Harry woke up after six days. Six days of Draco never leaving her side, sitting on the other side of the bed, revising for his OWLs, ashamed he couldn't do more; scared that Harry would never stir.
However, the day before Draco had to leave for Hogwarts, she sat up, eyes landing on Draco, who immediately stowed away his work, before she she visibly relaxed.
"Little dragon, I'm so glad to see you." She said softly, smiling faintly, but Draco wasn't convinced by her act; he knew she wasn't okay.
So he learnt forward and asked "what was wrong with you? You've been out for six days", a worried expression on his face. Harry winced, before replying "I'm fine. I get like that sometimes after he uses too much magic on me. My body basically has a magical overload, and any magic that goes near me causes me immense pain."
Draco started at her for a while, before moving to hug her. He noticed that she flinched at first, before returning his embrace. She was too thin, he realised, as she had missed almost a weeks worth of meals, due to being in a virtual coma.
Draco had to leave late the next day, only a short time before Voldemort would arrive to torture Harry. He left feeling guilty; he wouldn't be able to free her until Yule, as Snape would only give him permission to borrow the restricted book at the start of sixth year, and Yule was the first time that Dracp would see Harry after that.
So he arrived back at Hogwarts with a grimace on his face, and pulled his shirt off before collapsing into his bed, not noticing the curious gazes of his classmates.
o - o - o - o - o
The next morning, Draco woke and dressed, unaware of his peers' curiosity. However, when an arm blocked his exit from the dorm room, he turned to the owner, his teeth bared. Zabini gulped, before starting with:
"What's up with that tattoo on your collarbone? I didn't think you were the type to get a tattoo."
Draco froze, realising his mistake. He was never shirtless around his roommates, so no one had asked about his rune mark from the seeing magical alignment ritual - until this silly mistake of his, Of course.
"It's from a ritual that an... aquaintance and I performed when we were younger." Draco half lied; what he said was mostly true, and not out of character; even if rumours broke out, no one would be any the wiser.
And the rumours did break out. By lunchtime, stories were going around that over Easter, Draco Malfoy had eaten a werewolf's heart to gain its strength; that he was being possessed by a malicious spirit; that he had cast a blood ritual to excel in all his OWLs. And those were the saner theories.
Draco just shrugged them all off, then went back to revising for his charms OWL that afternoon.
As the OWLs went past, he felt he did reasonably well in most of them, and should've scraped at least an E in all of them. And then he ignored his OWLs for the rest of the year.
Fifth year ended quietly for Draco. The rumours died down soon enough, given that only 2 people had actually seen the time on Draco's collarbone, and then Draco spent his time reading in the library, on the subjects that he wanted to take next year: potions, transfiguration, charms, DADA and ancient runes.
o - o - o - o - o
Draco arrived home late in the day, for his summer holidays, and instantly sense Voldemort's magic. He tallied the days up in his head, and, sure enough, it was the day Voldemort was visiting. Draco clenched his fists as tight as they would go, before forcing himself in the opposite direction to Harry's room, step-by-step, until he sat down on his own bed, feeling disgusted with himself for not doing anything to stop Voldemort.
o - o - o - o - o
Draco walked to Harry's room the next morning, and opened the door to find her standing on the rail of the balcony, only in her robe, but her balance was perfect.
"Hi Rosie. What are you doing there?" Draco asked nervously.
"I can't fall. Voldemort told me not to leave my rooms, so my body physically won't let me fall." Harry said dreamily, before realising who she was talking to, and jumping off the rail, a smile fixing itself to her face.
"Little dragon! He said you arrived last night, but I thought it was another lie. I'm so glad to see you!"
Draco heart ached at how optimistic she felt she had to act in front of him; how she couldn't bring herself to say Voldemort's name; how easily she accepted that Voldemort lied to her. And Draco couldn't bear it; he had to tell Harry that he had found a way out, no matter that he couldn't do it for months. He cast some privacy wards around Harry's room, before starting.
"Harry, I found something in my research about your marriage to Vol- him."
Harry's face lit up with hope so fast, and Draco knew this was a bad idea, because she might not like the restrictive terms of the atrachs mating bond, and even if she did, she'd have to wait months, but he couldn't stop now that he'd started.
"It's not a complete way out, though. An atrachs mating bond is the only way to cancel an ancient marriage bond, but it comes with terms of its own.
"You need someone to bond to, and you'd still be bound to them, but they could never force you to do anything, and there is no drive to consummate the bond, but the bonded do find it hard to part. But it can never be broken." Draco's heart ached at the thought of Harry choosing someone else to bond to, but he kept his face clear.
Harry smiled at him.
"It sounds perfect, little dragon; my mate will never leave me." Harry said, her face innocent.
"Who do you think you'll perform the bond with?" Draco asked nervously.
"You, of course!" Harry exclaimed, not noticing how big Draco's grin was, before she leant forward and brushed her lips against Draco's, before walking off to her closet, leaving Draco frozen to the spot.
o - o - o - o - o
Draco had little to do over the summer, except train in duelling with Harry. She had improved massively when he was gone, as she hadn't been able to show him at Easter, and had also incorporated some physical skills into her fighting; once, she cast a spell that sent him staggering, then punched him in the face, leaving him sprawled on the floor.
Both of their fighting was mostly wordless, as well as wandless, by this point; neither struggled with it, and shouting the spell you were about to cast in a fight gave the enemy a chance to avoid it.
Beyond their first, they had only kissed again twice; once, after the next time Voldemort came, to show her that he wouldn't leave her just because she was frequently assaulted, and again, the night before Draco left, with the promise that he'd return with the ritual for the atrachs ritual.
They parted with this same hope, that by the next time Draco left, Harry would be leaving with him.