Hey, guys! Happy Early Thanksgiving! Thank goodness this chapter is a bit longer than the other recent ones. Hooray!

So. As a reminder, everything up till now has been a flashback in the story. In the first chapter, Draco runs into the boy's bathroom and has a little "Mulan 'Reflection'" moment, stares at himself in the mirror and launches the story as he thinks about all that he's done. Now, we come full circle and arrive back at the present.

Chapter Fifteen

The day after my failure-today, actually-I woke up and laid around in bed for a while, not having the energy to get up. My sleep last night was restless. I woke up at least five times from nightmares. I rolled over and went back to sleep, but nothing I did would make the nightmares stop. I got about three hours of sleep last night.

I was so tired, but I couldn't show it. I couldn't ever show it. Not with my friends, not with my family, and especially not the other Death Eaters.

I was the last person out of bed in my dorm, and I was the last one to leave the common room.

I had to finish that Cabinet. They were coming soon. I didn't know when, but it was soon.

I skipped the first half of breakfast and went to the Room of Requirement. I quickly grabbed the other bird fluttering in the twin cages and brought it to the Room. I rushed to find the Cabinet and didn't bother taking the patterned covering off. I cast a few strong Dark spells on the Cabinet in one last attempt to fix the passage. I cracked open the door and placed the black bird on the floor of the wardrobe. I sealed the door and whispered, "Harmonia Nectere Passus."

The magical sound readily emitted from the Cabinet and I quickly opened the door, finding that the animal had vanished.

I took a deep breath to calm myself as I closed the door again. That happened last time. The bird could still die on its way back.

I muttered the spell again, and the indicating noise came from behind the Cabinet door. I waited for a moment and put a hand to the door, not wanting to open it. I couldn't shake the feeling that the bird had died like the last one.

Quiet tweeting soon greeted me, and it made my heart soar. I had done it. The bird went to the Cabinet in Borgin and Burkes and came straight back. I had fixed the Cabinet.

Finally.

I pulled out my watch and found that there was only a half hour of breakfast left, so I left the Room and quickly made my way to the Great Hall, my relief and gladness making me move faster than I should have.

I thought that this day might finally be a good one, but I was proven wrong when I got to the Great Hall.

Potter stood between two tables talking with a Gryffindor girl, but I didn't think anything of it until I got within earshot of them. "I'm trying to remember, honestly. But I just can't," the girl finished. The girl spotted me behind Potter and leaned around him to get a better look at me, and I recognized her as the girl that I Cursed before Christmas break.

A hint of recognition passed through her eyes, and Potter turned around and glared at me accusingly.

No. They couldn't know. I was too careful.

I glanced around for an escape, but there wasn't any except back the way I came. I rapidly retreated out the doors of the Great Hall before Potter could accuse me of anything. My emerald tie grew suffocatingly tight around my throat, and I loosened it before it could choke off my air.

I couldn't get caught. I would be expelled from Hogwarts and arrested for Cursing Bell, and then the Death Eaters would kill me for failing.

I glanced behind me as my hand flew to my tie again. Why was this thing so tight?

I had finally gotten to the boys' lavatory where I could get a little privacy. There was most likely not going to be anyone in the bathroom because it was breakfast, and that was all I needed right now: to be alone.

My vest suddenly became just as stifling as my tie, so I ripped it off and dropped it on the floor. It instantly became cooler, but it wasn't cool enough. I was dying from the heat of my panic.

I looked up and stared at my own pale face in the mirror.

How did I end up here?

I'm just a kid.

Two years ago, all I had to worry about was who won the Triwizard Tournament. Now, I'm facing death at every turn. Whether I passed or failed, someone was going to die. All I can do is make sure that it's not my family or myself that dies.

But I can't do that if Potter suspects me.

I turned on the water and splashed it in my face to rinse away the lingering emotion, or I tried to.

The emotions inside me bubbled up and spilled over like they did in the Room of Requirement yesterday, but my crying didn't start slow and quiet like yesterday. My tears sprang instantly from my eyes, and loud sobs wracked my throat.

"I know what you did, Malfoy," a familiar voice called making me look behind my reflection in the mirror. "You hexed her, didn't you?" Potter interrogated.

He couldn't be here. He couldn't know. He had to leave.

I flipped around, preparing myself to make him leave, and threw a stunning spell at him, but he dodged, the spell splintering a wooden storage closet instead of hitting him. Potter instantly turned back around and returned the spell, though I managed to turn in time and avoid it. The spell hit a sink, sending a spray of plaster and water in every direction.

I quickly hid behind the row of stalls, wanting nothing more than for Potter to mind his own business. Why couldn't he ever do that? He always poked his head into where it didn't belong.

Potter appeared around the stalls, and I quickly threw another stunning spell at him. He ducked back behind the stalls, avoiding my spell-which hit one of the mirrors and cracked it into a few dozen pieces-and didn't reappear.

After a few seconds of waiting, I went behind the stalls to get out of my vulnerable position. I kneeled down on the floor and scanned the room in search of Potter. I spotted his reflection in a broken mirror, but he quickly vanished.

After a moment, Potter's shadow formed on the floor as he started to kneel down, and soon after that, his arms appeared. Before he could get the chance to even lift his wand, I threw another stunning spell at him that missed and hit a sink pipe, flooding the floor with water.

I couldn't let him gain the upper hand. If I did, he would stun me and report me to either Dumbledore or McGonagall, and who knows what would happen after that.

I quickly stood and rounded the stalls to confront him directly, the bangs of Potter's random shots growing louder with every second.

I reached the last stall at the same time as he did, and before I had raised my wand to stun him, he shouted, "Sectumsempra!"

The unknown spell blasted me to the floor as it tore through me. I had to get up and fight back, but there was too much pain. I was being cut everywhere. My arms, my chest, my stomach. Every part of me burned and ached.

My already heightened emotions piqued again with the pain, forcing its way out in new tears.

How did I end up here?

Ten minutes ago, I was facing death, but now it was here. Half of me was fighting against it, but the other half of me didn't care. Why did I have to fight it? Why should I? If I lived, I would have to kill someone, but if I died, no one would have any problems. Potter and his friends would have an unobstructed path to Voldemort, and they would destroy the him. The world would be better off. No one would take over the school. Dumbledore would live. My parents would be free of him.

But how long would it take Harry, Ron and Hermione to get rid of Voldemort? No one could guess. They could take the rest of our school careers or longer, and the Dark Lord might kill my family, anyway, for my failure.

My family or myself?

Faint splashing sounded somewhere in the room, but it was so echoey that the sound blended with the river of water spewing out of the broken pipes, making it meaningless. Something brushed by me before a slow and hollow voice whispered, "Vulnera Sanentur. Vulnera Sanentur."

I didn't know what the distant words meant, but the more the man repeated them, the more the pain went away, so nothing mattered in the world other than the vanishing pain.

"Malfoy?" the same voice called. "Malfoy?"

I turned my head in the direction of the voice as my eyes fluttered open, and I found the blurred figure of Snape.

"Are you alright?" he echoed.

I didn't have the energy to answer. My eyesight worsened, and for a second I thought that the bathroom was our courtyard at home as a memory of the weeks before school surfaced.

"Focus, Malfoy," Snape hissed, gently slapping my cheek, making the vision of our courtyard disappear.

"What happened?" an unfamiliar voice shouted.

Snape glanced up at the voice and ordered, "Go get Madame Pomphrey."

No response came, but rapid splashing accompanied retreating steps.

I was so tired.

"Wake up, Malfoy!"

My eyes snapped open, and I found that I was being moved, the stone of the arched ceiling flashing by.

"You're gonna be alright, Mister Malfoy," a voice said.

I tried to find the source, but my sight was so blurred that everything ran together, like someone had splashed water over fresh ink. I didn't recognize anyone.

Everything faded as my eyes slipped closed again, and I couldn't open them again for a while. Voices faded in and out of the darkness, their words becoming clearer and clearer, over time.

"...he okay?" a voice asked.

"He'll be fine," a woman answered. "What Professor Snape did saved his life, but who knows what happened to him. You don't know what happened, do you Mister Potter?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and I thought that my awareness had faded again, so I forced my head to turn in the direction of their sound, struggling to get my eyes to open.

Potter's image slowly came into focus, and he turned to me, locking gazes with me for a moment before turning back to the nurse he was talking to.

"No idea," he answered.

"It's alright, Mister Potter," she answered, disappointment lingering in her voice. "I just wanted to know if anyone heard anything. Obviously Mister Malfoy can't answer me."

Potter chuckled halfheartedly and looked over at me again with guilt in his eyes.

"Now, you should go to see the Headmaster. I heard he was looking for you," the healer informed.

"Yes, ma'am," Potter agreed, adjusting his glasses. He glanced at me again before turning to leave.

The nurse turned to me, and I finally recognized her as Madame Pomphrey. Surprise coloured her features as she exclaimed, "Mister Malfoy! You're awake!" The shocked healer approached me and slipped her hands behind my back, helping me to sit up.

I allowed her to gently lift me from the hospital bed and then lean me back onto the pillows. I hissed as a bolt of sharp pain speared me through the chest. I fell onto the pillows and my hand flew to my heart, where it hurt the most.

Madame Pomphrey disappeared for a moment and came back with a glass of water, mixing something into it with a spoon. "Here," she breathed, setting the spoon down on the bedside table. "Drink this."

She pressed the cup to my before I could think and the cooling water slipped down my throat, soothing both my burning throat and the pain in my chest.

The nurse took the cup away, placing it on the table while I leaned back into the pillows again, overjoyed that the pain was easing.

Pomphrey pulled a nearby stool closer to her and took a seat as she asked, "Could you tell me what happened in the bathroom, Mister Malfoy?"

I remembered everything that happened, but I couldn't tell her. It didn't look like Harry knew what that spell did, and that guilt in his eyes a moment ago made it clear that he hadn't meant to hurt me.

"I don't know," I lied, my voice sounding weak and hoarse even to my own ears. "Some student threw a spell at me. There was a lot of pain, but nothing more."

"Do you remember the spell?" the healer inquired.

"Yeah, but I didn't know it," I answered. "Sectum-something."

What was that spell? I couldn't remember exactly what it was, but I had never heard of it before.

"I've never heard a spell beginning with that, either," Pomphrey added. "Well, no use dwelling on it, I suppose. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. Better now that I drank whatever you put in that water," I responded.

"Just a mild painkiller."

"Was that Potter who was just in here?" changing the topic as I raised my head a little. Focusing on the pain made it worse, so talking about something else might lessen it, and Potter was the first thing that came to mind.

"Yes, it was," the nurse answered, her tone lightening a little. "I didn't know you were awake for that."

"Just the end of the conversation," I assured her.

We fell silent for a moment, and I noticed how light it was in the room. I glanced up to the row of windows by the ceiling and found that the sunlight was strong enough to be midday or afternoon. When Potter and I fought, it was morning.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, facing Madame Pomphrey. It was at least a few hours, but it could also be longer than that. I pleaded that it wouldn't be.

"About two days," the healer cautiously answered.

The shock of learning that made my heart jump, but it quickly faded. I was all too used to finding out how long I've been unconscious.

"I should send word to your friends," the madame sighed, rising from the stool. "At least one of them came to visit you before and after every meal to see if you were awake. The only way I could get rid of them and let you rest is by promising to tell them when you woke up."

I tried to laugh, but all I could manage was an amused huff before my chest ached, making me wince.

"I would give you more of that painkiller, but it would make you sleep," Pomphrey offered.

"Nah, that's alright," I refused. "I think I've been asleep long enough."

The healer laughed lightly and walked off towards another nurse.

I leaned back against the pillows again and closed my heavy eyes. Why was I so exhausted? I had slept for two days straight, but I was still tired.

"Wake up, Malfoy," an amused voice laughed, shaking my arm.

I sat up a little and blinked away my exhaustion, looking at the people around me.

"We heard that you woke up, but we come back and find you asleep again," Blaise mocked, struggling to hide his laugh.

"It's good to see you, too, Blaise," I returned, giving him a smirk of my own.

"Are you alright?" Pansy demanded next to me.

"Yeah. What happened?" Crabbe interrogated.

"We were leaving for our first class when one of the professors told us you were in the infirmary," Goyle added.

"I don't know," I sighed, wanting to tell them as little as possible. The less they knew, the better. "Some student threw a weird spell at me in the bathroom. Then I woke up here. That's all I remember."

"Do you know which House he was in?" Blaise asked.

"No," I covered. "There's really not much light in that bathroom."

The group in front of me chuckled before Goyle wondered, "So how long you think you're staying in here?"

"No idea," I answered. "But I'm not too bad. Not even a bruise. Can't be for too long."

"That's where you're wrong, Mister Malfoy," Madame Pomphrey interrupted as she approached us. "You were hit with an unknown spell, and though you may seem fine, you might have internal problems, so you are going to stay here indefinitely until we can determine whether or not you're truly alright."

No. I couldn't stay here. I hadn't killed Dumbledore yet, and they could be coming to take the school any day now.

"No protesting, Malfoy," Pomphrey ordered, looking at me sternly. "You are going to stay here, no questions asked. And your parents have been informed of what's happened, and they fully expect you to stay here and heal."

I fell back down in disappointment. Now my parents know, and by default, so did everyone else. What would happen now?

"Are you alright, Malfoy?" Pansy wondered. "You look a little green."

"I'm fine!" I snapped. They had to leave. I had to talk with my father, and they couldn't be here for that.

Pansy backed away from my bed a few steps and a look of shock came over the others.

Realizing that I scared them, I apologized. "Sorry, guys," I whispered. "I'm just tired."

"Yes, he is," Madame Pomphrey agreed waving her arms towards the door. "You should all head to lunch and let Mister Malfoy rest."

My friends didn't protest and silently moved out the door.

"I shouldn't have yelled at them," I muttered after they had gone.

"It's alright, Mister Malfoy. You've been under a lot of stress lately," Madame Pomphrey dismissed.

I glanced at her as she passed my bed and whispered, "You have no idea."

A moment later Pomphrey returned with a bowl of green gelatin and a spoon. "Bon appetit, Mister Malfoy," she sighed.

I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. She couldn't be serious. I was starving, and I had to eat this?

Pomphrey chuckled at my look. "You better get used it, Mister Malfoy. You're going to get the same thing for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow."

I sighed and took the bowl from her.

Hope you guys enjoyed! I am definitely going to update next week, it's just a matter of a Thanksgiving Special, my usual Saturday update or both. We've got a ton of family stuff next week, so...I hope to do both, but don't plan on it. Fingers crossed! See you next week!