Disclaimer: I still don't own anything but the plot!
A/N: Hey! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! The response to this was just great! I wasn't too sure of it, you see. Erm, I'd just like to say, a couple of people mentioned this, so I thought I'd just say it again. This doesn't follow Half Blood Prince, it's instead of it, so Draco and Harry are sixteen.
I know I told you I'd get this chapter up sooner, but I've been busy! So, sorry about that! Anyway, enjoy this and please review!
Ch. 2.
Draco sat bolt upright as a scream resounded in the dark chamber. Grabbing his wand, he lit the candles, and looked over at Harry's bed. The small dark haired boy was thrashing wildly, his head tossing and turning as he grasped it, legs kicking out. He screamed again, a bone chilling sound.
Draco leapt out of his bed and in one bound was by the Gryffindor's side. Sitting down on the mattress, he grabbed Harry's arms and shook him gently, whispering for the raven boy to wake up. When Harry didn't respond, he shook harder.
"Harry wake up!" he yelled.
Green eyes shot open, and Harry stared at the ceiling for a moment, before turning soulful eyes on the blond. Draco started as he saw shadows and ghosts dance in the emerald orbs for a moment, before tears formed.
Harry sat up as Draco let go of his arms. Small drops of crystal trailed down smooth pale cheeks as Harry wrapped his hands around his upper arms, drawing his knees to his chest.
"Pain! So much of it!" he sobbed, Draco watching helplessly. "They screamed! In their heads, they begged! It was all inside me! They were all inside me! Their pain! Unbearable!"
His nails began to dig into his arms, leaving little half moon shapes. In fear, Draco pried the slim fingers from the skin, not wanting Harry to harm himself again. Gathering the small boy in his lap, Draco held him tight, rocking him back and forth, shushing him.
"Blood! They were covered in it!" Harry wailed. "She drowned in it! We drowned! Blood! Crimson tears fell everywhere! Hers and mine, his and theirs! Blood! On my hands! Everywhere! Ghosts! They're inside me still!"
Harry quietened after a while, his sobs dying down.
"It hurt, angel, it hurts still," he whispered.
"I know!" Draco crooned. "I'll do my best to stop it hurting. I promise."
Eventually, Harry's sobs became hiccups, and hiccups became gentle breathing. Draco glanced down at the boy in his lap, who was tracing designs on his strong arm with soft fingers. Harry was completely calm and relaxed, and Draco had to admit that it felt nice just to hold him like this. He glanced at the clock and realised how late it was. He had to put Harry back to bed. Thinking back to his childhood nightmares, Draco looked back down at Harry's sweet, tear stained face.
"Harry, it's very late, and we need to go back to sleep," he whispered.
Harry looked up sharply, panic evident on his face.
"No! The demons! The ghosts! They'll come back! Don't make me sleep!" he cried.
Draco tightened his arms around the slim form.
"Don't worry," he crooned. "They won't come to get you again!"
Harry calmed instantly.
"You see, when I was a little boy," Draco continued softly. "If I had a nightmare, I never went back to sleep in the same bed. I would go and sleep in one of the spare rooms. That way, the night monsters couldn't find me, and the next night, they'd have given up and I could sleep in my own bed again. Safe and sound."
Harry stared at him avidly.
"That's why, tonight," Draco finished. "You can sleep in my bed, and I'll sleep here."
Harry nodded and stood up, letting Draco lead him over to the other bed. Tucking the raven boy in, Draco went to move back over to Harry's bed, but a hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
"Please don't leave me angel!" Harry begged. "I'm scared! The ghosts might find me! They're angry! And they haunt!"
"Shush!" Draco whispered, making up his mind. "I'll stay, don't worry. I'm here."
He lifted the covers and slipped in beside Harry. There was plenty of room, the beds were both doubles. As soon, as he'd comfortably situated himself on his back, Harry cuddled up to his side. Draco wrapped his arms protectively around the small body.
They slept the rest of the night away peacefully.
HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDM
The alarm went off loudly, waking both of the sleeping boys instantly. Harry dived under the covers, frightened, and Draco waved his wand irritated, stopping the annoying bleeping. Merlin knew why he bothered to set the thing on a weekend!
Harry's messy head emerged from the covers, though his arms stayed tightly holding Draco's waist.
"Has the scary bird gone?" he asked.
Draco laughed.
"Yes it's gone, but it'll come back in the morning." Harry looked scared. "It won't hurt you, Harry, it wakes me up in the morning."
Harry didn't look convinced.
Draco sat up, thinking about taking Harry to see Dumbledore. The old headmaster had to be told about the episode last night. He might be able to suggest a solution. Besides, Harry wouldn't mind seeing Fawkes again, Draco supposed.
Climbing out of bed, he went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. When he emerged, Harry was still lying in the bed, staring into nothingness.
"Harry? Are you going to shower and get dressed?" he asked.
Harry sat up.
"I was watching the clouds!" he smiled, taking the towel Draco offered him.
"You can't see the clouds," Draco pointed out. "That's the ceiling."
"I could see them!" Harry replied, heading into the bathroom.
Draco was slipping his boxers on when Harry appeared in the doorway.
"The waterfall has dried up!" he whined plaintively.
Draco went into the bathroom and turned the shower on for him, handing him toiletries out of his trunk, watching Harry's eyes light up.
Finishing dressing, he went to Harry's trunk; he wrinkled his nose at the clothes tossed haphazardly in the box. They were all far too big, at least three times Harry's size. Draco decided to give Harry his clothes to wear until he could go to the village and get some that fit the boy.
Pulling a pair of soft dark jeans from his drawers, Draco grabbed a white t-shirt and a green jumper, turning to see Harry enter the room, naked and dripping.
"You'll have to dry off before you get dressed," he said. "Use the towel I gave you."
Harry did as he was told, as Draco got out a pair of black silk boxers. Handing them to the emerald-eyed teen, Draco left the room to see a breakfast tray on the coffee table next to the box of potions. A note caught Draco's eye, and he picked it up.
Mr. Malfoy, it read,
Here is breakfast for yourself and Harry. I took the liberty of sending it to your room, as I felt that the students should let the news of Harry's return sink in before they saw him. I announced it last night at dinner, and they were rather, shocked, I shall say.
I mentioned that he is not in the best mental state, and asked them not to surround him or distress him, but I imagine that they shall be rather curious when they see him, so be wary of that. Try to shield him from too much, please Draco.
Professor Dumbledore.
Draco put the note down and sat to wait for Harry. He didn't have long to wait, as Harry appeared in front of him, the jumper sleeves nearly covering his fingers, and the jeans riding low on his hips and almost covering his feet.
Draco smiled. He was bigger than Harry, but at least the clothes still partially fit.
"Sit down, it's breakfast time," he said.
Harry obediently downed his potion, and nibbled his toast, finishing it faster than the night before.
HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDM
After they'd finished eating and had cleaned their teeth, Draco put his shoes and socks on, and tried to coax Harry into putting some on too.
"The floor is cold!" Draco stated. "You can't not wear shoes!"
"No!" Harry crossed his arms. "I want to feel the earth!"
"We're inside!" Draco was getting frustrated. "You won't be able to feel the earth!"
"Yes I will!"
Draco could see that he wasn't going to win, so he tried to compromise.
"Ok," he said. "If I let you go barefoot inside, will you wear shoes outside?"
Harry glared, but relented, and they set off.
On the way to the headmaster's office, they ran into the sixth year Gryffindor boys and Hermione, on their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Good morning!" Hermione greeted them pleasantly. Now Harry was back, she'd cheered up, and had left the infirmary.
Draco returned the greeting, and Harry stepped closer to the girl.
"Hello Briar Rose!" he chirped. "Sing a sweet song soon!"
Hermione smiled as Ron turned and asked, "Who's Briar Rose?"
All the boys, minus Dean and Harry, who was staring at the ceiling again, crowded around the muggleborn witch.
"It's from a muggle fairy tale," she explained. "Called 'Sleeping Beauty'."
"He mentioned that yesterday!" Draco exclaimed. "When he first saw you!"
"Yes," Hermione replied. "I guess I must have seemed that way to his muddled mind. Basically, the story goes that there was a king and queen, who desperately wanted a child. Eventually, they had a baby girl and all the fairies in the kingdom were invited to see her. The princess was given many gifts, such as beauty, and a nice singing voice and kindness. Then, the bad fairy, which wasn't invited, arrived. She put a curse on the baby that stated that on her sixteenth birthday, she would prick her finger on a spindle and die.
"The king had every single spindle in the kingdom destroyed, but one remained, hidden. The princess was taken by some good fairies, and put into hiding. She grew up, called Briar Rose. One day in the woods, she met and fell in love with a handsome young man. She didn't know, but he was the prince that was betrothed to her when she was born. The prince didn't know who she was either, and he left to go marry the princess.
"Briar Rose was told who she was just before her sixteenth birthday and taken back to the palace. The bad fairy lured Briar Rose into a tower, where the last spindle was, and she pricked her finger. The good fairies, however, had managed to change the spell so that she would simply sleep for a hundred years.
"When Briar Rose fell asleep, so did everyone else in the palace, and thick vines grew around the place. The handsome prince, finding out, battled the fairy, killing her. He fought his way through the vines to the palace. He found Briar Rose, and kissed her. She woke up, and they married, living happily ever after."
"Wow!" Ron said. "That's why he had me kiss you yesterday."
Hermione nodded, blushing.
"I'm just glad he's back!" Dean stated. "It doesn't matter that he's a bit funny. He's alive, and that's what matters."
"Yep!" Seamus agreed. "Dumbledore'll have him sorted soon, and he'll be the same old Harry."
"If they can," Neville added, quietly.
Harry suddenly looked at him. He stepped closer and placed his hands on the blond Gryffindor's shoulders.
"They know!" he said excitedly. "They know you love them! Inside, where it's bright and light and happy, where they remember, they know! They love you too!"
He giggled and spun away to Draco.
"Let's dance!" he cried, flinging his arms around the taller boy's neck.
Draco, not being able to resist Harry's smile began to twirl him round, while Neville stood in shock.
"My parents know," he whispered to himself. He didn't know why, but he believed Harry, and that strengthened him.
After a moment, Draco stopped spinning Harry.
"We should go, we have to see Dumbledore," he said to the others.
"Oh, ok," Ron looked disappointed, but couldn't stop them.
"Why do you need to see him?" Hermione asked.
"I need to know if I can still go to class with Harry," Draco replied. "And Harry had a nightmare last night, and I was going to ask if he could do something about it."
Hermione nodded, and stepped out of their path.
"Why's Harry not wearing glasses?" Dean suddenly asked.
"I gave him an eye correction potion for his birthday," Hermione answered. "He wrote to tell me it worked perfectly the day after. It was just after that he disappeared."
"Why no shoes either?" Neville noticed.
"Couldn't get him to wear any inside. We had an argument about it earlier," Draco shrugged. "Don;t worry he's promised to wear them outside."
The others nodded and they said their goodbyes.
HPDMHPDMHPDMHPDM
"…and then he asked me to stay in the bed with him, and I couldn't say no. He slept peacefully after that," Draco concluded.
Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, it seems to me as though even with Voldemort gone, Harry is still having dreams related to him," he answered, eyes fixed on Harry, who was talking nonsense to Fawkes, who looked as though he were listening intently to the boy's babble.
"Sir?"
"For some years now," Dumbledore explained. "Harry has experienced nightmares of Voldemort's dealings, and of the things that had happened to him at the hands of Riddle. It seems to be a continuation of those. There is nothing to be done, but to carry on like you did last night, and hope they are not too frequent. If they get worse, we'll have to put him on a course of dreamless sleep potions, but those are a last resort."
"Ok," Draco nodded.
"You did well last night," Dumbledore commended him. "Many would have panicked, but you coped admirably."
Draco gazed at the raven boy.
"Was there something else?" the headmaster asked.
"I was just wondering, what happens with my classes?" Draco asked. "Can I take him with me?"
"I don't see why not," Dumbledore replied. "Potions might be a problem. It might be slightly dangerous to have Harry around unfinished cauldrons. Perhaps you could arrange with Professor Snape to spend your practical lessons in the library, and then make the potions on your own after class time."
Draco nodded.
"That sounds ok, I'll do that," he said.
He and Harry left the headmasters office to go for a walk around the lake in the late autumn sunshine.
A/N: So, what did you think? Please review! Love,
Len
