Fallen & Risen 17. Smiling to Tomorrow
Previously…
"FINNIGAN, YOU DORK! DON'T PUT THAT IN!" Victoria yelled.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" People in the class screamed.
"HELEY!" Neville, Ron and Hermione yelled.
Everything turned black for Heley.
Heley stirred and fluttered her eyes. She opened them to see that she had been laid down into a bed.
"Hmm…" Heley groaned, alerting the people in the room that she was waking up.
"Oh Heley! You're awake!" Hermione exclaimed. Heley groaned. An awfully dreadful pain was mercilessly hammering her brain. Seeing Heley attempting to sit up, Ron and Neville rushed by her sides to help her.
"Slowly Heley… Be careful…" Ron warned. Neville lift her pillow and the boys half-leaned her on it.
"Where am I?" Heley weakly asked.
"In the infirmary," Neville answered. Another pain pierced through her head.
"Owww! My head…" Heley moaned, massaging her temple. "What happened to me?"
"You don't remember?" Ron asked.
"Uh un," Heley shook her head.
"Seamus' potion exploded and you were just in front of his cauldron. You took the blow," Hermione explained. Heley frowned, trying to collect her memory back.
"Oh yeah… I remember now…" she mumbled. She looked up to Hermione, Ron and Neville, smiling at them. "Thanks for bringing me here."
". . ." Hermione, Ron and Neville look to each other in silence. Hermione spoke again.
"Hmm… Well… It wasn't us who carry you here," Hermione hesitantly said. Heley blinked.
"Then who?" Heley asked.
". . ." Silence again from the three Gryffindor friends. It was Hermione who decided to break the silence.
"Hmmn, you see…" Hermione started, "when Seamus' cauldron exploded, Draco Malfoy pushed you away onto the floor. You hit the floor and got knock out right after."
"If it wasn't for Malfoy, you would certainly be disfigured by now," Neville supplied next. "Malfoy shielded you with his body, but he got badly burned on his back and shoulders because of the potion."
Hermione and Neville stopped explaining there. Something in their eyes told Heley that they weren't telling her everything. Heley frowned.
"And how did I end in the infirmary again?" Heley asked, not forgetting her most important question. Hermione and Neville looked at each other, wondering if it was a good idea to answer this question. They had tried to divert her away from said question but had obviously failed. Heley became more suspicious. Ron looked at Hermione and Neville, who still couldn't choose between whether or not to answer Heley. Ron decided to deliver the awaited answer.
"It was Draco Malfoy," Ron said.
"WHAAAAT!" Heley screeched. Hermione, Ron and Neville plugged their ears. Okay, in the end, it wasn't a good idea to give her the answer to her question, but she asked for it.
"D-D-Draco… MALFOY!" Heley yelled, shutting up immediately afterwards. "Owww!" Heley brought her hand to her forehead. Her brain dutifully reminded her that she wasn't allowed to overact to anything yet.
"Malfoy carried you in his arms all the way from Potions to here," Neville explained in order to distract her away from her pain.
FSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!
Heley felt her blood furiously rushed up in her face.
'I shouldn't have asked!' Heley scowled to herself.
"We were more shocked than you when we saw it," Ron said. Heley grabbed her head with both hands.
"Oh my head… It hurts… and I'm hearing things…" Heley whimpered. She must be delirious. She deliriously heard her friends say that Draco Malfoy had protected her from an explosion and carried her in the infirmary in his arms. It must be that! She was hearing things because she had a concussion.
"Heley, if you can feel the pain in your head, then you are not delirious," Hermione patiently said, smiling understandingly.
"Scorfe!" Heley cursed in her teeth.
"Owww!" The hammering in her head beat ever harder as though showing their support for Hermoine.
Tap tap tap tap tap!
Running steps could be heard from outside of the infirmary. They stopped at the door.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!
"HELEY!" Seamus loudly burst in. Dean was with him, trying to catch his breath. As soon as their last period ended, Seamus had broken into a dashing sprint to the infirmary. Dean followed right after him. Unlike Seamus, who didn't seem tired at all, Dean needed to refill his lungs with new oxygen.
"Shhhhhhh! This is the infirmary!" Hermione admonished.
"Dean, Seamus," Neville greeted them. Seamus ignored Hermione and Neville because he was looking particularly for one person. And he found said person between Neville and Ron. Seeing Heley in her bed, Seamus immediately ran to her.
"Heley, I'm sorrrrrrrrrry! Forgive meeeeeeeeeee!" Seamus cried out, apologizing at the same time. Heley winced because Seamus was shouting in her ear, but Seamus thought it was because she was hurt (he was right on that one too).
"Oww!" Heley's brain, unable to bear the constant grating of such an annoying sound, vividly (and painfully) reminded Heley that she still wasn't allowed to expose herself to any disturbance yet. Seamus's face drained itself of any color at Heley's painful grimace.
"Don't worry, Seam. It's alright," Heley reassured him, smiling. "I have seen worse than this." Seamus sighed, relieved.
"Thank you," Seamus sniffed.
"Hey Draco, I brought you your stuff," Blaise said, walking in through the door with Draco's bag in hand. However, there wasn't anyone with blond hair in the infirmary. "Huh? Where is Draco?"
"I'm here," Draco answered as he stepped out of Madam Pomfrey's office. His shirt was unbuttoned, revealing bandages around his torso and across his left shoulder where he had been badly burned. Madam Pomfrey came in after him.
"Mister Malfoy, I need you to stay at least two days and two nights. I want to be sure that your wound will correctly heal," Madam Pomfrey said.
"Madam Pomfrey, I assure you that I'm fine," Draco said. "Besides, I have my duty to do."
"Then I insist that you must stay here at least for tonight," Madam Pomfrey charged again.
". . ." Draco thought for a moment. "Very well."
Madam Pomfrey sighed, relieved that Draco had conceeded to her demands. Next, she turned her attention to Hermione, Ron and Neville.
"As for you, SHOOO!" Madam Pomfrey pushed the Gryffindors towards the exit door. "You wanted to see Miss Potter awake. She is awake, so out! My patients need to rest! You too, Mister Finnigan, Mister Thomas and Mister Zabini, out of my infirmary."
"Yes Madam," the five Gryffindors and one Slytherin scrambled out of the infirmary like preschoolers.
"We will come back tomorrow morning, Heley," Hermione said just before Madam Pomfrey closed the door to her sanctuary in their face.
Once the door was closed, Madam Pomfrey turned to Heley and Draco.
"Finally! Some peace!" Madam Pomfrey said, her hands on her hips. She spun on her feet and addressed to her two patients. "And for you, in your bed. Now!"
Draco immediately obeyed and Heley froze all her muscles under her blanket. They didn't want to have an annoyed med-witch lecturing them.
"Yes, Madam," Draco and Heley chorused. Satisfied with their obedience, Madam Pomfrey walked back into her office.
Left alone, Heley and Draco didn't make a sound. Draco looked outside of the window across the room, lost in his thoughts. Meanwhile, Heley examined him. More precisely, her eyes couldn't detach themselves away from the bandage visible underneath his unbuttoned shirt. Heley remembered what Neville told her.
Flashback
"If it wasn't for Malfoy, you would certainly be disfigured by now."
End flashback
'If it wasn't for him, I would have been the one who had gotten burned. And it would be my face and not my back or my shoulder.'
Heley chewed her lips, debating with her conscience. Whether or not she wanted to, she HAD to do it. He had saved her. Heley pushed her cover off and got off her bed. Slowly, she made her way toward the Slytherin.
"Hmm… M-Malfoy," Heley hesitantly spoke. Draco turned his head, surprised to see the Gryffindor Seeker standing next to his bed. He hadn't heard her coming.
"What is it?" Draco asked.
"Hm… Hm… Hm…" Heley stuttered, fiddling with the sleeves of her pajamas. Draco raised his eyebrow. Heley gulped, but decided to carry on. "Hermione, Neville and Ron told me… about you saving me from the explosion…" Heley bit her lips. Draco blinked. He never thought that her friends would tell her that, considering the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. But Gryffindors were still Gryffindor in the chore. Her friends were honest with her.
"Th-thank you…" Heley hesitantly said. Then, she raised her right hand up to him.
Draco didn't move. He only watched her, stared at her, his eyes expressionless. Heley bit her lips, feeling embarrassed under his glare. She was very tense, but kept her arm stretched out. Draco still didn't move for what seemed like an eternity for Heley. And just when she really thought that he wouldn't accept her hand and was about to give up, his warm hand reached out to take hers.
"You're welcome," Draco said, shaking her hand. Heley let out a sigh, relieved to have an answer. She hadn't realized how anxiously she had been waiting for an answer from him. But she was also surprised that he had accepted her hand. She had actually thought that he wouldn't. And she certainly hadn't expected to hear him say "you're welcome."
'He really changed. He is not the same person he last year,' Heley thought. 'I wonder what made him change like this and why? He is certainly nothing like the boy I met in Madam Malkin's seven years ago.'
Heley stopped, remembering the first time Draco Malfoy had offered his hand of friendship to Harry Potter. Harry had refused it. Heley bit her lips. For a pure blood Malfoy to be refused something by a half-muggle born, it must have been humiliating.
'I must have badly hurt his pride,' Heley thought. Yeah well, he was also a git back then, but that doesn't give her/Harry any excuse to hurt him. However, even having all the good reasons to refuse her hand now, Draco Malfoy had accepted it. Heley blushed, feeling ashamed of herself. She had to do something to repair Harry's and her past fault toward the blond pure blood.
"C-can I do something for you in return?" she asked. Draco frowned, dumbstruck.
"You don't need to-…" Draco stopped. He was going to say that she didn't need to do anything in return, but something popped into his head. He changed his mind. "Actually, there is something I would like you to do."
"What is it?"
"Call me Draco."
"Heh?"
"Call me Draco," Draco repeated. "It feels strange for me to hear you calling me 'Malfoy'. I get mixed up between your cousin and you," Draco explained.
"Err, okay… D-Draco…" Heley stuttered. It felt weird for her to call her old rival by his first name.
'But it's certainly better than calling him 'Malfoy', because me too I get mix up with becoming Harry again.'
"Then, y-you can call me H-Heley too…" Heley said. Draco's lips tugged into a little smile.
"Very well… Heley," Draco said. His voice was very soft when he whispered her name. Heley's felt her blood rush up her head and a hint of pink tinted her cheeks. Surprisingly, her brain didn't admonish her with another sharp pain this time. And well -
'I like the sound of my name from his lips…' Heley stopped there. 'Wait! What the heck was I thinking about? Where did that come from?'
Luckily, the old coo-coo clock of the infirmary saved her from searching for a reason.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Draco and Heley watched the clock. It was 10 PM. Draco stood up and grabbed his robe.
"Where are you going?" Heley asked, curious. It was the curfew time. No one was supposed to be outside of their dorm by now.
"Making my round. Granger did hers yesterday. It's my turn tonight. Head Boy duty," Draco answered.
"Oh!" Heley oh-ed. She had forgotten about that detail. "Then, err, see you later."
Draco nodded at her and left the infirmary.
When Draco returned back in the infirmary from his round, Heley was already asleep. Draco paused momentarily by her bed, watching her. Ever since she had arrived at Hogwarts, Draco never took his time to look at her because, as he had told her, he kept mixing her up with his old rival. Now that she allowed him to call her by her first name, the restrictive wall between them crumbled. Draco took his time to study his potions partner. In terms of appearance, Heley Potter didn't stand out. She was the kind of girl who could easily mingle in a big crowd without anyone noticing her. Plain. Normal. But if one stopped and took his or her time to carefully look at her,
'She is beautiful,' Draco thought matter-of-factly.
Heley Potter was like a Queen of the Night, a flower which bloomed only for one night during summer, and for only a few hours. For three hundred sixty four days, the flower was plain at boring to look at. But for one night in summer, its eauty surpassed even the rose, queen of all kinds of flower. Because no one knew when the Queen of the night chose to bloom, the people who saw her in all her glory were only a small number. For few hours, the souls of these people were fed by the Queen's ethereal beauty and mystical magic before she left her court until next year. People who saw the Queen blooming were said to be favored by the Lord. And tonight, after so many suffering and hardship, Draco Malfoy was rewarded by the Lord with the privilege of becoming an eye-witness to a human representation of the blooming Queen of the Night.
"Heley…" Draco whispered, trying out her name on his lips again. He preferred calling her 'Heley' to 'Potter'. The name 'Heley' helped him cast away the image of his old 'Potter' rival. And 'Heley' felt gentle on the tongue than 'Potter'.
'I like the soft sound of her name,' Draco thought, a little smile resting upon his lips.
He really appreciated the short moment he talked with her. It made him feel lighter, less stressed. Saving her from the explosion had only been a reflex, but he didn't regret doing it for the result he got from his chivalrous action had been worth it. Draco raised his head, looking up at the moon. For the first time of his life, he was fully expecting to greet the new day with a smile.
Post on Friday March 12, 2010. Beta-ed on Monday April 12.