Chapter 8: Closer

(Rose's pov)

When I woke up the morning after Albus's accident, my arm was feeling much better. Looking around the room, I saw that Albus was still in the bed beside mine, extremely pale. I had little memory of yesterday. All I really remember is Albus being attacked by Bludgers, and then both of us plummeting to the ground. Then later, in the hospital wing, Scorpius came to visit, and having only him to talk to wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I don't exactly remember what we talked about, but I do remember suddenly breaking into tears, and Scorpius rushing over to wrap his strong, warm arm around me in a somehow comforting hug. What was even stranger was that I let him hug me. Why had I done that?

Suddenly, the hospital wing door swung open, interrupting my thoughts, and Madame Pomfrey entered the room. "Good morning, dear," she said with a cheerful smile. "How are you feeling this morning?"

I smiled back. "I'm much better, thank you."

I got dressed behind the curtain that surrounded my bed, and then Madame Pomfrey gave me a short check-up before clearing me to leave. "Everything's back to normal. I'll see you tomorrow." She said and turned to leave.

"But… can't I stay here, with Albus?"

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "I'm sorry, dear, but believe it or not, getting out of this hospital wing and moving about is the best kind of medicine for that broken arm of yours, something you need, but you can come back tomorrow after classes, alright?"

"Alright." I said with a disappointed smile and disappeared out of the room. When I came into the Great Hall, breakfast was just starting, and when my friends saw me, they both leapt to their feet and gave me two gigantic hug. Sahara and Alana had visited me in the hospital wing the night before, but they had to leave quickly because they wanted to find out more about what exactly had happened to Albus. They immediately flooded me with questions like, "Are you alright?" and "Do you know what happened?" but before I could answer any of them, Headmistress Clearton gave a sharp whistle to get our attention.

"Thank you." she said as we all quieted down. "I wish to talk to about the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor Quidditch match yesterday. As most of you know, Gryffindor's seeker, Albus Potter, was severely injured. He is currently in the hospital wing and expected to recover, but what I want to talk about is the fact that I have had several reports from people of all houses saying that two Slytherin players, Mr. Zabini and Mr. Goyle, purposely confounded five Bludgers to attack Mr. Potter, and only Mr. Potter, and set them loose just when he was about to catch the snitch. By show of hands, how many of you saw the same thing?"

About twenty to thirty students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff raised their hands, and there was a commotion coming from the Slytherin table as Louis, too, raised his hand. Even a few of the professors raised their hands in agreement as well.

"Very well, then. I think suspending the Slytherin Quidditch team for the rest of this school-year is a fair enough punishment. After all, Mr. Potter could have been killed."

Some of the students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff cheered and applauded, but members of Slytherin cried out in protest. Surprisingly, James leapt to his feet, and shouted, "I object!"

The Great Hall became quiet as they turned to stare at James. "Mr. Potter," Headmistress Clearton said sharply, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Please just listen to me Headmistress." James begged. "Just for a minute."

Headmistress Clearton sighed, but then reluctantly nodded her head to tell James to continue on.

"As a part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team," James began, "I want more than anything to win the Quidditch House Cup. But I'd also like some competition before winning it as well. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't think that Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't competitors, but I really want to win the Quidditch Cup fair and square, with all the teams in the running. It's just more fun that way. And yes, I know that it's my brother they injured, and my cousin too, but hopefully they will learn a good lesson from this. Now, who's with me?"

A cheer rose up from the Great Hall, this time from all of the houses. After some hesitation, Headmistress Clearton let out a sigh and said, "Alright, if that's the way you want it. However, Mr. Zabini and Mr. Goyle will still be suspended from the next Slytherin Quidditch Match, against Ravenclaw."

Everyone, except for Slytherin, cheered especially the Ravenclaws, as Zabini, who played Seeker, was the best player on Slytherin's team. Without him, they had little to no chance of beating Ravenclaw. Finally, there was something to turn this horrible situation into a slightly better one.

The following day, I rushed straight from my final class of the day – Charms – to the hospital wing to visit Albus. Surprisingly, I soon discovered that someone else had beaten me there.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked into the hospital wing to find Malfoy sitting in a chair near the head of Al's bed.

Malfoy merely shrugged. "Same reason as you."

I blinked. I was here because Albus was my cousin and one of my best friends, and I was worried about him. But Malfoy was simply just a friend. Maybe I was wrong about him all this time. Maybe Malfoy was trustworthy, and a true friend as well. I smiled suddenly and pulled up a chair next to him. "Maybe you're not so bad after all, Malfoy."

Malfoy laughed nervously. "I guess I'm not." We sat in silence for a few moments before Malfoy spoke again. "So, you never really did explain to me in our first year why you don't trust me."

"I did to!" I argued. "Remember, I said it was because… because you're a Malfoy, and my dad basically told me to stay away from you."

Malfoy shakes his head. "That's not good enough."

I frowned at him, slightly annoyed. "What do you mean, 'that's not good enough'?"

"I mean, I want a better answer than that. Come on, Rose, you and I both know there's something else." Malfoy replied.

I sighed. Originally, I had vowed never to tell Malfoy the real reason I didn't trust him, but right now, all I wanted was to get him off my back. "I just don't want anybody to get hurt."

"What?" Malfoy asked, clearly confused.

"I don't trust you, because I've always worried that you would end up hurting Albus somehow."

"Rose, I would never hurt Albus." Malfoy protested. "He was the first person other than my parents and grandmother to show me any kindness at all."

"I guess I know that now." I said softly. "But you have to understand, that another reason was really because you were a Malfoy. I know it was wrong, but I assumed you were just like your father simply because you looked like him. Did you know he once called my mother a mudblood."

Malfoy's eyes grew wide, and his face paled slightly. "No," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "Rose, I… I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "Don't apologize for your father's actions. I mean, it's not like you called her a 'mudblood'."

Malfoy sighed. "Yeah, but I still feel awful about it."

I once again told him not to be sorry for it, and quickly moved on to try to change the subject. We talked about anything and everything after that, from our favorite colors to what we thought we would be if we were Animagi. By the time I left the hospital wing, I was sure about one thing, and that was that fact that I my suspicions about being wrong about Malfoy were correct. In fact he seemed to be just the opposite.

Author's Note: Driver's ed.'s done! Yay! Updates will be much quicker now, I promise. Please review, because the more reviews I get, the faster I will update.

Preview for next chapter: "So are you guys friends now?" he asked, propping his elbow up on the bed and resting his head in his hand.

Rose and I looked at each other and smiled. "Yeah, I guess we are."