Author's Note: First thing is first… What do you kids thing of a ficcie from a group of Death Eater's point of view? Not like Snape or Lucius Malfoy, like a bunch of teenager Death Eaters… Just wondering…
Second thing is second… Thankies to:
ddz08 – Lol, I'm glad you like my ficcie. ^_^ I wasn't sure if it was going to do that well, my last Draco x Harry got no reviews. ;_;
Sayuki
Brenna
kittylover16
the LGF - ::hugglez:: Thanks for reviewing sweetie. ^_^
fire wolf – Draco covered in chocolate sounds uber good…
Dark Peppermint - ::tosses you a chocolate covered Draco::
Blu Misterie
Different Perception - ::tosses you a chocolate covered Draco::
The Demonic Duo
Chapter Three – True Caring
Draco woke to find himself surrounded in darkness, on a lumpy mattress. He sat up, breathing hard. Where was he? Why was he here? His mind raced in rewind mode until he landed on his last waking moment... The Weasley man had said something about taking him to Dumbledore. Was he in Hogwarts now?
"I'm glad to see that you all right, Mister Malfoy." a voice spoke, disturbing his thoughts.
"Professor Dumbledore..." Draco whispered, recognizing the voice immediately.
Light flooded the room, revealing the Headmaster. He was standing by a window, which had been drawn shut only a few moments before.
"Lovely day, isn't it?" Dumbledore gestured to the sky that was a brilliant blue just outside the window.
Draco stared for a moment, as Dumbledore drew closer.
"Mister Malfoy, you are aware of why you are here correct?"
Draco gave a shallow laugh.
"Because Potter and his friends found me in the Leaky Cauldron, looking as though someone had given me hell?" Draco guessed.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at the teenager's sarcasm.
"I suppose that is one way of putting it. However… Whether you like it or not, Mister Malfoy, they did help you, did they not?"
"I suppose so..." Draco admitted begrudgingly. "How long have I been here?"
"Mr. Weasley contacted me the same night he found you, and then brought you in. Madam Pomfrey fixed you up through that night into the morning. That was yesterday morning."
"So I've been asleep for a day?" Draco questioned.
Dumbledore nodded for a moment, and then spoke
"There is one thing though... The million galleon question that everyone is dying to know... Why were you at the Leaky Cauldron 'looking as though someone had given you hell'?"
Draco looked away from the Headmaster.
It seemed to be a miracle to the Slytherin when the nurse came bustling in.
"Thank goodness you're awake Malfoy!" she spoke huffily. "You were likely to waste away in that bed. Headmaster, if you please."
"Of course, Poppy." Dumbledore replied, standing. "I'll stop in later this afternoon, to see how you're feeling Mister Malfoy."
Draco nodded as he watched the Headmaster leave, and felt a feeling of disease in his stomach. What mess had he gotten himself into?
*~~~~~~*
Ron grinned broadly as Harry woke up.
"What are you so happy about?" Harry muttered, reaching around for his glasses.
"We're supposed to go see Malfoy." Ron cackled evilly. "He woke up today."
Harry blinked at his best friend, feeling lost for a few moments.
"What? Why in the world would you be happy about that? You hate Malfoy, remember?"
"Of course I do. But now I get to taunt him with the fact that I practically saved his damned life." Ron replied, puffing up his chest.
Harry shook his head, and suddenly saw that Hermione was sitting at the desk across the room, also rolling her eyes at Ron.
"You can be thickheaded sometimes, you know that Ron?" she said.
"And you still love me, 'Mione, dear." Ron replied with a second evil cackle.
"What you fail to realize is that somebody probably hurt Malfoy for a reason."
"Yeah, because he's a stupid git." Ron answered, as though stating the obvious.
Hermione sighed, and stood.
"You are hopeless Ronald Weasley."
*~~~~~~~~*
Draco nearly fell out of his bed, half out of shock, and half out of embarrassment when he saw Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger enter the Hospital Wing.
'Damn that Weasley... He just wants to taunt me because he helped bring me here...' Draco thought.
Indeed, Ron was wearing a very snide smirk.
There were a few moments of tense silence... And then a few more... And then...
"How are you Malfoy?" Ron asked, trying to sound sincere, and failing miserably.
Draco looked at him, a bored expression on his face.
"If you're waiting for me to get on bended knee, and kiss your feet, thanking you for saving my life, Weasley, you had better stop dreaming."
Ron turned an angry shade of red, and snarled.
"You truly are a stupid git, you know that Malfoy? Maybe, I was just concerned about you, ever consider that? Maybe I was wondering about the fact that somebody beat the living snot out of you, and left you in the Leaky Cauldron to bleed to death. Maybe, just maybe."
"Maybe..." Draco mimicked. "And maybe my house elf grew wings and flew off to work at your home."'
Ron launched himself at Malfoy for the second time that week. Hermione was ready this time however. She grabbed Ron by the back of his neck, and dragged him out of the Hospital Wing.
Harry remained silent as he watched his best friends leave, and then he turned back to his archenemy.
"You shouldn't have done that you know." Harry pointed out.
"Why? He just wanted to lord the fact that he saw me battered, over me. Or am I wrong?" Draco questioned.
"Can you blame him? You haven't exactly been bosom buddies with him for the last seven years." Harry shot back.
The two glared at each other for a few minutes, until Harry broke the silence.
"Who beat you up anyway?" Harry questioned.
Draco gritted his teeth, wondering why everyone was asking him that question. Why did they give a damn anyway?
"Why did you take me out of the Leaky Cauldron?" Draco heard himself asking. "Why didn't you just leave me?"
Harry was thoroughly taken aback by that. Draco couldn't be serious, could he? But...yes... he looked dead serious.
"Well... You would do the same for me wouldn't you?" Harry questioned.
Instantly he felt like an idiot. He was talking to the son of a member of Voldemort's Inner Circle. He would probably rejoice at being able to put Harry in the state he had found Draco in.
Draco stared at the Boy-Who-Lived for a moment, then shook his head and laughed.
"You really are something else Potter, you know that?"
Harry smirked, feeling slightly shocked at the same time that he was having a civil conversation with Draco Malfoy.
"So why did you guys take me here?" Draco repeated.
Harry paused, thinking for a moment.
"Well... I...er... I guess I didn't want to see you bleed to death, you know? That's kind of a lame ending, even for you Malfoy. Can you imagine the headlines? 'Boy found at Leaky Cauldron, died of Broken Ankle.' I guess it's kind of because I cared..."
They both froze at the last statement. Harry stared at Draco. Draco stared at Harry.
"Did you just say you cared Potter?"
"No."
"Yes you did!"
"No, I didn't."
"Good, because they're is no such thing as 'true caring.'" Draco replied, looking away from Harry.
"How can you say that? Especially with Ron and Hermione out in the hall. They love each other. That goes beyond 'true caring.'" Harry pointed out.
"I'm sure I don't know how Granger's and Weasley's minds work, and I'm sure I don't want to know. But anybody who has ever told me they cared about me, ended up hurting me."
Draco winced at his words. Since when had he become some little Gryffindor dripping with emotion?
"That's a shame Malfoy..." Harry spoke, and this time he did sound sincere. "But I'm going to prove you wrong."
"What?" Draco questioned, his head snapping to look at his rival.
"I said I'm going to prove you wrong about the caring thing." Harry repeated.
Ron suddenly stuck his head in through the doorway.
"Harry, mate, we got to get going. Mum is going to have kittens if she..." the rest of Ron's sentence was ignored, as the enemies looked at each other for a lingering moment.
"I'll be back tomorrow..." Harry muttered so only Draco could hear him as he left.
After the Gryffindor trio had left, Draco was left feeling dazed.
"What mess am I getting myself into?" Draco asked out loud.
*~~~~~~~*
The Boy-Who-Lived was true to his word. He came back the next day, and the two boys played Exploding Snap, until they got into an argument over who won, which resulted in Harry stomping out. But he was back the next day, and the day after that, and the day after, until there was only a week until their seventh year of Hogwarts began.
"I'm guessing Dumbledore isn't letting me out of here?" Draco asked from where he was standing by the window.
Harry looked up at the Slytherin.
"He doesn't want you getting hurt again, and we can't protect you since we don't know who hurt you."
Draco looked up. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable. No one had ever cared about his well being before... It was a new thing to him... It was strange.
"Draco?" Harry asked, lowering his voice a little. "Why won't you tell us who hurt you?"
Draco flopped back on his bed, sighing.
"Because you couldn't do anything about it even if you did, but you would try anyway."
"That doesn't make any sense Draco." Harry replied, crossing his arms.
"Don't worry about it Potter."
"But-"
He was interrupted as they heard voices yelling from the hall outside the Hospital Wing.
"You can't hide him from me! He's my son!"
"Then why was he in the Leaky Cauldron, beaten half to death, Lucius? I'm assuming that you didn't drop him off there... But I wouldn't put it past you." a voice that was recognized to be Snape spoke.
Harry saw Draco freeze visibly, and saw the words 'My Father...' form on his lips.
"Draco?" Harry whispered.
"Shut up Potter." Draco snarled.
He didn't need this right now...
"Gentlemen..." a third voice came into the mix.
"Headmaster," Snape spoke. "Lucius Malfoy is claiming we've kidnapped his son."
"Ah, Mister Malfoy," Dumbledore spoke. "I don't think I've kidnapped anybody lately... Would you like me to check my schedule just to be sure?"
"Dumbledore, if I find that you have my son here, I promise that I will have you thrown out of this school faster then you can blink! So you had better be honest with me right now!" Lucius growled in a deadly tone.
"I'm positive I haven't kidnapped your son, Lucius. However, if you wish to look around the school grounds, you're completely welcome to."
Lucius Malfoy looked around suspiciously. This was way too easy. Maybe Draco really wasn't here... That had its negative and positive sides...
He took a step towards the Hospital Wing, watching closely for reactions from either of the Professors, but they were emotionless.
He opened the door, and saw.... nothing. Empty rows of clean beds filled the room, along with various potions for healing.
Lucius took a step backwards, and nodded at Dumbledore, before walking out.
*~~~~~~~~*
Harry sighed from where he and Draco were crouching under his Invisibility Cloak.
"Why did you do that?" Draco hissed, as Harry pulled the cloak off of them.
"I didn't think you wanted to go back with him." Harry replied. "If you did, I'm sorry, you could still catch up to him."
Draco stared at the other boy in disbelief, becoming vaguely aware of how uncomfortably close they were.
"Draco!" a voice snapped both boys to their wits, as the Potions Master strode into the room.
"Severus." Draco replied, standing.
"What in Merlin's Beard were you thinking?" Snape growled. "Running away from Lucius like that? He was the one that injured you, isn't he? And how did he not see you and... Potter?"
Harry shrank back as the fury of Severus Snape met him head on.
"Severus, he told me to get out, so of course I left." Draco replied curtly.
"Was he the one that hurt you?" Snape repeated, staring at the Malfoy.
There was a moment of silence where none of them seemed to breath.
"I see." was all Snape said, before leaving the room.
Draco sank on to his bed, looking miserable.
"Draco..." Harry said quietly.
"Please...just go.... Harry..." Draco muttered.
"I'll be back tomorrow." Harry whispered.
Draco looked up, pain written on his face.
"Why? Why do you keep coming back?"
"Because Draco... I care."
Author's Note: Chocolate Covered Harrys to all reviewers!~ ^.~ Review or email at vegetaztwin@hotmail.com