Previously:

Sighing a real sigh, Severus slowly got up and releasing Harry' hand unconsciously, walked towards the door, but decided against it and headed for Draco's bed.  Silently, Severus pulled the curtains back and sat in the chair next to the head of the bed and took Draco's hand into his own.

                  Chapter 8 – The Dragon Awakens

"Draco, I know you probably won't here this, but I hope you awaken soon.  I don't know if you remember when you told me about Harry and how you truly felt, but if its any consolation, he was worried about you when I told him how I found you on the outskirts of the forest.  I found out some huge news that I won't repeat here, but once you wake up and I tell Him about it, well then I'll tell you, if its okay with Harry of course.  I truly hope that what ever has happened to you wont really effect you, your one of the smarter students in my class and I don't want to loose you because then I will really have nothing but idiots in class."

         Severus kept on talking about anything and everything he could think of, trying to coax Draco out of the sleep he was in, Severus basically knew it was pretty much useless because only the witch or wizard could bring themselves out of the type of coma he is in by themselves when they were ready. 

         So, of course Severus was surprised once again when he felt a slight pressure in his hands coming from Draco.

         "Will you shut up already!" was the only reply he got when he looked up to see Draco's smiling, stormy gray eyes.  "You're bloody annoying when you never shut up Sev, you do realize that don't you?"

         "Draco!  You're awake, but how…I mean you weren't supposed to wake up until later I thought, Poppy said that you were deep in a coma…what happened?"

         "I already told you, your annoying voice woke me up, of course, if you want me to go back to sleep, I will happily oblige as to I'm dead tired right now."  To prove his point, Draco let loose a large yawn.

         Severus just sits there stunned for a moment before he smiles slightly, "you do realize that once you're better you're going to pay for how you just spoke to me don't you?"

         Draco just nods absentmindedly while trying to look around his curtains to the other bed.  "Is he really there Sev?"

         Severus smiles at the pure innocence shining in Draco's eyes as he tried to see the sleeping boy in the bed a little ways away.  "He is, although he's sleeping right now, which you should be doing to because Poppy will have my hide if she finds out I was keeping you awake right after you have woken up…just let me give you a couple of Potions to make sure you'll wake up tomorrow morning."

         Draco nodded with a disgusted look on his face.

         "Don't give me that look Draco…you have to drink them or you wont heal properly."

         "Its not that I don't want to drink them Severus, it's just that they're probably going to taste horrible."

         "Well, if you added some type of sweetener to any potion, it usually destroys it, you should know that Draco."

         "I do, it's just that, well, I don't think I can get them down right now…that's all."

         Severus looks piercingly towards the blonde haired boy who had lowered his head, watching his hands make little patterns on the sheet.  "Well, if you don't think you can stomach them, I guess I can just put you under a charm, but just for this one night because you could get addicted to the charm alright?"

         Draco looks up and smiles slightly at his teacher and only friend, "thanks Sev!"

         Severus just shakes his head while taking out his wand and muttering something under his breathe, Draco was asleep moments later when it took effect.  Severus shut the curtains once again behind him as he headed towards the door, turning once to look back at both of the beds before heading out the door towards his own chambers to get some much needed rest.

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         The next morning, Poppy walked into the room to find Draco sitting up on his bed, the curtains drawn aside, looking over towards the other bed with a curious look.

         Clearing her throat, Poppy walked briskly over to Draco, "Well Mr. Malfoy, it's certainly a surprise to finally find your awake, how are you feeling?"
         "Fine," He replies absentmindedly while still staring towards the other bed.

         "Could you define 'fine' for me?"

         "Hmm?  Oh, umm, yes, sorry.  I have stomach ache, my head kills…oh yeah, and I think a couple of my ribs are broken."  He says while turning so he  was facing the medi-witch.

         "I see, well I fixed you up as good as I could, I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with the ribs for a while, I have a potion for your stomach if you would like it."

         "NO!  I mean, no…I don't want any potions, please."

         If Poppy wasn't surprised by Draco's little outburst, she certainly was surprised when he asked politely, nodding her head she walks towards her office to call Severus and Albus down to tell them that Draco had awaken.

         "Madame Pomfrey?"

         "Yes dear?"

         "Professor Snape knows that I'm awake…he was here last night and he gave me a charm so that I could sleep until you came in here this morning."

         Poppy looks up startled.  "He what?"

         Draco just blinks a few times wondering what could be wrong.  "I said, he was here last night and he gave me a sleeping charm so that I could go to sleep."

         "Oh dear…do you remember what charm it was?"

         "No, sorry ma'am."

         "It's fine dear, I'll just call him down, try not to make any noise, and I still have one sleeping patient here ."  Poppy says as she heads into her office, a troubled expression taking over her features.

         Draco just sits back, trying to figure out what could be wrong.  He knew that Severus wouldn't have done anything that could put him into any type of danger, so why is she so worried.  Pushing those thoughts aside, Draco goes back to his train of thought he was occupied in before the Medi-witch had interrupted him.  It concerned a certain green-eyed boy, not ten feet from Draco, sleeping peacefully.

         'I don't know how I can even start to approach him, let alone say sorry and hope to become friends, or more.  He probably hates me, after all, he's the one that denied my friendship after I asked him.'

         'But, then again, I had insulted Weasley, and throughout our four years here, I continuously berated him and his friends.'

         'There's no way in Hell he'll ever forgive me, he'll probably think I'm putting on some sort of act to hurt him even more.'

         'But, I have to prove to him that I only acted that way because of my fa–no, he doesn't deserve that title,  because of Lucius.  Lucius forced me to act that way, but not anymore, I'm no longer under his con–.'

         Draco's thoughts were abruptly stopped once again, but by a different source this time.  Draco blinked out of his thoughts, only to find the object of his thoughts staring at him from the other bed, a closed expression in his eyes.

         They stare at each other for a few moments before Draco looks away, his hands playing with a loose string from the blanket.

         Harry keeps staring at Draco, but his face now holds a thoughtful expression.

         Before either of the boys could say anything to stop the awkward silence, Sirius bounds into the room before stopping dead, staring openly at Draco, looking like a rabbit in a cars headlights.

         Draco looks slightly amused by this for some reason, one that neither Harry, nor, Sirius can explain. 

         "Sirius Black I presume?"  Draco mutters at last, finally breaking the silence.

         "Err, yeah, and you must be Draco Malfoy, Harry's told me all about you."  Sirius replies darkly, remembering how this boy had caused Harry a lot of trouble throughout Hogwarts so far.

         Draco looks down, seemingly abashed, but looks up before anything else could be said.  "I acted that way because of my father," he spat.  "I never wanted to act and do anything that I did, but my father was watching my every move, how the hell was I supposed to act any different when I had two oafs following me around like surveillance cameras?"

         Before Sirius could retaliate, Harry jumped in. "What do you mean your father was forcing you to act the way you did?"  His face sincerely curious.

         Draco looks towards Harry, his icy exterior falling from his eyes for once and Harry saw the fear and loneliness in his eyes which gave him a feeling of extreme protectiveness towards the blonde.  Of course, Harry was extremely confused by this because he thought he'd hated Malfoy, didn't he?

         "Lucius had–has many ways of forcing people to obey him Potter, none of them pleasant I assure you.  I don't know how the hell I got here, but what ever it was, I'm truly grateful for it."

         "That, Mr. Malfoy is what I was going to ask you, but seeing as how you don't know, I'm apparently at a loss as to what to do."

         All three occupants look up in surprise to see Albus and Severus standing in the doorway, no one had noticed either of the two men come in since they were listening intently to Draco.

         "Headmaster, Professor."  Draco acknowledges while nodding his head in their direction.

         "Mr. Malfoy, we have quite a few questions to ask you if you don't mind."  Severus says while taking a chair in between the two beds, which didn't go unnoticed by any of the people in the room.

         "I'll answer them if I feel comfortable with it."

         "As you wish."

         Draco sighs mentally to himself, knowing he would have to tell at least the headmaster and Sev about his father, and that he would eventually tell Harry and then Harry in return would tell his godfather, so he knew it would be better to tell all of them in the room all at once instead of having to repeat it some other time.

         While Draco was in his thoughts, everyone took a seat, Sirius on the foot of Harry's bed, careful not to touch him, and Albus taking a seat in between Harry's and Draco's bed near the end.

         "I might as well start at the beginning, ever since I can remember Lucius has told me that I had to follow the Dark Lord, that it was the right thing to do.  In the beginning I believed him, I mean after all, whose father would lie to their own son?  Anyways, I started to questions him when the Chamber of Secrets was open but I kept it to myself, knowing I would be punished if he ever found out.  Anyways he somehow found out that I wasn't too positive about joining Voldemort so he decided he would beat it into me."  Draco said spitefully.  Everyone else in the room hanging onto every word.

         Draco sighs to himself before continuing.  "Anyways, it was just little things here and there at first, a slap here, a kick there, but nothing as bad as what happened this summer.  When Potter came back from the Graveyard, and yes I know what happened, my father told me when I returned home about the return of the Dark Lord.  Anyways, I knew something was wrong, and my worse fears were acknowledged at the feast.  Voldemort had returned, and I would be forced to serve him.  I tried to pretend for my father that I was ecstatic that he had returned, my father seemed to buy it, but I was clearly mistaken.

         "He brought me to one of the Death Eater meetings and forced me to torture some muggles, at first I refused but then I saw that Lucius was testing me and the only way out I had was to comply.  That night my father gave me my worse beating as of that point, saying that he knew all along that I was a mudblood loving fool.  I tried to defend myself but nothing I said or did worked.

         "He left me to myself for a few days, tending to my own injuries with the help of the house elves once in a while.  But, another meeting was approaching, and this time Voldemort would be there.

         "I was once again forced to go, but this time He saw through my disguise and ordered Lucius to take me away.  You can say that Lucius was furious and humiliated that his own son was accused of treachery to the Dark Lord, but that would be an understatement."

         Draco took a moment letting his audience to absorb what he had said before starting again.  "He brought me home shoved me in the dungeons and basically tortured me.  I blacked out after a little while but I knew he had to have waked me up because I can vaguely remember some stuff.  Anyways I have no idea what happened after that, the only thing I remember is waking up here with Professor Snape next to me."

         Albus nods his head somberly.  "Thank you Mr. Malfoy for explaining everything.  I must say that not many people can talk like you have within the last hour or so.  I'm truly sorry about what has happened but, myself and the other Professors will do our best to ensure that you never go back to the Malfoy Manor."

         Draco lets a sigh of relief pass through his lips that he had not noticed he was holding.  He smiles a genuine smile towards the Headmaster, "thank you sir, you don't know how much that means to me."

         "It's quite alright my boy, but now I'm afraid I must leave, I have to go take care of some things.  If either of you," at this he looks at both Harry and Draco, "need anything I think both of you know where to find me or another Professor.  I'll leave you all now, good day."  He says while getting up and leaving out through the door.

         Sirius looks stunned when the information he had just received had sunk in, while Harry just had a look of compassion.  Draco just looked over to them with a closed expression once again while Severus just sat in his own thoughts.

         "So it's true then, Black is actually innocent?"  Draco says, more to Harry then to Sirius.

         Harry looks up startled for a second before nodding.  "Yes, but, how did you know?"

         Draco just shrugs, "I heard Lucius talking to someone named Peter Pettigrew through the fire a while ago and did some research, I then figured out who he was and the significance of how he was alive."

         Harry nods his head accepting that explanation while turning his head towards his godfather.

         "So did you ask Dumbledore–"

         "That's Professor Dumbledore Harry."  Sirius interrupts.

         "Yeah, but did you ask him about the rules?"

         At this, Draco looks up interested.

         "I did, and he says that I'm a dog that wandered into the grounds, and the Professors decided to keep me around.  I'm now Snuffles, the dog of the Hogwarts professors from now on, and since you stayed here at Hogwarts throughout the summer for reasons unknown, Snuffles has taken a liking to you and sleeps in the boys dormitory."  Sirius says all this while keeping a perfectly straight face while Severus and Draco roll their eyes at his antics of cheering up the mood.

         Draco looks thoughtful for a minute, then decides I wouldn't hurt at all, "Hey, does that mean you're an animagus and what about me.  If I'm going to be here this summer like Ha–err Potter, then I want to have a pet dog too."  He says slightly teasingly and slightly seriously.

         Sirius and Harry both look stunned for a moment, not only at the new Draco that seems to be in front of them, but of the air of companionship coming from everyone in the room, including Severus who was still lost in thought, not taking any notice of those near him.

         Smiling brightly Harry shakes his head, "yes, I think that would be fair, after all, we can't just leave Dr–Malfoy alone this summer can we…well that is, after we get out of these blasted beds."

         A muffled, 'hey, I heard that came from Poppy's office so Sirius and Severus, who had snapped out of his thoughts at Draco's name, decided that they should leave before Poppy kicked them out.

         A chorus of goodbye's was said between everyone, even Severus to the surprise of both Harry and Sirius.  When they had completely gone, and Poppy had come back in looking like her old self to check on both the boys, Harry and Draco laid down in silence.

         "Hey Malfoy?"

         "Yes?"

         "Were you really putting on an act throughout the years?"

         "Yes, why?"

         "Just wondering."

         "Oh, Hey Potter?"

         "Yeah?"

         "My name's Draco."

         "Mine's Harry."

         "Nice to meet you Harry."

         "You to Draco."

         With that, both boys fell into a deep dreamless sleep, both with content smiles on their faces.

AN: please read the authors note after this, its really really important!