Realistic Expectations

Chapter Four

Harry bit his lip in thought. He knew that Madam Pomfrey would be back soon, but it was bothering him to see the angry red boils and crooked, bleeding nose on Malfoy's otherwise pale face. The darkening bruise on his jaw was also cause for concern, as well as the fact that Malfoy had practically been attacked because of him.

Harry made up his mind and stepped slowly out from behind the confines of his curtained area, making sure that Malfoy stayed asleep before venturing closer. He stood on his bedside and inspected the injuries on the blond's face, and noticed that his other arm was injured as well and bent in a slightly awkward angle.

Harry wanted to help, but since he wasn't a healer of any sort, there wasn't much he could do. He settled for conjuring some ice for Malfoy's bruised jaw and broken nose. The blood was drying up, so Harry quickly, cast a cleaning charm on Malfoy's face, hoping it didn't wake him.

When his face was suitably clean of blood, he went back to his own bed and grabbed the blouse that Hermione had left for him, wrapping it around his conjured ice as a makeshift ice pack. Hesitating first, he tentatively pressed the ice to the Slytherin's jaw, hoping that it didn't wake him up.

He wanted the help with the fractured nose as well, but it looked tender and painful and he wasn't sure if he should attempt an episkey on it. Malfoy didn't even stir as Harry kept the ice against his face and Harry grimaced at the thought of Malfoy waking up to him like this.

He eyed the blonds broken nose speculatively, knowing from experience that it would only get more swollen and uncomfortable the longer he waited to heal it. He was trying to decide if he should try and heal it when Malfoy suddenly opened his eyes. Harry startled and stepped back a bit, not expecting him to wake up after only ten minutes, but Malfoy didn't seem to notice him.

The Slytherin was frowning, with his eyes trained on the ceiling and Harry just hoped he would fall back asleep soon. The confundus that had been cast on him had obviously worn off, even if his slight confusion hadn't, so it was more likely that the Slytherin would recognize and remember him even though he looked slightly different.

Malfoy still looked disoriented as his eyes trailed off from the ceiling of the hospital wing at towards him. His eyes narrowed and Harry clutched the already melting ice in his hand harder. "Potter?" Harry stayed quiet, hoping he'd just forget about it like last time, but Malfoy's eyes continued to search along his body. "Potter...with breasts? What's going on?"

Harry panicked at that point. "Uh...nothing. You're just dreaming. This is all a dream. None of it is real at all." Harry wanted to bang his head against the wall for making up that stupid excuse, because obviously Malfoy was smarter than that and wouldn't believe him. Why would Malfoy dream about Harry as a girl watching him in the hospital wing anyways?

He waited for Malfoy to laugh at him and call him out on his stupid excuse, but apparently, the blond didn't see anything wrong with the current 'dream' he was having and just replied with a soft, "oh ok," and settled back into his bed.

Harry just gaped and then nodded at that, because obviously he was mistaken about the confundus charm having worn off. He turned around slowly, keeping an eye on Malfoy for a second before starting to make a hasty retreat back into the safety of his own curtained area.

He was nearly to his bed when Madam Pomfrey finally came back. There was an awkward moment where she looked from the still slightly confused and sleepy Draco Malfoy to the sheepish and embarrassed Harry Potter, trying to figure out just what had been going on in her absence. Then Snape walked in.

His presence seemed to startle her out of her confused state and she immediately rushed over to Malfoy's side to tend to his wounds. Harry watched as Malfoy furrowed his eyebrows and hissed in pain at Madam Pomfrey's fussing before turning to Snape, wondering why he was here. Part of him hoped that he had already come up with a cure for him, but he pushed that aside, not wanting to be disappointed if he hadn't.

Snape had on his usual stoic expression as he eyed Madam Pomfrey's motherly tending distastefully and then turned to him. Harry shuffled his feet nervously and asked, "What are you doing here, Professor Snape?"

Snape eyed him critically and then replied with, "I have some...questions for you. Madam Pomfrey says that you have been taking nutrition potions, correct?"

Harry nodded at that. "Yes, why do you need to know?" Snape ignored him. "And you had taken this potion the day the accident occurred?"

Harry nodded again and Snape sneered. "Speak up, boy. None of this unrefined nodding nonsense." Harry scowled at that but replied with a dutiful "Yes sir." Though, he nodded slightly as he spoke, just to annoy Snape while obeying him at the same time.

Snape glared hatefully at that, but continued on anyways. "I'm going to need a blood sample." He stated, lifting his wand up before Harry even had time to process what was going on.

"What? Wait, no." he stepped back, shielding his arm from Snape's wand. "Why do you need my blood?" He questioned with narrowed eyes. Snape sighed and lowered his hand, "Must I explain everything to you?"

Harry just glared silently in answer and Snape sighed again in exasperation. "I need your blood to run some tests. The ruined potions didn't have all the right components to change you to a woman, and since you already had a potion in your system when the change happened I'm inclined to believe that some components of the ruined potion and the nutrition potion mixed to cause your accident. So, I need your blood to confirm that."

Harry thought about it for a moment as Snape watched on with an annoyed expression. Finally, he nodded, ignoring Snape's glare at his 'unrefined nodding nonsense' and stuck his arm out.

Snape wasted no time slicing the palm of Harry's hand with the tip of his wand and whispered spell, and retrieving a vial from his robe pocket to let the blood drop into.

Harry waited patiently for his blood to fill up the medium sized vial and absently wondered if Snape always kept empty potion vials on his person. Harry decided that he probably did as Snape quickly healed the slash on Harry's palm and carefully capped the vial of his blood. Snape pocketed it and inclined his head slightly at him before turning and departing the hospital wing.

Harry stood there for a second longer, rubbing his palm, before shuffling back to his bed. He glanced at Malfoy's bed before shutting his curtains, noting that his nose had been healed and the angry red boils that had covered his face were now reduced to blotchy fading spots. His injured arm also seemed to be in the process of healing and Harry hoped that the Slytherin would be out of the hospital wing by the time he woke up tomorrow, so he wouldn't have to face him like this again.

....

Wow my writing makes me cringe so much....

Anyways, I was thinking about adding some wolfstar (Sirius/Remus) to this... not sure if I should though, any suggestions?
Though, if I did make it wolfstar, Teddy would still exist because I love him so much.