"Draco? What are you doing in here?" Draco cringed and slowly turned towards his godfather, his arms laden with all of the stolen potions and salves. The dark man frowned before approaching him slowly. "Are you injured? Why didn't you come to me?" " I thought you'd gone to bed, Uncle." "You could have woken me if you were hurt. You know I'd never turn you away." He eyed the bottles in his godson's arms and took stock of what he'd taken. Dreamless sleeping draught, bruise salve, burn paste, pain potions and dittany were among the many bottles. He waved his wand over the boy, scanning him and frowned further when it came up clean.
"It isn't for me", Draco whispered. "Who is it for Draco? Why haven't they gone to Madame Pomphrey? Why haven't you?" Draco turned his head away before sighing. "I can't tell you Uncle. Even I found out by accident when I was trying to humiliate him last year. I've only just gained his trust enough that he'll come to me." "If someone is being abused Draco he needs to be properly healed and taken care of. Dumbledore..."
"Dumbledore knows.", Draco growled. He pushed past his godfather and stormed out of the room. Severus stood frozen for a moment at that revelation before following after the teen. "Draco!" Draco paused at his bedroom door before turning towards him. "Wait here. I know he probably needs more than I can do for him, but he doesn't trust anyone and I know he won't accept that you care." He made his way into his room leaving the door cracked.
"Took you long enough Dray. I almost left. Did you get caught." "Almost. I see you got comfortable. ", he teased. Severus moved closer to the door listening to the two boys converse quietly. He'd never heard Draco speak so openly or with care with anyone before. "Well, you did invite me to.", the other boy teased back. Severus tried to place a face to the voice. He knew that he recognized it, but was having difficulties placing it. Which of his Slytherins had he failed. "I got you a dreamless sleeping draught. Will you stay here tonight so I can heal you as best I can. " " Is this your way of asking if I'll sleep with you?" Draco sputtered and Severus could just picture the blush on his face. The other boy chuckled again. "I'll stay Dray. I don't think I slept much this summer." "I can tell. If you don't want the others to know then it's better if you catch up here." "Thanks."
The room grew silent and Severus shifted restlessly by the door when it finally opened. Draco stood hesitantly in the entrance, as if still weighing his decision before moving to the side and allowing him in. Severus moved to the bed and looked down in horror at the boy who lay in it. He couldn't see the other teens face as he was laying on his stomach and his hair covered it, but what he could see shocked him. The boy was topless and every inch of his exposed flesh was covered in old scars and new and bruises in different stages of healing. Draco moved to sit on the bed next to his friend and began administering the bruise paste to the many bruises.
"I've already given him as pain relief potion and dreamless sleep. He won't wake up until morning. I don't know the diagnostic charm tho and he refuses to tell anyone else.", Draco said softly. "I won't betray his trust anymore than I have, but if I know anyone who can help him and keep his secret, it's you Uncle Sev." Severus nodded and moved forward casting the diagnostic charm and waiting for the results. "Draco, some of these scars are at least a decade old. You all know to come to me if you need help..." Draco sighed, but didn't look up from his work. "He's not a Slytherin and you're probably the last person he'd go to for help. He's stubborn too. It took me a long time to get him to even trust me after the first time I caught him in an unguarded moment." "You... care for him then?" Draco snorted. "As much as he lets me. " "And you said that Dumbledore knows. How can you be sure that..."
Draco looked up sharply and the look on his face was thunderous. "He knows!", he growled. "He simply doesn't care. Thinks that it's best for him if he stays with them. That he's safer. Does he look safe to you Severus!? I've tried to get him to say something, but he won't. He's so... cowed... that he thinks that this is okay. That there's no other way for him. He hasn't even told his so called friends." A soft ding permeated the room and Severus turned to the results of his scan. His frown returned at the number of injuries past and present listed. He recognized in them the pattern of systematic abuse. Most of the breaks hadn't been set properly, but had been left to heal on their own. He used his wand again to heal the recent fractures to the boy's ribs and legs. He cleaned and closed the cuts before applying the dittany to them. Hopefully he could prevent any new scarring. Although there didn't seem to be any point with how little of his skin wasn't covered with them.
As he looked over the paper once more Draco finished with the last of the bruises.
"Draco, who is this?", he asked quietly. The boy sighed again before moving to the head of the bed, carding his fingers through the other boys hair before moving it away from his face. Severus moved closer and found it impossible not to show his surprise. Harry Potter shuffled closer to Draco in his sleep and sighed in contentment.
"That's not... how..." "I assure you it is." Draco continued to card his fingers absentmindedly through Harry's hair all the while looking down at the brunette. "I think you should start at the beginning."
"Ever since he turned down my friendship in first year we've been rivals. I've always seen things involving him that way since. Spoiled. Entitled. Always coming out on top, even when he flouted the rules. Saint Potter, never doing anything wrong." Draco smirked mirthlessly before continuing. "It's all a matter of perspective though isn't it. He isn't any of those things, but I let my own hurt pride and jealousy blind me. I noticed that he never showered with the rest of the Gryffindors after practice or games. He was always the last one to leave the locker room and I thought to embarrass him. Thought maybe there was something he was trying to hide from everyone. A weakness I could exploit for my own amusement. Instead I found..." he paused and took a deep breath. Severus continued to listen patiently and watched Draco's tender affections towards the sleeping teen. He carefully turned the boy over to tend to the rest of his injuries as his godson continued.
"He seemed to accept that his secret was finally out. That I would use what I'd found against him. I couldn't. I told him that he needed to tell Dumbledore, but he only laughed in my face. You don't think he knows! , he screamed at me. He tried to tell me that it didn't matter. That it was his fate. His cross to bear. That nobody cares as long as he lives long enough to fulfill the prophecy. I took him to the shower and began to wash him and he just looked so startled. Like no one had ever done that before and he demanded to know what I thought I was doing. " Draco smiled in remembrance. "I told him I was caring." He snorted.
"And you've been... caring... ever since?", Severus asked as he finished. He levitated Draco's desk chair over beside the bed and sat down. "After that night he avoided me like the plague. I couldn't openly pursue him because of father and others, but I couldn't leave it alone either. It took awhile for me to get back past his defenses so he'd let me in again. He'd been taking care of himself for so long that I don't think he knew how to let someone else do it. He's not as open with Granger and the Weasle as everyone thinks he is and more often than not they're at odds. If they'd paid even half as much attention to him I think he might have been more open with him. He did when I started to. It took time, but eventually he felt safe enough to come to me wherever he needed to talk." "Do you know who's abusing him? Surely his family knows." Draco laughed cruelly. "It's his so called family that's doing this. He comes here after every summer sporting new injuries and hiding them. They hate him. Think they can beat the magic out of him. Express their disdain for his mere existence in any way that they can to beat him into submission. Granger harks on him for his grades and studying and for falling into the old man's schemes. Weasle is constantly storming off in a tiff because he's jealous of Harry's fame. Even you can't look past his outward appearance to see him for who he is and not as his father."
He broke off and wiped the angry tears from his eyes. "Even me. I couldn't see him past what Dumbledore wants us to see. What I wanted to see." "What doesn't Dumbledore want us to see, Draco." Draco sank further into the bed and pulled Harry closer to him. "Before his letter arrived Harry didn't know anything about himself or his parents or Hogwarts. He lived in a cupboard under the stairs of his Aunt's house. From the time he was four they started giving him chores to do around the house and he was only allowed scraps of food when they finished eating what he'd cooked or when he finished his chores. Sometimes he'd get a beating if it wasn't satisfactory to them. Other times they'd starve him. It's why he's so much smaller than he should be. Dumbledore knows that he isn't being cared for properly. He addressed his letters to his cupboard and it was only then that the muggles moved him into a bedroom. He addressed the following letters there. Eventually he had to send Hagrid for him. Hagrid had to tell him what he was. Who he was." Severus vaguely recalled hearing that Hagrid had been sent for the boy, but had assumed it was for his protection. "Every summer that he's returned there they've become crueler in their punishments. Think that they can beat the magic from him and it will make him less of a freak, as they put it." Severus reached out and ran a finger gently over one of the many scars. He had some of his own from his own father, but not nearly as many. His mother had taken the brunt of the abuse in his stead. Harry'd had no one.
"What do you mean by Dumbledore's schemes?" Draco sighed again. "Harry was telling the truth when he said that he doesn't go looking for trouble. Dumbledore's been subtly pushing him towards all of the trouble he's been in. Testing him. Harry figured it out pretty quickly of course after first year. He's actually pretty smart. Why else would he award me points after breaking a hundred school rules and putting myself and my friends in danger., he asked me. Said Dumbledore was proud that he'd found out about Flamel along the way, invited him to question him, but would only answer if he thought Harry should know." Draco chuckled again. "He's actually quite brilliant." His smile faded. "He just doesn't put forth much effort because he doesn't see a future for himself."
Draco took a deep breath and decided it was now or never to ask his Uncle the thing he wanted to since deciding to let him in on Harry's secret. "Will you help us? I want to take him far away from all of this. From Dumbledore's manipulations. From his expectations. From the Dark Lord's reaches. He's nearly died every year since he came here because of them. I know that he'll fulfill the prophecy on his own because he has a saving people thing. He won't be able to help himself. Just this once I want to save him tho. Give him a reason to want to live beyond what is expected of him. He's too important for me to lose him. We can study independently and take our tests at the ministry too."
Severus looked to the two boys. Taking in Draco's hopeful face. He'd never known the boy to care for anyone but himself. Nor to openly show his emotions. Harry's broken body was another matter. He'd painted the face of James on him for so long that he'd forgotten that this was Lily's son too. She'd be ashamed of him for failing him so much. Draco was right. They saw what they wanted to see. This wasn't the spoiled brat he'd painted him to be. This was a child who'd grown up too fast and learned too early the cruelty of the world. An orphan left to fend for himself, not unlike the Dark Lord. He looked back to Draco and nodded. "I'll make the arrangements. This stays between us. You'll have to leave your wands behind because they can be traced if you use them, but I'll take care of them until it's time for you to return. Sleep now. I'll let you know when I have everything in order. " Draco smiled in relief and snuggled down beside Harry and pulled the covers over the both of them.
Severus walked to the door and turned to look at the two boys once more before he left. Draco wrapped his arm around the other teen and whispered a soft goodnight before he closed his eyes. Severus turned once more and left the room with a soft snick as he closed the door behind him.