Harry's green eyes glanced at the seat empty seat beside him in the cafeteria, as it was time for dinner. It had been one week since his and Ron's fight and while Hermione had told him to not worry about his disappearance, that the staff would find him, he still worried. In that one week, a lot of things happened, like his being admitted to the Tri-Wizard Tournament, becoming friends with Cedric, the other competitor from Hogwarts, and winning the first round of the competition. Neville had tried to fill the gap left by Ron but it just wasn't the same. People sympathized with him for what Ron had said but he had every right to tell the truth, and no matter how many times he had attempted to correct them, the people just said to stop being a saint towards a twit.
With a sigh he started to eat the porridge, not feeling like doing anything. The big door of the cafeteria opened, and though it was dark outside the doors, a student passed through them with a person in their arms being carried bridal style.
"Help! Ronald Weasley is hurt! He's bleeding!" Madam Pomfrey was the first to stand up from her seat and rushed towards the two students. Surprisingly, it was Draco Malfoy who had carried the young Gryffindor to the dining room.
"Put him gently on the floor to see the damage," Pomfrey said gently to Draco who nodded and obeyed and the students gasped at seeing his blood-soaked clothes. Madam Pomfrey winced, and gently lifted the shirt, making Ron groan in pain at the action. She gasped at seeing a large stab wound on his stomach and started to apply pressure on it. She yelled;
"Help me get him to the infirmary Severus! Draco, bring some potions from the dungeons!" Snape nodded, and with a spell, he gently levitated the teen and rushed to the infirmary with Madam Pomfrey and Draco on his side. The dining room which was full of murmurs and whispers exploded into yells and panicked screams. Dumbledore, seeing the panic, injected magic into his voice to sound louder.
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore yelled, and silence reigned the room. With a much calmer voice, he continued. "All students and guests will be led to their quarters and stay there for what's left of the night. Because Slytherin's Professor is with Madam Pomfrey, Hagrid will lead you instead. Now, be calm. We will get to the bottom of this."
Harry felt lost, he wanted to accompany Ron to the infirmary. His best friend was hurt for Merlin's sake! But he knew it would only make things worse, because Draco Malfoy was there, and they would end up fighting. So Harry waited until it was midnight, and after assuring himself there was no one, he left the dorms with the cloak of invisibility.
The infirmary was quiet and had a gloomy atmosphere in it. Harry, with his cloak of invisibility, slowly walked inside and approached the bed that had a familiar ginger-haired teen. He approached it and was surprised to see Draco sitting beside his friend, a worried frown on the Slytherin's face making Harry's heart burn with jealousy. It wasn't fair! He is Ron's best friend, not Malfoy!
...but he wasn't, not after what Ron said to him. With his heart conflicted, Harry left, green orbs never leaving the intertwined hands.
Meanwhile, Draco felt guilty about what happened. If Ron hadn't been there when he was attacked by that weird mystical creature in the forbidden forest, he might have died, but the brave Gryffindor took the stab for him, even when he looked all battered up and in pain. It had all started when Draco, under anger, left for the forbidden forest, but he was encountered by, what looked to be, a humanoid creature holding a knife. The creature gave chase and he ran away until he encountered the Weasley, who at seeing the creature almost close to him and stabbed him, jumped to stop it. Draco took advantage and fired an unforgivable curse to kill it, which succeeded. Afterward, he ran to Hogwarts, more specifically, the dining room, and asked for help.
With a sigh, Draco slightly clenched Ron's hand, lost in his thoughts of guilt, until a hand tapped his shoulder, making the blind teen slightly jump in place. He looked behind him, and an adult man with his white hair up, and blue eyes smiled at him, kindness in his Aura making Draco relax.
"Hello. I am the Wizarding nurse on night duty. My name is Sylvyr." The man presented himself, and Draco was stunned at how beautiful he was. " I have been ordered by Madam Pomfrey to take you to your dorms, young Malfoy." He said, and Draco nodded as if hypnotized, his eyes with a red shine, missing how the blue eyes turned red, and a vicious smile was placed on those pink lips. He materialized a dagger and pointed it to Draco. Ron's eyes fluttered open, and watched the scene. Feeling Draco in danger, he talked, looking right at Sylvyr, whose scarlet eyes widened at seeing awake.
"If you hurt Malfoy or anyone here without my order, I will leave you, and not just for one lifetime," Ron said, his silver eyes glowing with defiance and hate making Sylvyr stop, and making the dagger disappear. Draco, who had a red shine in his eyes, suddenly disappeared and looked around him, not knowing what happened. When he looked at Ron and saw him awake, he hugged the Gryffindor, relieved to see him alive.
"Wha- Malfoy? What are you doing?" Ron asked, his eyes shining as if not believing what the Slytherin had just done, but in reality, he felt nothing at such a hug. Draco's cheeks turned red, and he stopped the hug flustered. He coughed in his hand as if trying to take away the shame he felt.
"You- you saw nothing!" And the blond teen ran away from the infirmary, leaving the white-haired man and Ron alone. Sylvyr smiled happily at seeing that boy go and sat on the bed where Ron was, and hugged him from the waist.
"I'm sorry for not defending you from that creature" Sylvyr muttered, tears in the corner of his eyes. Ron sighed and slowly caressed the man's head. While the Spirit King didn't see Ron's expression, he thought it must have been soft and regretful for what he said. But the reality was other, and disgust and hate were overflowing from the silver eyes.
Ron hated Sylvyr and the disgusting things he had done to him in his previous lives, but knew that if he wanted to win against a cosmic being like Izhathal, the one that cursed him, he needed someone who could create and control life, not the other way around. So, maintaining the King's life for him was essential. With a sigh that sounded content to Sylvyr, Ron closed his eyes still caressing his hair.
After two weeks, Ron was released from the infirmary with a warning from Madam Pomfrey to not exert himself and if he needed any help changing the bandages to call her or her new assistant, Sylvyr. Ron just smiled tiredly and nodded. In reality, he didn't care and knew that in the night Sylvyr would slowly heal his wound so he could depend on him, even if for a short time.
While he was at the infirmary, Harry had completed the first challenge and was on to the next one. The green-eyed teen had already deciphered what was in the egg provided on the first challenge. Ron knew that he was on Harry's mind and that his " Best Friend " was thinking he was at fault for the injuries. The Gryffindor walked towards the common room where breakfast was being served and tried to muster the most pathetic expression he could. Right now, until he escaped Hogwarts with Sylvyr, all he could do was make the people around him think of him as one of the most weak people in the world. Finally, Ron opened the big doors and the hallway became quiet.
"The show begins"