Title: Vinculum

Date: July 18, 2004

By: NinjaBubble (L. King)

Warnings: SPOILERS (for #5 – Order of the Phoenix)

Keen Mind, Observant Eyes

Draco was already seated at the Slytherin table eating breakfast when he spotted two familiar Gryffindors walk in. He was going to dismiss them when it suddenl hit him that there were only two; that Harry was not with his friends that morning. The blond boy continued to watch curiously. Ron and Hermione had been talking to each other, heads close together. When they walked into the hall they both looked up, gazes going to the Gryffindor table, looking for something. Draco followed their gaze, his own silver eyes giving the tables a quick, but thorough, search. No Harry. He looked back at the other two who had once again started talking. Hermione was making gestures with her arms, looking either angry or upset, it looked to be the same to Draco. Ron, on the other hand, looked close to panic. Draco would have simply dismissed it all as a fight that the group was having, Harry avoiding the other two, if it had not been for the act that the said 'other two' looked to both be confused. I looked as though they didn't know where Harry was and they didn't have a reason for not knowing.

"Right?" A familiar voice asked, simultaneously with a soft nudge.

Blinking, Draco turned his head to the Blaise, the one who had spoken to him. "What?" He asked irritably. For some reason he was thinking about Harry's nightmares and his introverted, quiet attitude; almost depressed.

"I was just wondering if Weasely and Granger even know what to do with themselves without Potter around. I mean, look at them, they can't even decided to go over to their table or not," the other Slytherin boy pointed out with a laugh.

"Yeah, sure." Draco agreed absently. His mind was far from any subject related to taunting. He hadn't been able to keep himself from wondering if Potter's nightmares could make him suicidal. It wasn't as though he cared about the boy, he had stopped teasing him about his nightmares for the mere fact that he knew the truth about how horrifying they were. But he couldn't say that the thought of The Boy Who Lived jumping from a tower window and smashing against the ground bellow wasn't disturbing and simply wrong. "I have to go," he said, getting up quickly and walking out of the hall, brushing past Weasely and Granger without a sound. Moving too quickly for any of his lackies to follow, he made his way to the prefects's bath. Maybe Potter had decided to take a bath while everyone was at breakfast. It would be a reckless and stupid thing to do, as the likelihood of getting caught would be tremendous, but it would be far from the first stupid thing that he did.

Opening the painting Draco slid into the large room and looked around. The bath was empty, as was the room. Perfectly clean, no sign or noise of any temporary visitor. The teen took a moment to think. Potter wouldn't be in the Gryffindor tower, Weasely and Granger would have found him. Nor would he be at Hagrid's, considering the man had left after the holidays. As for towers to jump from, or places to hang himself, or rooms to slit his wrists... Draco didn't even want to think about it. The supposed savior, killing himself.

Somehow he found himself back in the main hall, standing at the end of the teacher's table, leaning casually against the wall as his gaze bore into Snape, willing the man to look up. Soon enough he did, and detecting something was amiss, he excused himself from his meal and walked over to the sixth year before sliding out a side door and into another room. "What is it Malfoy?"

Draco didn't quite seem able to find out what to say. Everything that came to mind was either lame or made him sound soft. In the end Snape's prickly glare and small, expectant noise that came from his throat got the blond to speak. "Potter's missing, Sir," he blurted out, managing to keep his voice smooth and cool.

Snape rose an eyebrow in surprise, his greasy bangs falling forward. "Potter is often missing Malfoy. Why would it be that this is any different than any other time? And why, might I ask, are you the one telling me this?" He wondered, his tone slightly agitated. He was not pleased with his favored Slytherin student and it was painfully obvious at the moment.

Another short paused of silence passed between the two before Draco spoke again. "Because Potter was having nightmares," he admitted finally. "When we were stuck together over the holidays. I didn't think that they were important, but they were...disturbing," he said slowly, meaningfully. Snape was listening carefully, it seemed that Draco had caught onto something. "He was staying up during the nights trying not to sleep." He shook his head, knowing he wasn't getting to the point fast enough. "He seemed to have been...depressed lately. I may not be one of Potter's fans, but it's still disconcerting to think he may be suicidal," he wrapped up.

The Potions Master's eyes widened a fraction in surprise before he shook his head. "Potter would not commit suicide Malfoy. I assure you that would not happen." He started to turn to return to the other professors at breakfast when he paused and once again addressed Draco, seeming to have remembered something. "What do you mean, by Potter's dreams being disturbing?" He asked intently.

Draco blinked and shook his head. "They weren't dreams. They were nightmares." Snape rose an eyebrow, silently questioning him on the statement. "He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of his lungs. At first it seemed like the same dream, because he would always wake up the same; but then it, or they, changed. He would call out people's names and he would cry in his sleep, but would stop when he woke up." His voice was as slick as ever, disapproval clear in his words as well as on his features. Being his father's son, and of the years of hanging around with idiots, observant idiots, he was a master of manipulation.

Snape's features were carefully neutral, but he was obviously thinking over something important. "You said he was staying up, trying not to sleep?"

"Yes. They seemed to get worse, and he would try harder to stay awake."

"Did he stay awake awhile before he went to sleep?" Snape asked, his voice holding a hint of urgency in it.

The teen blinked, not knowing what to say. "I didn't watch him go to bed Sir. But I can say that one he started stay up he wouldn't. It seemed hard enough for him to stay awake at all. He often would fall asleep in the middle of meals, or reading a book," he supplied, not liking the way Snape's features had started to change.

"And why didn't you tell any of us about this Mr. Malfoy?" The Potions Master asked, voice and gaze both cold.

"I didn't think it was that important Sir," Draco answered truthfully. Yes, it had been disturbing, and more than slightly annoying. "In a way I thought that the spell had done it to him for some reason," he supplied. He didn't know what he had thought about the nightmares, but he most definitely had not thought that they were serious or that they would be much more harmful than making the Gryffindor boy stay awake more than he should have been. It had been nice, in a way, not having to fight with the other constantly.

Snape was silent for several moments before he finally spoke. When he did, he spoke quickly, voice a degree softer than it had been before. "Wait right here Malfoy. Understand me?"

Nodding, Draco watched as the professor turned swiftly and left through the same door they had entered through. Thoughts were running through his mind faster than he could process them fully. He had no idea what was going on. What was so important about Potter's nightmares that he should have told one of the professors about them during Christmas break? The last thing he would have wanted to do was go to Dumbledore and tell him about Potter's nightmares. Not only would Potter have known then that he had been feigning sleep and had really heard his screams of pain and loss, but he would have felt like a complete git for bringing the matter up. He may not think his father was a hero any more, but Draco still did believe in Malfoy pride.

A few moments later the door opened and Snape came in, followed by Dumbledore and McGonagall. Draco could only stand and look at them. What in Merlin's name was going on? Really. Snape had said that there was no threat of Potter committing suicide. So what was this whole parade for? Keeping his features calm, Draco waited to be addressed. In the end Dumbledore simply looked at him for a moment before telling them that the meeting would be better held in his office. It was a statement that rose more questions in Draco's mind, such as why was the room that they were in not good enough? But he ignored them for the time being and simply followed behind Snape as they made their way through the castle. Up ahead he could see McGonagall speaking hurriedly to Dumbledore, low enough so that Draco could not even hear the low murmur of their voices.

They came to Dumbledore's office quickly, their pace having been kept quite brisk throughout the walk. Muttering to the gargoyle, it sprang to life and jumped out of the way, allowing them to walk through to the moving staircase and make their way up to the office. As they entered a chair appeared in front of Dumbledore's large desk. The Headmaster made his way around to his own chair and sat while he indicated for Draco to take a seat in the only other chair in the room. The teen did so, watching the older man carefully as he leaned back, wise eyes considering and serious. "Professor Snape tells me that Harry started having nightmares over Christmas vacation," he said.

"No," Draco protested, continuing quickly before he could be interrupted. "I think he was having nightmares before you put that ridiculous spell on us. What I was say was that after Christmas they started getting...well, disturbing. That's what I told Professor Snape."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "Alright. Can you tell me about them?"

Draco repeated to Dumbledore what he had told Snape. The screaming, crying, thrashing; how Potter started staying awake as long as he could, and how the nightmares seemed to only get progressively worse. He might have left some of it out, to help Potter not sound completely insane, had it not seemed to be so terribly important to the professors surrounding him to know ever detail that he could possibly give. After he stopped speaking there were a silence.

"And what makes you say that Harry is missing?" Dumbledore wondered, his hands had come together, fingers interlacing tightly.

"Weasely and Ganger walked into the hall without him. You can tell when they don't know where he is because they look completely lost and near panic," he said. So, he was adding a little bit of exaggerations to the two's reactions; but they couldn't think that he would abandon his ways completely. "Potter wasn't sitting at the Gryffindor table already, one of my friends commented on that."

"And you thought he was possibly attempting to commit suicide?" The white-haired wizard wondered with a raised eyebrow.

Draco couldn't help but shrug. "Potter hasn't been himself lately. He doesn't fight like he use to. It's always hollow and he doesn't get angry. Ask anyone, they'll tell you that he's looked like the living dead since vacation," he supplied plainly. He was starting to get irritated with them. If Potter wasn't out committing suicide, then what was he doing that was so bloody important?

Dumbledore nodded and turned his attention to McGonagall. "Why don't you check the Gryffindor tower for signs of Harry, and then get Ron and Hermione and bring them up here so that we can find out if Harry has indeed gone missing." McGonagall nodded and left the room quickly and Dumbledore then turned to Snape. "Severus, go find Flich and find out if he or Ms. Norriss heard anything suspicious last night. Do it as quickly as you can." The Potions Master gave a curt nod, pivoted, and left. Next Dumbledore turned to Draco. "I can understand why you wouldn't come to one of us about the nightmares. Usually nightmares are merely that and there is nothing more to them."

"What do you mean, usually?" Draco asked. "Professor," he added quickly after a moment.

There was a pause as Dumbledore shifted, leaning forward in his chair, eyes intent. "Professor Snape has told me that you have chosen a different path than your father's," he said musingly. "He also says that you have talked many time about the subject and he is sure of your position. Am I wrong?" He waited for Draco to shake his head silently before continuing. "Well, I must say that I'm pleased with you Draco. I was hoping that you would choose not to walk that path. You will be an asset to us, I am sure." Seeming to feel Draco's mild growing irritation at not having his question answered he directed the subject back toward it. "Seeing as I feel I can trust you, and as you did happen to spend the holidays with Harry and take witness to all of this, I believe you deserve a deeper understanding of the situation."

The door opened at the end of his statement and Draco rolled his eyes. He was sure. Interupted right before Dumbledore told him what was going on. The old man probably timed it exactly so that he wouldn't have to say anything.