Hope you guys are good! Here is another chapter for you. Trying to update about once a day, or every two days. So please remember to follow the story so you'll get a notification when I post. :) More characters introduced in this chapter, and we get to see Tom again being a naughty little snake. Enjoy!
Also, leave a comment and tell me what characters you would like to see make an appearance!
Harry woke up early that next morning, his stomach growling in the process.
"Can you quiet that thing down?" Draco questioned grumpily. Harry rolled his eyes and got out of bed and hurried to do his business and get ready for the day. Going into their shared bathroom, he looked at the bandages covering his wrists. Like an addict, he was having withdrawals from not hurting himself. He wanted to see the blood run down his palms and on to the floor.
"Harry, are you done? You've been in there forever. Other people have to use the bathroom, you know!" Draco screeched out. Harry was startled, he looked up at the clock on the wall. He had been in the bathroom for almost thirty minutes now. He was surprised that he'd been in his morbid thoughts for that long. He hurriedly brushed his teeth and walked out of the bathroom.
"Finally!" Draco exclaimed, rushing into the bathroom at a force Harry was surprised at. Harry decided to wait for Draco before heading down to breakfast. Well, it was really Draco's idea. Ever since the conflict with Tom, Draco had stuck to him like glue. Not to Harry's delight. He had had enough socializing to last him for a decade. Draco walked out and they were finally on their way to the dining hall for breakfast, and he couldn't wait.
"The nargles are this way Neville! Follow me." Harry's thoughts about food were disturbed by a blonde haired, thin girl with piercing silver eyes. 'Wait...nargles?' Did Harry hear that right? Maybe he should visit the nurse. The strange blonde haired girl walked towards Draco and Harry with a smile.
"Hi Draco and hello Harry. The nargles are around you, they must like you. Hmm…" He had heard right! Nothing was wrong with his hearing, thankfully. 'What was wrong with her,' Harry thought in disbelief. 'And how did she know my name?' Draco turned to look at Harry, winking.
"Hi Luna and hello Neville. And what can I say? Everyone likes me." Draco said haughty. 'Neville?" Harry thought. Suddenly a chubby boy entered the corridor they were in, obviously sweating from running.
"Hi Draco. And it's Harry, right? Sorry I was following Luna, but she disappeared on me." The boy named Neville said with a shy smile, glancing at Luna every few seconds.
"Aw, yes. Looking for the nargles, I suppose. Well Harry and I must be off, have fun Luna." Draco ended the conversation, grabbing Harry by the arm and rushing him towards the doors to the dining hall. Once they got into the dining hall, they immediately found a table and sat down next to each other. Once comfortable, Harry turned and looked at Draco curiously.
"Luna has schizophrenia. Snape told us not to encourage her hallucinations, and we've tried that. It just doesn't work, so now we just go with it. And Neville follows her around like a lost puppy. Completely in love with her. He chases her everywhere." Draco said as if he was discussing how paint dries.
"They let her run around like that? That must not be healthy." Harry questioned while spreading butter on his toast.
"And those wounds on your wrists aren't healthy either, but you know, they let you run around with that." 'Touche,' Harry thought.
"And Neville? What was he brought in here for? He looks pretty sane to me." Harry often admitted, he himself was quite insane. He didn't have the best self esteem.
"Binge eating disorder, he used to weigh a lot more. Good for him, he's dropped over 50 pounds. Snape told me, he should be getting discharged soon." Draco said disdainfully. Draco wished that when he lost weight, the staff and patients would be happy for him. Instead he got disapproving stares from everyone. 'Everyone, except Harry.' Draco thought with a smile.
Harry poured some dark coffee into his cup, staring at the color he was reminded of the darkest eyes he had ever seen. Harry looked around, hoping to meet his eyes. Their eyes locked in competition. Harry knew he wouldn't back down. The thrill of the beast was just too good. Tom's eyebrow raised humorously. 'How can the devil, be so beautiful?' Harry thought and then squandered away the attraction. 'This was the devil he was talking about, not a male model,' Harry reminded himself. Their eyes never left each other, until of course Harry's eyes started watering from the staring contest. He felt like a failure, he couldn't even kill himself properly and now couldn't even win a staring contest.
Draco watched the hatred and slight curiousness in Harry's eyes and watched the spark of humor in Tom's eyes. He didn't like that his new friend was getting in with the wrong crowd. 'Damnit, hadn't he told Harry to quit angering the beast? But did he listen? No.' Draco fumed inside. Draco was just trying to watch out for his new friends. He didn't know when they had exactly turned to friends, Harry probably felt differently. But it was nice to have someone to talk to, even if it was mostly one sided.
They ate in silence, both caught in their own thoughts. It was a comfortable silence. It was broke by Madame Pomfrey coming and delivering their medicines along side was the new intern, Hermione Granger, taking notes.
"I have to take medicine?" Harry questioned the nurse. Draco took the tiny cup of water and his pills and swallowed in one gulp. He cringed as it went down his throat, hating the way the medicine tasted.
"Yes, Mr. Potter. It is mandatory. We won't have any trouble from you, right?" Madame Pomfrey asked sternly. Harry shook his head while taking the cup of water and the pills and downed them both with urgency. Hermione winked at him in remembrance, Harry paid no mind to it. He definitely didn't want another person to socialize with. Today was Sunday, he was brought here on Saturday. Tomorrow classes would start. Harry had never tried in school, since he knew he wouldn't be living by graduation. It was hard to study when you constantly wanted to end it all.
"Draco, are we actually expect to do well in our classes?" Harry might have asked a stupid question, but this was a mental hospital. With all their knowledge of mental illnesses, they couldn't expect them to have flying colors in their classes.
"They have incentives if we do." Draco answered with excitement.
"Incentives?" Harry questioned.
"If we do well in our classes we get special privileges, like being able to leave the facility to go to Hogsmeade! Oh Harry, Hogsmeade is a beautiful place. Full of shops and no one knows we're from the facility! It's great to feel normal for a little while." Draco answered. 'To feel normal and get out of here for a little while?' That sounded like heaven to Harry, the shops didn't really have an appeal to Harry since he had no money.
"The latest fashion is at Hogsmeade, though I used to go to Paris every year and see their fashion shows. Harry?" All this time Draco had been going on and on about Hogsmeade, Harry had tuned him out, too involved with his own thoughts of freedom.
"Sorry." Draco frowned, hurt that his friend hadn't been listening to him.
"Let me show you the library! It's huge, has every book under the sun. And there is a restricted section, we can't read those, but sometimes the right staff member will write you a pass to get in there." Harry was intrigued by this. 'What could be in the restricted section?' Deciding he had nothing to do, he went with Draco.
The library was huge. Since it was a Sunday, it was practically empty. It reminded him of the library the Beast gave to Belle in Beauty and the Beast. It was breathtaking. He let Draco grasp his arm and manhandle him around showing off his favorite books and places to read. He felt like Draco was growing on him. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not, considering he knew Draco was sensitive and he would certainly be upset if Harry killed himself.
At the end of their visit, Draco had checked out a vastly number of books. Harry poked fun at Draco, asking him if he was trying to prove he could read. Draco was surprised by the joking, as Harry was usually serious. Going out the doors to the library, they were walking back to their rooms while Draco talked excitedly about his new workout routine. Harry usually just tuned him out when he went on these tangents. Draco stopped in his tracks, making Harry stop as well abruptly.
"Father, what are you doing here? And Riddle?" Draco was extremely confused. The conversation didn't look to be going well, by the extreme paleness on his father's features.
Harry kept his eyes on Riddle the entire time. Studying Riddle had became his new favorite hobby. Riddle was a puzzle and he intended to figure him out. Even if he did hate the git. Riddle smirked, as if he had read Harry's thoughts.
"Draco, go back to your room and take your friend with you." Lucius said sharply with no explanation.
Still staring at Harry, Riddle said, "As much fun as this is, Lucius and I have some business to handle. We must be going. Seems we meet again, Harry. How unfortunate." And with that Riddle broke eye contact with Harry and walked off with an aura of power around him. Lucius looked at his son before following Riddle into another room. Draco ran down the hallway, disappearing. Harry sighed, 'Draco was way too sensitive.' Yes, Harry was confused and could somewhat understand why Draco had ran off. Probably hurt that his father had come to see Riddle instead of his only son. As much as Draco acted like he didn't care very much about his father, Harry knew he loved him deeply. And inspired to be just like him. He didn't know Mr. Malfoy that much, as this being the first time they met. But the countless conversations Draco had with Harry about his father, Harry knew that Draco was way better than his father ever could be.
Knowing Draco went in the directions of their shared room, Harry followed. He didn't run like Draco had, knowing Draco would still be there when he got there.
Finally getting to their rooms, he opened the door and saw Draco fiercely doing sit ups.
"Draco, stop. Let's talk." Harry said gently. This made Draco do the sit ups faster.
"Draco, come on. Talk to me." Harry prodded. It just wasn't working. So Harry did the only thing he could think of. He walked over and sat on Draco's stomach, pinning his arms to his sides.
"Get off me!" Draco yelled, tears coming to his eyes.
"No! Talk to me!" Harry snapped back. Draco fought back, but with Harry on his ribs, it made it harder to get up.
"Stop punishing yourself, Draco for your father's actions! I'm not losing you as a friend, so you better talk to me." Harry whispered out the last part, surprising himself with the wave of emotion he had when it came to the thought of something happening to Draco. 'Shit, he was attached,' Harry thought.
Everything went silent after Harry said that. Harry let up on Draco when Draco gave Harry a bone crushing hug. Not used to such close contact, Harry awkwardly pat Draco's back while he cried. Letting him release the emotions, while getting Harry's shirt wet in the process. Finally Draco released Harry.
"You want to talk about it now?" Harry said awkwardly. He wasn't used to the touching and the crying. 'How could someone be so weak in front of someone else?' Harry thought curiously.
"My father didn't visit me, but he can visit Riddle? What about me? His son…"
"The real question is, what was Riddle doing with your father anyways? What is this business they have together? Harry reminded gently. Though Lucius hadn't explained to Draco what that business was, he was hoping that Lucius had had a past with visiting and seeing Riddle after seeing Draco.
"My father doesn't know Riddle personally. Well, that's what I thought anyway. We will have to watch him closely. Like Dumbledore does." Draco responded swiftly.
"Dumbledore watches Tom? Why?" Harry questioned.
"Dumbledore doesn't trust Tom. He's even tried to move Riddle to another institution, but my father votes against it and the Prime Minister follows his lead." Draco said nonchalantly.
"Your father votes against him? That doesn't sound weird to you? That he's keeping a murderer in the same institution as his son?" Harry couldn't believe Draco was being so calm about this. It was obvious something was going on between Lucius and Riddle. And if Draco wasn't going to find out Harry would. 'It's time to anger the beast,' Harry thought deviously.
"I don't question what my father votes on. That's a rule in my family." Draco responded.
Harry and Draco both mused on their own thoughts letting a comfortable silence come out into the room.
Hermione is beyond nervous. She had gotten a letter from Severus Snape, earlier that day handed to her by Madame Pomfrey. 'The doctor had never wanted to see her before, why would he want to see her now?' Hermione thought with anxiety. She made her way to his office, knocking on the door and preparing herself Snape called from the door, "come in."
She walked in and immediately noticed the lay out of the room, it reminded her of a dungeon. 'It was freezing like a dungeon,' Hermione remarked in her head. There were two plush chairs in front of his desk, sitting down at the one in the right. Hermione looked around at the room, noticing the many paintings.
"Ms. Granger, how long have you been an intern here for?" Snape asked, giving off waves of superiority. Hermione wanted to cower, but knew to be strong.
"About 2 months and 2 weeks, sir." Hermione answered with precision.
"Then I'm guessing you know the rules?" Hermione looked into his eyes, confused. Of course, she knew the rules. She only studied them a billion times.
"Yes, sir."
'Was she in trouble?' Hermione thought with fear. She really couldn't lose this job, she had wanted to work at Hogwarts, for as long as she could remember.
"Then you'd know that getting close to patients is against the rules." Snape responded, flipping through the rule book and showing Hermione the rule.
"Yes, sir. But all I've done is talk to them. They need someone…" Snape sneered at this.
"Don't tell me what they need, I am their doctor! They need medicine and therapy. Not silly, little girls." Snape snapped, his voice becoming impossibly colder with each word.
"Have you ever listened to them? And heard what they wanted? You can't be so obtuse and think that all they need is medicine and therapy. They need friends, that give them a positive influence!" Hermione knew she should shut up, but she just felt so passionate about the patients here.
"I don't need to listen, Ms. Granger. I already know what they want. To get out of here and the only way that will happen is if there are rule following nurses, doctors and interns." Severus ground out. The girl was getting on his nerves. He briefly remembered when he used to be like her, so passionate about the patients and what they needed. Of course, that changed with the many years he had worked here for.
He saw the Granger girl about to respond, when he interjected.
"Get out of my office and make sure it doesn't happen again. I will be watching and reading the reports." Severus said, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He watched Hermione storm out of his office in anger. Her anger reminded him of Lily. With those thoughts, he continued reading the other reports.
Hermione had decided she hated the doctor. 'He was so obtuse!' Hermione thought. Hermione sat down on one of the benches in the hallway and put her head in her hands. She knew she shouldn't aggravate the man that could make or break her career. She just hoped the doctor could forgive her and let her continue working here. Her adrenaline had kicked in during the heated argument and now she was left with extreme anxiety.
Harry had been walking to the library , hoping to bring back the books that Draco borrowed, seeing as he had told Harry he had no purpose with reading them. 'Bloody git,' Harry thought affectionately. He heard something, turning into a hallway, he saw the new intern crying on a bench. 'What's with everyone crying today?' Harry thought with confusion. He decided that he was going to comfort her, feeling bad for the way he had treated her earlier.
"Hermione, right?" Harry said, hoping that was her name. Hermione jumped, scared by the noise. She looked up and Harry noticed her eyes were puffy and swollen. 'Probably from all that crying,' Harry thought snidely.
"Yes, Harry. Is there a problem?" Hermione answered, wiping her tears away with her hands.
"No problem with me. Is there a problem with you?" Harry questioned, sitting down on the bench next to her.
"I'm just anxious that's all. I'll get through it, don't worry about me." Harry nodded his head while listening. He could relate to having anxiety, he lived with it every damn day of his life.
"You know what helps with my anxiety?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione.
"What?" Hermione said, hiccuping.
"I keep counting back from a hundred, and when I get to a hundred if the anxiety hasn't passed I keep doing it until it does." In truth, Harry was a damn liar. He never used any method to help with his anxiety. He just wanted to get his two good deeds done for the day and go back to his usual no empathy self.
"I'll try that. Thank you, Harry." Hermione smiled, showing off her pearly whites. Knowing it was his time to leave, he got up and waved goodbye to her.
"Oh, Harry! Please don't tell anyone about this, the talking together I mean." Hermione explained shyly. Harry looked at her weirdly, but nodded his head in agreement.
'Strange one, she is…'
It was finally dinner time at Hogwarts. Harry wasn't really hungry, but Draco dragged him down to the dining hall. The dinner hall was filled to the brim with patients and staff alike.
"Something big is about to happen." The girl, Luna said from behind where he was sitting.
"Everyone may I have your attention," Dumbledore called out, in front of his podium. Dumbledore had everyone's attention at that point.
"We will be joined with an esteemed new teacher that will be working at the institution. I'd like you guys to make her feel welcomed. She has been appointed by the Prime Minister, himself. Her name is Dolores Umbridge. She will be here later this week." Dumbledore announced.
His eyes immediately went to Riddle, who stood up and strode out the door of the dining hall. 'Where was he going?' Harry thought before whispering to Draco he would be right back.
Call it paranoia, but something was going on. Why would Tom leave like that? And why was he angry? Harry determined to find out, followed the beast out of the dining hall.
Hey guys! Things are heating up at Hogwarts! Next chapter, there will be tons of Harry and Tom scenes. Are you excited? I am. As always, make sure to follow the story and review. Thanks for reading! :)