I opened my eyes slightly. The bright lights hurt my eyes, so I opened them just enough to see Draco sitting at the corner of my bed. His elbows on his knees, looking down. I tried to sit up, but immediately stopped and winced when I felt a horrible pain on my lower back.
"Lauren!" Draco said, getting up and running out the door yelling for Madam Pomfrey.
I looked at the bed next to me and saw Ron laying unconscious. I looked at him, and felt relief. If he was dead they would've taken out his body by now, so he's still alive. To think he said I was a horrible person.
My attention turned to the door, when I heard it open. Madam Pomfrey walked in with McGonagall, Snape and Draco at her heals.
"Where's the pain, dear?" Madam Pomfrey asked taking my hand.
"My lower back."
"You're lucky you're not in a full body cast. You broke almost all the bones in your back." She smiled.
"But you did a good deed." McGonagall interrupted, giving me a sweet smile. "I don't think Ron would be here right now if you hadn't caught him."
"She's right Ms. Carrington, you should be proud of yourself." Snape said. He wasn't really smiling but he also didn't have the normal sneer. I smiled. Draco was standing behind them looking at the ground.
"How is he?" I asked, Draco looked up at me.
"He'll be fine. He broke most bones on his left side since that's where he landed, but it's minor compared to what could've happened." Madam Promfey said, letting go of my hand, to give me a pill.
"Now, about what happened." McGonagall's face turned stern.
"It was my fault." I responded. Draco looked at me and shook his head. "I was upset, because Ron had called me a slimy Slytherin. It was a small joke that went too far."
Snape squinted at me. I gave him a small smile.
"Well then, we'll talk about this when Ron wakes up." McGonagall said. "I hope you feel better soon." She walked out.
Snape looked at me and got closer.
"Ms. Carrington I can hardly believe that you're responsible for this incident. But if you are willing to take the fall that's on you." He said "get some rest." walked out.
"How are you feeling? You took a slight fall" Draco asked, coming back up to my bed.
"I should slap you for saying that." I shook my head at Draco.
"We only meant for the Weasel to get hurt, not you." He said, giving me forced apologetic eyes.
I just looked at him and laughed.
"That's the worst apology I've ever heard."
"I'm not the best at apologizing, but it's sincere." He took my hand.
"You don't have to take the fall, we were gonna say it was Crabbe."
"Some loyalty you all have going on." I said amused. "It's alright, they know I'm taking the fall so I'm sure they'll give me a light punishment."
Draco smiled at me and squeezed my hand.
"What time is it anyways?" I asked.
"It's 8:00 I should probably get going, let you get some rest." He said getting up from my side. "After that very slight fall you took."
"I'll slap you when I can reach your face."
"We'll be coming to check on you tomorrow."
"Who might we be?" I asked.
"The team. They're eager to see you." He smiled and walked out.
I turned my head and looked over at Ron, he was still unconscious. As weird as it might sound, I watched him sleep, I'm not sure how much time had passed, but I found peace in watching him sleep.
I woke up to the sound of someone groaning. It must've been like 2 in the morning, from how quiet and dark it was. I opened my eyes slightly and heard Ron groaning in his sleep.
"Weasley?" I whispered
...nothing
"Weasley." I whispered a little louder.
When I didn't hear anything, except for the groans of pain, I tried to get up.
I felt a sharp pain again and grabbed my side. I squeezed my eyes shut and slowly tried to get up.
When I finally made it up I walked over to Ron's bed, which was right next to mine, and shook his arm.
He was sweating and I could easily tell he was in pain, from the expression on his face. I shook him harder until his eyes slowly opened.
"Weasley, are you alright?" I asked in a concerned voice. I was still holding my side and was struggling to stand straight.
"Yea." He said in a low strained voice.
"Really cause you don't sound alright." I reached over to the night stand between our beds and gave him a pill and water.
"Here. I'm pretty sure this is for pain, but if you turn into a frog we'll know why."
He took the pill and drank the water.
"Thanks."
I made my way back to my bed slowly. I laid back down and was out of breath, from those short steps.
"And thanks for catching me, I guess." He added.
"You're welcome, I guess." I said smiling.
"Even though it was your house's fault that I was falling in the first place." He continued to add.
"I wasn't in on that Weasley. If I had known what they were gonna do I would've intervened. Honest."
"I know." He said. I don't know why but I smiled at his comment.
"Have you turned into a frog yet?" I asked.
He chuckled. "No not yet. But yet again I can't feel much of anything. Do I look like a frog?" he asked.
"I'm not sure, I can't really sit up anymore." I said. "I guess we'll know if we wake up to screams from Madam Pomfrey." I joked.
He chuckled. I heard him reach for his covers and took it as a sign of him going to sleep.
I woke up the next morning, as I opened my eyes I saw bouquets of roses all around my bed space. I tried to sit up, again wincing in pain. I couldn't help but smile at all the flowers
"Your boyfriend had them brought in early this morning." Ron said, I turned to look at him and gave him a confused look.
"Malfoy." He added, noticing my confusion.
"Oh. Malfoy isn't boyfriend, he's just a bloke I hang around with."
"Really?"
"Yes." I said. "Is Hermione your girlfriend?" I asked.
"Absolutely NOT!" He argued loudly.
"And Malfoy isn't my boyfriend, he's my friend."
There was silence.
Then my stomach rumbled. "I'm starving." I said patting my stomach.
"Madam Pomfrey, went to grab us breakfast."
"Well I'm bored." I said grabbing my side to get up. I got up extremely slow and cautiously. When I finally made it up, I went over to the closet that was beside my bed and opened it, I looked around inside and noticed a game of chess.
"Care to play a game of chess with me, Weasley?" I asked shaking the box of chess like a child. I could see him trying his hardest to avoid my contact. I could tell he really hated Slytherins.
"I can't get up."
"No need to strain yourself. " I walked over to his bed. I sat down on his bed, opposite of him. I briefly looked at him and noticed how red his face was.
"Well it's nice to see you didn't turn into a frog." I smiled. He slightly smiled at me. I fixed all the pieces of the game.
"Now I must warn you, we used to play this game daily at home so I'm pretty good." I waited for him to make the first play.
"Actions speak louder than words." He retorted, making the first move.
"I had no idea you were so humble." I made the second move. "Seeing as how your always half asleep in class."
"One could say the same, seeing how you're always distracted by the people around." He said making his move.
"How dare you make such preposterous accusations." I said, faking shock and offense. He chuckled.
We were in the middle of a game.
"Do you remember what happened?" He asked, briefly looking up at me.
"You don't remember?" I asked, starting to feel bad about the incident again.
"Not entirely. Care to refresh my memory."
I wasn't sure if I should tell him the truth or not. I decided against lying knowing his friends would refresh his memory too.
"Draco decided it would be funny to pull a joke on you, and cause you to come crashing down and I-I grabbed you, midair." I was still quite shocked that I had managed to catch him.
"Why'd you save me. Why didn't you go along?"
"Why are you questioning why I saved you? I just did. I reacted to what I saw." Couldn't he just be grateful I had done something.
"Where were Harry and my brothers?"
"Don't think they didn't try. They did. But you were falling too fast and were too far from them, to catch you. I was closer and my broom is much faster than horrid ones you have." I joked.
"Thank you, for reacting."
"You're welcome."
We were in a bit of silence for a moment when he spoke up again.
"Checkmate." He grinned, obviously satisfied he had beat a Slytherin.
"How so?" I made a contorted face. "You've cheated!"
"I have not! I've won fair and square." He defended himself.
"There's no way you could've possibly won."
"And so you were saying how good you were."
I made a flabbergasted sound. "Only when someone doesn't cheat."
Madam Pomfrey then walked in with a cart.
"Good to see my patients are getting along well." She smiled, pulling up next to us.
"You cheated." I mouthed to him.
"Did not." He mouthed back.
"I brought breakfast for you guys." She said. Since I was on Weasley's bed she brought me over my tray to eat next to him.
"Lauren, did you like the roses." She asked smiling.
"Yes they're very pretty. But I haven't gotten the chance to read the cards yet." I looked over at all the bouquets.
"Here." She said putting them in my bed. "It'll sound repetitive though cause they're all from Draco." She winked at me. I smiled.
"Ron. Harry and Hermione said they would come first thing after fourth class." She said and Ron nodded.
"Well I'll leave you two to eat." She said walking out.
I began eating.
"You're a cheater Weasley." I said with a stuffed mouth.
"For the last time I did not cheat Lauren." He chuckled. He said my name. I think its the first time I've heard him say it. It caught me off guard.
"What?" He asked also with a stuffed mouth.
"I want a rematch after this." I smiled.
Ron quickly finished his meal and briefly looked at my muffin, which I had saved for last.
"Damn this good heart of my mine." I whispered
taking the muffin splitting it in half and giving half to him.
"Thanks." He took it with a smile.
"I've never met a girl who liked eating so much like me." He said watching me stuff my mouth. I looked at him, a bit hurt from his comment.
"I'm not calling you fat. Cause you're not. You're definitely not fat. I mean you're fat where it counts." I looked at him some more, blushing more by each word he said. "That's not how I meant to say it. I meant that you have a nice figure." He turned a very bright red.
"Thanks?" I chuckled.
"He's so smooth." I thought to myself.
"So wanna play again?" He asked desperately trying to change the topic.
"We have to play again. And I'm not gonna let you cheat this time." I said making him smile. I noticed a mirror and looked at myself. I looked absolutely horrid. My hair was puffy and I looked like I hadn't slept in days.
"What?" Ron asked, seeing my frightened look.
"I've just realized how horrifying I look." I said looking at myself.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked chuckling.
I anxiously patted down my hair.
"Lauren you look normal."
"You're in the infirmary, no ones gonna care what you look like." He said, waiting for me to make the first move.
"You'd be surprised Weasley." I said making a thinkitive face. He chuckled.
"I forgot that your best friend's a prat." He playfully added.
"He is not. He's just..." I didn't exactly know what else to say.
"A prat." He finished my sentence
"Ok. But he's a sweet one." I looked at the bouquets of flowers.
"Because he fancies you." Ron said rolling his eyes.
"What do you have against Malfoy?" I asked slightly annoyed.
"I have nothing against him. It's him who's constantly berating Harry and I." He said defensive "You should know what he's like more than anyone."
"You know what Weasley, that hurt." I said faking pain and grabbing my chest.
"He used to be so mean to you and you're acting like he was always been nice."
"You've called me a no good, slimy Slytherin and here we are playing chess on your bed." I said making a move.
"Check mate." He said smoothly.
"Excusssse Me?" I was completely confused as to how I had lost a second time.
"Check mate. I won. Again." He smiled smugly.
"You've cheated again."
"I didn't. I won fair and square. Again."
"I could've sworn I was better at this game. I'm just a bit rusty that's all."
"Just a little." He chuckled.
I made him a face. "The sarcasm is not appreciated Weasley."
Suddenly the door swung open and in walked a small group of students. I recognized Harry and Hermione. I wasn't completely who the girl and twins were, but was sure they were Weasley's from their hair.