The Bracelet, Chapter 97/103
Title: The Bracelet
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
"I'm fine," Theo said, and then again to Hermione trying to get a good look at him, "I'm fine. She was rather inept with a knife. I took the brunt of the stab with my hand and she was too quick to drop the knife to be efficient. It's really little more than a scratch. Madam Pomfrey will easily fix it."
"She?" Draco asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Stanwood," Theo said. "She expressed her deepest regrets that she couldn't stab you. Remind me never to do your rounds again."
"He has that effect on people," Hermione murmured as she satisfied her own need to make sure that Theo wasn't down-playing his own injury. Draco scowled at her.
Theo grinned and then winced a little bit, grasping his side again. "I was on my way to the Hospital Wing. Someone else needs to tell Dumbledore."
"That we have a stabber?" Draco asked. "She's not going to get far. Pomfrey will report it." He was being an unfeeling git, and so what? He wanted Hermione to himself so they could finish this very important conversation!
"Your concern and sacrifice on my part warms my heart," Theo drily said. "Especially considering the knife was meant for you. But that's not really it. She, um, claimed that Death Eaters will be trying to enter the castle again."
"And it only occurred to you to tell us that now?" Hermione sharply interrupted.
Draco and Theo both stared blankly at her for a moment. "Priorities, Granger," Draco then said. "They don't always come in your order. Most of us rank personal injury as number one." The glare she sent him he could have lived without. "But they can't enter," he said to Theo. "The Vanishing Cabinet has been relocated and the security around here is ridiculously strict."
"She indicated that they didn't bet on just one horse this time. In fact, she said that several students were doing their part in getting the Death Eaters in to finally finish off 'the old codger'. I couldn't really decipher all of her mad babble but it appears that a couple of Ravenclaws managed to get past the defenses and open the gates, and they will be letting in an army of Death Eaters tonight…."
"Talk about House Unity," Hermione muttered. "A Hufflepuff would-be murderess and Ravenclaws letting in mayhem. The world has gone mad! Or maybe Stanwood has. How do we even know it's true?"
"Yes, too bad your world couldn't stay neatly black and white," Theo said. "And we don't. But I'm bleeding here and you need to tell Dumbledore, just in case." He faltered a bit, frowning and grasping his side tighter. He looked most of all surprised, even as he was going paler.
Apparently Mr. Mysterious-And-All-Knowing hadn't realized that the pain could get worse as the wound remained open and untreated. Hah! So much for common sense.
Instantly, Hermione was at Theo's side. "Right. I'll get you to the Hospital Wing. Draco can warn Dumbledore."
Draco scowled at the too cozy scene before him. "Bad idea, Hermione," he said before he could think it through.
"He's right," Theo surprisingly agreed, regaining his composure. "He let in a group of Death Eaters as well as a mad werewolf last year. The Headmaster has no reason to trust him."
Damn! Draco didn't need a reminder of last year and Hermione certainly didn't. "I'll get Theo to the Hospital Wing. You warn all those goody-goodies that there may be baddies afoot," he said.
"Yes, you're right, Harry should know." Hermione looked surprised that she'd forgotten all about her friend. "He certainly wouldn't believe you, so I'll go."
"Great," Draco muttered, feeling decidedly ill-tempered and non-too-gently sliding Theo's good arm around his own shoulder and beginning to yank him out into the hall.
"That's really not necess-"
"Shut up!" Draco growled. "Do you have any idea how many times I've brought someone else to the Hospital Wing this year? I'm not going up there looking anything less than innocent and caring. So just lean and stop talking."
Hermione brushed past them, but then stopped a few paces ahead and turned around. "Draco…" she hesitantly said.
"Yeah?" he asked, still feeling crabby and not stopping his own and Theo's slow walk.
"Once you get to the Hospital Wing with Theo, don't come back out. Stay there until I tell you it's safe."
"That's an odd request if I ever heard one, Granger," he said with a frown, stopping as he reached her and she didn't seem inclined to move. It was such a long way around her. Besides, he wasn't overly concerned with Theo's health right at that moment. He could bleed to death for all he cared.
Hermione raised her chin in that way that told Draco she wasn't going to back down. That probably shouldn't turn him on, considering he was all but embracing Theo at the moment.
"I'm only saying this once, so pay attention," Hermione crisply stated. "Your father was never caught again so if there's anything to this, he might be here. You can't fight unless you pick a side. Picking a side could mean killing someone. You would either have to decide to potentially commit patricide or to potentially kill… um…."
What a telling hesitation. She couldn't name herself?
"You can't make that decision lightly," she continued with a slight blush, "and, quite frankly, you can't make that decision tonight, there's not enough time. So if you put yourself in the middle of the situation, you might just get yourself killed in some stupid way or another. It would be distracting and stressful to try and keep track of you. So stay away and we'll all stand a better chance."
So, basically, he would be useless? Worse than useless? Her high opinion of him was certainly warming.
No, that wasn't fair. She was right. If put in the situation of having to kill one person he cared about to save another person he cared about, he wouldn't be able to do it. He was useless. All he would be good for was dying for somebody in order to stall someone else and he didn't quite fancy doing that.
"What about you?" he asked. "You going to stay out of trouble?" Fat chance.
"No," she curtly replied. "This is what I do. Stay away or I'll never forgive you." She abruptly turned and ran up the stairs.
"She's gone now," Draco drily told Theo, whose legs almost immediately gave out, leaving Draco to catch his weight. Draco slowly resumed lugging him up towards the Hospital Wing.
"If you knew, then why did you draw it out?" Theo asked, his pallor almost green.
"Because I found the stoic act stupid," Draco informed him. "And I figured that if you were really hurt, you'd drop the act."
Theo slowly shook his head. "Just lost a bit of blood and the wounds sting like a bitch and it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse in a way that… never mind. Pomfrey will set it straight."
Draco pursed his lips at Theo's words of choice to describe the pain. "Always so eloquent."
"Give me a break," Theo growled. "I was just stabbed by a fifth-year Hufflepuff girl."
Draco couldn't help but laugh. Put like that… he was glad it hadn't been him. Living that kind of stigma down would be impossible.
"You're remarkably unconcerned," Theo observed, "that Hermione might be in danger."
Draco's back stiffened and he immediately sobered. "It's out of my control," he bit out. "What should I do? Wring my hands and fret? Whatever will happen, will happen anyway. Worrying won't help anyone. Hermione has fought… things… before and she's always survived. If there's fighting, she'll be ok."
"She's a brave one," Theo mused, appearing to change the subject. "I guess Gryffindors usually are, but she's braver than most. She's never going to accept cowardice in her man."
Draco saw where this was going. "Don't start."
"She'll be on the frontline of every battle she sees. But, of course, I guess someone has to cook dinner and look after the children."
"Keep it up and you'll find yourself bleeding out on these stairs."
Theo chuckled. "No, I won't. Hermione wouldn't forgive you if anything happened to me."
"I'll claim we were attacked. Maybe I'll even borrow your transparent stoic act." Draco didn't even try to hide his scowl.
"Good to know you have my murder planned…." Theo was slowly sagging, getting even heavier, his eyes appearing to want to roll back.
Draco was becoming just a little bit worried.
"Yes, isn't it?" Draco muttered, not pursuing the argument. He thought for sure that now the conversation would be dead until they reached the Hospital Wing, but no such luck.
"She wants you to choose her over your family, you know," Theo said.
"Does she, now?"
Draco did some mental calculations on how long it would take them to get to their goal. The answer was: too bloody long. Before they got there, Theo would either bleed out, bore him to death, or goad him into murdering him. Draco sped up a little, grimacing. For someone relatively skinny, Theo sure was heavy enough.
"You do realize you can't have both. You can't have your family and her." It was barely more than a faint mumble. "They don't mesh. Having one means turning your back on the other. Until you realize that, you can't have either."
Draco gritted his teeth. "Shut up," he ground out.
Theo chuckled again and then gasped and doubled over, nearly toppling Draco to the floor.
What now? Draco didn't really know what to do after he'd managed to right them both again. "We're almost there, just… be stoic."
"It burns." Theo seemed to force the words out.
"Well, yes. Gashes like that tend to sting and burn. Especially with the cloth rubbing against the open wound. You just have to bear it."
"No. That's what I thought, but it's been getting worse and… it burns!"
Draco took a second to look at Theo. His muscles all seemed clenched, there was a thin layer of perspiration on his face and his pallor really did seem almost green. Maybe the wound had been worse than it had seemed? The thought worried Draco some. "We're almost there. Just one flight of stairs left," he soothed.
With some effort, Theo obediently helped move them a few more steps forwards, but then he doubled over again with a hiss.
"We're almost there," Draco repeated.
"Poison," Theo forced out through clenched jaws. "That little bitch must have used a knife with some sort of poison on it."
"It's a slow one if she did." Draco managed to get Theo back on his feet and get them moving again. Never had the Hospital Wing seemed further away.
"Not that slow. I've never been stabbed before and it's very possible the sting and burn and nausea was the poison all along. And the spots I've been seeing… should have known…."
"Nausea?"
"Pain makes some people nauseated. It never happened to me before, but I didn't think anything of it."
"For someone very smart, you're a dumb fuck."
Theo laughed, the sound harsh and forced. "At least when I sit this one out, I'll have a really good excuse. Considering the warning I gave, I'll even be considered a wounded hero." Each word was strained as if it took great pain and effort to form them, but trust Theo not to spare the digs for that measly reason.
"Try dead hero if you keep this up," Draco muttered. "Besides, we don't know if there's anything to it."
"Still a hero."
"For what good it'll do you."
Theo managed to muster up the ghost of a smirk. "I don't know if you noticed, but Hermione was awfully concerned about me back there."
"You were bleeding! She would care for anyone who was bleeding!"
"And it had nothing to do with you wanting to talk and her wanting to get away from that?"
"Oh, look, what a pity! We're here now," Draco drily said, all but hurling Theo through the doors to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey was immediately all business. Draco sat down on a nearby bed and scowled.
It really bothered him that he hadn't got around to telling Hermione anything of importance. He'd been drawing it out and now… now nobody knew if he'd ever get the chance. Lots of things could happen tonight. Somebody could get hurt. Hermione might decide to up and go somewhere he couldn't reach her to fight her war. Weasley could show unexpected courage and self-sacrifice and win her heart.
Draco honestly hoped he would be hexed to smithereens before he had to watch that scenario.
Besides, it might be nothing. Tara Stanwood was kind of insane. It had seemed harmless up until now, though. She'd most of all reminded Draco of a very talkative Luna Lovegood, only with less brains.
Suddenly, Theo arched off the bed he'd been placed on, making a strange, strained, whimpering sound. Draco blinked and watched Madam Pomfrey's ministrations on the nasty red swollen gashes for a few seconds before it occurred to him that nobody had told her about the sneaky poison.
"There was poison on the blade," he helpfully volunteered.
"And how do you know that?" Pomfrey asked.
Draco scowled. "I didn't put it there, if that's what you mean. He said it burned and made him nauseous and see spots or something. And he looked like his muscle cramped at some point too, but that could have been the pain." That was a fairly accurate description, wasn't it?
Pomfrey wiped her hands on her apron. "Good grief. That's vague enough that it could be at least a dozen poisons and I'm no expert. We'll have to hope that a bezoar will work." She secured the patient and then scurried off to find one.
Draco silently sat there, watching Theo while she was gone. Theo seemed beyond words. He didn't scream or moan or thrash or anything else that Draco might have supposed, but his fists were tangled in the sheets where Pomfrey had magically bound his wrists to the bed, and they were clenched so hard the knuckles were white. Occasionally, his body would tense or even arch again, but if it hadn't been for the look on Theo's face, the perspiration, and the unnatural paleness, Draco wouldn't really have figured it was that bad.
He supposed he should warn Pomfrey that tonight might be busy.
He marveled at how calmly he was taking all of this.
Pomfrey came scurrying back and resolutely forced the bezoar down Theo's throat. Theo resisted, attempting to turn his head this way and that, but Pomfrey had a firm grip on his head. Eventually he relaxed.
"Either it cured it or you killed him," Draco commented. "Either way, it helped!"
Pomfrey turned on him, fists on hip, "You'd better explain this one well, young man," she said.
Draco resented the accusation, but he forced himself to stay level. She had reason to mistrust him. "They may be here again," he calmly said. "Death Eaters. And I had absolutely nothing to do with it. He told us and Hermione ran off to warn the Headmaster, while I got set the tiresome task of saving his life and keeping myself out of trouble."
Theo tried to move his hand in his sleep and then frowned when he couldn't. Pomfrey got momentarily distracted, freeing him.
"I suppose that means you didn't kill him," Draco muttered. "More's the pity."
"Which side are you on?" Pomfrey coolly asked. He supposed it was understandable, considering his rather inappropriate jokes, but he just didn't seem to be able to help himself.
"I'm… I'm…." Draco frowned. This should be an easy question, shouldn't it? It was such an easy question for everyone else. "I'm on the fence," he finally said. "I'm useless to everyone all at once."
Sometimes the truth sucked.
Hermione doubled over, gasping for air. She got her fair share of exercise on a day-to-day basis, but running to the Headmaster's Office would have been bad enough even if she hadn't run straight to Harry afterwards, and then to the office of every single Professor unaccounted for to personally deliver the message from Dumbledore that they were on high alert.
She'd also told whoever she'd met on the way about the threat, so word was definitely spreading to the other houses, even though some of the students seemed as skeptical as she felt. Now she would be going to the Great Hall where they were already setting up evacuation for the younger students.
Hermione wouldn't mind having a few Death Eaters obediently lining up so she could kick their evil arses.
Even Draco's father's?
Yes. Even Draco's father's. If she ended up having to hurt or even kill Lucius Malfoy, things would probably get awkward between Draco and her, and Draco would most definitely not be interested in her in any way-even if he may have been before.
But that didn't matter. This was what mattered. The Big Picture. She needed to help save innocent people from being future victims of unspeakable evil. If Draco couldn't understand that… well, she knew he couldn't understand that. He wasn't brought up to understand it. He was brought up to only look out for himself and his family. He was working hard on changing who and what he was, but he would die for his family and nobody else. He wouldn't understand the need to put herself on the line for nameless, faceless people potentially suffering undefined hardships at some point in the future.
Which was why she'd all but begged him to get out of the way. He could die if Death Eaters turned up. They all could, but he didn't even believe in any of the causes either side would fight for today, and if he were for some reason unable to defend himself…. She shuddered. He certainly didn't deserve to meet such a pointless end.
She straightened. She'd rested long enough. She could make it to the Great Hall. Grasping her wand in one hand-just in case there were anyone evil on the way-she took off.
Author: AkashaTheKitty
Characters: Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Pansy Parkinson, Ron Weasley, Theodore Nott (whew)
Genres: Drama, Friendship, Hogwarts Years, Humor, Romance
Warnings: HBP Spoilers, although slightly incompatible.
Overall Rating: R
Summary: When Hermione Granger loses a bet she was sure she'd win to Draco Malfoy, it's the beginning of her own personal hell. And his.
Go here if you didn't read previous chapters.
"I'm fine," Theo said, and then again to Hermione trying to get a good look at him, "I'm fine. She was rather inept with a knife. I took the brunt of the stab with my hand and she was too quick to drop the knife to be efficient. It's really little more than a scratch. Madam Pomfrey will easily fix it."
"She?" Draco asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Stanwood," Theo said. "She expressed her deepest regrets that she couldn't stab you. Remind me never to do your rounds again."
"He has that effect on people," Hermione murmured as she satisfied her own need to make sure that Theo wasn't down-playing his own injury. Draco scowled at her.
Theo grinned and then winced a little bit, grasping his side again. "I was on my way to the Hospital Wing. Someone else needs to tell Dumbledore."
"That we have a stabber?" Draco asked. "She's not going to get far. Pomfrey will report it." He was being an unfeeling git, and so what? He wanted Hermione to himself so they could finish this very important conversation!
"Your concern and sacrifice on my part warms my heart," Theo drily said. "Especially considering the knife was meant for you. But that's not really it. She, um, claimed that Death Eaters will be trying to enter the castle again."
"And it only occurred to you to tell us that now?" Hermione sharply interrupted.
Draco and Theo both stared blankly at her for a moment. "Priorities, Granger," Draco then said. "They don't always come in your order. Most of us rank personal injury as number one." The glare she sent him he could have lived without. "But they can't enter," he said to Theo. "The Vanishing Cabinet has been relocated and the security around here is ridiculously strict."
"She indicated that they didn't bet on just one horse this time. In fact, she said that several students were doing their part in getting the Death Eaters in to finally finish off 'the old codger'. I couldn't really decipher all of her mad babble but it appears that a couple of Ravenclaws managed to get past the defenses and open the gates, and they will be letting in an army of Death Eaters tonight…."
"Talk about House Unity," Hermione muttered. "A Hufflepuff would-be murderess and Ravenclaws letting in mayhem. The world has gone mad! Or maybe Stanwood has. How do we even know it's true?"
"Yes, too bad your world couldn't stay neatly black and white," Theo said. "And we don't. But I'm bleeding here and you need to tell Dumbledore, just in case." He faltered a bit, frowning and grasping his side tighter. He looked most of all surprised, even as he was going paler.
Apparently Mr. Mysterious-And-All-Knowing hadn't realized that the pain could get worse as the wound remained open and untreated. Hah! So much for common sense.
Instantly, Hermione was at Theo's side. "Right. I'll get you to the Hospital Wing. Draco can warn Dumbledore."
Draco scowled at the too cozy scene before him. "Bad idea, Hermione," he said before he could think it through.
"He's right," Theo surprisingly agreed, regaining his composure. "He let in a group of Death Eaters as well as a mad werewolf last year. The Headmaster has no reason to trust him."
Damn! Draco didn't need a reminder of last year and Hermione certainly didn't. "I'll get Theo to the Hospital Wing. You warn all those goody-goodies that there may be baddies afoot," he said.
"Yes, you're right, Harry should know." Hermione looked surprised that she'd forgotten all about her friend. "He certainly wouldn't believe you, so I'll go."
"Great," Draco muttered, feeling decidedly ill-tempered and non-too-gently sliding Theo's good arm around his own shoulder and beginning to yank him out into the hall.
"That's really not necess-"
"Shut up!" Draco growled. "Do you have any idea how many times I've brought someone else to the Hospital Wing this year? I'm not going up there looking anything less than innocent and caring. So just lean and stop talking."
Hermione brushed past them, but then stopped a few paces ahead and turned around. "Draco…" she hesitantly said.
"Yeah?" he asked, still feeling crabby and not stopping his own and Theo's slow walk.
"Once you get to the Hospital Wing with Theo, don't come back out. Stay there until I tell you it's safe."
"That's an odd request if I ever heard one, Granger," he said with a frown, stopping as he reached her and she didn't seem inclined to move. It was such a long way around her. Besides, he wasn't overly concerned with Theo's health right at that moment. He could bleed to death for all he cared.
Hermione raised her chin in that way that told Draco she wasn't going to back down. That probably shouldn't turn him on, considering he was all but embracing Theo at the moment.
"I'm only saying this once, so pay attention," Hermione crisply stated. "Your father was never caught again so if there's anything to this, he might be here. You can't fight unless you pick a side. Picking a side could mean killing someone. You would either have to decide to potentially commit patricide or to potentially kill… um…."
What a telling hesitation. She couldn't name herself?
"You can't make that decision lightly," she continued with a slight blush, "and, quite frankly, you can't make that decision tonight, there's not enough time. So if you put yourself in the middle of the situation, you might just get yourself killed in some stupid way or another. It would be distracting and stressful to try and keep track of you. So stay away and we'll all stand a better chance."
So, basically, he would be useless? Worse than useless? Her high opinion of him was certainly warming.
No, that wasn't fair. She was right. If put in the situation of having to kill one person he cared about to save another person he cared about, he wouldn't be able to do it. He was useless. All he would be good for was dying for somebody in order to stall someone else and he didn't quite fancy doing that.
"What about you?" he asked. "You going to stay out of trouble?" Fat chance.
"No," she curtly replied. "This is what I do. Stay away or I'll never forgive you." She abruptly turned and ran up the stairs.
"She's gone now," Draco drily told Theo, whose legs almost immediately gave out, leaving Draco to catch his weight. Draco slowly resumed lugging him up towards the Hospital Wing.
"If you knew, then why did you draw it out?" Theo asked, his pallor almost green.
"Because I found the stoic act stupid," Draco informed him. "And I figured that if you were really hurt, you'd drop the act."
Theo slowly shook his head. "Just lost a bit of blood and the wounds sting like a bitch and it's not getting any better. In fact, it's getting worse in a way that… never mind. Pomfrey will set it straight."
Draco pursed his lips at Theo's words of choice to describe the pain. "Always so eloquent."
"Give me a break," Theo growled. "I was just stabbed by a fifth-year Hufflepuff girl."
Draco couldn't help but laugh. Put like that… he was glad it hadn't been him. Living that kind of stigma down would be impossible.
"You're remarkably unconcerned," Theo observed, "that Hermione might be in danger."
Draco's back stiffened and he immediately sobered. "It's out of my control," he bit out. "What should I do? Wring my hands and fret? Whatever will happen, will happen anyway. Worrying won't help anyone. Hermione has fought… things… before and she's always survived. If there's fighting, she'll be ok."
"She's a brave one," Theo mused, appearing to change the subject. "I guess Gryffindors usually are, but she's braver than most. She's never going to accept cowardice in her man."
Draco saw where this was going. "Don't start."
"She'll be on the frontline of every battle she sees. But, of course, I guess someone has to cook dinner and look after the children."
"Keep it up and you'll find yourself bleeding out on these stairs."
Theo chuckled. "No, I won't. Hermione wouldn't forgive you if anything happened to me."
"I'll claim we were attacked. Maybe I'll even borrow your transparent stoic act." Draco didn't even try to hide his scowl.
"Good to know you have my murder planned…." Theo was slowly sagging, getting even heavier, his eyes appearing to want to roll back.
Draco was becoming just a little bit worried.
"Yes, isn't it?" Draco muttered, not pursuing the argument. He thought for sure that now the conversation would be dead until they reached the Hospital Wing, but no such luck.
"She wants you to choose her over your family, you know," Theo said.
"Does she, now?"
Draco did some mental calculations on how long it would take them to get to their goal. The answer was: too bloody long. Before they got there, Theo would either bleed out, bore him to death, or goad him into murdering him. Draco sped up a little, grimacing. For someone relatively skinny, Theo sure was heavy enough.
"You do realize you can't have both. You can't have your family and her." It was barely more than a faint mumble. "They don't mesh. Having one means turning your back on the other. Until you realize that, you can't have either."
Draco gritted his teeth. "Shut up," he ground out.
Theo chuckled again and then gasped and doubled over, nearly toppling Draco to the floor.
What now? Draco didn't really know what to do after he'd managed to right them both again. "We're almost there, just… be stoic."
"It burns." Theo seemed to force the words out.
"Well, yes. Gashes like that tend to sting and burn. Especially with the cloth rubbing against the open wound. You just have to bear it."
"No. That's what I thought, but it's been getting worse and… it burns!"
Draco took a second to look at Theo. His muscles all seemed clenched, there was a thin layer of perspiration on his face and his pallor really did seem almost green. Maybe the wound had been worse than it had seemed? The thought worried Draco some. "We're almost there. Just one flight of stairs left," he soothed.
With some effort, Theo obediently helped move them a few more steps forwards, but then he doubled over again with a hiss.
"We're almost there," Draco repeated.
"Poison," Theo forced out through clenched jaws. "That little bitch must have used a knife with some sort of poison on it."
"It's a slow one if she did." Draco managed to get Theo back on his feet and get them moving again. Never had the Hospital Wing seemed further away.
"Not that slow. I've never been stabbed before and it's very possible the sting and burn and nausea was the poison all along. And the spots I've been seeing… should have known…."
"Nausea?"
"Pain makes some people nauseated. It never happened to me before, but I didn't think anything of it."
"For someone very smart, you're a dumb fuck."
Theo laughed, the sound harsh and forced. "At least when I sit this one out, I'll have a really good excuse. Considering the warning I gave, I'll even be considered a wounded hero." Each word was strained as if it took great pain and effort to form them, but trust Theo not to spare the digs for that measly reason.
"Try dead hero if you keep this up," Draco muttered. "Besides, we don't know if there's anything to it."
"Still a hero."
"For what good it'll do you."
Theo managed to muster up the ghost of a smirk. "I don't know if you noticed, but Hermione was awfully concerned about me back there."
"You were bleeding! She would care for anyone who was bleeding!"
"And it had nothing to do with you wanting to talk and her wanting to get away from that?"
"Oh, look, what a pity! We're here now," Draco drily said, all but hurling Theo through the doors to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey was immediately all business. Draco sat down on a nearby bed and scowled.
It really bothered him that he hadn't got around to telling Hermione anything of importance. He'd been drawing it out and now… now nobody knew if he'd ever get the chance. Lots of things could happen tonight. Somebody could get hurt. Hermione might decide to up and go somewhere he couldn't reach her to fight her war. Weasley could show unexpected courage and self-sacrifice and win her heart.
Draco honestly hoped he would be hexed to smithereens before he had to watch that scenario.
Besides, it might be nothing. Tara Stanwood was kind of insane. It had seemed harmless up until now, though. She'd most of all reminded Draco of a very talkative Luna Lovegood, only with less brains.
Suddenly, Theo arched off the bed he'd been placed on, making a strange, strained, whimpering sound. Draco blinked and watched Madam Pomfrey's ministrations on the nasty red swollen gashes for a few seconds before it occurred to him that nobody had told her about the sneaky poison.
"There was poison on the blade," he helpfully volunteered.
"And how do you know that?" Pomfrey asked.
Draco scowled. "I didn't put it there, if that's what you mean. He said it burned and made him nauseous and see spots or something. And he looked like his muscle cramped at some point too, but that could have been the pain." That was a fairly accurate description, wasn't it?
Pomfrey wiped her hands on her apron. "Good grief. That's vague enough that it could be at least a dozen poisons and I'm no expert. We'll have to hope that a bezoar will work." She secured the patient and then scurried off to find one.
Draco silently sat there, watching Theo while she was gone. Theo seemed beyond words. He didn't scream or moan or thrash or anything else that Draco might have supposed, but his fists were tangled in the sheets where Pomfrey had magically bound his wrists to the bed, and they were clenched so hard the knuckles were white. Occasionally, his body would tense or even arch again, but if it hadn't been for the look on Theo's face, the perspiration, and the unnatural paleness, Draco wouldn't really have figured it was that bad.
He supposed he should warn Pomfrey that tonight might be busy.
He marveled at how calmly he was taking all of this.
Pomfrey came scurrying back and resolutely forced the bezoar down Theo's throat. Theo resisted, attempting to turn his head this way and that, but Pomfrey had a firm grip on his head. Eventually he relaxed.
"Either it cured it or you killed him," Draco commented. "Either way, it helped!"
Pomfrey turned on him, fists on hip, "You'd better explain this one well, young man," she said.
Draco resented the accusation, but he forced himself to stay level. She had reason to mistrust him. "They may be here again," he calmly said. "Death Eaters. And I had absolutely nothing to do with it. He told us and Hermione ran off to warn the Headmaster, while I got set the tiresome task of saving his life and keeping myself out of trouble."
Theo tried to move his hand in his sleep and then frowned when he couldn't. Pomfrey got momentarily distracted, freeing him.
"I suppose that means you didn't kill him," Draco muttered. "More's the pity."
"Which side are you on?" Pomfrey coolly asked. He supposed it was understandable, considering his rather inappropriate jokes, but he just didn't seem to be able to help himself.
"I'm… I'm…." Draco frowned. This should be an easy question, shouldn't it? It was such an easy question for everyone else. "I'm on the fence," he finally said. "I'm useless to everyone all at once."
Sometimes the truth sucked.
Hermione doubled over, gasping for air. She got her fair share of exercise on a day-to-day basis, but running to the Headmaster's Office would have been bad enough even if she hadn't run straight to Harry afterwards, and then to the office of every single Professor unaccounted for to personally deliver the message from Dumbledore that they were on high alert.
She'd also told whoever she'd met on the way about the threat, so word was definitely spreading to the other houses, even though some of the students seemed as skeptical as she felt. Now she would be going to the Great Hall where they were already setting up evacuation for the younger students.
Hermione wouldn't mind having a few Death Eaters obediently lining up so she could kick their evil arses.
Even Draco's father's?
Yes. Even Draco's father's. If she ended up having to hurt or even kill Lucius Malfoy, things would probably get awkward between Draco and her, and Draco would most definitely not be interested in her in any way-even if he may have been before.
But that didn't matter. This was what mattered. The Big Picture. She needed to help save innocent people from being future victims of unspeakable evil. If Draco couldn't understand that… well, she knew he couldn't understand that. He wasn't brought up to understand it. He was brought up to only look out for himself and his family. He was working hard on changing who and what he was, but he would die for his family and nobody else. He wouldn't understand the need to put herself on the line for nameless, faceless people potentially suffering undefined hardships at some point in the future.
Which was why she'd all but begged him to get out of the way. He could die if Death Eaters turned up. They all could, but he didn't even believe in any of the causes either side would fight for today, and if he were for some reason unable to defend himself…. She shuddered. He certainly didn't deserve to meet such a pointless end.
She straightened. She'd rested long enough. She could make it to the Great Hall. Grasping her wand in one hand-just in case there were anyone evil on the way-she took off.