A/N: Thank you to trappedinmyself1, BlackWolf2013, jo, blackcurrent,MDarKspIrIt, for the reviews! They are always greatly appreciated.

Chapter Four: Green and Blue

He laid with his face pressed the stone for what felt like hours, his head spinning and his tears seeming to freeze his skin to the rock. He finally dragged himself up and looked out into the sea, the small wooden boat he had arrived on still chained to the rocky shore. The wind had started to pick up and the skies were darkening, and he knew that he didn't have much more time to make it back across the lake. His hand went to his pocket as he walked over the rocks, and he clutched the small serpent hard enough to cause him pain. He bit the insides of his cheeks to steady himself; he needed to focus, not wallow on this shore and face death from exposure.

He made his way down to the shore with little grace, but enough to keep him from sliding down the hill and impaling himself on a rock. He fumbled with the chain from the boat - he couldn't keep the image of Snape retrieving the other boat out of his mind - and leapt inside it, trying to recall the spell that the professor had used to propel the boat.

After a few failed attempts, he finally remembered the correct wording, and the boat propelled itself with great speed towards the other side, the wind lashing into Harry's face like whips the entire way. His face was completely numb as he stumbed out of the boat, lifted the small snake to his lips, and whispered, "Spinner's End." An invisible hook yanked him from somewhere behind his navel, and he experienced the very uncomfortable sensation of trying to squeeze in somewhere he didn't quite fit before he landed unceremoniously in the middle of the sitting room in Snape's home.

Malfoy, who had been looking over a rather large book, had shot up out of the sofa at his entrance and looked ready to either attack Harry or run. Fortunately, he quickly realized who was on the floor, and sat back down on the sofa, looking very disgruntled.

"I wish there would have been a way to warn me about your entrance," he muttered, a faint trace of irritation in his voice. He watched as Harry fell back into the armchair, his head lolling and his chest rising and falling with jagged breaths. "Where is Severus?" he asked uncertainly.

Harry did not speak for a long time, and when he did, his voice was barely audible. "Gone. He's gone."

Malfoy's breath hitched. "Gone? As in, coming back later? Or..." He trailed off as Harry shook his head, large beads of water falling from his hair. The blonde shifted uncomfortably, trying to find the words to tell the distraught boy across the room.

"It's alright," Harry said unconvincingly, cutting off any sympathies the Slytherin could try to offer. "It's fine," he said softly, more to himself than anyone. "He had a plan to get you to safety, and I'll get started on it in a... In just a while." He stood rigidly and went to the spare room.

"I'm sorry," Malfoy called out behind him. "For your loss."

That broke Harry's resolve, and he shut the door behind him and slumped to the stone floor. Regardless of who it was, a life had been lost today, and it was in his name.

Draco paced around the sitting room, cursing every few steps. It was well into the evening now, and Harry hadn't made a single noise, much less any appearance. He was beginning to contemplate running. Where he would go, he had no idea, but it was starting to look like it would be his only option.

As he was mulling over costs and benefits of leaving for what seemed the hundredth time, Harry finally wandered out from the hallway, his face red and his green eyes hollowed. He said nothing to Draco as he retrieved a blank sheet of parchment from a shelf and went to the kitchen, glass bottles clanking against each other as he searched for something.

"Harry?" He followed him into the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed in front of him. "What exactly is going to happen?" His voice came out harsher than he intended, and he was met with a scowl.

"I don't know," Harry said roughly, snatching an ink bottle from the shelf. "All I know is what Snape told me before.. Before he died. And that was to find a bloody piece of parchment so I could write some bloody stranger to resolve this bloody problem!" His voice had raised to the point of yelling, and Draco flinched, unprepared for the outburst.

"Look, I didn't mean to upset you. I just need to know what the hell to expect. I don't know where I am, who you are, or even who the hell I am. I need some answers."

Harry sighed, and met hard, gray eyes. "I know. I'm not sure that I have the answers either."

"Well, then I suppose we had better start finding them. What are you supposed to write on the parchment? Are you supposed to send it to someone?"

Harry shrugged and continued fishing around in the shelf. "No, Snape said that all I needed to do was write a certain message on the parchment, and it would be received. I've no idea who the message is to." He finally found a quill under some greasy looking notebooks, and motioned to the sitting room. "I guess we'll find out."

Draco sat down on the sofa, his body tense with anticipation as Harry dipped the quill and began to write. He couldn't help but lean over to get a better look, but before he could finish reading the words, they had seeped into the parchment and disappeared. He stared at the paper, horrified, and asked, "Was that supposed to happen?"

Harry stifled a chuckle at the look on the blonde's face. "I'd imagine so. It is magic, after all." Draco glared at him.

"How am I supposed to know?" he grumbled, turning his glare back to the parchment on Harry's lap. "When will we know if they got it?"

Harry shook his head. "No clue. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

They waited in silence for a few minutes, Draco tapping his foot loudly against the floor.

"Anything yet?" the blonde asked, leaning over again to get a better look.

"Nothing yet."

They waited another five minutes, Draco's tapping now accompanied by his fingers drumming against the side of the chair.

"Anything-"

"No, M- Draco. Don't you think I would have said something?" he snapped, and the other boy scowled.

Two minutes later, and Draco had slammed his foot down a final time, huffing loudly. "They're not going to answer," he said, his voice bordering a whine.

"Yes, they will. Why don't you try to take your mind off of it?" His patience was wavering, and he didn't know how much more foot tapping and finger drumming he could handle.

"Take my.. Take my mind off it?" Draco said, his voice raising an octave. "I- You-" He was speechless with disbelief, and ended up just violently shaking his head.

Harry raised a hand up, regretting his words immediately. "Sorry. We're both anxious, yeah? Why don't you ask me some questions, and I'll answer them if I can."

Draco glared, but conceded. "Fine. Who are you?"

Harry was caught off guard. "Erm, I'm Harry Potter. I'm the same age as you. 16," he added quickly, not sure if Draco knew his age. "I don't really know what else to say."

Draco huffed. "That's hardly an answer," he scoffed.

"I'm not good at this," Harry mumbled, but Draco just continued to wait for an answer. "Fine. I defeated a Dark Lord when I was a baby. Better?"

Draco shrugged. "It probably would be if I knew what that meant."

"You're insufferable," Harry said, exasperated. "I don't know what you want me to say."

Draco leaned back on the sofa, his foot tapping again. "I guess I'm not sure." He said nothing more, and Harry was left staring at the blank sheet of parchment again.

"I like blue," he said out of nowhere a few minutes later, startling Draco out of his thoughts.

"Blue's nice, I suppose," the blonde said slowly, unsure of how to reply. Harry laughed softly.

"Not a lot of people know that. They all expect red to be my favorite," he admitted. "But blue is nice. Calming."

Draco nodded tentatively, giving Harry a concerned look. He probably thought the Gryffindor had hit his head and had gone batty.

"Well, you wanted to know about me, and there's not much I can tell you without having to explain a million other things."

Draco was quiet for a moment. "I think I like green," he said, and Harry laughed, which made Draco scowl. "What's so bad about green?"

"Nothing," Harry said, humor threading his voice. "Another one of those things it would take time for me to explain."

"I don't see us going anywhere anytime soon," Draco grumbled, crossing his arms against his chest. "Are you sure that parchment works?"

"Honestly?" he said, and his tone had become serious. "No, I'm not sure. But it's the only thing we have right now, so I've got to have some faith in it."

Draco looked less than pleased, and glared at a spot somewhere on the wall. "Why did this happen?" He asked roughly. "What did I do to warrant this?"

Harry frowned. "I- I'm not sure if I should be the one to answer that."

"Oh?" Draco stared at him, his face blotching with color. "Well if not you, than whom, pray tell?"

Harry grimaced under the glare. "I don't know. It's not really fair for me to keep that from you," he said quietly, his mind struggling against Snape's orders.

"No," Draco said flatly. "It isn't."

Harry let out a sigh, hoping he wasn't about to royally fuck things up. But Malfoy was right, it wasn't fair, and he would want to know if he were in that position.

"Well, you know the Dark Lord I've mentioned before." Draco nodded, and he continued. "Well, uh, your family was involved with him. On his side." He waited for any reaction from the blonde, but when there was none, he said softly, "You betrayed him. I'm not sure how, Snape never told me."

Draco sat stone still, his face betraying no emotion. "I thought you said you had defeated this Dark Lord."

"Well, yes. And no. Everyone thought he had died, but he reemerged six years ago. Since then, he's been gathering strength and regaining his old followers from before."

"In other words, my family," he said, his voice flat again. Harry flinched, not happy to be the one to inform him.

"Yes. Mostly your father. I never really knew your mother." Harry sat quietly, watching as Draco's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists. "I'm sorry," he added when the blonde said nothing, and he meant it.

"Well, it isn't your fault. It's there's."

Harry was taken aback to hear the other boy sound so detached, but Harry supposed it was easier when you didn't have any memory of a family. He couldn't think of anything else to say, and they sat in silence for a long while. Draco stared off into space, obviously lost in thought, and Harry sat anxiously with the parchment, willing something, anything, to happen.

When nothing did after quite awhile, Harry stood up, his limbs stiff from sitting so long. "Draco? I think that maybe we should just get some rest. It's late, and it's no use just sitting here waiting."

The blonde nodded absently, not bothering to look at Harry. "Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

Harry laid the parchment on the sofa next to Draco. "Here. You should keep this."

Draco nodded again, still lost in his thoughts. "Okay. Goodnight," he said softly, his eyes still void and staring off at the wall.

"Night." Harry felt uncomfortable leaving the blonde in that state, but weariness won out, and he flopped down on the hard cot. Even though he was exhausted, it took him hours to finally fall asleep, and when he did, his dreams were plagued with vile black waters and doors that wouldn't open.

"Harry?" A voice was drifting through his sleep addled brain, but he waved his hands around, trying to convince the owner of the voice to go away. "Harry?" the voice asked, a little louder this time.

"Go away," he mumbled, pulling the scratchy wool over his head. The harsh feeling startled him awake, and where he was and who he was with hit him like a slap in the face. He was hoping he would wake up, and all this would be a horrible, horrible dream.

"I didn't want to wake you, but it's probably close to noon judging by the light coming through the bottom of the door," Draco said, leaning against the wall, blond hair falling in front of his face. Harry sat up, and he squinted at the blurry outline of the Slytherin.

"No, I'm glad you did. I should have been up much earlier," he said, maneuvering around the small table for his glasses. "Has anything appeared on the parchment?"

His vision sharpened after putting the glasses on, and he saw Draco shake his head curtly, his lips forming a thin line. With Snape gone, Harry felt utterly alone and entirely responsible for the other boy's well being. The realization set like bile in his stomach.

"We'll figure something out, Draco. Snape would have never been unprepared, especially when it comes to you. Surprisingly, he actually seemed to care for you. A lot." A lump formed in his throat, and he got out of bed and walked past Draco, unwilling to let his sorrow continue any further. He would grieve when he could go back to Hogwarts and be out of this mess.

The blond padded silently behind him, not bothering to speak while Harry searched the kitchen for something to eat. He stood silently in the doorframe, doing nothing besides watching Harry with curious eyes.

"You're staring at me," Harry said, internally chastising himself for sounding so stupid.

"A very correct observation, Harry." The Gryffindor flushed, which seemed to amuse Draco highly. "I don't mean to be rude. I owe you a great deal. I just can't shake the feeling that I know you." He shook his head, and his gaze fell. "I suppose that's because I did, at one time."

Harry swallowed thickly and said simply, "We went to school together." It would be far too dangerous to start connecting this boy with the Malfoy he knew. He was afraid that if he did, he would floo right back to Hogwarts to leave him here to fend for himself.

Draco seemed to notice Harry's discomfort and left to go sit on the sofa again, leaving Harry to his thoughts. He mulled around in the kitchen for quite awhile, wasting time and trying to gather his thoughts. Surely Snape's plan had to work, because if it didn't... Well, he wasn't ready to be a caretaker, not with Voldemort rising to power so quickly. He would have firecalled Dumbledore in a heartbeat, but something about Snape's desperate pleas to stop him left him feeling unsettled and wary to speak with the Headmaster. He would honor the professor's wish - as long as he possibly could.

He returned to the sitting room carrying a plate of haphazardly put together sandwiches putting it down on a table between the armchair and sofa.

"I thought you might be hungry."

Draco nodded and gave him a slight smile. Harry was fairly sure that it was the first time he had seen a genuine smile from the Slytherin. It certainly was better than a smirk.

They ate in silence, with Harry reading the countless numbers of book titles in the shelves and Draco staring continuously into the blank piece of parchment resting next to him.

"I'd like to know more about the school that we go to," Draco said suddenly. " What did you say the name of it was?"

"Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Harry said through a mouthful of sandwich.

"There's no need to mock my questions," Draco said hotly. Harry laughed, which irritated the blond even more.

"Calm down. That's the real name, I promise you."

Draco's glare softened a small bit, but he still looked unconvinced. "Hm. I should hope that you're telling me the truth," he said primly, and brushed a few crumbs from his robes. Harry shook his head at the sight. Even without his memories, the git still acted like the haughty pureblood that he was.

"If you'd like, I'll swear to that," Harry deadpanned, looking Draco directly in the eyes. "What happened to you wasn't right. I'm not about to string you along and feed you false memories. That's... I'm not that type of person."

Draco looked away and said quietly, "I know. It doesn't seem like you are."

Harry turned his gaze back to the books, unable to find anything else to say. The silence was awkward, and he tried his best to preoccupy himself in any way he could. He still couldn't believe the person sitting across from him sharing lunch was Malfoy.

Draco had finished his sandwich and was fiddling with a loose piece of thread on the sofa. "Hogwarts, then. What's it like?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, it's massive, for one thing. It's a castle."

The blond's eyes widened slightly. "Really? I imagine it looks fantastic."

"It does. There's all kinds of things there. Ghosts, portraits of people that can talk and move around. Moving staircases. Rooms that disappear." Harry smiled, remembering the first time he had seen Hogwarts. " Oh, and the Great Hall is brilliant. The ceiling is charmed to reflect the sky, and candles suspend themselves over the house tables."

Draco was staring off, trying to visualize the school. "Ghosts? That sounds terrifying."

Harry laughed, and the sound rang throughout the small space of the room. "Yes, I suppose that it would be. Nearly Headless Nick is a nice bloke. The Bloody Baron is horrifying. And Peeves... Well, Peeves does anything in his power to make everyone's life hell."

Draco's eyes widened again, this time in something akin to horror. "You mean he hurts people? Can ghosts do that?"

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "No, he's just mischievous, and enjoys playing pranks. I've never seen him get violent. The Bloody Baron is always there to keep him in check. He's the only one Peeves will listen to."

Draco shuddered involuntarily. "I'm not sure that I want to attend this school."

"Well, you love it there," Harry said, hoping Draco wouldn't feel insulted when he was reminded of his memory loss. "Everyone does, I think. I guess if I had to call anywhere my home, it would be Hogwarts."

Draco frowned. "What about your family?"

Harry's smile had faded from his face. "My parents died when I was a baby. The Dark Lord, Voldemort, killed them," he said softly.

"That's terrible. I don't know what to say to that."

Harry's frown deepened. He could almost forget that this was coming from the boy that had taunted his lack of parents, even called his mother a mudblood.

"You don't have to say anything," Harry said flatly, which made Draco shift uncomfortably.

"So then where did you live, with your parents being gone?" he asked, hoping his questions wouldn't upset the person that was responsible for his safekeeping.

"I lived with my aunt and uncle, and their son, Dudley. They were muggles. People who can't practice magic," he added swiftly, and Draco nodded. "They were horrid people." His tone was lighter, and Draco felt like whatever had upset Harry had passed, he hoped.

"What do you mean?" He scooted forward on the sofa, intently staring at Harry, curious to know about him.

"They hated me for having magic. I had no idea about any of it until my eleventh birthday, when Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, came to get me."

"Why would someone hate you for having magic?" Draco said, confused and frowning.

"My Aunt Petunia, my mother's sister, had always been jealous of my mum for having magic when she didn't. And my Uncle Vernon, well, he just saw it as me being a freak. They didn't like anything that wasn't up to their standards, I guess." He shrugged, and Draco looked perplexed.

"So why couldn't you have lived with someone magical? Wouldn't that have been an option?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I guess not. I've never really been told why, but I don't think that they would have left me there if it could have been avoided."

Draco's grey eyes were hard. "Regardless, that's a horrible thing to do to a child," he said coldly. "You would think that people would be more grateful, since you got rid of their Dark Lord and whatnot."

Harry chuckled again, leaning back against the couch. "It's not so bad, you know."

Draco's eyebrows went up. "Oh? What isn't?"

"Having you here. I mean, we, uh, we weren't that close in school. I've never had a proper conversation with you, and you're much more logical than I've given you credit for."

Draco was torn between taking that for a compliment or an insult, and settled on frowning.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way!" Harry said quickly. "It's just, well, you're a lot different. Easy to talk to."

Draco scowled. "I'm beginning to feel quite offended, Harry."

The black haired boy just shook his head, still smiling. "Don't be. It's a compliment."