Hannah Grace and the Dark Arts

~Chapter Eleven~

Year Six

"H-Harry," What did you do? What have you done?..."

Snape arrived, drawn by all the noise. "Miss Grace, go and fetch Madam Pomfrey," he ordered. "Miss Grace." He had to speak again before she moved.

Hannah gave and nod and quickly obeyed. 

"Malfoy's up to something," Harry kept saying.

"You mean, he's just being his usual, lovely self," Ron said. "You and Hannah should start the 'Draco Malfoy Fan Club'."

"Oh, don't you start now too, Ron!" Hannah snapped.

It drove Hannah mad, the way they would talk about Draco, just as the way Draco teased them bothered her to no end. She wished they could all just get along. It made her all the more aware of being stuck in the middle of both sides, both friendships.

But maybe Ron was right. Maybe Draco had changed too much, and this was how he would be from now on. She didn't want to believe it. 

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Hannah had never been nervous to talk to Draco before. But now, making her way to the Medical Wing, she was very nervous. Now, was different. It was a strange feeling, and unpleasant, and very telling of the crooked path their friendship had taken over the last few years, particularly this past year.

Despite the frustration this caused, it still didn't stop the feeling that something was definitely wrong, and she wanted to find out what.

The Medical Wing was very quiet when Hannah arrived. In fact, Draco was the only current patient. He was lying asleep in a bed in the centre of the room, a thin white sheet pulled over him.

"Hello, dear," called Madam Pomfrey. "Come on in."

Hannah smiled at the matron and made her way over to Draco's bed where she sat down in the chair provided.

She had wanted to check in on him the previous night, after the 'incident' in the boy's toilets, but wasn't allowed to as Madam Pomfrey had been tending to his wounds. Now, thankfully, all he needed was days of rest and he would be all right, or so she was told. It would be a painful recovery though.

Madam Pomfrey vanished into the back room, leaving Hannah alone in the long room in silence.

It was unnerving, the steady silence. She sat quietly for a few minutes, just fiddling with her wand, before reaching for her notebook to begin her Potions homework. Suddenly, the sheets stirred and Draco awoke. He looked surprised to see her there.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi."

"How are you feeling?" she asked gently.

He grunted, and she accepted that as a fitting answer.

"Would you like anything? I can fetch Madam Pomfrey."

He shook his head and a look of discomfort came over his face.

"I'm sorry this happened," she offered.

"I'll get Potter."

Hannah scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, here we go... I'll pass on your warm and friendly regards to him." She turned to the bedside table adorned with treats and flowers and cards. "Looks like Pansy's been visiting you lots," she said, nodding to the largest of the cards and flowers.

"Yeah..." He grimaced as though it hurt just to speak. "She came in earlier and I pretended to be asleep."

Hannah snorted with laughter. He managed a smile and breath of a chuckle too. And there she was with Draco Malfoy, laughing together like old friends. Like the old friends they were.

"That sounds like something I'd do," Hannah said. "Careful, I might be rubbing off on you."

"Maybe," he agreed.

"But you wouldn't like that, judging by what you said."

"Perhaps it's not such a bad thing," he said softly.

She scoffed in amazement. "Okay, but you said it first."

They sat in strangely comfortable silence for a few moments. Not wanting to break the peaceful moment, one of the friendship she had been missing so dearly, and not wanting to distress Draco further in his current injured state, Hannah decided now was not the time to mention what he was up to.

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Hannah continued to visit Draco, and the more visits she made, the more it felt like she had her old friend back. She got him to laugh and smile, which was a win for her, knowing that he was still very stressed and in a lot of pain.

After a week of being in bed, he was understandably very bored. He seemed to be getting plenty of company from his fellow Slytherins, but Hannah tried her best to cheer him up.

On her next visit, she tried this by setting off some of the twins' Wildfire Whiz-bangs – when Madam Pomfrey left the room of course. No need to get Fred and George in trouble when they weren't even attending Hogwarts anymore.

She missed them both dearly. She missed their jokes and mischief and light-hearted personalities. 

Her grin stretched further as the last of the bright colours fizzled away. Draco, however, didn't look so amused.

"Oh, come on. You have to admit they're at least a bit exciting," she said. "That was my last package, don't tell me I wasted it."

"I don't know what you see in them," he said.

She didn't know whether he meant the fireworks themselves or the twins, but took a guess that he meant the twins. "Well, maybe if you made an effort to get to know them, they'd surprise you. People can be awfully surprising sometimes."

He just grunted and reached up to run a hand through his hair, which was for once not slicked back and was fairly messy.

"Well, I should probably head off, let you rest. I've got some work to do." She moved to stand and gather her bag.

"Do you have to leave right now?" he asked, but his tone said, "Don't go."

"All right, I'll stay." She sat back down.

"Thank you."

"But when Madam Pomfrey asks if you've been getting enough rest, don't blame me. You're  the one who asked me to stay."

(Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))