Just like Brothers

Chapter 19

Madam Pomfrey insisted Harry stayed in the hospital wing the entire weekend.

He spent most of it either with Ron and Hermione or playing chess with Draco.

The Quidditch team showed up once in a while and Hagrid sent trinkets to cheer him up, but Harry was still miserable.

He hadn't told anyone about seeing the Grim before he fell. He didn't even tell anyone about the screaming.
     
"Harry?" A timid voice asked from the door.
      
"Over here," he sighed waiting to see the new visitor that came to see him.
       
A flash of long fiery red hair came bounding at him as the small frame of Ginny Weasley came into view.

"Hi, Ginny," Harry gave her a weak smile.

"Hey Harry, how're you feeling?" Ginny asked him, sitting in the chair besides his bed. "You had a pretty bad fall."

"I'm better now, thanks." Harry nodded.

She smiled, "Oh! Here,I brought you this!" She pulled a get-well-soon card out of her pocket that sang in a shrieking pitch. Harry chuckled and thanked her.

"So, Harry, what's really going on?" The ginger asked accusingly.

"What do you mean."

"Well it's obvious that something else is bothering you rather than the fact that you lost the game, so what is it." She stated as if it were obvious.

"Nothing." Harry lied, however Ginny continued to push.

"Fine, ok! I saw the Grim before I fell and I heard a woman screaming, she was going to be killed." Harry shuddered.

"Oh, Harry!" Ginny placed her hand on the boys knee. "I wouldn't worry about the Grim! And I'm sure the screaming was just an affect the dementors had. Nobody was in actual danger."

For some reason the girls words soothed Harry.
       
"Thanks Ginny." Harry smiled in appreciation, the girl squeezed his leg in response.

>•<

Something weird was going on and it was driving Hermione crazy.

After Harry left lunch yesterday Hermione saw Draco Malfoy leave shortly after.

She quickly finished her lunch and decided to check out Hagrid's hut, ignoring Ron's protests.

She waved him off and exited the Great Hall.

Getting to Hagrid's proved more difficult than she would've thought.

The storm had really picked up and each step she took was with difficulty.

She thought she was going to be blown away on several occasions.

Soaked and Cold, she knocked on the Hut's door.

However, even if Harry was in there, nobody would be able to hear her knock over the loud cracks of thunder.

She pressed her face to the window but it was nearly impossible to see through between the rain streaming down the glass and her eyes and the dark lighting.

A flash of lightning illuminated the sky and Hermione was briefly able to see inside, however she could only make out the silhouette of Hagrid.

Groaning in frustration she turned back towards the school.

She got back into the entrance hall, drenched, dripping and tracking mud.
       
"Ms. Granger! Why on earth were you outside in this weather." Professor McGonagall cried, incredulously.

She waved her wand and in an instant Hermione was dry and the mud had disappeared.
      
"Thank you, Professor." Hermione said, looking at her feet in embarrassment.
      
McGonagall huffed, "Go back to your dormitory, and don't let me catch you outside again."
       
The next morning, Hermione had plans to ask Harry about the letter he had received at lunch. However, he had the awful fall and she decided against it.

Hermione and Ron planned to stay with him until their curfew until the boy was released.

However, to their amazement, Snape kicked them out, looking  genuinely concerned for Harry.

That wasn't the only time either. On several occasions, they had seen Snape exit the Hospital Wing when they went to see Harry.

Once they even saw Malfoy pass them when they were leaving the wing. He seemed to be carrying a chess board.

It was now Sunday, Harry had plans to be released before supper.

While she waited, Hermione went to the library.

It was empty besides a few students and Madam Pince.

She filled her arms with books and took a table in the corner, starting on the essay Snape assigned them on Werewolves.

"Granger," The seat across from her scraped on the ground as a blond sat across from her.

"Malfoy," Hermione said, suspiciously peering up at him from her papers.

There were many empty tables, why had he chosen to sit with her?

"Snape's essay?" Draco nodded towards her work.

Hermione frowned at the boy but nodded.

"That one was a pain in the arse, I finished it yesterday." He gave her a lopsided grin.

"Why're you here Malfoy?" Hermione asked, rudely.

"Sorry, do you want me to leave?" Draco looked down at his books and started to shove them back in his bag.
     
Hermione watched him and guilt welled up in her chest.

"No, you can stay," She declared, this was the perfect opportunity to figure out what had caused the character change in Draco Malfoy. What his intentions were.
     
"Tell me Malfoy, why have you been nice to us? I know Ron was the one that made you fall into Buckbeak, so why is it that you haven't said anything?" Hermione looked at him with wide, suspicious, prying, chocolate eyes.

Draco's steel eyes immediately hardened. "It's none of your business Granger." He said through gritted teeth.

Hermione recoiled, "excuse me?" Her question was seeping with venom.

"I said it was none of your business."

"I think it is, why did you sit with me? Why would someone like you, a privileged, daddy's boy, want to be friends with a mudblood like me?"

Draco stood up and gathered his books, "I might be privileged but do not bring my father into this. At least I'm not a stuck up, know it all."

Hermione was seething, "I may be a know it all but I will never be a bully who will never amount to anything. At least I have friends, the people you consider 'friends' are only people who are scared of you and your heritage. People don't change, Malfoy, so stop pretending that you can."

Draco's eyes only showed his hurt for a split second before he put his walls back up, but Hermione had seen it and was now looking at him, curiosity swimming in her gaze.

He grabbed his books and stormed out of the library. Leaving the puzzled, bushy-haired, Gryffindor in his wake.