By My Side

Tea-time in the infirmary went badly. Very badly, infact, because half-way through what Eve could only describe as a thoroughly delicious meal, Draco grabbed the bowl from beside his bed and retched up the measly amount of food he had so-far consumed.

"Drac!" Eve exclaimed, and somehow, he managed to smile at the way she had shortened his name. No-one ever shortened his name. "Ew!" She then exclaimed, throwing down her plate. "I was enjoying that too."

"Sorry." Draco mumbled, wiping his mouth. There was a silence while Eve watched him steady himself both mentally and physically.

"Are you okay?" She eventually asked, hardly wanting to break the silence.

"No." He whispered, feeling the stomach acid rising once more. As he heaved again, Eve shouted,

"Madam Pomfrey! come quick!" Never in her life had she ever wanted to get out of bed so much. She wanted to go to him and rub his back, in the most honest sign of devotion she could think of. Being there for someone while they were this ill screamed that you cared. When the action gets rough....its easy to leave, but Eve wanted to stay, and she would, only she couldn't get out of damned bed!

"Here! drink this!" Madam Pomfrey told him kindly, "It'll ease your stomach."

"No," Draco shook his head, "It'll just come back." He was coughing, yet trying to hold his dignity.

"Drink it dear." The matron said smoothly, " I promise you, you'll be alright." Draco looked extremely suspicious, then took a gulp of the liquid, and finding it tasted like water, drank the rest down. Madam Pomfrey began clearing the plates away, putting them on a table and muttering something that made them vanish. Thankfully, she did the same with the bowl of vomit lying at the bottom of Draco's bed.

"How do you feel now?" Madam Pomfrey fussed, checking Draco's head for a temperature.

"Better." He muttered, leaning back against his pillows. Eve was watching him with a look of concern, which he felt rather than saw. "Eve, I'm fine." He whispered, and she grinned. Madam Pomfrey had bustled off somewhere.

"How did you know I was worried?"

"I felt it." He said openly, honestly. It was as though his illness had drained him momentarily of that arrogance and anger and game-playing tendency he usually possessed.

"Telepathy?" Eve asked sceptically.

"Yep." Draco said, going along with the banter. "Try something else."

"Right, okay." Said Eve. She began to think extremely dirty thoughts, imagining herself in all kinds of sexual tousles with who else but.....Draco. She grinned to herself, surprisingly aroused. "What am I feeling now?" She breathed.

"Erm.....hunger, because you didn't finish your dinner?" He asked, opening his eyes and seeing her blush.

"Nope." She shook her head.

"Why are you blushing?"

"No reason." Eve stifled a laugh.

"What were you thinking then?"

"Nothing."

"You were thinking something." Draco said, starting to get an idea of what she was thinking.

"I was thinking that I wanted to get all my homework finished." Eve said, pulling a book from beside the bed.

"No you weren't." Draco laughed, enjoying seeing the girl squirm.

"I was!" Eve laughed, blushing again.

"Very, very naughty Eve Lupin." Draco purred, and they locked eye contact.

"So you did get it?" She said coyly.

"No." He said simply, "I guessed." Eve grinned, then winked at him. "Who were you imagining?"

"No-one." Eve blushed.

"Who?" Draco laughed. "Oh, sick, Potter, wasn't it?"

"No!" Eve said honestly, keeping eye-contact.

"Not Weasley? you don't fancy Weasley?"

"No!" Eve sounded surprised.

"Oh! kinky! Granger?"

"Don't be disgusting Draco." Eve said, falsely annoyed.

"So who then?"

"Well who do you think it is? Really think." Eve drawled, realising she was flirting outrageously.

"I have no idea." Draco said honestly, not letting himself think about the possibility it might be him. "Dumbledore? Snape? Flitwick?"

"Yes, that was it, Dumbledore." Eve nodded.

"You could have said, you know." Draco said honestly, "I wouldn't have been shocked or anything, he's an attractive man."

"Well, I can't help it." Eve opened her book and began reading, a smile still on her face. Draco leaned against his pillows with his eyes shut, imagining what Eve had not long ago been imaging.

A thing rarely known outside the Slytherin common room was that Draco Malfoy was actually a very funny guy. He was extremely witty, but this kind of humour, stupid talking and ridiculous conversations, were a factor he found Eve developing in him. While he had come to the definite conclusion that she made him go soft in some ways and very hard in others, he had also excepted that the girl made him want to laugh and be.....well, the only word he could think of was warm, Warm and stupid like some kind of puppy dog. He laughed to himself, and heard her say,

"What Draco? you gonna puke again?"

"No Eve." He sighed, "Not again."

"So what you laughing for?"

"It was me, wasn't it?" The statement was much easier to say with his eyes closed, Draco noticed.

"Yes." Eve said quietly, without a hint of a laugh. He opened one eye and peeped at her. She was studying her fingernails like there was going to be an exam on them. She was blushing bright red but it was endearing, it made her look all the more soft, and in her pyjamas she looked sweet.

"Eve - " Draco started, but the doors to the infirmary opened and Professor Lupin came onto the ward, smiling.

"Daddy!" Eve shouted, with obvious glee in her voice. Draco now opened his other eye and watched in wonder at the way Eve treated her father.

"Sweetheart!" They hugged momentarily, then Remus sat down on the bed next to his little girl and inspected her, "So, how you feeling today?"

"Much better, but I still haven't had any returned feeling." Eve rubbed her leg absently.

"Maybe soon." Her father comforted. "Are you still eating well?"

"Yeah, well, except for tea-time." At this Eve grinned across at Draco and he smiled back. Remus was taken aback at the exchange. He had never seen anything but arrogance or a sneer on Draco Malfoy's face. To see a smile, in fact a clearly genuine smile, especially directed at his daughter, made Remus slightly shocked.

"What happened at tea-time?" Remus asked, wanting to break this strange moment his daughter seemed to be sharing with Malfoy, whom he knew to be a nasty piece of work.

"I was enjoying my tea when Draco here," She gestured, "Went and threw up just inches away, so I kind of lost my appetite."

"I did apologise." Draco said weakly, giving a small laugh then lying down and shutting his eyes. Eve laughed then turned back to her father.

"What sort of a day did you have, dad?"

The conversation went on for around half an hour, then Remus decided it was late, and that Eve should get some sleep, so he kissed her and bade her goodnight.

The whole scenario had shocked Draco. He wasn't used to people acting so affectionately towards their parents! Often, he barely spoke to his mother. Not because of arguments, but because she holed herself up on the other side of Malfoy Manor, in her own wing where she would entertain her friends (often wives of her fathers friends). Lucius was even worse, when he wasn't ordering Draco around or giving him stern lectures on family history or the rights of Purebloods, he was punishing him for something or other. Occasionally these punishments resulted in beatings, but not all time and it was becoming less frequent these days. Draco would say though, that he was largely terrified of his father. He didn't respect a lot of his views, but he knew that he could hurt him. Once, Draco remembered, his father had put the Cruciatus curse on him to 'test him'. Draco was fully aware of what would happen should he ever disobey his father concerning any large life-decisions, and so it made every part of the relationship strained. When Eve had held her father, Draco had looked on with jealousy. He never held anyone, well, there was Pansy, who demanded to be held for a little time after sex, but it meant nothing to him. He couldn't remember the last time he actually got a hug from anyone. Not that I want one. He scolded himself. Wanting affection is weak and immature. A voice sounding distinctly like his father, said in his mind. But he knew he did really, he wanted that kind of affection.

The way conversation flowed between the pair also brought out a jealous anger in him. They talked and laughed with ease, which only stood to remind him how tense and on-edge the conversations with his parents were. He was afraid about what to say all the time, unsure of what kind of reaction he would get even from a simple statement.

Draco looked across at Eve now, who was sitting back in her bed and pulling out the book she had been reading before her dad came in. He noted that Eve had received four visitors already, and he had received none. He wasn't sure what to think about this, when he looked at the clock and realised it was getting late, no one was coming now, so he decided to sleep.

"Night Eve." Draco murmured, turning over.

"Hey! Draco! no, you're not going to sleep."

"What?" He sat up. "Why?"

"I'll have no one to talk to."

"You're reading." He smiled, feeling so strangely easy with her. He felt he could do all these things he had always been told not to, smile, laugh, be flirtatious, be open, be coy, be honest. Lucius had instilled in him to shy away from these feelings, they were too human he was told. The Malfoy Guard must be kept up at all times, but that fierce face he had to wear slipped when she spoke to him. He felt human, not like so robot who went around with a free mind which much be open at all times for evil-doing and evil thoughts. He was tired of it, and was sick of that silly game. It seemed that only with Eve could he finally give the game up and be the person he knew was lurking inside him.

"It's not late. You feeling ill again?" The concern in her eyes made his heart leap.

"I'm fine." He told her, "A little dizzy maybe, but I don't feel sick."

"I want to finish this chapter." She told him, waving her book, "I won't be long."

"Okay." He said, feeling brighter, propping up his pillow behind him and waiting, patiently like a dog.

Just at that, the doors to the hospital wing opened once again and in ran Pansy Parkinson, her arms waving.

"Oh my Drakey!" She tied herself about his neck like a leech and his cool demeanour immediately returned.

"Get off me Pansy." He unhooked her hands.

"Oh baby! is it bad? are you very sick?"

"I'll survive." Draco grunted. "Now what do you want? I was about to get some sleep."

"I want to see how you are." Pansy looked genuinely hurt. "I've been thinking of ways to get back at that stupid squib Longbottom."

"Oh, so when something bad happens to Neville, I'll know who to send Dumbledore to then." Eve said spitefully, but with a voice full of house pride.

"What's it got to do with you, wolf-girl?" Pansy turned her head and glared at Eve. "Is she bothering you, Drakey? they should have separate rooms for people like her."

"Pansy, stop it." Draco said calmly, but in a barely audible voice.

"Shouldn't you be tied to the bed or something?" Pansy asked Eve, "Incase you catch sight of the moon and go growing hair or whatever it is you weirdos do."

"Actually Pansy," Eve said putting down her book, "Its only the full moon that bothers me, and that's just over. Sometimes though, you're right, I do get a little peckish in the night, and I quite like the taste of human flesh, so you'd better be worried about your little 'Drakey' as he might be my midnight snack."

Draco was smiling at Eve, he loved that fighting spirit in her, she seemed so fierce yet so meek. She gave as good as she got, that was for sure, and he admired that. She took some serious shit for the fact her dad was a werewolf, just as he took it for the fact his father was so obviously interested in the Dark Arts. He found himself thinking that Eve and him were strangely alike.

"Draco!" Pansy fumed, "Are you just going to let her speak to me like that?" Pansy's eyes were on fire, glaring into him now, and he thought a moment, before glancing at Eve, who was grinning manically that she had worked a Slytherin up so much. In that second of catching Eve's eye, Draco felt a silent message was passed between the two of them and he looked to Pansy with a firm conviction.

"Yes."

"Wha-" It took Pansy a moment to realise the betrayal, then she said, "Harumph!" And stormed out of the room. Seconds later, the two patients on the ward erupted into fits of laughter.

*******

Poppy Pomfrey was not blind, and although she had only ever been in love once in her life, she knew strong attraction when she saw it.

At first, like everyone else, she assumed the spiteful, cutting letters Eve kept receiving were from Draco Malfoy. Surely only such a fanatical Pureblood Slytherin could be so evil, but now, after only an afternoon of watching the interaction between the two, she was positive it wasn't Malfoy sending the notes. She knew he was many things, arrogant, big-headed, narrow-minded, but he certainly wasn't that good an actor.

She saw the change in him, the clear, pure vulnerability in his eyes when he looked at Evelyn Lupin. And who could blame him? she was easily the prettiest girl Poppy Pomfrey had laid eyes on in a good few years at Hogwarts. Eve's personality shone through and attracted her suitors, made everyone want to befriend her as to get in on the joke, as to have so many laughs in their lives. Oh yes, it seemed to Poppy Pomfrey that Draco Malfoy had defiantly been caught. She would never have believed it possible, but when the laughter rang out from the ward for the tenth time that evening, she was pretty sure she was right.

*****

"Come on, sleep, the both of you." Madam Pomfrey came walking down the ward from her office when Eve was wiping away the tears of laughter from her face. Draco had just been doing some wonderful impressions of Pansy flouncing from the infirmary and had just managed to scramble back in bed before the matron saw him.

"Already?" Eve whined.

"Yes! already." Madam Pomfrey went to Eve's bed and threw back the covers. "I'll help you to the toilet to get yourself washed."

Draco watched as Eve physically lifted each leg out of the bed and let them dangle aimlessly off the bed. His heart leapt out to her.

"Shall I help?" He asked, walking around to Eve and offering his arm like a gentleman. Eve began to laugh once more, and soon Draco was laughing too.

"Oh, if only I had a camera Draco Malfoy!" She said.

"Now you get one arm Mr Malfoy, and I'll get the other, Be careful, she's very heavy."

"Oi!" Eve poked the nurse playfully. "I'm not fat."

"It's your brain." Draco explained, "It weighs so much."

"Aw! isn't he sweet Madam Pomfrey!" Eve pretended to be giddy, and the two leaned forward to help her up. She felt so awkward in these situations, so helpless, knowing that if these people let her go, she would be finished. A lot of trust went into only the smallest thing like a trip to the toilet.

Draco put his arm around Eve, then gently took her elbow and helped her up. She felt light to him, like a little fairy you would find at the bottom of the garden with a broken wing. The skin which was touching against her felt alive, like it had finally found its mission in life, and he felt himself warm from simply being next to her. When the party reached the bathrooms, Madam Pomfrey took Eve alone, and Draco wandered aimlessly over the stone flag flooring, touching the ends of each other the beds, wondering how Eve felt when he touched her, wondering if she felt that same electric, that same tingle and a kind of head-rush. Although, that might be the potion. He concluded with a smile, then Eve and the matron were back. Eve clung to him tighter on the way back, and when she was successfully in bed, tucked up, Madam Pomfrey left them.

"Eve?" Draco whispered in the darkness.

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel?"

"I'm fine. Why Draco?"

"Nothing."

There was a very long silence, then ;

"Draco?"

"Yes Eve?"

"Are you and Pansy.......... seeing each other?"

"No."

"I heard you slept with her."

"I did."

"What was it like?"

Draco thought for a moment, then smiled into his pillow.

"Just sex."

"You don't........love her then?"

"Merlin, no!" Draco laughed softly. More silence, then; "Why?"

"No reason." Eve sniffed. "Night Draco."

"Night Eve."

********

Draco woke up to the strangest and most alien sound he had ever heard that next morning. He rubbed his eyes and lifted his head from the pillow, at which stage the room began to spin and he felt his stomach lurch. Oh no, not this early.

Draco dropped his head back down and breathed deeply. He groaned, realising just how much his head ached. The noise coming from beside him wasn't helping either.

"Eve?" he muttered. The music stopped.

"Oh, awake are you?"

"What's the noise?"

"My music."

"Music?"

"Yeah, Herm brought my CDs in."

"CDs?" Draco frowned into his pillow, then lifted his head very slowly and turned to face her.

"Hmmm, Muggle contraptions, play music." Eve explained. She was looking over something very carefully, a piece of parchment which she was considering in the light.

"Another letter?" Draco asked, she simply nodded. "What does it say?"

"Oh, just something about rotting in the hospital wing forever." Eve shrugged, laying the parchment down and smiling at him. "Your hair looks lovely in the mornings."

"Ha ha." Draco lay down again.

"How you feeling?"

"Sick, groggy, headaches. Oh, and there's about three of everything."

"Oh, poor Drakey!" Eve imitated Pansy, which made Draco laugh.

"Good morning!" Madam Pomfrey chimed, smiling as she greeted her patients. "Breakfast?"

"No!" Draco shouted.

"Yes, please." Eve laughed. "I think Draco feels ill again though."

"Hmm," Madam Pomfrey said, picking up the parchment from Eve's bed and eyeing it. "Another letter?"

"Yeah, but nothing to worry about, its just threats."

"Wasn't a threat when they hexed your broom." Draco said with his face in the pillow, his tone concerned.

"Mr Malfoy's right." Madam Pomfrey nodded, "You should be more concerned."

"Well no one can harm me in here, so as long as I don't starve to death waiting for breakfast any time soon, I'll be okay." Madam Pomfrey smiled, getting the picture and waddling off to get breakfast.

"Mr Malfoy! drink the beaker at the side of the bed!" She ordered before she left.

"Oh no...." Draco groaned upon hearing his task, "My stomach can't handle anything right now."

"Drink it, Draco." Eve ordered. He snuck a peep at her to find her grinning wildly at him.

"Are you watching me?" He asked, instantly aroused.

"I said, drink it." Eve grinned harder and laughed a little.

"Oh Gods......" Draco moaned, bringing himself just about upright enough to swallow. The drink went down in one go and he lowered himself back onto the bed, feeling himself begin to sweat. "I'm hot." He murmured.

"I know." Eve smiled. Draco lifted his head a little, a shy smile on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing." She said innocently, touching her wand to her CD so that it played once more. It was possibly her favourite album of the moment, 'Fanmail' by TLC.

"Noisy contraption." Draco frowned, feeling suddenly a lot stronger. There was a nagging feeling in his stomach telling him he really needed to pee so he dragged himself up and went to the bathroom.

After successfully fixing his hair and brushing his teeth and washing himself (which he assumed Eve had already done as she looked perfect) he went back into the ward but instead of heading back to his own bed, he went and stood right next to Eve's. Eve was sitting up, still waiting for her breakfast and staring at something which looked alien to him.

"What's this?" Draco asked, picking up a CD from her bedside table and looking it over .

"Oi! you'll break it!" Eve laughed, instinctively touching his hands to stop him bending her CD. Draco felt that surge of something strong and arousing run up his arm from his fingertips and settle somewhere in his groin.

He looked at her with questioning eyes, wondering if she felt it too, or at least if she had known what she had done. Okay, he had to admit that he was pretty horny generally in the mornings, but this, well, this was totally different. Completely unlike anything else he had ever felt.

His hands were still holding the silvery disc, but he no longer felt it. Eve was staring him in the eyes, seemingly she felt it too.

"What was that?" She whispered, "Felt like....electricity."

"I don't know." Draco answered. His body was answering in its own way, and he knew his flimsy silk pyjamas would hide nothing should he step away from the bed.

Eve touching the CD once more, carefully brushing his hands, and suddenly a broken sound issued from the CD and it began to glow.

"Shit!" Eve exclaimed with wide eyes, dropping her hand. The glowing stopped.

"Magic." Draco grinned. Eve laughed a little shyly with a blush. "It's Muggle, is it?"

"Yeah, you need a CD player normally, but they're powered by electricity which is of course - "

"The Muggle power form." He finished for her. "Hmm, interesting." He sat down on her bed by her knees, his aching erection now dying away, despite the fact her pyjama top seemed unbuttoned quite low. "How do you get them to play music when you're here then?"

"Well, CD players play then by high-speed spinning, so I simply charm them to spin and put the 'sonorous' charm on them."

"Cool." Draco smiled. "Let's hear it then."

Eve took the CD from him, careful not to touch his skin. As much as she enjoyed the feeling, she didn't want to break her favourite CD.

She placed it down on the night-stand and spoke a few words whilst touching her wand to the middle. She then charmed it to play aloud and 'Unpretty' by TLC flooded the ward.

"What band is it?" Draco asked, now picking up some CD cases that were strewn in front of Eve on the bed.

"This is a group called TLC. They're American Muggles, three girls."

"Hmm." Draco nodded appreciatively. "How many songs on it? one?"

"No!" Eve smiled, "This one has 17. Others generally have less."

"Amazing." Draco sighed, running his fingers over the cover of the album cover. "This them? why don't the pictures move?"

"Muggle pictures don't." Eve explained. "Yeah, that's Tionne, Chilli and Lisa." She tapped each girl in order. "I think they're great. I love words to songs, and this album has so many songs that have words that hold meaning for me." Suddenly she grew shy with Draco's intent, concentrated gaze on her. "Listen to me! Talking like a fucking therapist! Just ignore me!"

"Ignore you?" He smiled, raising an eye-brow in wonder. "I don't think so." With one lingering glance, Draco went back to his bed upon hearing Madam Pomfrey coming up the ward. To Eve, that may have seemed the only reason he went back to bed, but in reality the main reason was that looking at her was too much for Draco. The way her collar-bone was exposed, so thin and beautiful at the nape of her neck. His mind had begun to wander, wondering how it would feel for the hot, swollen skin of his lips to run over the coolness of her exposed, smooth white skin. His body was betraying him, and as he sat down in his bed he could feel the wetness of his pre-come marking his boxers. I've really got to stop this. He thought, If she knows what she does to me it might scare her off.

"Madam Pomfrey, how long am I going to be in here?" He asked her as she placed some food in front of him.

"Depends how much of the potion you soaked up. I would say roughly about a week though, considering what Professor Snape told me. The potions I give you should make you feel better though." She re-assured him, seeing the horrified look creep over his face. "Now get on with your breakfasts, and please, Draco, do try to finish as much as you can, you need to keep your strength up." As Madam Pomfrey walked away, Draco's mind strayed to what he might need his strength for and he bowed his head over his food so Eve would not catch his blush or his grin.

******

Harry wasn't having a very good day. Since he had left Eve last night he had been worried. He knew he didn't trust Draco Malfoy one bit, and although he knew Madam Pomfrey to be very good at her job, he wasn't sure if she could protect Eve from whatever Malfoy might decide to throw at her. He could hex her quite badly, or even try mind-control on her. The possibilities were limitless, who knows what Dark Magic he had command over?

Eve was a very trusting, open person, and that innocence was endearing, he just worried that Malfoy would use it to his advantage. What kind of information would Malfoy wheedle out of Eve?. Harry thought about expressing his concerns to Madam Pomfrey, but he didn't want to seem over-paranoid, after all, he wasn't even Eve's boyfriend or anything.

Eventually, Harry was looking so concerned, that over breakfast, Hermione touched his hand and said,

"Harry, is everything alright?"

"No, I'm worried about Eve." Harry scratched his head a little, frowning.

"Hmm, Malfoy's up to no good." Ron said. "Did you see the way he didn't even try to move out of the way in potions yesterday, I wonder if he planned it all, planned it to get in the hospital wing so he could get closer to Eve."

"Malfoy isn't that stupid, he wouldn't go to the lengths of getting himself sick, just so he could tease a Gryffindor," Hermione pointed out. "No, he can do that just fine where he is. I really don't think it was pre-meditated."

"I wonder if Eve still got a letter this morning."

"Of course she will have done." Hermione said in a know-it-all kind of sing song voice, "Even if it is Malfoy sending the notes, don't you think it would seem a little too suspicious if they stopped as soon as he didn't have access to the Owlery?"

"I guess." Harry nodded, still concerned. "Maybe I'll go check on Eve before first class." Harry stood up and checked his watch. "I'll be back in time." He smiled, seeing Hermione's concerned look.

He ran his way quickly to the hospital wing, his heart a little lighter at the thought of seeing Eve. He encountered Peeves on the way up there, who was unusually kind, telling him to pass on his regards to 'Miss Evelyn'. Harry simply laughed and said that he would.

Nearing the infirmary, Harry became nervous and edgy, he knew it was because this would be the first time he would see Eve without Ron and Hermione since the kiss they had shared, but then again, he reminded himself that Malfoy would be there, sneering as usual.

"Hey." He smiled, letting the door swing closed behind him as he spotted her.

"Harry!" She exclaimed, and he gave her a small hug, ignoring Malfoy's glare from the next bed. Harry summoned up his courage and gave the girl a kiss on the cheek, as though it was his own kind of protection from Malfoy.

"Good morning." He laughed, when she blushed.

"Hey you." Eve smiled.

"I just came to see about you mail." Harry told her, casting his eyes around for a letter.

"Hmm, there was another one, same as ever, letters cut from the Daily Prophet."

"What did it say?" Harry asked.

"Oh nothing, just idle threats." Eve caught the look of concern written deeply in Harry's eyes. "There's really no need to worry." She told him, touching his hand, "I'm not even bothered."

"Do you want me to have another word with Dumbledore?"

"No!" Eve exclaimed. "Just stop worrying Harry, whoever it is will get bored and stop eventually, I can't stay target all year, can I?" She grinned.

"If it goes on, I'll have to talk to you dad." Harry said sternly, which made Eve laugh.

"Go on, stop fussing and get to lessons, you'll be late." Eve playfully smacked his arm.

"Alright, I'll see you later." Harry brushed her cheek with his hand and blew her a tiny kiss.

"Bye." Eve smiled, and went back to her homework, which was spread before her.

"That's just totally sick." Draco drawled.

"What, Draco?" Eve asked, keeping her eyes on her work, knowing what he was about to say.

"You and Potter. So you are shagging him then?" This last statement had some power behind it, and he sat forward, looking at her seriously.

"No Draco, I'm not in any kind of relationship with Harry." Eve met his eyes. "He's my friend, that's all."

"What was all that then?" He asked with a touch too much anger in his voice.

"What was what?" Eve asked, exasperated by his tone.

"You were flirting, and he kissed you."

"I was not flirting!" Eve exclaimed, her voice creeping up an octave.

"So what was the kiss about?"

"I told you, he's my friend, he's concerned about me."

"Huh!" Draco scoffed, surprising even himself at the way he was reacting to Potter's simple gesture. Potter annoyed him at the best of times, but when he had his hands on Eve....well, that really got his back-up.

"Draco!" Eve sneered, "What the hell does it have to do with you anyway?"

"Nothing, I'm not bothered." Draco turned and cast his eyes down to the book he had open on his lap.

"You seem bothered to me!"

"I'm not bothered, all right?"

"Fine!" Eve cried, "Shut up about it then!"

A stoney silence fell between them, an unusual occurrence. There was tension for a long time, the something popped into Eve's mind,

"Pansy came running in here last night and threw herself around you and I didn't say a word." This was said in a calm, even tone.

"If you want private time next time he comes in here and I'll leave you alone." Draco snarled, still very angry, still picturing Potter's kiss on her cheek. His anger was borne out of jealousy really, he knew that. He was pissed off that Potter could pluck up the courage to bring his lips down onto that fair, succulent skin when he had to stay at this stupid distance.

"Oh Draco....." Eve sighed, "Fine, you know, be like that if you want to, I don't care."

She did of course, she cared a lot, but she kept her mind on her impending homework, as not to analyse what happened and how she felt about it. Am I angry? Eve wondered, Am I annoyed that Harry came in here and kissed me when I have developed these such strong....feelings for Draco literally overnight? The way he makes me feel and that strange thing with the CD this morning? that was some kind of force or charge, a strong charge which made the CD come alive. It was something that happened between us.... it was a result of the fact that when I look at him I really do get butterflies and I really do want to touch his skin. This feeling is so strange, like I'm drawn to him and that way he reacted to Harry kissing me like that......why is he so bothered?

Eve let herself brood on her problems in her own mind, she wasn't going to verbalise them to Draco, he was obviously stranking like the proverbial baby and she didn't feel like she knew him well enough to try to discuss this mood with him.

"Eve?" Draco said in an almost whisper.

"Draco?"

"Can you concentrate?"

"No." She laughed. "You?"

"No." He returned her smile.

There was a silence that could fill an ocean, while they both wondered what to say.

"I didn't mean it....about Potter." Draco continued to stare at his book. "Its your life, you can go out with him if you like."

"I don't want to go out with him." Eve sighed in exasperation, then wondered if it was a lie.

"Don't you?" Draco looked surprised, but not in an evil 'I can use this as ammunition' kind of way, instead it was just honest shock.

"I don't - I don't know Draco."

"Do you fancy him?" Draco asked, drawing up one knee to his chest and resting his head on it, staring over at Eve beside him.

"Maybe." Eve shrugged. "He's good looking but......oh, I don't know." She waved her hands about a little to show her confusion.

"Why don't you know? what can complicate that? you think he doesn't like you?" Draco scoffed. "If that's the problem then let me assure you that you have no problems there, he is obviously smitten." There was a tone in Draco's voice which Eve couldn't decipher.

"He is?" Eve asked, then realised it was probably a little bit too hopeful as Draco began to look angry.

"Yeah, it's so obvious. If I hadn't been here, hell, I think he would have pushed you down on the bed and stripped you before - "

"Okay." Eve smiled, "I get the picture."

"Although," Draco considered, "It is Potter, he probably would have taken a few years to get round to taking your clothes off."

"Why are you so angry all the time?"

"I'm not angry." Draco lied, looking at the ceiling then covering his face with his hands.

"Seem angry to me." Eve then grinned wickedly. "Is it sexual frustration?" She asked in a sing-song voice.

"Maybe." Draco gave a small, bitter laugh.

"Come here." Eve said softly.

"What?" Draco asked, pulling his hands from his face, shocked by her earnesty.

"Come here." She repeated calmly, and looking as though he didn't have a clue why he was doing it, Draco threw back his bed covers off, swung his legs over the bed and walked slowly around to beside Eve.

He stopped next to her and his voice faltered when he spoke. "What?" It was a whisper.

"I'll ask you again, why are you so angry?" Eve gently reached out and brushed her hand against Draco's, at which time his eyes flickered shut, and Eve watched the long lashes grace his face.

He couldn't bare to look in her eyes anymore, scared he might do something irrational, stupid, impulsive, like kiss her.

"I'm not - "

"Why?"

"I........I don't know." Draco opened his eyes again, then shook his head, "I don't know."

"Are you jealous?" Eve asked playfully, not meaning it in any way, but harbouring hopes it was the truth.

"Yeah." Draco laughed shortly, feeling a little ache somewhere inside him as a nagging voice in his head said, yes, it is the reason. The reason is that I wish it was me, and I wish it was even more than that. "That's it. You fancy Dumbledore and I'm jealous of Potter."

"You can have a kiss anytime you want you know." Eve laughed deliciously.

"Might just take you up on that Lupin." Draco raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"No get back to bed." Eve grinned, slapping his arse when he turned around.

"Oi!" He grinned, turning back to her and tickling her.

"Get off!" She screamed, "Get off!" He continued so she squirmed in bed. Then she caught his hands and held them at the wrists. He felt that surge of contact again, so strong, he could almost see it, so strong it was in the air with them. "I'll call Madam Pomfrey!" She teased.

"So will I." Draco breathed, his face near hers, so near he could feel her breath on his neck. Then, impulsively, he kissed her on the cheek exactly where Harry had kissed her not long ago. She was shocked at first, then she smiled into his face. "Now," He teased, "Keep your hands to yourself."

He went back to bed, nursing a light headed feeling only she could inspire in him and a burning sensation on his lips, remembering where her soft flesh had been underneath them moments earlier.

Eve tried to concentrate on her work but couldn't seem to shift the smile plastered on her face.

*********

The rest of the day and the next few days passed in much the same way, although there was a growing tension between the two students lying side by side in the hospital wing. The tension was undoubtedly sexual, and each thought it was mostly fuelled by themselves, almost oblivious to the reciprocation.

By day they would laugh and help each other along with homework, while by night they would both receive their visitors, both secretly waiting for everyone to go so that they were left alone to banter once more.

Eve found Draco to be a kind, funny, and extremely intelligent ward-mate. He wasn't so evil, as people made him out to be, and although there was a clear animosity between him and Harry, she never heard him say a word about Hermione or Ron. She put the feuds that everyone had told her about down to petty childish game-playing, the more she discovered who Draco Malfoy really was.

Draco found himself slipping into something he wasn't sure there was a name for. Not love, surely? he didn't know Eve well enough for that. At night, when Madam Pomfrey had put the lights out and was brewing potions in her chemistry room, Eve and Draco would exchange life stories. It was a pattern they had fallen into from that second night. Draco told Eve very frank and astonishingly honest stories about life in Malfoy Manor. He told her things he told no one else, like the beatings he sometimes received. He realised that she had a lot of info on him, which she could well use against him, but he felt he trusted her enough to give the information away to her, trusted her that she wouldn't pass it on to Potter and his cronies. And she wouldn't.

By the fourth night of them sharing the room, Draco knew all about Eve's gran, knew all her sayings and felt confident that should he ever need advice, he could go to Eve and she would pass on one of her gran's gems.

Draco learnt what it was like to have a werewolf for a father, and from the tales Eve told him, he began to respect her even more. He even began to grow a seed of respect for his DADA teacher, something he never thought he would have.

Eve definitely inspired a totally different side in him, she brought out a fun person who wished to laugh and talk and hear about others, instead of the usual selfish Draco Malfoy everyone knew. Draco didn't understand where it came from, but he knew he liked this new side Eve brought out in him. She made him someone else. Someone far away from his father and his father's ideals of him. On his last night in the infirmary, Draco found himself reticent to leave this cocoon he and Eve had been in for the past week. He wasn't sure he wanted to go back into the outside world and have to put up with seeing Eve for a few hours a day either in lessons or on opposite sides of the Great Hall.

In fact, Draco was brooding about the situation so much that on his last night, he was lying awake, unable to sleep, dividing himself between staring out at the stars, staring at the ceiling or (his favourite option) drinking all he could of Eve in, before he had to race down for breakfast in the Great Hall in the morning.

Eve began to stir at around 3:30 and he heard rustle in the bed covers.

"Draco?" She called out instinctively.

"Hmm?" He murmured, in case she was still asleep and mearly dreaming.

"Where's Madam Pomfrey?"

"Out on a call." He told her, " A sick Hufflepuff in their dormitory. Why?" He wasn't sure why he was whispering, but it wouldn't feel right, breaking the moment.

"I need a wee."

"Oh." Draco laughed. "You want help?"

"No, no, I'll go myself." Eve said sarcastically, although with a smile.

"Cheeky." Draco smiled into the darkness, getting out of bed and going around to Eve.

"You'll never be able to carry me." She said, pulling her body up, an action she was now used to. Some feeling was coming through now, but not enough to hold herself up.

"Trying to say I'm weak, Eve Lupin?" Draco pushed back her bedcovers to reveal an extremely short nightie. He tried not to look at her soft legs in the moonlight coming through the window. "Come here." He smiled, and she slipped her arm around his neck. He put his arm around her waist and the other arm under her knees. "Light as a feather." He grinned, once he held her in his arms. She kept a tight grip around his neck and leant her head on his shoulder.

"Mmm," She moaned, "I might go back to sleep."

"You do, and I'll drop you." He teased.

"Evil Slytherin." She chuckled, admiring the way his hair looked in the light coming from the window. "Your hair is....."

"What?" He asked softly when they arrived at the door to the girls bathroom.

"Beautiful." She blushed. "It looks soft. Is it?"

"Touch it." He smiled, so she took an arm from around his neck and brushed it through the strands tentatively. "Well?"

"As I expected." She smiled, but didn't take her hand away, and continued to run her hands through it. For a moment, they just smiled at each other, and he tightened his grip around her.

"I thought you needed a wee?" He laughed softly.

"Oh! yeah!" She remembered. "I do!"

"Right, I'll set you down here then - "

"No!" Eve exclaimed, "I'll fall!"

"It's okay." Draco smiled, "I won't let you." He set her trembling, dead-feeling feet on the floor gently put kept his arm around her shoulders and she clung to his neck. She felt a little unbalanced and grip on tighter so he slid his other arm around her waist, holding her facing him. "Well...." He blushed. "Not sure what Potter would say about this."

"I told you." She laughed, hitting him playfully on the back, "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Oh." He grinned, then lowered his voice a little, "So you're......free, and single?"

"Yep."

"Looking......for someone?"

"Maybe." Eve answered coyly, never breaking eye contact with the boy she found so wonderfully beautiful, both inside and out.

"I'll let Crabbe and Goyle know they are in luck then, shall I?" Draco kept a straight face.

"You dare!" Eve laughed, shaking her head. "You would as well!"

"I'd kill them if they touched you." He said with a fire in his eyes. Eve blushed, feeling his honesty, any kind of a joke having disappeared.

"You'd best get me to a toilet, before I'm a free, single girl with bad bladder control."

"Oh! right!" He laughed. He pushed open the door to the girls bathroom, covering his eyes with his hand. Eve laughed and batted it away.

"Don't be so damn coy Draco!"

"I'm a Malfoy." He smiled, "Malfoy's don't go in girls toilets."

"Fine." Eve smiled as he edged her fragile body to the strong handrail Madam Pomfrey had conjured up for her. Eve grabbed onto it, suddenly feeling the front of her body, no longer pressed up against the warmth of Draco.

"I'll wait out here." He nodded, before shutting the door. He went straight to the nearest seat and sat down, exhausted. He wasn't exhausted from carrying her though, she was as light as a feather, he hadn't been joking. She was a delight to carry, and that was where the exhaustion came in. He had to focus especially hard not to let himself go and start oggling her. She was so damn......beautiful. And sexy his brain reminded him. She is so sexy in that nighty, I swear I caught a glimpse of red silk knickers! It really doesn't leave much to the imagination about the size of her chest either. For such a slim girl she's so.....huge! *Fuck!* no! stop it, think of something clean, anything. Going back to lessons tomorrow, never speaking to Eve again, letting Potter have her back to get his dirty, clumsy virginal hands all over her. She needs a real man, someone who knows how its done. She needs someone to show her what sex, fucking, love making, is all about. I could show her, damn I could show her...... Wonder what it would feel like to take those knickers off with my teeth......?

"Drac?"

"Huh?" He turned to see her, door open, framed from the light of the toilet.

"Look!" she squealed, "I stood up on my own!" She was clutching onto the door handle and the rail in the toilets for dear life, but she was, she was standing up on her own.

"Hey!" He grinned. "Who's a clever girl then?" He winked suggestively and she laughed.

"Best come get me though, as I think I'm about to collapse."

"Shit." He said, racing to her and sliding his strong arms around her waist. She lifted her arms around his neck and they stood like that, embracing like some married couple, for a few seconds, just gazing into each others eyes. "Well done." He whispered, realising just how close they were.

"You proud of me?" She asked, knowing deep down that she was flirting, but not being able to control it. He was so easy to talk to these days, and this kind of interaction between them seemed to happen of its own accord.

"Very." He leaned his forehead of hers. She was slightly smaller, which made the action thrill her, looking up into his eyes.

"How proud?" She asked, edging him to what she really desired.

"This proud." He whispered, feeling all the butterflies in is stomach reach up and dance in his chest. His lips were seconds from hers when a loud noise reached their ears and they both looked around to see Madam Pomfrey bring in a coughing first year boy.

"Honestly! those Weasley boys and their inventions!" They both heard her fume. Draco would have hexed her there and then for walking in on that moment if his wand wasn't on his bedside table and if his arms weren't around the girl he was in love with. Love? a voice in his head screamed. Love? are you sure? you are a Malfoy you know.....love isn't an emotion you understand, is it? its certainly a weakness. Draco shut his eyes and turned back to Eve. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring into hers. Yes, he thought, I do feel weak, but it feels nice, and I know that if I get weak and break, she'll put me back together again.

"Best get you back to bed." He smiled.

"Yeah." She blushed, looking down at the floor.

"Hold on then." He told her, bending to pick up her legs and carrying her back to her bed.

"Oh! Eve! Draco!" Madam Pomfrey met them with wide eyes, the first year boy now nowhere to be seen.

"I - "

"Draco helped me to the toilet." Eve told her, "He's my little taxi service, aren't you?" She laughed, patting him on the head as he set her back down on her bed.

"Hmm, Malfoy taxis, at your service." He grinned, which brought forth another gale of laughter from Eve. Draco pulled the blankets up around her protectively. "Warm enough? you want your dressing gown?"

"No thanks, I'll be fine." Eve grinned up at him.

Poppy Pomfrey smiled at the exchange between the two. To her, Draco Malfoy was a changed pupil when he was around Eve. She had a very good effect on him and Poppy almost felt wicked telling Draco he could go back to classes and his dorm. She didn't like to split them up, after all, they did make a good couple, but she really couldn't keep Draco here any longer, he had been fully better for about two days now, and she had only kept him in to check he didn't have any re-laspses from the potion or any nasty side effects. She wondered how the two would cope without each other as she bade them both goodnight (Draco had climbed into bed looking quite reluctant to leave Eve in her own bed).

Ah well, she thought, they say that true love always finds a way.

*******

Eve awoke the next morning with someone lightly shaking her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she found herself being grinned at by Draco Malfoy.

"Hey, sleeping beauty."

"Drac......what are you doing up so early it's -" Eve stopped. She realised that Draco was in his clothes and it hit her, he was leaving today. She felt like throwing herself around his neck the way Pansy had done on the first day Draco had been admitted.

"Oh." Eve sighed.

"Yep. Back to class." Draco nodded with a little sadness in his voice. Eve cast an impressed look over him. He was wearing dark denim jeans and a short sleeved dark green t-shirt with a snake on it and 'Slytherin' written across the top. The t-shirt wasn't tight, but neither was it loose, and Eve thought it brought out the defined muscles of Draco's chest very nicely, thank you very much. Slung over his shoulder was his book-bag, looking heavy after a weeks worth of homework.

"I guess I'll see you around then." Eve frowned, feeling confused, but dragging up her sleep-addled body into a sitting position.

"Here." Draco leant forward and put her pillows against her headboard as support. "Comfy?"

"Yeah." Eve said sadly. She didn't believe how much she was going to miss him, how much she really didn't want him to leave.

"Hey." He grinned, putting his finger under her chin and lifting her face to look at him, "Why so sad?"

"I'll just ....... I mean, who will I have to talk to at night? Who will I have to banter about stupid things with?" Eve realised she sounded desperate, but she didn't care.

"I'll come visit you." He whispered, boring his eyes into hers, "I'll come late when I know I won't clash with Potter's visit, and I'll bring you some homework or something, to keep you busy."

"Thanks." Eve managed a smile.

"Right, best be off!" Draco took his hand away and returned it to rest on the handle of his book-bag. "Don't want to be late for my first breakfast back. Bye Madam Pomfrey!" Draco called down the infirmary.

"Goodbye Draco." She smiled, coming down the ward with a potion for Eve in a beaker.

Draco nodded at both women then left without looking back. As soon as he had got far enough away, he leaned his back on the stone wall and shut his eyes tight, the smile dropping from his face. Pretending not to be too bothered about leaving Eve was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. She had looked so frail and pretty in her post-sleep state, he was barely able to look at her without crying.

He would keep his promise and go back to see her, but not to take homework, or anything equally as frivoless. He would go because he had to, he would go because he wasn't sure if he could make it a day without Eve now.

Back up in the infirmary, Poppy Pomfrey watched a light in Eve's eyes die when Draco walked out of the door, and her heart went out to the poor girl.

"Alright dear?" She asked as she pretended to measure out a vial of the potion.

"Er.... yeah, of course!" She managed to force a smile. "Just I have no excuse to avoid my homework now, do I?"

"I'm sure you'll find something." Poppy laughed.

*****

That day dragged for Eve. She missed Draco terribly, more terribly then she had ever imagined possible. How can I feel like this? we only spent one week together and now I feel I can't make it through the day without him! Merlin, I'm pathetic! But last night.....oh, last night! we came to achingly close! if Madam Pomfrey and that first year hadn't come in we would have kissed and.....oh, what else? the possibilities! But Harry.....I feel so guilty! I having feelings for Draco, when I'm supposed to be thinking about Harry. Draco's a Slytherin, and a Malfoy! his father is a Death Eater.

Eve knew that Draco didn't see eye to eye with his father on many things, and while they hadn't directly discussed Voldemort or the subject of Death Eaters, they had spoken about many many things. Eve knew that Draco had told her many things he had probably never let anyone else know. She felt touched, and yet......there was something wrong. She knew what it was, well, she knew who it was - Harry Potter.

She didn't know what to think about Harry, but she knew that she had strong feelings for Draco she wasn't sure if she would be able to leave behind.