Disclaimer: I Own Nothing. Well, a couple of things, I suppose. But the closest I come to owning Harry Potter is owning the books, so find somebody else to sue.

~~~

Several weeks later, on a Saturday in November, Harry and Draco were due to visit Sirius and Remus. Harry wasn't at breakfast, so Draco assumed that he'd slept in. Draco stayed in the Great Hall for a while, hanging out with Hermione, Ginny Weasley, and the twins, who were all quickly becoming his friends.

"I went in his dorm this morning, to see if he was awake," George told Draco. "He had his curtains drawn, so I peeked in, and he was sleeping like a baby. That's good, though, I guess, because Dean and Seamus say Harry hasn't been sleeping too well. Nightmares or something."

"While he does need the sleep, it's almost time for us to leave," Draco sighed. "Well, which of you wants to let me into your tower so I can wake him up?"

"I bet he'll enjoy that," Fred teased, grinning. "Me and George will come."

The three boys headed up to Gryffindor Tower, then went into the fifth-year boys dormitory. Draco slowly pulled back the curtain around Harry's bed, then sat next to him on the mattress, while the twins waited in the doorway. Harry lay on his side, facing away from Draco, and his blankets were pulled up over his head. Draco gently shook his boyfriend, trying to wake him up, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, Draco uncovered Harry and turned him over onto his back, then suddenly let out a strangled cry.

"Draco, what is it?" George asked as he and Fred ran over to the bed. The sight they were met with shocked them.

Harry's face was bloody and bruised. There were burns on his cheek, and one eye was swollen. There were finger-shaped bruises on his neck, as well as several cuts. Looking at the rest of him, the boys saw that blood was soaking through his shirt sleeve, from his arm, which was bent at an odd angle. He was no longer wearing his pants; he only wore boxer shorts, and his legs were also bruised and cut up. Gently turning the boy over, they saw that the back of his shirt was torn open, and there were numerous lacerations and welts on his back, but that wasn't what shocked them the most. What really did the trick was the blood that was soaking through the back of his shorts.

"Merlin, when I find out who the bloody hell did this to him..." Draco muttered as tears dripped down his cheeks. He held Harry's hand and smoothed his hair back from his forehead, trying to get him to wake up. "Come on, love, wake up and let me see those eyes..."

"All right, Fred, conjure up a stretcher, levitate Harry onto it, and take him up to the hospital wing as fast as you can. Draco, you're coming with me. We're going to speak with Dumbledore, and don't even argue with me because you need something to keep your mind off of killing people."

George and Draco went upstairs to Dumbledore's office, and they found the Headmaster, Snape, and McGonagall all in there. Seeing the state that Draco was in, Snape rushed to the boy, just barely catching him as he collapsed in a fit of tears. Snape lifted Draco up and took him to a sofa in the office, sitting with him and hugging him tightly as George explained what had happened.

"We took Draco to wake Harry up, figuring he'd just slept in, but when we got up there, he was a bloody mess. Cuts, bruises, burns all over. I think his arm was broken, as well. He only had his shorts and a shirt on. It looked like someone tried to strangle him; there were bruises that were shaped like fingers around his neck. We turned him over a bit, to see his back, and that was almost completely torn up, but then we, um... There was blood soaking through his shorts. I think...I think he was raped." George swallowed hard, to keep himself from crying. "I told Fred to conjure a stretcher and take Harry up to the hospital wing. He's probably there by now."

"Thank you, George, you've done a commendable job. I'll take over from here. Minerva, Severus, take Draco and George up to the hospital wing. I'll firecall Sirius and Remus and inform them of the situation."

Within a few hours, Harry had been stabilized and was sleeping soundly on a bed in the hospital wing. Draco sat in a chair on one side of the bed, holding one of Harry's hands. Sirius was in a chair on the other side of the bed, holding Harry's other hand, and Remus stood behind Sirius. McGonagall and the twins were no longer in the room, but Dumbledore and Snape were. Snape stood behind his godson, gently squeezing his shoulders as Madam Pomfrey ran down a summary of Harry's health.

"For the most part, his injuries looked worse than they were. The blood made it look like there were a lot more cuts and such, but there really weren't that many. His arm was broken, as were several ribs, and they must be left to heal without magic. The burns are healing as we speak. There will be scarring, but it will hardly be visible. He was strangled, but there was no permanent damage done to anything in his throat. The lacerations on his back have been healed. The bruises and scars will have to be allowed to fade on their own."

"Was he..." Draco swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in his throat as he stroked Harry's cheek. "Was he raped?" Madam Pomfrey sighed softly.

"Technically, he was not raped, meaning that there was no penetration by another person's body. However, his body was penetrated by some kind of foreign object, and we may have a key in finding out who did this to him." She held up a small, clear plastic bag with what looked like a splinter of wood in it. "This seems to be a piece of a wand. It was retracted from Mr. Potter's body. Find someone who has a broken wand, and you'll find a culprit." Draco let out a tiny sob, and Snape gently rubbed his shoulders.

"Were there any curses used, Poppy?" Dumbledore asked. The medi-witch nodded, gravely.

"Cruciatus," she said.

"I assume that there was more than one attacker," Dumbledore said, softly. "If we search the wands of people who may have been involved, one of them will have the Cruciatus Curse on it..." Shaking his head, he silently left the room. Madam Pomfrey went into her office, leaving Snape, Draco, Remus, and Sirius with Harry. Remus leaned over to Sirius and whispered something. Sirius nodded, solemnly, and Remus left. Sirius stood and bent over to kiss Harry's forehead. Then he followed Remus.

"Draco?" Snape said, softly. "Do you need anything?" Draco silently shook his head. "All right. I'll leave you alone with him, then. I'll be back up in a couple of hours." Snape left, and Draco moved to sit next to Harry on the bed, gently caressing his face.

"Whoever did this to you will pay, Harry," Draco said, softly. "I want to kill them for hurting you like this." He paused to wipe his eyes. "I need a sign that you're all right, love. Move your fingers or turn your head or...wake up. Come on, let me see your pretty green eyes. I'll do anything you want me to if you'll just wake up for me."

When he received no response, Draco sat back in the chair. He rested his elbows on his knees and placed his face in his hands, crying silently. After about ten minutes, he heard a weak voice.

"Don't cry for me... I'm not worth it..." Draco picked his head up and looked at Harry, who was awake and watching Draco.

"Merlin, Harry, you're more than worth it," Draco murmured. He leaned over to kiss Harry tenderly. "You really scared me, you know." Harry glanced down at himself, taking in all his injuries. Then he looked back up at Draco and gave him a tired grin.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Harry mumbled, yawning. "I've survived worse."

"Harry, you were...well, not tech-nically, Pomfrey said, but...you were raped, Harry," Draco whispered. Harry stared at Draco, then spoke in a quiet, firm voice.

"I've survived worse." Draco's eyes widened, questioningly, and Harry nodded. The two were silent for a moment.

"Do you remember who it was, or what exactly happened?" Draco wondered, gently. Harry closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"There were...four or five of them..." he mumbled. "From all the houses... I couldn't sleep, so I was sneaking up to the library, and they attacked me. Um...Someone from our year in Slytherin...a girl... Guy from Hufflepuff... A guy from Ravenclaw, I think... Fourth-year girl from Gryffindor... Ugh, my head hurts, I can't remember anymore..."

"Don't worry about it, love," Draco assured him. "I'll tell Dumbledore what you told me. He's trying to think of how we can figure out who did it, and what you told me will help." He changed the subject. "Sirius and Remus were here. I think they'll be back later on, but right now, it's just you and me." Harry gave a weak smile.

"I don't mind that at all," he said. Draco smiled, sadly, as Harry brought Draco's hand to his lips and kissed his fingers.

"This was my fault," Draco whispered, tears falling from his eyes again. "We should have just ignored the rumors and said nothing was going on. If we ignored it, then I wouldn't have almost lost you." Harry reached his hand up to Draco's cheek, and the blond boy turned his head to kiss Harry's palm, then just held on. "I don't ever want to lose you, Harry. I swear to Merlin, if I lose you, I'll kill myself."

"Please don't say that," Harry murmured, frowning. "Please, Draco, don't ever say that again..."

"Harry?" Draco said, softly, after a few moments of silence. "You told me that you were beaten last summer worse than any other time¼ How come there were no bruises or scars or anything? I mean, it's not that I don't believe you. I'm just curious." Harry sighed, then gave a weak smile.

"I never told you before because I don't like people knowing," he said, quietly. "It's another one of those things, one of those gifts, that most people don't have. Like the Parseltongue thing, and all that¼ I have somewhat of a healing touch. If I touch an open wound before it begins to close on its own, I can completely heal it, leaving no evidence that it was there before. About the bruises, I did have them. They were just in places that couldn't be seen."

"Can you show me how you do that healing thing?" Harry nodded.

"Not now, though. I don't think I have enough energy¼" Draco smiled a little.

"I learn something new about you every day," he teased. "Is there anything else you can do?"

"Oh, there's a lot of things I can do that you don't know about," Harry replied, smirking. "I'll let you in on it¼eventually." Draco shook his head, chuckling.

"You're something else, you know that?" Harry didn't reply, but yawned instead. "Go back to sleep, love. Now that I know you're all right, I can go talk to Dumbledore while you rest." Harry nodded and closed his eyes.