"DRACO!" I held his head in both of my hands. "Draco! Please!" I rested my forehead on his. "Please.."

I heard the slamming of the door opening behind me, it was Ron and Dean.

"What the bloody hell is- Oh my God!" Ron started, but stopped talking as soon as he saw Draco.

Dean came rushing over to us, pulling Draco out of the shower, laying him flat on the floor. Ron ran out of the room as Seamus, Blaise and Neville came charging in. Dean was holding Draco's head still, keeping his neck straight, and checking his pulse. He looked at me, worried.

I shook my head, looking down at Draco, holding his hand. Thirty seconds later Professor McGonagall came in with Ron, both panting.

"What's going on in here?" She looked at me, then down at Draco and gasped. She bent down, feeling his forehead. "He's burning up. He will need to see Madam Pomfrey immediately. Mr. Weasley, please go wake her. Tell her to meet us in the hospital wing." Ron nodded, still panting, and ran down the stairs. I heard the Common Room door slam as he left.

Professor McGonagall swished her wand, levitating him delicately and wrapping his towel tight around his midsection.

"Potter, if you wouldn't mind assisting me, I don't want to drop the poor boy."

"Oh, right." I took out my wand from my jeans on the bench, swishing my wand and saying "Mobilicorpus." There was an obvious strength in the levitation now. My hand was shaking, my heart beating so hard it caused my hair to twitch.

She and I carried him all the way to the hospital wing, Blaise and Pansy right behind.


We gently laid him in the bed, Pansy pulled the covers on him. Madam Pomfrey shuffled over quickly, waving her wand around his head and prodding different parts of his body.

I stood near and watched as she worked. I had never seen Draco look so vulnerable. So weak. His cheeks were rosy, clashing with his blonde hair, and he was shivering as if he were cold. The pain in my chest was growing stronger. Professor McGonagall rested her hand on my shoulder, looking at me worriedly. I looked over at Pansy, who had her face buried in Blaise's shoulder. He had his arms wrapped around her and was looking at Draco with concern.

After what seemed like hours, Madam Pomfrey spoke. "It seems that Mr. Malfoy is suffering from the after effects of some very advanced magic. It will be a while until he recovers, it is quite serious, I'm afraid. One does wonder how he encountered such a spell." At this she paused and looked at Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall nodded, looking down at Draco. She stepped forward, pushing his wet hair off his forehead. "I'll have a word with him when he wakes up. When do you think he will be well?"

Madam Pomfrey looked at her wand as if she were reading something. "I'd say three days. Maybe four, depending on how resilient he is. Recovery time will be at least a week. I'm just glad we got to the boy in time, it could have been a lot worse."

McGonagall nodded, turning her attention to Blaise and Pansy. "You two, please go back to your dormitories. You will be notified of the visiting hours for Mr. Malfoy."

They nodded, Pansy, looking teary eyed, slowly walked out, looking at Draco for as long as possible. I began to walk toward the door, thinking that McGonagall would tell me to leave, too.

"Mr. Potter." She turned around and flicked her wand at me. I thought she was going to zap me with a spell of some sort, and I winced, closing my eyes. "Potter, what are you doing?" I opened my eyes, looking around. There was a chair behind me.

"Oh.." I reddened, feeling stupid.

"Have a seat. Leave here when you are ready. I will inform Professor Snape that you might be late for class tomorrow." She gave me a small smile.

"Thank you, professor."

"You're welcome." She looked back at Draco. "Goodnight, Mr. Potter. Thank you, Poppy." She turned around and left, shutting the doors behind her with a thud.

Madam Pomfrey hovered near me for a bit, obviously wanting me to leave as these were not regular visiting hours. After a few minutes, she huffed and walked back to her office.

I got up and sat on the edge of Draco's bed, holding his hand as I pushed the hair off his face. I leaned down and kissed his forehead, closing my eyes and inhaling his crisp scent. He smelt exactly the same. Stormy and sweet. When I pulled my face away, I half expected him to be smiling up at me sleepily, as he always did, but his eyes remained shut. I ran my fingers through his damp hair, wishing with all I had that he'd wake up.


The next morning I woke up sitting in the chair next to Draco's bed. His hand was now hanging off the bed toward me, and he was turned over facing my direction. He must have woken up and seen me sitting next to him. I tucked his hand back into the covers, pulling them up to his neck and tucking them around him. He was still shaking a little. I kissed his forehead, sitting down on the side of the bed again. I sat there and stroked his hair, waiting for something- anything- to happen.

The door creaked open behind me. I glanced over, seeing Hermione and Ron. They walked over to me, Hermione wrapped her arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.

"How is he, Harry?" She asked quietly.

I shook my head. "I don't know. Madam Pomfrey said it might take a week for him to recover."

Hermione didn't say anything, but she fiddled with her necklace, which was now grey with a little line of water on the bottom half of the circle.

"I, er, brought some of his clothes. I hope they're okay." Ron put a set of folded clothes on the table next to his bed. Black trousers and a dress shirt. Shiny shoes and a posh tie.

"They're great, thanks Ron." There was a lump in my throat, I looked down at Draco's flushed face, blinking quickly.

"Harry, I-" Hermione was cut off when she saw Draco open his eyes.

Draco tried to sit up, grabbing at my arm trying to get leverage. His eyes were wide open, and he looked scared. His usually smooth voice was now shaky and weak. "Harry P-Please. I- need-" His head fell back onto his pillow and he started jerking violently.

"MADAM POMFREY!" Hermione yelled. I tried holding Draco's head still as he shook, but he was thrashing around so forcefully it was difficult to hold him down.

Madam Pomfrey walked through the curtains a moment later, flicking her wand at him. He was still almost immediately. I still had my hands on his face, and I let my head drop onto his chest as tears rolled down my cheeks.

Hermione put her hand on my back, I heard her sniff. "It's odd seeing him like this... He's usually so... Put together."

I sat up, wiping my face off and inhaling deeply. I turned to look at them.

"I need to find Thorfinn Rowle."

"Harry, that's not-" Hermione stopped talking when she saw the determination on my face.

"He's the only one who knows what kind of Magic Draco has been messing with. I need to find him." I said, looking back and forth between her and Ron.

Hermione looked up at Ron, who nodded his head at her once. She inhaled, looking at me.

"Alright, I have an idea, but it might not work." She sat down in the chair next to the bed, leaning forward so that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't hear.


Herbology and Defense Against the Dark Arts dragged by. Many people came up to me to ask how Draco was doing, which surprised me. When he first got here the only people who would talk to him were Blaise, Millicent and Pansy.

Everyone from 8th year, about half of the 7th years, and a few straggling 6th years all asked how he was. Maybe they had realized that he had changed, too. Mrs. Sprout told me that I still needed to take care of our Mandrake even though Draco was in the hospital, which I was obviously going to do. It should reach Its adult stage right as Draco recovers.

It didn't feel right taking care of our Mandrake without Draco here. He always knew exactly what to do and the order in which to do it. I felt like a bumbling idiot, searching through my textbook for spells to measure the nutrients and water in the soil. Draco is far more skilled at these kinds of things. He always had an answer to everything, and it was always correct. He and Hermione constantly have conversations about topics that are far over mine and Ron's head. We always sit there shaking our heads at how ridiculously intelligent they are. It's become the typical common room/ dinner situation; Ron and I struggling to finish homework at the last minute while Hermione and Draco converse about ridiculously large books pertaining to incredibly dull subjects.

I sighed, giving up on trying to find the spell which lets me measure the leaf's flexibility. I shut my book and rested my forehead on my arms, waiting for Professor Sprout to dismiss class.


"Harry, wake up." I heard an unfamiliar voice from across the room, looking up to find that I was in McGonagall's office.

I saw Snape standing in his portrait, glaring at me.

"Professor, how did I get here?" My voice sounded slow, like it was hard for me to talk. I couldn't lift my arms, and I looked down at them. They were tied by something that looked strikingly like Devil's Snare. I tried to tug my arms free, but it felt like the muscles in them had turned to jelly. I looked back up at Snape. "Professor! Please, help me!"

He continued to look down at me distastefully.

Suddenly, Snape stepped forward from his portrait. He jumped down to the floor, black robes swishing around him, greasy hair falling in his face. "Silence, Potter."

From behind him, I saw a tall figure with blond hair step out of the shadows. I gasped. "Rowle! Professor, behind you!"

Snape turned around, seeing Rowle. He outstretched his hand, lips curling up. "Thorfinn, It's good to see you."

Rowle shook it. "It's been a while." He replied gruffly.

They both drew their wands and pointed them in my direction

"Severus." I turned my head to see Professor McGonagall standing to my right, looking at Snape. "Please."

Together, Snape and Rowle shouted. "Avada Kadavra!" And sent two blasts of green light towards McGonagall's chest.

Suddenly I was on top of the Astronomy tower, watching as McGonagall fell, her hair undoing from it's bun, her hands outstretched toward me.

"NOOO!" I screamed, turning back to face Rowle and Snape. At first I thought they were fighting. They were grabbing at each other's clothes and making unruly noises, but as I looked at their faces I realized they were... kissing?

"What the fu-?"

I felt a sharp pain in my side and I sat up with a start, looking around me. I was sitting in my Herbology classroom, Ron was standing next to me looking at me like I was crazy.

"Wh-what's going on." I looked around me trying to find Snape and Rowle.

"You were sleeping, mate." He said, looking at my forehead and plucking a piece of paper off of it. "I was just wonderin if you needed some help with your Mandrake. You were jumping around a lot. What were you dreaming about?"

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. "Believe me, you don't want to know."


I went to see Draco as soon as I finished my lunch. Madam Pomfrey said that he had woken up, but not enough to say anything. I kissed his forehead, whispering that I'd be back later.

I walked quickly to the common room, sitting down at the couch near the fire with Ron and Hermione. I pulled out the note Draco had left floating above me a few days ago, handing it to Hermione. She studied the note, scribbling a few words down on another sheet of parchment.

"Okay, I think I nearly have it." She pulled out a fresh piece of parchment, biting her lip in concentration. She wrote slowly, leaning away and studying her writing after she was done.

"How's this, Harry?" She handed me the parchment.

I took it from her, it looked exactly like Draco's writing. The letter read as follows;

"Rowle,
There has been a complication with visiting my father. Please meet me at Hogshead tomorrow night at 8, we need to talk.
Malfoy."

I nodded, handing it back to her. "Spot on, Hermione."

She smiled happily. "Thanks. Do you have the sealing wax?" She asked as she folded the note in thirds.

I pulled Draco's sealing wax and stamp out from my rucksack, handing it to Hermione. She produced a small flame with her wand, melting the wax onto the paper. It fell in droplets of black and grey onto the parchment. Hermione pressed the stamp into the wax. When she pulled it off, there was a perfect imprint of Draco's initials inside of an X.

"Bloody brilliant, you are." Ron said as he looked at the parchment. Hermione blushed.

"Thank you." She turned to me. "I'll go to the owlry tomorrow morning. I have to drop by and see Professor Flitwick about a charm I saw in the book I'm reading, so I'll be back in a few hours." She kissed my cheek, then kissed Ron, getting up and wrapping her coat around her, walking out with the letter safely tucked away.

I picked up Draco's wax seal, turning it over in my fingers. "If Draco closed his letters with wax, wouldn't Rowle have noticed the seal had been broken?" I looked at Ron.

"Well, mum had a spell that she used cause she'd always melt too much wax on her letters. Maybe McGonagall used something like that to seal it back?"

I nodded. "Wonder what McGonagall's going to do when she reads the letter Hermione's about to send. I mean obviously she'll know it's not from Draco if he's in the hospital."

Ron shrugged. "I guess we will have to tell her eventually. If Rowle knows how to help Malfoy, we'd need to tell her anyways."

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." I looked at Draco's initials on the bottom of the stamp. "Ron.. Do you think Draco's going to be mad when he finds out we contacted Rowle?"

"I don't know mate. He's your boyfriend." He shrugged, leaning back against the couch.

I sighed, putting the wax and seal in my rucksack and pulling out a my Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, reading ahead to the next chapter.

After an hour or so of reading, I put my book in my bag and turned to Ron.

"I'm going to the hospital wing. I'll be back later." He nodded, not opening his eyes.


The castle was dark at this time of night. My footsteps were echoing as I walked up the stairs in Hospital tower. I heard a faint voice, continuously talking. It sounded as if they were speaking to themselves. I paused on the stairs, listening. It didn't sound as if the voice were moving anywhere, so I continued walking.

The voice got louder as I approached the hospital doors. I stood with my hand on the door for a moment, recognizing the voice as Hermione's. I realized that she wasn't talking to herself, but she was reading. I slowly creaked the door open, peeking inside. Hermione was sitting next to Draco's bed, reading an incredibly large book. The door made a rather loud creak, causing Hermione to look up.

"I didn't mean to interrupt." I said, backing up.

"No, Harry! It's okay, I was just um... well we were reading this book before... before he got here. I figure I might as well read out loud to him. He might like it, if he can hear us at all." She said, fiddling with the page she was on.

"Well I can come back later, no problem." I began to close the door.

"Wait! Harry... will you stay? I don't have to read, I just thought it'd be nice." She said, her face turning pink.

I pushed the door open again, walking toward them and letting it shut behind me. "I think it's sweet that you are reading to him, I didn't even think about it." I kissed the top of her head. "Please, continue."

She blushed and smiled up at me, opening her book again and finding her place. I sat down on the bed next to Draco, pushing his hair off his face. His hair was as soft as ever. I could still smell his apple crisp cologne. Hermione's voice turned into a nice hum as she read, sort of like a lullaby. I could see Draco's eyes moving underneath his eyelids, and I wondered if he really could hear her.


The next day dragged on. Every day without Draco seemed like an eternity. I didn't receive a letter from professor McGonagall, which leads me to believe that she hadn't been checking owls since Draco was in the hospital.

Drarry the Mandrake was still growing, and Professor Sprout said I could wait until Draco was back to repot it.

Neville and Luna finally started dating. They walked around holding hands most of the time, and everyone was cooing over them, saying what a great couple they were. I mean, they really were. Neville looked at Luna as if the moon and all the stars had collided and formed a person, and I suppose that's how we all should look at the people we love. In all honesty, Neville needs someone as care free and kind as Luna. I couldn't think of anyone better for him.

I heard Neville in the common room saying that he and Luna had been to see his parents in St. Mungo's, and Luna had talked to them as if they were regular people instead of most people who don't really know what to do. Him talking about Luna made me miss Draco even more.

Ron was talking to Hermione about how Ginny had taken her boyfriend to the burrow to meet her mum and George turned his hair blue with one of his new sweets for the joke shop. Hermione shook her head and gave an unwilling smile.

"Nutter." She said, scribbling down another sentence to her essay. "I need to go to the library." She mentioned, snapping her book shut and rolling up her parchment.

"So do I. I was going to try and look up some healing potions in the restricted section to see if there's anything in there that Draco might not know about."

Hermione frowned. "How do you expect to get in there?"

I took out a piece of parchment from my pocket. "Nicked a permission form off Snape's desk." I smiled, looking down at it. "Since he's only a portrait he can't sign it, so It's pre-signed by McGonagall."

Hermione shook her head. "After 8 years you still haven't learned not to break the rules." She sighed, putting her book in her bag. "Come on then, I have work to do." She kissed Ron goodbye as we walked out.


After 4 books and 6 paper cuts, I gave up looking for a solution for Draco's mum. Anything I've found had to do with either killing someone, or killing yourself to heal someone else. I dropped my head down on A Mediwizard's Guide to Illness and sighed loudly.

Hermione looked up at me. "No luck?" She said, eying the books I had gone through.

"Nope. I assume Draco has already looked through all these anyway." I sat up and closed the book, adding it to the pile. "I'm going to put these back and then head to the common room. See you there?"

I flicked my wand, making the books levitate and sort to their appropriate shelves.

Hermione looked down at her essay, which was now two scrolls long. "I should be done soon, but don't wait up."

I nodded, throwing my rucksack over my shoulder before I walked out.

Ron was still dozing on the couch when I walked into the common room. Dean and Seamus were playing a round of exploding snap in the corner, waving me over as I walked in.

"Hey Harry, how's it going?" Seamus asked, patting my arm as I sat down.

I shrugged. "Same as always. How 'bout you guys?"

"I'm good, thanks. Dean and I were thinking about going to Hogsmeade tomorrow if you wanted to come. You can bring Ron and Hermione too, if you want." Seamus said as he dealt me a hand of exploding snap.

"Thanks for the offer guys, but I really should stay in the castle. I'm kind of waiting to hear news about Draco." I felt my face heat up a little, feeling bad for partially lying. I really was waiting for Draco to wake up, but since we were going to track down Rowle, I knew that I didn't want to be seen in Hogsmeade that day incase anything drastic happened. I turned my attention to the cards in my hand.

Seamus nodded understandingly. "No worries, mate! We can always go another time. How's he been doing?" He asked, placing a card down in the middle.

"He's been getting better gradually. Should be recovered in a few days." I said, jumping slightly as a card exploded in Dean's hand.

"That's good to hear!" Seamus said, patting my arm roughly.

I nodded, laughing as the pile of cards in the middle of us exploded and shot cards everywhere.

After a few more rounds, Dean stretched. "I'm going to bed. I want to get up early for Hogsmeade." He stood pushing the pouf on which he was sitting aside. "Night, Harry." He leaned down and kissed Seamus. "Night, love. See you tomorrow."

"Night." Seamus said, smiling up at him. Seamus watched Dean walk across the room and up the stairs, continuing to stare after he was no longer visible.

After a few seconds of him watching, Dean poked his head back out of the stairway.

"Damn it!" He said, when he saw Seamus still looking at him. He and Seamus laughed. Dean shook his head and walked back up the stairs muttering something about Seamus being a know it all.

"What was that about?" I asked Seamus, watching to see if Dean appeared in the stairway again.

Seamus was still smiling, shaking his head. "Just bein' a loon." He chuckled as he dealt us another hand of cards.


The next day flew by with the anticipation of finding Rowle on the horizon. Ron, Hermione and I had planned on leaving the castle at around 7. I spent the entire day in the library, looking for anything that was a generic healing solution not involving the death or serious injury of someone. At around 5 o'clock I gave up, looking at the pile of books next to me which was now over 15 books high. Hermione had come to help a little, but gave up after the 5th book. I sighed and trudged to the great hall to grab some food before I went to see Draco.

After I was thoroughly full, I stood, beginning to leave.

"Hey, would it be alright if I stopped by later to see you and Draco? The book we are reading is getting fascinating." Hermione asked, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Yeah, of course. I'll see you in a bit." I said as I turned and walked out of the great hall.

I walked into the hospital wing to find Pansy and Blaise standing near Draco's bed. Pansy was crying and leaning on Blaise. Not wanting to disturb them, I stepped back outside and leaned up against the wall, staring at the huge oak doors. I remembered when Hermione and I went back in time to save Sirius from the dementors. That seems like ages ago. I turned my head as I heard quickly approaching footsteps.

"Hiya, Harry." It was Luna and Neville.

"Hey Luna. Neville. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to bring Draco some treats for when he wakes up, we got some things from honeydukes on our way back from Madam Puddifoot's." Luna said happily. Neville blushed slightly, looking down at his feet.

"That's really nice of you guys, thank you. Pansy and Blaise are in there right now, I didn't want to disturb them. I'll put them at the end of Draco's bed when I go in, yeah?"

Neville nodded, handing me a bag of sweets.

"See ya, Harry." Neville said, glancing at the hospital doors as they opened.

"See you." I turned to look at the doors, it was Blaise.

"Hey, Harry. Pansy wants to talk to you." He gestured me into the room.

He whispered. "Good luck." to me.

I looked back at him, but the doors closed before I could say anything.

I walked over to Draco's bed, where Pansy was sitting, wiping her eyes.

She sniffed and looked up at me as I walked over, setting the bag of sweets down on the table at the end of the bed.

"How are you, Pansy?" I asked, even though she was obviously upset. She was one of Draco's closest friends, I didn't want her to start hating me all over again.

She shrugged, reaching out to hold Draco's hand. "Better." She sniffed again, kind of stroking the back of Draco's hand with her thumb. "He really cares about you, you know. I haven't seen him this happy in quite a while." She looked down at him sadly. "He went through a really rough time with his family and everything, I was quite worried about him." She looked up at me. "Thank you. For helping him. Even though you probably didn't know that you did." She smiled at me a little, the action looking weird on her face. "Harry... I've um... Never really apologized for what I did... during the war?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know... In the great hall.. after you-know-who told us to bring you to him?" She said, playing with Draco's fingers and avoiding my eyes.

Suddenly I remembered. She had yelled out for people to grab me and take me into the forbidden forest to Voldemort.

"Oh.. Right." I said, trying not to sound too upset. I mean, she suggested that I be turned over to Voldemort for Merlin's sake, I didn't feel too bad about being angry.

"I didn't really... I didn't want you to be taken to him I just-... I just wanted the war to end." Her face was reddening as she spoke. "I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't mean- I don't-" She erupted into tears, pressing her face into the mattress of Draco's bed.

"Uh.." I said stupidly, taken off guard by her sudden outburst. I walked around the bed toward her slowly, patting her shoulder. "That's okay, Pansy... No worries." I mean I willingly turned myself over to him, therefore ending the war, so I couldn't be that angry.

She suddenly stood up, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing rather hard. I patted her head awkwardly. Never in a million years did I think that I would hug Pansy Parkinson of all people. She was leaning all her weight on me, her sobs nearly knocking me over.

The door to the hospital wing opened, and I looked over desperately wanting help. Blaise and Hermione were at the door.

Pansy, seeming to hear the door open, let me go. "S-sorry Harry." She sniffed, wiping her eyes.

She looked up at me, her gaze was much softer than normal. She turned and kissed Draco's forehead, standing and watching him for a moment. She turned back to me, sniffing. She inhaled deeply.

"Sorry about that. I get a little emotional sometimes." She let out a shaky laugh. "But I really just wanted to thank you because I haven't seen Draco this happy in a long time."

She patted my arm, running her hand down the side of it. Suddenly she grabbed my wrist and twisted it painfully.

"Ow!" I said, trying to break free. I looked at her face, she looked menacing and angry. I tried to back away but the table was blocking me.

"If you hurt Draco, I will hunt you down and inflict an unbelievable amount of pain on you."

"Pansy! Wh-What are you talking about! Let me go!" She yanked her hand away as Hermione ran over.

She glared at me for a moment longer and then smiled, turning around. "See you later, Harry!" She called lightly.

My mouth dropped open as I rubbed my wrist. Hermione looked back at her as she walked out the door, and then turned to me, confused.

"I thought she was hurting you?" Hermione said.

"She was!" I replied, checking my wrist for bruising. "Mental!" I said, plopping down in the chair next to Draco's bed. "She apologized for trying to turn me over to Voldemort, cried in my arms, and then basically said she'd kill me if I hurt Draco! What's that about!" I said, looking at Hermione who started laughing.

"What!" I said, not finding amusement in this at all.

Hermione shook her head, biting her lip as she tried not to laugh. She looked at me again and burst into laughter. I couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"Alright, alright, I see your point." I said, smiling at her.

She flicked her wand, producing another chair to sit down in, grabbing a book on the bedside table that I hadn't noticed before.

"You don't mind, do you?" She asked, gesturing to the book.

I shook my head. "Of course, go ahead." She smiled, opening her book to where the bookmark was sticking out.

As she read, I held Draco's hand, rubbing my thumb against the back of it. His face seemed less flushed than before, and he wasn't shaking anymore. I took these as good signs. I leaned my head back against the chair, closing my eyes as I listened to Hermione's voice.


"Harry, wake up, Ron is probably waiting on us."

I lifted my head suddenly, groaning when I felt the crick in my neck caused by leaning back on the chair. Hermione had her hand on my arm, rousing me from my sleep.

I looked over at Draco, pushing his soft hair back and kissing his forehead. I stroked his hair for a second. "I'll be back tomorrow." Squeezing his hand, I turned to walk back up to the common room with Hermione.

Ron was waiting for us when we got there, handing me my invisibility cloak and wrapping a rather raggedy looking coat over himself.

"It's Bill's old coat from when he was in Antarctica looking for Dragons. Thought it might make me look more like I fit in down there." He shrugged, tugging at the coat.

I nodded, putting my invisibility cloak into my jacket. We walked out of the common room and into the cool September breeze.


Hogshead was virtually empty. There were a few wizards huddled into the dark corners, and a familiar witch at the bar who looked like she hadn't moved from that spot in about a decade. I had thrown my invisibility cloak over myself before entering as to not receive unnecessary attention. The time was 7:50, so we had 10 minutes until Rowle showed up.

The plan was to find Rowle and wait until he left. I'd follow him in my invisibility cloak until we found where he was hiding, and then confront him about the kind of magic he was teaching Draco. We walked over to a booth in the corner, I sat down next to Ron to face the rest of the room, and Hermione sat across from us. Ron had ordered butterbeers and they were sipping them silently as we waited for Rowle to appear.

At exactly 8 o'clock a heavily hooded figure bursted through the door. He made a sweep of the place, barely showing his face from underneath the cloak. It was Rowle. When he didn't see Draco, he grunted 'fire whisky' to the bar keep, who slammed a cup down on the bar in front of him. Rowle took a long swig, nearly emptying the glass. He looked down at his watch again, taking another swig from his glass.

"Another." He grunted. The barkeep slammed another glass onto the bar, which Rowle drank just as quickly.

"Doesn't look like he'll be able to put up much of a fight." Ron mumbled, watching as Rowle asked for a third drink.

"Fowl." Hermione whispered, looking away from him in disgust.

After 2 more firewhiskeys and 30 minutes, Rowle finally gave up on waiting for Draco. He tossed a galleon onto the bar.

"Later, Dumbledore."

Hermione gasped, turning around. We all leaned over the booth, looking behind the bar to see Aberforth Dumbledore cleaning glasses.

Ron put his hand up to cover his face. "Bloody hell. I didn't even see him! What do we do!"

Hermione looked down into her glass. "Ron, when you ordered these, he must've seen you. Why didn't he say anything?"

Ron shook his head. "He didn't turn around when he gave them to me, just flicked his wand and they showed up on the bar."

Hermione set her cup down and took down her hair. "Ron is there a hood on that thing?"

He nodded, pulling it up. Hermione pushed her hair in front of her face. "Harry, when he turns away, nudge us and we will leave."

I stood and watched Aberforth Dumbledore putter around behind the bar. A wizard asked for some drink I'd never head of and Aberforth disappeared behind a swinging door.

I poked Ron, who stood and practically ran to the door with Hermione's hand in his. They had just made it out when Aberforth came back. He had a black vial in his hand and I swear he looked right into my eyes. If I didn't feel the invisibility cloak touching my nose I'd think he could see me. I remembered the time Dumbledore had looked right at us in Hagrid's hut the day his title as headmaster was temporarily revoked. I hoped that Aberforth was not as skilled of a wizard as his brother, and walked out hastily as the door was closing.

Hermione and Ron were panting outside, even though they hadn't really run too far.

"That was a close one!" Ron exclaimed, tugging the hood off his head.

Hermione quickly tied her hair back, looking around for Rowle.

"There!" She said, pointing as Rowle's blonde head disappeared into an alley. "Go, Harry!"

I took off, straight toward the alley. I heard them walking behind me quickly. I turned into the alley just in time to see Rowle climb the stairs into the street. I followed closely behind him as he walked, keeping his head down only to look up briefly and check his location. I glanced behind me to see Ron and Hermione turn in my direction. As I turned to look back at Rowle, I nearly collided with him. He had stopped in the street and was now looking directly at me- through me- at Ron and Hermione. He was about 3 inches away from my face. The muscles in his neck were tensing. His blue eyes were shifting back and forth between Ron and Hermione looking afraid. The side of his pale face was scarred, as if someone had cut it with a knife. His blonde hair and beard had grown out since he had tried to attack us in the cafe on tottenham court road. He looked thinner, and surprisingly older.

He turned around with a grunt, walking faster and making a sharp turn into a dark alley. He turned three more corners, hiding in the doorway of a broken down shop. He stood there unmoving, facing the door. I was standing to the right of the doorway, not wanting to get too close to him. I saw Ron and Hermione walking down the alley toward us, and I knew that this is what he was waiting for. He reached for his wand inside his robes. If we were going to do this, it had to be right now. I yanked off my cloak, causing Ron and Hermione to stop walking.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled, grabbing his wand from mid air. He turned around, confused.

Upon seeing me right behind him, he jumped backwards, slamming up against the door. "H-Harry Potter!" He exclaimed.

"That's me." I said, pointing my wand at him. "Where have you been hiding?"

He pointed a shaky hand down the alley to an old apothecary shop.

"Well, go on then." I gestured for him to walk in front of me.

He stepped forward shakily, stumbling to the door and putting his key in the lock. He creaked the door open, it was cold and dark inside. It smelled musty, like there hadn't had clean air in the room for years. Ron and Hermione were now behind me.

"Lumos." Hermione muttered, as her want lit up. The place was empty. Cobwebs everywhere. Rowle crossed the room, yanking down on a coat hook, revealing an underground tunnel. I looked back at Hermione to see if she thought it was a good idea to go with him. She shrugged, stepping forward as Rowle climbed down into the tunnel.


"Thorfinn? Is that you dear? I've just finished supper, but it might be a bit co-" A middle aged witch that I didn't recognize appeared in the doorway in front of us. "Oh hello there! Are you a few of Draco's friends?" She stepped forward, taking my cloak from my hands. "I think there's enough supper for the rest of you if you wanted to stay! Thorfinn why didn't you tell me there were people coming over!" She asked, kissing him on the cheek.

Hermione, Ron and I looked at each other in disbelief. I didn't know whether to attack Rowle or give him his wand back.

"What's going on here?" I asked Rowle, pointing my wand at him.

"I- erm- I live 'ere! That's me wife, Rintriata." Rowle said, ringing his hands and watching his wife disappear through the doorway.

"What do you mean you live here?" Ron said. "Why have you been meeting Malfoy at Hogshead. What are you telling Malfoy to do to his mum?"

Rowle stared at us, shocked. "Whaddya mean 'bout Malfoy's mum?" He looked genuinely confused.

Thorfinn's wife walked in again and looked at us. "Well what are you lot waiting for, I have a table of food in here waiting to be eaten!"

I stared at her, Rowle started walking toward the doorway and I grabbed his arm. Hermione jabbed me in the ribs, I looked back at her and she raised her eyebrows at me, squeezing my arm to make me let go. I released Rowle's arm, letting him walk into the room.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Ron and Hermione.

Ron shrugged. "Haven't the faintest."

Hermione was looking thoughtfully into the room where Rowle pecked his wife on the cheek. "Maybe... He's not a bad guy anymore?" She said.

I stared at her open mouthed. "He nearly killed us in that cafe! He set Hagrid's house on fire! He tortured me, for Merlin's sake!"

Hermione pressed her lips together, thinking. "Well, we could leave now and not find out, or we could stay for a seemingly harmless dinner and ask about Draco."

I gaped at her. "You can't be serious." She shrugged and walked into the room with Rowle and his wife. I looked at Ron, my mouth hanging open. He shrugged and followed Hermione. "You can't be serious!" I said again, standing there with my mouth open. I saw them sit down at the table and shake hands with Rintriata.

I shoved my wand into my pocket forcefully, marching into the room. It was a warm room with a fireplace in the corner. The dining table looked like solid oak, and it had enough room for 6 people to sit comfortably. There was a black iron chandelier with candles lit and floating around above it. The walls were a deep red with golden leaves twirling about, glinting against the firelight.

On the dining table there was a large supper consisting of peas, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and sliced ham. Rintriata was pouring pumpkin juice for all of us, asking about school. She was a pretty woman, beautiful long black hair with grey streaks. Her blue eyes sparkled and nearly disappeared when she laughed or smiled. Her face was slender, but she was quite round. She shuffled around and grabbed my arm, leading me to a chair.

"Now, now dear, have a seat. I don't want your food getting cold." She said, studying me as she sat down in the end seat near me. "Well I'll say... you're Harry Potter, aren't ya?" She smiled, patting my arm. "Never thought I'd meet you." Her eyes studied my face for a moment, then she quickly plopped a spoonful of peas onto my plate. "Hope you're hungry, dear." She smiled at me, putting heaps of all the food in front of me.

I looked across the table at Hermione and Ron who were thoroughly enjoying their meal. Had they completely forgotten the reason as to why we were here in the first place? I cleared my throat loudly and Hermione looked at me.

I gave her a look and she straightened up. "So, Mr. Rowle," As she said this she glanced at me, her cheeks going red. 'Mr. Rowle?' What? "you've been talking to Draco Malfoy, correct?" Rowle nodded, stuffing his mouth with mashed potatoes and swallowing.

"Yeah he's a good lad. Say, did you send me tha' letter earlier?" He asked, taking a bite of ham and looking at Hermione.

"Yes, sir." She said, poking her peas with her fork shamefully.

"Aye tha's alright," he said, nudging her. "no harm done!" He smiled at her, taking a swig of pumpkin juice.

She looked at me across the table and shook her head slightly, clearly not wanting to ask him anymore. I looked at Ron for help, but he was too busy eating to do much else.

"Sir, excuse my asking, but what did you and Draco talk about, exactly?" I asked, trying not to sound too pushy.

He shrugged, swallowing another mouthful of food. "This n' tha'." He said, looking at me innocently. "Why'r ya askin?"

"Well.. Draco's fallen ill, you see. Apparently it's because of some magic that he's been doing recently, and well.. we know that he was talking to you about magic to use on his mum." I remembered that Draco had told him that McGonagall knew about the letters. "Also, the headmistress of Hogwarts is under the impression that you and Draco are going to attempt to break Lucius Malfoy out of Azkaban." At this he choked on the food he had in his mouth.

"WHA?" He said, eyes tearing up from coughing. He took a long drink of pumpkin juice. "Tha's ridiculous. I'd never. Lucius Malfoy can rot in Azkaban until he dies fer all I care." He began to cut off another piece of ham violently. "And this magic for Draco's mum, its to help her. She's real sick, needs somethin' to make her better, but mediwizards and witches don' know wha's wrong." He took a bite of ham, barely chewing it before he swallowed. "I warned Malfoy tha' it can have some bad side effects if used it too much, but he said that he didn' care. Jus' wanted his mum better's all."

I looked across at Hermione who looked sad, she was holding her necklace again. Ron had finally stopped eating for long enough to listen to what Rowle had to say.

"Blimey. McGonagall's got it all wrong." He looked at me, smirking. "At least we can tell her what's really going on so she'll stop pestering you about it all."

I nodded, turning back to Rowle. "Well can you tell us what sort of magic Draco's been doing? Is there something we can do to speed up the healing process?"

"He being cared for by that witch in the hospital ward at Hogwarts? Pomey? Pormfey?"

"Pomfrey, and yes." I corrected.

He shrugged and shook his head. "He's alrig' it'll take some time but there's nothin' I can do to help ya. Jus' needs some restin' time." He lifted his fork to take another bite, but then paused, looking at me again. "Ya know, now tha' I think 'bout it, you lot should bring Malfoy's mum in to be looked at by Pomfrey. She's a bleedin' good mediwitch." He ate his bite of food, raising his eyebrows at me expectantly.

I nodded, looking down at my food, knowing Draco's mum would never do such a thing. Hermione spoke again. "Will Draco be able to use the spell to help his mum? Or will he be too poorly effected if he tries again?" She looked worried, still flipping her necklace over in her fingers.

Rowle shook his head. "I'm 'fraid if he's been effected this bad, he prolly won' be able to use the spell on his mum unless he wants to have permenan' side effects." He looked up at us, chewing. "It's not dark magic, this, it just takes a toll on the body, yeah? Difficult magic, tha's all." He looked around innocently.

"We understand. Thank you, sir." Hermione said, squishing a pea between the prongs of her fork.

"If you don't mind my asking... How did you and Draco start talking again?" I asked. I had thought about this on the walk here. If Draco's dad was in Azkaban and Rowle had been in hiding, how did Draco find him? And for what reason?

"Well." He swallowed his food, putting down his fork and knife, ruffling his brow. "Musta been in 'bout July, righ' when we moved here. I hear somebody knockin' on the door upstairs. I'm thinkin' they'll just go away after nobody shows up, but they kep' knockin for 'bout 5 straight minutes. I wen' up there and peeked out the crack in the door, seein' Malfoy standin' on the stoop. He musta seen my lamplight 'cause he said my name and asked me to let em' in. O' course I didn', but he stood there and waited. 'Bout an hour later I came back up and he was sittin' down on the step." He gestured as if he were looking at Draco sitting down. "I decided that if he wanted to do anythin' bad he woulda done it already, so I let him in. He came here to make amends and apologize for torturing me 'n everything, even though I knew it was Voldemort that forced him to do it. Rintriata invited him fer dinner and he stayed 'ere a few days." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Now, I didn' hear 'bout his mum until end o' August. Saw him walkin' 'round Mulpepper's apothecary in Knockturn Alley. Dangerous place, tha'." He shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of a bad memory.

"So he wasn't looking for things in Borgin and Burke? All he wanted was something to help his mum?" Hermione asked, sounding tearful.

Rowle nodded. "Yeah, he's really turned 'imself around, hadn't he. I think that's also 'cause of you, Harry." He looked at me. "You've really influenced 'em." I blushed, the thought of Draco Malfoy talking about his relationship with me to Thorfinn Rowle seemed ridiculous.

Their clock chimed 10, and Ron and Hermione looked at me. "Harry, we need to get back up to the castle and tell Professor McGonagall about this. She needs to know that Draco isn't doing anything bad." Hermione said.

"What are we supposed to tell her? That we just had dinner with Thorfinn Rowle and his wife, and they said that Draco is a perfectly good boy now? No offense, sir, ma'am, this is delicious." I said, hastily adding that last part because I realized I was still in the room with them.

Hermione chewed the inside of her lip, thinking.

Ron cleared his throat and spoke. "Sir... do you think that... you could come to Hogwarts with us?"

Rowle burst into laughter, holding his stomach. Ron's ears went pink. Rowle nearly tipped back in his chair from laughing.

Finally after a good minute of laughter, Rowle wiped his eyes and sniffed. "Ahh... No. I can' do that fer ya. You forget tha' I'm in hidin'. I don' know if I'll be sent away if I'm found, but I'm not willin' to take tha' chance."

Ron nodded, looking down at his plate.

"We will think of something on the way back up to the castle. I'm sorry we have to leave so soon, dinner was lovely." Hermione said, standing up and grabbing her jacket off the coat hook. I stood and grabbed my cloak, handing Ron his jacket.

Rintriata stood up. "Aw, dears, do stay warm, now! Come back with Draco sometime, we'd love to see you!" She shouted as we walked back up the corridor into the cold, musty shop.

Rowle opened the door for us.

"Sorry 'bout the whole.. attacking ya 'n everything... Hope Malfoy gets ter feelin' better soon. Tell em' to send me a letter when he's up to it." He smiled, nodding curtly at us and closing the door.

"Bloody hell, that was unexpected." Ron said, laughing breathily as he looked at us.

Hermione grabbed her necklace, twisting it around.

I tossed on my cloak. "So now we know what's really going on. One thing I still don't understand is how Draco practiced those spells on first years if they're for illnesses?" I questioned.

Ron shrugged. "Maybe he made em' sick first. Ya know, puking pasties or a jinx. I'm sure there's something."

I nodded, and Hermione said. "We should get up to the castle, it's getting late."

I put on my invisibility cloak as we walked down the alley back up town. Hermione leaned against Ron who automatically wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. We walked the rest of the way up to the castle in silence.


I laid down on Draco's side of the bed, pressing my face into his pillow. His fresh, sweet scent washed over me, immediately calming me down. I thought about dinner with Rowle and how different everything was from what we had thought. I knew that Draco couldn't have been doing anything bad.

I wondered what Draco had talked to Rowle about. He had only mentioned me in the letters to say that I was coming with him to see his dad. I remembered that we were supposed to see Draco's mum this weekend. What kind of illness could she possibly have that magic can't fix? I thought magic could fix practically everything besides death. But she's not.. dying? Is she?

I shook my head, not wanting to think about it. Why hadn't Draco told me? I could have helped him. I exhaled into his pillow, wishing he was here. I decided that I'd go see him before Herbology tomorrow morning. Burying my face in his pillow, I closed my eyes, relieved that I finally knew what was happening.