Harry awoke early the next morning, the new cut twinging painfully. He walked slowly to the sink again to run his hand under the cold water. Sighing in contentment, he returned to his four-poster. With a flick of his wand, the bed sheets were clean of blood. Harry dressed as quickly as he could, wrapped his injured hand in a handkerchief and stole silently from the tower.

As he passed through the portrait of the Fat Lady, she lazily scolded him for waking her up at four thirty, but was asleep again as soon as Harry had turned the corner.

He hurried to the owlery, where he quickly chose a plain school barn owl and sat to write a short note:

---

Draco,

Meet me in the Room of Requirements tonight at ten; I'll leave the door cracked so you can come in.

You'll find out who I am if you show up.

See you then.

---

Harry tied the letter to the impatient owl's leg and whispered in his ear, "Give this to Draco Malfoy after breakfast ok?"

The owl nodded, gazed at Harry intelligently and flew swiftly through the window.

Harry sunk back against the wall and sneezed, as soon as the owl was out of sight. He began ponder his plight. Will Draco even come? He probably hates me. Why even get my hopes up? As soon as he sees me he'll probably leave. It's all my fault…Draco…How could I say that to you? I wish I hadn't done it…I hope you'll forgive me.

"Holy crap," Draco winced as he pulled his hand away from the blood mark on the stone wall.

"Mister Malfoy! What the bloody ((AN: sorry, I love puns…blood on wall…ha ha…okay so it's not funny)) hell are you doing?" Professor McGonagall shrieked as she approached Draco quickly, gazing between his battered left hand and the wall multiple times on the walk over to him.

"Isn't it quite obvious what I'm doing, Professor?" Draco snapped at her with as much venom as he could manage over the pain.

"But why?" she demanded, curiosity, impatience and worry filling her question.

"Professor, I really should be getting to the hospital wing…so…?" When she didn't respond, he added, "can I go now?"

"Mister Malfoy, explain your actions immedia-" she began.

"Good bye, Professor." Draco interrupted and stepped around her, heading in the direction of the hospital wing. As soon as he was around the corner, he turned back towards the Slytherin common room, already sopping up his blood with the right sleeve of his robe.

Oh God…not only do I have to explain crying to my father, I also have to explain self-inflicted injuries. Great! Why has Harry's comment haunted me so much? I…I just wish he didn't hate me…and I don't know why…

He was still contemplating this as he rounded another, finding himself face to face with a certain black-haired savior…

AN: Not all that good but I thought that you would be happy that updated at all since I haven't updated for…about four months or something…I tried for a cliffhanger…hope I did a good job. Take the extra few minutes and REVIEW! 'Kay thank you for reading and reviewing if possible…bye!