Hateful Love

Chapter Seven

NOTE: I do not own any of the ideas or characters expressed in this story (except Cassie Jackson). All of these belong to J.K. Rowling.

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Cassie P.O.V.

The first thing I think when I reawaken is, Fuck, my head hurts. I slowly open my eyes and, once they finally focus, I realize that I’m staring at the ceiling of the hospital wing. Wait, how did I get here?

          I reach up and feel the thick, white bandage on my forehead. Then I look at my hands and see that they’re covered by the same bandages.

          I’ve just started to peel them off, curious as to why they’re bandaged, when Madam Pomfrey bustles over and pushes my hands back onto the covers. “Don’t take them off yet, you silly girl! I’ve had enough trouble with him over there, don’t even get me started…”

          She stalks away, grumbling to herself quietly. I turn my head to see who she meant by “he” and, to my disgust, see Draco Malfoy lying in the bed next to mine.

          He has a cut on his cheek, and one arm is covered with bandages. “What are you looking at, Jackson?” he snaps, catching me staring at him.

          “Nothing,” I retort automatically. “Why are you here?”

          Malfoy snorts, then says, “Because I was saving your sorry ass. Big mistake, that was.”

          “What are you talking about?” I ask slowly, trying to recall the last thing I remember before I blacked out. The cauldron pieces and burning potion had been heading straight for me, but then—but then…

          I turn to him incredulously, and my head feels woozy but I’m too shocked to notice. “Wait a minute, you’re the one who pushed me out of the way? When the cauldron exploded?”

          “Unfortunately.”

          “…this is a joke,” I reply after a moment, staring at his smirking face. “You hate me.”

          At this, he laughs out loud. “That’s true, Jackson. I don’t know what came over me when I pushed you out of the way, believe me.”

          “But—but…why did it even explode?”

          Malfoy’s face darkens and he snaps, “Blaise was just being an idiot and gave you the wrong powder. He knew it wasn’t the right one, but he didn’t think it would actually explode.”

          “Oh…” I trail off, unsure of what to say to this. We sit in an awkward silence until I remember that, right before the explosion, Malfoy had actually called me by my first name. “Malfoy, when you yelled at me not to put the powder in, you didn’t call me Jackson. You called me—“

          “Cassie!”

          I look up, startled, and see Matt running towards me. He looks incredibly relieved as he makes it to my bed and touches my bandaged hand. Malfoy rolls his eyes and turns over in bed, muttering something about how we both disgusted him.

          “Are you okay?” Matt worries, glancing at my wrapped head. “I heard someone yelling, so I turned around and saw the explosion but I was too far away to do anything and—“

          “Matt,” I interrupt gently, “I’m fine.”

          He smiles a little, and I notice that he’s discreetly looking at my lips. Do I have something on them? Matt rubs my arm, sending shivers up and down my spine, saying quietly, “I was so worried.”

          The next thing I know, he’s kissing me. I hadn’t been expecting it, but the second I realize he actually feels the same way about me, it’s all I can do not to rip his shirt off. But I manage to control myself and just kiss him gently back, no tongue or anything.

          He eventually pulls away, and that’s when I notice Malfoy’s left the room. I don’t pay much attention to this, and just blush up at Matt, feeling so, so happy.

          “What the devil is going on here?”

          I turn and see Madam Pomfrey walking briskly over, and I watch as she starts to push Matt toward the door, saying loudly, “She can’t have visitors yet! Out, out!”

          Matt turns as she forces him out the door and, as quickly as he can, laughs, “See you later”, before Pomfrey shuts the door in his face.

          I can barely contain my laughter as she bustles back over to me, muttering about young people these days.

          Pomfrey is checking under the wraps around my head when Malfoy re-enters the room, having apparently been in the bathroom.

          “That,” he says as he lies back down on the bed, “was disgusting, Jackson.”

          I smirk over at him, responding with a simple, “Whatever.”

          “Well,” Madam Pomfrey pats the bandages on my head and says, “Mr. Malfoy, you are free to go. I healed your arm fairly well, but you—“ she points to me, “—must stay over night. Head injuries can be especially dangerous, and I refuse to take any chances.”

          It’s Malfoy’s turn to smirk at me as I groan. Crap, spending the night in the hospital wing is not my idea of a good time.

          Pomfrey moves to Malfoy’s bed in order to take all his bandages off. As soon as she’s done, Malfoy shoots off the bed and walks quickly to the door.

          I glare at his retreating back while Pomfrey changes my bandages. Lucky bastard.

          Pomfrey’s just replacing the old bandages with new ones when Slughorn walks in, looking very flustered.

          “Miss Jackson, are you alright? I heard the explosion, but I was much too far away to possibly do anything to help.” He smiles down at me finally and continues, “You’re very lucky Mr. Malfoy was there. From what I saw, those cauldron pieces surely would have killed you.”

          I stare up at him, starting to feel sweaty. “What? But…I thought it wasn’t that serious.”

          “It certainly looked serious from where I was standing. The table behind you two was completely destroyed—took me nearly an hour to fix it!”

          I look down at the sheets, feeling extremely confused. Malfoy really did…save me. I shake my head, telling myself that it was probably just a split-second thing, that he probably hadn’t even thought about it.

          “Well, you seem to be in good hands.” The professor smiles down at me once more and pats my hand gently. He then adds jokingly, “Now, I expect to see you in my class on time tomorrow. No exceptions, you know!”

          As soon as Slughorn’s gone, I sink down in the bed and pull the covers up to my chin. I’m so confused. One minute Malfoy’s insulting me for being an idiot, and the next he’s saving me? I close my eyes, thinking how I’ll probably never be able to figure him out.

And I’m not sure I really want to…