Draco finds you, nearly frozen. He doesn't handle it very well...
~~~
(DRACO'S POV)
The next morning dawned way too early. Actually, it wasn't even dawn when I woke up.
It was still dark when the pounding on my door began.
"Shut the fuck up, I'm coming!" I hissed. Pulling the door open, I did a double-take: it was Arlie's girlfriend, Juniper.
Or, I supposed, she was also y/n's roommate.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, but she ignored the question, instead pushing past me to come into my room.
"Is y/n in here?" she asked, not helping my confusion.
"What? No, I haven't seen much of her today," I lied.
Well, I suppose it isn't a lie, I've technically felt more of her than I've seen...
"Cedric's only just been released from the infirmary, so I know she wouldn't be with him. And she isn't in our room," Juniper said, running a hand through her blue hair. "I have no idea where she is."
"She's probably just taking a walk," I said, trying to convince myself of that as well as mask my own growing concern.
"Draco, she left her wand," Juniper objected, holding the wooden object out.
I felt all the blood drain from my face as I looked at y/n's wand in Juniper's hands. I knew I didn't know y/n as well as, say, Marin or Silver did, but the one thing I did know was that the girl never went anywhere without her wand. That thing was practically her lifeline.
"You've seen her the most lately," Juniper continued, not accusingly. "Any idea where she might be?"
I knew immediately of a place she might be, but Juniper was the last person I wanted accompanying me. Really, if I were going to try to find y/n someplace, I wouldn't want anyone with me.
"I've got a spot I can check," I said, and Juniper's whole face lit up. "You stay here," I commanded. If she isn't there we can start scouring the castle together."
Juniper nodded. "I'll be in the Common Room."
Without another word, I pulled on my coat, took y/n's wand from Juniper's outstretched hand, and left the room.
My heart was pounding as I sneaked through the castle, trying to go as quickly as possible while at the same time not getting caught by a wandering Filch. Why would she have stayed out so late on her own?
The air was bitterly cold when I stepped out into it, and I immediately felt a chill go down my spine. I could see my breath in the air as I ran through the courtyard, and I knew it had to be close to freezing.
I realized my intuition had been right when I approached the tree, no illusion spell in place to keep anyone from seeing into the hollow tree.
I held up my own wand, whispering "Lumos!" to light up the inside of the tree as I ducked inside.
My heart nearly leapt into my throat when I saw her.
She was curled up on the ground in the corner of the hollowed-out trunk, still in her class robe. I dropped my wand to gather her up, and she was shaking in her sleep in my arms. I picked my wand up to illuminate her face, and my panic only intensified when I saw her lips were a light shade of blue. She was ice-cold, and either I was breathing too hard or she was breathing too light, but I could barely hear or feel her breathe.
"Oh my god, oh my god," is all I could say as I pocketed my wand and ran as fast as I could out of the trunk. I skidded to a stop to put the illusion spell back in place, the thought of how upset y/n would be at losing her hiding space in the back of my head as I did so.
I could barely flick my wrist well enough to get the spell to work with y/n in my arms, but being able to move my arms was the least of my concern.
I gripped her tighter as I ran as fast as I could back across the courtyard, shivering with every step.
How long had she been out here? And if I was as cold as I was after only a few minutes of being outside, what shape was she in?
My mind was full of worst-case scenarios when I burst back into the Common Room, an unconscious y/n in my arms. Juniper jumped off the couch she was sitting at in front of the fireplace.
"What did you do?" she said, clearly straining to keep her voice at a whisper-level.
"No, no, no," I pleaded, ignoring Juniper's question. I laid y/n down on the couch, pulling out my wand and pointing it at the fireplace. I opened my mouth to say the spell to start the fire—
And I blanked.
"I—what the fuck, I—"
"Draco, what're you trying to do?" Juniper asked, putting a hand on my arm. I shoved her hand off, glaring at her. "Fuck off, Juniper, I can handle this," I spat.
"You aren't going to talk to me like that, dickhead," Juniper spat back, and I remembered just how feisty the stupid girl actually was. I wasn't about to let her take y/n away from me, though. Not before I knew she was okay.
"Incendio!" I said finally, breathing a sigh of relief when a jet of flames flew from the tip of my wand, igniting the fireplace and setting off a crackling fire.
At just that moment, however, Snape and a Slytherin Prefect—one I recognized as fucking Jordan Goldhorn—burst into the room.
"Whatever are three of you doing out of your quarters so late?" Jordan cried. "You've woken up half the castle at this rate!"
"Explain yourselves or it'll be detention for all of you!" Snape snapped.
I felt near tears as I gestured towards y/n on the couch, her shaking only having worsened.
"What—what happened to her??" Jordan yelled, coming around the couch to scoop her up. White-hot anger ripped through my veins as he did so—I was supposed to be the one rescuing her.
I kicked myself at that intrusive thought—y/n hated me.
"I—I don't know, sir," I said. "I found her like that."
"Everglade was missing?" Snape interjected. "Why wasn't I informed of this? And where was she found?"
"I—we didn't know until about twenty minutes ago, sir," Juniper interrupted, just as I was opening my mouth to answer. "Draco found her passed out in the courtyard—we don't know how long she was out there."
Snape sighed heavily, his face grim. "Jordan, take her to the infirmary. And the two of you, off to bed. You're lucky I'm not giving you detention."
"No!" I cried, causing Snape to raise his eyebrows in surprise. "I mean—I found her, I can take her to the infirmary."
"The Prefect's job is to take care of the students in his House, Draco," Jordan said, only making me want to kick his teeth in more. "I'm grateful that you found her when you did, but I can take it from here."
I wanted to argue more, but the look on Snape's face told me it would be detention if I did. Clenching my teeth, I nodded once and turned around, heading for my room.
I laid down on my bed, but I knew as well as anyone that I wouldn't be able to sleep.
I knew y/n hated me, but I didn't want to see her get hurt. Or killed.
What the hell was she even doing out there so late? Why had she been out so long that she'd gotten so tired and had fallen asleep in near-freezing weather?
Before I realized it, the sun was on its way up. I'd been tossing and turning for so long, worrying about that stupid Slytherin girl, that I'd lost out on nearly four hours of sleep.
Pulling myself out of bed as the clock hit 8 AM, I didn't even bother with a comb. I pulled on my class robes and dashed out of the Slytherin House, determined to find y/n in the infirmary.
But Madam Pomfrey was adamant that she couldn't have visitors.
"Please, Madam Pomfrey, I just want to see that she's alright," I begged, disgusted with myself for how weak I sounded.
"She doesn't need to be disturbed by the likes of you, young man," came the nurse's shrill reply. "And you need to be off to class as it is. Off you go! If she's improved after classes are over you may come and see her then."
"If she's improved?" I asked, fully aware of how fucking pathetic I sounded.
"I'm sure she will be," Madam Pomfrey said dismissively. "Now go to class!"
I could barely focus in Charms, which earned me the punishment of a 2-foot parchment on the Homenum Revelio spell. I forced myself to listen in Potions, and only barely managed to avoid irreparably fucking up the Amortentia potion. I remembered how y/n and I had worked ahead to do it literally two days before, but I could still tell that Snape was less than enthusiastic about how the one I did alone had turned out.
Divinations was painful. I had been dreading it the whole day, and for good reason.
"Where have your tea leaves landed, Malfoy?" Trelawney asked as she circled around to my table.
"Um...they seem to be on the lion and the mouse," I said, hoping my tone didn't sound as confused as I was.
"Oh!" Trelawney shrieked, pushing her glasses up to take a better look at my teacup. "That's tragic, how tragic," she muttered. "I'm afraid you're going to lose someone very important to you, Draco Malfoy," she said quietly, holding a hand to her mouth as if she might vomit.
I knew she had to be full of bullshit. She always was. But the thought of y/n popped into my head, lying alone in the infirmary, in a condition unbeknownst to me, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Could Trelawney have hit a real prediction?
I was grateful for Juniper, at least. She had done the honors of telling Marin, Silver, and Arlie what had happened, so I didn't have to turn around and do that. Not that I would've been asked, anyway.
I had that thought too soon, however, as Cedric stopped me right after my last class ended, just as I was about to head back to the infirmary.
"Have you seen y/n?" he asked, and his tone was far more accusatory than Juniper's had been the night before. "She hasn't been in class all day."
"Why are you asking me like you think I've done something to her?" I said, shoving him backwards. "Why don't you mind your own business or ask people who are actually friends with her?"
"I'm not stupid, Malfoy," the stupid Hufflepuff spit back. "I see the way you look at her, I know you like her. Why else would you have used the Flipendo charm on me at the Quidditch game when all I did was kiss her?"
The smug grin on his face as he reminded me that he'd kissed her was one I wanted to beat out of him. I had half a mind to tell him that I'd snogged her not even twenty minutes later, but even I knew better than that.
"Now, I'll ask you again, and I'll get an answer this time," he continued, his voice more commanding than I knew he felt. "Where's y/n?"
"If you actually fucking cared about her, you'd already know she's been in the infirmary since last night," I hissed, watching with a feeling of victory as the grin faded from his face. "If you actually gave a shit and her feelings weren't just some giant game to you, you would already know that I found her passed out in the courtyard in the middle of the night, her lips half blue and still unconscious."
"How dare you say her feelings are a game to me?" Cedric shouted. "My feelings for her are the only ones that have been genuine this whole time! You don't care about her, you only want to keep me out of the picture! The only reason you care is because there's finally actual competition!"
"You think you've got that girl so wrapped around your finger, don't you?" I snarled. "You think that she won't run back to me the minute you screw something up? You think she hasn't already run to me for things you couldn't give her?"
Every word I was saying was utter bullshit, and if y/n had been there she would've called me out. But the only person there at that time was Cedric, and I didn't have time to react before his fist hit me square in the chin.
"Holy shit!" a voice called, one that I recognized as Harry fucking Potter. "Cedric and Draco are fighting in the hall!"
I wiped at my mouth, looking down to see nothing but spit. "You're lucky I'm not bleeding, Diggory," I said as a group of students surrounded us. Cedric's eyes were wide and angry, but all I could do was chuckle darkly. "You're really fucking lucky."
Cedric wasn't fast enough to dodge my returned punch, either, and I heard a pop as he flew backwards onto the floor.
"You broke his nose!" someone screamed, but I pulled out my wand quickly. "Brackium Emendo," I said simply, watching as his nose repaired itself right in front of everyone.
Professors came running at the sound of students yelling, and I pulled Cedric up from the floor.
"Don't ever fucking come near y/n again," I threatened, even as I felt hands at my back pulling me away from him. "Stay the fuck away from her!"
~~~
I managed to get out of detention, since several other students were able to verify that Cedric had, in fact, punched me first.
However, that delayed me quite a bit in getting to the infirmary where I knew y/n still was. I would've heard from someone if she had been discharged.
Madam Pomfrey frowned deeply at the sight of me, but I stood my ground.
"Is she better?"
"Yes, she's improved," came the nurse's short reply.
"I was promised I could see y/n, then," I reminded Pomfrey, and she rolled her eyes but allowed me in. "Last bed on the right," she said, her tone annoyed.
I all but ran to that bed, finding y/n sitting up, her eyes glazed over and her body still sporadically shaking.
"Y/N?" I asked tentatively, coming forward and putting a hand on her leg. "Can you hear me?"
She looked up at me, nodding slowly. "Ye-es," she said quietly, her voice raspy.
I felt an ache in my chest as I looked at the girl in front of me. What would have happened if I hadn't found her?
"Y/N, I need you to tell me what you were doing out there so late," I asked, looking over my shoulder to make sure the nurse wasn't listening in to our conversation. "You could've died!"
She didn't respond at first, instead she took a deep breath and leaned back to look at me more fully. I put my hand towards her face, moving some of her matted hair away from her eyes. Even in this state, she was beautiful. I couldn't believe I'd ever seen anything in anyone else. Not in Pansy, not in the girl I'd spent a few months hooking up with in the fourth-floor closet, nobody. Nobody held a candle to y/n, and I was the world's biggest idiot for ever taking her existence for granted.
"I—I wanted to be alone," she managed to get out. "My head was...my thoughts were...loud and not making sense...and I just wanted to have some alone time. I guess I was too tired for that...because I fell asleep and...woke up here."
I sighed heavily. "Y/N, you didn't even take your wand," I pointed out, pulling the wooden object out of my robe, where I'd been carrying it all day. "You should've at least taken that with you."
"I know," she rasped. "But I didn't want to have anything to carry. I wanted...to be alone."
"I know that," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Even though she was beautiful, she was the most stubborn fucking person I'd ever met in my life.
"Don't ever do that again," I commanded her, grasping her hand in my own. "You can't run off alone like that, with nothing to protect you."
She nodded. "I'm...sorry."
I leaned forward to kiss her forehead, and she smiled at me when I pulled away.
"You can sleep now," I told her. "I'll give Juniper your wand."
"Okay," she said quietly, closing her eyes before I even backed away. "Good night, Draco."
"Good night, princess," I responded.
And I know it was probably just my imagination, but I swear she smiled when she heard that nickname, too.
~~~
A/N: Hi guys! It's Autumn, and I just wanted to say, this chapter was SO much fun to write. I just hope I did a good job writing Draco from a first-person account. It's like getting into his head, you know?
The next chapter is a little boring, but I'm editing it to something that's hopefully better. i hope you guys like this one, because I know I did.