Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am just borrowing the characters for some fun.

Warning: This story will contain swearing, scenes of torture and sexual innuendo. Eventual Slash.

Summary: Nothing is going to plan. The order is three days late to pick him up and Lucius Malfoy has somehow managed to get out of Azkaban. Remus always wants to talk, but Harry can't bring himself to even think of what happened in June. It was time to face facts: Harry's life belongs to the cause and his own feelings don't matter. Begins after Order of the Phoenix. Eventual Slash.

Chapter 21: Heavy

Dumbledore's office looked exactly the same as it had at the end of last year before Harry had trashed it. There was one trinket in particular that he was sure had been smashed into smithereens' but was somehow sitting without a scratch on the corner of the headmaster's desk.

Draco and Harry were both seated in the wing backed arm chairs that faced headmaster's desk, an honor reserved for the most horrible of crimes. Dumbledore himself was nowhere to be found and McGonagall occupied the space on the other side of the desk. Her face was as angry as Harry had ever seen. She glared at them from over the top of her glasses, her lips pressed in a thin line.

However McGonagall's anger was nothing compared to the absolute rage that was radiating through Snape. The potions master seemed so upset that he couldn't even being himself to sit. Instead he stalked around behind their chairs and paused every few moments to level his evil eye at the back of their heads. Harry was sure that, had Snape focused powerful wandless magic, he could have accidently killed them with his glare.

"Mr. Malfoy, your parents are on their way." Said McGonagall, shuffling through some paper and picking up a quill. She turned to Harry. "I'm sure that there must be some kind of explanation for your horrendous behavior this evening."

Harry didn't dare to move except to glance down at the floor.

"Mr. Potter." Harry jumped. "If you would explain please. None of us is getting any younger."

"Well, ummm." God did Snape have to stand right behind him? "It's pretty straight forward, Professor. When I looked over at the Slytherin table Malfoy was doing some kinda spell. He was really focused on Dumbledore-

"Professor Dumbledore."

"Pro-Professor Dumbledore, so I knew right then that he was up to something and trying to hurt him. So I ran over and made him stop."

McGonagall seemed to be praying for patience. "You made him stop by punching him?"

"Umm. Yeah. I thought that part was obvious."

Suddenly Snape was within an inch of his face. "Watch your cheek, Potter."

Harry leaned back as far as the chair would allow. From this distance he could smell the faint odor of potions ingredients that seemed to follow Snape around like a bad perfume. "Yes, sir."

The floo flared to life and the regal forms of Narcissa and Lucius were deposited on the hearth. Narcissa wasted no time in rushing to her son's side. Lucius however seemed to take his time. He casually brushed a bit of ash off his shoulder and glared around the room, assessing the situation. Harry couldn't help but gulp when Malfoy's eyes landed on his scruffy blood stained appearance and sneered. Clearly Lucius had brought his best Death Eater impression this evening.

"What is the meaning of this?" Said Narcissa, turning Draco's face left and right. "Why is my son in such a state?"

McGonagall did not pause in writing something down. "Harry was just in the middle of his explanation. Do continue Mr. Potter. I believe that you were alleging that young Mr. Malfoy was involved in some unsavory spell work?"

"oh, ya, you know only if you consider it unsavory to actually be kil-" Snape pinched him. Hard. Ouch. "hexing the headmaster."

McGonagall tisked. "These are very serious allegations, Mr. Potter. What evidence do you have that Mr. Malfoy was indeed conspiring to injure the headmaster?"

"Well he was really focused on him!" Said Harry

"So was everyone in the great hall you bloody bastard!" Shrieked Malfoy.

"Yeah, but most of us weren't also waving a wand around under the table whispering spells!" Said Harry "And-"

"That's enough." Snape's dangerous tone was enough to stop Harrys sentence and make Malfoy close his mouth. "Minerva this is clearly a story made up by Potter. He continuously attempts to undermine and bully Mr. Malfoy and it cannot stand."

"I demand that Mr. Potter be expelled." Said Lucius. Harry could have done without him acting so well. "He is clearly unstable and his delusions are now proving dangerous for my son."

"Harry's actions were clearly wrong." Said McGonagall, looking completely unconcerned in the eyes of the Slytherin's gaze. "Hogwarts does not condone violence of any sort. However expulsion is a very sever action only taken under the most dire of circumstances. I believe that a month long detention supervised by Professor Snape would be more than sufficient."

Harry groaned internally. There was no way that was going to go well. On one hand it gave them a nice cover for defense classes…on the other, Snape would kick his ass. Probably literally. If he had thought defense was hard before, Snape's and Lucius' eyes were telling him otherwise.

As if on cue, Draco whimpered. "Mum, my nose hurts."

Narcissa brushed her son's hair away from his face. "This is absolutely unconscionable! Why his nose looks broken! Where is the headmaster? I demand that Mr. Potter have the full weight of this school come down on him!"

Harry just held back from rolling his eyes. No one seemed that concerned that he had had the shit kicked out of him. One of his ribs was probably broken and god knew what else. Oh no poor little Draco had hurt his nose. He knew the Malfoy's had to put on an act, but it was a bit disconcerting for not one adult to seem to care about his wellbeing.

"The headmaster is indisposed at the moment. Unfortunately, he had a rather severe coughing attack at dinner this evening. That seems to be what gave Mr. Potter the impression that Draco was hexing him. Of course it was just a bit of food gone the wrong way." Said McGonagall. "I will make a note that you called for him and he can arrange a meeting in the morning. Perhaps it is best that you take young Mr. Malfoy down to the Hospital wing presently."

All of the Malfoys exchanged pointed glances. Harry noticed that Draco had a small smile before he smoothly disguised it with a grimace and covered his bottom half of his face with his hand.

"Narcissa, you take Draco down to have his nose looked at. I would like another word with the Professors." Lucius's eyes landed on Harry, and suddenly Harry thought it may be safer if they had to continue playing the Death Eaters. Who knew what they would actually do when they did not have to watch their words?

Narcissa nodded and took Draco's arm. The Slytherin walked slowly as if in pain. Personally Harry thought it was a bit much considering his legs were definitely not injured. The moment the door closed behind them the mood shifted.

"Please enlighten me, to what the hell you think you were doing Potter?" Enunciated Lucius as he walked forward threateningly. Even if he was sure that they were on the right side, Harry didn't think that the best place to be was between a Malfoy and Snape.

"Hey! It's not my fault that your son is plotting to kill Dum-Professor Dumbledore!" Said Harry jumping up. Suddenly feeling the injustice of the situation. Draco Malfoy was trying to kill the headmaster and they all knew it, but Harry was the one who ended up in trouble for stopping him.

"And I remember telling you that is was all well in hand." Said Snape, tone more deadly than normal. "Was I unclear in any way? Or are you too arrogant to comprehend that something could possibly have absolutely nothing to do with you?"

Harry gaped. "Oh I'm sorry it didn't seem to be well in hand when Draco blood Malfoy was casting curses at the headmaster in the middle of dinner. I didn't realize I was supposed to watch him die! Maybe if you would do your job I won't have to!"

"That's enough." McGonagall's tone was low and hard. "Mr. Potter, you are in serious need of a lesson in respect. Make that 5 weeks of detention, and should one more disgraceful thing pass those lips I'll double it. I expect much more from you."

"Lately your singular job has been to make mine more difficult." Replied Snape. "Did you truly think that Draco Malfoy could kill the headmaster with such a curses?"

Harry had been mentally fuming about the extra week in detention (not that it mattered- his life had become a virtual permanent detention) and started when he realized that Snape really meant for him to answer the question. "Well yeah."

Snape brought his hand to the bridge of his nose as if it pained him to look at Harry. McGonagall tisked. Again. Lucius rolled his eyes.

"That is an exceedingly difficult spell that Draco was attempting." Said Lucius. "While I favor my son as a brilliant wizard, this kind of spellmanship is well above his abilities. It is not unfamiliar from the spell that Quirrell attempted to use on your broom first year. He had a dark lord in the back of his head, and even then had difficulty. That is without considering that it becomes much harder to manipulate an item if it is in someone. Honestly, the education at this establishment has much deteriorated since my school days."

Harry crossed his arms. Suddenly he felt very stupid. He did remember something about that being mentioned in charms. "Oh. I guess that makes sense. And well…I guess you also knew it was coming, so the headmaster had the spell handy and all that."

Snape and Lucius exchanged a glance. They seemed to be trying to speak without words.

"Wait…" Harry glanced back and forth "You did know this was coming right? That was the whole plus of having Malfoy be the one trying to off him. You told me that he was all but ordered to run his plans by you!"

"We were not in fact aware of this attempt on the headmaster's life." Admitted Snape. "But it is no matter, Professor Dumbledore can easily rebuff the sloppy spell work of a six year student."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Harry brushed his hand through his hair.

"I Believe Draco became…rash after some news he received from some of his classmates." Said Lucius "Don't be too worried, Harry. As evil as Draco considers himself, he is still much out ranked."

"What could have possibly made him decided to do something so stupid?" Said Harry. Sure Draco Malfoy had always been an evil git, but even Harry could acknowledge that he was not dumb. In fact he often gave Hermione a run for her money.

The adults again exchanged weighty glances.

"Oh, come on. Just tell me."

"Very well." Said Snape, "There have been some…rumors…that the dark lord was growing weary of waiting for Draco to complete his task and would soon hold his family to the flame as it were."

"So he's threatening to kill or hurt you if Malfoy doesn't pull through, sooner rather than later." Said Harry looking at Lucius.

The Malfoy patron nodded. "Yes. Essentially."

"It is an exceedingly delicate situation, Harry." Said McGonagall. "And we are attempting to do our best to bring everyone out of this in one piece. The pressure that Draco is under is extreme. I'm sure you could only begin to imagine the burden of being asked to-"

The Deputy Headmistress faltered.

"To kill the head honcho of the other side at sixteen?" Said Harry bitterly. "Yeah, it's so hard to image what kind of pressure he must be under."

"I apologize. I forgot with whom I am speaking." She played uncomfortably with the end of her feather quill. For once even Lucius and Snape didn't seem to know what to say.

And then Harry was angry. His mind suddenly turned too fire. He remembered all too well what it was like to be told by Voldemort to follow his games or watch your loved ones die. Last spring it had resulted in Sirius's death. And now he was back in this fucking office and all the little nick knacks were sitting nice as you please and his teachers were assigning detentions like that was a fucking consequence. The real consequence was that Sirius was dead. Cedric was dead. And all his friends and family were at risk because he had yet to kill the asshole.

He spun and kicked the chair. Unfortunately rather than the release of anger that he has hoped for all he felt was pain. Some muscle had twinged in his side and now he was bent in half gasping from the pain of it.

"Harry where do you feel pain?"

He felt a hand on his shoulder. At some point his eyes had squished shut to shield him from the pain. Harry grit his teeth and opened his eyes to see Snape kneeling in front of him. "My ribs I think. Could I have broken one? It really hurts."

"I suppose that is possible. You did have several werewolves kicking you." Snape's eyes were hooded. "Had I know it was more than a bruise we would have seen to it by now. You should have mentioned if you were in pain."

Harry shrugged and stood slowly. Dumbledore had always made him talk through his escapades before seeing to his health. "It's not so bad. Nothing that couldn't wait."

"I think it best if we retire to the hospital wing. Any further discussion can wait until later." Lucius was giving him a contemplative look. "I will go down first, you follow in a few moments. We cannot be seen together."

With an elegant swish of his cloak Lucius was striding towards the door. Snape and McGonagall were still staring at him. Harry could feel the heavy weight of their eyes and he shifted restlessly from foot to foot.

"How long should we wait?" Said Harry, adjusting his grip on his side.

"A couple of minutes should be sufficient enough to give Draco the impression that you received a thorough lecture." Said Snape

Harry glared at the floor. Of course, as concerned as they all were about the crack in his ribs, precious Draco must taken care of first. "Who says it's only an impression?"

"What's that Mr. Potter? You wish to have additional detentions?" Quipped McGonagall.

Harry winced. "No, sorry."

They sat in silence for the next minute. Harry counted. It had been preferable to focusing on his anger or how awkward it all was or the pain in his side.

"Very well then, Harry. I will escort you down to the hospital wing." Snape took him by the arm and turned to leave.

"Severus?" McGonagall had stood from her seat. "Don't you think that I should take him? Your presence may be considered suspicious."

Snape shook his head. "I will escort Mr. Potter down to the hospital wing. Most likely Draco will assume I volunteered for the job so that I could have a chance to yell at him in private."

"Very well."

And with that Harry was being led toward the little stairway that led to the exit of Dumbledore's office. He actually did half expect Snape to start yelling when they were out of sight of McGonagall, but he did not such thing. Of course once they were out in the corridor Snape let go of his arm. But Harry could have sworn that for just a second his teacher had hesitated and looked…concerned. The idea that Snape would care about him being injured at all made Harry feel a bit...

He gulped.

When they got to the hospital wing it was easy to tell which bed was occupied by Draco F-ing Malfoy. He had taken the best bed, right at the end of the hall but closest to the fireplace. The curtains were drawn, and a silencing spell had been placed on the occupants.

Harry sighed and then picked the bed the furthest from the Syltherin he could get. To his surprise Snape followed him over and pulled the curtains shut. His teacher then pulled out his wand and began muttering under his breath.

"There. I have placed a silencing spell within the confines of these curtains." Snape said, sliding his wand away. "I have also put a monitoring charm on this area. I will know if anyone comes in or out whist you are healing…or if you leave before you are given permission."

Harry Groaned.

Madam Pomfrey came bustling in, throwing the curtain aside with no warning. She wasted no time in waving her wand and frowning disapprovingly at what she found. "I should have known that you would not be far behind Mr. Malfoy. Ribs cracked in multiple places on the right side. Bruises all over. Cuts. Why am I not surprised? Take this."

She shoved a potion towards him. Harry grimaced at the green color, but chucked it back without thinking too much.

"Pain reliever?" Questioned Snape

"Yes, yes." Said Madam Pomfrey, briskly. "Pain reliever first, then skele-gro, then bruise balm. I know how to care for my patient's, Severus."

Snape looked like he had swallowed a lemon. "Might I suggest that you also dose Potter with some dreamless sleep? Perhaps Mr. Malfoy as well? To prevent further altercations."

The nurse stopped her wand waving and placed her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know that Mr. Malfoy has already taken his dreamless sleep, although that was mostly to counter his sever insomnia; something that Mr. Potter seems to be similarly afflicted with. Had they not taken Dreamless sleep, do you seriously consider me so stupid as to leave the boys alone sans spellwork? Even Mrs. Norris would not be so neglectful. They are here to be healed, not to run mad."

She snapped her fingers and a smoking glass floated across the room to float in front of Harry. "Take this Mr. Potter."

Harry shakily reached out to take the Skele-gro from her. Just remembering the pain from the last time he had taken it made him wince. Dreamless sleep or no, this was not going to be a fun night.

Snape seemed to notice his hesitation. "Hurry and take it. Waiting will not make it better or any less necessary."

Conceding to the truth of that, he tipped his head back. It tasked like someone had blended together mud and sickeningly sweet gummies. Her shivered.

Snape shoved a glass of water into his hand, and Harry downed it.

"Thanks."

Madam Pomfrey was already pulling the next thing out of her apron. "Apply this Bruise Balm onto any place that is sore. Since Severus is so accomplished, he can do your back. I will be back in a moment with a pair of pajamas and your dreamless sleep."

She turned before either of them could object.

Snape was scowling. Again. "Insufferable woman."

Harry fiddled with the jar of cream. "It's okay I can-"

"Hurry up and take off your shit then Potter. I don't have all evening." Interrupted Snape.

Harry took his time taking off his top, despite Snape's glare. He wished that the floor would swallow him whole. He knew that his small wiry frame would look even worse with all the bruises that were beginning to decorate his torso.

Without any apparent hesitation Snape plucked the jar out of his hand and began to cover Harry's back with the balm. He instantly felt less sore and sighed in relief.

"You will need several applications to completely heal this bruising." Said Snape evenly "They clearly did not hold back."

Harry shrugged. "I'm Harry Potter, why would they?"

"Here, do your front."

He took the balm and obediently applied it, hissing in pain as he went over his injured rib. Snape nodded in satisfaction, as if he was happy with the job that Harry had done.

Madam Pomfrey bustled back in holding a pile of clothes and another vial. Without warning she waved her wand and he was instantly clothed in the Pajama's rather than his the school uniform. "Take this dreamless sleep now. I will be back in the middle of the night to give you your second dose. Both of you need a long, uninterrupted sleep."

Harry reached for the vial. It was only seven o'clock and he wasn't even a little tired; but the look on madam Pomphrey's face broached no argument. He positioned himself as comfortably as possible first then downed the last of his potions for the evening.

It only took a couple of seconds for Harry to start to feel sleepy. Wait…maybe he was already dreaming, because it seemed like Snape was tucking him in…but it was dreamless sleep so…

He closed his eyes and everything went black.

HPHPHP

Harry woke to the dark. The only light in the room came from two torches outside madam Pomfrey's office. Someone had pulled back his curtains and if he squinted he could tell that Malfoy's had been pulled back too. He supposed that it was easier to monitor them that way.

His right side was flaring with sharp pain and he stifled a gasp. Clearly the pain reliever he had been given earlier hard warn off. He went to change positions and froze. Everything hurt. He probably needed put on more bruise balm too.

A noise brought him out of his self-concerned thinking and he stilled. There was the noise again.

Harry closed his eyes and really listened.

It sounded like someone was crying.

No…Draco Malfoy was crying.

Suddenly even his breathing sounded loud. He tried to quiet the beating of his heart. Not that Malfoy would hear him, he seemed to be totally lost in a heart wrenching sob fest. He couldn't let Malfoy know that he had heard this.

There was a lot of sniffling and moaning and harsh breathing. Harry was sure that Draco's usually pristine face was screwed up tight trying to stop the waves of tears.

And for the first time ever, Harry felt bad for him. Lucius's words from before came back to him. Draco had acted to kill Dumbledore because he got news that Voldemort was getting ready to kill his family. What would Harry have done if he actually had someone he loved out there whose life was being threatened? Well, he had already acted rashly to help someone he loved and that, too, had been a mistake.

Harry blinked, feeling his own tears well up. It all just felt so big. And suddenly lying here in the hospital wing in the middle of the night listening to Draco Malfoy cry with his side stabbing in pain, it all felt so heavy.

He bit his lip and let himself cry. He was quiet about it; clearly much more practiced at crying silently then Malfoy. But the tears fell nonetheless.

Hopefully soon Madam Pomfrey would come with more dreamless sleep, to save them from this living nightmare.