Chapter 2
~Y/n~
It was much later now, dinner had probably ended. I was in the Library using my wand to illuminate the books in front of me, but still, I could barely see. I would use Lumos Maxima, but I'm afraid one of the ghosts would see... I sighed, grabbed what looked like the sequel to the previous book I was reading, and sat down at one of the tables.
I turned on the small lamp and rested my chin on my hand, reading while looking down at my lap. I didn't even realize how late it was because I could barely see the clock on the wall. Usually, I ask about the paintings, but they were asleep. It must be very late... The paintings and I have become acquainted, they eventually age into my reading shenanigans and they don't rat me out of anything. Sometimes I read to them since they can't read the books themselves. And when the baby in one of the paintings wakes up I would sing to it so his mother could sleep for once. There was a boy around my age, who made me read him action-packed books and a granny who scolded us for laughing late at night, but she never reported us to Filch.
As I read my book, it became later, and later, even the ghosts were probably asleep. I looked at the clock but couldn't see it, couldn't even make out the hands of the clock. But as I was going to get up to look at it, someone entered the library. Shit.
I quickly ducked under the desk and hit my head, making me hiss but hopefully, they didn't know where I was. But who was I kidding, I left the light on, I was a sitting duck. I covered my mouth and rubbed the back of my head as I heard the footsteps approach me. They got louder... and louder...
And then they stopped. I looked to my side and saw a pair of black shoes facing my direction. They walked even closer to me and by now, they were right in front of me, standing right above where I was hidden. I shut my eyes as if it was going to make me invisible.
...
"What are you doing here, Granger?" I heard a familiar voice. Too familiar, my eyes shot open and I saw Draco crouching in front of me. His eyes were cold and in less than a second he grabbed my arms and pulled me out from under the table, effortlessly. Except I hit my cheekbone as he pulled me up to my feet.
"Ow! Shove off Malfoy!" I said, shoving him away from me and backing up, I touched my cheekbone and winced as it was now bruised, "Why do you have to be so aggressive?!" I whispered and yelled, careful not to disturb the paintings.
"What are you doing here after curfew? You have already been caught once, you'll get even more of a detention-"
"Be quiet!" I said, taking a step towards him and pointing my wand at his neck. The baby in the painting was stirring, and I didn't want it to wake up... Draco looked stunned, but not scared. He also didn't make any movie while my wand was pointed at him, "Be quiet." I repeated.
I removed the wand from his neck and looked at the baby, his mother was still asleep, and he seemed to have stopped squirming. I sighed a breath of relief and looked back at Draco with harsh eyes.
"If you want to report me, you can do so without yelling," I whispered sternly.
He looked at me coldly once again and fixed tie, "Why are you-"
"To read. Why else would I be in the library?" I glared at him, "If you're not going to report me, then I'll be on my way." I turned on my heel about to leave, but he grabbed my arm.
"What-"
"Your face is bruised." He stated the obvious.
"Yeah, and it's your fault-"
"I'm taking you to the Infirmary"
He didn't even let me speak again before he started pulling me out of the Library and in the direction of the Infirmary.
"Let go Malfoy, I don't need your help." I snapped, getting out of his grip and raising my voice a bit since there were no paintings sleeping in this hall, he turned back to face me.
"That bruise is going to be worse when you wake up."He said, taking my wrist and pulling me once again, "And I'm not going to let you tell everyone that I was the cause of it."
I got out of his grip once more, he was just doing this for his reputation. I pulled my wand back out and used Lumos Maxima so I could see him fully. My eyes softened for a second when I saw him. But only for a second. He looked pale, and his hair was rather messy. I could tell that he was tired while we were in the library, but I didn't expect him to look so shaken up.
I quickly changed my demeanor and scoffed, "So you just want to keep your nonexistent reputation up." I crossed my arms, "I knew that there wasn't an ounce of sympathy in you." I say confidently.
He huffed and walked up to me, and before I could back away he grabbed my face, surprisingly gently, and pressed the bruise making me wince, "That bruise is going to be worse tomorrow, so if you were smart I suggest you follow me to the Infirmary so you don't get caught by yourself by Filch." He said and let go of my face before turning on his heel and walking away. I was surprised he didn't strangle me to death, as cold as his voice sounded, he did seem like he wanted to get rid of the bruise on my cheek. Probably so that he won't risk me telling anyone about it. I hesitantly followed behind him, making sure I was a good distance from where he was.
We made it to the Hospital Wing, which was empty. Madame Pomfrey wasn't even there...
"Where is Madame Pomfrey...?" I mumbled to myself, but of course, Draco heard.
"Just sit down in mudblood, I know how to heal minor injuries." He said and went to a shelf. Of course, I didn't listen to him, but he looked back at me to see if it was sitting and pointed to one of the beds, "Sit mudblood"
He commanded me as if I were a dog, but then again, he was surprisingly helping me, "How am I supposed to know if you are not poisoning me?" I asked, crossing my arms and still not sitting.
"Because if I killed you I'd have to share a cell with my father." He said and it shut me up. My face softened and I hesitantly sat down on the cot and watched what he put into a little little mortar. He ground up all the ingredients into what looked like a slave and walked over to me.
"Hold still." He said and dipped his hand into the salve and reached towards my face, I backed away.
"How do I know it's not going to burn my skin off," I said leaning back a bit more, he only rolled his eyes and reached over more forward, successfully putting just a drop of the salve onto the skin.
"Does it seem to be burning?" He asked and I glared at him. The place where he put the slave on my cheek didn't hurt when I touched it...the bruise was gone from that spot... "I didn't think so." He smirked and reached forward once more to continue applying the slave to my cheekbone.
When he was done I stood up quickly and just looked at him. I don't know if I looked angry or annoyed, but he seemed amused. He turned and walked away, putting the stone bowl and crusher in the small sink as I contemplated what to say.
I can't yell at him for just healing my injury... but he's being nice, why?
"Malfoy." You call out, ruder than you wanted it to be but it has already been done, you walk up beside him and he turns his head to you as he washes the bowl, "Thanks for doing that, I wouldn't have told anyone either way..." You say sheepishly, but surprisingly he doesn't say anything mean. Well, too mean.
"It was nothing, We wouldn't want your ugly face to look even worse, you might shatter your mirror." He said with a smirk, and I actually couldn't help but laugh. That was funny.
I click my tough but smile a bit, "Why did you help me though, did you have a change of heart towards mud blood?" I say sarcastically, as I turn to look at some healing potions on a shelf.
"Of course not, I just didn't want one of the paintings to report me." He said as he dried his hands. His sleeves were all wet because he didn't roll them up, "Also, when the healing is done, the salve will be absorbed into your skin."
"That's weird." I say raising a brow, "I have never come across a healing slave like that before."
"It was made for wizards who were injured during one of the wars... so that they didn't have to worry about washing it off later." He explained and put the towel on the side of the sink and leaned against it.
"That's... pretty cool," I remarked. This was the first time we were talking without fighting, "Well, thanks. I best be off to the common room..."
"I'll walk you, you'll get in trouble if you get caught by Filch." He said and walked past me, looking back to see if I was following, which I did.
I felt bad waking the fat lady, but it must be done. She wasn't mad at me, but she was getting tired of having to wake up in the middle of the night because I was out at the library so late. Luckily we weren't caught by Filch, but even if we were, he couldn't do anything about it because Draco was with me. It was weird seeing him being so nice, maybe he had been hexed. We didn't say goodnight to each other, but I did thank him once more.
When I got into my room, Ginny was still awake, she seemed to be writing in her journal. Hermione was asleep and my bed was empty.
"Ginny..." I said shutting the door, she looked up at me once she finished writing a sentence.
"You won't believe what happened..."