Wow. I am on a role with these updates.

But I don't think I'm going to carry on posting this regularly - It is, after all, October soon. I want to spend this month trying to animate more often to a couple of creepier songs in celebration of Halloween! (My Youtube is Skia Wolf so be sure to check them out ^o^)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter ~


Concealed Torture

Chapter Eleven – Confessions


"Well, to be honest... I don't really know where I should start," Draco laughed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"What sort of thing do you want to tell me?" Harry asked. Draco was silent for a couple of moments. What did he want to say?

One thing that had been on his mind was to confess. He was planning on at least trying to that previous day – but, of course, he wasn't able to. Being locked in the Malfoy Dungeons prevents that, naturally. But that wasn't all that he wanted to tell Harry. He just wanted to spill his heart out. He wanted to tell him things in his life that he had never told a living soul – not even Pansy.

"I just feel as though I'd be able to get over what has happened in my life if I... Well, talk about it more than I have," Draco started. "I just want to tell someone some things that have happened to me and how I've felt, not just the things that I had to confess to Kingsley."

"If it makes you feel any better, then of course I will listen," Harry said with a reassuring smile.

"Thank you; I just don't really know how I can start..."

"Well, how about I start for you?" he asked, and Draco nodded. "...If you don't mind me asking, why did Lucius first hit you when you were three? Bloody hell, that sounded so much better in my head, I'm so sorry."

Draco just simply smiled to show that it was fine before he answered.

"Don't worry about it; that's exactly what I wanted to talk about anyway. Well, I can remember it clearly. I had gone ahead of my fath-" he stopped, shaking his head. "No, I had gone ahead of Lucius, and I had bumped into Ron. He doesn't remember it, I don't think. We were both fairly young, after all. Anyway, I was speaking to him for a minute, and I had thought that I had finally found someone who I could have as my best friend. But then both of our parents came along. Lucius told me not to speak to them ever again, in his usual manner, and Mrs Weasley said to Ron that he needs to stay away from the Malfoys as they are bad people. I don't actually blame her for that, with how Lucius has always treated the Weasleys, especially her husband. He pulled me around the corner and slapped me hard across my face. I didn't understand why he did that. My mother was so shocked, and I still remember her expression. I will always hate him for that day – not just because he hurt me, but because he hurt her," he said, anger flickering in his grey eyes. Harry gently placed a hand on Draco's arm in comfort. Draco flinched slightly, it was barely even noticeable, but it still angered Harry even further. No person should automatically flinch when someone touches them, especially if their own father was the cause of it.

"I can't believe how he is, Draco. I seriously don't understand him at all."

"Neither do I, Harry. I never have, and probably never will," Draco replied sadly.

"Do you want to stop talking about this?" Harry asked. Draco shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. It won't make me any stronger if I always avoided talking about it. The only way I can get over the past and look into the future is if I talk about it," he said. Harry nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"After that day, I was scared of him hitting me again, and the thought of angering him again absolutely terrified me. About a week later, I started to cry when he shouted at me for something – I can't remember what. He slapped me again and told me not to be such a baby, and such behaviour was simply not acceptable for a Malfoy. After that, he didn't hit me very much, only once a week or so when he was angry. But that changed on my fifth birthday. I had accidentally dropped a beautiful ornament of a dragon that Pansy had given to me, whose family I met on my fourth birthday and had attended my party on this one. Well, I say party, but it was more of a chance for Lucius to show off that his only son was growing up. Anyway, I had dropped it after all of the guests had left, and I had to take all of my presents from them upstairs. He was furious that I broke such an expensive gift, and out of fury, hit me at the side of my head, using his cane for the first time. It cut me deeply right behind my ear and onto my neck, which left my first ever scar," he said, and moved several strands of platinum blonde hair away from his ear, which revealed a long, faded scar.

"I don't know how someone could do that to you. I seriously can't," Harry said softly, looking at the mark of a criminal.

"None of us can. He had walked out of the room after that, I don't know where he went. Mother had been upstairs and when she came downstairs, she heard me crying. She ran over to me and almost started crying too when she saw the cut, and asked me what happened. I said that I had broken the ornament, and he wasn't happy. She repaired it with her wand, and quickly got a piece of cloth and started to wipe away the blood. I was feeling a bit faint after it, so she picked me up and carried me upstairs. But after that, Lucius seemed to have got some sort of like for the hitting. He would do it more often from then on, and much harder, than he used too, as well. It would be for anything – something I said, a look, sometimes it seemed like nothing at all. When I was ten, one time while they were both gone, I spent the hours reading a book – mother had always encouraged me to read – about a family. It was a happy book, and I didn't understand exactly why the father in it acted like he did. There was no hitting, no shouting, nothing like that at all. I didn't understand why there wasn't anything like that. It was just love and affection. I didn't remember Lucius ever giving me a hug, or anything that the father in the book did. So, when they had returned, I made the terrible mistake of asking them why the father in the book was like how he was, and Lucius wasn't. He was furious. He started yelling at me that he had told me he was just like any other father, and did I not have any respect for him? That's when I received my first ever Crucio as a punishment. It was only for a few seconds, before mother got him to stop. He's done it for longer... Much longer," he said, shuddering at the memory of whole minutes of being held under curse during his capture.

"My God, Draco. That man has seriously got something wrong with him," Harry said.

"Yes, I think it actually does. And I'm being very serious," Draco replied.

"Anyway, you can carry on, if you want to."

Draco nodded, and continued.

"I had never felt something as painful as that in my life. It was cruel, for a child to be held in that much pain, even if it was only for a few seconds. After that, he left the room like he normally does, and mother brought me upstairs to my room. She hugged and kissed me, before going back downstairs, probably to try and calm Lucius down somehow. After she left, I buried my head in my pillow, and just cried. I knew from that day on that I didn't have a normal father. I knew that he had lied to me for years, about him being a good father. I was no longer proud of my name – in fact, I despised it. Soon enough, it was the start of first year. I decided that first morning that I was just going to wear a mask, and make people believe I was proud of my name and loved my father. I, of course, also had to learn a concealing charm early. And then... Well, I don't know how to say this next part..." he said, laughing awkwardly.

"Why, what is it?"

"Well, you remember that day, right back then in Madam Malkins'?"

"Of course I remember it. You were expressing your love of your wealth and how you were going to be in Slytherin, like all Malfoys were."

"Well, I was like that because I had been raised to greet myself that way, as Lucius said the most important thing about me was my last name. I also was trying to impress you because... Well, I kind of had a bit of an immediate crush on you," he said, looking down at his hands, blushing slightly.

"Wow, I really have been irresistible since the age of eleven. It's lovely to know," Harry chuckled. Draco laughed and continued.

"Anyway, so I did try to impress you, I will admit... Though that failed epically. I also failed epically trying to make you my friend, but I did understand why you rejected my friendship. I tried to just shrug it off and forget about it, but I couldn't but like you. I guess it was young love and all that, right? So I decided, because I am a Malfoy and you rejected my friendship, no one would notice if I acted like I hated you. So that's what I did. That way, I believed that while I was preventing suspicions going on at home, I could try and forget any feelings that I had for you."

"If anyone had told me this just at the beginning of the year, I would have believed that they were completely mad," said Harry, chuckling again. Draco smiled.

"Yes, of course. But it didn't work, naturally. So, that's why when I overheard Lucius talking to my mother about how he was going to help Voldemort return through that diary back in second year, I knew I had to do something, anything. I couldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt, so with no one else to turn to for help, I talked to Dobby. He was always a good friend of mine, and was a good companion for me the days I felt lonely. He already knew about you; I will admit that I used to talk about you to him. I told him that he should warn you not to go back to school that year. The thought of you not being there devastated me, but the thought of you getting hurt or possibly even dying got to me more."

"That's... Well, I never would have thought that's how Dobby knew about me."

"I don't blame you. I got furious with him though, when he confessed to me that he was the one who had jinxed that bludger in that Quidditch match. I remember him saying to me 'Dobby is most aggrieved, sir. Dobby had to iron his hands'. I couldn't stay mad at the poor elf, bless him. So a couple of hours later, after I was released from the hospital wing myself, I walked there with him, and whispered to him that if he apologised to you and warned you again I would forgive him."

"He said the same thing to me," said Harry. "He felt ever so guilty."

"He has always felt guilty whenever I have gotten mad at him. Anyway, in the next couple of years, I still felt an attraction towards you. In all honesty, it scared me. If Lucius had ever known that I was actually... Gay, well, I don't even want to think about that. Anyway, when we were in fifth year, I started forgetting about my feelings. I guess it was mainly because of fear – Lucius had hit me for defending you, never mind how bad he would have been if he discovered I had a crush on you. By sixth year, I had completely ignored any attraction, because of... Well, you know."

"Draco, why are you telling me this? Please don't take this the wrong way, but I just thought that you wanted to talk to me about your dad."

"Well, that... That wasn't the only thing I wanted to talk about," Draco said, a slight blush returning to his cheeks.

"Oh, I see."

"Well... I..."

"Yes?"

"I... Oh, for the sake of Salazar. IreallylikeyouandIjustwantedtotellyoubecauseIwasgoingtotellyouyesterdaybutdidn'tgetthechance," Draco blurted, his blush deepening. "There, I said it."

"Um... Said what? Sorry, I didn't get a word of that."

Draco groaned and put his head in his hands.

"I really like you and I just wanted to tell you because I was going to tell you yesterday but didn't get the chance. There you go."

He didn't raise his head from his hands even when Harry spoke again.

"Draco, look at me."

"I understand if you hate me now as I don't even know if you are bisexual and I'm really sorry if I've made you uncomfortable and-"

He stopped when he felt Harry's hands cup his cheeks. He stayed silent when Harry lifted his head away from his arms, and his eyes widened when Harry placed his lips on Draco's. After a couple of seconds of him being frozen in shock, he closed his eyes and melted into the kiss. His heart filled up with an emotion and warmth that he had never felt before... Could it be love?

"AH! I knew that he liked you back! I told you!"

They immediately broke apart at the sound of Pansy squealing. They looked over at her, Blaise, Ron, Hermione and Madam Pomfrey standing in the doorway, staring at them. Pansy looked extremely excited, Blaise seemed like he wasn't entirely surprised, just like Hermione, though Ron seemed like he was not too sure what to make of the situation.

"So that's why you wanted us to get out of here last night," Blaise said to Pansy, grinning.

"Indeed it is. Oh Dray, I'm so proud of you!" Pansy cried, and ran over to him to hug him – softly, of course. He laughed and hugged her back with one arm, his other hand in Harry's.

"So," said Ron, looking down at their intertwined hands. "Are you both, um, together now, then...?"

"Well, if that's alright with you, Draco..." said Harry, smiling at him. "...Then yes."

Draco beamed at him and nodded happily, returning the smile.

"Oh my gosh, that is so fucking adorable! You've liked him for so long, and now you are together!"

"Miss Parkinson, please stop squealing in that horrid voice about who are now 'together'," Snape said, walking into the room with Lupin and McGonagall.

"We can't stay for very long because we only have five minutes until..." Lupin started, but stopped when he got closer to the bed. He looked at the pair holding hands, and how Draco was resting his head on Harry's shoulder. He grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something that you haven't told us yet, boys?" he asked with a wink.

"This only just happened, Remus," said Harry, laughing when he saw that Draco was blushing. "You haven't missed anything."

"Oh Salazar, that's who are now together..." Snape sighed. "I should have seen that one coming."

"You really should have," Lupin smirked.

"Well, I wish you all the best," McGonagall chuckled. "We better get to first lesson – we're going to be late."

"I guess that you could be a good influence on him, Draco," said Snape as he turned around to leave the room.

"Well, it would be a bit hypocritical not to accept them, don't you think, Severus?" Lupin smirked as he followed the other professors out of the room.

"Oh, shut up."

The students stared at them walking away, before looking back at each other.

"You don't think that they...?" Hermione started, but shook her head. "Alright, I just want to say that I am, obviously, completely fine with the two of you being together. I mean, you both have been very close, and we know Draco isn't like we thought he was all along. You two are very good for each other. Oh, and don't think that you both got out of doing work. Here is all of it for first and second lesson. Enjoy."

"I am fine with it, too. As long as you're both happy, I'm fine," Ron added, grabbing onto his girlfriend's hand as they made it out of the infirmary. Pansy simply squealed in joy and hugged them both.

"I am so not fine with it."

He laughed as he saw the expressions on the three of their faces, and shielded himself with his hands from an incoming Pansy trying to hit him.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I obviously don't mind, at all. I kind of guessed when Pansy seemed happy about leaving you both here last night."

They their goodbyes and walked out of the room hand in hand. Draco sighed in relief and rested his head back on his boyfriend's shoulder.

"I am so glad that they are happy with it," he said.

"I knew they would be," Harry replied, smiling.

"I hate to break this up, but I need you to take some potions and I need to apply some to that burn."

"Wait, burn?" said Harry, looking up at Pomfrey. "What burn?"

"Well, Lucius burnt my back with Incendio..." Draco mumbled.

"He did?" said Harry, looking furious. "I swear, I am going to-"

"It's alright, Harry. I'm fine," Draco smiled, squeezing his hand. He took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Okay, you will have to keep still while I apply this. The quicker it's done, the better. Could you lift up your shirt for me, please?"

Draco did as he was told and lifted up his shirt. Harry winced at the sight of his boyfriend's back. The bruises and cuts were healing very quickly and had faded dramatically, and even though it was clear that the burn had healed a little, it was a lot more visible than the other injuries. It was also quite large; it spread from his shoulder blades down to his lower back.

"Brace yourself; this will sting as it is fairly strong," Pomfrey warned him before she poured a little of the potion onto the burn. Draco hissed in pain, but he stayed still while she rubbed it into the skin. Only a few seconds later, the stinging had already reduced to merely a slight tingling sensation.

"There we are, all done. That should be healed within the next few days. Drink this as well; it will help it to heal faster," she said as she handed him a potion. He downed it in one gulp, shuddering at the vile taste.

"Thank you. Is there any chance we could maybe have some breakfast and something to drink? I actually haven't had anything since the other night..."

"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry! With of the healing I've been doing, I never stopped to think about that!" she gasped, but Draco just chuckled.

"Well, he didn't exactly greet me with 'Good morning, Draco! Would you perhaps like a cup of tea and maybe a croissant to go with your kidnapping, or are you fine?"

Pomfrey smiled in amusement and hurried off to get him and Harry some breakfast.

"God, Draco, you must be parched by now!" Harry exclaimed.

"I am, now that it's been mentioned. Potions just don't really do anything for you."

Pomfrey returned to the room a few minutes later, carrying a tray of food and drinks.

"Here you are, boys. I wasn't too sure on what you wanted, so I just got a range of things for you."

"Thank you very much, madam," said Harry.

"Yes, thank you. It looks great," Draco added.

"It's no problem at all. I am going to head back to my office, so call me if you need anything," she said. They both nodded at her, and once she had left, Draco happily picked up a glass of orange juice, and took a deep gulp of the refreshing drink. They tucked into the food, with Draco naturally eating more. After they had finished, Harry sighed and picked up his Transfiguration book that Hermione had gave to him.

"We better get started with this, now. But hey, we're looking further into Animagi! I don't know if we'd be able to have our own forms, but hopefully there's a chance we could."

"Yes, maybe," said Draco, smiling to himself. He decided to keep his own Animagus form as a secret for the time being. He wanted to tell everyone in a much more surprising and perhaps grand way. This is Draco Malfoy, after all. But, once he thought about it, he realised that the name no longer meant anything to him.


Aw, a bit of a nicer chapter, for once, with no cliffhanger. How lovely of me.

Please review telling me your thoughts, especially if you haven't already! I haven't been getting that many for the last couple of chapters and I really would appreciate it as it shows me that you appreciate my efforts to keep updating and such.

Thanks for reading!