen. I continued to stare in to the empty pit of the lake though, even if my plans of jumping in were as stupid as Weasel.

A.N. Nothing against Ron, but... that is Draco.

"You know... I really don't want to go home deaf, Malfoy." Who said that? I stood up and looked everywhere. "Look up, idiot." I sighed, whoever that was didn't realize how much that stung. I sat back down, no longer curious, and not bothering to look up as I had been told to do. There was a rustling, and a body dropped down next to him on all fours. It was Granger.

"What are you, part cat," I hmphed questioningly at her. I stood up to walk away but she had apparently stood up too, and grabbed my arm. "Keep your hands to yourself." I turned to her, just about ready to slap her, but her eyes looked at me curiously. "What, in merlin's name, do you want Granger?" She looked at me strangely before answering, that was getting annoying. I glared at her for that.

"Malfoy, you screamed at the bloody sky, and you haven't insulted me yet today. Something must be wrong." I glared at her again. She let go, and surprisingly, I didn't leave. It was odd, was there something... comforting about the way she was talking to me? Ugh get a hold of yourself she's Granger. Filthy mudblood scum. I smirked internally for that, it made me feel a bit better. Than I realized the rest of the "Golden Trio" wasn't with her.

"Where're your friends," I sneered at her. She looked at me, and spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Quidditch practice." She actually looked bored. Although... didn't she normally watch their practices? "Private quidditch practice." Oh. Wonder why.

"That's too bad." Was I being civil? It seemed Her- Granger was thinking the same thing. What the...? What's going on? I have one startlingly civil conversation with her, and I was using her first name? Sure it was only in my thoughts, but how long until i'm using it in conversations? Father would kill me if he knew, and i'm sure he already wants to kill me. I unconsciously put a hand over my ribcage where father had broken quite a few of my ribs. She got a concerned look.

"What's wrong with your stomach? Do you need to see Madam Pomfrey?" I shook my head, and brought down my hand. I turned sharply and walked away.

Velvet: Hey guys! Yeah... short... I think. I wanted to break my record of 2,005 words in a chapter, but that isn't gonna happen in this one. So I hope you enjoyed!

Draco: Can I go home now?

Velvet: Sure.