Pulling A Bond
It had been two days since Draco last read the book, and life had returned to normal. Or so he thought.
Harry Potter had become one of the champions for the Triwizard Tournament. Which meant that obviously Draco was going to antagonize Potter and his friends.
"Bud out Malfoy!" Potter yelled.
Draco smirked cruelly with a small hint of fondness. This is what he needed, his beliefs reinforced. "Did I lie?" Draco sauntered up to the trio. "Do you really think you'll make it past the first challenge?" he chuckled. "Don't kid yourself Potter,"
Granger lurched forward, her eyes clouded with anger. "You better watch your mouth Malfoy!" she snarled.
"Yeah Malfoy!" Weasley agreed with his friends.
"Hey Potter, keep your pet weasel and his mug-" Draco blinked in shock before quickly snapping out of his little stupor. "-mudblood girlfriend in check!"
Granger quickly closed the distance between her and Draco. She planted her feet, brought her arm back, and swung, punching Draco right in the jaw. Draco fell to the ground, clutching his jaw, looking up at a seething Granger, scared Weasley, and smug yet shocked looking Potter.
"Run along Malfoy," Potter smiled with false innocence.
Draco snarled at the three while he scrambled to his feet, summoned what was left of his dignity, and walked back inside. He slowly walked towards the infirmary, cradling his bruised jaw. Draco entered the infirmary to see a boy with dirty blonde hair and honey colored eyes, crouched in front of a cabinet overflowing with potions and vials.
"Is Madame Pomfrey around?" Draco asked.
The boy startled slightly, disturbing the shelves, he caught the one potion that fell off of its shelf. He made eye contact with Draco and stood up. "S-sorry, what was that?" the boy asked, brushing off his jeans. He was wearing dark blue jeans, and a black jumper, the boy was a couple inches shorter than Draco.
"I asked if Madame Pomfrey was around," Draco let his hand drop to show the darkening bruise on his jaw.
"Oh God, what happened?" the boy took a small step forward and raised his hands in an attempt to prod the bruise before dropping them to his sides. "Madame Pomfrey is out at the moment, but I'm training as her apprentice. I could help you out. Is it just the bruise?" the boy stepped even closer to Draco.
Draco looked down at the boy and wrinkled his nose. "Apprentice?" he looked the boy up and down. "You look even younger than me,"
The boy balked at that. "We're in the same year!" he shook his head slightly. "I'm her unofficial apprentice. I'm pretty accident prone and Madame Pomfrey can't be here all the time so she started to teach me some things," he smiled slightly.
"Uh huh, yes it's just the bruise," Draco confirmed.
The boy turned around and walked over to a chest of drawers, scanning the labels on them. "I can only fix the bruise on your jaw," the boy crouched down and opened the middle drawer of the bottom row. "I'm Leo by the way," he smiled.
"Draco," he slowly introduced himself, confusion heavy as he spoke. "I don't have any other bruises,"
Leo smiled at Draco. "Why the bruise on your ego of course. Ah, there it is," Leo mumbled the last part. He stood up and walked over to a stool and pat it. "Sit here please,"
Draco sputtered. "My ego is not bruised!"
Leo leveled him with a blank stare. "Really? So you lost a fight and your pride isn't hurt at all?"
"How do you know I lost? Maybe I won,"
Leo chuckled. "Yeah, sure. You're the only one here with an injury, which could mean you won, except that your knuckles aren't bruised, which means that you didn't get a chance to fight back. You also only have one bruise which means it was a one-and-done, so you probably got knocked to the ground judging by the grass on your sleeve. If your pride isn't bruised at all then you're a special kind of idiot. Now come sit,"
Draco stared at Leo in shock before walking over and sitting on the stool. Leo opened the small canister and placed it on the desk beside him. Leo grabbed his chin and tilted it upwards.
"This might be a bit cold," Leo warned.
Draco flinched back at the cold salve on Leo's fingers. Leo gripped Draco's chin more securely as he spread the salve onto Draco's jaw.
"So this salve has to be applied cold to calm down the swelling. It also speeds up the natural healing process,"
Draco looked at Leo with rapt attention. "How?"
Leo startled slightly. "How does the bruise disappear, or how long until it does?"
"Both,"
"Well, the salve speeds up the natural healing process. The blood vessels heal and the body reabsorbs the blood once again. The bruise should be gone in a day or two,"
"It absorbs the blood?"
"Bruises are small blood vessels that burst and then bleed a bit, that's why they're a dark purple color. The blood has nowhere to go so the body reabsorbs it,"
Draco hummed with interest.
"So Mister Malfoy, who's Granger 2.0?"
"You know who I am?"
Leo stared in shock before doubling over from the force of his laughter. "Oh my God! Holy shit that's good!" Leo straightened up, a wide smile on his face.
"Did I say something funny?" Draco glared.
"Yes actually," Leo chuckled. "Of course I know who you are, everyone knows who you are! You practically advertise that you're a Malfoy! Not to mention your rivalry with Harry Potter," Leo retracted his hand and wiped them on a stray towel. "So Mister Malfoy, who's the next Granger?"
Draco blushed and looked away. "I don't need to answer your questions,"
"Holy shit, did Granger punch you again?! Mister Malfoy, you really need to learn not to try Miss Granger," Leo smiled.
Draco opened his mouth to snap back his response before snapping it closed, his eyes widened. This was banter wasn't it? He straightened up. "Well Mister..." Draco trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Leo.
"Andrews. Leo Andrews," Leo dropped his head and chuckled. "I can't believe I just pulled a Bond,"
"A bond?" Draco asked.
"It's a movie reference, the main character in the movie always introduces himself like that," Leo straightened up and cleared his throat. "The name's Bond. James Bond," he said in a deep voice.
Draco chuckled slightly.
"So, what did you do to make her punch you?"
"How do you know I'm the one who said something?!"
Leo hopped up onto the desk, his legs dangled off the edge. "Do you expect me to believe she punched you unprovoked?"
A wave of nervousness swept over Draco. Part of him wondered why he was nervous, he wasn't wrong. While a much larger, and newer, part of him knew that he was wrong and the situation he was in. He was pretty sure he was about to tell a muggleborn what he had said. Draco looked at the ground when he spoke. "I called her a mudblood,"
A few moments of silence passed before Draco chanced a look at Leo. Leo's face was kept carefully blank.
"Well, I can't say that I blame her. Probably would've don the same honestly,"
Draco winced at the dead tone Leo used when he spoke.
"Do you look that way because you're ashamed of what you said, or because you're scared to get hit again?"
Draco knew he wasn't amazing at recognizing casual social cues, but he knew what this was, and he was taking it. "A bit of both," he hesitantly smiled.
Leo chuckled slightly, his shoulders loosened. "Fair. Now, are you saying that so I continue applying the salve?"
"That might be part of it," he took a deep breath and sat up. "I think I could make do though,"
Leo fully laughed this time, head thrown back, tears in the corners of his eyes. "I doubt that! A lot of salves look the same and do drastically different things. You could've made your bruise even worse. Looks like you need me," he teased, leaning towards Draco.
Draco bristled slightly. "I do not!"
"Oh yeah?" Leo smirked. "How long are you supposed to keep the salve on?"
Draco hesitated before answering. "Until it dries?" he questioned.
"Twenty minutes," Leo smiled, grabbing a clean towel and hopping off the desk and walked towards the sink in the back. "Which it has been," he said, wetting the towel and walking back over.
"I could've figured it out,"
"Oh I bet" Leo used the wet towel to wipe the salve off of Draco's face. He balled the towel up and tossed it towards the hamper, missing by a foot.
"I got it," Draco carefully levitated the towel into the hamper.
"Thanks. Now-" Leo grabbed the salve and handed it to Draco. "-apply this salve for twenty minutes at a time and have it off for at least an hour before you reapply. Don't sleep with it on, and if it's still there tomorrow come by again, okay?" he smiled.
"Right, thank you," Draco stood up from the stool, walking towards the exit before he stopped and turned back towards Leo, who was cleaning off the desk he used. "Hey Leo? What house are you in?"
Leo looked up at Draco and smiled teasingly. "What? Scared I might be a Gryffindor?"
Draco smiled. "Just want to know which tie color to look out for," he glance meaningfully at Leo's chest.
"Hey!" Leo pointed at his face. "Eyes are up here!" he laughed.
"How will I know it's you?"
"I don't look all that different in uniform you know,"
Draco laughed. "I'll be on the lookout then," he smiled, waving at Leo.