Hello everyone,
even though I should be doing my assigment right now... Anyway, here's the next chapter.
Warnings: like I already said some chapters back, mentions of rape, torture and abuse here
Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it again?
"How is he?" Hermione asks from behind me, staring at the blonde.
I sigh, "Not really good. Most of the time he doesn't react to anything. He hasn't said a word or really moved on his own. We will talk later, okay?" I look at her for a second, "First it's important he eats something."
She nods and sits down on a chair in the corner of my vision, "You should maybe give him something soft. You know like mashed potatoes or something alike. I contacted Michael again and he said that Draco has most likely been given little other than some unidentifiable mash all the time he was down there. His words, not mine. So his teeth most likely wouldn't be able to deal with something like a steak."
"Okay," I agree and as she says, scoop up a spoon of mashed potatoes and hold it to Draco's lips. He doesn't react like last time, so I sigh and prod the chapped lips, "Hey Draco, you have to eat. I said it this morning already. Draco!"
Hermione is watching us from the side with a sad face, "Is it always like that?"
"Yeah, basically," I pull a grimace, then prod the blonde again, "Open up, Draco. You need to eat."
This time he does react and opens his mouth. I give a small smile and put the mashed potatoes in his mouth. He closes again and chews. It earns us a giggle from the girl.
"It's sweet how he reacts to those commands from you," she smiles.
"Hm," I hum, taking up another spoon, "I think it's less my commands than he just needs some time to understand what he is supposed to do before he reacts."
She nods and I hold the spoon to him. He just stares at it, looking what I would guess is confused. Even when I press it in his hand he just stares at it. Eventually he lets the thing fall into his lap. I sigh, but before I can clean it up, he stretches his right hand out (the left still seems unresponsive) and dips the finger into the mashed potatoes, scooping some up. Still staring blankly he puts the finger in his mouth, sucking the food from it. I blush while Hermione can't seem to be able to decide between amusement and shock.
"Is he even unable to eat by himself?" she asks worried.
"No, I don't think so," I frown, something coming to my mind. Instead of the spoon I tear off a chunk of bread and push it in his hand. I smile when he, as I expected, grabs the food securely and starts pulling little pieces from it, slowly eating one after the other, "It's not that he can't eat by himself. He did it with a croissant this morning too. It's just that he isn't used to eating with cutlery anymore. I doubt they got any spoons down there, so he used his fingers for everything."
"That does make sense," she nods, "I'm glad that he can do at least that on his own."
"I agree," I smile as I watch Draco eat the bread, until he does the little food hiding thing again. I chuckle, "And that's something he learned in prison too. Always keep food stores. I will have to watch out that my house doesn't start to smell of rotten food soon."
I feed Draco some more food, something more substantial than empty bread. Until he does that little head shaking motion again. I worry that he eats so little but Hermione reassures me that this is normal since his stomach is far smaller than usual after years of malnourishment. The blonde seems to be nodding off while sitting up, so I slowly lead him back to his room. Hermione and I have to talk anyway. He doesn't react, just like always, only falls into the covers, empty grey eyes slipping close. When I turn around I nearly jump when my friend is standing in the doorway.
"Before we go down and talk I want to do something," she says softly, "We need Draco for that." I frown but she smiles sadly and shakes her head, "Don't worry, it won't hurt him or anything."
"Okay. What is it?" I ask cautiously.
She approaches me, a thick book in her hands and then holds it out to me, tapping on the page, "This is a diagnose spell. I want to run this over Draco. To see what he has. There are two I want to use. One is for physical stuff, but it also lists the scars and alike. The second is for mental health."
"Fine, do it. He's sleeping by now and all that is going to happen is that a sheet of paper will appear," I reluctantly agree.
She purses her lips, "As much as I would like to, but I think it would be better if you did it."
"Why?"
"Not anyone can be a healer. Everyone has a different affinity for this kind of magic. And unfortunately this seems one of the few things I am not good at," she pouts, looking slightly pissed, "You on the other hand have a high affinity for healing magic. I mean, you're studying it. So it should be easier on both the caster and Draco if you would do it instead."
"Fine," I lift an eyebrow, "Show me the incantation then."
She grins as she hands the tome over to me. I huff as the heavy weight threatens to pull my arms down. Reading over the spell, I memorize it and the wand movements. After some minutes I turn back to the blonde and step to the bed. Taking a deep breath, I preform the two spells. Only to nearly choke on air when the lists come back. They are worryingly long. Before I can read them, Hermione hurriedly steps forward and rolls them in, so I can't see.
"Not here," she mumbles, squeezing my shoulder, "Let him sleep in peace. We can go through this and discuss it back in the living room."
I nod, my throat still choked. After stroking the gaunt face a last time, I leave the now asleep boy alone in the room. I follow Hermione back to the sitting room from before, the food still on the table under a heating charm. I sigh and let myself fall into the sofa next to my friend who rubs my upper arm soothingly.
"You okay, Harry?" she asks worried.
I shake my head, "It's hard. He is broken, so little like the boy I know from school. I want nothing more than give him his life back, but it's still very far in the future," then I look her in the eyes, "But it doesn't matter, I will be strong for him. I will manage, don't worry, Hermione. Now let's look at these lists."
She throws me another concerned look, but nods and unrolls the first parchment, "Okay, this is just for the physical injuries, but it also dates them by month."
I lean over and both our eyes run over line after line of injuries. It's horrifying, seeing the amount of his pain.
"Broken bones, 21 in the last year alone…" Hermione breathes, a shocked hand on her mouth, "Bruises and cuts, more than I can count… Severe damage to internal organs…" she chokes, "Heavy anal scarring…?!"
I groan pained, "I suspected it, but didn't want to believe it," a sob bubbles up again.
"They-They… did that to him too there?" she looks slightly sick.
"I guess so," my heart clenches as I look at the list, "But some of this is older actually."
"Older?"
"Yeah, like in the year between Easter in our 6th year at Hogwarts and the final battle," our gazes meet, shocked and disgusted.
Hermione shoots up, "Excuse me for a moment."
Then she literally flees the room. I stare after her for a second until I hear a door slam open and then retching. Apparently she really got sick. Not that I can blame him. To think that he was hiding something like that even when we were still in school. Since she is gone I pull the list to me to read it over on my own. A few minutes later she returns, looking pale, and falls back into the cushions next to me. I give her a short nod and she picks up the second list, the one about Draco's mental troubles. While I finish and put away the first parchment, she only seems to turn whiter as she reads the shorter list. When she is finished she just buries her face in her hands.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading.
Please review and see you next time.