Pansy crept into the hospital wing, which was completely dark except for the soft glow of light emanating from behind the marbled glass of Madame Pomfrey’s closed office door. Pansy glanced that way and saw the shadow of the matron at her desk. She hurried to Draco’s bed, finding him curled up fast asleep. Pansy indulged in a few brief moments of staring at him, and then gently shook his shoulder.
“Draco, wake up,” she whispered.
Draco only moaned in response. Pansy shook him a little harder.
"C'mon, Drake, you need to wake up.
“Don’t call me Drake,” Draco slurred, pushing her hand away without even opening his eyes.
“Lazy git, that’s what I should call you,” Pansy muttered.
“I’m hurt, not lazy,” Draco protested.
“Fine, I’ll let you stay here and I’ll give this strengthening potion to someone else,” Pansy told him. “I’m sure Flint would love to have it for the beaters at Slytherin’s next Quidditch game.”
Draco opened his eyes. “You have the potion already?”
“Millie keeps some made up at all times. I was afraid to ask why,” Pansy admitted. “Do you want it?”
“Of course.” He gulped the potion down eagerly. “What time is it?”
“Nearly 10. I waited until there weren’t so many teachers about.”
“Where’s Pomfrey?”
“Her office.” She waved at the door. “I thought she’d be sleeping by now, but no such luck, so we have to hurry. Where are your clothes?”
“Over there.” He waved his hand in the direction of the nightstand as he sat up warily, not quite trusting his sudden strength. “Wow, that potion really works.”
“It better, I had to pay top price to get it on such short notice,” Pansy muttered.
“And I’m sure you took the money to do so out of my trunk,” Draco guessed.
“Of course I did,” Pansy confessed. “Nearly lost my hand doing it, too. Those gits Nott and Zabini didn’t tell me about the anti-theft charms.”
“Serves you right, you should have asked me for the money,” Draco scolded.
“There wasn’t time,” Pansy insisted. “Now hurry up and get dressed.”
“Turn around.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Draco growled. “This isn’t a floor show.”
Pansy scowled but shoved Draco’s clothes at him and turned around. “I don’t see your sweater anywhere.”
“Weasley still has it.”
“She nicked it?”
“I told her to keep it, since it was the only thing she was wearing at the time, and I didn’t care to see her take it off,” Draco drawled.
He stripped off his pajamas and slipped into his school shirt and pants as he spoke, wincing with every move but not stopping until he was dressed. “OK, let’s go,” he announced, pulling on his robes.
Pansy turned back around. “Your robes are a mess.”
Draco tried to smooth them down with his hands. “I fell asleep with them on my bed.”
“Here, let me fix you.” She ran her wand over his robes muttering “Teresedo.” The fabric smoothed out immediately. She passed the wand over his hair, too, sending the touseled locks back into his usual sleek style. She took a step back to study him and noticed his bare feet. “You might want to put on some shoes, too, luv.”
Draco sank down on the bed. “Let me sit down to do that.” But he made no move to pick up the shoes and socks.
“I’ll do it.” Pansy squatted down and grabbed the socks, glancing up at Draco worriedly when he made no move to stop her. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do,” Pansy declared, slipping his shoes on.
“He said he underestimated me,” Draco murmured. “I can’t let him see he was wrong and I really am as weak as he thought I was.”
“You have to stop caring about what your father thinks.” She finished tying his shoe and stood up, reaching out a hand to him. “We really should be going.”
Draco pushed her hand away. “Lead the way.”
**************
They reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room fifteen minutes later. Draco stopped to steady himself against the wall.
“Is the potion wearing off already?” asked Pansy worriedly. “I thought it would last at least an hour.”
“It’s still working, but I should have grabbed that bottle of pain potion, too,” Draco murmured, taking shallow breaths as he pressed his forehead to the wall.
“This is stupid, Drake,” Pansy declared. “Why don’t we just go back to the hospital wing where you belong?”
“Because I’m not going back up those stairs,” Draco snapped. “And don’t call me Drake, you know I hate it.”
“So much for pain building character,” Pansy muttered.
“I have good looks, I don’t need good character,” Draco shot back. “Pureblood,” he barked at the tapestry, which curled itself up to reveal the door of the Slytherin common room opening inward.
Pansy and Draco had only made it to the top of the stairs leading down into the room when it exploded with sound.
-- Draco!
-- You’re back!
-- Damn, he really didn’t die.
-- Told you he was fine.
-- Is that really him?
-- Good to see you.
-- Maybe we should push him down these stairs, too.
-- He didn’t fall down any stairs.
“So you’re alive after all,” said Theodore Nott with a smirk as Draco reached the bottom of the stairs.
“You can’t get rid of me so easily, Theo, as much as you’d like to try,” Draco told him, pushing past the lanky boy and sinking into a chair, fighting hard not to give in to the temptation to close his eyes.
“Why would I want to off my dearest friend?” questioned Nott with mock indignation.
“Why wouldn’t you?” teased Blaise as he approached. “Welcome back, Draco.”
He extended his hand to Draco, but Pansy pushed it away. “Draco’s in no mood for you today, Fire Boy.” She perched protectively on the arm of Draco’s chair.
“Oh, Blaise, fire, very clever, I’ve never heard that one before,” Blaise scoffed. “Why don’t you let Draco decide who he’s in the mood for?”
“Enough!” Draco declared. “I’m not in the mood for either of you. You two either,” he added as Crabbe and Goyle approached. “All I want is to go up to my room.”
“Still not up to snuff, Draco?” Nott taunted.
“I’m fine,” Draco snapped. “I have studying to catch up on, that’s all.”
“No you don’t,” Goyle informed him. “Dumbledore cancelled exams.”
“So you have no excuse to avoid us,” quipped Blaise.
“The teachers aren’t the only ones who will be testing me,” Draco told them.
Marcus Flint interrupted. “You haven’t done any permanent damage, have you, Malfoy?” he asked. “I wouldn’t want to have to replace you as seeker.”
“But you’d do it anyway,” Draco said knowingly.
“I only do whatever is best for the sake of the team,” Marcus insisted.
“Unless there’s money or a team full of Nimbus 2001’s in it for you,” Nott muttered.
Draco scowled at Nott as he told Flint, “I’ll be back and better than ever by our next game. Father owled me earlier to tell me he’d arranged for a private Quidditch coach to come work with me this summer.” He paused a moment for dramatic effect. “Viktor Krum.”
“Krum!” Flint burst out. “He was the seeker on Bulgaria’s Junior World Cup team. Everyone thought Scotland was a sure thing, but Krum stole the Cup from them with the way he flew. I’ve never seen anything like him.”
“You will next year once he’s taught me all his tricks,” Draco boasted.
“Why would Krum coach you?” Nott questioned.
“Yeah, he could probably play for the Bulgarian pro team, good as he is,” said Flint.
“They won’t let him play for them until he’s 16, and that’s not until October,” Draco explained. “Father is friends with the headmaster of Krum’s school, and when Krum heard about me making seeker in my second year he agreed to work with me. He’ll be staying with us for a month.”
“You’ll be having a party, right?” asked Flint eagerly. “So we can all meet him?”
“We’ll see,” said Draco noncommittally.
“Perhaps you should see your way back to the hospital wing where you belong,” came Snape’s voice suddenly from the far corner of the room.
Draco could not see how he might have gotten into the room and was distracted by the wild thought that maybe he had found a way to apparate within the castle.
Pansy jumped in when Draco continued to do nothing but stare at Snape. “Draco is feeling much better, Professor, Madame Pomfrey was only being overprotective making him stay.”
“Be that as he may, he left without permission, and I’ve grown quite weary of her screeching.” He pointed up the stairs toward the door. “Back upstairs with you, Mr. Malfoy.”
“I’d rather sleep in my own bed, sir, the accommodations up there are not up to my standards,” Draco told him. The Slytherins around Draco snickered, egging him on. “Let the hag come drag me back up there if she wants my company so badly,” he added.
“To my office then, Draco.”
“But Professor…”
“Now,” Snape growled, turning on his heel to go.
Draco knew better than to argue and wearily pushed himself out of the chair, closing his eyes against the pain but managing to make it look like he was just bored. At least until he reached his feet and swayed unsteadily.
“Okay there, Malfoy?” asked Nott with a sneer.
“Fine,” Draco muttered through clenched teeth.
“He’s probably weak with hunger,” Pansy suggested. “You haven’t eaten anything for days, have you?”
“I’m not weak with anything,” Draco barked.
“Then you’ll have no problem taking a walk to my office with me,” Snape told him.
Pansy slipped her arm around Draco and kissed his cheek as she slipped the bottle of strengthening potion into his pocket. “Good luck.”
“Get off me, Pan.” He pushed her away but gave her arm a grateful squeeze as he did so.
Snape took Draco by the arm and began to pull him from the room. As they reached the stairs leading out, Snape gently pushed Draco in front of him. "They can't see you if you want to take more potion before you try to get up these stairs," Snape murmured.
Draco was surprised but didn't ask how Snape knew. He gulped the potion eagerly as they started up the stairs, quickening his pace as it kicked in.
"Very clever, getting a strengthening potion," said Snape once they were outside the common room. Draco said nothing. "It's quite good; I’m guessing Miss Parkinson didn't make it. You likely wouldn't be standing if she had." Draco smiled. "So who did she get to make it?"
"I don't know, sir, you'd have to ask Pansy," replied Draco. "Do I honestly have to go back to the hospital wing?"
"Do you honestly think you don't need to be there?" questioned Snape. "You're not completely healed yet."
"They don't have to know that. I could go straight up to my room and..."
"That stupid pride is going to get you killed one day," Snape warned.
"I'm sure something else will kill me long before my pride does."
"Or someone else," Snape muttered.
"My father is not angry with me anymore," Draco said earnestly. "He even got me a Quidditch coach for the summer, a really famous one, so I can improve my game."
"There's nothing wrong with your game, you merely lack focus, particularly when it comes to playing Mr. Potter."
"Father thinks I should be flying faster with a broom like my Nimbus," Draco explained. "Krum, the one who's going to teach me, is supposed to be one of the fastest flyers in the world."
"Viktor Krum of Durmstrang?" Snape asked as he took the charms off the door of his office and motioned for Draco to step inside. Draco nodded as he stepped past Snape, sinking into the chair in front of the teacher's desk without even asking.
"That's a good way to lure you to the school," he noted. "Bit obvious, though. Lucius is usually much more subtle."
"It's not a lure, it's a reward," Draco insisted.
"Nice of him to reward you for surviving him almost killing you," muttered Snape. "Are you going to be up for a summer full of Quidditch? Especially since you're not letting yourself recover properly."
"I'll take all the potions Pomfrey can throw at me, and I'll rest up after every class," Draco promised. "Please don't make me go back to the hospital wing, sir. You know how that makes me look."
"It does not make you weak," Snape declared. Draco rolled his eyes at him. "If you were weak you'd be dead," Snape told him matter-of-factly.
"I'm not hurt that badly," Draco insisted.
"Yes you are, but I’m not only talking of what you survived the other night," Snape admitted. "That was merely another test."
"I'm alive, does that mean I passed?" joked Draco.
"When dealing with your father and his friends, staying alive is everything," said Snape ominously. "You're getting older, you'll soon be tested even further to see if you're worthy."
"Worthy of what?"
"Serving the Dark Lord."
"Of course I'm worthy," Draco snapped.
"You can't say that until you've been tested," Snape warned. "Your father has tried to prepare you, in his own way, for some of what you might have to endure, but there is no way to truly prepare for the things you will see and do and be put through."
Draco noticed the far-away look in Snape's eyes and had to wonder if he was remembering his own dark past. "What kind of things?" he questioned Snape warily.
Snape shook his head, shaking off the memories with the motion. "Things you don't need to concern yourself with right now." He sighed. "If I get Pomfrey to agree to let you stay in the dorm, you'll take every potion she tells you to take and will check in with her however times she deems necessary?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you'll report to her or to me immediately if you feel ill in any way?"
"Yes, sir."
"She's going to be quite vexed," Snape murmured.
"I know, sir, I'm sorry, sir," Draco apologized. "Yet she's more likely to listen to you on the matter than to me, is she not?"
"She is," Snape agreed. He sighed again. "Very well, go back to your room and I'll see if I can't reach an arrangement with her."
"Thank you, sir," Draco told him as he got up and started out.
"Draco," Snape called after him.
"Yes, sir?"
"No more of that strengthening potion after tonight," he instructed. "If you can't get around on your own, you shouldn't be getting around at all." Draco only nodded in response. "Draco?"
"Yes, sir, no more potion," replied Draco sullenly.
"Very good. You may go."
Draco shuffled out and headed slowly back toward the common room.
Suddenly, someone jumped out from behind a tapestry in front of him. "There you are!"
Draco jumped back in surprise, banging into the wall with a grunt of pain. He quickly recovered, though, standing up straight and adjusting his robes.
He gave Ginny his best smirk. "Hello, Weasel, what are you doing down here?" he questioned. "Come to plead your way into Slytherin, where you belong?"
"Not bloody likely," she declared. "You have something of mine."
"What could you possibly have that I would want?"
"Nothing...it's...I...I left something in your robes and I need it back." Ginny stammered.
"Ooh, presents." He patted down his pockets until he found the bottles of potions. "Hmm, potions. Wonder what they could be."
"Give them to me, Malfoy," growled Ginny.
"Perhaps I should have a sip, see what this is you're imbibing, Miss Weasley," Draco taunted.
"I'll hex you, Malfoy," Ginny threatened. "I'll hex you so bad, Daddy will have to carry you home in pieces from this school."
"Now, now, is that any way to talk to someone who is only trying to look out for your best interests?" Draco scolded. "Afterall, we don't want you to get any crazier than you already are. Dumbledore has far too many loonies running around this place as it is."
"Give me my potions," demanded Ginny through gritted teeth.
"I heard Madame Pomfrey tell your Mum that you'd get over these nightmares you've been having if you talked about what happened," Draco revealed. "So why don't you tell me what went on in that Chamber?"
"Why don't you tell me who beat the snot out of you?"
"I will if you will," Draco challenged.
"If you think for one moment I'm going to feed your perverse idea of entertainment by telling you what I had to go through down there because of you and..."
"Me? What did I do?" Draco burst out. "I wasn't the monster who dragged you down to that Chamber!"
"But you are a monster, aren't you?"
"So you say," Draco said softly.
"So I know!" Ginny screeched. "Why am I wasting my time with you?" She whipped out her wand and pointed it at him. "Accio potions!"
The potions flew out of Draco's pocket, but with his seeker reflexes he was able to grab back all but one of them before they got to Ginny. Those reflexes were too late to protect him, though, when Ginny flew at him. Draco crumpled as she tackled him, and they both fell to the ground, Ginny landing in Draco's lap. Nonplussed, she plucked the potions out of his hand, got to her feet and started off down the hall without a backwards glance.
His whimper of pain stopped her, and she turned to see him struggling unsuccessfully to push himself up.
She could hear Tom cackling in her head. Not so high-and-might now, are you, Malfoy? he sneered. Pa-the-tic.
Ginny took a step back toward Draco.
No! Tom screeched. Why would you help him? That's not who you are anymore. You're not the kind of person who can be bothered to care about the weak, who can be bothered to care about anyone.
"Yes I am!" Ginny protested in a fierce whisper. "I can still care, even for a git like him….Malfoy," she called, starting toward Draco again.
"Bugger off, you got what you came for," Draco rasped, still trying to push himself up. He managed to make it into a sitting position, but then gave up and leaned back wearily against the wall with a sigh.
Ginny hurried over to him. "What are you doing down here? You shouldn't even be out of bed, let alone walking around," she fussed. "How did you make it down here in this condition?"
"I wasn't in this condition when we came down here," Draco muttered, closing his eyes.
"Strengthening potion?" Ginny asked. Draco nodded. "Not a very good one."
"It was for awhile."
"At least until you realized you were hurt much too badly for a strengthening potion to fix," Ginny chastised.
"Maybe not, I still have more potion." He fished around in his pockets but came up empty.
Ginny took out the potions she'd taken from him and handed one to Draco. "Here, this one's yours."
"Are you going to tell me what's in those other bottles?" questioned Draco.
"Of course not."
"I could tell Snape you stole them," Draco threatened.
"Yes you could, but you'd have to get up off that floor to do it," Ginny reminded him coolly. "And if you sell me out, I'll tell him I found you lying here, and it will be back up to Pomfrey for you."
"I need to go back up there," confessed Draco softly.
Ginny couldn't hide her surprise. "You want to go back?"
"I didn't say I wanted to, I said I needed to," Draco clarified hoarsely, slumping further down the wall. “I thought I could make it to my room, but then you had to go tackle me.”
"You shouldn’t have taken my things,” Ginny scolded. “Let’s get that strengthening potion into you," she said, kneeling down next to him. "Hopefully it will work enough for us to make it back upstairs."
"You're helping me get back there?"
"I have to go that way anyway," Ginny told him with a shrug. "Now swallow that potion so we can get going."
Draco gulped the remainder of the potion. "You can't tell anyone about this," he pleaded, sitting up straighter as the potion began to kick in. "They all think I'm better."
"How are you going to explain being back in the hospital wing?"
"I'll tell them Snape made me go back, they all saw him drag me out of the common room," Draco told her. "Will you keep quiet about the real reason I went back?"
"I have no reason to keep your secrets," Ginny reminded him.
"I could do something for you in return," Draco offered.
"Like what?" asked Ginny warily.
"Get you more of that potion you love so much."
"You're all talk," accused Ginny. "You don't even know what that potion is."
"I know people who can get their hands on all kinds of potions," Draco bragged. "Even dodgy ones like a Dreamless Sleep potion." He smirked at her gasp of surprise. "I have the money to pay for those potions, too, even at black market prices."
"And why would you get them for me?"
"Because you're going to tell no one about how bad off I've been," declared Draco. "And you're going to help me get back up to Pomfrey before anyone else sees me."
"That's all I have to do?" questioned Ginny anxiously.
"Well, I would ask for sexual favors, but you being a Weasley, that's too vile to even consider," Draco drawled.
"For me more than you," Ginny muttered. "Can we go now?"
"Give me a sec," Draco requested, clutching his right side as he slowly made his way to his feet, his face doing little to mask his agony. "You didn't have any pain potion hidden in my robes, did you?"
Ginny shook her head. "Where does it hurt?"
"Pick a spot," Draco told her, falling against the wall, panting with effort, as he finally made it to his feet.
"Where does it hurt the most?" Ginny asked. "I might be able to help."
"How?"
"I have some very rough brothers, I've picked up a few healing spells," Ginny explained. "So what hurts most?"
"My side," Draco admitted, holding his right arm tightly against the ribs on that side as he pushed away from the wall and took a few cautious steps.
Ginny pulled out her wand, and Draco instinctively took a step backwards.
"I'm not going to hex you, Malfoy, tempting as it may be," Ginny assured him. "You're much too pathetic right now to make it any fun."
"I am not pathetic," Draco pouted.
"You're accepting help from a Weasley."
"That's purely desperation," Draco rationalized. "Now let's see those healing spells."
"I only know one for pain, and it's not very strong," Ginny confessed. "I've never done the spell with a wand, though, so maybe using that will make it stronger. It might be enough for you to make it upstairs, at least."
"Let's see it then." He shifted in pain as he put down his arm, taking the pressure off his ribs. Ginny put her wand against his side.
"Levimentum," she murmured.
There was a flash of white light. Draco flinched. "It burns."
"Only for a second," she assured him, noticing his tensed shoulders already starting to drop in relaxation. "Better?"
"That's a brilliant spell," Draco raved with obvious relief.
"Lucky for you Fred and George have given me plenty of practice using it, when they don't want Mom to know they've been hurting each other with their experiments," Ginny told him as they started slowly down the hall.
"Experiments?"
“They like to invent new spells and hexes and pranks and try them out on each other,” explained Ginny. “Not all of them work out the way they want, though, so they get me to fix them up.”
“None of your other brothers will help?” he asked, stopping suddenly as they reached the stairs, eying them warily.
“We’ll take them slowly,” Ginny encouraged, noticing his hesitation.
Draco nodded and started up, clutching the rail tightly. “Keep talking,” he rasped.
“Why?”
“It’s distracting.”
“So you don’t really care what I’m saying?” Ginny asked, but then shook her head. “What am I thinking? Of course you don’t care what a Weasley has to say.”
Draco didn’t answer, having stopped to try to catch his breath. “Dragons,” he finally panted.
“What?”
“Talk about dragons,” Draco demanded. “Don’t you have a brother who works with dragons?”
Ginny nodded. “That’s Charlie. He’s studying them in Romania.”
“Have you seen them?” Draco questioned excitedly. “What kind of dragons do they have? How close can you get to them?”
“I’ll tell you if you keep walking,” Ginny offered with a wicked grin. Draco groaned. “I could go back downstairs and get one of the other Slytherins to help you up to Pomfrey, if you’d rather.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Draco muttered, starting to climb the stairs again. “The dragons?”
“They’re beautiful,” Ginny raved. "You can't take your eyes off of them, even knowing how dangerous they are."
"We dragons are like that," Draco cracked breathlessly.
Ginny snorted out a laugh. "Maybe you should save your breath for walking, not talking," she suggested.
Draco scowled but said nothing, so Ginny continued on about the dragons. "Romania is one of the few places in the world where you can still find large groups of dragons, you know. They have dragons there from all over the world, because people don't know what to do with them when they find them, or they try to keep one as a pet and realize very quickly what a terrible idea that is. So they contact the dragon reserve and Charlie and his friends come and get them."
"Like they did with Hagrid's dragon?"
"How did you..."
"I nearly caught them getting rid of it before Filch caught me."
"Ouch."
Draco nodded. "I had to do detention...with Potter...in the Dark Forest." He stopped again to catch his breath. "Of course...you would...probably like that."
"I thought we agreed, less talking, more walking," Ginny snapped.
Draco smirked but kept silent as he started climbing the stairs again.
"Have you ever seen a dragon up close?" Ginny asked.
Draco nodded.
"Hagrid's?"
"No, my grandfather had one," Draco confessed. "A Fireball. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He stopped to catch his breath before going on. "I was only three, but somehow I managed to get out of the house and rabbit off to the pitch where Grandfather kept him. Father found me an hour later just watching the dragon fly around."
"You're lucky it didn't eat you!"
"I thought Grandfather must have had wards up, so the dragon knew he couldn't get to me," Draco told her. "But there weren't any wards, it went right for my father when he came to fetch me. He had to do a conjunctivitis spell on the poor thing so we could get back to the house. Grandfather said it didn't bother with me because my name connected me to the dragons."
"You're lying to me," accused Ginny.
Draco shook his head. "Names can be very powerful things," he said solemnly.
"So dragons won't attack you because your name means dragon?"
Draco shrugged. "Father said someone might have given me dragon's touch as a gift at my naming ceremony. I never saw the dragon again, so I couldn't find out if the same thing would happen. My grandfather caught dragon pox and died just months after that, and I don’t know what Father did with the dragon."
"Maybe he sent it to Charlie's dragon reserve," Ginny suggested.
Draco shook his head. "He might have killed it, since it was the reason my grandfather died. But he probably sold it to the highest bidder."
They reached the front hall, and Draco stumbled as he let go of the rail of the dungeon steps.
"Are you going to make it? I could go get Pomfrey," Ginny offered.
Draco shook his head. "That would draw too much attention."
"And seeing you walking with a Weasley won't?"
"If we keep quiet no one will notice us," Draco told her, gingerly making his way toward the Grand Staircase. "Although it wouldn't be a bad thing to have an invisibility cloak about now."
"Sorry, left mine at home."
Draco looked at her in shock. "You..."
"I'm kidding."
"I knew you couldn't afford one."
"Don't need one, I know a spell," Ginny boasted. "Do you have one?"
Draco shook his head regretfully. "They're hard to find, most people who have them inherited them. What kind of spell do you know?"
Ginny took out her wand and tapped the top of her head. She shuddered as her body shimmered for a brief moment before changing to blend in with the banister behind her.
"Blimey," Draco muttered. "How do you know this stuff?"
"I read anything I can get my hands on, including all my brothers' school books," Ginny explained. "And I'm pretty good at remembering the things I read."
"But you're only a first year," Draco protested.
"So? Hogwarts doesn't give us more magic, it only teaches us to use the magic we already have," Ginny told him. "But the power to do all of that is inside us from the very beginning, waiting to be learned. All I did was speed up that learning process a bit."
"Just by reading?"
"Of course. How else would I know it?" She started up the stairs. "Come on, this spell is hard to maintain, and I don't want to end up as wobbly as you by the time we get up to Pomfrey."
“You don’t need the spell, I was kidding about the invisibility cloak,” Draco told her. “Any students who are out this late aren’t going to be down here, they’ll be up in the Astronomy tower snogging.”
“Eww.” She tapped the top of her head with her wand again and the spell shimmered off of her.
“You won’t think that in a few years.”
“Yes I will.”
“Not if it’s Potter who wants to do the snogging,” Draco taunted.
“Can we please keep going?” Ginny pleaded.
“Only if you tell me more about the dragons.”
Ginny motioned at the stairs, and Draco took another step up.
"They have all kinds of dragons there," Ginny told him. "Welsh Green; Norwegian Ridgeback; your favorite, a Chinese Fireball; even a Hungarian Horntail. Mum nearly had kittens when Charlie flew me over the pens where they keep them, so I could get a closer look."
"They keep them locked up?" asked Draco with a frown.
"Only when they're hurt," Ginny assured him. "Each breed has its own territory, and there are spells to make sure they can't leave those areas and go after one of the other breeds. But there's plenty of room for them to fly freely over their territory and hunt and nest and do whatever it is dragons like to do. They have to go in the pens when they're hurt, though, to make it easier for the dragon keepers to help them. Sort of like the hospital wing," she added with a grin.
"I bet…the dragon pens…are more…comfortable," responded Draco with great effort. Ginny noticed how badly his legs were shaking as he tried to step up to the next stair.
"Stop and rest a bit," she instructed.
Draco shook his head. "Potion's…wearing off...have to get…to the top."
He closed his eyes as he climbed the next step, gripping the rail tightly.
"I'd try to help, but my levitation skills are still rubbish," Ginny confessed. "Tom…" She stopped, catching herself. "A friend of mine says it's because I lack focus. But you only have a few more steps to go."
"I've…got…it," Draco panted, grabbing the rail with both hands and starting to pull himself up.
Ginny followed close behind him and righted him when he stumbled. "Easy, easy."
"Not…for…me."
"You're doing brilliant," encouraged Ginny. "Only two more steps."
Draco nodded and kept climbing. His legs gave out as he reached the top, though, and Ginny was unable to catch him before he fell.
She tugged on his arm. "C'mon, Malfoy, the hard part's over," she coaxed. "Get up and I'll help you make it the rest of the way."
Draco shook his head. "Fine, lay there then. Or crawl over to the door. Meantime, I'm going to get Colin, so he can snap a photo of how pathetic you are."
"You…wouldn't…dare."
"I'm leaving now." She turned away from him.
"Weasley!" Draco wailed.
Ginny turned back to him. "Get your arse up, then, I can't lift you."
She was surprised when Draco dutifully pulled himself up using the banister for leverage and was able to make it to his feet after only three tries. He steadied himself against the wall, panting with effort.
"Race you," Ginny teased.
"Bugger off."
"Who would have thought there was anything tough under that pretty-boy exterior," Ginny said, obviously impressed.
Draco managed a grin in spite of his pain.
"I'll take it from here, Miss Weasley."
Ginny jumped back in surprise as Snape quickly approached up the stairs, a malevolent smile on his face.
“Draco, wake up,” she whispered.
Draco only moaned in response. Pansy shook him a little harder.
"C'mon, Drake, you need to wake up.
“Don’t call me Drake,” Draco slurred, pushing her hand away without even opening his eyes.
“Lazy git, that’s what I should call you,” Pansy muttered.
“I’m hurt, not lazy,” Draco protested.
“Fine, I’ll let you stay here and I’ll give this strengthening potion to someone else,” Pansy told him. “I’m sure Flint would love to have it for the beaters at Slytherin’s next Quidditch game.”
Draco opened his eyes. “You have the potion already?”
“Millie keeps some made up at all times. I was afraid to ask why,” Pansy admitted. “Do you want it?”
“Of course.” He gulped the potion down eagerly. “What time is it?”
“Nearly 10. I waited until there weren’t so many teachers about.”
“Where’s Pomfrey?”
“Her office.” She waved at the door. “I thought she’d be sleeping by now, but no such luck, so we have to hurry. Where are your clothes?”
“Over there.” He waved his hand in the direction of the nightstand as he sat up warily, not quite trusting his sudden strength. “Wow, that potion really works.”
“It better, I had to pay top price to get it on such short notice,” Pansy muttered.
“And I’m sure you took the money to do so out of my trunk,” Draco guessed.
“Of course I did,” Pansy confessed. “Nearly lost my hand doing it, too. Those gits Nott and Zabini didn’t tell me about the anti-theft charms.”
“Serves you right, you should have asked me for the money,” Draco scolded.
“There wasn’t time,” Pansy insisted. “Now hurry up and get dressed.”
“Turn around.”
“What?”
“You heard me,” Draco growled. “This isn’t a floor show.”
Pansy scowled but shoved Draco’s clothes at him and turned around. “I don’t see your sweater anywhere.”
“Weasley still has it.”
“She nicked it?”
“I told her to keep it, since it was the only thing she was wearing at the time, and I didn’t care to see her take it off,” Draco drawled.
He stripped off his pajamas and slipped into his school shirt and pants as he spoke, wincing with every move but not stopping until he was dressed. “OK, let’s go,” he announced, pulling on his robes.
Pansy turned back around. “Your robes are a mess.”
Draco tried to smooth them down with his hands. “I fell asleep with them on my bed.”
“Here, let me fix you.” She ran her wand over his robes muttering “Teresedo.” The fabric smoothed out immediately. She passed the wand over his hair, too, sending the touseled locks back into his usual sleek style. She took a step back to study him and noticed his bare feet. “You might want to put on some shoes, too, luv.”
Draco sank down on the bed. “Let me sit down to do that.” But he made no move to pick up the shoes and socks.
“I’ll do it.” Pansy squatted down and grabbed the socks, glancing up at Draco worriedly when he made no move to stop her. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course you do,” Pansy declared, slipping his shoes on.
“He said he underestimated me,” Draco murmured. “I can’t let him see he was wrong and I really am as weak as he thought I was.”
“You have to stop caring about what your father thinks.” She finished tying his shoe and stood up, reaching out a hand to him. “We really should be going.”
Draco pushed her hand away. “Lead the way.”
**************
They reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room fifteen minutes later. Draco stopped to steady himself against the wall.
“Is the potion wearing off already?” asked Pansy worriedly. “I thought it would last at least an hour.”
“It’s still working, but I should have grabbed that bottle of pain potion, too,” Draco murmured, taking shallow breaths as he pressed his forehead to the wall.
“This is stupid, Drake,” Pansy declared. “Why don’t we just go back to the hospital wing where you belong?”
“Because I’m not going back up those stairs,” Draco snapped. “And don’t call me Drake, you know I hate it.”
“So much for pain building character,” Pansy muttered.
“I have good looks, I don’t need good character,” Draco shot back. “Pureblood,” he barked at the tapestry, which curled itself up to reveal the door of the Slytherin common room opening inward.
Pansy and Draco had only made it to the top of the stairs leading down into the room when it exploded with sound.
-- Draco!
-- You’re back!
-- Damn, he really didn’t die.
-- Told you he was fine.
-- Is that really him?
-- Good to see you.
-- Maybe we should push him down these stairs, too.
-- He didn’t fall down any stairs.
“So you’re alive after all,” said Theodore Nott with a smirk as Draco reached the bottom of the stairs.
“You can’t get rid of me so easily, Theo, as much as you’d like to try,” Draco told him, pushing past the lanky boy and sinking into a chair, fighting hard not to give in to the temptation to close his eyes.
“Why would I want to off my dearest friend?” questioned Nott with mock indignation.
“Why wouldn’t you?” teased Blaise as he approached. “Welcome back, Draco.”
He extended his hand to Draco, but Pansy pushed it away. “Draco’s in no mood for you today, Fire Boy.” She perched protectively on the arm of Draco’s chair.
“Oh, Blaise, fire, very clever, I’ve never heard that one before,” Blaise scoffed. “Why don’t you let Draco decide who he’s in the mood for?”
“Enough!” Draco declared. “I’m not in the mood for either of you. You two either,” he added as Crabbe and Goyle approached. “All I want is to go up to my room.”
“Still not up to snuff, Draco?” Nott taunted.
“I’m fine,” Draco snapped. “I have studying to catch up on, that’s all.”
“No you don’t,” Goyle informed him. “Dumbledore cancelled exams.”
“So you have no excuse to avoid us,” quipped Blaise.
“The teachers aren’t the only ones who will be testing me,” Draco told them.
Marcus Flint interrupted. “You haven’t done any permanent damage, have you, Malfoy?” he asked. “I wouldn’t want to have to replace you as seeker.”
“But you’d do it anyway,” Draco said knowingly.
“I only do whatever is best for the sake of the team,” Marcus insisted.
“Unless there’s money or a team full of Nimbus 2001’s in it for you,” Nott muttered.
Draco scowled at Nott as he told Flint, “I’ll be back and better than ever by our next game. Father owled me earlier to tell me he’d arranged for a private Quidditch coach to come work with me this summer.” He paused a moment for dramatic effect. “Viktor Krum.”
“Krum!” Flint burst out. “He was the seeker on Bulgaria’s Junior World Cup team. Everyone thought Scotland was a sure thing, but Krum stole the Cup from them with the way he flew. I’ve never seen anything like him.”
“You will next year once he’s taught me all his tricks,” Draco boasted.
“Why would Krum coach you?” Nott questioned.
“Yeah, he could probably play for the Bulgarian pro team, good as he is,” said Flint.
“They won’t let him play for them until he’s 16, and that’s not until October,” Draco explained. “Father is friends with the headmaster of Krum’s school, and when Krum heard about me making seeker in my second year he agreed to work with me. He’ll be staying with us for a month.”
“You’ll be having a party, right?” asked Flint eagerly. “So we can all meet him?”
“We’ll see,” said Draco noncommittally.
“Perhaps you should see your way back to the hospital wing where you belong,” came Snape’s voice suddenly from the far corner of the room.
Draco could not see how he might have gotten into the room and was distracted by the wild thought that maybe he had found a way to apparate within the castle.
Pansy jumped in when Draco continued to do nothing but stare at Snape. “Draco is feeling much better, Professor, Madame Pomfrey was only being overprotective making him stay.”
“Be that as he may, he left without permission, and I’ve grown quite weary of her screeching.” He pointed up the stairs toward the door. “Back upstairs with you, Mr. Malfoy.”
“I’d rather sleep in my own bed, sir, the accommodations up there are not up to my standards,” Draco told him. The Slytherins around Draco snickered, egging him on. “Let the hag come drag me back up there if she wants my company so badly,” he added.
“To my office then, Draco.”
“But Professor…”
“Now,” Snape growled, turning on his heel to go.
Draco knew better than to argue and wearily pushed himself out of the chair, closing his eyes against the pain but managing to make it look like he was just bored. At least until he reached his feet and swayed unsteadily.
“Okay there, Malfoy?” asked Nott with a sneer.
“Fine,” Draco muttered through clenched teeth.
“He’s probably weak with hunger,” Pansy suggested. “You haven’t eaten anything for days, have you?”
“I’m not weak with anything,” Draco barked.
“Then you’ll have no problem taking a walk to my office with me,” Snape told him.
Pansy slipped her arm around Draco and kissed his cheek as she slipped the bottle of strengthening potion into his pocket. “Good luck.”
“Get off me, Pan.” He pushed her away but gave her arm a grateful squeeze as he did so.
Snape took Draco by the arm and began to pull him from the room. As they reached the stairs leading out, Snape gently pushed Draco in front of him. "They can't see you if you want to take more potion before you try to get up these stairs," Snape murmured.
Draco was surprised but didn't ask how Snape knew. He gulped the potion eagerly as they started up the stairs, quickening his pace as it kicked in.
"Very clever, getting a strengthening potion," said Snape once they were outside the common room. Draco said nothing. "It's quite good; I’m guessing Miss Parkinson didn't make it. You likely wouldn't be standing if she had." Draco smiled. "So who did she get to make it?"
"I don't know, sir, you'd have to ask Pansy," replied Draco. "Do I honestly have to go back to the hospital wing?"
"Do you honestly think you don't need to be there?" questioned Snape. "You're not completely healed yet."
"They don't have to know that. I could go straight up to my room and..."
"That stupid pride is going to get you killed one day," Snape warned.
"I'm sure something else will kill me long before my pride does."
"Or someone else," Snape muttered.
"My father is not angry with me anymore," Draco said earnestly. "He even got me a Quidditch coach for the summer, a really famous one, so I can improve my game."
"There's nothing wrong with your game, you merely lack focus, particularly when it comes to playing Mr. Potter."
"Father thinks I should be flying faster with a broom like my Nimbus," Draco explained. "Krum, the one who's going to teach me, is supposed to be one of the fastest flyers in the world."
"Viktor Krum of Durmstrang?" Snape asked as he took the charms off the door of his office and motioned for Draco to step inside. Draco nodded as he stepped past Snape, sinking into the chair in front of the teacher's desk without even asking.
"That's a good way to lure you to the school," he noted. "Bit obvious, though. Lucius is usually much more subtle."
"It's not a lure, it's a reward," Draco insisted.
"Nice of him to reward you for surviving him almost killing you," muttered Snape. "Are you going to be up for a summer full of Quidditch? Especially since you're not letting yourself recover properly."
"I'll take all the potions Pomfrey can throw at me, and I'll rest up after every class," Draco promised. "Please don't make me go back to the hospital wing, sir. You know how that makes me look."
"It does not make you weak," Snape declared. Draco rolled his eyes at him. "If you were weak you'd be dead," Snape told him matter-of-factly.
"I'm not hurt that badly," Draco insisted.
"Yes you are, but I’m not only talking of what you survived the other night," Snape admitted. "That was merely another test."
"I'm alive, does that mean I passed?" joked Draco.
"When dealing with your father and his friends, staying alive is everything," said Snape ominously. "You're getting older, you'll soon be tested even further to see if you're worthy."
"Worthy of what?"
"Serving the Dark Lord."
"Of course I'm worthy," Draco snapped.
"You can't say that until you've been tested," Snape warned. "Your father has tried to prepare you, in his own way, for some of what you might have to endure, but there is no way to truly prepare for the things you will see and do and be put through."
Draco noticed the far-away look in Snape's eyes and had to wonder if he was remembering his own dark past. "What kind of things?" he questioned Snape warily.
Snape shook his head, shaking off the memories with the motion. "Things you don't need to concern yourself with right now." He sighed. "If I get Pomfrey to agree to let you stay in the dorm, you'll take every potion she tells you to take and will check in with her however times she deems necessary?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you'll report to her or to me immediately if you feel ill in any way?"
"Yes, sir."
"She's going to be quite vexed," Snape murmured.
"I know, sir, I'm sorry, sir," Draco apologized. "Yet she's more likely to listen to you on the matter than to me, is she not?"
"She is," Snape agreed. He sighed again. "Very well, go back to your room and I'll see if I can't reach an arrangement with her."
"Thank you, sir," Draco told him as he got up and started out.
"Draco," Snape called after him.
"Yes, sir?"
"No more of that strengthening potion after tonight," he instructed. "If you can't get around on your own, you shouldn't be getting around at all." Draco only nodded in response. "Draco?"
"Yes, sir, no more potion," replied Draco sullenly.
"Very good. You may go."
Draco shuffled out and headed slowly back toward the common room.
Suddenly, someone jumped out from behind a tapestry in front of him. "There you are!"
Draco jumped back in surprise, banging into the wall with a grunt of pain. He quickly recovered, though, standing up straight and adjusting his robes.
He gave Ginny his best smirk. "Hello, Weasel, what are you doing down here?" he questioned. "Come to plead your way into Slytherin, where you belong?"
"Not bloody likely," she declared. "You have something of mine."
"What could you possibly have that I would want?"
"Nothing...it's...I...I left something in your robes and I need it back." Ginny stammered.
"Ooh, presents." He patted down his pockets until he found the bottles of potions. "Hmm, potions. Wonder what they could be."
"Give them to me, Malfoy," growled Ginny.
"Perhaps I should have a sip, see what this is you're imbibing, Miss Weasley," Draco taunted.
"I'll hex you, Malfoy," Ginny threatened. "I'll hex you so bad, Daddy will have to carry you home in pieces from this school."
"Now, now, is that any way to talk to someone who is only trying to look out for your best interests?" Draco scolded. "Afterall, we don't want you to get any crazier than you already are. Dumbledore has far too many loonies running around this place as it is."
"Give me my potions," demanded Ginny through gritted teeth.
"I heard Madame Pomfrey tell your Mum that you'd get over these nightmares you've been having if you talked about what happened," Draco revealed. "So why don't you tell me what went on in that Chamber?"
"Why don't you tell me who beat the snot out of you?"
"I will if you will," Draco challenged.
"If you think for one moment I'm going to feed your perverse idea of entertainment by telling you what I had to go through down there because of you and..."
"Me? What did I do?" Draco burst out. "I wasn't the monster who dragged you down to that Chamber!"
"But you are a monster, aren't you?"
"So you say," Draco said softly.
"So I know!" Ginny screeched. "Why am I wasting my time with you?" She whipped out her wand and pointed it at him. "Accio potions!"
The potions flew out of Draco's pocket, but with his seeker reflexes he was able to grab back all but one of them before they got to Ginny. Those reflexes were too late to protect him, though, when Ginny flew at him. Draco crumpled as she tackled him, and they both fell to the ground, Ginny landing in Draco's lap. Nonplussed, she plucked the potions out of his hand, got to her feet and started off down the hall without a backwards glance.
His whimper of pain stopped her, and she turned to see him struggling unsuccessfully to push himself up.
She could hear Tom cackling in her head. Not so high-and-might now, are you, Malfoy? he sneered. Pa-the-tic.
Ginny took a step back toward Draco.
No! Tom screeched. Why would you help him? That's not who you are anymore. You're not the kind of person who can be bothered to care about the weak, who can be bothered to care about anyone.
"Yes I am!" Ginny protested in a fierce whisper. "I can still care, even for a git like him….Malfoy," she called, starting toward Draco again.
"Bugger off, you got what you came for," Draco rasped, still trying to push himself up. He managed to make it into a sitting position, but then gave up and leaned back wearily against the wall with a sigh.
Ginny hurried over to him. "What are you doing down here? You shouldn't even be out of bed, let alone walking around," she fussed. "How did you make it down here in this condition?"
"I wasn't in this condition when we came down here," Draco muttered, closing his eyes.
"Strengthening potion?" Ginny asked. Draco nodded. "Not a very good one."
"It was for awhile."
"At least until you realized you were hurt much too badly for a strengthening potion to fix," Ginny chastised.
"Maybe not, I still have more potion." He fished around in his pockets but came up empty.
Ginny took out the potions she'd taken from him and handed one to Draco. "Here, this one's yours."
"Are you going to tell me what's in those other bottles?" questioned Draco.
"Of course not."
"I could tell Snape you stole them," Draco threatened.
"Yes you could, but you'd have to get up off that floor to do it," Ginny reminded him coolly. "And if you sell me out, I'll tell him I found you lying here, and it will be back up to Pomfrey for you."
"I need to go back up there," confessed Draco softly.
Ginny couldn't hide her surprise. "You want to go back?"
"I didn't say I wanted to, I said I needed to," Draco clarified hoarsely, slumping further down the wall. “I thought I could make it to my room, but then you had to go tackle me.”
"You shouldn’t have taken my things,” Ginny scolded. “Let’s get that strengthening potion into you," she said, kneeling down next to him. "Hopefully it will work enough for us to make it back upstairs."
"You're helping me get back there?"
"I have to go that way anyway," Ginny told him with a shrug. "Now swallow that potion so we can get going."
Draco gulped the remainder of the potion. "You can't tell anyone about this," he pleaded, sitting up straighter as the potion began to kick in. "They all think I'm better."
"How are you going to explain being back in the hospital wing?"
"I'll tell them Snape made me go back, they all saw him drag me out of the common room," Draco told her. "Will you keep quiet about the real reason I went back?"
"I have no reason to keep your secrets," Ginny reminded him.
"I could do something for you in return," Draco offered.
"Like what?" asked Ginny warily.
"Get you more of that potion you love so much."
"You're all talk," accused Ginny. "You don't even know what that potion is."
"I know people who can get their hands on all kinds of potions," Draco bragged. "Even dodgy ones like a Dreamless Sleep potion." He smirked at her gasp of surprise. "I have the money to pay for those potions, too, even at black market prices."
"And why would you get them for me?"
"Because you're going to tell no one about how bad off I've been," declared Draco. "And you're going to help me get back up to Pomfrey before anyone else sees me."
"That's all I have to do?" questioned Ginny anxiously.
"Well, I would ask for sexual favors, but you being a Weasley, that's too vile to even consider," Draco drawled.
"For me more than you," Ginny muttered. "Can we go now?"
"Give me a sec," Draco requested, clutching his right side as he slowly made his way to his feet, his face doing little to mask his agony. "You didn't have any pain potion hidden in my robes, did you?"
Ginny shook her head. "Where does it hurt?"
"Pick a spot," Draco told her, falling against the wall, panting with effort, as he finally made it to his feet.
"Where does it hurt the most?" Ginny asked. "I might be able to help."
"How?"
"I have some very rough brothers, I've picked up a few healing spells," Ginny explained. "So what hurts most?"
"My side," Draco admitted, holding his right arm tightly against the ribs on that side as he pushed away from the wall and took a few cautious steps.
Ginny pulled out her wand, and Draco instinctively took a step backwards.
"I'm not going to hex you, Malfoy, tempting as it may be," Ginny assured him. "You're much too pathetic right now to make it any fun."
"I am not pathetic," Draco pouted.
"You're accepting help from a Weasley."
"That's purely desperation," Draco rationalized. "Now let's see those healing spells."
"I only know one for pain, and it's not very strong," Ginny confessed. "I've never done the spell with a wand, though, so maybe using that will make it stronger. It might be enough for you to make it upstairs, at least."
"Let's see it then." He shifted in pain as he put down his arm, taking the pressure off his ribs. Ginny put her wand against his side.
"Levimentum," she murmured.
There was a flash of white light. Draco flinched. "It burns."
"Only for a second," she assured him, noticing his tensed shoulders already starting to drop in relaxation. "Better?"
"That's a brilliant spell," Draco raved with obvious relief.
"Lucky for you Fred and George have given me plenty of practice using it, when they don't want Mom to know they've been hurting each other with their experiments," Ginny told him as they started slowly down the hall.
"Experiments?"
“They like to invent new spells and hexes and pranks and try them out on each other,” explained Ginny. “Not all of them work out the way they want, though, so they get me to fix them up.”
“None of your other brothers will help?” he asked, stopping suddenly as they reached the stairs, eying them warily.
“We’ll take them slowly,” Ginny encouraged, noticing his hesitation.
Draco nodded and started up, clutching the rail tightly. “Keep talking,” he rasped.
“Why?”
“It’s distracting.”
“So you don’t really care what I’m saying?” Ginny asked, but then shook her head. “What am I thinking? Of course you don’t care what a Weasley has to say.”
Draco didn’t answer, having stopped to try to catch his breath. “Dragons,” he finally panted.
“What?”
“Talk about dragons,” Draco demanded. “Don’t you have a brother who works with dragons?”
Ginny nodded. “That’s Charlie. He’s studying them in Romania.”
“Have you seen them?” Draco questioned excitedly. “What kind of dragons do they have? How close can you get to them?”
“I’ll tell you if you keep walking,” Ginny offered with a wicked grin. Draco groaned. “I could go back downstairs and get one of the other Slytherins to help you up to Pomfrey, if you’d rather.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” Draco muttered, starting to climb the stairs again. “The dragons?”
“They’re beautiful,” Ginny raved. "You can't take your eyes off of them, even knowing how dangerous they are."
"We dragons are like that," Draco cracked breathlessly.
Ginny snorted out a laugh. "Maybe you should save your breath for walking, not talking," she suggested.
Draco scowled but said nothing, so Ginny continued on about the dragons. "Romania is one of the few places in the world where you can still find large groups of dragons, you know. They have dragons there from all over the world, because people don't know what to do with them when they find them, or they try to keep one as a pet and realize very quickly what a terrible idea that is. So they contact the dragon reserve and Charlie and his friends come and get them."
"Like they did with Hagrid's dragon?"
"How did you..."
"I nearly caught them getting rid of it before Filch caught me."
"Ouch."
Draco nodded. "I had to do detention...with Potter...in the Dark Forest." He stopped again to catch his breath. "Of course...you would...probably like that."
"I thought we agreed, less talking, more walking," Ginny snapped.
Draco smirked but kept silent as he started climbing the stairs again.
"Have you ever seen a dragon up close?" Ginny asked.
Draco nodded.
"Hagrid's?"
"No, my grandfather had one," Draco confessed. "A Fireball. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He stopped to catch his breath before going on. "I was only three, but somehow I managed to get out of the house and rabbit off to the pitch where Grandfather kept him. Father found me an hour later just watching the dragon fly around."
"You're lucky it didn't eat you!"
"I thought Grandfather must have had wards up, so the dragon knew he couldn't get to me," Draco told her. "But there weren't any wards, it went right for my father when he came to fetch me. He had to do a conjunctivitis spell on the poor thing so we could get back to the house. Grandfather said it didn't bother with me because my name connected me to the dragons."
"You're lying to me," accused Ginny.
Draco shook his head. "Names can be very powerful things," he said solemnly.
"So dragons won't attack you because your name means dragon?"
Draco shrugged. "Father said someone might have given me dragon's touch as a gift at my naming ceremony. I never saw the dragon again, so I couldn't find out if the same thing would happen. My grandfather caught dragon pox and died just months after that, and I don’t know what Father did with the dragon."
"Maybe he sent it to Charlie's dragon reserve," Ginny suggested.
Draco shook his head. "He might have killed it, since it was the reason my grandfather died. But he probably sold it to the highest bidder."
They reached the front hall, and Draco stumbled as he let go of the rail of the dungeon steps.
"Are you going to make it? I could go get Pomfrey," Ginny offered.
Draco shook his head. "That would draw too much attention."
"And seeing you walking with a Weasley won't?"
"If we keep quiet no one will notice us," Draco told her, gingerly making his way toward the Grand Staircase. "Although it wouldn't be a bad thing to have an invisibility cloak about now."
"Sorry, left mine at home."
Draco looked at her in shock. "You..."
"I'm kidding."
"I knew you couldn't afford one."
"Don't need one, I know a spell," Ginny boasted. "Do you have one?"
Draco shook his head regretfully. "They're hard to find, most people who have them inherited them. What kind of spell do you know?"
Ginny took out her wand and tapped the top of her head. She shuddered as her body shimmered for a brief moment before changing to blend in with the banister behind her.
"Blimey," Draco muttered. "How do you know this stuff?"
"I read anything I can get my hands on, including all my brothers' school books," Ginny explained. "And I'm pretty good at remembering the things I read."
"But you're only a first year," Draco protested.
"So? Hogwarts doesn't give us more magic, it only teaches us to use the magic we already have," Ginny told him. "But the power to do all of that is inside us from the very beginning, waiting to be learned. All I did was speed up that learning process a bit."
"Just by reading?"
"Of course. How else would I know it?" She started up the stairs. "Come on, this spell is hard to maintain, and I don't want to end up as wobbly as you by the time we get up to Pomfrey."
“You don’t need the spell, I was kidding about the invisibility cloak,” Draco told her. “Any students who are out this late aren’t going to be down here, they’ll be up in the Astronomy tower snogging.”
“Eww.” She tapped the top of her head with her wand again and the spell shimmered off of her.
“You won’t think that in a few years.”
“Yes I will.”
“Not if it’s Potter who wants to do the snogging,” Draco taunted.
“Can we please keep going?” Ginny pleaded.
“Only if you tell me more about the dragons.”
Ginny motioned at the stairs, and Draco took another step up.
"They have all kinds of dragons there," Ginny told him. "Welsh Green; Norwegian Ridgeback; your favorite, a Chinese Fireball; even a Hungarian Horntail. Mum nearly had kittens when Charlie flew me over the pens where they keep them, so I could get a closer look."
"They keep them locked up?" asked Draco with a frown.
"Only when they're hurt," Ginny assured him. "Each breed has its own territory, and there are spells to make sure they can't leave those areas and go after one of the other breeds. But there's plenty of room for them to fly freely over their territory and hunt and nest and do whatever it is dragons like to do. They have to go in the pens when they're hurt, though, to make it easier for the dragon keepers to help them. Sort of like the hospital wing," she added with a grin.
"I bet…the dragon pens…are more…comfortable," responded Draco with great effort. Ginny noticed how badly his legs were shaking as he tried to step up to the next stair.
"Stop and rest a bit," she instructed.
Draco shook his head. "Potion's…wearing off...have to get…to the top."
He closed his eyes as he climbed the next step, gripping the rail tightly.
"I'd try to help, but my levitation skills are still rubbish," Ginny confessed. "Tom…" She stopped, catching herself. "A friend of mine says it's because I lack focus. But you only have a few more steps to go."
"I've…got…it," Draco panted, grabbing the rail with both hands and starting to pull himself up.
Ginny followed close behind him and righted him when he stumbled. "Easy, easy."
"Not…for…me."
"You're doing brilliant," encouraged Ginny. "Only two more steps."
Draco nodded and kept climbing. His legs gave out as he reached the top, though, and Ginny was unable to catch him before he fell.
She tugged on his arm. "C'mon, Malfoy, the hard part's over," she coaxed. "Get up and I'll help you make it the rest of the way."
Draco shook his head. "Fine, lay there then. Or crawl over to the door. Meantime, I'm going to get Colin, so he can snap a photo of how pathetic you are."
"You…wouldn't…dare."
"I'm leaving now." She turned away from him.
"Weasley!" Draco wailed.
Ginny turned back to him. "Get your arse up, then, I can't lift you."
She was surprised when Draco dutifully pulled himself up using the banister for leverage and was able to make it to his feet after only three tries. He steadied himself against the wall, panting with effort.
"Race you," Ginny teased.
"Bugger off."
"Who would have thought there was anything tough under that pretty-boy exterior," Ginny said, obviously impressed.
Draco managed a grin in spite of his pain.
"I'll take it from here, Miss Weasley."
Ginny jumped back in surprise as Snape quickly approached up the stairs, a malevolent smile on his face.
Leave a Review