Thank you to ALL my reviewers and to ALL my readers!
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Co. belong to J. K. Rowling. I just bring them out to play every once in a while.
Thank you to Malombra for being such a great BETA.
AU. Established relationship. Harry/Draco pairing.
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FOOL
Chapter 8
Dinner was a silent affair. Harry was so tired he didn't eat much before he fell asleep. Draco jumped to catch him and was surprised when Hermione and Ron silently stepped out of the small cabin so that he could take care of his husband without them watching.
"Oh, Harry…" he whispered as he hugged him tightly to him. He only let it last for a few minutes before he got himself under control and managed to clean him up and get him back in bed in only minutes.
Draco stood and watched him sleep for a while before he walked to the door and let the other two back in.
"What now?" Ron asked as soon as they were settled on the small couch. Draco had dragged a dining room chair over and was slumped into it.
"Merlin, I don't know."
"I do." As usual Hermione's voice was decisive and proud. "It was our potion and research that did this." Draco nodded. "One thing he forgot though…"
Suddenly Draco smiled. "You didn't?"
"I most certainly did." Hermione smirk would put even Professor Snape to shame.
"Did what?"
"We put in a failsafe. Without a stabilizer the potion will breakdown into its respective parts within 36-48 hours. I thought she had taken it out. I wasn't…as attentive…as I should have been lately."
"It's ok Draco. I understood." Hermione smiled gently at him and the matter was over and done with.
"Ok, so what does this stabilizer thingy do and how was it used on Harry?" Ron was a good strategist but had not a lick of potions sense. One of the reasons he had made his twins brothers list of people to 'test' their potions on.
Hermione sighed, "it was used on Harry before the failsafe was put in. We didn't know that he had been dosed with it so we didn't see the symptoms. Along with the other potion he was slowly going insane."
"Fuck." Draco said lowly as he tried to keep the tears at bay. "I didn't see it."
"Neither did I and I should have. After all, it was my research. I knew full well what it would do and never even saw it coming." Hermione didn't have his strength and couldn't stop the tears.
"But…" Ron's voice was slow, he knew he didn't understand most of what the two talked about when it came to their work, but he had a good helping of common sense. "How, why, did it effect Harry that way? I know that's not what the potion was to be used for."
"You're right it wasn't." Draco nodded, "so, what did they do to the potion to change its properties?"
"They wouldn't have had to do much." Hermione said as she summoned her satchel to her. Inside she had put all the notes that she had been able to grab before they ran. "Remember, the initial testing showed that too much belladonna and the potion was ruined, too little and it was nothing but a strong cleaning agent."
"But if they added crystallized Dragon's blood before the belladonna then that would counteract it thereby causing the potion to change from a mind healing potion to a mind controlling potion." Draco said as if just remembering something.
"Exactly."
"So the failsafe did what?"
"It made the potion ineffective if any blood was added to it." Draco said slowly. "Wait…they would have had to add the Dragon's blood only seconds before getting Harry to drink it."
"So that means Harry was already on the hallucinogens before they gave him our potion." It was clear she was trying very hard to contain her emotions.
"And that would be why it took so long for the effects to become apparent." Draco sighed.
"But we got to him in time, right?" Ron was now even more worried.
"I don't know." Hermione was now openly crying.
"We may have only prolonged his suffering." Draco could not stop the tears from overflowing now. He had not cried in months. He had told himself he wouldn't cry over Harry ever again. Now he couldn't stop his sobs and longer. He had just gotten Harry back and now they might still lose him. Never mind that less than 3 hours ago he was going to leave again.
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Harry slept for a few hours before he became restless. Draco was by his side when he woke. He and Hermione had worked on a potion to give him that would help purge as much of the potion from his system as it could. Unfortunately, they didn't know the amount he had been given. They knew that it couldn't be much as he would be dead but if they had given the potion to him in increasing amounts it could be throughout his system and they wouldn't ever be able to rid him of it. If, by some miracle, his system wasn't saturated by the potion they would be able to get the remaining potion out of his body. It would just be a long few months before they would know.
"Hey." Draco said as he held a glass up to the chapped lips.
Harry nodded warily but drank from the glass without question. He pulled away when he had his fill. Draco tried to move away but was stop by the surprisingly strong grip Harry had on his wrist.
"Tell me."
Draco couldn't look away. Harry always knew when he was trying to deceive him. It took more control than he thought he had to deny him. With a gentle but firm twist he got his wrist free and stood to step back.
He was surprised again when Harry tried to come after him. Without a word he helped him up from the floor and settles him onto the couch. Hermione and Ron were waiting and it was Hermione that spoke. Harry never took his eyes from Draco when she explained what they had figured out.
When she was done speaking he only said one thing and it made all of them smile.
"He only had one shot at me."
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LMG