Chapter Fourteen: Hero

Harry was alert and sitting in his bed, pondering the strange dream he had had the day before. A small boy that looked like him? What an absurd notion. Was he trying to recapture his youth with that dream? Trying to imagine himself had he had a happy childhood? Whatever the reason, it was definitely strange. He heard a noise to his right and turned to see the door open slowly, then shut, as if it had done it by its own accord. It must have been the wind, he thought dismissively.

He sighed and looked over the other side of the room where his physiotherapy equipment was. He had had a session this morning as was in high spirits as he was making progress, albeit only slightly. He heard a rustling sound back on his right side, this time closer, as if someone was standing right by his bed. He turned to look, and saw with horror as one Draco Malfoy appeared next to him. He tried to call out, but before he could open his mouth, Malfoy had a hand over his face, restricting any sound, his face up close to Harry's.

"Shut up and listen, Potter," he hissed to him, noticing the terror his presence caused in his former classmate. "If I take my hand away will you promise not to make a sound? Because if you disobey me you know from experience what I can and will do to you." Harry nodded, and Malfoy removed his hand and took a step back.

"How did you get in here?" Harry whispered in a barely controlled voice.

"Invisibility cloak. My father owned a couple, and when he died I inherited them and all other legacies of the Malfoy line. Like you for instance."

"What do you mean, me? Lucius never owned me, and neither do you." Despite his brave words, Harry was trembling in fear of what Malfoy might do. He could barely walk and wouldn't be able to run if Malfoy tried anything. His wand was on a dresser on the other side of the room, to far for him to get to before Malfoy. Even if he screamed out, he doubted anyone would hear him, because there was no doubt in his mind that Malfoy had already cast a silencing charm. He was trapped.

"I don't want to own you. Despite what I might say, I have no wish to be my father. Potter, I'm not going to hurt you." He sounded sincere, but then you never could trust a Malfoy.

"I don't believe you," Harry whispered in a voice that wavered.

"Potter, shut it. I don't have time for you to waste with silly fears of me. It was always my father who hurt you, never me. I know he made it out like I was down there and joining in with his…activities, but I wasn't. It was all a spell to make it seem like I was there, to torment you more. I wanted nothing to do with what he did."

"If you cared so much to not want to hurt me, why didn't you tell the authorities of my whereabouts?" Harry hissed back.

"As if they would have believed me. Potter, listen to me! Bellatrix Lestrange killed Lucius and in some way she is a twisted protector of you. But she is in no way on your side. I can't explain this, it's too complex for the short time I have here, but I have her and my mother believing I'm going to take off where my father left off. But I don't want to! I'm not a Death Eater and I have never taken the Dark Mark. Potter, the Death Eaters are massing again and are going to make a war on the Ministry, but your side has no idea. And in it's current weak state, it will have no chance to protect itself because the Death Eaters have become strong again in the five years since Voldemort's death, whereas the Ministry has floundered. Harry, I'm telling you this so you can warn the Ministry!"

Harry looked on in stunned silence at Draco's hurried confession.

"Harry, you have to believe me on this one! I know you hate me, fear me even and probably don't want to believe a word I say, but you must! I'm telling the truth and if you don't warn somebody then the Ministry will be helpless and Wizarding England will be consumed by darkness, and there will be no way of stopping it spreading to the muggles, and then out beyond England!" Draco realised he had been calling Potter Harry and cursed himself inwardly.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry choked out. "Why not tell the authorities. Why do I always have to be the one to do the Hero's job? Why me? Why am I always saving the Wizarding World's bloody arse?" He looked away. "I can't even walk and you expect me to save this world again?"

"You can't walk?" Draco asked, shocked.

"No."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"I wondered what all that stuff was," Draco said, indicating the physio equipment.

"We are NOT friends, Malfoy, so don't even pretend you care," Harry responded harshly.

"Fine. I don't care. But I do feel slightly responsible because it was my father who did this to you. I want to right the wrongs he has done, as much as I can, and if that means I have to help you, then I will."

"I don't need your help. You're an abusive rapist and at least I can admit it, whereas you have to make up some lie about a spell to cover your arse."

"Potter, listen to me! Have you taken in anything I said? I hate my father and would never have done anything to you! Potter, your world is about to crumble about you, again, if you don't tell anyone what I have told you. And if you don't, the Death Eaters will win and you will be taken prisoner again. Merlin only knows what they will do to you. And if the Death Eaters win, I won't be able to stop them from hurting you. They have to believe I'm on their side." He glanced at a watch on his wrist. "Fine Potter, believe what you like, do what ever you want with the information I have given you, but I have already wasted enough time here. If you do decide to tell the authorities about what I've told you, try to leave me out of it, it's vital to my plan that nobody knows I helped the good side." With that he disappeared under his invisibility cloak and back out the door.

-

Harry waited half an hour to consider the information himself. Unconsciously he was waiting to call a nurse to give Draco time to get away, but he didn't realise that was what he really was doing. After half an hour of sorting through what Draco had told him, he called out to a nurse as she passed by his still open door from when Draco had left.

"Yes, Mr Potter?" the female nurse whose name he didn't know asked.

"I need you to contact Arthur Weasley and get him here as soon as possible. It's vital that he hurry, the welfare of the Wizarding World is at stake." The nurse's eyes widened in shock at his words, nodded briefly, and hurried from the room. Ten minutes later, Arthur Weasley was rushing into his room, having apparated to the ground floor of St Mungo's before running up the levels to Harry's room.

"What's the matter, Harry?" he asked breathlessly, because of his sprint upstairs.

"I can't tell you how I know, but the Death Eaters have been massing again and have grown stronger. They are going to try and take over the Ministry any day now!"

"Harry, are you sure? Is you're source reliable?"

Harry considered Malfoy's pleas. Why would he lie about something like this? There was no possible reason other than he wants to help us out. "Yes, my source is reliable."

"Well, I'll have to tell the Minister. I don't know what we can do about this, there is no army set up or trained, as everyone believed the threat was over when Voldemort died. Harry, in my opinion, I didn't think the Ministry was going to survive long anyway, even without this threat. We need someone strong to lead us out of this." He looked at Harry.

"I'm neither strong nor willing to lead the Wizarding World out of this," Harry said coldly, his voice verging on hateful. "I've told you what I know of this threat, but please, don't ask me to do anything more. I don't want to be the Hero anymore."

-

AN: Short chapter, I know. This time its all Harry. Well not really lol. But at least there is something new for you to read and review!! I wasn't really in the mood for writing much at the moment, but I still wanted to, hence the short chapter. And about Draco. I considered making him evil. I really did. I thought about all the options, and I didn't really want him to be bad, as I love Draco. But this story kinda called for it, event though I want him to be good (and he is sincere btw) But there is a twist. I mentioned it slightly in this chapter, but you will find out later. If anyone was hanging out for more info on Ginny...I'm sorry but it didn't feel like the right time to reveal all in that area yet. Maybe in the next chapter. Hehe.

Reviewers:

WhiteTwitch: You might be on to something...I sent you an email, hopefully that answeres some questions, although I don't know if it sent properly. If you didn't get anything from me, please send me a pm via my profile page.

jairel: I updated! And I put in lots of Harry!! Hopefully you don't mind Draco's nice side.

helen: I'm glad you picked up on those not so subtle hints lol. I'm not too sure how I should go about revealing what they were looking at. I'll think of something. And hopefully (for you guys at least) it will be in the next chapter, or if not, the one after that. I got your email.

Hope you all like the chapter. Talk to you all next time!