Finding My Way Back

He softly groaned, turning his head to the side. He weakly opened his eyes, noticing several beds in a row next to his. He moaned again, realizing he was in the hospital wing.

“You’re up,” Madam Pomfrey spoke.

He turned toward her, opening his eyes a little wider. “What happened?” he questioned, his voice a bit raspy.

“It seems you fainted this morning on your way to breakfast,” she explained, clutching his wrist and checking his pulse. She nodded, grabbing his chart and marking in it.

“Fainted?” he echoed, not able to remember.

“Thankfully one of your school mates found you,” she continued, leaning in closer to check his pupils. “Slight concussion. Not too worrisome,” she diagnosed, pulling back and writing in his chart once more.

“So I can go?” he asked, moving to sit up.

Pomfrey quickly placed her hand on his chest, slowly pushing him back down. He would never admit it to her, but he was definitely grateful for that. Apparently, the whole room decided it wanted to spin just then.

“Rest, Malfoy,” she whispered. “We’ll see how you are in a couple of hours.”

He closed his eyes and nodded, still feeling the room spinning. He heard the matron leave and cracked an eye open, following her retreat until she was gone. He then sighed, slowly sitting up when he felt the room still.

He chewed on his bottom lip, trying to remember what had happened to cause him to faint. He remembered getting ready for class and talking to Blaise - though he wasn’t really sure what they had talked about. He even remembered walking toward the Great Hall for breakfast, but then his mind started to get jumbled. For some strange reason, he believed he was happy, but that clearly couldn’t have been right. He hadn’t been happy for years; he didn’t even know what to do with emotions like that anymore.

The doors to the hospital wing suddenly slammed open, causing him to quickly turn in surprise. He wished he hadn’t done that though, the room spinning once more. He moaned, placing his hand on his forehead and laying back down. He then closed his eyes, hoping it would stop soon.

“What is all the ruckus out here?” he heard Pomfrey scold.

“Madam Pomfrey, Professor Dumbledore needs you right away,” Granger panted.

“What happened?”

“It’s Harry.”

Curious, Draco opened his eyes, turning his head toward the two standing a few feet away from his bed. He saw Pomfrey shake her head and frown, hurrying toward her office. He furrowed his eyebrows, shifting his focus to Granger, seeing her already staring at him. Well, glaring was more like it.

“Say one remark and you’ll be on the next train to St. Mungo’s,” she threatened, quickly turning her head around when Pomfrey came rushing back.

He watched the two of them leave, softly growling that he hadn’t had time to retort. Who did she think she was, threatening a Malfoy like that? Filthy Mudblood.

He gave a low grunt before lying back down. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying once more to remember the events leading up to the moment he fainted. Things were still a bit cloudy, but nothing too terrible that he couldn’t remember the important stuff.

He heard the doors open again, not caring to look this time. He had other things on his mind at the moment. He suddenly raised his eyebrows, almost forgetting the part about him stopping at that mirror in the hallway. He then chewed on his bottom lip, not sure why he believed that to have any real significance.

“Dreaming about me again?” a low voice teased in his ear.

Startled, he snapped his eyes open, quickly sitting up. He heard the boy laughing off to the side and turned his head toward him, narrowing his eyes. “Git,” he murmured.

Blaise continued to laugh, sitting on Draco’s bed. He then looked around the room, furrowing his eyebrows. “Where’s Pomfrey?” he asked.

Draco rolled his eyes and leaned back on his pillow, trying to find a comfortable spot. “Hopefully picking Potter’s dead body up somewhere,” he sneered.

Blaise smirked, turning back toward his friend. “So what happened to you?” he questioned.

Draco sighed, closing his eyes. “Apparently I fainted.”

“You don’t remember?”

Draco shook his head and opened his eyes, looking over at his best friend. “We talked this morning, right?” he then questioned.

Blaise gave Draco a big grin. “Of course, don’t you remember?”

Draco frowned. “I remember talking to you, just not what we talked about,” he explained.

Blaise chuckled, lightly smacking Draco’s stretched out leg. “Nice try.”

Draco furrowed his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“Come on Draco,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “You know what we talked about.”

Draco looked down and chewed on his lower lip, trying hard to remember their earlier conversation. He fearfully swallowed, realizing he couldn’t. “No Blaise, I really don’t,” he softly whispered, looking back up at him.

Blaise arched an eyebrow, staring curiously at his friend. He then tilted his head, studying Draco’s face a little longer. “You serious?”

Draco nodded, his mind spinning. “Perhaps if you told me something that we talked about, it’ll jog my memory,” he suggested.

“We were talking about your secret lover,” he said.

Draco furrowed his eyebrows. “My secret what?”

“Lover. Or more importantly, your secret male lover,” he smirked.

“What?” Draco exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise. “I don’t…I’m not…oh quit fucking around. What did we talk about?” he snarled, realizing the boy was taunting him.

Blaise crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “Oh so now you’re gonna sit there and deny having sex with him last night, too?”

Draco sat frozen, flabbergasted. “I didn’t…” he paused, blushing a little. “Blaise, I haven’t had sex since the end of last year.”

Blaise rolled his eyes, reaching inside his back pocket and pulling out a small mirror. “That’s kind of hard to believe when you have those, Draco,” he said, handing the mirror to Draco.

Draco looked in the mirror and suddenly grew pale when he spotted two very noticeable love bites on his neck. “When did I get those?” he frantically asked, turning toward Blaise.

Blaise frowned. “You really don’t remember?”

Draco shook his head, looking in the mirror again. “I really don’t remember,” he repeated, feeling some tears start to form in his eyes.

“What the fuck?” he suddenly gasped, quickly wiping his eyes and staring incredulously at his wet fingers. He then looked over at Blaise, his body shaking a little. “What the fuck is wrong with me?” he worriedly asked, tears not having spilled from his eyes in over ten years.

Blaise leaned in closer, pressing a hand up to the side of Draco’s head. “Maybe you hit your head harder than you thought when you fainted,” he mused.

“You think?” he huffed, jerking his head away from his friend’s hand. “I’m having sex, and I don’t even know it. And with a guy no less.”

“It’s not so bad,” Blaise grinned.

Draco rolled his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. He then took a deep breath, returning his attention to his friend, feeling a little anxious. “Merlin, what if he comes here to check on me?”

Blaise shrugged. “I have no doubt that he will,” he commented. “From the conversation we had this morning, you seemed pretty infatuated with him.”

“But what if he’s someone horrible?” he fearfully asked.

“Draco,” Blaise sighed, “do you honestly believe you would be with someone you didn’t like?”

“Yeah but what if I was under a love potion or something?” he suddenly wondered. “I mean, what if me fainting had somehow reversed the effects of the potion and that’s why I can’t remember any of it?”

“Then we’ll pound him in the face as soon as we see him,” Blaise smirked.

Draco nodded, believing that to be the best course. He then chewed on his lower lip, staring down at the bed. “What if I wasn’t?” he suddenly murmured to himself.

He lifted his head when he heard voices approaching the hospital wing. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but knew they were worried about something. When the doors opened, he noticed four enter (one of them carrying a limp body), hurriedly moving toward the bed across from his.

“Careful,” Pomfrey cautioned, pulling back the covers on the bed.

Snape let out a low grunt as he placed the dark-haired boy on the bed. “I still don’t understand why we couldn’t just levitate him,” he complained.

“Which is why I’m the matron and you’re not,” Pomfrey stated, tucking the boy into the covers.

“So how is he?” McGonagall fearfully asked.

Pomfrey shook her head, scanning the frail body with her wand. “I won’t know for sure until I have given him a proper exam,” she explained. “I’ll let you all know as soon as it’s done.”

“Yes, please do,” Dumbledore nodded. “We will leave you to your work, Poppy,” he said, motioning for the other two professors to follow him out. He then stopped and turned toward Draco, one eye twinkling. “How are you feeling, Mr. Malfoy?” he asked.

Draco gave him a half shrug. “Okay, sir,” he simply said, seeing the old coot smile and nod at his answer.

Once the three left and Pomfrey returned to her office, Draco quickly looked over at his friend, eyebrows raised. “Is that Potter?” he smirked, excitedly looking over at the bed again.

“I think so,” Blaise nodded, standing up from Draco’s bed. “I’ll go look,” he then said, slowly moving toward the other bed, keeping his eye out for Pomfrey.

“So?” he eagerly said, seeing Blaise stop in front of the bed. “Is it bad?” he asked, grinning at the possibility.

“He looks pretty beaten,” he replied.

“Somebody beat him up?” he excitedly continued. “Fucking brilliant. Is his face all battered and bruised?”

Blaise sighed, shaking his head as he turned and walked back to Draco. “He’s barely breathing, Draco,” he expressed, sitting down on the bed.

“And that’s bad why?” he quirked an eyebrow.

Blaise shrugged. “I’m just saying. Someone really did a number on him.”

“I can’t wait to find out whom, so I can congratulate him,” Draco smirked, leaning back against his pillow. “Probably a Slytherin,” he suddenly yawned.

“Get some sleep, Draco,” Blaise said, standing up from the bed. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, alright,” he nodded, yawning once more.

After Blaise left, Draco rolled over on his side and closed his eyes. He began thinking about his so-called secret lover, wondering who he could possibly be. He. How could he not remember something as big as that? And if Blaise was right and they really did like each other a lot, how come he hadn’t stopped by to see how he was doing yet? Unless… maybe Blaise really was joking with him and there was no secret lover. That still didn’t explain the marks on his neck, though.

He suddenly heard a low moan, realizing Potter was waking up. He sighed, wishing he could have fallen asleep before he did.

“Oh, my head,” the idiot groaned. “Shit, what happened? Why am I in the hospital wing?”

Draco huffed, hoping the boy would just stop talking and fall back asleep already.

“What the hell happened?”

No such luck.

“Shut the fuck up, Potter!” he finally yelled.

Silence. Draco grinned, snuggling up more into his pillow.

“Draco?” a soft voice suddenly called out.

Draco snapped his eyes open, the sound of his name from his enemy’s lips too foreign. Just who did he think he was, calling him by his given name?

“Is that you?” he continued in that oddly soft voice.

He growled, sitting up in his bed and glaring over at Potter. “What part of ‘shut the fuck up’ did you not understand, Potter?” he spat. “And how dare you say my name as if we’re friends or something.”

The boy tilted his head, staring attentively at him. Draco quickly averted his gaze, feeling a shiver go up his spine when their eyes met. Odd. He took a deep breath before returning his attention to the green-eyed Gryffindor, the shiver no longer present. “What?” he snapped in frustration.

Potter suddenly winced and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and glared over at him, shaking his head. “I can do whatever the fuck I want, Malfoy,” he snarled. “And you’re dreaming if you think I would ever call you by your name,” he scoffed, rolling away from Draco’s gaze. “Bloody wanker,” he softly ended.

***

Thanks for reading!

gentlenightrain: Sorry. I'm glad you liked the cuteness in the beginning, though. :)

SP777: Yes, I'm back! haha And you were close with my birthday. It was a little over a week ago. Was "tp"-ing my party really necessary? lol Yeah, alright, it probably was. Glad it's still sounding interesting. More will be coming soon.