Chances To Come
Chapter Nine
Tag
Ron woke up to an empty dormitory. Not knowing or really caring where the other three boys had gone to, he assumed Harry had gone back to the hospital wing. He got up, got dressed, then headed down to Great Hall. He grabbed a few pieces of toast and two apples then went up to the hospital wing where, sure enough, there was Harry. But Ron didn't know whether to be relieved or not that Draco was awake.
"Hey, Harry, I thought you'd be in here again, and since you didn't eat last night, I brought some extra food. If I have to force feed you, I will," Ron smirked slightly and Harry took a piece of toast.
"Thanks, Ron."
Ron nodded and offered a piece of toast to Draco but Draco shook his head. "Madam Pomfrey is getting me something."
Ron nodded again and started nibbling on the toast. He was happy to see Harry was feeling better, even if he wasn't so ecstatic about Draco.
Madam Pomfrey walked in with a small tray laden with oatmeal and water. She scoffed slightly as she saw Ron had joined them and the second Draco took the tray from her, she put her hands on her hips.
"What did I tell you yesterday?"
Ron smiled sheepishly. "I didn't stay. I just came back."
Madam Pomfrey wondered if he knew he'd echoed Harry's words from a few minutes ago or not. "The second you're done with breakfast, I want you two out. I need to check on a few things with Mr. Malfoy then, depending on what I see, he may or may not be allowed to join you."
"Please let us stay, Madam Pomfrey, it's just me and Ron," Harry pleaded.
"No. You may come check on him later if he's still here, but you're not staying this time."
"Please?"
"No."
Harry frowned and Draco tried to hide a snigger. "Go on, Harry, I'll be out of here soon enough."
Harry kept frowning but he nodded and left with Ron.
Madam Pomfrey turned to Draco, looking grave. "Mr. Malfoy, I did some tests yesterday and studied a bit. I'm not exactly sure but you might have a rare disease that starts off small on the surface. I didn't want to say it in front of your friend, if you want to tell him, you may, but I didn't think he'd want to hear it from me. Now, tell me a bit more about how you've been feeling this past week."
Draco gulped. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.
Harry and Ron took a walk outside, doing circles around the lake, finishing up their toast and chatting. Ron didn't look too thrilled when Hermione joined them.
"How is Malfoy doing?"
"Better. He woke up this morning."
"Oh, that's wonderful news! Is he feeling alright?"
"Yeah, he says he's pretty tired, but overall pretty good."
"Has Madam Pomfrey let him out yet?"
"No, she said she has to check a few more things out."
"Oh… well, the only thing is, I've read about some sicknesses that start off small like that. I mean, little things normally are taken care of when someone takes a Pepper-Up Potion, right? So I suppose I can understand Madam Pomfrey's caution."
"Come on, Hermione, don't ruin his good mood," Ron interjected.
"I'm not saying anything for sure," Hermione frowned at Ron. "I'm just saying that possibilities are still open."
"And I'm just saying let Madam Pomfrey handle it," Ron retorted.
"And I'm just saying knock it off, both of you," said Harry.
They both fell silent. Hermione left.
"Where do you reckon she's going?" said Ron, watching Hermione until she disappeared into the castle.
"Probably to the library. And I'm going back to the hospital wing."
"But Madam Pomfrey probably won't let you in."
"I don't care."
Before Ron could say anything else, Harry was gone.
Draco stared at the ceiling, absorbing what Madam Pomfrey had told him. Sidus Morbus… starts off small… AB- blood type… four years… fatal. Draco closed his eyes and did something he'd never done before. He prayed.
"Erm… God, I'm not exactly sure how this works, but I've heard about prayer and, erm… well, I just really don't want it to be this Sidus Morbus thing Madam Pomfrey told me about. Even if it is, I want to live through it. And if I don't, well… take care of Harry, okay?" Draco felt incredibly foolish, but somehow, he still felt a little better.
Harry paused outside the door, trying to understand what Draco was saying, but he was speaking too softly. When Harry couldn't hear him talking anymore, he stepped inside and looked around, expecting to see Madam Pomfrey, but she was in her office.
"Draco, who were you talking to?"
Draco was sure that he was blushing so badly at that moment that he would have put a ripe tomato to shame.
"I was just talking to myself, Harry."
"Oh… has Madam Pomfrey told you yet if she's gonna let you go today or not?" Harry sat down on the edge of Draco's bed, looking at his friend curiously.
"No, not yet. And she's probably gonna skin you alive if she catches you in here again."
Harry grinned. "Then she'd just have another patient to take care of and I'd be in here all the more."
"Is that hope I hear in your voice?"
"Maybe."
"You're strange, Harry."
"I'm not the one who was talking to myself a minute ago."
Draco paused. "Good point."
Harry stretched and let himself fall back to where his head and feet hung off the sides of the beds.
"You're on my legs, you know."
"Yeah, and you've got bony knees."
"Oh, yeah?" Draco poked Harry in the ribs and watched with childish glee as Harry squirmed slightly then used his arms to guard his ticklish spots.
After a minute of being tickled, Harry finally got up.
"Well, I guess I better go, either I'm gonna be tickled to death or skinned alive if I stay in here. I'll see you later, Draco."
Draco nodded again and smirked before he remembered he wasn't supposed to be doing that. He winced again as Harry left.
Any trace of a smile faded from Draco's face the moment the door shut behind Harry. Now there was nothing to distract him from his thoughts again.
Hermione pored over multiple books in the library, and she checked several of them out to take to the common room. Her bag filled to the bursting point, she trudged slowly up to Gryffindor Tower, where she continued reading intensively in the far more comfortable chairs by the fire.
She pulled a legal pad out of her bag and a quill, taking notes on anything interesting that she read – she entertained herself for a moment on what Ron might say when she called anything from a book "interesting" – and after a long while, she had three pages covered in her scribbles.
Her eyes tired and itchy, she set the last book aside and glanced over her notes.
"Well, hopefully, I'll be able to find out more about some of these things, I guess it's another trip to the library tomorrow."
"Hermione Granger taking a trip to the library? Why, that's unheard of!"
"Shove it, Ron," she grumbled, not even bothering to look up.
"Shove it yourself. Harry sent me to fetch you; he's in Great Hall, saving us spots for dinner. He said to bring anything you might have found out."
"How did he know I was studying illnesses?"
"Hermione – we're talking about you here, do you really think it was that hard to guess?"
She frowned slightly but had no response because she knew he was right.
"Come on," he said impatiently, turning towards the portrait hole. Hermione grabbed her notes and followed him.
"Hey, Hermione, find anything interesting?" said Harry as his friends sat down.
"Yes, actually, I've got a list here of some of the illnesses Draco might have – naturally some are more severe than others, let's hope it's not one of the major ones."
Harry nodded and took the list, glancing over it. He paused slightly then handed the list back. "I don't believe I've heard of any of those."
"Well, I've got the books back in the common room if you want to read about them."
"Thanks, I think I will after dinner."
"Yeah, speaking of which, I'm starved," Ron interrupted, leaning in front of Hermione to get to the bowl of mashed potatoes.
Hermione frowned. "Ron, that's terribly rude, you could have asked me to pass the bowl to you."
Ron mimicked her, "'Oh, Ron, you're so rude, how dare you want to eat!'"
"That's not what I–"
"Give it a rest," said Harry exasperatedly. "Honestly, you two…"
Hermione and Ron didn't speak to each other again all through dinner.
When they got back to the common room, Hermione showed Harry the tall stack of books still sitting on the table.
"Here, I'll take this one, and you look through this one, and I'll show you when I find something on one of the diseases," Hermione offered, handing Harry one of the books.
"I might as well take a look as well," said Ron, but Harry shook his head.
"You guys go on up to bed, I really would rather be alone right now."
Hermione and Ron looked at each other, then Harry, and then they both headed into their dormitories.
Draco woke up early the next morning due to a nightmare and saw Harry asleep with his head on the edge of the bed. Draco frowned slightly and shook his friend.
"What are you doing here?" he asked when he was sure Harry was awake enough to understand him.
"Came to see you. How are you feeling?"
Draco shrugged slightly.
"That's convincing. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey'll let you out today if you tell her that."
"Oh, shove it. Speaking of her, you better get out of here before she catches you. Or I may just have to tickle you again."
Harry backed away just out of Draco's reach. "I'm staying. I want to convince her to let you go today, we need to go do something fun."
"Fun, eh? I'm sure Madam Pomfrey'll let me out today if you tell her that," said Draco, matching Harry's earlier tone perfectly. "You should know she detests fun of any form or fashion."
"Yeah, but what if she can't catch us?"
Draco gave Harry a calculating look then his face broke into a grin. "If she can't catch us, there's no sense waiting around to get her approval, now is there? Come on." Draco hopped out of bed, took a moment to regain his balance, then he and Harry tiptoed out and went out onto the grounds.
Choosing an overshadowed spot close to the Dark Forest, they glanced around to make sure absolutely nobody was watching, then they closed their eyes and let their bodies change form. Within seconds, Draco was a white dog and Harry had turned into black horse.
Harry pranced a few steps into the forest then hit Draco in the face with his tail on purpose. Draco growled softly at him, then they both darted into the forest in a wild game of tag.
Hermione found all the books she'd left Harry with stacked neatly where they had been when she'd shown them to Harry, and there were a few notes of his own, some scribbled beside hers, others on a new piece of paper. Harry himself however was nowhere to be seen.
Assuming he'd gone to the hospital wing again, she checked down there and saw Madam Pomfrey in high bad temper. Draco's bed with empty. Hermione closed the door quickly and quietly, hoping not to be noticed by the furious nurse and she turned around and bumped right into Ron.
"Hello," she said stiffly.
"Hello."
"Harry's not in there."
"He's not? That's odd… have you checked Great Hall yet? He might have gone to breakfast."
"I haven't checked there yet, no, but I suppose he might have. Keep a lookout for Draco too. He's not in there either, but judging by Madam Pomfrey's mood, I don't think she gave permission for it."
"Then I doubt they'd be anyplace obvious like Great Hall."
"True. But I'm hungry."
"Me too."
"Hey, Ron?"
"Yeah?"
"Did we just agree on something?"
"…I think we did."
"Oh, dear, this can not be a good sign."
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A/N: Hermione and Ron agreeing :: shudders :: I scare myself sometimes. Lol, just kidding. And I had the hardest time deciding what animal I wanted Harry to be and somehow he ended up being a horse lol.
AnimeGirlH: Haha, yes I do know, and all will be revealed in due time.
Kaaera: Yes it did make sense and thank you for the encouragement! And tell me what exactly you are confused about when it comes to Sidus Morbus and I'll try to answer everything if I can.
Dahlias: Thanks a lot and I'm not telling if Draco's going to die or not, you're going to have to wait and see. Bwahaha.
DreamingToThis: Thanks! And you're gonna have to wait and see if I kill Draco.
Kage Miko: Nice name! I don't know much Japanese, but I know "Kage" is "Shadow" and I used to know what "Miko" is but I forgot but anywho… no it is not a slash story. Thanks for the encouragement though.
:: Hands out cookies again :: Thanks a bundle everyone!
~Sabre Black.