Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING (reeled off in a robotic monotone).

A/N: Good lord, its summer. Ignore me; I go to a school that lets out really late. Some sort of random law says that we can't start until Labor (?) Day. That's September first, right? Anyway, we get out late. I've only just finished finals. But don't start celebrating yet, people, it doesn't mean that I'll update any faster, unfortunately. Now that I'm free of the hellhole formerly known as 'school,' I'm going to be working on a story that I've actually been planning for quite a long time. Sorry it's a no-pairing, action/adventure type thing. (Apologies here, I'm just hoping to get readers from both slash and het lovers, but don't worry, anything with I pairing I ever write will definitely be our darling Harry with a boy.) Look for the story in the next month; I expect all of you readers to read it whether or not you are a slash-only lover. 

A/N2: Also, I just wanted to apologize to those who have mentioned that they dislike rape/beating stories; I do too, but it's necessary to explain Draco's reaction later in the story. You'll see what I mean.

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Chapter 3

When Harry arrived, he could hear hoarse shouting coming from the large room he had left Draco in. Arriving breathless, he breezed by the woman behind the waiting room desk; it was a different one from this- er- last afternoon, and she yelped when he ran through the now-closed doors into the emergency room section.

"Draco!" he shouted as soon as he got into the room. Apparently they either hadn't wanted to risk moving him, or the hospital did not have more long-term stay rooms, because the shouting was coming from the same cubicle Draco had been left in late yesterday, and Harry was now close enough to recognize exactly whose voice that was; the blond Slytherin ice prince was shouting as though he was being murdered, and that wasn't a good sign considering the condition he had been left in.

"Who're you?" a staff member had come up.

"I'm Harry Potter, someone called about Draco Malfoy? He goes to school with me?"

"Oh, thank goodness," was the response. "He's been yelling whenever anyone gets near him. Apparently whoever beat him up was more than just one person, or that's what the psychologist thinks. He says that Draco is suffering from some sort of shock to the system, powerful enough to make his vitals jump whenever he panics. The psychologist is still in the chamber, trying to calm him down, he needs to have his bandages changed."

As they spoke, the woman led Harry to the curtained area, warning him on the way, "If this doesn't work, we are going to have to drug him. His body won't handle the kind of stress he's putting it under. We're hoping that someone familiar, that wasn't involved in his beating, will be enough to calm him down for now."

They opened the curtain and stepped through, closing it behind them. A blonde man was standing across the room from them, on the other side of Draco's bed, speaking in a low, soothing voice that was easily heard over Draco's shouting. The boy could barely speak any longer, let alone scream, his throat was so hoarse.

"It's all right; the boy who brought you in is coming. You're in a hospital, and you're safe here. My name is Alex. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just trying to help…" and some other useless strings of words attempting to calm Draco. It wasn't working.

"Draco?" Harry said softly, walking up and touching Draco on the shoulder to get his attention. The blonde man, Alex, jerked his head up and said, "No, don't-"

But he silenced himself when Draco suddenly went quiet, staring up into Harry's face.

"Potter?" his voice was scratchy and soft.

"Yeah, I'm the one who found you earlier. How are you doing? Do you remember anything?"

"You brought me here? Why?" Draco sounded amazed.

"Because you were hurt, that's all. What's going on? Why were you screaming?"

The other two in the room, the psychologist and random staff member, had been forgotten until this moment. Draco's eyes widening, he whirled to again face the man named Alex, his breath speeding up. As a result, his back was to Harry, who had been standing pretty close, and he unconsciously leaned into Harry, apparently just trying to once again distance himself from the man across the room. Harry, unsure what to do, accepted the weight and put his hands on Draco's shoulders, gently.

"What happened, Draco? What's wrong?"

Draco gulped, then leaned even further into Harry, hunching in on himself. "It was my father… and… and them. You know."

And Harry did know. The Mud Purgers, once Death Eaters. If it had been the whole gang of them, no wonder Draco didn't want anyone getting close. These were people he had known since childhood that had turned on him, why would he trust strangers?

"The Purgers?"

"Yeah. Them."

"Just a second," Harry said, and then gently pushed Draco away as he retreated to talk with the staff member who had brought him in. He heard a shift behind him, and could feel Draco's eyes burning into his back.

"He just said that his dad did this. You can't send him back to them."

The staff member had heard, and though she hadn't understood all, enough was there to make it perfectly clear.

"We have procedure for this sort of thing. Just step right outside for a second, we can tell a secretary to call a lawyer, and have the others stop trying to find his family for now, until we know more."

Harry nodded, and followed through the curtain as she swept it back.

As he closed it, a scream echoed behind his back.

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Reviews, critique, editing, and flames welcome!