This is the result of liveblogging with punkhalfghosts and we-are-all-temporary last night on Google Docs. We were trying to shapen up the Hogwarts AU a lil bit but then I started writing. Now this exists.

This would take place after the Second Task. Draco was Danny's tribute under the lake (I'll publish that story next)

{~}

"Danny, get your arse out of bed. I don't want to miss breakfast again," Draco threw a pillow at the halfway-asleep boy laying under the ruffled duvet. "And put on a damn shirt. Your scars-"

Draco gasped, and dropped his bag. It hit the cold basement floor with a dull thunk and a shattering of glass, but Draco didn't seem to notice. He rushed to Danny's side, ignoring Danny's protests, and held up a thin arm, cross stitched with scar tissue.

"When did you get these?" Danny didn't meet Draco's eyes. "You didn't get these during the Task, did you?"

"No. Well, a few of them I did. Those grindylows really pack a punch." Danny didn't stop Draco from ripping back the sheets to reveal half-healed wounds from tentacle-like appendages. "Healing potions don't work on ghosts."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco hugged Danny's arm to his chest, tears welling up in his eyes. "I could have done s-something or at least helped you-"

"Draco," Danny sat upright, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. "I didn't want to worry you. You worry the hell out of everything, and I've got this under control."

"Under control? Under control?" Draco's voice got increasingly higher. "Danny, you're a patchwork of skin and scars! Is it even possible to have this many wounds and still be-"

"Alive?" Danny finished. "I don't know. I'm an experiment, a test, an independent variable." His eyes, normal a calm blue, were a blazing toxic green that burned into Draco's pupils. "And that's how it'll always be."

"Fine," Draco's expression hardened. "I get it. You think that you're a freak, a half breed, a mistake. You don't want to burden anyone else with the simple act of existing, whenever dead or alive, so you hord into yourself and your thoughts until you drop from exhaustion."

Danny's gaze shifted downward.

"But I don't believe that. You, Danny, are important to me. Hell, you're my whole life. You're my bloody boyfriend for crying out loud!"

Draco squeezed Danny's hands. "And if there's anything hurting you, or bothering you, I want you to tell me. Because you're the greatest thing that has happened to me, and I wouldn't want to lose that. I don't want to lose you."