True Love\'s Kiss

Chapter 2

“The changes in Mr. Potter have
finally stopped this morning,” Madame Pomfrey told the three Gryffindors who
were once again gathered around Harry’s bed. When the three entered the
infirmary that morning they were just in time to see Madame Pomfrey finishing
her daily examination of Harry.

“Does that mean he should be waking
up soon, Madame Pomfrey?” asked Hermione.

“Let’s hope so, dear.” Madame
Pomfrey then proceeded to tell the group of the details of her findings. The
discussion continued for a few minutes until the mediwitch excused herself to
attend to other tasks. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione then prepared for another long
day of waiting to see if Harry would finally wake up or not.

As they sat around their sleeping
friend the three Gryffindors talked about the goings on in school. Hermione was
bemoaning the fact that even though they were back in school regular school
sessions were not to resume until the next school year. Those who were on their
seventh year during the war were invited to repeat the year due to the fact
that their learning was hindered by hostile school conditions. Ginny merely
listened and added her opinion every now and then. The group seemed to have regained
some semblance of the normalcy before Harry fell unconscious, talking and
laughing over anything that came to mind. There was a feeling of
lightheartedness until Ron spoke again. “Did you see the Ferret this morning?
It was hilarious when he spewed out his breakfast on Goyle. Goyle looked like
he himself was going to puke. Everyone at the Slytherin table looked a little
green after that little incident.” For a moment Ron looked pleased while
relating his amusement over Malfoy’s breakfast scandal and he completely
ignored Hermione’s weak reprimand, only paying attention to Ginny’s quiet
giggle. Then in the next instant he turned solemn as he said, “I just wish
Harry were awake to have seen that too and have a good laugh over it.” And
immediately the cheerful atmosphere disappeared and was replaced by an air of
disappointment and slight desperation.

No one spoke another word until the
infirmary doors opened to admit a couple around their mid-thirties. The woman
carried a bouquet of flowers while her husband carried with him a roll of some
sort of really thick material. It might have been a carpet. Immediately the
three around Harry’s bed realized that it was time for them to start
entertaining the first of Harry’s numerous guests for the day. The day went on
with the three friends just chatting with Harry’s visitors and receiving their
gifts.

 

In another part of the castle,
somewhere in the dungeons, one Draco Malfoy was bent double with an arm leaning
against a wall, trying not to collapse from the pain he felt throughout his
body. Draco felt as if all the muscles in his body were ripping apart and his
bones were breaking. His blood was boiling and his skin felt like it was
melting. He was sweating profusely from the excruciating pain and his throat
felt so dry it was starting to feel raw. He started dry-heaving and he could
taste hints of copper coming up from his throat. His breath was shallow and
erratic and the lack of oxygen was making him light-headed. And all of a sudden
the pain subsided and Draco fell against the wall, sliding down until he was
sitting on the floor. All that was left of the pain was an odd tingling
sensation throughout his body. His skin was also left feeling dry and he wanted
to scratch at any part of himself that he could reach, but he did not have any
strength to even regulate his breathing yet. The young man stayed on the floor
with his head leaning back on the wall for a while. He looked absolutely
haggard as his eyes slowly closed and he succumbed to unconsciousness.

When Draco awoke, he had no
knowledge of how long he was out for. Although the tingling echoes of the pain
were completely gone, he still felt just mildly sore and his skin was still
irritatingly itchy. When he drew back a sleeve to scratch at his arm, he felt
the skin was not only dry, it was rough and almost scaly feeling. However,
Draco was more concerned about the pain possibly coming back so he just let it
go. He got up from the floor and straightened his robes a bit before he
continued on to the Slytherin dorms. He was named Head Boy at the start of term
so he got an even better room than the one he used to have as a Prefect. When
he finally entered his room and saw the inviting bed, exhaustion from his
earlier ordeal finally caught up with him and he just collapsed on top of the
covers.

Hours later Draco awoke and the
first thing he noticed was the absence of sunlight streaming in through his
bedroom windows. It was already very dark outside and he couldn’t hear the
usual hum of conversation coming from the common room, which meant most of the
Slytherins have already retired for the night. As he sat up, Draco drew his
wand out and casted a tempus charm. It showed that the time was slowly
approaching midnight, so he carefully rose from bed and started for the door.
It was once again time for his nightly infirmary visit.

As Draco drew nearer to the
infirmary, the tingling sensation came back. It wasn’t painful and it wasn’t
uncomfortable, it was simply just odd. The young man ignored it in favor of the
prospect of seeing the lone patient of the infirmary once more. He opened the
infirmary doors slightly and crept in quietly. He stuck close to the shadowed
walls just in case there was someone else other than the sleeping Harry in the
room. When Draco saw that there was no one else in the infirmary he hurried to
Harry’s bedside.

When he reached Harry’s side he
looked at the boy for a few moments and he didn’t even realize that this time
he had an almost imperceptible smile on his face. As he looked at the sleeping
boy’s face a while longer he couldn’t help but finally start noticing the
subtle differences in Harry. Draco thought Harry looked simply angelic lying
peacefully on the bed and his eyes could not stop lingering on the boy’s rosy
lips. As he continued to stare, Draco suddenly realized his train of thought and
shook his head to clear it. ‘Did I just really think about how kissable Harry
Potter’s lips looked? Of course not. That’s just preposterous.’ As Draco
thought this the tolerable tingling sensation he felt increased tenfold, just
enough to make it quite uncomfortable. When Draco looked at the sleeping Harry
again, his eyes were once again drawn to Harry’s lips. “What the bloody hell is
wrong with me?” he said out loud and the discomfort kept increasing.

“Well, Potter, it seems this visit
has to be cut short.” Draco just brushed his fingers against Harry’s cheek
briefly and quickly moved back toward the infirmary doors. All the while the
uncomfortable tingling sensation was slowly turning into unbearable pain once
more. Draco gritted his teeth as he tried to run to his dorm room, the pain
hindering his movement greatly. When he finally made it into his room he used
what was left of his waning strength to cast a silencing charm. Right as he
finished the charm he dropped his wand as he clutched around his chest from the
agonizing pain, falling to the floor in the process. Draco was biting his
bottom lip so hard to keep from screaming that he started feeling metallic
tasting liquid trickle down his chin for his efforts. When the pain increased
to an excruciating extent, Draco finally let out a scream. For the rest of the
night Draco Malfoy was on his bedroom floor writhing and screaming until he
finally passed out from the pain.

 

The dark-haired youth was once
again lurking around Knockturn Alley. He had already been to Borgin and Burke’s,
but the shopkeepers were being most unhelpful. The bumbling men were certainly
more than happy to display their wares, but they had yet to show the handsome
youth some of their more ‘special’ items. And so the young man decided that he
would hang around Knockturn Alley for a while and check out the other shops and
come by Borgin and Burke’s everyday to chat up the owners. Surely he could
charm his way into earning their trust. And so with this goal in mind, the
young man wandered around Knockturn Alley for some time.

 

Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were once
again visiting Harry in the infirmary. They were currently watching Madame
Pomfrey perform some diagnostic spells on their unconscious friend, noting that
the mediwitch seemed concerned over some of her results. The three Gryffindors,
however, knew better than to interrupt her as she worked on their friend. She
would tell them soon enough of her findings.

When Madame Pomfrey finished with
her daily check up of Harry, she turned to the other three in the room with a
slightly worried look on her face. Before they could ask her what was wrong she
started on her daily report. “Mr. Potter’s temperature seems to be quite a bit
higher than what’s normal. Other than the slightly elevated temperature he is
perfectly alright.”

“Do you know what’s causing the
sudden spike in his temperature, Madame Pomfrey?” Hermione asked.

“Much like the cause of his
unconsciousness, dear, I’m afraid I don’t really know. All I can really do is
try to reduce his temperature. But it doesn’t seem like it is hurting him. And
I don’t sense any discomfort in him. He still appears to be sleeping
peacefully. I don’t think it is any cause for alarm much like all the other
changes in Mr. Potter.” As the mediwitch continued to discuss with and reassure
the Gryffindors, the first few of Harry’s daily visitors finally arrived.
Madame Pomfrey excused herself from the group and the three were once again
thrust into the roles of reluctant hosts. Throughout the day Madame Pomfrey
checked for Harry’s temperature and found that it was rising gradually. The boy
still displayed no outward negative signs in regards to his increasing
temperature so Madame Pomfrey settled for simply monitoring the boy.

 

***

Thank you for
reading. In the next chapter we find out what is actually going on with Draco.
Harry also finally wakes up.