Bitten

Unexpected

When Draco awoke on the bed in the infirmary, Riley wasn't around. He sat up, a fierce pulse pounding his brain. Pressing his hand to his temple, he glanced about the room.

"Oh! Master Malfoy!" Exclaimed a nurse. She scuffled over to him, her shoes dragging across the floor.

"It's understandable to want to visit your friends, but to the point of exhaustion is a bit much." She chided. Each of her words hammered in to Draco's skull like hot nails.

"Where's Riley?" He growled. The elderly nurse blinked, then smiled slyly at him.

"She's having a few tests run to make sure everything's fine and dandy. It's a miracle she's even awake. But it would be such a shame for such a cute girl to be comatose. She's lucky her Prince Charming was around to wake her up." The nurse closed with a wink and left.

What was that hag going on about? Draco shook his head. His body still felt heavy and his stomach churned nauseatingly. Laying down on his back, his face was staring at the water-stained ceiling tiles. After a moment, he raised his left hand up to block a light that was blaring down at him.

The dark black metal of his ring glinted and reflected the light. He tilted his palm this way and that. The deep red jewel stared back at him unflinchingly. Draco reached up with the opposite hand. With a gentle touch, he brushed his fingers over the ring. What was it? Why was it there? He grasped it and pulled. It didn't budge. He tried rotating it off and even that didn't work. He sighed and let his hands fall to his face so they covered his eyes. What had he gotten himself in to?

Two months passed by in a flash. Both Draco and Riley were out and about. Each blended back in as if they hadn't had any long absences. Draco was back to his cold self and Riley returned to her hectic school life. In her absence, many homework assignments had piled up. Because of the circumstances, Riley could only say she was gone due to family reasons. Most of the teachers didn't ask questions because they weren't aware that Riley really had no family to have problems with. But Snape and McGonagall just gave her the assignments and hurried her along. Riley was having some troubles getting the work done, but somehow she managed to get it all done. She was finishing a paper that had been assigned a few weeks in to her admittance in to the infirmary when there was a knock at her dorm room door. She looked up, putting her quill down.

"Come in," she called. The door creaked open and the blonde hair of her best friend appeared. Stephanie smiled and opened the door the rest of the way. Riley jumped up from her chair and rushed over to hug her friend in a rib-crushing hug.

"Oh! I missed you! Now that you're playing catch up, we never get to see each other outside of class." Stephanie said, smiling. Riley rolled her eyes dramatically.

"We never get to spend time together out of class because you're always all up in Harry's face, kissin' up on his lips."

"Hey, just because I have lots of affection for my boyfriend," They broke out in to girly giggles. They smiled at each other. Riley put the paper she'd been working on away and turned her desk chair towards the bed. Stephanie sat down on the edge of Riley's bed.

"But, speaking of boyfriends," Stephanie began, "I hear that a certain someone has been seen wearing a ring on his left hand." Riley blinked and tilted her head.

"What are you talking about?"

"Draco Malfoy! I see how you look at him. You're totally swooning." Riley blinked again, her mind growing blank.

"Are you saying that I have feelings towards," she paused, "Draco?" Stephanie mirrored Riley's earlier actions and rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm saying that Boba Fet and Grand Maf Tarkin are actually Draco's parents. Yes I'm saying you like Draco!" Stephanie and Riley just looked at each other for a moment. Riley sighed and looked up at the left corner of her ceiling. Her eyes stayed there for a moment, then traveled to the right corner.

"I may have," she paused again to find the right words, "stirrings." She said after a moment. Stephanie smirked evilly.

"Stirrings like feelings?" She asked slowly. Riley made a face, her eyebrows coming together.

"Stirrings like stirrings."

"So you mean feelings?" Stephanie repeated.

"All right maybe feelings, damn you!" Riley hissed, her face turning bright red. She placed her palms over her face, rubbing it slightly. Stephanie gasped. She leaned forward and grabbed Riley's wrist. She pulled the hand from Riley's face. Riley blinked as Stephanie stared at the hand. Actually she was looking at the ring on Riley's left ring finger.

"Oh my god!" Stephanie whispered, "Riley! This is gorgeous! When did you get it?" Riley looked down at the ring too. Why didn't Stephanie recognize it? The cross-hatched pattern on part of the ring that led to a single gem had been the exact same ring that Riley had given Stephanie at Stephanie's sweet sixteenth party. The blue gem twinkled at them and Riley thought it was mocking her. Go ahead and tell her where you got it, the ring laughed. Riley shook her head, withdrawing her hand from Stephanie's grasp.

"I can't remember, I've had it for a long time." She said gently.

"Well, if you recall, tell me 'cause I'd love to get one. It's super cute!" Stephanie squealed. "Hm, I wonder if they make them in matching pairs. Have you heard about the ring craze that's been going around campus?" Riley shook her head again, staring blankly at her friend. Stephanie let out an exasperated breath and rolled her eyes.

"Seriously Riley, it's like the only thing you do is keep your head in a book. Anyway, there's a new fad on campus. Everyone's wearing rings nowadays! If you wear paired rings on the right ring finger, it's a sign of friendship. A ring on the right middle finger means that you're single. But, the greatest status of all is to wear matching rings on the left ring finger signifies a couple!" She smiled and poked Riley's stomach.

"But since you didn't know, I understand why the ring's on the wrong finger. That is unless there's another ring out there that's paired to yours?" Stephanie asked, waggling her eyebrows at her best friend. Riley laughed nervously.

"There's no way. Besides, I don't pay attention to silly trends like that." Stephanie sighed and shook her head.

"There's just no hope for you Riley. I guess I'll just have to be the trendy one for us both." Riley raised an eyebrow to her friend.

"Are we expecting some rings from a certain BoyWonder?" Riley asked pointedly. A blush crept onto Stephanie's cheeks.

"Maybe we are." She giggled. Riley smiled softly. It was so good to be back to normal. She had been very worried about what would happen to her friend if she didn't return to the waking world.

Stephanie stayed over at Riley's for about another hour. After donning the wool cloak, she departed. Riley sighed, finally able to relax. She slumped down in her chair and twirled to face the paper she had been working on. Her eyes stared at the notebook for a moment then she rose from the chair.

Riley pushed her hands in to the air and stretched out the sore muscles in her back. After twisting a bit to loosen more of her body, she went over to her closet. It took her almost an hour to prepare for bed. She washed her face, changed in to pajamas, and set out a freshly pressed uniform for the next day. Riley let out a soft breath and sat down on her bed. For a moment, she was still. Thoughts ran through her head slowly, twisting around like vines in her consciousness. Her feet pushed under her blankets and she stared at the ceiling. She liked Draco? Was that even possible? The stuffed Tyrannosaurus Rex that Stephanie had exchanged with her for a Stegosaurus cuddled just right into Riley's arms. She squished it tight to her chest and flopped on to her side. The darkness in the room didn't feel oppressing but rather inviting her to sleep. Smoothing out the perturbed look from her face, she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

Riley locked her door and headed off to breakfast. She hadn't been able to sleep at all the previous night. The cold December air sent a shiver through Riley's body and she tightened the heavy wool cloak around her shoulders. It was just the beginning of December, but the winter had set in quickly towards the middle of November. She could see her breath as it exited her lips in short bursts. She clutched her books tight to her chest and quickened her pace towards the Main Hall.

The Hall was crowded for a winter morning. Usually a lot of people went home for the holidays, but it seemed like a lot were staying for the Yule Ball this year. The Yule Ball was held every year on Christmas Eve. It was the largest social event that Hogwarts had besides the annual Quidditch tournament. The Hall consisted four large tables. Even though it wasn't meant to happen, everyone just happened to sit with their same dormitories. The Slytherin kids sat with the Slytherin kids, Hufflepuff with Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw with Ravenclaws, and Griffindors with Griffindors. The tables were stacked with trays of meats, breads, and other pastries of assorted kinds. Riley took her usual spot between Stephanie and her other friend Justin Finch-Fletchley. Justin was in a heated argument with Hannah Abbott over who would win : a ninja or a pirate. They were always chattering over something or another every time. But them seemed to enjoy the conversations, so no one ever intervened. Riley smiled, turning her attention to Stephanie and her conversation. A few girls were giggling with her over the thin silver band that had appeared on her left hand this morning. Stephanie was absolutely glowing with happiness. Now they were all showing off their rings that they had. Some were on left hands, but most were right hand pairs of rings. After that, they then went over which of the left hand ringers had already received their invites from their boyfriends to the Yule Ball. They pulled out their rolled up yellowed parchment invitations. These were the optional invitations that the guys could give to the girls. Stephanie shrugged when she didn't pull hers out. But then she grinned evilly and pulled it out. This started a whole new explosion of giggles.

Breakfast was almost over and Riley stifled a yawn. She then shivered and felt like someone was watching her. Hannah stopped mid-sentence and stared over Justin, her mouth hanging open slightly. Justin, realizing that Hannah had stopped talking, followed her gaze over his shoulder and blinked. Very slowly, the entire Main Hall stopped buzzing with the normal chatter. There were a few clicks of shoes on the cobblestone floor and the girl across from Riley's eyes bugged out of her head. Riley blinked and slowly turned her head around. Standing behind her and glaring down at her, was Draco Malfoy. Now, usually people didn't wander to other tables. But it was even more of a big deal since this was Draco Malfoy, the notoriously nasty Slytherin Dorm Head.

"Draco, good mor-" Riley began but was cut off by Draco's hand raising.

"I'm not here for your pleasantries." He growled. The students around them were all straining to hear without being obvious, but that was hard to do when no one in the lunchroom was talking. Riley blinked, looking around. She bit her lip, her cheeks beginning to turn a soft pink.

"What are you-" He stopped her again by shoving a rolled piece of parchment in her face. There was a collective gasp from the girls and Justin sitting around Riley. Riley stared at it, then slowly looked back up at Draco. He made a face like he didn't like being in the situation any more than Riley did.

"My parents are forcing me to go to the stupid dance." He looked around and leaned down closer to Riley. "They'd also like to meet you, to thank you for what you've done." He said softly. Riley blinked, her mind still not quite wrapping around what was happening. She opened her mouth, but couldn't find anything to say.

"Take it!" Draco hissed, shoving the invitation towards Riley. She deftly wrapped her fingers around it and pulled it out of his grasp. He sneered at her and ran a hand through his hair.

"Directions to my house are inside. We'll be expecting you at five on the night of the ball." He explained. He looked down at Riley. She stared at the parchment, then looked back up at him again. It may have just been her imagination, but to Riley his face seemed soft. The moment she thought she saw it, he turned and strode out of the Main Hall. It was a minute or two after he exited that sound erupted in the Main Hall. Everyone suddenly had so many questions for Riley. But Riley felt numb and could only stare at the seemingly harmless piece of paper in her hand.