When Draco arrived back at Hogwarts, he went straight to Snape's office after the feast. He was given permission to enter, and strode straight in, as Snape turned to him.
"Mr Malfoy, I presume you are here for a permission slip, given your acceptable OWL results" Snape said, turning to his desk.
"Yes, sir. I need to free Harry as soon as possible; I should be able to perform the ritual to free her at Yule" Draco drawled, hiding his hope behind his usual mask. Snape turned back to him, holding a slip of parchment.
"I give this to you on one condition: that you bring Harriet back to Hogwarts once you've freed her."
Draco made it refuse, but Snape cut him off.
"Hogwarts is the safest place on Earth. Even if it is only until you graduate, you will be safe here. Protected from the dark lord."
Draco refrained from saying that he and Harry could stand against said dark lord, as he took the slip of parchment, mutely nodding his agreement as he checked that Snape had given him permission for the right book. Upon confirming that the form was filled out correctly, Draco said farewell to Snape before heading back to his dormitory. The Slytherin Common Room was mostly just sixth and seventh years by this point in the evening, and Draco began to walk past them, hoping to be left undisturbed. Unfortunately, his wish was not granted, and halfway across the room, a boy from the year above stepped in front of him.
"Malfoy, is it true that the dark lord has been staying at your Manor for the past year?" He asked, the whole room silent at the question.
"No. He visits once a week." Draco replied, stepping around the boy, only to have his grabbed, just below his dark mark, by a girl.
"Why?" The girl asked
Draco was tired, and saw little point in hiding the truth any longer, and so he snapped out "to visit his wife," before heading off to bed, leaving the common room in chaos. He knew no Slytherins would gossip to other houses about the dark lord, but he prepared himself to be asked a hundred questions the next morning.
o - o - o - o - o
However, Draco skipped all that by getting up early and eating only a bite of breakfast, before heading off to the library.
Madam Pince barely gave the title of the book he wanted a second glance, used to Draco's interest in ancient bonding rituals, but at the note Snape had written, she became incredulous.
"Borrowed indefinitely? Allowed to be taken out of the castle? What in Merlin's name has gotten into him? No restricted section book has ever left Hogwarts." She ranted.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I don't know." Draco said, feigning innocence.
"Well, you stay here, while I go off and get this book you want." Madam Pince said after a few minutes of silence, stalking off.
She returned about five minutes later, with a very, very thin book, and Draco thanked her, before sitting down in a far corner of the library, and reading the runes. He'd finished the book by the time it was first period Potions, and so he headed down to the dungeons a little early.
He was first to the lesson, and sat down in his usual seat. As the other students trickled in, Draco paid them little attention, ignoring Zabini and Parkinson, who were trying to ask him about his declaration the previous evening.
At exactly the time the lesson was supposed to start, Professor Snape strode in, just behind that Granger girl in Gryffindor.
o - o - o - o - o
Next, Draco had a free period, and spent it in the library, firstly writing his potions essay that was set, then rereading the book, until he knew it off by heart.
He spent the rest of the term much the same, performing well in all his lessons, handing his homework in on time, and then learning the ritual.
It was very boring for him; he had to pretend that he wasn't very powerful magically, and not perform his best in lessons, in order to protect Harry; Voldemort couldn't find out how powerful he truly was, before Harry was freed.
The day before he left for Yule, Snape called him to his office.
"Mr Malfoy, I presume you are to free Miss Potter this Yule? When you bring her back to Hogwarts, take the train; I'll make sure Professor Dumbledore places wards on it, so the dark lord won't be able to attack you both."
Draco accepted the offer, before leaving to pack his trunk.
He left Hogwarts the next day, the Atrachs bond book in his robe pocket, hope flowing through him.
o - o - o - o - o
He arrived back at Malfoy Manor, going up to see Harry immediately, and was shocked by what he saw.
Harry was sitting on the floor, a dazed expression on her face, as she vomited again and again, her almost empty stomach causing her to dry heave. Draco instantly rushed over to her, wordlessly vanishing the pile of sick, as he pulled her close to him, as she sobbed.
Harry remained sobbing for the next five days, until she woke up the day Voldemort was going to visit, and realised she couldn't let him see her this weak, so she pulled herself together, and spent the day doing her new favourite activity: duelling with Draco.
An hour before he arrived, she sent Draco away, and prepared herself for the torture to come.
o - o - o - o - o
The next morning, Draco rushed to Harry's room to see how she was, and was shocked by what he saw.