Summary: When Draco sees his rival being tortured and raped by his father, he is revolted. He has to make a decision that could alter his life forever. Save Harry Potter from the clutches of his father and risk his life, or walk away and pretend he never saw it, letting the Gryffindor die at the hands of his father.

Disclaimer: I don't own a single thing that has already been mentioned in any one of the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling owns all that. I own everything that's not in her books.

CHAPTER FOUR-Dumbledore and Realizations

The healer turned to face Draco.

"I'm sorry, but until we assess how much damage has been done to Mr. Potter, and how long it will take for him to recover, we cannot say when he will be allowed visitors." She turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.

Draco sighed and slumped in his chair. 'Well, I'm not going to sit around here all day. I've got to take care of some matters anyways.' He went back up to the Healer's office and threw some floo powder into the grate. "Malfoy Manner, Hidden Grate 695" He was once more whirling through the flames. He stepped out of the fire and went all the way up to his father's rooms. It always struck him as funny that whilst they had been married, his parent's had never even shared a room. His suspicions that they did not love each other at all were confirmed when his father escaped Azkaban and left his mother to rot. Luckily, not long after, the dementor's were called off by Voldemort, and his mother escaped. She hadn't came back though, so Draco hadn't seen her since she was put in Azkaban.

Draco was once more in his father's bedroom. He suddenly realized he didn't know where his father had hidden the key to the vault in their house. As soon as his father had gotten out of Azkaban, he had ordered Draco to collect all their money from Gringott's and had now hidden it away in an underground vault. Come to think of it, perhaps this whole manor was hidden. Draco now remembered that on his way to Gringott's, someone in a dark cloak had came up to him and told him that Lucius lived at Malfoy Manor and had even gone on to tell him the exact location of it. He had been utterly bewildered then, but looking back, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. He also was now more confused than he had been a few hours ago.

'Why did father bother making me secret keeper of one room if the whole house is hidden. Perhaps he doesn't trust the other secret-keeper. Come to think of it, who is that? Why didn't he make me the secret-keeper? He probably thought it would too obvious to anyone that tried to find it to go to me for information. Father must not trust me then. He thinks I would tell if someone tortured me. And truthfully, I might've. It's not like father does anything for me anymore, anyways,' he thought bitterly.

While Draco had been thinking about all of this, he had also been searching the room. Then he thought about where it would be. 'Obviously father is smarter than to hide the key where I can't find it. Luckily he gave me instructions on how to get to the vault, so I could do his errands. But this manor is huge! And keys are so tiny. Finding that key would be much harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Wait a minute...' He took out his wand. "Accio key!" He waited a minute, then several hundred keys came flying at him. He couldn't fathom what all the keys were for, but luckily he knew which one was the one to the vault, seeing as how his father had handed it to him so many times. He quickly spotted the large golden key, and hurried down to the vault. After several minutes, he was there and he put the key inside the keyhole and turned it. Inside was hundreds of mounds of galleons, sickles, and knuts. Most of them were galleons.

'How am I supposed to carry all of this? I can't take all of it with me, obviously. How much can I take? He went back up a flight of stairs (whose idea was it to make this house so huge anyways?) and got a large trunk out of a huge closet. He went back down and filled it with all the galleons that could fit in it. He knew that the amount of money in the trunk was enough to last him many years, but he wanted more. He was very greedy after all, and wanted to make sure he was still the richest child at Hogwarts. He went back to the closet and got two even larger trunks, which he promptly filled with galleons, also. He now had several thousand galleons. He cast spells on all three trunks to make them feather light and another spell to bind them together.

He went back up a flight of stairs ( and got a large trunk out of a huge closet. He went back down and filled it with all the galleons that could fit in it. He knew that the amount of money in the trunk was enough to last him many years, but he wanted more. He very greedy after all, and wanted to make sure he was still the richest child at Hogwarts. He went back to the closet and got two even larger trunks, which he promptly filled with galleons, also. He now had several thousand galleons. He cast spells on all three trunks to make them feather light and another spell to bind them together.

'I wonder why the Ministry hasn't sent me any warnings. I've done at least three spells tonight. They probably don't care about underage magic right now, what with Voldemort back.' He picked up the trunks and took them back up to his room. He got another trunk out and filled it with all the possessions he was going to take with him. He packed all his books, his wand, and several other useful items. He cast one more lightening spell on that and bound it to the other three. He then took out his broomstick and carried the lot down to his fireplace.

'Okay, I've got all my items now, where am I going to go?' He had no other houses besides the manor, although now that he thought about it, he wondered why his parents hadn't thought to purchase safe-houses. 'Everyone already knows about the manor. It would only make since to have other places to go.' Then another thought came to Draco. 'Perhaps they do have other houses, but thought I wasn't trustworthy enough to know about them.' He decided he needed to think about this later, right now he needed to think of somewhere to stay. Then it came to him. 'The Leaky Cauldron!' Checking to make sure his disguise was fully in place, he carried his trunks into the emerald flames. "Diagon Alley"

He had no other houses besides the manor, although now that he thought about it, he wondered why his parents hadn't thought to purchase safe-houses. Then another thought came to Draco. He decided he needed to think about this later, right now he needed to think of somewhere to stay. Then it came to him. Checking to make sure his disguise was fully in place, he carried his trunks into the emerald flames. "Diagon Alley"

Meanwhile...

The healers had been working frantically on repairing the damage done to Harry's body. Most of the wounds had been healed, and the blood replenished, but there seem to have been several spells placed on him that had been making it impossible for his body to regain full health, and there was some internal damage that wasn't healing properly. Whoever had done this had to have been a powerful wizard. Not many people could make sure that the healer's weren't able to heal him. Whoever had done it had not intended for Harry to live. Then again, anybody could have guessed that. They needed more help.

The healer's were now in the Healers Office, discussing what they should do.

"What should we do? He's not healing!" exclaimed one of the healers anxiously.

"Get Dumbledore!" another one answered frantically.

The first healer went to the hidden fireplace. "Albus Dumbledore!"

Albus appeared on the other side of the fire. "What is it?" he asked calmly.

"Harry Potter has been tortured and is not healing like he should be. The torturer has put some sort of enchantments on him."

Dumbledore's face looked grim. "I will be there as soon as I can get another source of help." He left the fireside and the healer came back out of the fire.

"He will be here soon," she informed the rest of them. "I don't think we should try anything else until he gets here. We don't want to hurt him further or damage his magic."

The rest of the healer's agreed. After only a few more minutes, Dumbledore and Severus Snape came out of the fireplace.

"Tell us everything you know." Dumbledore said, very alert.

The healers recounted everything they knew, the healer that had carried him to the 6th floor recounting the state he had been in when he had arrived, the healer that had interviewed Draco told Dumbledore the young man's story, and the other healer's giving information on the treatments they had tried, with the results they had gotten. When Dumbledore had all the information regarding Harry, he stood up.

"Severus and I will be seeing Mr. Potter now. Would you be so kind as to give us his room number?" It was a polite demand.

A healer answered "Sixth floor, room 1172, you will need a healer with you to access that particular floor. I would be glad to assist you."

Dumbledore nodded. "Lead the way."

The healer led Dumbledore up the several floors to Harry's room. The three of them went into his room.

Dumbledore asked, "Would you mind waiting outside for a moment while Severus and I determine the situation with Mr. Potter?" It was once more, one of those polite commands he was so good at giving.

The healer replied, "Yes sir, is there anything I can get for you?"

"No thank you" The healer stepped out of the room and Dumbledore turned to Snape. He looked old once more, and there was no twinkle in his eye.

"I know you have your suspicions on who did this to the boy. Would you mind telling me who you think it is?"

Dumbledore sighed. "It was obviously a Dark wizard, a follower of Voldemort's. I couldn't imagine that anyone else would try such a thing. Most likely right in Voldemort's inner circle. I have my suspicions on who it could be, but as they are simply that, I will not voice them until I have confirmation, or at least more proof. It wouldn't do well to accuse one without evidence."

Snape looked irritated by this. "If you don't tell the Order who you think it is, how are we supposed to help find him?" Snape asked impatiently.

"That is exactly why I am not telling the Order. I won't have anyone do anything rash if there is no need." Dumbledore said, his voice still calm.

"We wouldn't do anything rash! We-"

Dumbledore cut him off by raising a hand. "I will not accuse anyone without evidence." he stated with finality in his voice. "I am more concerned, not with who did it at the moment, but how they managed to find and abduct Mr. Potter. I am confident that no one besides the Order members know where he is, except Mrs. Figg. And I have the utmost confidence that she is not working for Voldemort." He looked down at Harry's body thoughtfully.

After a moment, Snape spoke up. "Do you know the counter curses for the enchantments cast on Potter that are preventing him from healing?"

Dumbledore took out his wand, moving up and down Harry's body. He looked up, very grave. "These enchantments are very powerful indeed. The caster used a very ancient magic. The body can only heal with a potion in which the blood of the caster is necessary."

Snape looked at Dumbledore. "So will you now tell me your suspicions on who did this?"

Dumbledore answered, "I will tell you after I have talked to some people. I need to look into this a bit more, but if within the week, if I do not have any clues to back up my guess, I will release my thoughts on this."

Snape persisted. "You are being unreasonable. Are you going to keep Potter like this for a week just because you don't want to accuse an innocent Death Eater! Do you realize how ridiculous that is? There isn't an innocent Death Eater alive!"

Dumbledore looked into Snape's eyes. "How are you so sure that you are the only spy amongst Voldemort's ranks?" Snape was silent. "I am going to wait for the young man who brought Harry in to arrive. Report back to headquarters and inform the others of what has happened." Dumbledore ordered. He gave a curt bow to Snape, and left to go to the visitors room.

In Diagon Alley...

Draco looked up and down the street, assuring that there was no one around. He went into the Leaky Cauldron and rented a room. He went up to it, and lay down on the bed. It was not very comfortable, and so he transfigured it into a feather soft queen sized bed with lots of feather pillows and lay down. 'Much better. Wonder why the Weasleys just transfigure their house, it wouldn't be hard. Then again, their magic is inadequate enough that they'd simply blow the place up. Might be an improvement though.' He smirked but then grew serious. 'God, in one night I've completely destabilized my whole life, because of that stupid Gryffindor!'

He found himself getting angry with Harry, although he knew that it wasn't really Harry's fault at all. 'It was probably Potter's own stupid 'bravery' that got him into this mess anyways. And I just blew my whole life on rescuing someone that I hate! I've got to be even more stupid than him and Longbottom put together! Well...maybe not that stupid. But pretty damn stupid!' By this time, he was no longer laying down, but pacing the room while squeezing one of his pillows so hard his knuckles were white.

'Since when do I go around saving people? I am a Slytherin, not a fucking Gryffindor (he shuddered a bit as a picture of him laughing with Neville, wearing gold and scarlet came into his mind). 'I've seen loads of people being tortured before. I've never really cared if they died or not. Was it because I know this particular one? I doubt it. Probably would've laughed had it been Longbottom hanging up there. Stupid fucking name anyways. Longbottom? Seriously.' Draco flopped back onto his bed and sighed.

(he shuddered a bit as a picture of him laughing with Neville, wearing gold and scarlet came into his mind). Draco flopped back onto his bed and sighed.

'I am in such deep shit. But wait... Can't all this be reversed? If my father could kidnap Potter, then certainly I can as well. I'll just sneak back up into his ward, bring his body back to the manor, hang it back where it was, and put my father back into his bed. No one will ever be the wiser, save for the healers, and they'll just think that the Dark wizard who took him in the first place had come back to finish him off.' Even as Draco thought of this plan, he knew he could never do it. Not because he didn't want to, as much as the fact that there would be healer's on constant watch of the famous boy for about at least a couple of days. His father would have awoken long before it would be possible to retrieve Harry. He also knew, however, that he didn't want Harry dead.

He now addressed the thoughts that had been nagging at the back of his mind since he realized that the whole house could be under the Fedilius Charm. 'I thought father trusted me. I thought he would have made his only son the secret keeper of his house.' The more he thought about this, the more he realized that his father didn't really view him as a son at all, more as simply and heir to carry on the Malfoy name. 'Father never cared about me or what I wanted. He was going to force me to take the Dark Mark sometime soon wasn't he? And a loving father wouldn't hold their sons under the Cruciatus Curse until they agreed would they?' He now viewed his whole life and family from an outsider's view, and came to a destabilizing conclusion.

'My whole life has been planned out for me. It's not even really my life, is it? My whole life was simply a product of my mother and father's. I was only born so they could keep up appearances and continue the Malfoy bloodline.' He had always known he was expected to carry on the bloodline, but was only now realizing that that had been what his whole life was about. He suddenly felt very empty and betrayed, as well as naive and foolish. 'Why didn't I see this before? It is very obvious. Why didn't I understand this before?' He still couldn't understand why he had been so blind, when he remembered about Harry. 'The whole reason I'm questioning my life, and now my sanity.' He decided to check on him again. He went up to the grate in his room, which had been crackling innocently, and after throwing in floo powder and stepping in, called out his destination and was whirled away. He walked quietly up to the corridor in which Harry's room was located, and was about to go into it when he heard a very familiar voice behind him.

 He had always known he was expected to carry on the bloodline, but was only now realizing that that had been what his whole life was about. He suddenly felt very empty and betrayed, as well as naive and foolish. He still couldn't understand why he had been so blind, when he remembered about Harry. He decided to check on him again. He went up to the grate in his room, which had been crackling innocently, and after throwing in floo powder and stepping in, called out his destination and was whirled away. He walked quietly up to the corridor in which Harry's room was located, and was about to go into it when he heard a very familiar voice behind him.

"Hello Mr. Malfoy. I thought I might be seeing you today."

He turned around and saw Dumbledore standing in front of him.

Authors Notes: Thanks again to all my reviewers! I'm really bad at starting stories and never finishing them, but simply getting one good review is enough to keep me writing. ;)Well, this chapter was a bit longer than the others were. I wasn't sure how much longer you guys 'demand' that it be(JK). I hope it will tie you guys over until the next chapter. Now I want your opinions on something. I put this story in the Romance genre because I might make this a Harry/Draco slash story. I might not, though, and if I decide not to I will change it to another genre. I want all of your opinions on this though, because which ever way it goes will change the story drastically. It won't matter in the next few chapters, but it will eventually. If I decide not to make it a romance, there will be several different ways that this story could go. I'm open to suggestions, because I have a habit of not really planning ahead. Actually, I am writing almost all of this as I go along, and many surprises in the story line come to me about a second before I write them. Lol. Once again, thanks to you lovely reviewers!(Unless you are a guy and don't like being called lovely. If this is the case, ignore the last thanks and read this next one)Thanks also to all you tough and rugged reviewers ;)

P.S. If my chapters are still too short, I apologize. I tried to make it longer really, I did. Gets on knees in begging position Please don't stop reading because my chapter was too short!