Hermione smiled sunnily. 'Let's go! Come on,' and she pushed open the castle doors, gesturing for the other two to follow her. 'You too, Ginny.'
Ginny hesitated. 'Oh, I don't know…'
'If I have to go, you have to go too,' Ron said, and grabbed her wrist. She followed him, her heart pounding with nervous anticipation. Her great happiness that Draco was all right was tempered with nervousness about seeing him. Especially now that she was almost sure that he was the one who had kissed her while she was sleeping. Unless, of course, it had been Snape. But that was so very…yuck.
Madam Pomfrey let them all into the infirmary with only a perfunctory eye roll. The infirmary was warm and full of light. At the far end of the huge room, Ginny could see a small still figure lying on a bed against the wall — Malcolm Baddock, she assumed. Ginny looked quickly away, and fixed her eyes on the white-curtained bed up ahead. The curtains hung from the ceiling without visible means of suspension, and were half-transparent. She could see shadows behind them: someone sitting upright in a bed, someone in a chair beside it. She recognized the outline of Harry's messy hair, and smiled. As they drew nearer, she began to hear Harry's voice, and then Draco's in response. 'The Wronski Feint is not a better move than the Luhzkin Parallel Slide! What drugs are you on, Potter?'
Hermione paused at the foot of the bed, and pulled the curtain back.
'You're talking Quidditch?' she said, sounding amused. 'I can't believe you two are actually talking Quidditch.'
Ginny and Ron joined her at the foot of the bed in time to see Harry look up surprised, and laugh. 'Where did you all spring from?'
Ginny looked at him in surprise as he got to his feet. He looked bright-eyed and awake, almost — lively. It was as if something had shocked him out of his self-imposed exile from the rest of the world. He hugged Hermione hard, and let her go reluctantly. 'I don't suppose you brought anything to eat…'
Hermione laughed and handed him something wrapped in a napkin.
'Raided the kitchens,' she said, and then turned to Draco, who was sitting propped up in bed, his back against a stack of pillows that looked as if they had been pilfered from other, empty beds. Ginny said a little inward prayer of relief. He looked almost normal, perhaps a little tired, but his face was flushed with a healthy color and his bandaged shoulder looked whole. He was wearing blue-and-white striped standard-issue infirmary pajamas that made him look six years younger. 'You're all right?'
Hermione asked him, her voice suddenly gentle. 'I would have brought you something too, but I didn't know…'
'It's all right.' Draco's voice was strong. Normal. It was hard to believe that he had been so very near death not long ago. She banished the thought of blood-stained snow. 'I'm not hungry.' His eyes went to Ron and Ginny. 'Hello, Weasley.' He paused. 'Ginny.'
Ron nodded at him. 'Glad you're okay.'
'So am I,' Ginny added quickly.
Hermione sat down on the foot of the bed. 'Did they tell you when you would be out?'
'Tomorrow, probably,' Draco said.
'Will you be able to go to the Pub Crawl?' she asked.
Draco shrugged. 'I wasn't going to go anyway,' he said. 'Weasley here has me hanging about pestering the sixth-years, don't you?'
Ron, who was still looking as if he wished he were elsewhere, now looked uncomfortable. 'Well, you volunteered,' he said.
'Oh, but that won't take all night!' said Hermione, looking anxious. 'Will it? You should still go, Draco — you only get one Pub Crawl.' She twisted herself around and looked at Ron. 'He doesn't have to stay at school all night, does he?'
Ron looked even more uncomfortable. 'Well…'
Draco shrugged, looking piteous. 'I'll see how I feel. I mean, I did agree to do it…although perhaps if I'm feeling very weak and ill it might not be the best thing for — '
'Malfoy,' said Ron, sounding exasperated. 'If you're well enough to be let out, you're well enough to sit in the Great Hall and watch the door!'
Draco looked even more piteous. Ginny wanted to hug him, but restrained the impulse. 'But I don't want to,' he said.
Ron smiled at him brightly. 'Haven't you ever heard the expression, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?''
'No,' said Draco. 'I've heard the expression, 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then throw it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you originally asked for.''
Harry started to laugh, and Ron glared at him. Before he could say anything, however, the curtain was drawn aside, and Madam Pomfrey peered in, her expression amused. 'There's someone here to see you, Draco,' she said.
It was Blaise. Ginny instinctively drew back as Draco's girlfriend stalked into the room, her green eyes blazing and her fiery hair tumbling around her shoulders. Hermione leaped up from where she had been sitting on the bed and backed away as Blaise advanced on Draco, who looked alarmed. 'Blaise…?' he began.
'Darling!' Blaise launched herself onto the bed and threw her arms around Draco, embracing him fiercely. Draco yelled in pain. Harry leaped up to get out of the way of the windmilling limbs, and went to stand near Hermione, looking amused. 'I came as soon as I possibly could! I was absolutely frightened to death!'
Draco patted her back awkwardly. 'There, there,' he said, or at least that was what Ginny thought he had said — his voice was muffled against Blaise.
'I'm fine. No harm done.'
'No harm done? You could have been killed. Were you dueling?' Blaise pulled back. 'And if you were, why didn't you pick me as your second?
