IV. THIS IS FRIENDSHIP

Harry was unhappy, the only times she had seen Draco were when they were passing in the halls, and three of those five times they had ended up hexing each other, and therefore, much to Ron's delight, she hated Draco Malfoy once again. Harry didn't understand it, how could he just be like that? Hermione of course had told her countless time how much it made sense for Draco – Malfoy to turn into a penis again, but to Harry it didn't seem right.

They continued like this for a few more weeks, Harry completely ignoring her friends and throwing herself either into schoolwork or into Malfoy (to injure him, that is) of course, she knew she would have to face her life again someday, and unfortunately for Harry, that day was today.

"Harry could I speak to you after class?" Anastasia had been standing by the door and startled her as she came in, but Harry recovered and nodded quickly enough, she was first to class, and took her seat.

The lesson was uninteresting, just going over spells that are useful in combat, ones that are easy to say with minimal wand swishing, Harry stayed back to speak to Anastasia.

"Harry, relax, I vant to speak to you about Sasha," Anastasia motioned for her to sit on her desk next to her, "He is not vell, you have noticed?"

"No, I haven't sorry," Harry said, thinking back to the last time she had spoken to Sasha.

"Could you speak vit him? And just see if he is upset," Anastasia smiled lightly, "I vould but he vould not like me to, he is very independent."

"Of course, I'll have a word with him." Harry promised, feeling terrible she had neglected her friend so completely.

Harry went to History next, and being the most boring topic on the face of the world, even though they were learning about a Vampire Metamorphagus called Luca who slyly made her was into the hearts of muggle families before killing them all, and the effect that she had on wizarding laws and regulations regarding both muggles and magical creatures, she was still bored out of her mind.

"Sasha, are you awake?" Harry gently nudged Sasha's elbow, and he lifted his head.

"Yes, Harry?" Harry felt extremely guilty, it was obvious he hadn't been eating or sleeping, his eyes were bloodshot and she swore his hair was thinner.

"What's wrong Sasha, you obviously haven't been looking after yourself." Harry absently wiped some smudged ink off his cheek.

"I am fine, don't worry," Sasha's voice trembled when he said it, Harry just gave him a look.

"Fine, I'm concerned for Echo, I believe she is very unwell." Sasha ran his hand through his hair, "She has been vomiting and is tired and sick, she has lost weight and does not act happy."

"Oh, ok, what do you think is wrong?" Harry asked. Sasha just shook his head.

"I could not say but, when I saw him, to ask about Echo, Draco seemed just as run down and ill. They both look pained by something." Sasha waved his hand, "I'm sure its nothing, I'm not feeling well, I think I will see the nurse."

Harry barely noticed him leave the room, Professor Binns didn't notice at all. Hermione noticed of course and move into Sasha's vacated seat.

"You ready to talk to me yet Harry?" She said. Harry sighed. Harmione gave her a look.

"I guess I should, huh?" She whispered with a weak smile. "When did everything get so complicated?" Hermione grabbed her hand with a sad smile.

Harry took Hermione's advice to heart and searched for Malfoy, she couldn't even find him on the map, so he was definitely up to something, but what? She found Echo though, in what looked like the potions masters office.

Harry just wandered the castle then until curfew, heading back to Gryffindor tower where Sasha had waited for her.

"Hello Harry," he said, his accent was getting a lot clearer now, he could even do a 'th' and 'w' sound thanks to a 'noise making class' the Gryffindor sixth years had, all of them pulling faces and making weird sound to 'help' Sasha with his English. But he had to be concentrating real hard to do them. No one minded his accent though, and many of the Gryffindors found it maddeningly attractive.

"Hey, what did Madame Pomfrey say?" Harry asked sitting by him.

"I vas dehydrated, I have to take a potion vit every meal for a few weeks to lower my stress level and make up for the lack of food." Sasha sighed, "I hate potions."

Harry giggled remembering Sasha's attempt at potions, he had been kicked out of the NEWT class for melting too many cauldrons, even with Harry and Hermione's help.

"Shut up Harry." Sasha said, though he was smiling at her. She pulled a chess board over between them, she was rubbish at the game but she knew Sasha enjoyed it and his eyes lit up at the challenge. They actually stayed up quite late, Harry even improving her chess skills marginally, it was three in the morning before they left the common room for bed.

The very next day, the sun rose to a beautiful clear sky and everyone was amazingly happy because it was Friday morning; of course, the newspaper brought devastating news to most of the students.

DEATH EATERS ATTACK MINISTRY OF MAGIC

At around eight pm last night, The followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named launched an attack at the Ministry of Magic. There were around eighty employees still in the building when over two hundered death eaters attacked. There seemed to be no real goal of the attack, nothing was taken and no information was compromised, but the employees were all executed and their bodies left strung up in the Atrium.

It is truly the most horrendous attack with the greatest number of casualties mounted by any dark lord, last night family and friends were notified of the names of the victims and the ministry is already planning the erection of a memorial and a service for their memory.

The Wizarding community of Britain is asked not to panic in such times, but we highly recommend strongly warding your property against attack and leaving your children at Hogwarts, which has some of the best protection in the world.

Please go to pages 5-11 for more information on warding your home, and what to do in case of an attack on your person, residence or nearby residence.

Harry dropped the paper, Hermione read it in a mere second and they both looked around the hall. Harry covered her mouth with her hands.

"Hermione, where's Ron?" She asked, Hermione made a strangled noise and shook her head.

"I don't know," She said, "You don't think Mr. Weasley-?" She began, Harry shook her head.

"No, he's fine, he must be fine."

The bell rang and the girls and Sasha headed towards transfiguration They never even made it to the Transfiguration classroom. McGonagall took Harry and Hermione aside.

"I'm very sorry for the both of you, Mr. Weasley has been taken home today because Arthur Weasley and Percy Weasley were both killed in the attack on the Ministry."

Neither Harry nor Hermione could move or speak, Hermione eventually started crying, and Harry held her while she did. "Can we go to see him professor?" Harriet asked, McGonagall shook her head. "Only the immediate family of the victims are allowed to leave the school, they will be back within the week." McGonagall said, "You may write to him of course, and classes will be cancelled until the students return."

McGonagall left them, Hermione hiccupping slightly, Harry refused to believe such a thing could be true. Mr. Weasley couldn't be dead, not the kindly mad who asked the most bizarre questions about muggle items and who always winked at his children when their mother was giving them a lecture on one thing or another. Or Percy, with his horned rimmed glasses and absolute dedication to the rules.

"I'm going to write him," Hermione said, "I'll sign your name too Harry, will you be alright by yourself?" She asked, Harry smiled sadly at the teary eyed girl and nodded.

"I'll see you tonight then, thankyou Hermione."

Harry eventually stood in the shadows of the 2nd floor girl's bathroom, thinking it was myrtle standing at the sinks sobbing, but Myrtle's soft voice drifted through the bathroom.

"I can help you; tell me what's wrong,"

Harry recognised the harsh, cold voice of the reply. The sound of his voice brought his pale sneering 11 year old face to the front of her mind.

"No one can help me."

Draco Malfoy.

Harry knew Malfoy would probably attack her if he knew Harry was here, listening to him cry.

But Harry had a saving people thing, and she would blame that if you asked her now.

"Malfoy?" Harry called out to the almost empty bathroom.

"D-Draco are you ok?" Harry called out again.

"Potter?" Malfoy was furious; Harry could hear the fury in his movements as he drew his wand. "Get out, leave me be."

"I want to help." She pleaded, feeling utterly worn out because of everything that had happened today, she suddenly regretted offering her help. He was never going to accept it.

"Help?" Malfoy was moving now, wand out, trying to hex her away, Harry carefully stayed hidden. "You have to help everyone don't you Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "Well you can't help me."

"Apart from Myrtle, has anyone even offered?" She shot back, though she still didn't feel as fiery as she normally would be.

"Yes!" Malfoy said, rather defensively.

"Snape," Harry said. Malfoy was silent.

"I can't do this," Malfoy said, "Look at me, crying in a bloody girl's bathroom."

"Do what, Draco?" Harry poked her head around the side of the sink, and when she was sure he wouldn't hex her, she went over to him.

"Don't worry, I'm just stressed, war and everything."

Harry looked at her feet, "you are not alright." Harry said, still not looking at him. "I'm worried about you, and I… I miss you."

"I know Mr. Weasley was killed, are you alright? I thought you were close to them?" He asked instead. The words cut her, but she still wouldn't believe it was real, so she stayed silent on the matter, just nodded.

Draco pulled her to him and stroked her hair, kissing her forehead softly. Harry wanted to pull away, she really did. She wanted to shake him and make him tell her what was bothering him, if only to forget about the tragedy the Weasleys were living with now, but she had missed him, in more ways than just his company, so she sat there and let him hold her.

They were inseparable then next few days, just as well because the castle was almost deserted, most students had gone home to be with their families, more attacks were happening every day and many people wanted to go into hiding, the muggle studies teacher had gone missing.

They were in the room of requirement, alone in front of a fire, Draco was telling her about his childhood, and Harry was happy to hear Lucius wasn't a bad father, just a bad human being. Narcissa sounded like such a nice lady.

"Could I meet your mother, Draco?" Harry asked, there had been a lull in the conversation, and Harry was looking at the picture Draco kept of his mother in his wallet. She had long straight blonde hair and she looked incredibly like Draco, she also reminded Harry strongly of Sirius.

"Um, I guess," Draco said, "I don't think you should meet my father though, at least until after the war."

"and I don't suggest you meet the Dursley's at all," Harry said, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just glad I have you."

"You have me?" Harry didn't like the thought of being owned.

Draco blushed this time. "I wasn't supposed to, to fall in love with you Harry," He moved away from her, she was left speechless. "I can forget about all the bad stuff when I'm with you.

Harry smiled at him and grabbed his hand, snuggling in next to him.

"You can have me then," She said, "Draco, I love you too."

Harry blinked wearily the next morning; they had fallen asleep talking last night. She was on top of Draco's chest, his arms were around her waist, she looked at his face, he was still sleeping and looked so relaxed. He moved in his sleep and pulled her on to the lounge next to him; she was truly trapped now.

Harry managed to turn herself around and looked at his arms, they were wrapped all the way around her and his hands were holding her tightly.

"Draco, wake up," she whispered to him as she attempted to pry his arms off, she got the left one first and managed to get it off her when she saw it, the Dark Mark seemed even blacker because his skin was so pale, she felt her scar burn just a little, but she barely noticed.

Harry's breath had stopped; she couldn't believe he was… She had suspected, once but forgot he could be that kind of person.

And he must have been planning this all along, maybe he would take her on a nice little date and give her over to the fucking dark lord.

Harry finally snapped back to attention and hit him, hard, he woke, afraid and let her go. Harriet thought to scoop up her school shoes and wand before sprinting back to Gryffindor common room, she could hear Draco chasing after her but ran as fast as she could until she was back at the common room.

Sasha was there, which surprised her and all she could do was scream. "Harry, Harry vats the matter?" Sasha grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a hug, she was crying, she didn't know if she would ever stop crying.

"Harry?" Sasha asked again.

And all she could manage was "He's a fucking death eater."

Sasha said nothing, just held her as she cried.

Draco hadn't left school, as Harry expected him to, and Harry hadn't told anyone, but she knew she should have, again she threw herself into her schoolwork, most students –including Ron and Hermione- were back and they all had been working incredibly hard to catch up in time for their finals, Harry wasn't worried, she was far ahead and only doing better the longer she didn't think about Draco.

Their History of magic final was the first exam, and they were in the Great Hall just like the OWLS had been, Harry found it easy, she found History incredibly interesting when it wasn't explained by a ghost with a monotone and no interest in entertaining his class, hence Harry had read about the subject in her own time, not having much else to read.

She met with Hermione – who was looking up all the questions she wasn't certain of- and Ron -who was still mourning the loss of his dad and Percy, so as one can imagine, not exactly riveting conversation.

Harry began to think, and again remembered the morning she found Draco's mark, and not wanting to remember that, Harry began to read 1000 magical herbs and fungi.

By the time Harry finished all her exams she had begun reading next year's text books, she knew one day her friends would get out of their funk and force her to confront this, but for now it hurt her far too much to think about it, hence she avoided it at all costs. She was avoiding everything; the death of Mr. Weasly and Percy, Draco, Echo, the whole war.

The term was near ending and Draco was tugging nervously at his left sleeve. He didn't want to be a death eater, he never wanted to be like his father, not since he turned 16 and realised what a…Penis his father was. He nearly cried as he was reminded of Harry, who had called him a penis, and he had laughed at her.

It wasn't supposed to be this way, he should be fighting with his girlfriend because she dropped a hint that she wanted some shoes and he didn't buy them for her, not because they were on opposite sides of a war.

He should worry his parents wouldn't approve of her when she came for dinner in the summer. Not know most of the people at home now would try to kill her.

He needed a plan, but he needed his mother and Snape's help, he needed more information. For now though Draco went where he always went when he was upset, moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor.

Draco pushed the door open, and was surprised to see Harry sitting on the floor talking to Myrtle.

"You're glasses suit you though, you're not un-pretty Myrtle," Harry was saying, Myrtle giggled.

"No one at school liked me; no one has ever liked me." Myrtle looked on the verge of tears again. Draco listen as Harry consoled her and they talked about really girly stuff, until Harry asked a question that made no sense.

"Myrtle do you remember Tom Riddle?" Myrtle nodded slowly.

"He was a bit seedy, I never had much to do with him, good looking though," Myrtle said, and then the ghost drifted off, excusing herself to the lake. Harry stayed there, and Draco realized that he was happy, he was just watching her and he was happy and that's why he decided to cast a body bind curse on her.

Echo was sore all over, she should have expected being the werewolf pack's plaything meant all horror no perks. She was sick of her father worrying, there was nothing for it, and if she wanted to live she had no choice.

She didn't want to die.

She was only made to go to the werewolves when she and Draco had made no to little progress with their plan, some weeks they had nothing to report, the cabinet was stubborn, and The Dark Lord had made sure to keep her father incredibly busy so they couldn't rely on him for help. But the memory of the pack of disgusting animals made her skin crawl, and she felt dirty, she needed to get clean and she went to the shower.

"Echo?" Echo heard her father come into his quarters, she didn't like people touching her, it reminded her of them, and so she stayed in the shower, silent. "Echo?"

Echo continued to scrub at her dirty skin, she'd been in there for at least an hour and a half and she still couldn't get clean.

"Echo!" The door bashed open and her dad came in, there was so much black material swishing around.

"Merlin," Severus said, and Echo noticed the blood, she'd scrubbed her skin off.

"I'm filthy," Echo whispered, Ignoring the pain and scratching at her skin again, her father wrapped her in his cloak, and carried her from the bathroom.

"Echo, stop, now!" Severus grabbed her hands and held them so she couldn't scratch.

Echo cried then, she absolutely wailed as Severus put her onto the bed and Echo blacked out.

She could feel cool fingers holding her forearm. "Severus this has got to stop, you could tell him-"

"He does not accept excuses!" Her fathers voice filled her head, she was so tired, groggy, they'd given her a pain reliever and dreamless sleep, must have.

"Then just don't go back," the healer said, as if it were that simple.

"I am the Order's only informant," Her father told the nurse, "I need to stay there." Echo already knew this, if they were to leave the Death Eaters the war would be lost entierly.

"You have to sort out your priorities! Merlin, Severus, look at what this is doing to her! You have to leave, if it's the only thing that will save you both, you have to. Severus, you can't keep doing this. Mr. Markovic?"

The final name woke something in her, Sasha couldn't be allowed to see her like this, disgusting and filthy and broken. He mustn't know. Her shoulders were held down as she tried to sit up, to fight off the groggy, sleepy effects of the potions but she still couldn't sit up, speak, open her eyes.

The tiredness swept over her again and she could only lie down.

"Vat has happened, Severus?" Sasha asked, she felt him grab her hand but she couldn't even squeeze his fingers to let him know she was alright. She felt his hand on her forearm, fingers brushing over the Dark Mark.

"You're her father, and you should have protected her!" he half yelled "he will kill her!"

"I know," Severus stood up, "but she will be fine, Mr. Markovic, please return to your common room."

Echo could only lay still as she heard the door slam, and Her father scooped her up and walked her back to her room, she fell asleep once more.

"Echo, are you awake?" Severus sat a tray with soup and bread on her bedside table, and she stirred slowly before fully waking. She looked terrible, Poppy had healed her skin, but she looked like she hadn't eaten in days. She hadn't eaten in days, at least not properly. She smiled for a fraction of a second when she saw him, and then she remembered her life again and the smile faltered.

"We're not going back there, Echo," Severus told her, "You're too important for me to loose like this."

"I'm not going anywhere," Echo told him and picked apart the bread that was on the plate, and not eating any.

"It's not fair," Severus said, "I should have protected you better, there's no excuse for-" Echo sighed.

"Can I have some dreamless sleep, please?"

Severus pulled a vial out of his robes, and she downed it immediately. He remembered when she was little she used to inquire about exactly what was in it and what it could easily be mistaken for. Severus watched her sleep for a minuet before sinking down besides the bed. He cried himself to sleep on the floor of her room that night.

Sasha went to find Harry, naturally she was nowhere to be found, he had used her map to find Echo but now had no way to get the map to look for her again. She disappeared a lot lately, going to insanely difficult to find passageways to read her text books, he still couldn't believe she brought extra to read ahead for next year, he would have to confront her about Draco soon, especially if he wanted her help now.

After an hour of looking, Sasha still hadn't found her, and gave up; he would have to help Echo himself. In addition, what did he know about Echo's situation?

She was obviously a Death Eater and Snape was also, of course he heard Snape say he was the only spy the Order of the Phoenix has, so for Snape to leave, they would need a new spy, so Sasha would go in his place. He just needed to know where You-Know-Who was now, obviously he couldn't ask Snape. He was missing something, he knew it.

He also couldn't go to Anastasia; she would have kittens if he told her his plan, and then kick him in the face for being so reckless. But he needed to help Echo, she looked so broken. And he knew he could help.