Finally, Severus returned, and he handed two vials to Melody. "Why did you bring two?" Melody asked, and Severus just gave her a look. "Never mind, that was a stupid question. Their cores are combined, so whatever is affecting her is also affecting him just deluded. It's been a long night so far." Melody stated, and she forced one potion down Harkin's throat and then the other down Draco's throat. "How long does it take to work usually?"
"I don't know for sure. It's different for each case. Draco will probably bounce back rather quickly given that Harkin was the one that was poisoned." Severus explained, and then Draco woke up coughing and retching. Severus grabbed Harkin off of his lap and onto the bed next to his, while Draco appeared to retch up black ooze.
"Is that supposed to happen?" Melody questioned, and Severus nodded as he held Harkin to his chest.
"That is the poison leaving his system." Severus explained, and then continued, "Draco is trying to siphon the poison out of Harkin's system through himself. His magic feels that Harkin and or the twins might not make it if she goes through that." Severus stated as he pointed to Draco's retching.
"So, he is pulling the black ooze from Harkin into himself to save her and the twins? Has he been doing that this entire time?" Melody asked.
"Subconsciously, most definitely, probably even a little consciously." Severus stated.
"Stop talking about me like I am not here, please." Draco hissed through retches, and Melody ran her fingers through Draco's hair in a soothing manner.
"Sorry, Draco. This is new to me; this potion is incredibly old, and no one has used it in centuries. It was originally used as an abortion potion until they realized how dangerous it was for the women who drank it. So, they banned the use of it for medical purposes, and then later for any form of use, because people were forcing women to drink it in cases of cheating spouses accidentally getting their mistresses pregnant. Your father must be extremely desperate to get rid of the twins if he has stooped this low." Melody explained, and Draco turned his head with and angry glare.
"No, my father cares so much more about blood purity, than he does about his only son's happiness. My father would rather end the Malfoy line than have our blood purity be tainted."
Draco practically growled.
"Draco, they will find him, and you will be safe again." Melody tried.
"As long as my father is alive, my family and I will never be safe." Draco shouted, and Harkin jolted awake. "Har," Draco whispered, and he was off of his bed, pulling her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Har. I am so sorry." Draco whispered over and over.
"Dray…Dray..." Harkin tried to get Draco's attention, and he finally looked at her. "This is not your fault, Draco. You are not your father, and you most definitely can't control him. I don't blame you, and nor should you blame yourself. Lucius is an arse, who can't see through his past, and that has blinded him from the future; the path that you have decided to take. I love you, Draco Malfoy, and I do not plan on going anywhere." Harkin stated, and he leaned in and kissed her on the lips.
"I love you too, Har, and I can't lose you, not to my father." Draco whispered after he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
"I know, and he can't hide forever, Dray. He will be found, and he will pay for everything that he has done." Harkin stated, and Draco nodded.
"Until then you need a house elf to make your food specifically. One house elf that we know that we can trust not to poison you." Draco stated, and Harkin smiled.
"I have the perfect one. Dobby." Harkin stated and said house elf popped into existence next to her.
"Miss Harkin Potter. How can Dobby help you?"
"Hello, Dobby. How are you doing?"
"Wonderful. Dobby is wonderful, Miss Harry Potter. Professor Dumbledore is wonderful to Dobby, he pays Dobby for his services, and Dobby appreciates him. Dobby is free and Dobby knits socks. Professor Dumbledore is teaching Dobby to knit you see."
"That is wonderful, Dobby. I do need your help, Dobby. You see your old master is trying to hurt me again, he's poisoned my food and I know that you would never do anything of the sort, you would protect me, so I would like to request for you to make my meals for me until Lucius is caught you see. We just want to make sure he can't hurt me or the babies again. Do you understand?" Harkin stated.
"Yes, of course. Dobby would be honored to make Miss Harry Potter's food for her and her babies. Dobby won't let anything happen to Miss Harry Potter or her food."
"Thank you, Dobby." Harkin smiled at him and then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a galleon. "And this is for you, for doing this for me." Harkin finished as she placed the coin in his small palm and closed it around it. "Thank you." She whispered as Dobby hugged her before disappearing with a pop.
"Dobby. Our old house elf. That is who you are trusting your life with?" Draco asked.
"Yes, he hates your father and there is no way that he would ever take orders from him. He is the safest option to go with because I trust him with my life, it wouldn't be the first time either. He saved me from your father technically twice. The first time was weird because his idea of saving me was trying to hurt me to get me to leave Hogwarts, but the second time was after I tricked your father to free him, and he blasted your father down a flight of stairs after he tried to cast some form of spell at me for losing him a house elf." Harkin explained.
"Interesting, father never told me that story." Draco stated.
"Probably because it didn't paint him in a good light." Harkin joked, and Draco and Severus both laughed.
"You are probably right there." Severus stated. Everyone started laughing, and Harkin sat up a little more in Draco's lap. "Though let's get you two back up to your room." Severus finished as he looked over the two and then over to Melody, who nodded in return.
"You both should rest, given the trauma that you both have had. I think a good night's rest in your room, would be perfect for the two of you. Try not to worry about Lucius and Thaddeus. They will be caught, and we will make sure that, especially your mother. She has been fiercely helping the Aurors with information on where Lucius might be hiding, so she will not let him ruin anymore of your family." Melody stated. "Now off to bed." Draco nodded and then stood first, and then he helped Harkin upright before grabbing their bags off the floor. They started walking out of the Hospital Wing when Severus started following them down the corridor.
Draco stopped and turned towards his godfather, and he asked, "Sev, what's going on?"
"Your mother doesn't want you wandering around without an adult with you until your father and Thaddeus are caught." Severus stated.
"Does mother not realize that having one of my professors trailing us at all times is going to be suspicious and weird for both of us?" Draco asked.
"Probably not, but I am mostly going to be paying attention to it in the morning before breakfast and at night after dinner. I will escort you to breakfast and then back up to your rooms after dinner. Can you deal with that?"
"If that is your compromise with mother, I guess I can deal with that. Just knock before entering the bedroom please." Draco stated before he turned and continued down the corridor.
"Trust me, I don't want to see anything that you also don't want me to see." Severus muttered as they continued walking. As they reached the fourth floor, they run into Ron, and Harri freezes as Draco steps in front of her.
"Weasley." Draco drawls.
"Malfoy." Ron mutters, and then Ron froze, Harkin assumed as Severus finished climbing up the steps.
"Weasley." Severus drawls.
"Professor." Ron muttered as he glances away from the couple and the professor.
"What are you doing wandering the corridors, Mr. Weasley?" Severus questioned.
"I am a Prefect, professor. I was just doing my rounds, sir." Ron defended.
"Interesting, I don't remember seeing your name on the schedule for tonight's rounds, Mr. Weasley." Severus stated.
"Hermione asked to switch with me, professor. Something about being late on a paper, which I didn't think was possible for 'Mione, but she is my friend, so I did this for her anyway." Ron stated, and Harkin held in the snort she so desperately wanted to make. Ron had been on the outs with Hermione ever since Hermione took Harry's side in the argument that Ron had created between them. She held it in though, because she was too tired to actually start anything with Ron right now, and definitely not something that will most likely result in him getting detention and blaming her for that as well.
"Draco, I'm tired." Harkin whispered as she took Draco's hand to pull his attention away from Ron, which worked, and Draco was looking back at her, which also drew Ron's attention to her as well.
"Ah, the princess has to have her escorts back to her rooms, especially in her fragile stated I assume. Well, don't let me hold you up." Ron muttered, and he stepped aside. Harkin could feel Draco's anger on top of her own, and she gripped his hand tighter, which he just squeezed back.
"You know, Ronald, the way you treat your best friend is intriguing to me. Bullying your only friend into submission explains a lot about your relationship. Whenever she had decided to step out of the line you wanted her in you made yourself her enemy, and now that she is realizing that you despise her. Is that it? Or do you just hate me so much that you would practically disown your best friend. That, if right, is the case, you are pathetic. My family rivalry with your family is pathetic, Ronald, and is definitely a pathetic excuse to disown your best friend. Your brothers definitely know that, which is why they are currently giving her a better friendship than yourself. You know what that makes you, Ronald, pathetic." Draco stated as he pulled Harkin more behind him to make sure she didn't get any more of the possible backlash. "It is a wonder as to how you became friends in the first place with that attitude, though with how often you have been angry with her, it doesn't surprise me one bit that after this you might lose her forever, and then you won't have any friends Weasley. And you can only blame one person, yourself for pushing everyone away." Draco stated as Ron pulled back for a punch, but Harkin was the one to pull Draco out of the way this time taking the fist full in the face, knocking Harkin into Draco.
"Har, why did you do that love?" Draco questioned as he pulled her face between his hands to get a better look at her face, which was already starting to bruise.
"I couldn't let you get punched, Dray. He is mad at me, just let him get it out of his system and he should cool off. He has been my best friend for 5 years, I do understand him, most of the time anyway." Harkin stated as she glanced over her shoulder for Ron to see the bruise starting to form on her face.
"Mr. Weasley, I believe that will get you a detention." Severus started, but as Ron started to protest, Harkin stepped forwards.
"Sev, please, don't. It won't help the situation and I don't want to press charges. I just want to go and lie down, please." Harkin stated, and Severus bowed his head.
"Alright, Harkin." Severus said with a slight bowed head before turning toward Ron. "It seems that you are off the hook this time, Mr. Weasley, but I can assure you that next time will not be the case."
"Yes, Professor." Ron gulped as he quickly turned tail and ran, and Harkin sighed before turning and started walking towards their rooms. Draco close behind her, and Severus followed behind them both. They reached their bedroom door, and quietly whispered the password before entering. Harkin hurried over to the bedroom door, and she practically slammed it shut, which startled both Draco and Severus.
"I think she is spending too much time with you and your mother. She is getting way to good at hiding her emotions in public." Severus stated.
"It probably doesn't help the effect our bond has on one another. I am learning to open up more while she is learning to mask herself more. It is both a good thing and a bad thing." Draco stated.
"Well, I will leave you to deal with whatever is in there waiting for you, and I will be back in the morning to take you down to breakfast." Severus stated before heading back out the door they had just came through. Draco loosened his tie before walking up to the bedroom door, and he took a deep breath before walking through. When he entered, he looked about but just saw Harkin's uniform scattered about the bedroom floor, so he followed the trail if clothes to the bathroom where he found her crying in the bathtub.
"Har?" Draco whispered as he slipped his shoes off and crouched down next to the tub.
"Dray, why do I pick abusive people to be my friends?" Harkin whispered almost so quiet that Draco couldn't hear it over the running water. Draco quickly pulled his clothes off so he could pull her into a hug and climbed into the tub with her.
"Don't think like that, love. You don't pick abusive people. People just don't know how to react to who you are. Your aunt and uncle hated magic which is why they treated you the way they did. Ronald hates your popularity and your fame, and sadly his way of dealing with that is through aggression." Draco stated.
"But he has known who I was from the beginning, why should that make such a difference now, or last year for that matter. He has known since the first day we met that I was the Harry Potter." Harkin stated.
"Because knowing you are famous and actually witnessing it are two different things, raven." Draco explained. "Ronald is the last son of 6 before the coveted daughter, and he finally had a friend that was his, someone he didn't have to be jealous of because you were his, and the adventures that you went on the first two years were fun and something you did together, and third year happened and you had your godfather after you, so he wanted to protect you. Then fourth year happened, and your name came out of the goblet of fire. Your enemies coming to get you, though everyone saw it as Harry Potter getting away with breaking the rules again, only this time Ronald wasn't involved, you did this without him. Now he is jealous of your fame and the capability that he can now see of you moving away from him. Then Voldemort came back, but you were the only surviving witness to the horror of his return, and how does ones friend cope with the growing attention your best friend is now getting, attention that you aren't receiving as well. He pushed you away, because now you are better than him." Draco stated, and Harkin gave him a questioning look.
"How do you know so much about Ron's state of mind?" Harkin questioned.
"Because I was similar to him, I understand where he is coming from, the only difference is I decided to change; to protect you, and to protect myself and my family, which you became a part of, not that that was in the original plan, but I love you, and I know I would do everything I possible could to make sure you are coveted and protected. Especially now." Draco stated as his hands rested on her small baby bump, which made Harkin giggle.
"I love you too, my dragon." Harkin whispered as she turned in his arms to kiss him. Draco's hands moved up to the side of her face, which caused her to wince in pain from the bruise that was now a lot bigger than before.
"Oh, raven, can I fix this for you?" Draco cooed, and Harkin blushed before nodding. Draco leaned over the edge of the tub to grab his wand out of his pant pocket, and Harkin backed away just enough to give him room to cast the spell. "There. At least the pain and swelling should go down. We will have to get some Bruise-Healing Paste from Madam Pomfrey before breakfast tomorrow for the actual bruise, but it shouldn't hurt as much." Draco finished as he placed his wand back on his pants, and he pulled Harkin back into his lap. Harkin snuggled into his lap, and Draco just wrapped his arms around her with one hand resting on her small baby bump. Harkin soon fell asleep, and Draco stood with her in his arms and grabbed a couple of towels off the rack before walking back into their room. He placed one towel on the bed to place Harkin on top of before drying himself, and then taking another towel to dry Harkin off before tucking her into their bed. Draco then pulled on a pair of his pajama pants, and he sat up in bed working on their transfigurations essay. When he finished, he pulled out one of their textbooks and started reading it out loud to mostly himself, but also to the twins and Harkin. Eventually he read himself to sleep, with Harkin cradled in his one arm and the textbook lying across his chest.