Broken Without a Fix

7

"Mr. Malfoy," Madame Pomfrey said to Draco loudly. "Mr. Malfoy, the poison that was given to you by Ms. Granger could prove to be deadly if we do not figure it out. I need to take a blood sample. Please sit still."

Madame Pomfrey seized Draco's arm by the wrist and flipped it over. Bright blue veins were easily seen through his translucent skin and there was a small bruise near his elbow. She pulled out a small vile and a needle and looked up at Draco before she attempted to plunge the needle into his arm. But just before it sunk it-milaseconds after it touched his flesh-Draco's other arm had flung up to take Madame Pomfrey's wrist to prevent her from poking him.

Upon further inspection, it appeared that Draco had woken up. He sat around looking dazed and Harry's black hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.

"Wait. What happened?" he asked.

"Dear...what is the last thing you remember?" Madame Pomfrey asked him.

"Granger," he said after a moment. "Granger was here. She said that she had found an antidote and that Snape had asked her to bring it here."

"Anything else?" Madame Pomfrey asked quickly.

"I remember opening the bottle. I remember tipping it into my mouth. I remember pain. Pain everywhere. In my veins. I remember nothing else. What happened?"

"The vile given to you by Ms. Granger contained some sort of poison. She is not anywhere in the castle and ghosts are searching for her on the grounds. Also, there has been another catastrophe. Ms. Parkinson was murdered in her dormitory earlier today."

"What?" Draco's voice cracked in his throat and a small gurgle came forth.

"Ms. Parkinson was murdered."

"By who?" he nearly screamed as he tried to sit up in his bed, but Harry set his hands on Draco's shoulders and pressed him back into bed.

"That information is unknown at the present time."

"Draco," Harry suddenly said. "Madame Pomfrey has to take blood."

"Hey, you just called me Draco..."

"Yes...So what's your point?"

"Isn't that like one of the unspoken rules of our friendship that we don't call eachother by first names?"

"Whatever," Harry said. "She has to take blood. Sit still."

"Thanks. I'm not a five year old. I can sit still."

Draco let out a small gasp of surprise as Madame Pomfrey jabbed the needle through his flesh. But he turned his head as a dark blue liquid came out of his arm.

"Is that my blood?" Draco asked as he looked away from Harry and Pomfrey.

"Yes," Harry responded quietly.

"It's the effects of the poison. We will figure it out Mr. Malfoy. No need to worry."

***

Hermione was walking slowly along the side of the lake with Ron when the Bloody Baron glided in front of them and blocked their path.

"Ms. Granger," he said. "You are to report to the Headmaster's office immediately. I was sent to see to it that you go there now."

Hermione looked to Ron then the Bloody Baron, then back again.

"Well...Ms. Granger let's go."

The Bloody Baron waved his arms at Hermione wildly as if to say, "Go now."

Hermione took Ron's hand and turned towards the castle.

"I'm afraid that young Mister Weasley cannot accompany you to the Headmaster's office. These are serious matters and Mr. Weasley is not involved."

"Ronald," Hermione said as they traipsed towards the castle."Go back to the common room and wait. If you hear anything from Harry, write it down and leave it in my room. Do not leave the common room."

"Yes ma'am."

***

"Headmaster," Madame Pomfrey whispered to him as Harry and Draco slept. "This is serious. This is some form of muggle poison. Liquid Mercury* they call it. But it was mixed with another potion. Professor Snape is unsure if he can reverse the effects of the poison, but he has found a solution to the Polyjuice confusion. He has a potion prepared for Harry and Draco and he says he can have it here to be administered in the morning. But another question we might ask is, Will the poison stay with Draco when he becomes himself again or will Mr. Potter get it because it was given to his body?"

"It is most likely that Mr. Malfoy will keep the poison in his system," Dumbledore said as he glanced over at the two boys who were clearly awake.

"Well," Pomfrey said suddenly, "perhaps it is time to let these boys actually sleep. I will return to my room and I would beg of you that you return to your quarters."

"Of course Poppy," Dumbledore responded. "Goodnight Mr. Malfoy. Goodnight Mr. Potter."

"Goodnight!" they both yelled in unison. Dumbledore smiled to himself as he left the Infirmary.

***

It was one 'o' clock in the morning when Harry was woken up by the sound of retching noises. He quickly turned over in bed to see Malfoy emptying the contents of his stomach in a metal bedpan which Madame Pomfrey had left out for him.

He jumped out of bed and quickly pounced over to where Malfoy lay gurgling up vomit. He slowly pulled him off the bed and they fell onto the floor side by side. Malfoy continued retching into the bedpan and when he pulled away from it, Harry could see that the contents in the bedpan were silver.

"Liquid Mercury," he said to himself. "Draco! It's coming out. Keep going. This is your way of getting rid of the poison."

Draco looked to Harry quickly with a tiny smirk before more vomit poured out of his mouth. Harry reached for his wand to empty the bedpan, but remembered that when they had moved into the Infimary that Dumbledore had taken their wands.

"Malfoy. I'm here," he whispered as Draco retched for the last time and dropped the bedpan on the floor where the sivery contents moved around slowly.

Harry sat with Draco for a few minutes on the floor until he heard small snores coming from the blonde boy who had laid his head on Harry's thigh. He attempted to pull away to go to his own bed, but as he moved Draco's head, his pajama bottoms recieved a small tug. He sat back down with Draco's head in his lap and took Draco's hand where it had latched itself onto his pajama bottoms.

Soon enough, two sets of snores were heard from the Infirmary.

***

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said to her as she sat uneasily in a chair in his office. "Where were you early yesterday around 2 PM?"

"I was out on a walk with Ron."

"And he can confirm that?"

She nodded her head slowly and twisted the hem of her robes nervously beneath her fingers. Dumbledore inclined his head slightly, acknowledging that she had a witness.

"I'm sorry to say that I must perform the Veritas charm to confirm this...will you cooperate?"

"Of course," Hermione said as Dumbledore produced his wand from his pocket.

"Veritas," he whispered and her hands clutched the arm rests of her chair.

"Did you give Mr. Draco Malfoy a potion containing Liquid Mercury yesterday around 2 PM?"

"No."

"And you had no knowledge that such a potion was being given to him by someone using a Polyjuice Potion to appear as you?"

"No," Hermione said with a grimace.

"Finite Incantatum." Dumbledore whispered.

"Very well Ms. Granger," he said as he made note on a piece of parchment. "We would like to inform you that an imposter posing as you entered the Hospital Wing yesterday and administered a potion to Mister Draco Malfoy. This potion contained Liquid Mercury along with an unknown substance which we are still striving to figure out."

"Liquid Mercury!" she squealed. "OH MY GOD! Is he okay? This is terrible! Is Harry okay? How could this have-"

"Ms. Granger," Dumbledore said quietly and she did a double take to confirm that he had spoken. "I assure you that we are trying our very hardest to crack the code of this mystery potion. Mister Potter is fine at the time being and we are pleased to inform you that Professor Snape has found a potion to return Misters Malfoy and Potter to their rightful selves."

"Oh my goodness," she said with a sigh. "That is one good thing to hear. May I visit them?"

"I suppose you may."

"Alright. When can I go?"

"As soon as Mister Malfoy is alright again. This morning we found both Harry and Draco lying on the floor. Draco had been horribly sick. We are in the process of fixing him up."

She put her hand to her head as she let out a long sigh. "May I go wait by the Infirmary doors?"

***

When Draco woke up, he was lying on the floor next to Harry. The sleeve of his pajama top had been torn near the crook of his right arm and there was an IV connected to a long bag of clear fluid. His left hand was firmly hooked onto Harry's pajamas and Harry's hand rested on top of his hand.

Sitting on Harry's bed looking down at them was Hermione Granger. She had a large smile spread across her face and she was holding a small book which appeared to be a photo album.

She quickly fell onto the floor and rearranged herself as Harry woke.

"Hermione," Harry whispered. She nodded her head quickly and handed the photo album to him.

"I thought you might want this."

"Hermione..." Harry whispered. "I..."

"You don't need to say anything Harry," she said as she leaned into him to snatch a quick kiss. "There is nothing to say."

"Thank you for bringing my photo album."

"How could I not?" she asked as she smiled to herself. Only now did Draco notice that she was wearing an expensive silver necklace around her neck. At the end of a long silver chain rested a small pendant. The pendant was shaped like a dragon and the dragon held a small ruby glass sphere in it's mouth.

"Aha," Harry said quickly as he fingered the necklace around Hermione's neck. "So you decided to wear the Contiens necklace for me today."

Draco racked his mind back to the early French lesson his father had forced him to take. Contiens was...contain. The contain necklace?

"Yes I did," Hermione said as she took Harry's hand where he was stroking her neck. "I can't go on much longer without a little peice of you with me every where I go."

Draco's mind did sudden flashes back to first year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Quirrel was suddenly in Draco's head telling them about the Contiens Charm.

'The Contiens Charm is a highly advanced charm put upon a magical object,' Quirrel was saying. 'A small part of someone, such as blood or flesh or hair is put into a small glass sphere. This sphere is usually worn as a part of jewelry and it has many positive abilities. When worn by a true love of the person's whose bodily substance is in the jewelry, it burns when the person is in danger, freezes when the person dies, and throbs when the person is most happy. But there are negative effects also. If the necklace is ever destroyed, the person whose bodily substance is in the sphere will suffer great pain and possibly death. These charms must be kept in a protective place if not worn and the necklace cannot be taken from the owner without the owner either giving it over willingly, the chain being cut, or the owner dying.

'When these charms are put as a peice of jewelry, the chain must be specially made in Diagon Alley. The chains are made of a thread silver and unicorn hair. The unicorn hair is the strongest substance in the world and it is highly unlikely that the chains will break without the strongest of all forces.'

"Draco?" Harry suddenly said. Draco snapped back into the present time and stared around stupidly.

"What?" Draco asked as Hermione and Harry both looked at him as if concerned. Behind them stood Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey.

"It's time to change back," Harry said. "They've got the potions for us."

Draco nodded his head and attempted to stand up. He wobbled to his bed and lay down in it as if he had not gotten sleep in years. A goblet was handed to him and he drank it down as he heard Dumbledore say distantly: "Very well. Drink up."

The immediate effect felt the same as when they drank the potion. A swooshing feeling in Draco's stomach was accompanied by a dizziness. Draco opened his eyes and looked over at where Harry lay. He was back to being himself and his scar shown brightly. Draco looked down at his pale arms and quickly swept blonde hair out of his eyes.

***

The days swiftly moved by with Draco in a terribly sick state. Harry was released from the Infirmary, but it was odd not being around Draco. Even though they were only in the Infirmary together for 3 days, everything seemed changed. When a break approached, Harry was almost never seen not beside Draco.

***

When Draco woke up it was still dark outside. The IV had been removed from his arm the pervious day because he had decided to start eating again. But right now, he felt fine. He wanted to find Harry and tell him. Say to him: "I am better."

He flung his legs over the side of the bed, and without thinking, stepped onto them and headed immediately for the Infirmary doors. The fact that Draco was sweating profusely, yet seemed cold, now became obvious. He hugged his arms to himself as he stepped cautiously towards the doors, keeping an eye open for Madame Pomfrey.

Things started to spin suddenly. He felt like he was floating, yet he knew his feet were touching the ground. He raised his arms to reach for something but his arms only met air.

His legs gave way under him and the last thing he remembered was a sharp pain in both knees and the floor rising up to meet his face.

***

"Mr. Potter!" McGonagal screamed at him as he rolled out of bed. "Mr. Malfoy has had an accident in the Infirmary and Dumbledore knew you would like to know. If you would like to go there, I can take you there now or you can visit there in the morning."

"I'm coming!" Harry yelled suddenly and he heard Ron wake up in his bed muttering about spiders again. "Ron, do go back to sleep."

"Mm," he muttered as his head hit the pillow.

Harry tossed on his dressing gown and his tennis shoes. He was then led out the room by McGonagal, who looked older than ever, and taken to the Infirmary. When he got there, all he could see was Draco lying on his bed with his hands clutching his knees. When he got nearer, all sound seemed to seep away except for the moans of Draco.

"What happened?" Harry asked Dumbledore as they approached.

"He says he wanted to tell you he felt better," Dumbledore said impatiently as he sighed at Draco.

"Harry," Draco said weakly. "Harry, I felt better. I did. I wanted to tell you. But I got dizzy. I fell. I don't remember things. Harry, look at my eyes. Look at them."

Harry got closer to Draco and indeed noticed something odd about his eyes. Almost as if the color had changed...

"Yes," Dumbledore said as Madame Pomfrey bustled about trying to heal up Draco's bloody knees. "The Liquid Mercury. Dear Poppy here researched it. It will cause his eyes to possibly change colors and it appears that his eyes have started to change...blue?"

Indeed, Draco's eyes were now electric blue. His eyes fluttered around crazily as if searching for something that wasn't there.

***