When Enemies Interact

Chapter 2: The Illness of Terry Boot.

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"Just sit down here for a minute while I get something to clean you up with," Madam Pomfrey instructed Draco when he'd reached the infirmary. She walked off into her office; while Draco sat down on the bed she had told him to.

Draco looked around and noticed that there was one other person in the room at the moment, but he was unable to recognise who it was because they were covered mostly with blankets, but from what Draco could see, they were around the same age as him: seventeen and most definitely male and they seemed to be out cold and ghostly pale.

Madam Pomfrey returned carrying a fluffy white cloth and a bottle of light blue-coloured liquid. Sitting down next to him, she opened the bottle and poured a small amount onto the cloth. "Hopefully this won't sting," she said, before dabbing the cloth near his nostrils. It didn't sting, but it caused Draco to feel a strange sensation run through his still slightly bleeding nose and the little pain he had went away instantly. She dabbed the cloth around his nose a couple more times, then placed the cloth and bottle of liquid on the bedside table before taking out her wand and tapping his nose once to heal it.

"Do you still have a scar, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked abruptly, standing up.

"Huh?" The question had caught him off guard.

"On your arm," the matron said as if he should've known, "From the hippogriff?"

"Oh, yeah, a very faint one," Draco said. It was the truth, even though Madam Pomfrey had managed to heal it, he still had a scar from it. "Who is that?" Draco had looked back over at the other patient as he stood up and his curiosity got the better of him.

"Oh, Terry Boot. He's terribly ill," Madam Pomfrey replied as if she'd rather not talk about it. She then led Draco to the door and opened it. "You better get back to class"

Draco walked out and the matron closed the door behind him as he made his way back downstairs to the dungeons, new thoughts in his head. What was wrong with Boot? He seemed fine that morning at breakfast, laughing with his friends and now he looked like he was on his deathbed.

Walking into the Potions dungeon, he informed Snape of his return and walked back over to where he was working with Hermione. She had finished adding all the ingredients for now and was sitting at their table reading her Defence Against the Dark Arts book once more.

"Your little boyfriend is in the hospital wing, Granger," he said as he took the seat beside her.

"No he's not, Malfoy, he's over there working with Goyle," Hermione replied, not looking up, but pointing in the direction of Harry.

"I'm not talking about Potter," Draco snapped.

"Then who are you talking about, Malfoy? Harry's my only boyfriend you know,' Hermione said irritably.

"You're going out with Potter?" Draco asked. Hermione nodded. "OK then, your boyfriend isn't in the hospital wing, but one of your friends is."

"And who would that be, Malfoy?" Hermione asked.

"Boot. Madam Pomfrey told me he's 'terribly ill' and believe me he didn't look well either. Out cold and as pale as a ghost." A small smile played on Draco's lips as he reached into his bag and grabbed his Arithmancy book to read. He knew he was being mean, but he couldn't help it, he really hated Boot.

"You are so terrible, Malfoy," Hermione declared angrily, "smiling at the thought of someone being horribly ill, even if you do hate him. What if he dies, you'll regret it then, won't you?"

Draco didn't reply. He honestly didn't know if he would or not so he continued to read his book without a word. Several minutes passed in silence before Hermione broke it. "Sorry about before," she muttered, "I just sort of ... lost control."

"Looks like little Miss Hermione Granger isn't perfect after all, though, I wouldn't call hair like that perfect," Draco smirked, staring pointedly at her bushy hair. He ignored the glare he was receiving from Hermione and continued to read his book in silence.

A loud explosion from behind them interrupted the silence after a few minutes and turning around in his seat, Draco saw that Neville and Crabbe's cauldron had melted and a bright green liquid was oozing everywhere and streaming towards where he and Hermione were sitting. Standing up, he made to stand on his chair, but Hermione stopped him.

"It's melting everything in sight, it's no use, we have to stop it," she said, looking frantically around. "Where is Snape?" Draco shrugged, looking around as well. He didn't know where Snape was, but he was definitely not here. Looking back at Hermione, he saw her taking off her robes, which looked awfully new. She went to place them in the path of the spillage, but Draco stopped her for some reason. Taking off his own robes, which were much older and thinner than hers, he placed them in the floor in a bundle to stop the potion oozing any closer. The potion burnt several large holes in the dark cotton, but it seemed to work.

Looking over at Crabbe and Neville, Draco had to force himself not to laugh. Neville looked very close to having a nervous breakdown with the bottom of his robes and pants had been burnt off right up to his knees. All the Slytherins were howling with laughter, except for himself and Crabbe, who had copped a large amount of potion himself.

He turned his head to look over at Hermione, and saw she hadn't put her robes back on yet and was muttering under her breath, evidently trying to think of a spell that would clean up the mess. She was standing there wearing jeans and a red tank top that had a gold star on it, her wand out. "Clenace," he heard her say with a wave of her wand. Instantly, the liquid disappeared, leaving the stone floor clean and dry. She smiled triumphantly and turned to Draco. "I believe they're your robes, Malfoy," she said pointing to the soaking black bundle on the ground. Draco reached down to pick them up, but was interrupted by the dungeon door opening with a BANG and Snape re-entering.

"Malfoy, Granger, Dumbledore wants to see you in his office, now," he said. "I'll get Weasley to tell you about your detention, Granger."

Hermione looked at Draco and they grabbed their bags and things and headed out the door. "Oh no," Hermione was muttering to herself. "You don't think this is about the fight, do you?" she asked Draco. Draco shrugged. He had a feeling it was and he wasn't exacting looking forward to a long lecture from the headmaster.

They reached the hidden entrance to Dumbledore's office in silence. Draco turned to Hermione. "Do you know the password?" he asked.

Hermione nodded and said, "Fizzing Whizzbee." The stone gargoyle in front of them hopped to the side as the wall behind it split in two. Silently they entered and made their way up the revolving spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office, where the doors stood open, and they entered. Professor Dumbledore, with his long silver beard and hair was sitting at his desk, smiling at them.

Draco looked around. He had been in Dumbledore's office only one other time and that was in his fifth year when he was a Prefect, in fact, he was with Hermione then too, and they were complaining about Professor McGonagall making them do duties together. There were a few new trinkets and artefacts in there now, but there was still Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix on his golden perch, the Sorting Hat on the shelf behind the desk and a couple of other things he had taken a lot of notice of in his first visit. He looked back at Dumbledore, who was playing with something small and silver.

"I have brought you here to tell you that Terry Boot, our Head Boy, is awfully ill. Draco, Madam Pomfrey told me you saw him in the hospital wing so you would've seen how ill he looked. He has a very serious virus -not contagious thank goodness- and his parents are coming up to get him in the morning and he may not return before the end of the year," Dumbledore informed them.

"But I saw him this morning and he looked perfectly fine," Hermione said, looking rather confused.

"Yes, I saw him this morning as well," Dumbledore said gravely, "but he fainted in his Charms class this morning and hasn't woken since and he's been getting worse ever since his friends took him to the hospital wing.

"Now you do understand, Hermione that once he is at home, he will be unable to do his job as Head Boy, so that's why Draco is here. Draco am I correct in saying that you will take this badge and do Terry's job?" Dumbledore said. Dumbledore was holding up the small silver thing he had been playing with. It was the Head Boy Badge, freshly polished with the letters HB engraved in it.

"Yes sir," Draco replied, having a hard time believing it. He looked over at Hermione, who had sat in a seat in front of the headmaster's desk. She looked stunned and was staring at Dumbledore with a mixture of shock and disbelief. "But I don't think she'd like it if I accepted." Draco didn't know why he had said that. He had wanted to be Head Boy for an awful long time and now that the opportunity had come up, he was refusing it because he knew Hermione -one of his enemies- wouldn't like it.

Dumbledore then turned to Hermione. She looked over at Draco, who was looking at the badge with longing. "I wouldn't mind," she said, turning back to Dumbledore. "We'd just have to make it so we didn't argue all the time, I guess." Dumbledore smiled and looked back at Draco, who walked forward and took the badge as politely as he could.

"Thank-you Professor," he said, "I'm sure Granger -sorry, Hermione and I will work something out."

"Very well," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, "You may leave, lunch will begin soon."

Draco and Hermione walked out of the office, back down the revolving staircase and back out into the corridor with the stone gargoyle.

"Why?" Draco asked. Hermione looked at him strangely and he continued. "Why in Merlin's name did you lie?"

Hermione sighed loudly before responding. "I knew how much you wanted it. I could see it in your eyes," she replied, "I do hope we get along, though, because otherwise, I'll probably stress out terribly and hand my own badge in. I know what it feels like wanting something really bad, working your butt off to get it but you never do."

"But you got Head Girl straight off," Draco stated.

"Yes, but there have been other things that I've wanted and it turned out like that, not getting it, and besides, with getting Head Girl, I had tough competition and I started to think I'd never get it," Hermione said, "Susan Bones was a strong opposition. I think she wanted a little more glory for Hufflepuff."

Draco snorted. "Hufflepuff won't get all that much glory while Potter's here," he said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione snapped.

"Well, Potter's fame for one; his small amount of Quidditch talent; his past and his bravery to fight the Dark Lord. Gryffindor is always going to stand out more than us others while he's here." He shook his head. "I honestly don't see why you're going out with him."

Hermione sighed, "Why?"

"Because he goes looking for trouble and ends up in great danger, the Dark Lord will probably kill him one of these days and you'll be a weeping wreck," Draco said. "Either that or he'll break your heart. I've seen the way he looks at that Weasley girl ..."

Hermione looked horrified at both ideas, but she recovered quickly and looked suddenly angry. "Why would you care, Malfoy?" she asked irritably, "It's my life. I made the mistake in kissing Harry back on that stupid night at Ron's house over the summer. I put his and my friendship at risk when I said yes when he asked me out. I'm the one who put me in this mess, unable to dump him unless I want to ruin our bloody friendship."

Draco stared at her troubled face. She was a nervous -and emotional- wreck and he felt she needed a break or something.

"I'm sorry, I just l-" she began, looking away to calm down.

"Lost control," Draco finished for her. "Look you should really have some Anti-depressing Potion or something." Hermione glared at him. "I'm going to lunch and talk to Weasley or someone about your problems, not me, I really don't care."

Draco turned and headed down the marble staircase to head to the Great Hall for lunch, wondering why she was telling him all this and was out of Hermione's sight in a minute.

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