It was a week before Snape returned with news that Draco had stopped bleeding internally. It was two weeks before I got news that Draco had woken up. It was a month before he returned to school. And all that time, I had detention every single night, most of them with Snape. When Draco came back, my detentions were shifted to weekends only, the whole entire weekend, meaning I couldn't play Quidditch. Oddly enough, I didn't mind, because I was so fixated on Draco being back.

It was weird seeing Draco at breakfast that first morning without his Slytherin friends. While Draco was away, Crabbe and Goyle had been expelled for attacking Dumbledore. Rumor was that one of them cast an Incarcerous, tying the Headmaster up, and then the other cast an Unforgiveable that didn't take. The rumors varied about which Unforgiveable it was and why they did it. But the important thing was that I'd been wrong about Draco being up to something at the beginning of the year; it was Crabbe and Goyle who were up to something and now they were gone from the school.

With Draco's main two sidekicks gone, I would've thought the other Slytherins, like Zabini and Parkinson, would fill in on either side of him as his new sidekicks. But that didn't happen. While Draco was away, Zabini and Parkinson started dating and they were still fawning all over each other when Draco returned. Nott, the loner of the group, made no effort to step into the vacancy. Sure there were students surrounding him for a first-hand account of what I'd done, but none of them were his usual gang. It made me feel sorry for him.

Draco was still too thin, but not as bad as when his lip had been split. He looked like he grew too, taller than ever. His black eye was completely gone and his lip and wrist healed. Only the damage to the chest remained, resulting in him walking slowly and having difficulty breathing at times. The castle was too big for him to traverse, so he got special permission to ride his broom indoors to get from class to class. Straight after breakfast, he made an arse of himself, flying over our heads upside down and waving as he rode to our first class. When I reached the classroom, he was sitting on the ground, having a coughing fit and struggling to breathe; the professor almost took his arse to the Hospital Wing, but then Draco pulled out a vial of some potion that eased his breathing, which enabled him to get up and take his seat. His attention seeking behavior had not changed in the least.

He was still hot, too. Hotter now that his face was healed and his clothes weren't falling off him. I'd been trying so hard not to fantasize about him sexually. I mostly succeeded too, because every time my mind went where it shouldn't, I just started thinking about the fact that he was stuck in a Muggle hospital because I had almost killed him. But then he came back and I spent the whole day hard, just from staring at him during our shared classes. Why did he have to pick almost all the same subjects as me to get NEWTs in?

With his constant presence, I couldn't help my mind from wandering where it shouldn't, but I did manage to control the fantasies. I decided then that I was never, no matter what, going to have sex with him without getting his consent. I pictured it in my mind: pulling back when things started getting hot and heavy and asking if it was all right or if he wanted it. Focusing on that was enough to stop my fantasies from progressing, because I knew he'd answer in the negative. If he told me no, even if it was just in my imagination, I wasn't going to force myself on him. It was sort of like taking a cold shower, but for my brain in the middle of class: it was enough to shock me back into reality and get me paying attention to class again.

At the end of our last class of the day on Draco's first day back, he waited for me to put my things away, while the rest of the class filed out.

"I think he's going to come over here. Don't worry, I have my wand out," Ron said.

"Oh, put that thing away. Anything Malfoy does to Harry is well deserved," Hermione replied, knocking Ron's wand off its mark. She had been one of my biggest critics when she found out about the latest incident. She gave me a lecture and everything.

"Er…could you two give us some time alone? I'll meet you in the library," I suggested.

"Yes, let's go, Ronald," Hermione said, tugging Ron so that he would follow.

Once I was alone, Draco approached and said, "I won't be able to arrange an apparition lesson the next time. Would you mind helping with the potion? I'm getting tired of almost dying. It gets old, you know?"

I nodded, because as it so happened, I did know. "Yeah, of course! And I'm not going to hurt you, ever again. And I've been trying not to think things you don't like. And I'll do anything you want to make it up to you. I'm really sorry. I mean that. Anything at all you need me to do, so that you can feel safe, I will do," I rambled.

"Help me with the potion and the ritual. That will be enough for now. I will collect more later when I feel up to it. I'm actually really tired and need to go lie down. Why is the Hospital Wing so far away?" he asked.

"Here, let me walk you there. I'll carry your bag," I offered, taking his bookbag from him.

He agreed and together we started walking.

"Did you sleep all right last night?" I asked.

"I slept fine. It was in the bloody Hospital Wing, because they don't trust that I'm well enough to sleep without someone watching to make sure I don't start coughing up blood, but it's better than in Muggle hospital. Muggles are horrid healers. It's all about pricking your veins with sewing needles and pumping bags of potions into your arm. I still don't understand why I couldn't just drink the potions. I mean, look at my hand," he ordered, holding out his hand. It was covered in bruises of varying shades.

"This is from their needles. And this," here he pulled back the sleeve of his robes to reveal the crook of his elbow. It was the right elbow; not the left; not the one that I'd slashed and not the one I feared bore the Dark Mark. "Is from their needles too. This is where they take my blood out to do their tests. I still don't understand the purpose of bleeding me to death for tests. Snape had to give me blood replenishing potion, to counter all the blood the Muggles took. I think they're vampires and need all that blood to drink, the lot of them."

There was a pause in the conversation. He looked to me expectantly and I didn't know what I should say. Needles suck, but Muggles aren't vampires. Only a prejudiced pureblood would jump to that conclusion. On the other hand, he'd just gotten released from hospital after I almost killed him, so I should probably be nice to him.

"That was a joke, Potter. You are supposed to laugh," Draco said deadpanned.

"Oh…" I said, not knowing what to say and relieved he didn't mean it.

"Never mind. What do you know about humor anyway? I'm too tired to go the rest of the way and I don't feel like flying. It makes my ribs hurt," he said stopping to sit on a bench.

"It's a long way to walk," I agreed, letting his insult slide and sitting next to him.

"They had me doing walks around the floor in hospital, to get my strength up. I walked around dragging a metal pole on wheels, which they had me connected to through tubes and needles. I saw all the backwards things they do to people. Instead of healing most things, they bandage them and let them heal on their own. That's one of their go to moves. Then there's the needles. Oh, and the throat hurting breathing tube; that one's bloody awful. And do you know what the very worst is?" he asked.

"No."

"They actually cut people open. They call it surgery. They did it to me. They cut me open, messed around with my insides, and then stitched me back together, like a piece of cloth. Isn't that just the most barbaric thing you've ever heard?"

"They did surgery on you?" I asked concerned.

He nodded.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. You know that, don't you? That I didn't mean to?" I asked.

"I don't really care whether you meant it or not. It was awful and you owe me. I will let you know what it is I want, besides the potion and the ritual…you know what? I do know something you can get me, but you can't tell anyone. Not your friends, not the teachers, not Dumbledore, and most definitely not Professor Snape."

"Anything. What is it?"

"I like jewelry. Get me something with the Potter crest on it. A ring maybe," he answered.

"I don't have anything with the Potter crest, but I'll have something made for you...but um, er…why?" I asked.

"No particular reason. I just like rings. Now come on, I need to do another flight or I'll never get there," he said getting up.

I got up too and walked really slowly, so that I didn't pass him. He didn't talk at first, concentrating on his breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, but he kept going.

"Is your rib still broken?" I asked when he paused at the midway landing of the stairs.

"Shattered."

"Shattered?" I asked, horrified at what I'd done.

Yes," he said and resumed his strenuous steps up the stairs.

"You know, I could carry you," I suggested.

"No," he answered and kept going, but stopped as soon as we got to the next bench at the top of that flight.

"It's one more whole flight of stairs," I observed, sitting next to him.

"I hate you," he replied.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Tell Pomfrey to come get me. I can't make it the rest of the way. My chest hurts too much and my legs are cramping from all this walking and stair climbing," he said.

I nodded and went.

Madam Pomfrey came down with a stretcher, which Draco got onto, before she levitated it back up. I followed, setting his school bag down on the table beside his bed. He had the whole back section of the infirmary to himself, cordoned off with curtains. It looked like a nice set up.

"You might need to brew the potion for me, Potter. I'm too sore and tired," Draco said, lying down on his bed and closing his eyes.

I reached over and helped pull up his blankets, tucking him in. "Oh course. Do you want me to start right now, while you rest?" I asked.

He nodded. "Don't tell your friends or let them see the book. Promise me that."

"I promise," I said, even though I wasn't sure why he was keeping this a secret. I could understand it though, because I didn't want my friends to know I was making a potion with my sperm in it either.

"It's the blue book in that stack," he said, motioning towards a large stack of books piled on the other side of his bed. I got up and went over. "I found a better potion. It's very similar to the last, except broader. It covers more."

"Does it make the injuries less?" I asked, pulling the blue book from the stack. There was a bookmark sticking out, marking the page of a powerful shielding potion.

"Only the lethal injuries, but yes," he answered.

"But the other one did that too," I protested, skimming the ingredients. This one also required sperm. I didn't see a difference.

"The other one only protected me from one person. This one protects me from everyone."

"Do you need…" I waved my hand around, unable to say the word semen out loud, "from everyone?"

"No, just from you. That's what makes it so powerful," he answered.

I nodded. With the war brewing, a boarder protection ritual was a good thing. All sorts of people might attack him and his health was too fragile to allow that. And if Voldemort ever found out that I was developing feelings for Draco, then a protection like this would be very necessary. I wanted him to be protected and I didn't see any reason to question his decision to change potions.

"Ask Pomfrey for a pain potion," he requested. "Even the Muggles provided pain potion."

I did. He looked ready to fall asleep almost the instant Pomfrey gave him the pain potion. He looked so peaceful and beautiful.

I tucked the blue book under my arm and left, determined to make the potion to keep him safe.

Author's Note: What do you think? I'm not sure if I got Draco's return just right. It's a major turning point in their relationship.

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