Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

~~~

The pain was immense. There wasn't an inch of the boy's body that hadn't been abused in some way, and he could feel nothing but pain. He was being carried somewhere; it was cold, he could tell. But he couldn't open his eyes to see where they were taking him.

Suddenly, he felt himself being thrown, and he landed somewhere with a splash. A splash? Water...

He couldn't move his arms or legs, and he felt his mouth filling with water. Help! I can't breathe...

~~~

Tuesday, February 22, 1994

"Draco!" Harry cried as he awoke from his dream. He felt himself shaking with fear as he looked around the room.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Remus asked, crossing the room from his seat by Sirius's bed. He sat next to Harry, taking him by his shoulders. "Calm down and tell me what's wrong."

"Where's Draco?" Harry whispered as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Something's wrong, I need the map, Remus!" The older man held his hand out towards a table.

"Accio map," he said, forcefully. The piece of parchment flew to him, and he looked for Draco's name on the map. "He's by the lake." Harry's eyes widened.

"He's not by the lake! He's in the lake!"

He jumped off the bed, ignoring the wave of dizziness that came over him. Remus following him, Harry ran as quickly as he could out of the castle, heading for the lake. He screamed when he saw a green cloak floating on the surface of the water. A blond head was sticking out of the robe, face down.

"Draco!" Harry shouted. He began to run to the water, but Remus pulled him back.

"Harry, go get Hagrid," he said, pointing towards the hut. "I'll get Draco out of the water. Go get Hagrid."

As Harry ran towards the hut, Remus levitated Draco's lifeless body out of the lake and to the grass. His eyes widened, and he could barely suppress the urge to vomit when he saw the boy. Draco was clothed in only a pair of boxer shorts, aside from the robe. Nearly every visible spot on his body was covered with bruises, cuts, and blood, including a particularly nasty gash in his side. One of his eyes was swollen, and blood dripped from his mouth.

Remus heard Hagrid and Harry coming back out, and so he tried to quickly cover Draco's body with the robe again. But he was too late. Harry let out a strangled cry when he saw his brother's body. He slowly made his way to the older boy and knelt down, reaching out a shaky hand to touch his face.

"Is he—"

Remus cut Harry off by shaking his head. The older wizard pointed his wand at Draco and muttered a few words, causing Draco to twitch a little before coughing up some water. Remus then checked to see if Draco was breathing and, thankfully, he was.

"Hagrid, I need you to take Draco up to Madam Pomfrey. Make sure that you keep him covered, completely, so that nobody can tell who he is. Harry, you are also to go back to the hospital wing and get back in bed. I'm going to go tell your father—"

"I want to tell Dad," Harry whispered, folding his arms defiantly over his chest. "Please, Remus." Remus sighed and nodded.

"I'm coming with you, though." Remus helped Harry to stand up and wrapped an arm around the boy, to keep him steady. "Thank you, Hagrid." Remus then took Harry up to Severus's Potions classroom, where Harry's class was just starting.

"Severus," Remus said in a soft voice from the doorway.

Severus glanced at Draco's empty seat, then back at Remus's solemn face. Then he saw the tears streaming from Harry's eyes, and that was when he knew that something was wrong. Severus went out into the hallway with Remus and Harry. Harry immediately ran to Severus and hugged him tightly, crying into his chest.

"I'm sorry, Daddy, I saw it in my nightmares, and I didn't do anything to stop it," Harry sobbed. Severus looked at Remus in alarm. Remus took a breath.

"We just found Draco outside," he said, quietly. "He's been beaten quite severely, and was thrown into the lake. Hagrid has taken him upstairs." Severus didn't speak. He only knelt down in front of Harry and hugged him tightly, whispering to him. "Severus, go on upstairs with Harry. I'll inform your class that you won't be coming back." Severus nodded, numbly, and began to lead Harry away.

"Remus, tell Hermione," Harry suddenly requested, wiping his eyes. "Please. Tell her I want her to come up."

Remus nodded, and Severus and Harry made their way up to the hospital wing. Sirius was sleeping in his bed, and a curtain was drawn around the bed that Draco was in. Hagrid stood outside the curtain, waiting for Harry. He wrapped the young boy in a hug.

"He'll be a'right, Harry," Hagrid whispered, sadly. "He's Draco. He'll be a'right." With that, Hagrid left. Severus took Harry back to his bed and made him lay down, then took the boy's hand and held it tightly in his own.

"Harry," Severus said, softly, after a moment. "Can you tell me exactly what happened?"

"I had a nightmare," Harry whispered. "Draco was in pain…and they threw him in the lake… I woke up and told Remus I needed the map… Draco was in the lake… I ran out to help him, but Remus told me to get Hagrid… Remus got Draco out of the water, and I-I thought he was dead… Covered in bruises and blood and…"

Harry burst into tears again, just as Hermione burst through the door. She saw Harry and rushed to his bed, sitting next to him and hugging him. Remus and Dumbledore also came into the room, and Pomfrey peeked out from behind the curtain. Her face was pale, and she seemed to be crying a little.

"Remus, I need some help. I can't do this alone. And Albus, please call the Collins' twins and ask them to come over here." Albus nodded as Remus joined Pomfrey.

~~~

After half an hour, two young, nearly identical women appeared from the fireplace. Dumbledore shook their hands and thanked them for coming.

"Poppy, Adriana and Hailey Collins are here." Madam Pomfrey stuck her head out of the curtains again.

"Hailey, come and assist me. Remus, you've done a good job this far. Go on and see how Sirius is doing. Adriana, please check on Harry over there."

Adriana made her way to Harry's bed, and Hermione gave up her seat next to the boy on the bed. Adriana sat down and gave Severus a small smile.

"Good to see you, Severus, though I wish it were under different circumstances."

Severus nodded, and Adriana turned to Harry, who had calmed down considerably. He'd taken to wrapping his arms around himself and chewing on his fingernails. He stared across the room at the curtains around his brother's bed, as though he'd be able to see through them.

"Hi, Harry," Adriana said, smiling warmly. "My name is Adriana Collins. What are you in for?"

"Pneumonia," Severus said, quietly, when Harry didn't reply. Severus reached over and took one of Harry's hands, squeezing it gently. "And um, he's kind of in some kind of shock. They're working on his brother over there." Adriana nodded in understanding as she began to examine Harry.

"Can you tell me how old you are, sweetheart?" she asked, checking his temperature and then looking into his eyes. Harry just kept staring at the curtains. "Harry? Let me know that you can hear me." Harry wiped his eyes and didn't answer. Adriana made him lay down on the bed. "Accio Sleeping Potion." She caught the vial that flew towards her and made Harry drink from it. Within moments, he was asleep. "He'll be out for several hours, Severus."

"Thank you, Adriana," Severus said, softly. Adriana nodded and went to see if she could help with Draco. "Miss Granger, perhaps you should leave. There isn't anything you can do now except wait. If anything happens, I'll make sure you're told."

"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said. She kissed Harry's cheek, then stood up. "And don't worry; I won't tell anyone unless you want me to."

"Go ahead and inform Miss Weasley, and the twins," Severus said. "But nobody else yet." Hermione nodded and left.

~~~

At supper in the Great Hall that evening, Harry sat at the High Table between Remus and Severus. He was still upset and weak, but Dumbledore was making an announcement, and Harry wanted to hear it.

"I have an announcement, and a request," Dumbledore said, silencing any conversation that the students were having. "Early this morning, one of your peers was brutally attacked. We have reason to believe that students were involved in this attack. This young man, though now stabilized, is in bad shape. I ask that anyone who has information concerning the attack of Draco Snape, please come to my office after dinner tonight. If you have information, then you most-likely will not be punished. However, if you were one of the attackers, it would do you well to turn yourself in, for if you don't and we find out who you are, then the punishment will be a lot worse than if you turn yourself in." With that, Dumbledore sat back down and food appeared on all the tables.

"Do you think anyone will say anything?" Harry asked his father, quietly.

"I hope so," Severus replied. "But we won't know for sure until it happens." He leaned over and kissed the side of Harry's head. "Don't worry about it, son. Everything will turn out fine. Now, you eat a little bit, and when you're finished, Adriana is going to take you back upstairs. I'll be up later. All right?"

Harry nodded, and within minutes, he was being escorted back up to the hospital wing. Once up there, Adriana started to lead Harry to his bed, but he stopped her.

"Can I sit with my brother for a while?" he asked in a small voice. Adriana sighed at the sad look in the boy's eyes.

"Sure you can, sweetheart," she agreed, softly. "But not too long." She took Harry to a chair that was next to Draco's bed. "And if you get tired and want to go to bed, call for one of us, and we'll help you." Harry nodded as he took Draco's hand.

The older boy didn't look nearly as bad now as he had when he'd been found. The medi-witches had mended the majority of his injuries and healed his cuts. The cuts were now faintly visible scars. The swelling by his eye was down. All that was needed now was for Draco to wake up.

"Hey, Draco," Harry murmured. "It's your brother... Me and Daddy, we're pretty worried about you, you know? It would make me feel a lot better if you opened your eyes or moved your fingers or something. Just to let me know you're all right." He paused for a moment, hopefully. "No? All right, then... Dumbledore made an announcement at dinner tonight. He said anyone who knows anything about who did this to you, they have to come talk to him.

"We're going to find out who did this, Draco, I promise you that. And if I find out the names of those...those... Merlin, I can't even think of a name demeaning enough to describe them... Anyway, if I find out the names, then they're going to regret it because I might bloody well kill them. Nobody gets away with hurting my brother." Tears streamed down Harry's cheeks, but he continued to talk.

"I'm so sorry, Draco," he whispered. "I saw what was happening to you in my nightmares. I should have done something to stop them, but I didn't. I'm so sorry... Please, Draco, just open your eyes and start yelling at me or something. Please..."

At that moment, Adriana came over and rested a hand on Harry's shoulder. He didn't even acknowledge her.

"That's enough for now, Harry," she said, softly. "You need to get some rest."

"Please, don't make me leave him," Harry pleaded, staring at his brother's still form. "Whenever I'm sick in here, he always stays with me until I wake up. Please, let me stay with him."

"Sweetheart, we don't know when he'll wake up," Adriana explained, gently. "And it wouldn't do you much good to spent the night in a chair like that. Come on, get into bed. You can sit with Draco some more in the morning."

"Can't I switch beds with Sirius?" Harry asked. Sirius's bed was on the other side of Draco's, whereas Harry's was across the room.

"I'll tell you what. We'll move Sirius over here..." Adriana pointed her wand and levitated Sirius and his bed across the room. "Then we'll move that bedside table over here..." She did the same with the table. "And then we'll move your bed..." She levitated Harry's bed and set it down right next to Draco's. "How's that?" Harry nodded.

"That's good. Thank you." Adriana then helped Harry into bed and covered him with a blanket. Harry reached over to grasp Draco's hand again.

"You and your brother are really close, eh?" Adriana asked, sitting next to Harry.

"He's my best friend," Harry confirmed. "He can be a prat sometimes, but I love him." Adriana smiled.

"Do you need anything?" she asked. Harry shook his head. "All right, then. Go on to sleep."