»Lie to me, yeah.
Yes, your lies are good for me, yeah, yeah.
Sonic Boom,
show me all of your moves,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yes, your lies are good for me, yeah, yeah.
Lie to-, lie to-, lie to me, yeah.
Yes, your lies are way too much,
yeah, yeah.
Come on, show me all of your
cheats, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, lie to me and fall
in love, yeah, yeah.
Please, lie to me again.«
Harry shook Draco's frail body, but the Slytherin wouldn't wake.
Panic began to cut off his breath.
He carefully picked up the blond boy.
"I'll take him to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey will know what to do", Harry said to Hermione as he passed her.
She nodded in understanding.
There was Draco, as light as a feather in Harry's arms, who was very startled.
He could almost feel every bone in Draco's body.
How did the Slytherin not die by now? He was emaciated.
With one hand, the Gryffindor opened the large, wooden door to the hospital wing.
Quickly, he headed for a free hospital bed, into which he placed the fragile-looking Draco.
Madam Pomfrey hurried to Harry. "What's wrong with Mr. Malfoy?", she asked, the familiar worried look on her face.
"He fainted, about ten minutes ago", Harry quickly responded. "I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn't wake."
Madam Pomfrey took a closer look at Draco.
His already pale skin seemed even paler, his body was emaciated and he slightly reeked of vomit.
"It could be a bug because he smells like vomit", Madam Pomfrey mumbled.
Harry knew that Draco had to get help, so he wouldn't let it go with a bug now.
"I'm afraid he's not sick in the way you're thinking, Madam Pomfrey. Malfoy told me a while ago that he suffers from emetophobia, the fear-", he began, but Madam Pomfrey cut him off.
"The fear of vomiting. I've heard about it, but I always thought that only muggles could have it", she said and her worried look turned into an even more worried one.
"Does he eat very little? Like, is it based on a traumatic experience? Most sufferers have experienced something traumatic with throwing up or the vomit itself", Madam Pomfrey said, her eyes looked deeply into Harry's.
"Y-Yeah, he told me that he ate ice cream in elementary school once, for the first time ever, and his stomach didn't take it well. He felt sick, went to the toilet to throw up, but the feeling of his stomach contents coming back up freaked him out. And since that day he's afraid of ice cream, eating anything at all and vomiting. He almost eats nothing at all. But if he eats, it comes right back up. If food gets stuck in his throat, he forces himself to throw it up, because the feeling of his throat closing up and the food not getting out is freaking him out. I think he relives the experience every time when that happens", Harry said, Madam Pomfrey nodded.
"Alright, alright. That's quite a lot. He definitely needs to get a feeding tube. He needs the nutrients.
If he throws all of his food up, if he even eats at all, the nutrients can hardly do anything for his body. Besides that, he won't have to eat food for a while anymore, as long as he's in treatment and learning to eat food again and not be frightened of it.
The liquid is full of all the nutrients that he needs, it'll go right into his stomach. If he wants, he still can eat with the tube. It might hurt and I wouldn't recommend it, but if he needs to chew on something in therapy, it wouldn't mess anything up", Madam Pomfrey told Harry, who was listening carefully.
The last lesson had already ended as Draco regained consciousness.
It took him a while to open his eyes.
The first thing Draco realized was that he felt terribly nauseous.
He thought he was going to retch any second.
Madam Pomfrey walked over to his bed, she had noticed that the blond-haired Slytherin had regained consciousness.
"Mr. Malfoy", she spoke softly, "you were unconscious. Mr. Potter, who was so kind to bring you here, has told me a bit about what's going on with you. After I asked him what was wrong with you, of course. And he told me that you suffer from emetophobia. He also told me a bit of what caused you the fear of vomiting. To summarize what went down; you need help, Mr. Malfoy. We could either try treatment here or we will take you to-".
She couldn't even finish her sentence, because Draco shook his head vigorously.
"I'd like to try treatment here", he said decisively, not keen on having to listen to a talk from his parents, let alone a howler.
"Where are they taking you? To a hospital? Stop making such a fuss about nothing, Draco! We didn't raise a whiny crybaby! Now, get your butt out of the hospital wing and stop being a disgrace to our family!", no thanks, Draco would love to pass on the howler.
If his parents only knew where their perfectionism had driven him.
"And what will my treatment consist of? Therapy sessions?", Draco asked uncertainty.
"Partly. You'll have therapy sessions, twice a week. But I also thought that a feeding tube would be good for you right now, considering that you eat almost nothing and therefore are lacking nutrients", Madam Pomfrey continued.
A feeding tube?
Draco's facial expression showed clearly that he had not quite understood.
"It's a thin, very thin plastic tube, which is passed through the nose down the throat to the stomach.
Once the tube is seated, a fluid containing all the important nutrients that you're lacking will flow through it. In the beginning, it will feel very weird, but over time you'll get used to it", Madam Pomfrey explained and Draco nodded.
However, her facial expression worried the Slytherin.
"Well, I need your parent's permission to put the tube into your stomach", Madam Pomfrey said hesitantly, often students didn't want their parents to know about their accidents and injuries, but it was inevitable.
Draco groaned out loud. Great, now he needed his parents, out of all people.
"Are you going to write them a letter or send them the permission papers for them to fill out?", Draco asked.
"Yes, I only need you to write down your signature on it after I'm done", Madam Pomfrey said and with a smile, she walked away.
Now Draco was alone with his thoughts.
His throat was still burning.
When he vomited earlier, some blood came up as well, which had scared the Slytherin.
He must've damaged his throat in some way.
"Damn it. Tomorrow's choir with Professor Dumbledore", the blond-haired Slytherin mumbled to himself.
A few seconds later, the door swung open and a few people appeared in the door frame.
Pansy, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Blaise.
"Hey guys", Draco croaked out, he was hoarse than ever.
"Holy Merlin, you scared the living hell out of me!", Harry cried as he ran towards Draco's bed.
Quickly sitting down on the edge of the bed, he pulled the emaciated Draco into a tight embrace.
Salty tears soon touched the fabric of Draco's robe.
"I don't want you t-to die. Please, stay a-alive. Try to stay alive. For yourself and for all the people that love you. I love you so much and you will, I promise, you will get through this", the Gryffindor sobbed, his chest quivering and his eyes wouldn't stop filling with tears.
Pansy hugged Draco, too; the others slowly joined in as well.
"We care about you so much, Draco. Don't worry, you'll get through this", Blaise said and Draco's heart filled with warmth. He wasn't used to Blaise not calling him by his surname and he wasn't used to so much love.
"Thanks, I love you all, too. Yes, you as well, Weaselbee", Draco said and his thin fingers softly patted Ron's shoulder.
Said boy smiled warmly; it felt nice to feel something else than hate towards the blond-haired Slytherin.
After the others had left, Harry and Draco were alone.
"Harry", Draco began, "Madam Pomfrey is writing a letter to my parents. They need to sign permission papers for her to put the feeding tube on."
Harry's hand gently brushed over Draco's chest.
"Harry, you've gotten thinner. Is it because of me? Did I trigger you or is it my fault that you felt like you're not good enough at saving me or something like that? I swear, I didn't mean to-", Harry cut Draco's stammering off with a kiss.
Slowly, he pulled away.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault. I don't eat that much here because of the Dursley's. I need to spend my holidays there anyway, so I don't even bother getting my stomach used to normal-sized portions", Harry clarified.
"Please dear, don't do this to yourself. You're deserving of eating properly, the Dursley's don't even serve you proper meals. But you get to eat properly here, so please do that", the blond-haired Slytherin said softly.
"Yeah. And on top of that, I'm a Quidditch player. I need strength. It's not like I wanted this, it sort of happened because of not eating enough", Harry said.
Draco sighed. Now, after Harry had been there for him, he had to be there for him as well.
"Darling? How about I ask Madam Pomfrey if she can put together a meal plan for you?", Draco suggested.
"That way, you can see what you need to eat in order to be healthy and you won't over- or under-eat, since the recommenced amount of food will be described in that meal plan."
A yawn left the mouth of the raven-haired Gryffindor before he answered: "That sounds like a good idea. I also won't forget to eat, as I often did while staying with the Dursley's."
With a smile on his lips, Draco closed his eyes.
Harry placed a kiss on Draco's thin hand before he carefully slid out of the bed.
"Sleep well, Draco. I love you so much", he whispered softly.
The smile on Draco's lips widened a bit and his eyelids moved, but he didn't wake up.
Smiling as well, Harry made his way to his room.
Hopefully, Draco's parents would fill the permission papers out soon.
Draco needed treatment, as soon as possible.
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(Wortcount: 1755 words)
Holy heck, can't believe that I've got another chapter done today! 👌🥵
I was out in town the whole day, so I thought that I wouldn't get another one done today.
The lyrics at the top are from the song "Sonic Boom" by Yungmon.
I'll go now and get some sleep, it's almost 10 pm here, bye-bye! 👋🤠