Kyla: All right, this is kinda just a bridge chapter I s'pose, but next chapter should have Harry and Severus in a counseling session. Oh, and I wasn't too sure about the scene between Albus and Severus... I hope that it doesn't suck too badly, lol. Anyways, read on, and don't forget to review! I'm not feeling all that well, so that might be why this chapter's so... blah... I hope this feeling is gone soon... I hate this feeling... stupid sinuses... lol. xP

"Hush, Potter"
Chapter Twelve
by
Kyla

That evening, after classes, Draco managed to slip away from his fellow Slytherins with the excuse that he had something he had to do. He wandered the castle, looking for Harry actually. The blond wanted to apologize for what Pansy had done, she had no right to do that. The only problem was Harry was not out in any of the corridors. Sighing, Draco walked around restlessly, on the verge of giving up and returning to the dungeons.

Then, he saw Harry himself coming out from behind a portrait close to the Hospital Wing. Hermione and Ron were, of course, with him, but Draco decided to brave the two extra Gryffindors. He would merely need to ask Harry for a private word. So, he squared his shoulders and hurried forward, calling out, "Potter! Wait up!"

Harry glanced back curiously, and when he saw Draco, he slowed obediently and waited while the blond caught up to them. Harry's friends didn't seem to happy to see Draco there at the moment, and that made Harry worry. He didn't want them to start fighting. "Yeah, Malfoy?" he asked calmly when Draco caught up with them.

"May I have a word?" Draco asked somewhat anxiously, nodding his head to the side. There was an empty classroom there where they could talk privately.

"Why would he want to talk to you?" Ron snapped, "Sod off, Malfoy." He scowled at the blond and stepped forward bravely, like he was trying to protect Harry.

"I'm not going to hurt the precious Boy Wonder, Weasel," Draco drawled, "I merely have something I want to tell him." He then ignored Ron in favor of looking at Harry, "So, what do you say, Potter?"

"Harry, you shouldn't," Hermione whispered anxiously to him, her eyes fixed on Draco suspiciously. She did not trust him at all.

Harry looked from Ron and Hermione to Draco, as if he was thinking about his answer carefully. "Sure," he answered, nodding to Draco.

"What?!" Ron exclaimed in outrage. He and Hermione looked at Harry like he was completely out of his mind.

"You.. can't be serious, Harry," Hermione said uncertainly. Her gaze flickered to Draco's for only a moment, but Draco took notice and scowled at her. "I really don't think you should... Come on, let's go." She attempted to pull Harry's arm and drag him away.

Harry scowled and pulled his arm out of the girl's grip. "Hermione, I'm not a kid, do not treat me like one," he stated as calmly as he could, "it'll only take a couple of minutes... You and Ron can even wait here if you want," he offered, trying to find some common ground.

Hermione and Ron looked about to protest, but Harry sent them a look that assured them that he would be fine. "Just wait here for me," he told them, smiling reassuringly at them before nodding to Draco and walking off to the empty classroom that the blond had indicated to. "All right, so what is it that you want, Malfoy?" he asked the Slytherin once the two were in the empty classroom.

Draco cast an unsure look around the room, as if afraid some of his fellow Slytherins would find him here and talking with the Boy-Who-Lived. If his fellow Slytherins found him here acting all buddy buddy with Harry Potter, of all people, then he would be in some deep trouble. "Fine," he sighed finally, "look, Potter, I just wanted to say... I'm sorry for what Pansy did. I tried to discourage her as much as I could, but she wasn't listening... Are you.. okay?" he asked uncertainly, "I mean, you ran out of the Great Hall so fast..." The Gryffindor's gaze seemed to look through him, making him very much uncomfortable. He did not like the silence at all; he wished Harry would say something, anything.

It was easy to tell that Harry was surprised that Draco had come to talk to him. Harry did not think that anything much had changed between the two of them over their little chat in the Hospital Wing, but here stood Draco, a Slytherin, in front of Harry and being a friend to him. "Um," Harry replied awkwardly, "I'm.. I'm fine, I suppose... I wish that no one had found out about it though..."

"I'm sure that you did not want it to become public knowledge, Potter," Draco spoke carefully, choosing his words wisely before speaking them, "but it is probably for the best that everyone knows about everything now." He waited on Harry's rage to make an appearance, and he did not have to wait long.

"Why?" Harry snapped, eyes narrowing dangerously as anger began to build inside of him, "Why is that a good thing, Malfoy? I'm tired of being the center of attention! I don't want everyone to look at me! Now that they know, everyone has another reason to stare at me and whisper behind my back! Do you know what that's like?!" he exclaimed and advanced on Draco, grabbing and fisting the front of the blond's robes in his hands.

Draco had took a small step back in an attempt to get away from Harry, but the Gryffindor had been quicker, effectively grabbing hold of Draco's robes so the Slytherin could not get away. He flinched when Harry pulled him closer to get more into his face, his death glare threatening Draco with even more of his rage. "P-Potter," he croaked fearfully and tried to get away, "ca-calm down, Potter!"

"Do you know what it's like?" Harry asked angrily and slammed Draco's back into the wall that stood about a foot behind them. The blond was now pinned against the wall, completely at Harry's mercy. "Do you?! How does everyone knowing I was raped be a good thing?! How in the world could it possibly be for the best?!"

Draco took a deep breath to stop his body from shaking. He had to calm down and think clearly, it would not do to let fear take control now. "Potter, I just meant that now you won't have to worry about anyone setting you back! You won't have to worry about freaking out in between classes because someone didn't know and decided to grab your shoulder or something," he replied as calmly as he could, gray eyes watching the boy before him carefully.

Harry's glare only got worse, and for a moment, he did not speak. He merely stood there, breathing hard, face flushed red in his rage. When Draco asked Harry if the Gryffindor was going to hex him, the Gryffindor grimaced and took a step back, roughly pushing Draco away from him. He sighed and walked over to the door, pausing once his hand was on the doorknob. "Malfoy," he muttered and threw Draco an apologetic look over his shoulder, and once he was sure Draco was looking at him, he said, "I'm sorry... I lost control... I understand what you're saying though... kind of, and.. thanks..."

Draco pushed himself to his feet, and just as Harry opened the door and stepped out, the blond replied, "No problem, Potter..." He watched Harry leave and didn't move until he heard Harry and his two best friends' voices in the corridor. Then he sighed and mumbled, "Jeez, Potter, what a temper..."

Meanwhile, Harry had rejoined Ron and Hermione outside, just a few feet down the corridor. He waved away their concern. The two had heard raised voices in the room and were afraid that Draco had done something, but Harry told them it was nothing to worry about. The only thing he would say on the issue was that it was stupid. He knew he had overreacted, but sometimes, he just couldn't control his anger. Finally, the boy managed to quell his friends' questions, and he bid them farewell when they came upon his new private quarters. Ron and Hermione continued on to their next class, promising to rejoin Harry once classes were done for the day.

So, Harry entered into his quarters and grimaced upon noticing the piles of assignments that his professors had sent him. Sighing, he decided he would start work on that in order to help pass the time, since he could not go to classes like Ron or Hermione or Draco.

He thought of the blond Slytherin and admitted to himself that he was glad he and Draco were getting along, it was nice not having to worry about fighting with him in the corridors. So, he sat in his room and worked on his missed assignments while Hermione, Ron, and his new friend Draco were sitting dutifully in class.

That afternoon after classes, Ron and Hermione returned to Harry's quarters in order to visit with him, Hermione helping him with some of his work. Severus, however, had called for a meeting with Albus, so that was where the Head of Slytherin was at that moment. He needed to talk to Albus about a few things.

"Albus, why did you not inform the students of Potter's situation when the boy was in the Hospital Wing recovering? Why did they have to find out in such a way?" Severus asked angrily as he stalked into the Headmaster's room, not bothering with any pleasantries. He refused the lemon drops offered him and denied the request to take a seat, instead asking Albus his questions again.

Albus sighed warily, looking older and more tired than usual. "I meant to, Severus, I really did," he said in his defense. "Things got a little hectic, however, so it slipped my mind."

"Slipped your mind?" Severus snarled, "We are talking about informing the rest of the student body that Potter was raped, and it slipped your mind?" Fury was an understatement, and the Potions Master pondered over the idea that perhaps Albus was indeed going senile.

"You sound as if you think I did something wrong," Albus commented casually, "but I honestly was not able to inform them. If you forget, I was called away to the Ministry when I had originally planned on telling the rest of the students, but I had simply forgot to tell them the next day when I returned." He popped a lemon drop into his mouth.

"I can't believe you," Severus scowled as he spoke in a quiet and dangerous tone. He sighed, knowing that no matter what he said, Albus would be able to turn it around somehow to keep himself out of trouble and in the clear. He knew Albus did not like to own up to a mistake when he made one, but he had hoped that Albus would have wanted to set things straight with the other students so that Harry did not have to be afraid of leaving his rooms on the off chance that someone may brush against him and make him panic. "I do not understand, but I cannot do anything about it now," he murmured, "I would also like to talk to you about Draco Malfoy," he added

"Yes?" Albus asked, sounding interested. He even leaned forward some in his chair as he awaited what Severus would say next.

"He has decided that he no longer desires to follow in his father's footsteps. He tells me that he does not want to receive the mark," Severus stated, "so he has asked me for assistance on how to get out of it. I told him that I would talk to you about it first before any plans were made." He sat and waited for Albus's reply. If Albus suggested that Draco become a Death Eater and spy on the Dark Lord, Severus felt he may have to rethink how he felt about the Headmaster.

"Hm," Albus hummed softly and looked at the ceiling with a look of thoughtful pondering on his face, "young Draco must return to his home during the Christmas holidays. I cannot help him until the summer rolls around. It would probably be best for him to act the part of wanting to be a Death Eater until the time for the summer holidays, and that is when he will be moved into Grimmauld Place. He can send a letter home before then and denounce Voldemort, and by the time they want to react to it, Draco will all ready be safe at Grimmauld Place," he plotted as he stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Are you sure that we cannot help him before the Christmas holidays?" Severus asked, feeling a bit downtrodden. Draco would not want to return home this Christmas. He had wanted help avoiding everything as quickly as possible, but perhaps he could get the Death Eaters to hold off on branding him with the Dark Mark for just a little bit longer. So, when Severus saw Albus shake his head in the negative to answer his question, he sighed, "Fine... Thank you, Albus, now if you will excuse me, I must get going." He spun on his heel and stormed out of the room, feeling frustrated with Albus at the moment, but he decided to try and push it away. Albus was probably right about how to help Draco, but still, he had a feeling that something would go wrong with all of this, he just knew it.

It was now supper time, so Severus made his way to the Great Hall. As he swooped into the Great Hall, he casually glanced over the Gryffindor table, expecting to see Harry, but neither Harry nor Ron and Hermione were sitting at the table. The Potions Master had to work to keep himself headed for the staff table. He could not go running off right now. Besides, Harry had to show up at his office for their session. So, he tried to get himself to relax enough to get some food down his throat, but he was glad when he had finally sat down.

A few minutes later was when Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided to show up at dinner, Severus scowled at the trio from his seat. He felt satisfied when Harry blushed and mouthed a quick sorry with his mouth, but the Potions Master sent him another glare all the same, knowing that he would talk to Harry after supper.

"I think Snape's mad at me," Harry murmured as he and his friends slid into their seats at the Gryffindor table.

"He doesn't look too happy, does he?" Ron asked tactlessly after a quick glance over to the staff table. He let out an indignant exclamation when he felt Hermione slap his arm and send him a glare. "What? He does," the redhead argued.

Harry sighed and laid his head on his arms on the table. He absently fiddled with the food on his plate, looking quite dejected. "Why is he always mad at me?" he asked quietly, "I didn't skip a meal... We were just late getting here," he added, as if preparing him to defend himself against Severus in a few minutes.

"He's just looking out for you, Harry," Hermione reassured her friend and set a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Let's just eat something, and we can worry about Snape when we're through," she stated calmly.

"I have to meet him at him office after supper," Harry muttered and pushed the food on his plate around. He was too afraid of how Severus might be to eat much of anything. Plus, it didn't help that people kept looking at him funny. Sighing, he huddled in on himself in order to take up as little space as possible. The scowl Severus sent him forced him to stomach down a few bites of food, but that was all he could handle.

Severus seemed satisfied that Harry was at least able to eat something, and he decided to slip out of the Great Hall. So, the man stood and left the room, nodding inconspicuously to Harry on his way out. He knew that Harry would soon follow him out, if only to escape all the stares.

Just a couple of minutes after Severus left, Harry sighed and got to his feet. "I think I'm going to head for Snape's office now," he said to his two best friends. He grabbed his bag and headed for the doors, only pausing there when Hermione and Ron came running up behind him, confusing him.

"We'll walk you there, Harry," Hermione told him, smiling brightly. She took a hold of his arm and pulled him gently out of the Great Hall, Ron at their side.

"You know you don't have to go with me," Harry reminded them, feeling self-conscious. He did not understand why they thought they had to do things for him, but he was definitely glad for it.

"We know, mate," Ron grinned and clapped Harry on the back, "but we want to! You're our friend! We're not going to make you face Snape all on your own... It was my fault we were late to supper anyway." He helped Hermione steer Harry to the dungeons, and together the three closed in on Severus's office, where Severus sat waiting to begin a counseling session.

Kyla: All right, now, if anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know... Right now I'm sort of vague as to what I want to happen next so any ideas are greatly appreciated! Well, thanks for reading!