| Puffskein
Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Canada
Posts: 2,438
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Chapter 30
The Hospital Wing
There was something cold in my throat. It was some sort of liquid trickling down, too thin to be blood. I tried to cough it up, but I ended up swallowing it instead. When that fit was over, everywhere else started to throb painfully, the spot for most painful being fought out between my left side and my head. When I tried to decide which felt worse, I quickly drew the conclusion my head hurt most so I could just stop thinking and making my mental throbbing worse. I groaned.
“Did we win?” I managed to get out of my mouth. I tried to sit up, but someone held me down.
“Don’t move,” a woman snapped. I looked at her; she looked like a nurse. “You broke three ribs; you shouldn’t be moving.”
I turned to the person that spoke. Something about his windblown white-blonde hair and grey eyes were familiar, but I couldn’t place it just yet. He had to know the answer to my question. “What ‘appened?”
“You plummeted to the pitch’s ground from a few hundred feet in the air, had a bludger hit you in the side and knock you off your broom. Upon landing on the pitch, you were thrown around like a rag doll until your momentum died out.”
I was amazed; did that really happen? All I remember is falling, quickly plunging towards green. After that my memory went black.
“Did we win?” I asked, feeling repetitive.
“All because of you.”
“Really?” I asked hopefully.
The pale stranger smiled warmly; a legitimate, cute smile.
“Yeah, really. You threw the quaffle to Blaire, who scored a 30 pointer. Because of that, Slytherin won first place. It would’ve been second with even 20 points.”
I let a smile grow on my face; something about that sounded right, but I couldn’t place why. “I don’t remember a thing.”
“That’ll wear off soon enough,” the nurse responded automatically. “Might take a few minutes or hours though.”
I sighed and dropped my head against the pillow behind me. As I did, the words he said started to play out in my mind. Throwing the quaffle while half passed out... is that possible? If that doesn’t prove I’m the best Quidditch player in existence, I don’t know what does.
Looking next to me, I realized it was really Malfoy sitting next to me. Why was he here? Doesn’t he have other more important things to do than be in a hospital wing with someone that has said and done so much against him? I push his temper over the edge on a regular basis and... he's the first person to be here?
“Why’re you here?”
“That looked brutal; I wanted to know what resulted from that.”
I saw his eyes flicker up to the left for a split second. It was so quick, but either way I knew it was a sign he was lying. And... did I detect a tone of falseness? I eyed him, mildly suspicious; he wasn’t telling me something.
“Three broken ribs, dislocated shoulder I already popped back into place, broken ankle and a concussion. Honestly I’ve seen better results from duels with a hippogriff.”
I blinked, trying to figure out how hippogriffs were remotely related to Quidditch. “Did I miss another Draco vs. hippogriff moment?” I mumbled, confused. Draco chuckled. That confused me even more; normally he would throw a hissy fit... right?
“No, it was like... never mind,” the nurse walked away.
I realized Draco was the only person here; no one else had come. As much as I hated to admit it, I was thankful he was here. At least someone was. I reached out and took his hand, entwining my fingers through his. He looked down at our hands and back up at me.
“Thanks.”
He looked baffled. Was there something wrong with giving him my appreciation?
“What for?”
“For being here. Either the match just ended, or no one cares about me enough to visit.” I smiled sarcastically.
He squeezed my hand. “It just ended.”
I realized of all people, Harry should be here... or soon, at least.
“Where’s Harry?”
I could feel the tendons of Draco’s hands ripple beneath my own. “Probably still on the pitch. You played his team.”
“Oh yeah...” I remembered taking one of the beater’s bats and hitting a bludger to Ginny, knocking her off her high broom... literally.
In that moment, the door flew open. My eyes fell upon Harry as he strode up the wide aisle between the beds. For some reason, I really didn’t want to let go of Draco. As much as I was interested in seeing Harry... it kind of faded just moments ago.
When he was mere feet away, I let go. Draco’s fingers grazed mine one last time as his hand fell to his lap.
“What’re you doing here?” Harry growled.
Draco got up from his seat, pointedly towering over Harry. “Don’t you have a team to console?”
“Ugh... shut up, you’re not helping my headache.” I wasn’t in the mood for their bickering today.
“Sorry, love.” Harry pushed past Draco, who walked off. I sighed as he did; I didn’t realize I really wasn’t in the mood to be with Harry until he was standing next to me.
Harry took Draco’s original seat and my hand. “From what I saw, that looked really nasty. You ok?”
I shrugged. “Apparently three broken ribs, an originally dislocated shoulder, a broken ankle, and the world’s worst migraine. Deciding between the pain of broken ribs and my head was short-lived; my head won out.”
He smiled slightly. “Your ankle doesn’t count?”
“It doesn’t sear painfully with each breath.”
He squeezed my hand gently, treating it as if he could break that too. “What do you remember?”
I took a moment to think about that, running through any events that came to mind before replying, “I actually remember most of it now... and whatever I don’t I got a spectator’s viewpoint of.”
Harry kept a neutral face to that; overall he was unresponsive. I knew what he was thinking though; what lies did Draco feed the poor, confused girl about the outcome?
“But apparently if I didn’t pass off the Quaffle we would’ve been second... so you have reason to hate me.”
He chuckled. “I could never hate you. Congratulations, really. That was good quick move before... no, while... going... down...” he blinked thoughtfully. I smiled slightly.
“You’re going to have to drink this for me...” the nurse came up to my side and put a potion in my spare hand. I took it and took a sip, gagging and holding the horrid-tasting drink away. “What is that? Juiced skunk scent?” I demanded.
“Great to see you haven’t changed,” Harry laughed.
“I never said it would taste good,” the nurse snapped. “Finish it.”
I removed my hand from Harry’s so I could plug my nose as I gulped the thing down. When I finished it, I threw my arm out, keeping the cup as far away as possible from me. The nurse took it and left me and Harry in peace. I shivered, trying to decide what was worse; the taste of that potion while drinking, or the aftertaste.
“Do you need water?” he asked.
“Yes please.”
Harry grabbed an empty cup and it filled with water. He passed it to me and I gulped it down in seconds. I then put the cup back on the table.
“So I take Ginny doesn’t like you.”
The blood disappeared from my face; what did he know?
“And vice versa?”
“If you’re talking about the bludger thing... it was something Dalton did...” I couldn’t place what had happened besides Dalton’s angry expression. It took a few seconds more to remember what had actually happened, though.
“He missed?” Harry offered.
I feigned forgetfulness, playing along with what he said to make life simpler. “Yeah, that was it. He never misses.”
“Yet you got the target square on. She’s on the other side of the hospital wing, out cold. Unconscious, that is.”
I tried to turn my head quickly to the opposite side of the room, but my head pounded painfully and spun rather violently. I groaned and put my hand over my eyes, my fingers tightening around my forehead.
“You ok?”
“Yeah, head’s just hatin’ me...” I mumbled in response.
I felt his other hand touch the cheek that was turned to him. The warmth of his hand sympathetically caressed the skin, but there was something missing from how it should feel.
“You probably should rest it out, hey?”
“No, it can wait.” I put my hand on top of his, both of my hands almost totally covering his one hand in mine.
“No, you’ve done a lot. And you won; you deserve it.” He smiled. He managed to get his hand out of mine and got up. He leaned over my bed and kissed my forehead. I grumbled beneath my breath – I was never one for being kissed on the head like a child - and he shook his head, chuckling, and walked away, heading for the door. The moment he was gone, I totally relaxed, quickly started to feel sleepy. Maybe my head got rattled around so much it was making me feel weird in Harry’s presence. That had to be it...
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Last edited by MalfoyzBeloved; 09-28-2010 at 10:27 PM.
Reason: deleting un-story-related comment
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