5

"What happened?" Hermione and Ron enter the hospital wing, both with a worried look on their face.

"Malfoy." I respond as the two sit down on the other side of the bed. Harry still hasn't moved since he fell of his broom, and the fact that even Madame Pomfrey couldn't tell us what was going on got me worried sick.

"Malfoy did this? How?" Ron looks confused and I just shrug my shoulders as a response. Harry's forehead feels warm and sweaty, so I change the wet bandage that one of the nurses gave me for a seventh time.

After a few seconds of silence Madame Pomfrey walks into the room, accompanied by the nurse that was here before. I believe her name was Beth. "It's time to leave now kids."

Hermione gets up but Ron isn't planning on obeying. "Leave? We just got here!" He says.
The matron lets out a small sigh but then smiles. "I'm sorry, but you want your friend to get better, right? Then I'm gonna have to do my job. Beth, my dear, will you escort them out?"

Both Ron and I get up slowly, only now noticing that Hermione's already standing by the door. "Don't worry, he will be better soon. We'll treat him tonight the best we can." Beth says in a sweet tone. Some light blonde hairstreaks peak from under her cap and her freckles are clearly noticable in the hallway lights.

"So that means you know what's wrong with him?" I ask.

She smiles, probably only to reassure us that everything is going to be fine. "Yes, I'm not supposed to tell you this but I can see you really care for your friend. Someone used a spell on him to paralyze him." I roll my eyes at the word 'someone', because it's more that obvious who that 'someone' is.
"Which means his body is completely numb, even though he is fully conscious. I believe Muggles call it 'Locked-in-syndrome'.

Both Hermione and I nod as we've heard of that before. "We'll explain you later." Hermione whispers to Ron after he's given her a helpless look. "Thank you so much Beth. Good night."

The three of us walk through the almost empty corridors of the school, towards our dorms. I listen to Hermione trying to explain Ron what Beth meant by 'Locked-in-syndrome' and him constantly interupting her to ask questions. "No Ron, we've been over this three times! 'Locked-in-syndrome' means you're trapped in your own body, not-" She abruptly stops when she sees a blonde boy at the end of the hallway, alone.

He looks at us with an expression I can't quite place. "Emily, I..."

My plan to ignore him fails miserably when I hear his voice. "No, shut up! I don't even wanna hear it! What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you were just a teribble bully who teased others 'cause he was insecure or jealous or whatever, but that you have it in you to freaking paralyze someone never crossed my mind! It's freaking low, even for someone like you!" I yell.

Draco opens his mouth to say something but I interupt him. "What did Harry even do to you? You know what, don't even bother to tell me! I'm just gonna have to accept that you're an arrogant, spoilt, shallow dick!" And with that, I end my tirade and walk away as fast as I can, quickly followed by my friends, leaving Draco alone and speechless.

No one says anything untill we get back to our common room, which is eerily quiet.
"That. Was. Awesome." Ron says and it breaks up the tension. "Blimey Em, you should consider a career as a guard in Azkaban, you were scary as hell!"

I laugh and realize how sore my throat is. I must have been screaming pretty loudly. Even Hermione, who had been a little tensed up untill now laughs at Ron's remark.

All of a sudden, a sense of sadness hits me and tears swell up in the corner of my eyes. Shit, I hate crying in front of others, so quickly I try to swallow a few times to make the tears go away.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asks. It takes me a few seconds to realize she's talking to me.

"Uh yeah, I uhm..." Shit, even I could hear my own voice crack. "I'm sorry I think it's just-" I take a deep breath before continuing. "Harry's the only one who knows what it's like to lose both your parents at once and I think... I think it just upsets me that someone would want to hurt him. He's been there for me, you know?"

Ron wraps an arm around me and says; "We know." Hermione, sitting on the other side of me takes my hand and rests her head on my shoulder. "Yeah, we know."

And in that moment I realized once again, I had the three best friends I could ever wish for.