Another War

Chapter 9 : Wake Me Up, I Dare You

Percy groaned, annoyed that he was being drawn away from the comforting, silver-blue waters. He heard mumblings, picking out certain words but not understanding the rest.

"Right. . . time. . . early," He heard a soft, female voice say, feeling a hand being pressed onto his shoulder.

Percy opened his eyes lazily, the room light (thankfully) dim. It took a while for Percy to get to full awareness, the sleepy fog over his mind ebbing away slowly.

"Welcome back, Percy! You woke up a bit earlier than we expected," The nurse said, smiling kindly at the boy. Percy blinked owlishly at the nurse, looking around his hospital room with disinterest and faint curiosity.

Percy couldn't help but feel that something about him changed- and he didn't know what it was either. His thoughts felt clearer, he was breathing easier, and it felt as if a major weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

That weight had been the affection implant, but of course, he still didn't know that.

Percy looked at the two medics standing over him before finally looking over at Nico. He shot the boy a small smile, feeling the familiar, platonic-

Wait.

The attraction to Nico. . . It's gone. Poof, as if it never existed.

Percy's smile faded away as he pondered this. He knew it wasn't natural, one day, out-of-the
-blue liking someone you thought of as a brother and then a week later, the feeling disappearing as if it were never there.

The feeling seemed. . . well, fake.

In turn, Nico was observing Percy, his thoughts aligning with Percy's. Nico was 98% sure Aphrodite did something to Percy. But, somewhere in a deep dark corner, a peice of him was hoping that it wasn't true despite all odds. After all, Aphrodite had no immediate connection to the Wizarding World nor Nemesis, so why was she in the little group of goddesses that liked to mess with their lives? Simple, she wanted to do something to help her domain.

She wanted Percy and him together, so she made some change in Percy that would ensure this. The only thing was that Aphrodite obviously didn't know Percy, because if she did, she'd know that he can do almost anything and defy all odds, because that was just how Percy was.

Too powerful for his own good.

After the nurse and doctor left the room, Nico handed Percy the book he bought at Flourish and Blott's on their first day in the Wizarding World, opened to the chapter about magical bonds.

Far away in Malfoy Manor, Draco Malfoy stirred, a small frown on his face at the loss of the feeling of comfort. The scent of the sea faded away and the blankets around him suddenly felt too hot.

The healer monitoring the boy jumped out of his seat, scrambling to see if anything was wrong.

The healer checked Draco's temperature and noticed that his body temp was slowly getting higher and higher.

The healer cursed, taking all of the blankets and sheets off of Draco's body and grumbling to himself. Who knew that it would be so hard to keep a teenager alive.

Draco stirred again, his lashes fluttering open hesitantly. The boy let out a low whine, not liking how he somehow felt hot and cold at the same time.

The healer paused, his eyes widening upon seeing the Malfoy heir awake.

"You're not supposed to be up yet, Mr. Malfoy," the healer said, sending his familiar, Lyra, to find and lead the Malfoy Lord and Lady back to this room (Lyra was a mockingbird, a quite intellegant one, too). He had never thought that the Malfoy Heir would awaken early, even if it was only by 8 days. The body could do a significant amount of healing in 8 days, especially for wizards, who's magic always assisted in self-healing.

Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy hurried into their son's room, practically running after the mockingbird, worry and excitement brewing in them. After all, they had no idea if the news about Draco would be good or bad.

"Mother. . . Father," Draco rasped out when he saw his parents enter his room, his cheeks flushed with fever.

"Hush, Draco. Save your energy," Narcissa whispered, walking to her son's side and brushing his damp hair away from his eyes affectionantly.

"What's Draco's condition like?" Lucius asked the healer, crossing his arms and staring at the wiry man steadily.

The healer gulped nervously, feeling bare and vulnerable under the penetrating gaze of Lucius Malfoy.

"He woke up 8 days earlier than he was supposed to, but I don't want to put him on a sedative. Draco waking up means that he's ready to return to his normal, everyday life; but refrain from taking big leaps. He must stay patient in his healing, as his magic may have a high sensitivity when reacting to other magics and will lash out accordingly. I'd say to give it around a month before letting your son preform magic, and be careful when casting magic on or around him," the healer rambled, glancing from the floor to Lucius every five seconds. There was something about Lucius, right now, that had the healer sufficiently cowed. There was something. . . fierce about him. Then, the healer went over the Lord's stance. It was tense, defensive.

Lucius was expecting bad news, and he was put on a defensive, papa bear mode at the chance of his cub's health getting worse.

Lucius nodded at the healer, dismissing him with a subtle "go away" hand motion. The healer zipped away, letting out a sigh of relief when he got to the Malfoy's fireplace to floo away.

"Youngsters these days," the healer mumbled to himself, putting away all his files on Draco Malfoy in his file cabinet. "Always trying to die. . ." The healer continued, sighing as he shut the cabinet and slumped down into his desk chair.

"Idiots."