Blood I've Spilt

Surprise

Something kind of hit me today

I looked at you and wondered if you saw things my way

People will hold us to blame

It hit me today, it hit me today

We're taking it hard all the time

Why don't we pass it by?

Just reply, you've changed your mind

We're fighting with the eyes of the blind

Taking it hard, taking it hard

There was an awkward silence for a moment, and it was killing me. I hadn't really talked about the situation with my parents much lately and finally doing it only to get a reaction like that kind of stung. I felt bad, though, because I wouldn't know what to say either.

"Uhm- what's happened to you? Did you get in a fight?" I asked calmly. A change of subject was much needed; although, I don't know if talking about his bloody nose was the right decision.

"You should see the other guy," Chalice snickered with a smirk. "I'm just kidding. I was at practice and crashed into the sand. Have you ever gotten sand burn?" he asked me. After shaking my head, Chalice pulled up his pant leg to a nice long red mark.

"Good. It should stay that way."

Chalice had always been sort of funny; enough to get me to crack a smile. Unfortunately, he noticed.

"Hey look at that! Things aren't so bad when you smile, ain't it? Oh, thanks for cleaning me up, I do gotta get back to practice, though. But I'll see you around," he said cheerfully. The tall Hufflepuff bounced up from the bed and tossed the bloody rag into a nearby laundry bin.

Chalice gave me a small wave and then swiftly left the hospital wing. And now it was quiet again.

***

I sat there for a while before I heard a sharp voice pipe up. It was Maddox. I was trying extra hard to be nice to him because of how much he helped but it was a lot more difficult than I anticipated because even his face is infuriating. He was also injured and had just woken up.

"Oi! Smedley!" He called out to me from the bed I was sitting in. I sat up to look at him as he started making his way over. I pursed my lips tightly at this, unaware of what he wanted or what he was going to say.

"So me and Malfoy are sneaking back to your place tomorrow to get your brother. Keith, right?" My eyes widened at this and I quickly shook my head.

"No, you are in no condition and Draco can't go alone. We'll find another way," I insisted, sternly. Maddox's expression stayed the same, determined.

"I'm sorry, Smedley but it wasn't your decision. You know how Draco is; you're not gonna change his mind and I would never listen to you, anyway," Maddox responded with a shrug. His careless words were so aggravating sometimes. It sometimes even felt like he didn't care at all.

I didn't reply to him and just sighed. I knew there was no point in trying to convince Draco to change his mind. We were similar in that way; persistent and stubborn.

"We'll be fine, don't worry. But I do have to go to my classes. I missed them all yesterday and I can't fall behind," he explained, standing up, adjusting his bandaged arm, and then heading for the door. It went silent yet again and I suddenly felt solemn. It was a different sadness than what I felt at home. Nothing seemed to be going right anymore and I wish I could go back to when my biggest worry in life was trying to figure out if I should say yes to Draco to that stupid dance.

I felt my eyes swell a little, but I immediately pushed the tears back when Draco entered the hospital wing. He was still in his Quidditch robes, his hair was a bit messy and he looked tired. However, his face lit up with a smile when he saw me; as did I.

"Hey, Quinn. It started snowing while practising so I'm a bit wet," He hummed, walking over to me. His grin faded when he saw my eyes. It appeared the emotion had been sucked out of them.

"I thought Hufflepuff was practising today," I mumbled in a curious tone. Draco just shook his head.

"Oh yeah, they were but we kicked them off. We were scheduled for the pitch today, actually." Draco started removing his gloves as he spoke.

"Mmh, I see." I looked away from him and just stared at my feet dangling back and forth.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his face naturally forming into a confused glare. I sighed in return, averting my eyes to my lap so I still didn't have to look at him.

"Well, what's right?" I whispered, timidly.

Draco sighed. I could tell he knew I was serious, and I was right. Him and Ace were all I had right now, and it was the only thing keeping me from drowning. My life has been a mess lately and I didn't even know where to start to clean it up. I've been crumbling so much lately, and I can't even handle it anymore.

"Quinn..." Draco began to say before pausing.

"I don't want to hear that it'll be alright bullshit because I get told that every time and it always gets worse." I don't think I've ever been so negative towards Draco before.

"I wasn't going to say that-" he paused for a moment. "I don't know what it was going to be, but it wasn't that." For a couple minutes, we didn't speak. It was almost better that way.

"Has Ace been asleep this whole time?" Draco suddenly asked, his eyes averted to my sleeping brother. I nodded to him and got up from my seat to go see Ace.

"It was a really rough couple of months for him. It would take weeks for him to get back all those hours of sleep he lost." I explained, brushing some of his hair from his eyes. Ace looked so peaceful like this and it was heartbreaking that he had to be asleep for it to seem that way. Draco didn't reply so I turned to look at him and it appeared he wasn't going to. "It's okay, I don't know what to say about it either..."

Draco made his way over to me and just grabbed me. The embrace was much needed for both of us and I kind of melted into it.

"Has Blaise come to see him?" Draco asked after a while. I just shook my head. Blaise was avoiding coming in here; I don't know why exactly but it's honestly pretty reasonable. I could feel his hand on the back of my head, stroking my hair. "You know... you need rest as well. Good quality rest. And you can't get that by sleeping in the hospital wing." He added.

"I'm not leaving Ace. He could wake up any minute and I don't want him to panic." I mumbled against his shoulder.

"And Madam Pompfrey will handle it. You need to take care of yourself. And if you won't do it, I will." His tone was kind of stern but I knew he meant well.

"What does that even mean?" I just rolled my eyes. That's when he crouched down in front of me with his arms out. Draco looked back at me and I honestly just stared at him.

"Get on, darling," he said with a smile. And I did. It wasn't something I was expecting from Draco but here we are. Draco held onto my thighs and headed for the door. I couldn't help but look back at Ace for a moment before I was carried out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked over Draco's shoulder. I peered at his face and he looked over at me and smirked.

"Oh but wouldn't that ruin the surprise?" He replied, rubbing his thumb back and forth on my leg.

"If we are going back to your dorm to sleep then I reckon you put me down now. At least get out of your smelly Quidditch robes," I demanded while scrunching my nose. After all, I had much better things to do than sleep. I already had for hours and now I'm wide awake.

"Shhh. You'll see, my love," he whispered to me. 

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(The song featured at the beginning was 'We Are the Dead' by David Bowie)

AT: Hey everyone, I can't believe that I abandoned this fanfiction for so long! But, I finally updated it and I'm hoping to keep it going. Thank you!