Monsoon Wings

Juno was confused, but then shook her head and continued. Perhaps that wasn’t Jayden. But he was! It was him. Indeed.

Juno shrugged. A lot had been happening these days. Anyway, it did not matter a lot to her. She continued walking till she reached her destination—a narrow corridor only lit up by a single fire torch, the flame glimmering faintly, casting a monster shadow behind her. She stopped in front of a bare wall and said the password, before a heavy low door appeared before her, an entrance to the Slytherin common room, currently deserted of life. The fireplace was lit palely. Juno made her way across and climbed the staircase to the boys’ dorms. She traced the usual way she had become familiar with for the last 4 months and arrived at her destination. She knocked thrice.

A faint noise replied.

‘It’s me, your slave,’ Juno called.

Draco mumbled something inaudible and muffled. Juno knitted her brows and opened the door.

It was black inside. Draco, the only current occupant of the room, did not manage to open the curtains and rejoice in the sunlight. It was a bit cold inside, but quite to chill yourself, and Juno found the temperature acceptable. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, and when they did, Juno saw a bulge on Draco’s bed—the second one from the window.

Juno then realized it was the guy himself—sleeping with the blanket full on. She walked lazily towards the foot of his bed and called, ‘You lazy goof! Wake up cause we are going down to visit Elvis!’

Draco, who was half-asleep, sluggishly stirred. Beads of perspiration colored his face.

Hey, how come Emily commanded me? He thought. I am the master, not her.

He opened his eyes, but it was too dizzy. He closed them again, quivering.

Emily shouted something, but he couldn’t hear clearly. Her voice sounded far away. It was as if she was on land and he was a dead fish swimming deep.

Juno reached forward and opened the blanket. She felt some kind of warmness around Draco.

‘Oh, hey. You okay?’ she said slowly.

For Draco Malfoy was pale as ivory (he always is, actually). His lips were chapped and white, and he was sweating profusely, despite the chill of the room. Juno let out her arm and touched his forehead.

It was hot as steeling kettle that she immediately pulled her arm back.

‘Jeez, you are seriously sick. You have to go to Madam Pomfrey,’ Juno tapped his shoulder and pulled his arm.

‘No!’ he cried, pulling his arm back and tucked it under the sheets. ‘I hate hospitals,’ he whispered, his voice croaked.

‘But—but, you have a really boiling temperature!’ Juno argued, like a mother whose son refused to get up for school.

‘Let me stay here,’ he whispered. He definitely hadn’t the strength.

Juno sighed and sat next to his bed, looking at him. His eyes were closed, and it looked as if he was half dreaming. Near him, she felt really warm—must be his temperature.

I can’t leave him like this, she thought.

What if he just dies here?

The thought struck her like a clock chiming midnight. She looked at his chest: still heaving. Good, he hasn’t died.

‘Have you eaten anything?’ Juno asked.

Draco grunted.

‘Is that a no?’

Grunt.

‘I take it as a no then.’

Juno stood up, figuring to go to the kitchen to get some porridge, and perhaps, to Madam Pomfrey as well, asking for some Temperature-plummeting syrup.

But what happened next wasn’t what she expected. Draco pulled her arm and she dropped onto the bed right beside him, snuggling into his chest.

Oddly, though, a second later, her own chest and ribs were jolting in and out rapidly, accommodating her heart.

She had never been so close to him before.

Well, maybe, but not like this.

Draco mumbled something, and Juno tried to catch the words.

‘..me… alone… never cares… am happy… saddest lie…’ and some other muted words.

‘Malfoy, you are dreaming,’ Juno said, trying to get up in vain, because he kept pulling her back, holding her tight, afraid he might lose her in the dark. He kept on mumbling.

‘You are having a bad dream, Malfoy. Malfoy?’

‘…Olivia…’

Juno stopped, her heart demanding replay. What did he mumble just now? The name of her best friend? She had known there was something between both of them. Always scurrying together somewhere in the corners of the castle. But she thought it was only coincidence? Juno leaned down to hear exactly what Draco was mumbling.

‘..Juno…’

She stared at the pale face for a long time.