Trigger Warning: depictions of self-harm and mentions of previous suicide attempts after page break until the end of the chapter. Please be careful! Check chapter notes at the end for details.

Hey everyone! I'm so honoured and overjoyed with your responses to the story so far. Thank you all very much! I'll try to answer all of them today or tomorrow.

I had so much fun writing the first part of this chapter that I decided to upload it a day earlier. Surprise! There's also an Easter Egg referencing one of my favourite Dramione fics. Can you spot it?

Be careful cause it gets darker at the end, though. Please reach out if you're in need of help.

"You lucky bloke" Blaise commented with bated breath, appraising the room he was standing in.

Draco supposed it was a beautiful space, but he hadn't really paid much attention to it since his mind had been worried with thoughts of the curly-haired witch — and then of the curly-haired cat. An elf must've come to set things right while he was gone, though, for the room was now impeccable. His robes were on the coat stands by the door, the heap of cushions he'd arranged in front of the hearth were in their place and there were no signs of blood anywhere.

However, there were no signs of the cat either. Had she run away?

"I must say, it is quite big for a place that's supposed to house only two people" Theo wondered aloud, letting his eyes roam across the cozy common room. It was much more inviting than the Slytherin dungeons, with plush couches and settees by the fireplace. There was a small kitchenette on the side, with several cupboards containing dinnerware, he discovered after snooping around.

Meanwhile, Draco scanned the floor nervously, paying no mind to his nosy friends.

"How did you like your rooms, Drakey?" Blaise asked with a snicker, noticing he wasn't really paying attention.

"They're fine" he answered absentmindedly, setting the basket with food on top of the four-person table. Then, he proceeded to crouch under it, failing to find his companion again.

"Uh, Draco? What in Merlin's left tit are you doing?" Theo questioned him, for it had been years since he'd last seen his friend so close to the floor. Blaise just watched, an amused smile plastered on his face.

"I'm looking for my cat" the blond answered noncommittally through his teeth, knowing this would bring an onslaught of questions. Well, if she was missing, he'd rather have their help instead of searching on his own.

Finally, Blaise caved, letting out a guffaw. "Mate, you didn't tell us you got a pet."

"It's just temporary" he replied, walking to the other end of the room and getting down on his knees to try his luck under the couches. "I found her yesterday night and I need to find her owner."

Theo and Blaise exchanged a look, deciding to be as helpful as possible. Draco hadn't been well for years, so they half-thought he'd been experimenting with potions again and had been seeing things. Theo shrugged, waving his wand silently to set the table for three while motioning Blaise to talk to him.

"Right," Blaise said with a click of the tongue and a tone that betrayed his disbelief. "So what does she look like?"

Draco was crawling across the floor, examining every nook and cranny. "Well she's brown, about this big," he illustrated by holding his hands in front of him, "and her hair is kinda curly, like a mix between a sheep and a cat, maybe?"

"Okay," Blaise answered with a small smile, calmly noting that his friend was saying the truth. "Kind of like the one on that couch?"

Draco's head snapped towards the direction Blaise was pointing at. Sure enough, the escapee was half-hidden behind a big cushion, her body low and her tail coiling. She was observing her surroundings with wide open eyes, weary of the new unknown intruders. Draco had been so scared he hadn't looked on top of that particular couch, foolishly thinking she'd be on the floor like a dog.

A sharp wave of relief washed over his body, having already thought that she was gone forever. He felt strangely responsible for her, even though they'd only been together for less than twelve hours.

"There you are! You scared me. I brought some sausage" he said in an effort to make her at ease, summoning a plate from the cupboard and putting it on the floor, right below where she was. Then, without paying attention to his friends' utter looks of bewilderment, he unpacked the sausages from the basket and placed it neatly on her plate.

"I hope you like them" he told her with a soft voice, smiling at the eagerness in her face before going back to sit at the table. When he sat down, he subconsciously made sure she was in his line of sight at all times.

Blaise and Theo were shocked at Draco's behaviour. He had almost been - normal. There was something about the furry creature that made his dull eyes spark like they did years ago. Plus, the cat was a beauty, and stood out like a beacon. If it wasn't from a first year, they were quite sure it was from no one they knew. Where did it come from, then?

"Come on, stop standing around with your mouths open like a pair of idiots. Let's eat."

And to that, they raised their eyebrows. Draco had stopped eating well since sixth year, his body gaunt and lean to prove it. He skipped every meal he could and barely nibbled his food on the ones he couldn't, nevermind urging others to eat with him. What in Morgana's name was going on?

They shrugged, shelving the discussion for later and taking their seats. They only hoped his rare behaviour would hold. He'd had similar episodes in the past which falsely implied recovery. A couple of days would pass and then he'd come tumbling down again. They'd do their research later.

For a while, they ate in silence, only commenting on frugalities like how delicious the cauldron cakes were or how perfectly crunchy their toasts were prepared. Unluckily for Draco, he knew his friends were biding their time, having been privy to their relentless curiosity for many years.

As usual, it was Theo who broke the silence.

"So where did it come from?"

Draco took a deep breath, deciding to explain almost the whole thing. It wouldn't do for his best friends to regard him as a basket case, having never presented many abilities as a seer. "Right. So I found her at night being attacked by Mrs. Norris-"

"That bitch" Blaise interrupted, bitter at the mention of the hateful creature who had got him many detentions over the years.

Theo sneered, always rejoicing at the opportunity to be facetious. "Technically, bitches are female dogs and Mrs. Norris is a feline, which makes her-"

Blaise raised his wand stoically, silencing Theo's tirade without so much as a glance, lifting an eyebrow at his companion for him to continue. Meanwhile, Draco sniggered.

"As I was saying, she was hurt and alone, so I brought her here-"

"Wait, her?" Blaise asked, puzzlement furrowing his brows. "How do you know it's a she if you haven't even found its owner?"

Draco huffed, not thrilled at being constantly interrupted. "Well, she was bleeding pretty much everywhere, so I kinda saw while I was looking for injuries to close-"

A loud wheeze interrupted them once again. There, next to her plate, Draco's temporary pet coughed endlessly, her mouth opening in expressions so horrific they would probably be funny if the circumstances were different.

"Salazar, she's choking-"

With the loss of concentration, Blaise's silencing spell had broken. Theo, an avid Magical Creature enthusiast, all but ran to her aid. He kneeled on the floor, laying her flat over his thighs and muttering an incantation to dislodge the piece of sausage that was blocking her windpipe. With a final, undignified cough, it left her body and rolled to the floor before being evanescoed by a disgusted Blaise.

"Charming" he commented, eyeing the defeated feline with a scrunched up nose. Meanwhile, Theo softly caressed her back, ensuring she was alright.

"It's okay, girl" he cooed, "take it easy next time, okay?"

The poor animal lay on his legs, completely defeated. She was still recovering from the lack of breath, so she inhaled deeply as Theo petted her head.

"She's truly beautiful, but she does look a little skinny, like she hasn't eaten a proper meal for days. I doubt she's anyone's pet" Theo pondered, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration. "And it's not a common breed for it to be wandering the streets. She must be a Selkirk Rex. I wonder if we can keep her?" he asked, looking at her in the eyes.

"No," Draco answered halfway through his cauldron cake, "not until we make sure no one's looking for her."

"Well," Blaise asked excitedly while he made his way to Theo, "we'd better give her a name, then!"

Draco gave an indignant cough. " Excuse you, did you hear a word-"

"What about Sylvie, girl? You like Sylvie?" he wondered aloud, sitting down next to Theo and blocking her from Draco's view on purpose. Her ears flattened when he finished the question, a low rumble sounding from her throat.

Theo chuckled heartily. "Look, I think she loves it!" he clowned, making her tail flick and growl louder.

"Alright, alright, not Sylvie," he conceded, caressing her carefully on the chin. At this, her tail curled around her body comfortably. "What do you think of Iris?"

Not-Iris blinked slowly, her face annoyingly asking "seriously?"

Blaise was in stitches. "Man, she's so smart. I love her already."

"What about Lilith?" a soft voice asked from behind them, bringing the young men back from their goofy bubble. The cat's ears perked up, her head turning towards its source. Draco was peering intently at her from behind Blaise, his gray eyes seeking for confirmation.

Theo smiled suddenly. "Hey, she's purring!"

"Lilith it is then," Blaise declared, standing up and dusting his robes off with his hands. "Come on, we're gonna be late for class and you need a shower" he said, jabbing his finger at Draco's chest for emphasis.

In response, he made an obscene gesture with his hand. "Fuck you." Internally, though, he took account of his greasy hair and vaguely disturbing body odor. Blaise had the subtlety of a giant in an apothecary, but his friend did have a point. When did he let himself sink so low?

Draco took the time to examine his arm in a transfixed state. He wondered when was the last time he'd had a decent shower, seeing as he had taken to scourgifying himself instead. There was something about being locked inside a tiled, echoing room that beckoned the deeper thoughts he fought so hard to drown in alcohol.

His left forearm pulsed underneath the running water. There the Mark stood, as black as the day his own father had offered him to be branded like cattle, in stark contrast against his alabaster skin. He could see the blue lines running like rivers underneath, carrying the precious substance the Malfoys had so eagerly defended for centuries.

Blood.

He took a closer look at the furious scabs littering his skin. He'd promised his friends he'd stop hurting himself the last time they found him on the floor, drunken out of his mind and stained crimson. He'd promised his own mother he'd stop the day she found him on the bathtub, when he almost succeeded carving the wretched thing off. But the pain… it made him feel something. It was a sudden rush of feeling before the numbness settled down once again. He hadn't really been able to stop.

The Mark always healed itself back, almost to pristine perfection, without the help of any spells, ointments or potions. It mocked him every single time he felt brave enough to let his eyes wander down its expanse, the grotesque figure reminding him of his unforgivable transgressions. If he looked closely enough, he could see the markings of his futile attempts to remove it in the shape of faint, thin, gray lines. However, once they reached the unmarred skin, they immediately turned red.

The frothy bubbles stung when they came in contact with his injuries, but at that point, he definitely couldn't care less. As unfamiliar as the process of lathering his own body had become, he welcomed the pain like the old friend it was, spending a bit of extra time on his arm before rinsing.

He wondered if Granger's mark on her arm hurt her daily, too.

TW Summary: Draco has a shower for the first time in weeks. He looks at the scars on his marked arm: evidence of earlier suicide attempts and current self-harm. As his wounds sting with the bubbles, he wonders if Hermione's scars hurt her always as well.

Did you find the Easter Egg? Theo mentions "Sylvie" as a name option, referencing "The Potions Mouse" from user Misdemeanor1331 on AO3! /works/20263510/chapters/48029761