A/N: So, if you got confused by that last chapter like some did, Sirius and Remus have taken guardianship of Harry. Also, they aren't concerned with Draco (yet?) because they don't know he struggles with the same things that Harry does/did.
Warnings: Self-harm, anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS, rape, child abuse, unpleasant things that may be triggering READ WITH CAUTION
Pairings: See Chapter One
December 6th, Dungeons
Draco's POV:
When I woke up, it was morning but I was still in the Prefect's Bathroom. On my way back to the Slytherin Dorms, I run into my Godfather.
"My office, Draco." Severus says, opening a portrait on our left. The room doesn't change much over the years. Snape's office has always been a large, rectangular room with grey walls and dark hardwood flooring. The walls are covered in books about various topics ranging from Potions to Healing to Adolescent Psychology. A dark mahogany desk covered in neat stacks of papers sits in the middle with a chair in front of it for visiting students that I take a seat in.
"Mr. Zabini informs me that you weren't in the dorms last night." He says casually.
"No, sir. I uh fell asleep in the Perfect's Bath." I state hesitantly.
"You 'uh fell asleep?' Might I ask what exactly you were doing in the Prefects Bathroom?" He says, dropping the paper he was grading in an attempt to meet my eyes.
"Taking a bath, Professor." I don't meet his gaze. "It's actually quite odd, you see. I was in the bath, trying to relax, when Moaning Myrtle appears out of nowhere! If you haven't encountered her, she's quite the insufferable little ghost. Anyways, she starts popping all the bubbles for no reason and-" Severus stops me mid sentence and I know I'm in trouble.
"I hate to interrupt what I'm sure would be a well-constructed lie, but I had another purpose for calling you in here." I eye him curiously as he turns his back to me and starts looking through one of the shelves behind his desk.
"I was in Diagon Alley yesterday and found these." He says, producing three journals and handing two of them to me. The cover is hard leather with the letters "DM" carved into it in grey. The second is a darker colour and has "SS" engraved in green. The third has a blank cover and is the same colour as mine. "These journals came as a set, so you may give the third to whomever you chose. When you wish to speak to me or tell me anything or perhaps need someone just to chat with, simply write 'S-' and then your message. It will work the same way with the third, just have whomever you give it to write their name on the first page and the initials will engrave themselves. Go on, try it out." I know the second he says it who I'll give the third too. Dipping a quill from his desk into the open ink pot I write in the journal:
S-
Thanks for the journal.
-D
The words dissolve into the sheet, leaving the page blank again. Severus's journal glows a slight grey colour and he writes back to me in it.
D-
It was no trouble at all.
-S
The response stayed in the journal until he had written a reply.
S-
Can I go to the dorms now? You assigned tons of Potions homework.
-D
D-
Let me see your arms and then we shall discuss whether you may leave or must stay.
-S
Without hesitation, I scribbled I quick response and pulled down my robe sleeves.
S-
No.
-D
Severus sighed and lazily cast a "Ligare" at my wrists, effectively binding them to the chair. I tried valiantly to free my arms but he was quicker and retched the sleeves up on both arms. Without even thinking, I began to cry. "Calm down, Draco. For Merlin's sake! I only wanted to check for infections." I continued to wreathe and twist my arms as he tried to steady them. Making no progress, he cast an immobulus and my arms steadied, forearms facing out. He stared at each arms for a few seconds and summoned six or seven vials of repulsive potions. I instantly recognized a Blood Replenisher and antiviral potion, but the rest were quite unfamiliar and foul-tasting.
"Sir, you won't tell the Headmaster, will you?" I ask, nervously. Severus has only known of my self-harm since Summer began. "
I shall not, for now, Mr. Malfoy. However, should you find yourself needing to fulfill the urge and being caught by myself again, you shall not be so fortunate." I let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Sev. Talk to you later." I say, picking up the journals and heading back to the Dorms. I feel a slight vibration and see a small green glow being emitted from my journal when I've nearly reached the Dorm Portrait.
"Sectumsempra." The portrait swings open to reveal an empty common room, save for a small blonde first year girl, reading by the fireplace. Silently, I slip past the girl and into the boys dorms. Since it is Saturday, the room is nearly vacant, but out of the corner of my eye, I see a couple. Their hands are intertwined and lifted slightly above their chests. His thumb is rubbing circles on the back of her hand, small smiles spread across both of their faces.
"Blaise?" I whisper across the room in a pathetic attempt not to wake Pansy.
"Draco? That you?" He sits upright, dropping Pansy's hand, who, in turn, sits up and wipes sleep from her exhausted face. They both look like they could use sleep, dark circles shadow their dull eyes and the pair moves considerately slower.
"Mate, I- I can explain. We aren- I mean we weren-" I try to suppress a laugh but it escapes anyways.
"Blaise, you're okay. I don't fancy Pansy. Or anyone like her, for that matter."
"I'm offended." Pansy says, huffing out a breath and crossing her arms on her chest.
"No, Pans, I just- fuck. I'm-" My fingers find their way through my hair, nervously tousling the gelled platinum locks.
"You're what, Draco?" Blaise asks, annoyingly shooting glances at my arms and ribs.
"I'm a fucking fag. There. I said it. I like other blokes. Go ahead, call me a faggot." Pansy and Blaise share a glance and let out a small laugh.
"Dray, we already kind of knew that..." Pansy says, grabbing Blaise's hand again.
"So who is he?" She asks curiously.
"Who is who?"
"The guy you fancy, of course!"
"I don't fancy anyone yet, Pans." I defend, my pants slightly tightening at the memory of Harry's concerned looks last night. "
Right, mate. Well, we're headed to Hogsmeade." Blaise says, leading Pansy out the door without even thinking of inviting me. No one likes me... No one cares about me. Knife. I need my knife. Rummaging through the chest at the end of my bed, I finally find my potions knife and slide it across my right arm a few times before noticing the forgotten and glowing journals.
D-
Should you find yourself needing to cut again, the password to my office is 'exploratores' and it is spelled to alert me when a student has entered.
-S
A drip of blood falls onto the journal page a I briefly wonder if the blood will seep through as the ink does. The journal seems to know no distinction between ink and blood as the red splotch disappears. The response is instantaneous.
D-
My quarters. Now.
-S
S-
That went through?
-D
D-
Everything does. Blood, ink, Potions, Cum, anything and everything. I'll be in your dorms in one minute.
-S
True to his word, Severus appeared a minute late with an armful of potions and set to work fixing Draco after his latest episode of self-harm.
December 6th, Auror Quarters
Harry's POV:
As soon as I woke up, Sirius and Remus bombarded me with questions about last night.
"This is very important, Harry. Who was cutting last night?" Remus asked, using his teacher voice. "There was blood on your robe, but it wasn't yours. We already checked you. Who's was it?" What did I say last night? I can't tell them about Draco, I just got him to trust me.
"I can't tell you." Sirius sighs beside me and pats my back.
"Cub, you're not protecting whoever is doing this. You're enabling them to keep hurting themselves." I feel a presence in my mind before I hear the spell. Memories shoot to the forefront of my brain. Hermione taking my blades, Sirius as Padfoot following me through King's Cross Station, Draco, Draco's cuts, Draco, Draco, Draco.
"Lucius's son is a cutter?" Sirius asked, clearly shocked at the images he's seen. "You know we have to tell Dumbledore, right Harry?"
Panic overtakes me and my eyes are open wide when I meet his. "Please, no, Sirius. Please. I'm begging you." I almost think I see a flicker of understanding but he somewhat roughly grabs my arm and pulls me to the fireplace, Flooing us to his office.
"Ah, Harry! I thought I might be seeing you soon. And Mr. Black! You are looking well. How are you fairing, boys?" The annoying twinkle is back in the old mans eyes as he speaks. "Would you like a lemon drop?"
"No, thank you, sir. I'm doing alright though not entirely sure why we are in your office." I say calmly, glaring at Sirius. Dumbledore's face turns serious when he sees this.
"Surely, you are not still harming yourself, are you, Harry?"
"No, sir, though I didn't know you knew about that." His face is light again at this confirmation.
"The portraits like to talk, my dear boy. What seems to be the concern today, Sirius?"
"It seems as though there's another student that has been engaging in some... Potentially harmful behavior." Sirius explains calmly.
"What happened?" Dumbledore asks, his face, again, turning quite serious.
"Hermione called me through the fireplace last night to alert me that Harry had left and was heading down to our quarters, however, Harry didn't appear in our dorm until a few hours later. Anyways, when he got to our door, he had blood on his robes. Obviously, my first assumption was that he had been self-harming. Upon further inspection, however, it revealed that he hadn't been. We asked him about it this morning and found out that he had been helping out someone else who was cutting. He was hesitant to tell us whom was doing it, so I did what I had to and went into his mind." Sirius explains as I continue to glare at him. At least he didn't say who had bee-
"Who was it, Mr. Black?"
"Draco Malfoy."
"You had no right!" I screamed at my Godfather. "It's none of your business and none of his either!" I jab my thumb towards Dumbledore and his freaking calm demeanor. It's almost aggravating how calm he is. Somewhere in the book-infested office, Fawkes makes a noise.
"Harry, calm down, this was the right thing to do. We need to find a way to help young Mr. Malfoy. I'll also need to owl his parents, though Lucius is due for a visit sometime this week. Maybe I shall discuss it with hi-"
"No! You idiot! Why do you think he does this!" I scream at the man.
"Are you assuming Mr. Malfoy is the reason his son engages in self-injurious behaviors?" Dumbledore moves to take off his glasses and squints his eyes at me. "Because that's a very serious accusation."
"With all due respect sir, maybe you should look into this. Lucius was violent as a teenager, perhaps that carried over into his adulthood." Sirius says next to me.
"Perhaps, we should call Draco and his Godfather up here, now." He says and mumbles something incoherently into a mirror that I'm sure is in a different language. "Ah, Severus, would you mind bring Mr. Malfoy up to my office? I'm in need of both of your presence right now. The password is Lemon Drop." He sets the mirror down on the counter and seconds later, Draco and Snape are in the large office.
"Potter?" Snape sneers, "and Black? What is the meaning of this, Headmaster?" Draco stands next to the Dark-haired man, clutching his sleeves tightly with his hands. Anger flickers in the boy's eyes behind the usual emotions of sadness and anxiety.
"Take a seat, boys. Lemon Drop?" Dumbledore asks, extending the bowl to Snape, who rejects and takes a seat next to Draco an my right. "So, let's get to the point, shall we? Draco, Sirius has made some keen observations during his time here." Snape scoffs as though even the idea of Sirius thinking an intelligent thought is too preposterous to even entertain for a moment. "Draco, could you tell me a little about your home life?"
"What would you like to know, Sir? My father and mother are both very generous people and take excellent care of me." The incessant twinkle returns to his eyes as he gives me an 'I told you so' look.
"I thought as much, but Mr. Potter and Mr. Black seem insistent upon the fact that your father may be violent. Is that true?"
"Um, n-no. Of course not, Professor Dumbledore, Sir. Is that it?" "I'm afraid there is one last matter to be discussed today. May I see you arms, please, Mr. Malfoy?" Snape visibly tenses at these words and Malfoy tugs his sleeves down further.
"Is that necessary, Headmaster?" Snape asks through clenched teeth.
"Unless I receive verbal conformation from Draco of his self-harm, I'm afraid I must insist." He says, frowning slightly at Severus's reservations.
"I can confirm that he self-harms. I've been helping him. If there are no further concerns, we were actually speaking about that when you interrupted." With that, they hastily left, leaving the three remaining people extremely confused.
A/N: This chapter is quite a bit longer so that I could get this story up to 10K+ words. Seriously, send this link to random people, post it on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or anything. I'm like freaking 'thirsty,' I know, but I really want reviews. I honestly don't know if this story sucks or not. HELP!
**If you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, self-harm, abuse, ect. Please get help! These are all serious things and if you ever need to talk, feel free to DM me on FFnet or leave your email with a review but make sure to put spaces inbetween the and your email and between the . And com or it won't show up. Ex- example ( )
Translations (Latin):
Ligare- Tie
Exploratores- Spies
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