A Second Chance: Chapter Four

Draco finished his meal and grabbed his bag. They still had a few minutes to eat, but he needed to be away from the noise. Somewhere where he could think without interruption. Leaving the Great Hall, he headed for the doors to the school grounds. It was a cool and cloudy day, so he guessed that not many would enjoy the outdoors.
Picking a tree, he set his things down on the cold ground and began to pace. Thoughts rushed into his head, almost overwhelming him. The bathroom this morning, classes, lunch… He didn’t know what to think about it all. But every time she looked at him, he felt something. His stomach would tighten up, and he wasn’t as disgusted as usual. Draco’s eyes snapped open. ‘No!’ he thought. ‘Not in a million years!’ He couldn’t actually be starting to like Granger, could he? With a heavy sigh, he sat down against the tree and groaned. No wonder he had started to notice the change. Granger wasn’t the book worm that she used to be. Ok, well, she still was, but she was prettier, and more delicate. Her eyes were a warm brown color, and her hair wasn’t so bushy any more. Shaking his head, he tried to think of anything but her, to get his mind somewhere else.

---

Classes started again in the afternoon, and in everyone of them, Draco tried to sit as far away from her as possible. He didn’t want anything to happen. During the course of the last classes, he was piled with another essay and three pages of notes to take.
Zabini met up with him after their last class was over. They were to meet the Slytherin quidditch captain out in the field for practice. As they walked down the corridors, a shill noise pierced the ears of the two boys. Turning around, they saw Pansy galloping towards them. “Zabini” said Draco.
“Yes?”
“Shoot me…”
Zabini smiled at him. Pansy reached them, and in her high pitched voice she said, “Hi Draco. You didn’t come see me between classes.” Trying to be as polite as his mind would possible let him, he answered, “I was too busy to be bothered with coming to see you, Pansy.”
“Nice” came a whisper from his side.
“Look. Pansy, we have to go to quidditch practice.” Turning away, he started to walk away, when all of a sudden a new amount of weight was added to his arm. He stumbled a little, but kept walking.

---

When they got to the quidditch pit, Pansy finally let go of Draco’s arm to go watch them practice from the stands. “Finally!” he muttered. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Pansy, but she got to be really annoying at times, and he wasn’t in the mood when he had all these things about Granger on his mind. As they dressed, the captain told them about the game they were to play next week against Gryffindor. Not surprised, the boys continued to dress.
As practice began, they did some laps around the field, and then split up into two separate teams. They practiced strategies, dodging, hitting, and catching the snitch. Draco was the only one focused on the small golden ball. It darted past his face, and he immediately gave chase. It darted in and out of the other players, making loops, and sharp turns. He never lost sight of it as it continued to speed ahead of him. He was a mere inch away from the snitch when he heard a scream fill the tense air. Losing his concentration for a second, he was only able to get a glimpse of the quaffle headed straight towards him before he fell.

---

Blackness. There was nothing but thick, heavy darkness. He couldn’t breathe, see, move… He felt like he was swimming, yet standing perfectly still.
A soft sound came floating towards him, like a light breeze. He couldn’t make out what it was, but he was glad for it. It was comfort in this unfamiliar place. He couldn’t figure out what was happening, or where he was. After a few minutes of silence, another sound drifted towards, him. A voice. Still undistinguishable, he searched his brain for possible solutions. He had been hit by a quaffle and then this. He tried to look around him, but it made him dizzy. It was all the same. The blackness was getting lighter, and a small beam of light was centered directly in front of him. He tried to move towards it, when he heard another sound. A girl’s voice. He felt a liquid being poured down his throat. The taste was horrid, but he couldn’t find the strength to spit it out. It was getting lighter, speeding up. The light got brighter by the second. He could make out more voices now, surrounding him. Two men, two women.
The light hit him like a train, as he surfaced from the blank, stingy darkness. Taking in a large gulp of air, he started to cough. A strong hand lifted him into a sitting position and patted his back. As his eyes adjusted to the new found light, he heard one of the female voices say “Well, at least he came back to us.” Professor McGonagall. Why was she here? He distinguished the five people now; McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Zabini, and his father. Zabini smiled at Draco, mocked bowed and said “Draco. You have decided to yet again grace us with your presence. We thought that you had left us for some other.” Lucius glared at the boy beside him.
“Thank you for that. You may leave now.” That was more like an order, and he knew that, so Zabini stalked out of the Hospital wing.
Draco looked at Professor McGonagall and asked, “What happened?”
“Well Draco… to put it simply, you got hit with a quaffle.” He rolled his eyes. He already knew that. McGonagall ignored this and kept talking. “When we reached you, Miss Granger was already by your side performing some simple healing spells she knew. It wasn’t enough though, so we took you here.” His father stiffened slightly when he heard that Hermione had been there before anyone else.
‘Granger helped me? That’s unusual…’ His thoughts were interrupted when his father started to talk.
“You let that Mudblood touch my son?! For all we know he could have been poisoned!” Lucius’ voice echoed off of the high ceiling of the Hospital wing.
Professor took Lucius by the arm and led him away to calm him down. Madam Pomfrey had receded to her office. Draco let his father and McGonagall speak. After a few minutes, he started to get annoyed and cleared his throat rather loudly. McGonagall looked at him, said a last word to Lucius and then walked back over to the white bed. Lucius walked out.
“Draco, I am afraid you will have to stay here for a few days until you fully recover. I can see you are doing fine, but we just want to make sure. I will have someone bring up your books.”
“Don’t I get any say in this?” Draco’s smooth voice floated through the air.
McGonagall shook her head. “If we let the students have a say in whether or not they get to stay in the Hospital wing, we would have far too many cripples at this school. Get your rest. You will need all that you can get.”
She got up and walked out, leaving Draco alone in the silence once again.

Author's Notes:PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! I have more trouble with the Hermione parts than I do with the Draco parts.