A dull, aching pain that seemed to cover his whole head.
Ouch, Draco thought, attempting to open his eyes without making his face hurt even more.
He was in the hospital wing. Debating whether he should try to sit up, he listened intently for any sounds in the room. There were none. Not even Madam Pomfrey bustling about.
With no one there, there was no point in moving.
Staring up at the boring stone ceiling, Draco tried to remember what had happened.
He had been flying, and then... oh yes. How embarrassing.
How was he supposed to keep his dignity after something like that? He supposed he could say that the boy who had hit him was really good, and pick him for the team. The trouble was, he wasn't sure he was good. He hadn't really been watching, engrossed as he was in the imaginary picture of Granger bawling her eyes out.
Damn her, this was all her fault!
He sighed, closing his eyes again. So, would he rather stay dignified in regards to this, or to the next Quidditch match?
It was a difficult question.
However, he soon became bored with pondering it, and in any case he couldn't make an informed decision until he had assessed the full extent of the damage by asking his friends what everyone know about what had happened.
Idly, he wondered where Madam Pomfrey was.
She couldn't be in bed, it was only just getting dark outside... or was it getting light? Abruptly, Draco realized he had no idea how long he had been unconscious. Maybe Madam Pomfrey was in bed, and it was dawn?
Draco had just decided to brave the pain and try to find his wand so he could find out, when he heard voices at the end of the room. One of them was certainly Madam Pomfrey's, and all of them seemed quite upset about something...
He closed his eyes and listened.
"But she's going to be all right, isn't she? She's not going to die! She can't die!"
That was Weasley's voice, and Draco knew perfectly well that there were only two female students who could make him this hysterical. His sister... and Granger.
"She's not going to die, Mr. Weasley, though I dare say she might have done if you had found her any later."
Madam Pomfrey, sounding as calm as ever, though Draco doubted she really was.
Weasley, meanwhile, had burst into tears.
"Ron... She's going to be okay."
Potter, sounding awkward.
"I know, it's just-"
Weasley paused. Draco suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. He just knew Weasley was staring at him.
"It's all his fault!" Weasley screamed, and a split second later Draco felt himself being pummelled brutally.
So much for feigning sleep, he thought as he sprang out of bed and started to fight back.
"Ron!" Potter grabbed Weasley from behind and tried to pull him off.
"Mr. Weasley!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, also taking hold of Weasley and managing to get his hands away from the space around Draco's neck.
Together Madam Pomfrey and Potter pulled Weasley away, and his anger seemed to weaken considerably under Madam Pomfrey's furious glare.
"I think the two of you should go back to bed," she told them in a stern voice. "You can come and see her in the morning." Silently, they obeyed, Potter still gripping Wesley's arm tightly.
Draco grinned.
"You too, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey said to him.
He turned around and was about to argue with her, when what he saw caught him completely off guard.
"Holy crap," he said, staring at Granger's unconscious form.
"Mr. Malfoy..." Madam Pomfrey said, but he ignored her, unable to tear himself away.
She had slit her wrists.
She was unbelievably pale, and there was blood all over the sheets, but that wasn't the point. The point was that she, Granger, had tried to commit suicide. If he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes he wouldn't have thought her capable of it, but there she was, right in front of him, with bloodstains on her robes.
Huh.
After a few seconds Draco allowed Madam Pomfrey to guide him back to his bed, but he lay on his side so he could still see Granger's face.
Bloody hell.
She could've died, and from what Weasley had said it seemed Draco would have been responsible.
He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.
He knew he should feel proud, after all she was a Mudblood and a Gryffindor. But he had never experienced anything like this before. He had been responsible for people's death's before, of course, but they were Muggles and he had been responsible in a much more direct fashion. Also, their deaths had been the intended results of his actions. He wasn't quite sure what results he had intended with his treatment of Granger, but this would never even have occurred to him.
He had never killed anyone he knew before.
He watched Madam Pomfrey feed Granger some kind of green potion, and a moment later she opened her eyes, looking slightly confused.
"Wha...?" she asked, her voice scratchy.
"You're in the hospital wing, dear," Madam Pomfrey told her. "Your friends found you."
"Oh..." Granger looked disappointed, even a little angry. "Bastards," she said quietly.
"Now, now, Miss Granger. I'm sure you'll feel differently in the morning."
Granger snorted. "Yeah, right," she said, turning her head away from Madam Pomfrey, who sighed and came over to Draco's bed.
"Mr. Malfoy," she said in a quiet voice, "I have to go and talk to the Headmaster. Would you be so kind as to keep an eye on Miss Granger while I'm gone?"
Draco nodded, still feeling a little dumbfounded.
Madam Pomfrey left. An uncomfortable silence ensued.
"Watching me, are you Malfoy?" Granger asked after a few minutes.
"Well Granger, if a shag can drive you over the edge like this I'm not sure I feel very safe around you," Draco replied. Whatever he was feeling, he wasn't about to let Granger in on it.
"Bloody hell, Malfoy, you are so full of yourself!" She turned around to look at him, an angry expression on her face.
"How's that?"
"For your information, what I did tonight had nothing to do with you!"
"Oh yeah?" he asked, interested but careful not to lose his sarcastic tone of voice.
"Yes! For goodness' sake, don't you have any idea how depressed I must have been to sleep with you? You really have no clue, do you?"
"Fine." Draco sat up, wincing, then scowled when he saw that Granger had noticed his pain. "Enlighten me."
"Fine!" Granger sat up too, glaring at him. "My friends are ignoring me, my mother is having an affair with my former teacher, and my grandmother has just been murdered! Notice how you didn't feature at all in that sentence?"
For once, Draco Malfoy did not have a comeback. After a moment he looked away and stared out of the window for a while, watching the sun come up. Occasionally he glanced at Granger, who was leaning against the pillows with her arms crossed, gazing into space.
"I found your sock," Draco said finally, forgetting all his deliberation about his choice of words.
Granger looked at him, surprised, not finding anything to say in reply.
Then they sat in silence again.