"Odd that no-one's come so far," Harry mused, "You know why, Malfoy?"

"Draco."

"Huh?"

"My name is Draco. Not sure if you knew or not, but I actually have one of my own."

"Oh. Right yeah, course. Well call me Harry then."

"Nobody's came because they aren't sure what to make of the situation. I'm sure mother and father have been warding them off, saying they've already seen to us. Don't touch the bread."

Harry spat out the mouthful out instantly, "Why?" He felt panicked; was it poisoned? His eyes widened and he searched around for the jug

"Because this is my house so that is technically my food. Give it to me or I'll take it from you. Now."

"Bu- bu-" Harry spluttered at Malfoy – Draco's – outstretched hand.

"Stop looking like a kicked Niffler, I'll give half to you but I doubt you can do such complex fractions."

"Thats really not-"

"Give it hear or I'll take it from you by force; and that wont be hard given that your current state, Potter."

"Harry."

"Give it. Now."

Harry reluctantly tossed the bread across the chamber to Draco, utterly surprised when exactly half came lobbing back at his face. He froze for three seconds before trying to retrieve it – it had bounced off his forehead when his Seeker reactions had been ruled over by his look-like-an-arse reactions. He groaned as he tried to move, and Draco cursed.

"Bloody hell you really are useless, aren't you?" he stood up and grabbed the chunk of stale bread and poured some numbing potion on it before handing it to him.

"Thanks." Harry muttered, slightly red in the face.

"Whatever."

.

"House elves round here aren't exactly nice, huh?" One had just delivered a jug of liquid which Draco had (kind of) safely worked out to be spiked with a freezing potion. He was now rubbing his finger in an attempt to warm it up.

"There used to be one who was worth his weight in gold, if you must know. Gone now."

"Why?"

"I don't know – why should I? Probably dead, I never saw him after our second year."

Harry started "You mean Dobby!"

"So that was his name."

Harry burst out laughing, which felt very odd, but he suddenly remembered the mad bat ears and huge great ears; and that Draco had been known him. It was strangely funny.

The corner of Dracos lip tweaked, "Mad as a hatter he was, but even went against fathers orders to help if I needed anything."

"Dobby with the socks!"

At this Draco laughed "I once caught him rummaging through my sock draw, fawning over all of them. He nearly knocked himself out when he saw me!"

It was a very strange moment, such a trivial thing, but to them, right there and then, it was utterly hilarious.

.

Footsteps echoed down the stone stairs and Draco stood up, suddenly alert. He nudged Harry with his foot, who started awake and grew incredibly pale and drew his knees to his chest.

However it was Snape who swooped around the corner, and Draco let out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding.

"Severus."

"Draco. I need to check on Potters' health. The Dark Lord is returning to us in three days, the night after your departure." He unlocked the door and commanded Potter, who over the few days had been reduced to wearing only his pants, to stand up. He made a full assessment and frowned, allowing Potter too collapse back down and retreated to the lesser smelling corridor.

"Your wounds are much less severe than they should be. Draco you did a good job at tending to them, but has anything else occurred to heal the inflictions?"

Draco shook his head but Harry coughed self-consciously. "I... ah, I can do minor wandless magic to speed up the healing process." He held up the hand which had been stabbed when he tried to dissaperate. "I healed this, and helped the others a bit when I could concentrate enough." He said very quickly, not looking at the other two but giving the opposite wall a very thorough analysis.

Neither commented on this revelation, Snape merely nodded and wordlessly cast Muffilato on Harry, whose ears filled with an inexplainable buzzing sound.

"How is his mental state?" Snape asked Draco

"Very good compared to what it should be. Poor if these were normal circumstances but compared to anyone else's he's fairing incredibly well. Not that I would hold much faith in Potters' mental stability." The last sentence was merely a joke, but Snape nodded to the rest of it, looking relieved.

"How are you fairing?"

Draco scoffed "I have full mental capability, obviously."

Snape gave him a piercing look but did not expand on his suspicions of Dracos' recent breakdown. "Administer these to him." He handed Draco a number of labelled bottles with different healing and restoring potions in them

"This one -" He held up a vial of thick amber coloured liquid "is a Dream-Washer. Give it to him tonight and if the nightmares wake him up, encourage him too sleep again. It will help process what has happened. I'll leave you with one when you escape."

He handed the vial to his godson, who nodded wordlessly, plucking up the courage to ask the question he knew would destroy him.

"Severus?"

"What is troubling you?"

"When you come for me to administer the Invisibility Potion, will you also bring two separate doses of Polyjuice Potion?"

Incomprehension flickered across the Headmasters face, before realisation dawned. He groaned inwardly. "Draco -"

"- This is my choice, Severus. And if I get one choice in life, it will be this one. Are you really going to take that away from me?"

"You would be foolish not to have such doubts, child." He hissed.

"But you would be more the fool to turn me down." There was a pregnant pause. Draco opened his eyes and gazed pleadingly at his godfather. "Please, Severus?" He gave a hollow laugh, "If I have a soul, then this is the last thing I can do to redeem it. The Dark Lord is coming, and if Potter does not escape before then then, Chosen One or not, the war will be lost. And I doubt the Order has a foolproof plan to snatch him back, do they?"

Severus could override sentiment, but Draco knew that his logic would be the undoing of the potion masters' resolve.

"On your head be it."

.

***Sorry it's taken so long to update! I hope you like this chapter – what do you think of Draco's choice? If you don't quite get it then hang on till the next chapter to understand. If you do get it – hang in there anyway! ;) Big thanks to everyone who's read, followed, favourited and especially reviewed this – even more would be incredible :D

Shadow Entity – thanks for your review and compliment, and your comment on my grammar of 'to' and 'too'. It's been taken on board, hope I've got it right this time! Thanks :) ***