The Sunrise of My Heart

As it would turn out, I'd hit Draco way harder than I'd actually meant to. I did, in fact, break his nose. Fred and George Weasley found this hilarious, and gave me thumbs-up all day. I felt really bad, though, so I gathered all of his homework and took it to the hospital wing, hoping he was still there and I wouldn't have to lug it around all the way to the Slytherin common room. Fortunately, he was still there.

"Madam Pomfrey, I'm fine. Can I go yet?" Draco complained.

"Not until your bones completely heal," she snapped at him. "Whoever hit you must have really been trying to do damage. Not only did they break the nose, but you hit it when you fell down, so it made the wound worse. It'll only be another hour or so. Now be quiet and rest!" I fought back a chuckle when he cringed, then made a face at her back.

"Hey, Draco," I said tentatively. "I brought you your homework so you won't have to be terribly behind." He glanced at me, and I sighed softly when I saw his expression was angry. But then I noticed that his eyes were a bit too light for him to be angry.

"Riley. I expect you're doing fine?" His voice was cool, but not as cold as I'd have expected.

"Well, I don't have a broken nose, so I'd say I'm better than you are right now." After a moment's hesitation, his face softened and he patted the edge of his bed, inviting me to come and sit by him. I smiled and sat down, scrunching closer to him.

"Can you believe she's actually making me stay bed ridden until this heals? It's just a silly broken nose, after all, so it's not like I can't walk. But she doesn't want anything to happen to it, so she's making me stay here until it's done healing." I smiled at him, glad he seemed to be in good spirits, despite what I'd done to him.

"Look, I'm sorry for hitting you. I just got really upset, and I kind of snapped."

He smirked softly. "Some snap," he commented. "But I'm...sorry...too." He made a face, as if the word left a bad taste in his mouth. At first I was confused, but then I realized the only other times he'd ever apologized to someone had probably only been when he'd been forced to, because it was a teacher or his father, or someone else he couldn't be snotty to.

"Draco did you mean what you--"

"No. I didn't mean it at all. Halfblood is good enough for me, and my father can deal with it." He didn't sound so sure about that last part, but I didn't push the matter. For now, I just enjoyed sitting with him and talking, letting the fight we'd had fall away behind me, becoming nothing more than a distant memory.

♪♫♫♪

The next day, Draco and I were back to our usual pattern: Sitting together in classes, eating together at meals, talking to each other whenever possible. We practically coordinated our days around each other, each of us making sure that each free moment was spent with the other. Despite all of this, however, I couldn't help but wonder why Draco seemed to be distant.

It wasn't very noticeable at first. I was unaware of any change, but subtly, as the days passed, I would notice tiny differences from how he'd acted before. When we were together, just sitting and talking, his eyes would become slightly glazed, as if he was thinking about something else. When he would kiss me, I could feel an emptiness in the kiss, well hidden but still there. Soon, I realized these small changes were always there now. Whatever had caused them, it didn't seem to be going away any time soon.

Laying in my bed late one night, I couldn't help but think about this distance that had grown between us. Was it because we'd had a fight? I didn't think so. Then what was it? The questions buffeted my head restlessly, but no answers came to me. It was infuriating. I rolled over and decided to put the questions aside until tomorrow, trying to get some sleep before I had to get up for classes.