First of all thank you for all the views, favourites and followers!

Okay and now a warning: in this chapter I deal with the topic of self harm. It is done in quite an indirect way (for sure there were more direct ways of doing it) I have tried not to make this the focus and no self harm actually takes place, this chapter was more about the strained relationship between the 2 characters involved in this scene and the pressure on one of them. I will be changing the rating for the story to coincide with this new chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter none the less and please let me know what you guys think I can see there have been a TON of views for this story so please silent readers, let me know what you think :)

The weekend always managed to bring a smile to Harry's face: no lessons and no stress! Waking up on Saturday morning he headed to breakfast, chatting to Hermione and Ron about inconsequential things. Once that was over he got all his homework done so he could enjoy the rest of the weekend at his leisure. He decided he would go see Hagrid until lunch, he hadn't seen the man in a long while and Harry felt guilty for not making an effort to see him sooner. The prospect of seeing Hagrid put a theoretical spring in Harry's step and he walked just that little bit faster around the castle, heading towards Hagrid's hut. Of course this was the plan, but rarely do Harry's plans every turn out as they should. He was almost there, just passing down a couple more corridors, when he heard it.

Crying.

Halting Harry figured it was coming from the boy's toilets. He peered round the corner quietly to see if he could offer help to whoever it was, they sounded in a lot of distress. When he found Malfoy there however he held his breath. He was gripping the nearest sink for dear life, sobbing openheartedly. It was shocking. Malfoy, the boy who tried to make Harry's life that much harder, the boy who never showed anything but malice and contempt, was heaving with sobs desperate to get out. The boy was emotionally hurt, Harry noticed. But then Harry noticed something: the mirror that usually hung above the sink was smashed, pieces scattered all over the floor, and Draco had a large sharp piece in his hand, which he slowly lowered to his arm, his intention clear. Harry sighed, he needed to do something for the poor boy; he couldn't let Draco slip further, no matter how much they hated each other. He needed to make his presence known. Quickly he pointed his wand at the shard of mirror, casting a quick spell to make it fly out of Draco's hand, he then entered the room quickly, shutting and locking the door behind him.

"Draco…" The boy before him snapped his head up and for a brief moment their eyes met, Harry saw the pain there and it made him feel uneasy. He was meant to hate this boy, he was meant to not care if Draco was hurting… so why did he all of a sudden care? Then the connection was lost as Draco turned away, hurriedly rubbing his eyes.

"What do you want Potter? Here to gloat? Why don't you just go tell all your little fan club huh?"

"I'm not going to tell anyone Draco, what would that do for me? Trust me."

"Trust?" Malfoy sneered, yet somehow the facial expression seemed to just make the Slytherin look more pitiful to Harry, "And why should I trust you, Potty?"

"Because I told you not to go through whatever you are going through alone, I can tell you're hurting and scared Draco. If you want me to swear to you I won't tell anyone, I will. I have no desire to spread what I've seen here to every other person of Hogwarts." Harry then saw Draco's expression change, to one of disbelief, and then to a calm resignation.

"Fine, you won't tell anyone, if I find out you have, Potter…" The threat hung in the air momentarily, but Harry just nodded to confirm he would remain mute on the subject. Then his gaze drifted to Draco's hands, dripping with blood, mirror wedged into his knuckles and backs of his fingers from where he'd punched the mirror, it looked painful and Harry step forward to get a closer look. Wrong move. Draco freaked, pushing Harry. Harry however tripped backwards. He flung his hands out behind him to break his fall and the next thing he knew a sharp pain was emanating from his hands. He pulled them in front of his eyes hesitantly to see shards of mirror were also stuck into his hands now. His palms peppered with them. He flinched at the pain, but managed to stand up. Draco backed up to the wall, falling to the ground.

"Draco, we need to get this sorted, I'm not medically trained, neither are you, come we need to go to Madame Pomfrey…"

"No!" objected the boy, "not her!" His eyes were wild with fiery panic and Harry raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, despite the throbbing pain it caused him.

"Okay Draco, not Pomfrey, but who? We need to see someone." Draco seemed to think for a few seconds before slowly answering.

"Snape… we need to see Snape." Harry sighed… great how was he going to explain this one to Snape? He'd probably assume they'd been fighting and stop his potions and Occlumency lessons and everything would be wasted. Yet a look at the almost pleading glance of Draco made up Harry's mind for him,

"Fine, Snape, but what will we tell him?"

"The truth…I guess," Draco murmured, "but don't mention I was holding the piece of mirror. Just… don't"

"Draco…" Harry started, "What you were about to do…"

"I KNOW WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO DO!" came the bellowing reply. Once again Harry found himself raising his hands in a defeated motion, indicating he wouldn't say any more.

"Fine, but talk to someone okay. Now come on, we need to go." Harry gingerly picked up his wand; he had dropped it when he fell and unlocked the door. He then muttered reparo at the mirror and scorgify at the blood. Heading out he picked up his pace, heading towards the dungeons. Draco he noticed was right behind him, looking around hesitantly, no doubt making sure no one noticed that Potter and Malfoy were walking together. Couldn't have that now could we. Soon enough they were outside Snape's office and Draco knocked with his uninjured hand.

"Stay outside for a moment, Potter, I need to talk to my head of house alone," he muttered grimly, which Harry just curtly nodded to. The command to enter came and Draco disappeared inside.

Harry sat against the wall, just waiting. His hands were beginning to feel like someone was biting at them and he gritted his teeth against it, closing his eyes. 10 minutes later the door opened, revealing Snape, who looked almost weary.

"Come in Potter and quickly please." The use of please should have shocked him but Harry just simply rose and came in. Draco was sat in the chair Harry had done his test in and soon enough another chair was conjured by Snape and Harry took the place silently. Draco's hands were completely healed, on the desk sat a bowl of shards, mixed with blood, and a potion. Draco looked solemn, gazing at nothing in particular, his head down.

"Hands, Potter" Breaking his thoughts about Malfoy, Harry gently placed his hands, palm up onto the desk. Snape sighed as he took a look, and then pulled a chair closer; grabbing the wand Harry had only just noticed was on the desk.

"Okay Potter, I need to remove the shards, it will sting but shouldn't be too bad." Harry nodded briefly, and then at Snape's gesture, placed his hand into Snape's cold one. The professor then removed each shard one by one with his wand, depositing it into the bowl. Harry tried not to flinch at the pain of the shards dislodging themselves and eventually he swapped hands and it started over again. It took a good 15 minutes for all the tiny shards to free themselves, the entire time Snape's touch was clinical, cold, calculating. Much like his personality then, Harry thought to himself. The complete opposite of Madame Pomfrey who's touch was warm, almost motherly. He tried to avoid ending up in the hospital wing though, that always meant staying there longer than necessary and it going on his record. After the shards had been removed a potion was placed on the cuts and soon they healed, leaving no trace anything had ever happened. The only thing to tell harry it had happened was stiffness in his hands, and his memories. For a while everyone in the room remained silent, contemplating what had just come to pass.

"Mister Malfoy, Mister Potter it seems we need to have a talk…" Snape started, gazing at the two boys evenly. "Mister Potter, please tell me in your own words what transpired" Harry sighed at this, here we go he thought.

"I was on my way to Hagrid's when I heard …"He paused, seeing no protest from Draco he continued, "I heard crying. It was coming from the boy's bathroom, I took a look and saw it was Malfoy. I went in to check on him, I saw the mirror was broken and his hand. I tried to help but he freaked out, maybe thought I was going to attack him and he pushed me, I fell, landing in the shards of the mirror. I told him it was okay, I wouldn't tell anyone and said we needed to see someone about the injuries. He didn't want to go to Pomfrey and said here. I agreed." He summed up, omitting the incident about why he entered in the first place. Draco sent him a grateful look, then turned his gaze away again. Snape seemed to consider Harry's words silently before turning to Draco.

"Is this true, Mister Malfoy?" A small nod was all the reply Snape got.

"Very well, Potter not a word of this to anyone then. Dismissed and don't forget our meeting on Monday." Slowly Harry rose, turning to leave. He stopped just before reaching the door.

"Draco, the fact we wear different school ties means nothing. The fact I wear red, you wear green is meaningless. One day you'll realise that." he murmured softly.

"Just tell no one of this Potter, or you'll regret it" Draco snarled. Ahh, back to normal, Harry's thoughts muttered.

"Don't worry Malfoy, the fact you have a heart will remain between us" he retorted, swiftly pushing the door open and leaving.

His mood ruined, Harry trudge back to his common room before heading down to lunch. The rest of the day past smoothly, no more interruptions. He did eventually get to meet with Hagrid after lunch and before he knew it, it was time for dinner and then bed. His dreams that night were of the broken boy he saw in the toilet earlier that day. He pitied Draco; he knew he could never look at him the same way again. The fact the boy wanted to resort to harming himself to try to escape his problems meant he was hurting more than anyone realised. What had happened over the summer? These thoughts and many others plagued Harry well into Sunday. At lunch he ventured a glance over to the Slytherin, finding Malfoy sitting with Crabbe and Goyle, his expression one of boredom, he was swirling soup around his bowl with a spoon. His gaze was halted however when Snape appeared dropping a book onto the area in front of him.

"Here, Potter, you seemed to have left this after your lesson on Friday. Be careful with your belongings mister Potter, anyone could get hold of them" With that he was gone in a mass of black robes. Glancing at the title of the book: Magic of the Mind, was enough to tell Harry this was NOT his book. Harry got up from the table, muttering to Ron and Hermione about going to put the book away. Once sat on his bed he opened it and out fell a scrap of blank parchment.

Harry drew his wand, casting the spell he'd used to reveal Snape's letter before and sure enough Snape's spidery scrawl appeared.

Leave Draco to me. For once Potter STAY OUT OF THIS.

Read chapter 5 and 6 of this book, it deals with Occlumency.

Professor Snape.

Harry sighed. Fine… Draco was Snape's problem now. He knew Snape wouldn't tolerate any snooping so reluctantly he let it go… for now. For the rest of the evening he read the required text in the book then stashed it in his trunk, it wouldn't be wise to been seen which such an advanced book around, people would think he's up to something… well more than usual.