'Where there's a will, there's a way'
It's not just something the muggles say.

Dread and anxiety filled Mia's chest as she trudged through the empty corridors. Although curiosity gnawed at her, she didn't want to see Draco after how he humiliated her the previous day. But she just couldn't shake a certain question...

Why was he in the Hospital Wing?

Hippogriffs couldn't be a cause. They'd been banned from lessons after the incident in Third Year, when Buckbeak 'maimed' the whiny Slytherin and was supposed to be sentenced to death.

Maybe the Gryffindor posse? They constantly made it a point to torment Draco. Yes, he was a jerk to them, but they were never innocent either.

Or maybe Malfoy faked a stomach ache and skipped class. This was the most believable, as Draco always tried keeping every platinum blonde strand of hair in place on his prissy little head.

When Mia approached the tall mahogany doors of the infirmary, she took a deep breath, bowed her head, then pushed the door open. The room was silent and only seemed to have two inhabitants. When her eyes flitted to the patients, she gasped.

Damien and Draco lay beaten and bruised in beds far away from each other. The brunette was knocked out while the other stared at her intently with aluminum grey eyes as if assessing her every move.

"D...Draco?" was all the girl could say.

He just watched her as her mouth opened and closed. She didn't even know what to make of the situation.

How had Draco and Damien both gotten so badly injured?

"Are you going to keep looking like a fish out of water or give me my missed work?" Draco spat and she frowned, letting her gaze drop to the floor as she walked towards him.

Mia should've just dropped the work off, wished him well and left. But she wanted...no, she needed answers. "What happened?"

"I know you're an idiot, but I didn't think you were completely dense."

"Asking questions isn't a sign of stupidity."

"Okay, then I have a question for you," started Draco. His heavy gaze didn't leave her, in fact, it became more intense. "How do you feel about Benn?"

Mia stared at Draco. That was the very last question she had expected him to ask. Why did he care what she thought of Damien? She suddenly felt a wave of fear and paranoia. What if he had found out what had happened? What if Damien had made her out to be 'easy' and changed the story?

A chill went down her spine, but she quickly shook it off. "He's...well, I don't know him all that well-"

"Hufflepuff...the house of loyalty, kindness and...honesty."

"If you have something to say, just spit it out. I'm no mind-reader."

"Oh, Smith...go check out Benn. He's sleeping, don't worry. You'll find your answers," he said with a chuckle.

Both their gazes flitted to the unconscious boy across the room. Mia stared at Draco for a moment, wondering why he wanted her to do such a thing. Defeated by his gaze, she gave a sigh and walked over, feeling more sick with every step, and even more so once she saw his condition up close.

He was bruised all over his face as if he'd been punched repeatedly, his arm was bent at an odd angle, and his bare chest - also very bruised - was covered with a blanket.

Looking back at Draco, he had much fewer injuries. A broken nose, split lip, and very faint bruises around his neck. When he sat up a bit straighter, stretching in the process, she noticed his hands. His knuckles were bruised and bloody.

Surely he hadn't? Mia felt herself inwardly sigh both in relief and astonishment. The latter came from the possibility that Draco might actually have cared about her and hurt Damien over what happened. The relief came as she realized that if Draco had beat him up, Damien would probably avoid her from then on.

Why would Draco do that for her, though? They weren't even mutual friends. In fact, she seemed to annoy him almost every encounter they had...it just didn't make sense.

"You..."

He chuckled as he remembered the fight. "I did indeed."

~

It all had hit Draco like a slap in the face. Damien tried forcing Mia...how could he be so clueless? Smith would never be so distraught over Peeves. And besides, Benn had been picking on her ever since the incident.

He felt a sickening sensation in his stomach. Sure he loved to pick on Hufflepuff's and younger students, but never would he ever dream of forcing himself on someone. It disgusted Draco to no end to think someone would do that another person, let alone the person who deserved it the least.

He looked around the corner again at Mia and Luna. The Hufflepuff had tear streaks down her face and shook as she spoke. Anger boiled in Draco's gut and he knew what he had to do.

Damien would never hurt her - and hopefully no others - ever again.

Draco didn't even question his need for revenge. Why did he feel so strongly about this? He had no clue. He liked to believe that it was how he was raised. His mother had always taught him to treat girls with respect. Despite failing miserably to follow that rule with Hermione Granger and some others - and that was only because they were muggle-born - seeing innocent girls get hurt sparked something in him...anger.

And Mia Smith was, in fact, innocent and wouldn't harm a fly.

He turned on his heel and went to find Benn, his strides long and angry. Students flooded the halls and it took him a while to find the idiot. He stood in the courtyard with fellow Slytherins and had his arm around some third-year girl. He seemed to be the center of the group, as he was talking and everyone laughed whenever he would crack a joke and flash a grin.

'What a pervert,' thought Draco to himself as he watched Damien with the third year girl.

The platinum blonde stormed up to him, hands balled into fists as he glowered at his friend. "Benn, how could you?!"

Damien's dark sapphire eyes widened and he stood up, whispering, "I don't know what you're talking about, but could it wait?"

"No, admit what you did!" yelled Malfoy, angrily. "Admit that you tried raping Mia, ADMIT IT!"

Damien tried to look clueless and gave him a weird expression. "Mate-"

This only made Draco angrier. Why couldn't he just fess up to what he had done like any normal dignified person? "Don't 'mate' me! Fucking admit it!"

"Malfoy...you're crazy," said the brunette with a forced chuckle. He turned back to his confused group of friends and shrugged. "I think the Potions fumes got to Blondie here."

The group laughed and Draco ignored them and seized Damien by the collar of his shirt, leaning close to his face. "I'm not crazy. Admit it and leave her alone...or else."

"Or else what?" he asked with a forced smirk. Draco's steely eyes narrowed and this sparked a bit of fear in Damien, but regardless, the idiot was determined to not give in. His voice became inaudible to everyone else. "I knew you fancied Smith. I don't know why though...you'll never get anywhere with her. She's an overdramatic, annoying, emotional bitch, and a complete and utter prude. I'll admit, I made my move a bit early on...maybe you'll get lucky?"

Draco glared at him harder. "You're pathetic."

"Just get her in a broom closet, whisper sweet nothings...you'll get her screaming out your name in no time."

He had never felt more disgusted with Damien in all his five years of knowing him and coming to think of it, Damien had done some pretty nasty things. Draco wondered why he hadn't seen through his fake personality long ago and was only now coming to realize who his best friend was a person.

"You sick bast-"

Damien smirked. "She's hot as hell, and you know it. I bet she's fun if you use her right. I'll try her out for you if you'd like-"

He let out a yelp and many gasped when Draco punched him incredibly hard in the face. But when the group was about to interfere, Damien grinned and spat out a bit of blood before turning to his friends and saying, "Ah, don't worry, I don't need help. Malfoy's just got his knickers in a twist-" Draco used this opportunity to put him in a headlock, but the brunette was adamant on staying tough. "You may have the upper hand now, but you've gotten yourself into a fight you can't win."

He jabbed his elbows hard into Draco's sides and spun around to punch him, but the blonde was quicker. He ducked and spun around, bringing his leg up to kick the boy in the ribs. There was a loud crack and yell, but Damien straightened up quickly, hurdling towards Draco and tackling him to the ground, bringing strong hands around the boy's pale neck.

He couldn't breathe. Fear and pain flooded him, but he refused to give up.

As Damien spat insults at Malfoy, he slowly reached for his wand and quickly pointed it towards the brunette, choking out, "Stupefy!"

He was blasted back and landed with a thud. This gave them both a chance to get up and at this point, they both were a bit bloody.

"Damn, Malfoy," Damien said with a laugh, watching the blonde cough and gasp for air. "You're not all that bad."

Arrogance was another thing the boy wondered how he could tolerate for so long. Draco knew he himself was arrogant but he hated other people truly acting as so. Regardless, he ignored the comment and was quick to respond.

"Ascendio!" yelled Malfoy, pointing his wand at this arrogant friend. With a yelp, he was cast high into the air. When the git was as high as could be, he called out another spell."Descendo!"

Damien slammed into the ground and let out a loud cry of agony. He had landed on his stomach and ribs, and many loud cracks could be heard. Draco rushed over and pinned the injured boy to the ground, repeatedly punching him to the point where he was bruised and bloody beyond belief. He probably would've killed Damien if Professor McGonagall didn't interfere.

"Stop, STOP! Mr. Malfoy!" the woman yelled, rushing over and pulling Draco off his unconscious ex-best friend. "What has gotten into you?!"

Draco was panting heavily at this point. His cold grey eyes flitted up to her wide green ones as he simply stated, "The bastard deserved it."

~

"But..." Mia trailed off as she stared at Draco, unbelieving. "How? No offense, but...well...since when have you fought?"

"Since never. But where there's a will, there's a way," he said, eyeing Damien with distaste. "I have to admit, having Crabbe and Goyle as acquaintances isn't always useless...they fight people a lot and watching is a bit educational."

Mia looked over, slightly worried. Sometimes her kind Hufflepuff nature really was too overwhelming. "How bad are his injuries?"

Draco stared at Damien. "Aside from looking like an ugly bloody brute, he's got a broken arm, teeth, and five of his ribs are fractured along with his collarbone. "

"You didn't have to maim him!" Draco's eyes widened at this. Why was Smith being so kind? "I mean...yeah, he's a pathetic pig but-"

"But nothing. Smith, he needed a lesson, and when my father hears about this, he'll be sure to get Benn expelled-"

Panic was beginning to make its way across Mia's face. There was no way that could happen. What would people think? They would assume she was just some slut who would go after her friend's ex and get with absolutely anyone. The thought made her heart race with fear.

"No, no, Draco, you can't tell anyone."

He raised an eyebrow and studied her for a bit. She never failed to confuse him. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to be labeled and he wouldn't want to be either-"

"Smith, you're not the one in the wrong-"

"I'll be known as easy!" exclaimed Mia, voice shaky. "I agreed to go out with him at night. I didn't know what he planned on doing...but nobody's gonna believe me! Hufflepuff girls are known as easy and submissive, but I've been able to stay out of that stereotype. Draco, I'm not like that. I can fend for my own when needed-"

"Obviously not," he scoffed and rolled his eyes.

A pained expression appeared on her face and his words stung...maybe he was right. She was obviously couldn't even fend off Damien, maybe she was weak.

'No,'  thought Mia, 'I was almost sorted into Gryffindor...I can be brave.' She straightened up and bit and said, "I can, I just thought he had good in him. Yeah, I made a dumb mistake, but it's not gonna happen again."

"Regardless he's pathetic. He could hurt someone else...would you want that?" Draco questioned.

She stayed silent. He was right, it couldn't happen to someone else. If it did, Mia couldn't live with herself knowing it was her fault that it would have happened for not warning other girls about him.

Draco took her silence as an answer. "Exactly. Now, Smith, I'm not interested in arguing-"

"Why'd you do it? Malfoy...you hate me. Why would you help me at all?" Mia cut him off, catching his gaze. His grey orbs snapped down and he didn't respond. "Draco...I just don't understand-"

"Smith?" a voice croaked from the other side of the room.

Mia and Draco turned to face a groggy Damien. Draco rolled his eyes in disgust at the figure.

The beaten boy yawned and they saw his bloody mouth and broken teeth; this caused the girl to shudder. He winced in pain as he breathed and was unable to even sit up, so he just stared at the two with the one eye that wasn't swollen shut. "D...did you come to see me, sweetheart?"

Mia glared at him. "Fuck off."

"Maybe you should just go," hissed Draco, not taking his eyes off his ex-best friend.

She gave a nod and kneeled next to him, whispering in his ear, "Thank you, Draco." and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before leaving the hospital wing, the two boys both watching her as she went.

Draco's face heated up and an odd feeling arose in his chest. He felt this weird sensation that he couldn't quite explain. He and Smith didn't even like each other, so he didn't understand how he was feeling such a warm tingling sensation...actually, there were many feelings that sparked around her that caused him confusion, and something within him made him scared to figure it out.

~._.~

Hey everyone! I'm SO sorry this is late! I've been busy asff. Hope you liked the chapter and that I pulled it off well. Sorry if the fight scene sucked, but idk, I really enjoyed writing it. The next chapter is gonna be...interesting. So stay tuned for that!

I've just gotta announce that I've finally started posting rewritten chapters in my Anna Black series. So, if you haven't read it (or you're an old reader), go check it out! It's not completely edited yet, but slowly and surely, it will be, and I promise it'll be really good! What I have so far is TOTALLY different than before...heck, it's almost like a whole new story!

Question of the chapter...
~What's a bad habit/trait you have?~
(Mine is being sarcastic and detached asf or my severe procrastination)

Thanks for reading. Remember to vote, comment, and follow!
Love to all,
~Lumos