I'M FREE!! In other words, school's out. This means that I have more time to write if I can get over my Internet addiction. I'll try to update soon.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, the epilogue would have either been more final or I would be attempting to write a sequel.

"Speech"
'thought'

Harry gave a soft groan as he emerged from unconsciousness. He looked around himself in momentary confusion before realizing that only one place in Hogwarts was so white that it almost hurt the retinas. Having concluded that he was in the Infirmary, he pushed himself up to rest against the backboard, drawing the attention of the other four people in the room.

Poppy bustled over, a relieved grin lighting up her normally taciturn face. Ron and Hermione stood on the other side of the bed, the latter clinging to the former in her worry. Draco was leaning against the wall across the room, his Malfoy mask firmly in place.

"Well, Mr. Potter, it's nice to see that you're finally awake. It was a very near thing. Took me nearly ten minutes to extract all the poison from your blood stream. Now drink this potion and call me if you feel anything odd."

Harry thanked her and drank the bitter red liquid, absently wondering what it was supposed to do, exactly. As the Mediwitch went to a different part of the Hospital Wing, Draco approached Harry's bed.

"How are you feeling, Potter?"

Harry eyed him suspiciously. "I'm feeling all right, actually. Why do you ask?"

"Because that means I can do THIS!" Draco said as he cuffed Harry in the back of the head. The wounded boy rubbed the stricken spot while glaring at his assailant, but the blonde wasn't through yet. "What were you thinking? That you should just get the job done and worry that you had been hit by a poisonous barb later? Pft, Gryffindors! You should have told Sprout the second that barb hit your arm! For that matter, I should have noticed that you had been hit. If not that, at least that you were acting oddly," he finished quietly, the last part more to himself than to the rest of the room.

Harry sent a pleading glance to Hermione. She nodded and dragged Ron from the room, muttering something about making use of his free period. Harry returned his attention to Draco after the door shut behind his best friends. He was shaking viscously, his worry evident now that the mask had crumbled. Harry sighed and tugged on his arm so that the distraught boy was sitting next to him on the bed.

"I'm sorry, Draco," he muttered, pulling him into a slightly awkward embrace. Draco initially stiffened before subtly moving closer. "You're right. I should have told Sprout that I'd been hit. My Gryffindor side was in control at the moment, though. I guess I just wanted to prove myself. Besides, I've been exposed to poison before, both through ingestion and injection; I thought I'd built up a tolerance, but I was evidentially wrong."

Draco pulled away, apparently having regained his composure. "Actually, Sprout said you should have gone down the second that dart hit you. Even if you didn't, you shouldn't have been able to hold the jar steady or have even semi-coherent thoughts. So it could have been much worse, though it was still reckless of you to not let on that something was wrong!"

Harry grinned at him. "Aww! Was Draco worried about little old me?" he asked playfully, fluttering his eyelashes. "I'm flattered."

Draco's face flushed a light pink as he shoved him. "Shut up, you wanker," he said, returning the grin with a smirk. "I have to go now. I have some Ancient Runes homework I need to finish before next period. Will you be okay?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine. I've been in here enough times to be comfortable."

Draco rolled his eyes as he gracefully stood, the tips of his fingers lingering on the back of Harry's hand. They traveled up his arm as he walked away, finally leaving Harry altogether as he moved beyond the head of the bed. Harry sighed quietly as the door shut, suddenly missing the other's boy's touch. The lingering feel of the fingers caused goosebumps to rise where they had been and Harry to shudder.

'Probably still messed up from the poison,' was his last thought as he sat back against the headboard, staring blankly at the opposite wall.

XXXXXXXX

Madame Pomfrey released Harry in time for his next period, albeit reluctantly. He actually somewhat wished she'd seen fit to hold him until dinner. In truth, he was nervous about what he was about to walk into. When he'd realized that he didn't like Divination at all back in third year, Harry had signed up for a summer course in Ancient Runes. Even though he was learning the same material as the other students taking the course, his progress was slower due to the obvious lack of a real professor. He did that until he took a trip to the Ministry of Magic at the end of last week to take his O.W.L.s, which he'd managed to pass with an Exceeds Expectations. This meant that he was now able to take the course with the other students at Hogwarts. However, after teaching himself for so long, he could only hope that he was prepared to learn from a teacher and have to deal with quizzes, tests, and real deadlines.

When he found himself outside the Ancient Runes classroom, Harry took a bracing breath and knocked firmly.

"Enter."

Harry slowly entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

"I apologize for my tardiness, Professor."

"Quite alright, Mr….Potter, was it? Yes, I was warned that I would receive a new student today. Well, what are you waiting for? Find an empty seat, already!"

His head down, Harry did as he was bidden. He could feel the confused stares following him. As he passed Hermione's desk, he made brief eye contact, sending the message that he would explain later. He finally reached an empty seat at the back of the room and sat down. Draco met his eye and raised an eyebrow inquiringly, but Harry shook his head.

"Today we will begin our unit on elemental runes. Who can list the elemental runes for me?"

Harry, Hermione, Draco, and a few other people raised their hands. The professor looked at Harry.

"Mr. Potter, I know you're new in this class, but feel free to answer if you think you can."

"The main elemental runes represent fire, water, air, and earth. However, there are also runes for steel, wood, thunder, and ice. The two most recently discovered runes represent darkness and light, but very little is known about these." After finishing his answer, Harry glanced around the classroom and had to suppress a smirk at the many gobsmacked faces of his new classmates.

"Excellent answer Potter! Five points to Gryffindor. As Mr. Potter said, the main elemental runes are fire, air, water, and earth. We will focus on these for now and see if we can progress to the others later."

Now, elemental runes are different from most others we will study. They are, of course, carved into many objects. However, a person can also be born with an elemental rune as a birthmark. This is a rare occurrence. In fact, the last known case was a hundred years ago. Having an elemental rune birthmark is usually thought of as a sign of power. In fact, legends say that a witch or wizard with one has their natural powers increased, take on some of the traits of the element they are marked with, and have more control over spells involving that element. For today's assignment, copy the runes off the board and write down the information on page two hundred and sixty-eight in your books next to the appropriate rune."

Harry began sketching the pictures on the board. After a few minutes, he glanced around the room in boredom. His gaze landed on Hermione, who seemed to have frozen.

'Odd,' he thought in bemusement, his confusion growing when he saw Draco in a similar state, 'Very odd.'

Harry shrugged, figuring there was nothing he could do at the moment. He wouldn't be the only one being interrogated, though.

XXXXXXXX

"Harry, why were you in my Ancient Runes class today?"

Ron swallowed his food and glanced at Harry curiously. "So that's where you were. I thought you were just in the library or still in the Hospital Wing."

Harry sighed. "I'm going to be in your class for the rest of the year, Hermione. Actually, make that the rest of our school careers." Seeing that his friends were about to launch into a stream of questions, he quickly continued. "I've been teaching myself Ancient Runes since the summer after third year. I went to the Ministry to take my O.W.L. for that class, and I passed. That made me eligible to take the class at Hogwarts."

"But Harry, why did you sign up to take the summer classes in the first place?"

Harry grinned at the bushy-haired witch. "I realized you were right about Divination, Hermione; we weren't going to learn anything in that class. Besides, the material didn't exactly interest me. Runes sounded interesting, so I signed up for it. So, 'Mione, why did you look like you saw Voldemort in class earlier?"

"Wait until we're in the Common Room."

"But-"

Hermione leveled him with a hard stare. Harry quelled and ducked his head, not wanting to incur her wrath.

"Okay," he said weakly. "Hey, what happened after I passed out in Herbology?" Harry asked, figuring that a subject change was in order.

Ron frowned. "Well, everyone kind of panicked. Professor Sprout ordered us to take you to the Hospital Wing over the chaos, as the poison had spread too thoroughly to be healed with the antidote by then. Hermione was about to levitate you, but Sprout stopped her. Something about you being unstable."

"The plant's poison contains a chemical that reacts atomically with magic to produce random effects. Depending on the strength of the magic, the results will vary. Anything, from you turning purple to spontaneous eruption, could have happened if I'd cast that spell on you," Hermione clarified.

Harry and Ron blinked at her. "Um, yeah. What she said," Ron muttered before continuing his story. "Anyway, after Sprout said that, Malfoy picked you up and carried you to the Infirmary with Hermione, our partners, and me following. Zabini and Parkinson-sorry, Blaise and Pansy- went to tell Sprout that it didn't look like we were returning to class, and then they came back. They left about five minutes before you woke up."

"Wow. I didn't mean to cause such a ruckus."

"Yeah, well, it was bound to happen. Where the Chosen One goes, chaos follows, after all."

Ron laughed as Harry threw a dinner roll at his face, hitting him in between the eyes. "Aw, stuff it Weasel," he said jokingly.

The laughter ceased abruptly, as did several of the conversations taking place around the Golden Trio.

"What did you just call me?" Ron hissed.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, Ron! You know I didn't mean it as an insult."

Said boy glared. "It's the principle of the matter. You're beginning to sound too much like Malfoy for my liking. You should stop hanging around him outside of class."

The entire Gryffindor table went silent at Ron's words, drawing the attention of the entire Great Hall with their abnormal muteness. It wasn't that they disagreed with the youngest Weasley boy; it was that very few people dared to tell Harry Potter what to do, especially that year. They turned to Harry, awaiting his reaction.

"Ron, you're being ridiculous! I don't sound like anyone but myself! And if you think I'm going to stop talking to Draco," Harry ignored the gasp that rang throughout the Hall when he called his rival by his given name, "just because you say to, then you've got another thing coming."

"Ooh, Potter getting chummy with the Junior Death Eater extrordinaire now? That's just what we need: another Dark wizard!"

For the second time in as many days, a powerful wind picked up around Harry. The torches that lined the Great Hall and the candles floating above the students' heads flickered once before extinguishing, leaving the room in complete darkness save for the cosmic bodies on the enchanted ceiling. Shocked and terrified screams filled the room as flames surrounded Harry's body. He moved towards Ron, oblivious to his condition. Ron found himself backing away as quickly as he could for fear of being scorched; even Hermione and Ginny had no choice but to move away.

"For your information, Weasley, not all Dark wizards are evil. Actually, Voldemort is nothing but a poser. True Dark wizards who have not lost sight of the Old Ways view what he did as an atrocity, and what he has become as an abomination! It is a sin to attempt to slay an infant, an even bigger one to flee from death. Death is not something to be fearful of; after all, it's just the next adventure," he hissed quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear.

The presence of a cool hand on his arm made Harry realize how hot he had become. He followed that hand to the arm and, eventually, face of Draco, his slate colored eyes glinting at him in the light of the flames.

"Harry, stop. Everyone's staring. Besides, you're causing a scene," he drawled, masking his awe with a façade of carelessness.

Harry glanced around. Dumbledore or one of the other professors had ignited the torches again. Sure enough, every pair of eyes was staring at him in fear, shock, horror, disgust, or, in some cases, awe. He sighed and, very slowly, the flames encompassing him began to recede.

As he began to reign in his anger, he took in his surroundings more fully. The Silver Trio was standing near the charred Gryffindor table, though only Draco had dared to come closer. Neville had moved as far away from Harry as possible, and the other Gryffindors were sitting in their seats in shock. Most of the first years and even a few of the second years had tears of fear pouring down their faces. Ron's clothes were burnt and his skin scalded, drawing a sense of satisfaction from Harry. However, this soon faded when he saw Hermione cradling her right hand.

"Hermione, what happened?"

She looked up, revealing the tears in her eyes, before turning away again. Ginny scowled at him.

"She touched you, tried to keep you from doing something you'd regret, that's what. You burned her, Harry, you bastard!" she snarled at him.

Harry's eyes widened in shocked horror at himself and he backed towards the Great Hall doors, dislodging Draco's hand from his arm in the process. The other Houses were coming out of their stupor and the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were glaring at him, none worse than the Gryffindors.

This was the last straw. Harry turned and fled, more terrified of himself than he had ever been of Voldemort.

"Harry, wait!" Draco's rare plea fell on deaf ears as the doors shut behind the fleeing figure. The blonde glared fiercely at the other students, causing several to think that he was about to spontaneously combust as well. When he turned his glare to the professors, all but two flinched and looked away. The twinkle returned briefly to Dumbledore's blue eyes, and Snape raised an eyebrow in wry amusement, recognizing that his student was about to unleash some of his anger.

"You all should be ashamed," he hissed coldly, his voice like steel, causing everyone, including the professors, to flinch. "You know good and well that was an accident! If anything, it was the Weasel's fault for taking a joke so seriously. And you, Weaselette!" he rounded on the youngest Weasley. "You of all people should know that Harry wouldn't intentionally do something to hurt his friends. Fucking hell, even I know that, and I've been his fucking rival since the second time we met! Besides, Granger doesn't blame him, do you, Granger?"

Hermione looked up, wiping her tears with her good hand. She gave Draco a watery smile, "Of course not. I know that he loses control of his magic sometimes."

Draco nodded at her in thanks. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find a certain distraught Gryffindor."

That said, Draco ran from the Great Hall, leaving hundreds of stunned people in his wake.

Author's Note: Another chapter down! Like the others, this one was written early in the morning. I realize that I may have too many little subplot-things going at once, but it's really not my fault! Blame the subconscious. Anyway, I'm still taking song requests and, even though I know that it's cliché to ask, please review!

I'd like to thank ShadowMoonDancer for her beta-ing services and for suggesting the title of this chapter.

Thanks to the chapter 10 reviewers:

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