Enjoy :)
Chapter Quote:
"We can't choose our fate, but we can choose others. Be careful in knowing that."
Chapter 24
Ziva
Ziva was eating lunch with Astoria when Crabbe and Goyle came up to them. They glowered at the Gryffindor but said nothing. The Slytherin girl turned to them and asked, "May I help you?"
"Your sister told us come get you and tell you she needs you," Crabbe informed.
Astoria nodded. "Thank you. Ziva, I'll be right back! I promise! Crabbe, Goyle, why don't you show me where my sister is?"
The two boys reluctantly nodded and left with her. Ziva went back to working on her Transfiguration homework. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were about ten feet to the right of her, quietly discussing what she figured out was Lavender Brown and her apparently bad break up with Ron. A few seconds later she felt their eyes on her and feared they were going to ask her about Malfoy. Thankfully, Katie Bell, the girl who'd been attacked with a cursed necklace, walked in. Harry started talking to her, asking if her she was all right. She nodded and Ziva was able to hear her say she didn't remember who it was that gave her the necklace. When Katie trailed off, Ziva looked up. Katie and Harry were staring at someone behind her. Ziva turned around herself to see who it was. Malfoy stood there, staring back at Katie and Harry. His hand accidentally brushed against her shoulder, He quickly backed away from all of them. Malfoy glanced briefly at his ex-girlfriend but that was all she needed to see the panic and exhaustion etched onto his face. Malfoy left the dining hall. Harry was soon to follow. On a split-second decision, Ziva got up and followed Harry without trying to make it look like that although she wasn't sure she did that all so well.
She lost the boys on the second floor after getting blocked by some seventh years chatting in the hallway. By the time she managed to get around them, Malfoy and Harry were out of sight. Ziva turned her head around, looking for them. Problem was, she was at a fork in the hallway. They'd either gone straight on or turned right. Taking her chances, she went straight. She'd barely gotten to the end of the hall when Myrtle popped up, literally, from the floor.
"Bloody hell!" Ziva exclaimed.
"There you are!" the ghost hissed. "You must get to the seventh floor bathroom right now. Draco is a mess and I can't help him this time."
Ziva ran back to the Great Staircase and dashed up the stairs to the seventh floor. Myrtle disappeared but she figured the specter was going back to Draco. She skidded in front of the door, hesitating before opening it. What if he didn't want her there? They hadn't talked in months… a yelp brought her out of her thoughts and Ziva opened the door. She fell into the door frame for support because of the sight before her. Draco was sprawled out on the floor, blood seeping through his shirt. Harry stood mortified over him. When Potter looked up at Ziva, she could tell he had no idea what he'd just done but that didn't stop her from being furious. As she took a step inside, Snape shoved her aside and knelt beside Draco. Ziva heard other students standing beside her, whispering about Malfoy.
"Herondale! Tell Madame Pomfrey I'm bringing Mr. Malfoy in a few minutes. Tell her what's happened. And as for you Potter-" Snape growled. Ziva left before hearing anymore. When she told Madame Pomfrey what happened, the nurse started fluttering about the room, mumbling to herself about god knows what. Ziva didn't know what to do so she headed back downstairs to grab her things and go back up to the common room. Astoria was sitting there, working hard.
"Hey Ziva, what happened? You look really pale. Are you feeling okay?" she queried.
"Draco is in the hospital. I don't know what spell it was that Harry used on him but Draco was bleeding out horribly. Snape is taking care of him right now. I'm going to go see if Madame Pomfrey needs any help," Ziva explained quietly.
"I'll help too," Astoria offered. Ziva was glad. It wouldn't be so awkward for her to be helping the nurse with Astoria by her side. They dropped their things off in their respective common rooms and met back up in the hospital wing. When they entered, Madame Pomfrey was putting this weird looking salve on Draco. When he kept fidgeting in pain, she ordered, "Ziva, Astoria, would you two help restrain him?"
The two girls obeyed, each grabbing one of Draco's shoulders. With the combined strength of the two girls and Snape, Madame Pomfrey was able to get the salve on Draco's slashed up chest. Whatever was in the salve must've had soothing properties because the Slytherin boy calmed down almost instantly. Within seconds, he was asleep. After buttoning up his shirt, Madame Pomfrey turned the two girls and asked, "Thank you for helping. May I ask why you came up here though?"
"I was wondering if you needed any help around here today. I finished all my work," Ziva explained.
"Well as a matter of fact I do. Peeves got angry with me and hid all my potion bottles around the hospital wing. Would you find them for me and put them back in the cupboard in alphabetical order?"
"Yes ma'am," Ziva replied.
"I wish I could but I have a ton of work to do. I'll see you later. Keep me updated on Draco though, okay?" Astoria requested. The Gryffindor nodded and went about finding the hidden bottles, periodically checking on the passed out Slytherin but by the looks of it, he was going to be out for a while.
Four hours later and with all of the missing bottles found, Ziva went to work organizing them in the cupboard. About that time, Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, and Pansy came up to see Draco.
"Draco, are you awake?" Pansy whispered.
"Yeah…" he mumbled. "What are you doing here?"
"We came to check on you. How are you feeling?"
"Fine."
"How long are you going to be in here?"
"I literally just woke up Pansy. I have no idea."
"Hey Herondale, go get Madame Pomfrey!" Goyle barked.
"You have two legs. Go get her yourself," Ziva replied nonchalantly.
"It's four versus one. You either go get her or I'm going to put you under an Imperius curse and make you do it," he growled.
"Threaten me again and I'll turn you into a bug and step on you," she retorted.
"Leave her alone," Draco snapped, sounding stronger than before. "She's not worth your time."
"I can fend for myself Draco. I always have," Ziva said. He looked at her curiously. "What?"
"Since when do you call me Draco?" he queried.
She blinked. "Anger does a lot of things."
"What is going on here? Ah, Mr. Malfoy, you're up!" Madame Pomfrey said, coming into the room. She stared at the four visiting Slytherins before shooing them out of the room. Ziva went back to organizing the cupboard. The nurse asked her patient routine questions about how he was feeling, checked his wounds, and applied more salve.
"How much longer will I be in here?" Draco asked.
"Until I say Mr. Malfoy. You suffered serious wounds my boy. Now get some rest. If you need anything, ask me or Miss Herondale," Madame Pomfrey replied. She left the room, meaning Ziva and Draco were the only ones in there. An awkward silence fell over the room until she decided to break that by saying, "Thank you for trying to stop your friends earlier."
"Why are you suddenly speaking to me?" he inquired. Ziva turned to him, arms crossed tightly across her chest. She was nervous talking to him. She'd been a total bitch to him when he hadn't deserved it. Would he forgive her? Would he even let her explain what had happened?
"I'm sorry," she said. "I made a mistake."
"I made a mistake too," he said.
"What is it?" she questioned softly.
"My mistake was getting with you."
"Draco-"
"I never should've pursued you. You're a Gryffindor. It never would've worked out."
"… So why did you?"
"Because I could talk to you. I could tell you practically everything. But when I needed you most, you left. Just like that. You didn't even seem upset about it. I don't want to hear any more. I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to see you anymore."
Ziva forced the knot in her throat to go back down. "Very well. I'll… go back to organizing the bottles."
She went back to the cupboard, closed the door, and sat on the floor in an attempt to do her job. But it failed. Running her hands through her hair, she let out a trembling sigh, trying to reign in her emotions. She couldn't cry. Not here, not when Madame Pomfrey could show up any minute. Besides, crying wouldn't fix anything. Getting a hold of herself, Ziva went back to organizing the potions. She heard someone enter the hospital wing but ignored it. It was probably one of Draco's friends. She didn't want to encounter them again.
Two hours later, Ziva was finished with organizing. She got up and dusted herself off before leaving the cupboard. She didn't look over Malfoy's way until she heard Astoria's voice say, "Ziva? I didn't know you were still here. Are you well? You look flushed."
Ziva blinked, trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh, yeah, I've been helping Madame Pomfrey. I'm just really hot so that's probably why my face is red."
"You must really not be well because it's absolutely freezing in here to me!"
"I have weird body temperatures. Well I'm going to head back to my common room. Do you still want to meet up at lunch so I can you with transfiguration?"
"That'd be wonderful! Oh, and I just have to ask one more thing before you leave: how's everything with Jade and Elliot?"
The Gryffindor shuffled on her feet. "I'm still not speaking to them. I'll see you tomorrow, Astoria."
Draco
It physically hurt to watch Ziva leave the hospital wing. It physically hurt knowing that he had purposefully lied to her and hurt her even though it meant protecting her. It physically hurt knowing that whatever chance he had at redemption with her was gone.
"You idiot," Astoria groaned.
"What?" he asked.
"You were supposed to ask her why she wasn't speaking to Jade and Elliot!"
"I'm not a mind reader! And it's not like I'm supposed to be asking her those questions. We broke up, remember?"
"And she wants to get back together with you!"
"Wait, why isn't she speaking to Jade and Elliot?"
"She confronted them about destroying the note they were supposed to send to you for her and they accused her of all sorts of things. They haven't spoken in weeks."
"Who has she been hanging out with then?"
"Seamus and Neville at dinner, and breakfast during the week, but me at breakfast and lunch on weekends."
"Is she doing okay? Is she handling it well?"
"She's handling it but I know she misses having someone she can fully trust. She likes me and tells me things but I know she doesn't tell me everything," Astoria admitted. "She needs you or Jade and Elliot again. But right now, it looks like she's not going to get either because Jade and Elliot aren't going to apologize to her any time soon and then you were an absolute idiot."
"We've established I'm an idiot. It's for her protection, Astoria. You know that. You know what will happen to her if I don't…" Draco trailed off, not even wanting to speak of it.
"I do. But she doesn't and she's better off knowing because then she can at least prepare herself for the worst or practice defending herself so she's not caught off guard. You have to tell her."
"No. Maybe if the Dark Lord believes she means nothing to me, then he'll leave her out of this."
"He will never leave her out of this unless she and her family join his side. You know that. Next chance you get, talk to her Draco. Or I will." Astoria got up and left, leaving Malfoy to his thoughts. Thoughts he didn't want to think of. They were all horrible, and they all ended in the death of loved ones.
What do you think Draco is going to do? Is he going to listen to Astoria or is he going to leave Ziva completely alone? Let me know in a review :)