Draco laid in bed after Harry left, staring into the top of his canopy bed. He wished Harry would have stayed.

Blaise ambled through the door, and threw his bag on his bed. He plopped down on Draco's bed and laid next to him, putting his arms behind his head.

"Hey." he said casually.

Draco didn't answer.

"I'm sorry about earlier. Looks like you got the place cleaned up."

"Hmm."

"Okay, so. You're mad."

He sighed deeply, "not really. Everything you said was true. Can't be too pissed about that, I suppose."

"Still."

"You're a proper friend, Zabini, always have been, even when you're being a complete git."

Blaise nudged Draco in the leg with his knee.

"Do you want to go get dinner?"

"Aren't you eating up here with Potter?"

"Naw, he went to the Weasley's."

Blaise jumped up, straightening his shirt, "Let's go then."

They headed down through the common room together and left out the entrance. They ran into Jax and his friends just outside in the corridor.

"Goddammit." Blaise muttered.

"I'm really tired of their shit. Would you like to?"

"Please." Blaise pleaded.

Jax already had his wand raised and his friends were quickly reaching for their own. Unlike Crabbe and Goyle, James Burrows and Simon Crenshaw were actually good at magic.

Blaise took on Burrows and Crenshaw while Draco focused on Jax, he was good at dueling, but Draco had more practice in more dire situations.

He was blocking, dodging, and firing at rapid speed.

Jax hit Draco with a gust of wind, slamming him into the stone behind him. Draco lost his breath for a minute before retaliating with freezing Jax's feet to the ground, he yelled as he lost his balance and fell over. Draco looked over at Blaise briefly, seeing Crenshaw unconscious on the ground and Burrows gaining on Blaise. Draco was hit again, Jax had broken out of his frozen feet, Draco was wrapped in a tightening coil of rope.

"Motherfucker" Draco yelled, struggling. He'd dropped his wand, his ability to do wandless magic was nearly zero, despite his father attempting to teach him.

"Your power comes from within, the wand is merely a tool, but it's not necessary. Feel the power surge in your gut, imagine it taking effect through your body, not your wand. You never know when you might find yourself defenceless, Draco. It's imperative that you learn this. You have it in you, I know you do."

His father did a lot of bad things, but his lessons were usually worthwhile, for the most part.

Draco's vision was starting to tunnel, the rope constricting his lungs. He focused what little energy he still had on growing the power, envisioning what he wanted to happen, the incantation going round and round in his mind. The floor near Jax's body blasted apart, causing him and Burrows to be thrown hard into the back wall. Draco blacked out from lack of oxygen, Blaise was at his side, running his wand along the rope to cut it. He scooped Draco up and ran him to the infirmary, leaving Jax, Burrows, and Crenshaw on their own, all three unconscious in the corridor.

Draco woke on his side, clutching the blankets around him. He saw a bleary version of Blaise sitting in the chair next to his bed. His head was back, he had small bandages on his forehead and his bicep was wrapped in gauze.

"Hey." Draco rasped. It hurt to breath. It hurt to move. Everything was sore.

Blaise looked up, "fucking finally. You alright?"

Draco nodded and looked around.

"They've got Jax, Burrows, and Crenshaw at the other end, still unconscious. We really fucked them up, mate." Draco gave a small smile.

"What time is it?"

"You've only been out for like, an hour and a half. It's only 730."

Madam Pomfrey hustled over to examine Draco.

"Dueling in the corridor, honestly. You should know better, Mr. Malfoy, and you, ." she chastised, "you're lucky Mr. Zabini rushed you here, nearly all your ribs were cracked." she ran her wand above Draco's body, then held it straight up to read the results. "You're already on the mend, but you'll be staying here tonight."

"Great"

"Mr. Zabini, you may leave, now that he's awake."

He nodded, "see you tomorrow, mate."

"Hey, if you see Harry -"

"I tell him." He assured Draco.

"Back to sleep, Mr. Malfoy, take this and back to sleep." she ordered.

Draco tossed back the potion and immediately tasted the bit of sleeping draught that was mixed in with the skele-gro. He was out in minutes.

He woke around midnight to his hair being brushed from his face, but there was no one there. He jerked backwards and yelped at the pain in his chest.

"Draco, quiet. Sorry I woke you." Harry's head appeared over the bed. Draco smiled, happy to see him.

"It's late, I had to wait for Pomfrey to go to bed. I just wanted to see you for myself. I'll leave you to sleep, but I'll be back in the morning." he bent down and kissed Draco on the head.

Draco tugged on his arm, "Don't go?" he asked.

Harry grinned down at him, "I thought you'd never ask."

He went around behind Draco and laid down over the blanket, gingerly draping one arm over him, careful not to jostle or put pressure on his chest.

Harry rested his head in the crook of Draco's neck next to his ear, he could speak quietly and he'd still hear him.

"What happened?" Harry whispered.

"Jax," Draco sleepily muttered, "Blaise too, not as bad. Jax is at the other end, unconscious."

"You're going to get detention."

"I know. Worth it."

Harry laughed quietly into his ear sending goosebumps down his neck.

Harry's arm over him was warm even through the blanket, the sleeping draught catching him in it's effects, he fell asleep again.