Disclaimer: We do not own Harry Potter. If we did, there would have been more than seven books, Ron and Hermione would have kissed, and Harry and Draco would have resolved their sexual tension by being locked in a broom cupboard (a classic).

NOTE: We have decided to stop asking for a certain amount of reviews. Reviews are GREATLY appreciated, but we've decided that no matter how many we get we're going to update after we write the chapters anyways. No use torturing everybody right?

Thank you to all reviewers! You have no idea how much we gush over each and every review we get. They keep us going and motivated. And so, we're going to take the time to answer each and every one of you!

Review replies:

BladeMaxwell-GoddessofDeath- Thanks! If you like the last chapter's cliffy, you'll love this one!

Utterlyconfusedlover-And boy, does it develop in this chapter.

Bybytte- Near future? Sorry, but it's going to be a while before Draco reveals himself. We're having too much fun messing with Harry's head. Thanks for the review!

TomF-DanielR4eva-Thanks! We will ;). We appreciate the review!

Yuki of the Kamikaze-hugs Wait until you see what happens in this chapter! Thanks for the review!

Kemowitch92- When is Draco ever NOT suspicious. But, as you can see in this chapter, he won't have to be for long!

Ladyroo88-I'm glad you found this story! We work really hard on it to make it rock out loud, so we appreciate your appreciation!

Princess of Kamui- You'll see what finally comes of those bruises in this chapter! It won't be what you thought! Remember, we have to keep you on your toes.

Summary in earlier chapters!

Recap: As he turned around he gasped. Potter was laying naked in front of him, blushing in mortification. He felt his body growing aroused in spite of himself. But wait- 'What are those bruises all over his body? Where did those come from?'

Chapter 10:

Harry was breathing heavily. He was unsure of exactly where he was laying. All he knew was that there was no more hot water. From behind him he heard a gasp from Malfoy. Suddenly realizing that Malfoy had to be seeing him stark naked, he rushed to cover himself. Suddenly another thought entered his head. 'The bruises...How am I supposed to explain this?' "It's not what it seems, Malfoy."

Malfoy sputtered incredulously. "Not what it seems? That's all you can come up with Potter?!" Draco was panicking. He was standing in the bathroom with a naked Potter, who was covered in bruises. What made him sick, though, was that he couldn't seem to keep his eyes from wandering, trying to memorize every part of Potter's body that he could see.

"Could you at least get me a towel?" Harry was mortified. Not only was he lying naked on the floor, he was naked and covered in bruises on the floor in front of someone he both loathed and thought about often. Harry started shivering profusely. Water dripped from his hair down his face. Cold droplets of water glistened on his ripped chest. Hurry up Malfoy!" Harry hissed.

Draco saw Potter shivering, and in a rare moment of thoughtfulness, grabbed the towel he had given Potter earlier. That didn't stop him from throwing the towel in Potter's face though. "So are you going to tell me where those bruises came from or should I just assume you 'fell down the stairs'?" he asked his voice dripping with sarcasm. To Draco's mortification, his body was still reacting to the presence of Potter's naked body. His eyes were drawn to the water droplets streaming down Potter's chest. He hoped Potter would hurry up and cover himself up with that towel before Draco embarrassed himself.

Harry quickly wrapped the plush towel around his wet body. "Are you going to stand there or help me up?" Harry asked completely ignoring Malfoy's question. He really did not want Malfoy to know about his home life. He knew Malfoy was secretly taking pleasure in what Harry was going through and he felt no need to add to that by telling his secrets; Secrets that not even Ron or Hermione knew.

Draco knew Potter had intentionally avoided his question. To be honest, he would have been surprised if Potter had acknowledged it. Malfoy just bit his lip and grabbed Potter's hand, awkwardly pulling him up and into his body, making Potter suddenly hyper-aware of the erection Draco was still sporting.

"Dra-…I mean Malfoy?" Harry questioned. He backed away, his face scarlet and full of questions. 'No way!' Harry thought hysterically. "Do you have my clothes?" Harry jumped in before Malfoy could say anything. Harry just wanted to get back to his room and out of this uncomfortable situation.

Malfoy cleared his throat nervously. This was unbelievable. He knew Potter had felt...Draco decided not to dwell on that. If Potter could ignore it, so could he. "I-I'll go get them." With as much Malfoy dignity as he could muster, Draco ran as fast as he could out of the room.

Harry felt along the nearest wall until his knees bumped into a chair near the shower. He sat down and rested his head in the palms of his hands. He couldn't get over the fact that Malfoy had seen the bruises. To him that was worse than Malfoy seeing him bare-naked. It was one of those times where he just wanted to crawl into his bed and stay there until he was so old nobody would remember anything about him.

In the next room, Malfoy was deep in thought. He couldn't believe the bruises Potter sported were accidental. There were hand-shaped prints all across his body, like someone had slapped him as 

hard as they could on a regular basis. He had two of those marks around his neck, as if someone had tried to strangle him. What disturbed Malfoy the most though, was that these marks looked recent, like they had just happened. Malfoy knew there were spells that, if left on too long, could cause injuries to stop healing. But why would Potter want to conceal his bruises? Who was he hiding from? Malfoy was itching with curiosity.

Malfoy shook his head to clear the thoughts of Potter and his bruises. Grabbing clothes for Potter, he walked back into the shower room and saw Potter appearing to be deep in thought sitting on a chair near the shower.

Draco knew Potter would not want to talk about his injuries with him, so he silently handed over the clothes and stood to wait so that he could escort Potter back to his bedroom. He turned away to avoid the temptation of watching his enemy dress.

Harry pulled on the sweat pants and t-shirt that Malfoy had brought him. "Ready..." Harry called to Malfoy putting out his arm.

With more gentleness than he had previously displayed, Malfoy gingerly grabbed hold of Potter's arm, and placed it on his shoulder. Still silent, Malfoy made the short walk to Harry's room. When Malfoy had gotten Potter acquainted with the layout of his room, and Potter was seated on the bed, he held out a bell. "Dumbledore told me to give this to you. You are supposed to ring it if you need anything. The noise it makes will be silent to anyone but me. I will say this once, Potter. Ring this bell only if you need me. If I come running and you are playing a practical joke, you. will. pay."

"Yeah yeah Malfoy; like I want you to be near me anymore than normal. I am going to take a nap now..." Harry pulled off the t-shirt he was wearing and moved around the bed trying to find the top of the covers to get underneath.

Malfoy sneered. His embarrassment was wearing off. "You would have better success with that if you tried the other end of the bed." Malfoy took hold of the sheets at the opposite end of the bed Potter was rifling around on, and expertly turned them down. "See you around, Potter." he said as he gracefully fled the room.

Harry muttered the words "Bite me" under his breath as Malfoy was fleeing the room. He leaned back against the extremely comfortable bed and fell into a restless nightmare filled sleep.

Ron and Hermione sat almost numb in their transfiguration class. It was hard to pay attention. They were anxious to visit Harry in his new rooms. They had decided it would be a nice surprise for him. Hermione had gone out and bought Harry a bunch of sweets, though she didn't like getting or eating them, so that he would be cheered up some.

Ron sprang up the second Professor McGonagall dismissed the class. "Come on, Hermione. I want to make sure Malfoy hasn't killed Harry yet." Ron stood impatiently while Hermione packed her bag.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't think Malfoy would really..." She paused for a second before nodding in agreement. "I agree let's hurry up. We really don't know what Malfoy is capable of..."

Five minutes later, Hermione was panting outside of Harry's rooms. Ron had grabbed hold of her hand and sprinted the whole way there. "Was that really necessary, Ronald? Would five more minutes make a difference between whether Harry lived or died? Honestly."

Ron wasn't listening. He was currently banging on the door, much to the protest of the portrait guarding it, demanding to be let in. "Let me in you bloody ponce! What have you done with Harry?!"

The portrait swung open after much pounding from Ron. "Next time just ask..." grumbled the portrait. Through the portrait hole Hermione could see the glimmer of a fire in the fireplace. Walking through the entryway into the commons she looked around the room at the many doors.

"Which one do you think Harry is in?" Hermione wondered aloud.

Ron shrugged. "I suppose it'd be best to just try one and hope it isn't the room where Malfoy is stashing his collection of dark torture devices." Hermione rolled her eyes, but nevertheless reached for the first door she saw.

Walking to a door, Hermione slowly pushed it open. Inside it was the bathroom. She closed that door and opened the next one to find Harry sprawled across the bed shirtless and sound asleep. He was shaking and moving around on the bed appearing to be in the throes of a horrible nightmare. She could hear him muttering "Stop...I swear I didn't do it. I swear it!"

Hermione's heart went out to Harry. Sure, her friend had horrible nightmares usually, but he got a reprieve when he woke up and saw that it was just a dream. Now that Harry was blind, she couldn't imagine the uncertainty he awoke with. Was it all a dream? Or was his nightmare real? Hermione's eyes started to brim with tears. She glanced over at Ron, and by the grim look on his face, it seemed as if he was thinking along the same lines.

Ron was unsure of whether or not to wake his friend. You weren't supposed to wake a person who was in the throes of a nightmare. Ron could see that the nightmare was getting worse though so he raced over to the bed and slowly shook Harry awake. "Harry! Mate, wake up!" Ron could see Hermione wiping away a single tear.

"No!" Harry unexpectedly shot up in bed, startled out of his nightmare by Ron's gentle shaking. His forehead came into contact with Ron's, and he shrunk back, unaware of who was looming over him.

"Harry it's just me. It's Ron. Relax, it was just a nightmare." Ron, discreetly rubbing his head where it had clashed with Harry's, fell back into what he liked to call his 'Harry nightmare voice', the voice he used when he was awoken in the middle of the night by his friend's screams. In a strange and guilty way, Ron liked Harry's nightmares, because this was something he could always help his friend overcome. He prided himself in being the only one who was able to completely bring Harry down from his panicked state. None of the other boys in the dormitory could do it, but not from a lack of trying. 

"Come on mate, it was just a nightmare. You're alright." Harry lay there disoriented for a few minutes, listening to the sound of Ron's soothing voice. Slowly he came down from his panicked state, and just lay there, relieved that whatever he had dreamt was just that- a dream. Hermione stood there observing her boyfriend interact with her best friend. She swelled with joy at how sensitive Ron could be. It was seldom Ron showed this side of himself to anyone.

Hermione walked over to Harry. "Are you alright now?" She rested her hand atop Harry's and gently kissed his forehead. "We were worried about you. We were worried that prat Malfoy had done something to you. What has been going on since you have been out of the hospital wing?" Hermione sat on the edge of his bed her hand still resting atop Harry's. Ron sat on the other edge of the bed.

Harry shrugged, already over his nightmare. He was used to them. "He hasn't been too bad. Since that first day he hasn't knocked me into any walls or obstacles of any sort. He, um, fixed me a shower and handed me a towel when I was done. Don't look at me like that Ron! I needed to take a bloody shower!" Harry shot his friend a dirty look. Ron still looked disgusted. "Other than that, he's left me pretty much alone. I'm still drowsy from the potion Madame Pomfrey gave me so I've been in here sleeping since he left this morning for classes." Harry decided not to mention the bell Malfoy had given him because he decided that Ron would probably use its power for nefarious purposes.

Hermione smiled. "Well, we brought you something!" She grabbed the bag of sweets from the spot where it was resting at her feet. "Here are some sweets from Hogsmeade. I had Hedwig get the delivery for you."

Harry's face lit up. "Thanks, Hermione." This got a shouted "Hey! She said 'we'!" from Ron. Harry chuckled. If he was correct, the only thing Ron had helped Hermione do was open the packages. His theory was proven correct when he reached into the sack and found that all of his chocolate frogs had been raided for cards. At least Ron had the courtesy to put a stasis charm on the frogs so that they would stay spunky. Just then, a frog leapt out of the bag towards Hermione's face, only to be intercepted by Harry's hand. It seemed as if his seeker instincts were not void just because he had gone blind.

"Nice mate!" shouted Ron patting Harry on the back. "Nice reflexes." Ron opened the container of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and dumped out a handful.

"Has McGonagall or Dumbledore mentioned to you guys when I can go back to classes?" Harry suddenly got a worried look on his face. "Will they make me leave if my vision doesn't come back?"

It was a rhetorical question but Hermione answered none-the-less. "Harry, they would never make you leave because of your blindness. Do you really think Dumbledore would do something like that to you?"

Harry looked mostly reassured but still held a trace of worry on his face. "No, I guess not."

Ron abruptly changed the subject as another question came to mind. "So when is the slimy git expected back?" Harry was about to answer that he didn't know, when a voice resounded from the doorway.

"I hope you weren't talking about me, Weasel." Malfoy sneered. It figured that he would come back to his rooms to not only have to deal with the blind boy wonder, but his freaky friends as well.

Ron rolled his eyes. "You know something Malfoy...that name you call me...Weasel. It really gets old after awhile." Ron's face was red with anger. He held Hermione's hand hoping that by doing so she would keep him from jumping up and pummeling the stupid git to death.

"Well I'm sorry to hurt your delicate sensibilities, Weasel," Malfoy intentionally drew out the name "but it's hard to find another name quite so fitting as that one." This was too easy he thought.

"Malfoy, knock it off." Harry said softly. "My head is pounding and I will have to go back to the hospital wing later tonight for another round of treatment on my eyes. I do not want to add curing my migraine caused by your grating voice to the list of things done to me tonight. So enough already!" Harry shouted out the last bit almost shrilly.

To Ron and Hermione's shock, Malfoy only replied with a light sneer. Then he turned around and left without a word. They looked back at Harry and found him sitting cross-legged, resting his head in his hands and lightly massaging his temples. Giving a silent look to each other, Hermione and Ron agreed. Harry needed more rest and he wasn't going to get it with them here. "You're looking awfully pale, mate," said Ron. "I think we're going to shove off and let you take another nap."

"Yes, Harry." added Hermione. "We need to get started on our Transfiguration assignments anyways." Ron grimaced. He could tell from his girlfriend's tone that she was serious.

Ron grabbed Hermione's bag from the door and led the way from the rooms. 'Damn Transfiguration homework' thought Ron as the left.

Harry was yet again in the hospital wing with about twenty potions pumping through his system all geared towards making his eyes feel better. It seemed as if they were working because currently Harry was lying back in bed, his eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling. 'Damn Madame Pomfrey and her stupid sleeping potions.' he thought. 'I feel like I could stay awake for days and not get tired at all. Well, I guess this is giving me time to think, at least.' Indeed, Harry was thinking about a certain someone. He was wondering if James was going to come visit him tonight.

Draco walked slowly into the hospital wing, doing a quick search for Madame Pomfrey or anyone else that could blow his cover. Seeing that the coast was clear, he headed over to Harry's bed and sat down. "A penny for your thoughts? Draco said with a rare smile. He had now slipped into his "James" persona.



Still staring at the ceiling, a bright smile lit up Harry's face. 'He came back' he thought. Aloud he responded, "I think my thoughts are worth more than a penny." Thinking more on what he'd said, Harry turned his face towards where James was and added "How do you even know what a 'penny' is?"

"Come on. Everyone knows American coins, right?" James asked Harry questioningly. "I seem to be a bit of a nerd." He laughed a little bit. "Really though, you had that sad look about you." Maybe by using the 'James' persona Draco could possibly get out of Harry what those bruises were really about.

"Hmm." Harry responded vaguely, his head turning back to the ceiling, smile having disappeared. After a long moment, he asked "Do you have nightmares, James?"

"All of the time. More now than I have in a long time actually…" James sighed deeply. "Why do you ask?"

Harry huffed, deciding to answer that question with another one of his. "Do you dream of real things that have happened to you, things that do happen to you?" His head turned towards James again, making it seem as if his eyes were looking straight into Draco's soul. Harry's face was etched in sadness and a deep, ingrown resignation that he was alone, separated from everyone by not the prophecy, but this one truth that had come into being before he had even discovered Hogwarts.

Draco was transfixed. He was frozen with the weight of Harry's gaze on him. The varying emotions on Harry's face looked exactly what he saw when he looked into the mirror. Draco was torn. Every Malfoy bone in his body was protesting against his thoughts, telling him to pull away, to lash out at this boy before him. A Malfoy was never to show weakness. Harry was looking at him with those eyes though, those eyes that saw nothing and yet said so much. They said that he was not alone.

Sensing James' hesitation to answer, Harry sighed. "James, I'm aware that we haven't known each other for very long. This is the second time I've talked to you. Hell, I haven't even seen what you look like. But if there is any chance that you could understand why I fear to go asleep every night, I want to hear it. I need to know that I am not alone." Harry's eyes begged for James to take a chance and just give in to weakness. "Please, James. I need to know." he whispered.

"I dream of what I have gone through with my father..." Draco said only that. He was unsure of what else to say. Was he supposed to just tell Harry how his father beat him constantly to "prepare" him to serve the Dark Lord? "My father 'trains' me for my life after Hogwarts..." He added softly.

Harry closed his eyes in bitter relief. He felt like he was going to cry. James trusted him enough to confide in him about this. "My uncle. H-he beats me. He's always beat me. Just this past year though, it's" his voice broke "it's changed somehow. I don't really know why. I feel like he was more…He's angrier than he used to be." Harry's body sank into the mattress, his eyes still closed. He felt as if a weight had been lifted. "Thank you, James." he whispered.

Draco's jaw dropped. "W…What?" He was shocked. He never thought that Harry could be going through something similar to him.

Harry laughed, making the noise but not really meaning it. "I guess we really are alike aren't we?" Suddenly Harry sat up, an idea striking him. "Let me see you!"

"See me?" 'James' asked questioningly. "How would you be able to see me?" Draco's voice quivered. Could Harry really see him? What was he talking about?

Harry was excited with this new idea. "I heard about blind people being able to see. I won't see you with my eyes; I'll see you with my hands." Harry slowly raised his hand, leaving it hovering uncertainly in midair. "Please? I want a face to go with you."

"O...ok..." Draco gripped the chair in fear. He couldn't say no. If he did Harry would wonder why and at this particular moment he had no answer. He prayed that Harry would not realize who it was. Harry couldn't really know what his face was like. Nobody could tell who someone was just by touching.

Harry cautiously continued the travel of his hand. He jumped a little when his fingers came in contact with flesh. "Is this you?" he asked softly.

Draco nodded slowly. "Yes..." He lifted his hand and placed it over Harry's moving hand. He kept his hand on Harry's as it traveled over his forehead and eyes. As Harry's finger tips traveled over his nose and cheeks towards his lips he involuntary shivered a feeling of lust shooting its way towards his groin.

Harry was running his fingers over James' face, memorizing every curve and imperfection. He was seeing with his fingers what was invisible to the eye. James had a small scar above his right eyebrow, probably remnants from dragon pox. Running his fingers gently over James' eyes, he felt them flutter closed, and trailing down his nose, he could feel that, what was probably a perfectly straight nose to the eyes actually had a small bump as if it was broken once and not healed fast enough. Continuing down, Harry felt a pair of lips. James' lips were separated slightly, having gotten lost in the intimate gestures of Harry's roaming fingers. Gently, Harry traced his thumb underneath James' bottom lip. Harry felt James' breathe hitch. His thumb left James' lip, and Harry laid his hand flat against the boy's cheek, slowly trailing it up and around his ear and continuing boldly up into his hairline, exploring James' soft hair.

Draco sighed as he felt Harry's fingers sliding through his hair. He leaned in without thinking and pressed his lips passionately against Harry's.

A/N: Now how is that for a cliffhanger? We hope to have chapter 11 done within the next few days! So please do a us a favor and review. Also if anyone wants to throw an idea our way go right ahead. We would love to hear any opinions or ideas that you may have. Thank you to everyone who has been reading our story! We really appreciate all of you! –MyAngelofDarkness1/Lilsteves