Chapter 13

Sectumsempra

April 13, 1997

"Murder!" screamed Moaning Myrtle as she floated though the halls, "murder in the bathroom!"

Professor Snape led a blood soaked Draco out of the boy's lavatory. Draco was horribly pale and weak; his feet dragged on the stone floor and Snape had to practically carry him up to the hospital wing.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter stood in the demolished bathroom; his wand was loose in his hand; his legs barely supported his weight. He had almost killed Draco Malfoy.

I ran through the halls as fast as I could. I passed the roped off bathroom which still had a stream of blood stained water flowing from under its closed door. People stared at me as I sped past, but I did not care.

I could still hear Myrtle's agonizing wails of "Murder!" ringing in the distance. There was so much blood, I thought, my stomach lurching.

My legs cramped up as I pushed myself to move even faster; my lungs felt like they were going to shrivel up, but I did not care.

Draco, please be okay.

"I gave him the dittany," said Madam Pomfrey as she fussed over her patient, "so he shouldn't have any scars."

Severus Snape stood nearby with his arms crossed. He looked down at the sleeping boy in the bed, his face hard with anger. How could he have let that potions book get into the hands of a student. And out of all the empty headed children at Hogwarts who could have found it, the book had to fall into the hands of Potter, a boy so thick that he would use a spell before he knew what it did.

Madam Pomfrey looked at Snape intently. "Thank goodness you found him when you did, Severus," she said, "for if this boy had lost anymore blood he would have died."

Severus did not meet her gaze but continued to look at Malfoy, secretly thanking God every time he saw Draco take in a breath. He could not have yet another death on his conscience.

"I must go," he said and hurriedly headed towards the exit.

I finally reached the hospital wing bent over grasping for air.

A pair of heavy, wooden doors led to the main infirmary. I pulled them open and headed forward, but before I could step foot in the room I hit something solid and fell backwards on to the stone floor.

With my tail bone aching I looked up to see Professor Snape standing in the doorway, looking vexed.

The Snape girl sat looking disgruntled and confused on the floor. She gazed up at Severus with wide eyes. Severus scowled down at her. This girl was a danger to herself; how hard would it be for her to take the time to look out where she was going.

Severus closed the infirmary doors and waited for the girl to collect herself.

"What do you think you are doing here?" he hissed at her.

The girl's eyes flashed with anger, but then she seemed to think that this was not the time for retorts.

"Is Draco going to be alright, Professor?" She looked terrified as she asked this. "There was so much blood and Moaning Myrtle was…" She trailed off and looked at the professor anxiously.

Despite himself, Severus felt his face soften slightly. "Draco will make a full recovery."

With that the girl let out a sigh of relief and smiled to herself. Severus suddenly felt that same anger he did when Alex had met Draco in the library. "Go up to your common room," the professor ordered. "You have no business being here."

Alex put one hand on her hip and opened her mouth to give Severus a very impertinent come back when a kind voice said, "Good evening."

Both Alex and Severus turned to see the headmaster walking towards them. Dumbledore focused his attention to Professor Snape first. Snape gave Dumbledore a curt nod of assurance that everything had been taken care of; Dumbledore seemed pleased. "Well then," the headmaster said, "Mister Malfoy is a very fortunate young man." He turned to Alex and smiled, "very fortunate indeed to have such a lovely young lady to call upon him." Alex blushed and Severus threw Dumbledore a meaningful look; Dumbledore caught it with a side glance and then said, "Mister Malfoy will surely be glad for the company, don't you agree Severus." At the headmaster's words Alex threw Severus a sharp look as if to say 'So There.'

Severus hated the old man immensely at this moment and resolved not to give his opinion to avoid saying something he might regret later. He grimaced down at the stone floor, remembering Potter waiting for him levels below. "I have business that needs attending," he announced mutinously and in a swish of robes he turned and walked away.

I watched as Dumbledore's blue eyes followed Professor Snape's dark figure but then focused back to me. "Shall we?" Dumbledore said as he held the door ajar for me.

I walked inside. My eyes found Draco immediately; he was lying in a bed at the far corner of the huge room. He was Madam Pomfrey's only patient.

Madam Pomfrey approached us. "Headmaster," she greeted Dumbledore. She glanced at me. "My patient needs his rest." At the matron's words Draco opened his eye's wearily to observe his visitors. I smiled at him slightly.

"Oh Poppy," Dumbledore said to Madam Pomfrey. "Miss Snape merely wishes to sit by her friend's bedside and offer a bit of comfort to him while he recovers." The headmaster gazed at me; "You will sit quietly with Mister Malfoy won't you Alex."

"Of course," I assured.

"That settles it then," finalized Dumbledore. "My dear Poppy," he began at the matron's look of displeasure. "You cannot argue that having a friend nearby in troublesome times can be the best medicine."

"I suppose so," said Madam Pomfrey skeptically.

"And Alex has my full permission to be here," said the headmaster.

"She may stay," Madam Pomfrey finally agreed, "but I cannot have my patient over exerting himself," she told me.

"I will be good," I told her.

"Very well then," Dumbledore said as he smiled at me and then he gently led Madam Pomfrey away to discuss further matters regarding Draco.

I slowly moved over to Draco's bed. "Hi," I said softly.

"Hey," he spoke in a strained tone.

"Is it okay if I sit with you?" I asked.

He gave me a weak, little nod.

I pulled up a chair next to his bed. He was even paler than usual, his eyelids darkened and heavy.

His white hand lay at his side. My fingers itched. I gently grabbed his hand, unsure if this was the right time, unsure if he would like it.

From his pillow Draco lazily gazed up at my face. I felt very warm all of a sudden. I worried he was going to ask me to let go of him and go away, but he didn't. Still eyeing me he flipped his hand over so that our palms touched and he laced his fingers in between mine. He didn't smile up at me, though I was grinning like an idiot, he just closed his eyes and fell asleep still holding my hand.

April 14, 1997

Come on, come on, I thought as I watched the clock in charms class. Five minutes to go. Four minutes, two and a half, come on, come on. Finally the bell rang. I quickly collected up my belongings off the desk and threw them in my backpack. I thought I heard my ink bottle shatter but I didn't bother checking. I swung my bag over my shoulder and accidently hit Harry Potter in the back of the head with it; he turned around and looked up at me, but I didn't apologize.

I made my way up to the hospital wing, but as I reached the set of doors that led to the infirmary I saw three Slytherins about to enter.

They all turned towards me as I approached. I recognized them to be Draco's friends, but I did not know their names. There were two big dumb looking boys and a short, little, pug faced girl; could she be Draco's girlfriend, I wondered.

"What are you doing here?" said the pug faced girl rudely.

I narrowed my eyes.

Well, I did not appreciate her giving me sass and plus I wanted to be alone with Draco so I pulled out my wand. Though, there was three of them and only one of me I had a hunch that I had the mental capacity to overpower them.

The three of them all pulled out their wands too, but my hunch was correct and I easily disarmed them.

"Confundo," I muttered under my breath. All three Slytherins suddenly became blank faced, well in the cases of the two boys they continued to be blank faced. The trio straightened up awaiting their instructions.

"You are going to go to your common room," I ordered them, my wand still raised.

"We are going to go to our common room," the three Slytherins said in a monotone.

"And stay away from the hospital wing," I continued.

"And stay away from the hospital wing," they repeated.

"Good," I said, pleased with my spell work.

"Good," they repeated in agreement.

I laughed. "Now," I told them, "pick up your wands and go."

In unison they bent and retrieved their wands; then they stiffly walked off in the direction of their common room.

I pushed open the double doors and entered the infirmary. Draco was sitting up in bed looking excruciatingly bored.

"Hey, you look better," I told him.

He rolled his eyes and let out a deep troubled sign. "I suppose," he said.

I pulled up a chair next to him. "Are you in much pain?" I asked.

"Yes," he said with a scowl. "I am in a lot of pain."

I looked at him with concern.

"Potter," he spat, his lips curled into a look of disgust. "I could have taken him you know." Draco paused, waiting for me to agree with him.

"I am sure of it," I told him.

"But how was I supposed to know that famous, precious Potter knew a curse like that." He snarled.

"There was no way for you to know," I assured him. "And plus," I added. "You didn't want to use any dark spells against him, even to defend yourself."

"What?" Draco looked at me blankly for a moment. "Oh right," he said. "I mean, Potter just attacked me out of nowhere."

"Everyone thinks he is all courageous and noble," I said, "but he is nothing but a coward."

"Right," agreed Draco. "And I have been saying that for years."

"You are so right, Draco," I told him. He smiled slightly at my words. "And you were so brave facing him like that. Stupid Harry Potter, I don't understand what's that great about him anyway."

Draco's eyes suddenly locked into mine and I knew what was about to happen.

He ran a finger softly over my jawbone. I felt myself blush. "I like you," he said smoothly. I could tell he was pro at this. I wondered how many Slytherin girls he had practiced on.

He cradled my chin with one hand and stroked my long hair with the other and then he slowly leaned in on me. He tilted his head to one side and softly pressed his lips against mine.

I had only kissed one other boy before and that was three years ago. He was a chubby, pimple faced boy named Kevin and he was very nice, but he was also very slobbery.

Draco wasn't slobbery at all.

He slowly pulled away and looked at my face to see what my reaction was. I smiled and he moved in again.

This time it was not so gentle. Instead of softly pressing his mouth to mine, he bit down on my lower lip hard. I wasn't exactly sure if I liked it, but I didn't ask him to stop just in case I did. Then he traced the perimeter of my mouth with his tongue before embarking on a true, full on, tongue-tangling snog.

Once we got passed all the weird biting and licking, the actual making-out part was quite nice; actually it was downright enjoyable. I never knew how fun kissing could be.

April 19, 1997

I had gone and seen Draco every day after classes were over. The hospital wing mostly remained empty and Madam Pomfrey stayed very busy in her office which left Draco and I alone. The hours we spent together in the infirmary really gave us a chance to get to know each other, although, we did not do very much talking.

Severus finished grading his third years' essays on werewolves and as he expected they were abysmal. He put the stack of papers aside and leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, thinking.

He thought that he had given Draco more than enough time to heal and Severus felt that it was once again time to question Draco about his special assignment. And this time Draco could not avoid him or run away because he was bedridden, so it would be an ideal time. Although, this was assuming they could be alone together.

Severus knew that Alex Snape had been visiting Draco in the hospital every day since he had been there. Severus scowled as he wondered if she was there right now and with that in mind he got up and headed for the Hospital wing.

Severus reached the double doors that led to the infirmary and when inside.

I was on my hands and knees directly over Draco in his bed. My long, black hair worked as a curtain around our faces, blocking out the outside world from view. Draco furiously kissed my neck, my chin and finally my lips. He cupped my breasts over my shirt and felt his way up my leg and started running his hands all over the back pockets of my jeans.

I let out a few small moans of pleasure, because that's what I always saw actresses do in movies during intense kissing scenes.

I tried out some of the fancier stuff myself. I bit Draco; he seemed to like it. I ran my tongue over his lips and teeth and gently pulled at his hair. He gave me a sly smile as if to say 'I have taught you well;' I smiled back before returning to the kiss.

Then suddenly Draco moved his hands off me, wincing as if he had received an electric shock. I stared at him with confusion, but a moment later I was thrown by an invisible force to the foot of the bed. My lower back hit the footboard hard and began throbbing. I looked around to see what had happened and found my answer standing in the doorway.

Professor Snape had his wand raised and seemed to have no intention of putting it away. He looked livid.

"Go," the professor hissed at me, his dark eyes burning with fury. I stood but did not move. I glanced back at Draco who starred with wide eyes back at me. "Go," Professor Snape roared at the top of his voice. I saw Madam Pomfrey ran out of her office as I hurried for the exit.

From that day on I was no longer allowed to visit Draco in the hospital wing, because Madam Pomfrey classified my activity with Draco as over exertion.

Dear Readers,

This is one of my favorite chapters so far; what do you think? Did I get the characters right? Please review because I greatly value your opinions.

**Thora Jane**