Author's Note:

Thanks so much for the reviews! They made me so happy!

It's been confirmed for me that this fic has been moving quite fast, and so some developments in this chapter are hopefully going to slow it down a bit.

Severus Snape is a lot stronger than he seems, as Harry's injuries would entail in this chapter. It may seem totally unrealistic what I've done with it, but I realized that I did not have a lot of detail at the end of last chapter, but figured this could still happen if Severus didn't realize his own power.

Anyway, 7 chapters in 4 days; pretty impressive if you ask me.

HPDMHPDMHPDM

Chapter 7:

Madam Pomfrey is suddenly a flurry of robes as she frantically works on Harry, stripping him and putting him in hospital robes, monitoring his heartbeat, giving him pain relieving potions, applying pressure to his head and stopping the bleeding, giving him potions to heal his internal injuries as well as his head.

When she finally stops worrying about forty minutes later, she pulls Draco into her office.

"Draco Malfoy, you need to explain this right now! Do you know how extensive that young man's injuries are?!" Pomfrey all but screams at Draco, livid.

"It's a long story, Madam," Draco starts before sighing and running a hair through his hair nervously. Should I tell her? That it was Severus who did this? Draco thinks nervously. Of course I should! He hurt Harry! Your Harry! Wait, what? He's not yours, Draco, stop thinking like that. "You see, Harry and I got in a small argument at breakfast today, and when we made up, well... You can guess what happened. We, um... went to the abandoned Charms classroom to get, uh, reacquianted with each other, so we -" Draco begins to explain, but Pomfrey cuts him off.

"Draco Malfoy, this happened because you were too rough with him?!" Pomfrey questions, suddenly even angrier. "Now, I read those papers just like everyone else, I saw what Harry admitted you two get up to, and some of that kind of stuff can be highly dangerous! I don't care how pleasurable it is, Draco, it is clearly not healthy! Look what you did to Harry! The boy has broken ribs, for Merlin's sake, not to mention his brain has swelled to a very unhealthy size. I had to put the boy under a stasis spell to get a St. Mungo's healer here tomorrow! If you boys had done anything more strenuous, God help me, he very well could be dead right now!"

"Wait, what? It's that serious? I can't believe Severus would-" Draco's going to start on a confused tangent, but the nurse cuts him off once again.

"What did Severus do?! Draco, if you included a professor in your... activities, then-" Pomfrey starts, but Draco's had enough of the accusations.

"Shut up, woman! God, my boyfriend is in the other room unconscious awaiting a professional healer and you accuse me of having sex with a professor?! We didn't even have sex this morning! Salazar, maybe you should listen before assuming certain shit happened!" Draco begins. He stands, too angry to stay still, and starts pacing the small office before continuing; "His injuries are not because of some BDSM accident and we did not and will not include Severus in those activities! Yes, we engaged in sexual activities, and those may have caused some minor bruising in his back, but his head and his ribs is not from sex! I would never hurt Harry!"

Draco pauses to catch his breath and Pomfrey takes her chance to speak. "So how is Severus involved, Draco?"

"HE DID THIS!" Draco sits abruptly, seemingly defeated, before saying, "I thought he was different... He's the only adult I've ever completely trusted, and I can't even trust him." A single tear escapes Draco's left eye as he thinks about what Severus has done. "He's my godfather, but all I can feel towards him now is hurt."

"Draco..." Pomfrey starts to say something, but Draco holds up a hand to stop her.

"Please, madam, can I just see Harry now? You know who did this, you don't need me anymore."

"I know who did this but neither why nor how, Draco, and I need to know both of those before making any more decisions regarding Harry's treatment," the nurse says, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she thinks of the mentally broken boy in front of her and the physically broken one laying in her hospital right now.

"He—we were just kissing one last time before going into his room when he pulled me away from Harry and he grabbed his—" Draco's voice breaks off and a sob is wrenched from his throat as he remembers the way his uncle threw Harry.

Pomfrey gets up, walks around her desk, and wraps her arms around a trembling Draco Malfoy.

"Can I just... go to Harry now, madam? Please?" Draco asks shakily, getting out of the nurse's arms and walking towards the door.

"Of course, dear. I'll be out in a minute."

Draco quickly makes his way over to the hurt boy on the nearest bed. When he reaches Harry, he quickly takes the boy's hand, caressing it in his own before his eyes move to the Gryffindor's bandaged head.

Tears fall down Draco's face as he looks at the beautiful raven-haired boy. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I should've prevented this... I should've saved you... Helped you earlier. This is my fault. I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm so sorry I've failed you."

Madam Pomfrey comes out of her office then, bringing with her a calming draught for Draco. After he politely refuses, the nurse turns to Draco. "It'll be okay, Draco. He'll be okay."

"Poppy?" The nurse turns at the sound of the voice to see Severus standing in the doorway, vials of potions in his hands. Draco stiffens upon seeing the man, but remains seated, tightening his hold on Harry's hand. Severus looks anywhere but Draco, not willing to see the disappointment and hurt that's bound to be etched into the teenager's face. "I've brought the blood-replenishing and pain potions you asked for."

Pomfrey calmly walks over to Severus but he can see the anger in her eyes. He winces as she forcefully takes the offered potions from his hands and setting them on the nightstand near Harry's bed.

She walks up to Severus again and waits for him to say something to justify himself. He ignores her and looks at Draco, who isn't making eye contact with his godfather.

"Draco, please—" he starts, put Poppy cuts him off.

"Shut up! You don't deserve to speak and certainly not to Draco! Merlin, Severus, you almost murdered the boy's boyfriend!" You are a professor, Severus, and the head of Slytherin house. The students are supposed to look up to you, and I know you enjoy making them afraid of you, but this is taking it a little too far, don't you think?" Pomfrey shakes her head disapprovingly at her colleague. "You shouldn't even be near Harry, Severus, not after what you've done. This is inexcusable and unacceptable. How could you do this?! Not just to Draco and Harry but to yourself?! Severus, you will live with this guilt for the rest of your life! Especially if-" Pomfrey suddenly cuts herself off, indicating to Draco that she's not telling him everything. "I'm extremely disappointed in you, Severus."

Severus tries making another argument but Pomfrey doesn't allow him to. "Leave, Severus. You shouldn't be here anyway."

Severus looks at Draco and the beaten boy on the bed, the one that he hurt, before turning defeatedly to leave.

"Wait." It's a quiet whisper, but it's there. Severus barely hears it but he does. He freezes, not bothering to turn around.

He feels Draco walk up to a few feet behind him, but still doesn't turn around, only when Draco instructs him to look at him does he. Draco's staring at him with a mixture of anger, distrust, resentment, and disappointment. The emotions Snape can feel from the other boy weigh on his shoulders like bricks.

"You are exactly like my father was, Severus."

There's a flash of pain in the potion master's eyes before he quickly spins around and walks out the door.

HPDMHPDMHPDM

Three hours later, a distressed Hermione Granger runs into the hospital wing. Draco tries to sneer at her, but finds that it requires too much effort that frankly, he doesn't have right now. He's too tired after the morning's events and though it's only eleven AM, Draco's every bit exhausted as he would be if it were midnight.

Upon seeing Harry, Hermione gasps. "I'm came as quick as I could, Draco. How's he holding up?"

"Not as well as I'd hoped," Draco says, reverting his eyes to the Gryffindor's face, seeing the boy's famous scar peeking out from under his shaggy mop of thick, dark hair. "Pomfrey says he's got a few broken ribs and some swelling of the brain, plus the blood loss was pretty traumatic. She's had to call in a specialist from St. Mungo's. He's under a stasis spell now, so he's not going to wake up any time soon."

"Oh, Harry…" Tears suddenly spring to Harry's eyes as she crosses to the side of the bed opposite Draco. She reaches out and strokes Harry's cheek, noticing the way the blond tenses as her hand makes contact with Harry's skin. She ignores this, storing it in the back of her mind for now, and bends over to kiss Harry's forehead. Draco growls this time and Hermione pulls away cautiously and curiously, watching as Draco's hand, which had tightened around Harry's as soon as he noticed the girl's intention, slowly relax. Hermione smiles at Draco, who does nothing back, opting to brush Harry's messy hair out of his eyes and kiss his nose sweetly.

Mine, Draco thinks possessively. He glares at the witch again before turning back to Harry once more. "I didn't realize my unc—Professor Snape was that strong. I didn't think he caused this much damage. I had no idea he had so much anger."

Hermione thinks for a few moments, pondering responses astutely before reaching over Harry's body and laying her hand on top of Draco's, which is still clutching Harry's. "None of us did, Draco. We thought you'd get a detention, not this! Christ, it's not like we knew our Potions professor had the tendency to turn into a raving lunatic when angry!"

No. That's my father. Draco shakes the bitter thought out of his head, replying to Hermione's words. "That's why it's so horrible. I should have known he was capable of this! I should have been able to prevent this! I've known this man my whole life, he was the father I never had!"

"Draco. Did he ever do anything like this to you?" Hermione asks. She knows she may get shut down and possibly thrown out of the hospital room by the boy if she upstes him too greatly, but she has to try this tactic. She knows that if Draco continues blaming himself, he's not oing to be able to let Harry out of his sights, but her friend needs his freedom and space. Especially since this is a fake relationship, her mind supplies her. She'd gotten so caught up in Harry's injuries that she'd completely forgotten about Draco's father and the plan to get him off the suspect list. Did Draco murder his father? What was he doing that night that would require him to need a fake alibi? Hermione doubts Draco would be able to have so much hatred so as to murder his own blood, but what if he really did kill his own father?

"He was never like this when I was a child… Never. He was the one who gave me flying lessons, you know," Draco says, smiling fondly at the memory before continuing, "He doesn't fly anymore, and Salazar, he was horrible back when he did, but he taught me. That's all that really mattered, you know. My godfather taught me how to fly a broom, just like any other boy. If I fell and scraped my knee, he'd be there, healing it before a single tear came out of my eye. He cheered me on when I finally got up in the air for a full minute. He actually spun me around, you know? He was almost as happy as me that day…" Draco suddenly becomes somber, his eyes, which had started twinkling at the memories, suddenly darken to a steel gray and harden. "And now it's like I don't even know him anymore. Like he was never even there to begin with. I don't know what changed between us, but something happened and I never want it to happen to any child ever again. It was like one day, we were best friends and the next, I'm flying on the Slytherin Quidditch team just to make him proud and HE DOESN'T EVEN CARE! He looked at me like I was a total disappointment because Harry Potter caught the snitch! Stupid, arrogant, Boy Who Lived, a.k.a. Harry sodding Potter! Caring, intelligent, beautiful, Boy Who Stole my Heart, a.k.a. Harry sodding Potter! Severus was disappointed in me that day. Well, I guess the roles are reversed today, huh." Draco throws his hands up in defeat, shrugging as he sees the pity shining in Hermione's eyes.

"Draco… Are you sure you haven't blurred the lines of your relationship?" Hermione prompts, not sure how well Draco's going to take her question.

"What?"

"I said, are you sure you haven't blurred the lines of yours and Harry's relationship?"

"I know what you said, Granger! I just bared my soul to you about my uncle and the only response I get is about my farce of a relationship with your best friend?" Draco asks, livid and also more than a little embarrassed at all he's said.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I know that the Snape issue needs to be addressed at some point. I'm merely just worried that you've possibly developed," Hermione pauses to clear her throat, "feelings of a romantic nature towards our Harry here."

Draco glares menacingly at the bushy-haired girl, quickly re-adopting his cold exterior he's seemed to have forgotten the past few days. "I've not developed any feelings, Granger. I'm merely playing the full extent of my role. You can never let your guard down, Hermione. You never know who might be listening."

Hermione, suddenly embarrassed, flushes at being wrong, quickly apologizes before realizing she should probably take her leave, briskly walking out of the hospital wing, stopping at the door. She looks back towards the pair. Draco has already gone back to staring intently and worriedly at Harry, his fake boyfriend lying on the hospital bed seemingly at peace. She smiles at the way Draco slowly brings Harry's hand to his mouth and kisses it softly, before turning and walking out of the hospital wing.

HPDMHPDMHPDM

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