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.