**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling..... I am just a lowly admirer. 
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Chapter 4:  The Curtain Between

"They're lucky to be alive Minerva," a hushed voice could be heard in the darkness.

Draco groggily opened his eyes and then wished that he hadn't, With his eyes now opened, he was fully awake and he flinched as a wave of pain washed over him, Squeezing his eyes shut he sucked in a deep breath and willed the pain to go away. Lucius had trained him to ignore the affects of pain. After a few more deep breaths, the pain was far enough from his mind for him to open his eyes again.

The room was dark; a few rays of moonlight were shining through the window. He was trying to remember what had happened to the curtains that he had around his four-poster when he realized that he was in the hospital wing.

"The Headmaster has been notified?" the hushed voice whispered again, Draco knew that it was Madame Pomfrey.

"Of course Poppy," a new voice, that of Professor McGonagall, answered her. "He went with Hagrid to catch that infernal thing. I imagine that he will be very interested in just what Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy were doing out there."

"Why did they bring that wretched thing here anyway? I know that Hagrid has a soft spot for monsters but this is going a bit to far." Madame Pomfrey sounded rather vexed

"There was little choice in the matter Poppy, they had to bring it someplace for safe keeping until it could be properly disposed of and Hagrid is the only one that could handle such an abomination." Professor McGonagall said softly.

Draco could barely hear Professor McGonagall as her voice became more hushed, but at the mention of that beast, Draco started to remember the events that led him to the hospital wing. The walk out to the hut, the manticore, the attack, and something else, warm brown eyes filled with an emotion that he couldn't quite place. If Draco's father had been anyone other than Luciue Malfoy, he would have had no problems recognizing the emotion to be concern.

"The Mudblood," he hissed. She had been there, but why? He remembered how she had ... what had she done? The pain was starting to fog his memory again, "She saved me," he remembered out loud. An odd warmth seemed to flash through him for a moment, but he dismissed it as simply being a side effect of all the pain.

The voices had stopped and a sudden light shone across the bed. Madame Pomfrey bustled into the room, Professor McGonagall on her heels.

"You shouldn't be awake Mr. Malfoy," the nurse said softly as she came to his side. "You must be quiet, I don't want you to wake up Ms. Granger."

Draco carefully turned his head to look at the bed besides his. He found that moving caused a great deal of pain but years of experience let him hide it from the watchful eyes of the nurse, Sure enough, he could see Granger's bushy hair spread out on the pillow; framing her dead-white face.

"What's wrong with Granger?" His voice sounded harsh as it passed from his cracked lips. He couldn't remember her getting hurt.

"Ms Granger broke her wrist and suffered several broken ribs, one that punctured her lung." Madame Pomfrey's tone was trying to stay neutral.

"Will she be all right?" Draco was just as shocked that such a question could come from him as Madame Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were. They both turned to look at each other, the nurse's eyebrows raised slightly.

"Yes, both you and Ms. Granger will be fine." The nurse told him, "however, you'll both need to stay here in the hospital wing for a few days. The poison should have killed you, but the manticore was too young to be lethal."

"What I want to know Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall was now glaring at him darkly, "is just what exactly were you doing down at Hagrid's Hut?"

"I...," Draco looked at Professor McGonagall's face, then glanced towards Granger again. "Gran...I mean Hermione and l had a few questions for Hagrid about his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson."

Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed angrily. "Oh really? I don't seem to recall you and Ms. Granger spending much time together in class or out of it for that matter.

Draco felt his heart sink but he didn't let it show. He tried to hold his head a little bit higher, focus on a spot just below McGonagall's chin, and try not to think of what Lucius was going to say when he got expelled, He wished briefly that the manticore had gone ahead and finished him off, it certainly would have been a quicker death than the one that would await him at the manor.m

"Professor McGonagall," a hoarse voice from Draco's right brought him out of his reverie. Granger had opened her eyes and was looking at Professor McGonagall.

"Malfoy and I are Arithmancy partners. We were talking about Care of Magical Creatures in the library and we decided to go get Hagrid's opinion on a few things, I know that it was to late to go out, but I didn't think we'd be gone long," Granger closed her eyes with a grimace. Draco couldn't believe his ears. What was she playing at? She could easily get him expelled, why didn't she? What did she want from him?

Professor McGonagall looked suspiciously at Granger, probably wondering the same thing as Draco. She opened her mouth to ask more questions, but Madame Pomfrey pushed her aside.

"That will be enough questions Minerva, both of these children need to sleep." With these words she deftly caught Draco's chin with her hand and poured part of a potion down his throat. He watched her walk to Granger's bedside with the potion, his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. Granger turned her head to look at him, their eyes connected for a moment, and Draco felt a strange emotion pass between the two before he slipped into sleep.

Draco was awakened by voices sometime later; He had obviously been sleeping for quite sometime because sunlight was streaming through the window near his bed. The voices were coming from the other side of a curtain that had been put up between his bed and Granger's. He identified the voices as belonging to Potter and Weasley. He remained silent, listening to their conversation.

"What in the world were you thinking? Going to Hagrid's with Malfoy? How could you go anywhere with Malfoy? Have you gone daft?" Weasley's voice sounded furious, but the anger couldn't mask the obvious concern.

"Ron, I'm sure that Hermione had a good reason for being with Malfoy, right Hermione?" Potter, always the mediator, was trying to calm his friend.

"All right, all right. So why were you with Malfoy? And don't tell us that it was about class, Malfoy hates Care of Magical Creatures." Weasley's voice drifted through the curtain.

"Look Ron, Harry, I really don't want to talk about Malfoy. I don't want to think about Malfoy, or look at Malfoy, I've had quite enough of him. Please, can't we talk about something else?" Granger's voice pleaded softly.

Potter quickly changed the subject from Draco to the manticore. "Why did Hagrid even have one?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, Professor McGonagall said that they had to bring it here until it could be properly disposed of. But l don't know who they are or where the blasted thing came from. Do you know if they caught it?" Hermione had obviously been awake and listening to McGonagall and Madame Pomfrey last right too.

"I certainly hope they did," Weasley's voice cut in, "as if there weren't enough nasty things running around in the Forbidden Forest, now we have a manticore to watch out for."

"Hey Ron, we have to go to class now. We'll bring you your homework Hermione. And we'll come back in and see you during lunch, all right? Try not to let Malfoy bother you." Potter told her.

Draco could hear them saying good-bye to each other and then feigned sleep as Potter and Weasley came out around the curtain and walked to the door. Draco waited a few more minutes to make absolutely sure that they were gone before he climbed carefully out of bed. He gingerly tested his leg and found that while it was still sore, he could walk. He looked around for Madame Pomfrey and saw that her office door was closed. Draco took a deep breath and then pulled the curtain back. He was pleased to see Granger jump back with a tiny cry of surprise. He advanced on her quickly and grabbed her arm before she could slip off the other side of the bed away from him. His grip on her arm was so tight that she couldn't get up. He leaned down so that his face was only inches from hers.

"Why?" he asked.

"What?" Granger whispered, her eyes wide.

"Why are you lying to protect me, what do you want?" He hissed angrily at her, careful to keep his voice low so as not to attract the nurse's attention.

"I...I don't want anything from you Malfoy." She snapped back, anger quickly suffusing her face.

Draco tightened his grip on her arm; "I never pictured you as the type to blackmail, Mudblood." He twisted his hold slightly, watching her face pale.

"You're hurting me," she said softly, pain evident in her voice.

Draco immediately let go of her arm and stepped back. He could see where his hand had been, there would probably be bruising later. Granger reached up with her other hand and gingerly touched the white marks that his hand had left.

"I...I'm sorry, I hadn't meant too." He apologized, surprising both of them. He stood there awkwardly for a minute, not quite knowing why he had apologized or why he was even still standing there.

"How is your leg?" Granger asked him, breaking the strange silence.

"What do you think? it hurts," he snapped at her.

Granger didn't say anything else to him; she turned over onto one side to face the wall. Draco stood for another moment, just looking at her, before he went back to his own bed and drew the curtain between them.