The Mudblood

Chapter 22 : Year 2

"He fractured his skull?" I blurted, glancing over at Malfoy so quickly that I felt like the skin on my head might tear again. Sure enough, blood seemed to have seeped through the gauze around Malfoy's head, although he still wouldn't turn to face us. "S—so then I won."

I heard Malfoy grumbling to himself, but he didn't bother to look at me.

"I don't know what you two were doing yesterday afternoon, but I assure you that none of us are too happy about it," Madam Pomfrey scolded sternly. "You should be able to leave the hospital wing before classes tomorrow. Mr. Malfoy may be here a few extra days. Only time will tell..."

I slumped back down in my bed, feeling somewhat guilty. I hadn't actually wanted to hurt Malfoy that badly. I mean, a slap across the face would probably serve him right at least once a day, but fracturing his skull? Part of me wanted to apologize.

"Has—er—Ron Weasley been here?" I piped up timidly as Pomfrey made her way over to Malfoy's side. Malfoy snorted loudly at my question, but I ignored him.

"I can't say, dear," she replied as she helped Malfoy sit up. "There have been quite a few students demanding to see the both of you. I think some of them have been sleeping out there... The nerve of some students..."

"Why did you—er—push our beds next to each other?" I asked her, feeling slightly flustered about the fact. "You do know that we're not like—a couple, right?"

"Well, I would certainly hope not, considering you'd been trying to kill each other! But, it just so happens that neither of your wounds would begin the healing process until we pushed the beds up next to each other. Quite miraculous, if you ask me. I've never seen anything like it."

I saw Malfoy's eyes dart in my direction, but he quickly looked away when we made eye contact. My stomach felt heavy with her words, and I honestly didn't know what to think. Why would we heal better when we were at a closer proximity? It just didn't make sense...

"Well, you two seem to be healing remarkably fast," Pomfrey concluded once she'd let Malfoy lie down again. "You may both be able to go back to class tomorrow! I should have brought you here when Mr. Malfoy broke his arm, Miss Fitzroy. Perhaps you are instrumental in his healing process."

"Don't say that," Malfoy and I both groaned at the same time, but then I quickly shut my mouth. I could not be blurting out the same sentences as Draco Malfoy! He was the biggest git I'd ever met!

As Madam Pomfrey left the room, another adult came stalking in, but he did not seem quite so pleased to see that we were awake.

"Fitzroy, Malfoy," Snape bellowed as he stomped over to our beds. "Sit up when I speak to you."

"We were instructed not to sit up," I told him, my voice faltering slightly at the expression of pure rage boiling in his eyes.

"Sit."

Malfoy and I quickly and painfully scrambled to sit up as Snape stood at the foot or our beds.

"What did you think you were doing? Dueling in the common room? I should expel you for such foolish and dangerous actions. I will have you know that the use of Dark Magic is strictly prohibited at Hogwarts, and this type of magic could even result in a sentence to Azkaban. You are both absurdly lucky that I have chosen not to expel you and report you to the Ministry for this—"

"E—excuse me, Professor," I piped up with as much courage as I could muster. "But—er—I don't know what the other students have been telling you, but we weren't using Dark Magic. We only used a few spells that were potentially harmless—"