Poisoned

Chapter Eight

Quidditch happens and Malfoy starts showing signs of interest

Ginny took several deep breaths, wondering if those butterflies in her stomach would stop flying so violently any time soon. She looked at the rest of the team, all of them holding their breaths before stepping on to the Quidditch pitch. Ron and Harry were the only ones who seemed composed enough to play. All the others seemed to be walking to their executions, and she was not feeling any different.

She wasn't usually so nervous before a match, but they were playing against Slytherin, what meant playing against Draco. She thanked the heavens she wasn't the seeker anymore, but that didn't help to calm her down. Since Halloween night they had reached a kind of silent arrangement in their lessons - and silent indeed, since they would only talk to each other when it was absolutely necessary. Though what really bothered her was that he never called her "Ginny" again.

The shouts from the crowd were deafening. The majority of it was using Gryffindor colours, wearing red and gold scarves and rosettes - and most of them wanted to be sure to cause an impression, enchanting their hats to glow gold and shouting the nice version of "Weasley is our king" at the top of their lungs. Ginny could hear Colin's voice echoing through the pitch, "Yes, apparently everyone decided to dress up for today. Well, at least they're making an effort now, though if you ask me, I'd say it's too late-"

Ginny smiled. Clearly he was still bitter about being the only one - along with Dumbledore - to have dressed up for Halloween; but she tried not to listen to anything he was saying, conscious she would now have to pay attention to the Quaffle and the Bludgers. Though the butterflies flew aggressively again while she watched Harry and Draco shake hands, Harry looking as if he wanted to knock Draco off of his broom, Draco looking calmly amused.

And the match began when she almost immediately took the Quaffle and flew towards the Slytherin goalposts, dodging a Bludger from Goyle and passing it to Jones, one of the new Gryffindor chasers, only to see the girl score.

Ginny had a bad feeling when their first move worked so well - the Slytherin team wasn't behaving as violently as they had in other years, which made her think they would be saving it for later in the match.

Soon she dismissed the feeling and kept playing; Slytherin scored ten points quickly, but Gryffindor managed to reverse that. When Ginny was about to score forty points to Gryffindor, something flew very fast some inches in front of her, causing her to drop the Quaffle that soon was taken by one of the Slytherin chasers. She looked below her and saw Draco looking at her and smiling a very gentle smile. Harry was close to him; obviously he had thought Draco had spotted the Snitch.

She took her eyes away from him when she saw his expression change and he flew at full speed with Harry close behind. She only hoped Harry could make it to the Snitch first and flew fast to the other side of the pitch, thinking about retrieving the Quaffle. She saw with the corner of her eyes a Bludger coming in her direction, but she thought she could be faster than it, and sped up even more, only to have her head meeting violently with something hard enough that sent her flying away from her broom seconds before she lost consciousness.

*~~*~~*~~*~~*

Ginny opened her eyes slowly, although the pain in her head was begging her not to. It was dark, but some moonlight coming from the large windows behind her allowed her to see she was in the infirmary, and someone was sitting in a chair beside her bed, apparently asleep.

She sat down carefully, afraid her head would explode if she made any brisk movement. She was curious about what Draco could be doing there, however it didn't take her so long to remember the Quidditch match and she groaned, wondering how it could have ended, but her noise woke Draco up, who sat up quickly and said, his voice drowsy, "Hey."

She didn't even try to answer, just smiled and lay back, sighing of relief when the pain in her head calmed down a bit. "What happened?"

"That beater of yours, Kurke-"

"Kirke," she corrected.

"Whatever." He was clearly uninterested by his name. "He was going to hit the Bludger, but hit you instead, and with full force." He was completely awake now and seemed indignant. "I don't know why you bother having beaters at all, if they can cause more damage than the Bludgers themselves."

"He hit me?"

"Fully on your head." He rested his arms in the bed. "But your brother was fast enough to catch you before you meet the ground."

Something gold shone in his hand, and it looked like it was moving, but she couldn't be sure. "Did they stop the match?"

"No need to, the Snitch had already been caught."

"We won?" she almost cheered, but her head didn't let her.

"Not really." Draco opened up his hand so she could see the Snitch that flew quickly through the room once it realised it was free. Ginny wondered why he would be still holding it, but he seemed to have read her thoughts. "It's not every day I win over Potter." He grinned. "I couldn't get myself to let go of it until now."

Although she thought she should be feeling sad because they lost, she smiled at Draco's delighted face. "Congratulations."

He didn't answer and just shrugged, so she asked, "What are you doing here? It's night already. Were you hurt?"

"No, it's just that I couldn't come sooner, with the entire Gryffindor team here. Your brother finally left your side at dinner time, and I had to wait until Madam Pomfrey was asleep so I could sneak here without anyone noticing."

"Wow." She was impressed. "All this trouble just to see me?"

"Well, I thought you'd like to see a familiar face." He smirked. "Not to mention I wanted to be the one to tell you that you had lost."

Maybe it was the headache, but Ginny didn't bother to feel provoked. She just smiled faintly and said, "That was nice of you."

"I know."

Their conversation was over, but she didn't want him to leave, just as he didn't look like he wanted to go anywhere. They just stayed there for a long time, only their breaths being heard, neither daring to look at the other.

Finally Draco stood up and looked ready to leave. "Maybe we should have our next lesson next Sunday, so you can have a proper rest."

Ginny almost screamed in frustration, but restrained herself and just took a deep breath instead. "I don't know why. I'm fine already."

Because she said that in a higher tone, her head decided to contradict her and she suddenly felt a blinding pain that it caused her to close her eyes and take her hand to her head.

"Are you alright?" Draco sounded concerned, but she opened her eyes and nodded, which calmed him. He smiled an I-see-right-through-you kind of smile and said, "See you next Sunday."

She saw him leave through tears, caused by the pain that lessened but didn't go away. She felt she needed to sleep, but a shadow above her made her open her eyes again. Soothing hands held her head and she watched as Madam Pomfrey would examine her eyes.

"I see you're better. You scared us when you wouldn't wake up." She helped her sit up, arranging the pillows so Ginny could be more comfortable and held out a glass. "Now drink this." Ginny made a face at the smell of it, but Madam Pomfrey explained, "It's for your headache."

Ginny drank it all with two large gulps and thanked the healer, resting her head in the pillows while feeling her body relax in the bed, the pain gradually fading. "I thought my head would explode."

"I can imagine!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. "I would have come as soon as you woke up, but that stubborn boy wouldn't leave! Honestly, if he had stayed for one more second, I would have come to check on you anyway."

"Did you see Malfoy here?" Ginny asked, alarmed, but the healer smiled.

"Of course I did, do you think I wouldn't keep my eyes on my patients? But he was so careful trying to enter here without anyone noticing and looked at you so gently I thought it wouldn't hurt to allow him to stay. I hope he comes back here tomorrow, though. He fell asleep in the chair and stayed in the most horrible position for so long; I'm sure his back will hurt badly by the morning."

Ginny just smiled, having nothing to say, wondering how long Malfoy had stayed there beside her. And what had the healer said; he had looked at her gently?

"Have some rest, and if you don't need anything now, I'll come and check on you tomorrow."

She heard Madam Pomfrey step away, her eyes closed and a large smile on her face. She felt a blissful wave of relief take over her body, and the last thing she thought before falling asleep was that she would talk to Malfoy the next day and convince him to go to the infirmary to have the healer taking a look at his back.