When Blaise Zabini woke the following morning, his first impression was that the dorm was empty. He was late after all. But then, a moment later something came to his attention. The curtains hanging around the bed belonging to one Draco Malfoy was still closed. He sighed, assuming that he must still be asleep.

The previous night had not amused Blaise in the least, in fact, he was disgusted by Theodore's behaviour, and yet he could never bring himself to the boy's defence. He felt sorry for Draco. He'd heard the silencing charm the boy had placed around his bed, and he understood what it could only possibly mean. His dorm mate had been teased to the point of tears, and as he thought such, a wave of pity washed through him. He pulled Draco's curtains open and shook him gently.

"Hey, Malfoy." He glanced around, not wanting to be caught being friendly to the boy. "Malfoy, come on, you have to wake up."

Blaise watched, and as the boy awoke, he pitied the frightened expression on his face and sighed.

"Hey, relax. I'm not gonna hurt you. You've got to get to class." And with that he left.

Draco Malfoy was more than a little surprised to discover Blaise Zabini still acting somewhat decently toward him as he awoke. The blonde boy rubbed at his eyes as he winced. His head hurt, he was exhausted, and the previous night's events came rushing back at him, bringing him once again near the point of tears. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself, and wandered into the bathroom to stare loathingly into the mirror.

His pale cheeks were a little blotchy and his eyes bloodshot and lined with purple shadows. The boy wondered how long he had cried the previous night for him to look so horrendous the next morning. He washed his face only to discover that this had dismal results. As he tried to remember the incantation for a glamour charm, he inwardly scolded himself, reminding himself that he should have expected such a reaction that he shouldn't have allowed himself to get into such a condition.

Finally remembering the charm, and using it to rid the signs of recent crying, he sighed, dejectedly, remembering that whether or not their words got to him, the dark would have caused him to cry anyway.

He was

Just

That

Pathetic.

Sighing, he dressed for class and met Harry in the great hall, after checking twice that he appeared well rested and put together.

Harry Potter was fortunate enough to run into Draco on the way to the Great Hall, and the moment he saw him, and was surprised when the later for lack of a better word launched himself at him, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck and refusing to let go.

"Nice to see you too, Draco." Harry stated with an air of amusement, but at the same time feeling a touch of worry. "Um... sleep well?" Draco just kept his face in the crook of Harry neck for a little while, saying nothing, before finally pulling away.

"Fine." He mumbled. Draco scolded himself, now feeling a nearly irresistible urge to break down and tell Harry everything that had happened the previous night. But he once again reminded himself that Harry wanted him to be strong. "I slept fine."

"Were the Slytherin's bad?" He shook his head, unable to vocalise his lie.

"See I told you it would be okay." Draco Malfoy was again unable to speak. Because it wasn't okay.

Draco Malfoy continued this charade for another week or so, with no changed. Seamus still huffed an walked out of the room whenever the blonde visited the Gryffindor tower and the Slytherins were as horrible as ever.

Harry Potter on the other hand was beginning to become suspicious that something was wrong. Although Draco appeared well rested in the mornings, he remained exhausted throughout the day. Falling asleep in class, not paying attention to his school work, stumbling into things. And yet, whenever Harry would ask the boy if he was okay, he'd just nod.

After hexing Greg Goyle for calling Draco and Harry fag in the hallway, he glanced over to see his boyfriend coiling into himself. Draco seemed mildly reluctant to be openly gay with Harry around the school, and he spoke as little as possible.

Harry tried to put this out of his mind, telling himself that he was imagining things, or at the very least, that Draco was handling the situation fine.

It was by the eighth night after Draco had discovered that his candle and lion had gone missing that Blaise Zabini finally decided that enough was enough. He'd heard the quiet Silencio too many times. It wasn't funny anymore. Checking to be sure that the others in the room were indeed asleep, he casted a quick Mufliato before creeping over to Malfoy's bed.

Taking a deep breath he opened the curtains to find Draco sitting up on his bed, with his arms wrapped around his knees, which he had pulled to his chest, crying, and appearing terrified.

"Hey..." Blaise said softly, taking a chance and sitting beside him. "Hey, what's the matter with you, huh? You've been doing this every night." Draco swiped at his eyes and glared over at Blaise, not understanding that he didn't have intentions of teasing him.

"Piss off, Blaise." He tried to snap. "Just leave me alone." Blaise just frowned.

"I'm not gonna tease you, Malfoy. Nott's the asshole, not me." Draco just glared harder.

"Then why the fuck have you been letting him treat me like that, huh?" he snapped. Blaise sighed, expecting this. HE knew he should have stepped up sooner.

"Is that why you've been crying every night?" He asked gently, avoiding the answer to Draco's question. Malfoy started for a moment before shaking his head, and crying harder because he wished Harry was there to fix it.

"It's too dark." He whispered. Blaise understood immediately.

"The candle. Merlin, Malfoy I didn't know." He wished more than anything at that moment that he knew where Nott had hidden the damn thing. He was no good at comforting people.

"I need Harry." Zabini heard the boy mumble. He was almost positive that he hadn't meant this for Blaise to hear, but it gave him an idea.

"Let's go get him, then. Come on." Blaise stared bemusedly as Draco shook his head violently with a bit of a sob.

"No. He wants me to be strong. If he knows I'm still being pathetic he won't want me anymore." Blaise was incredulous.

"Malfoy, I promise you he wouldn't want this. Come on, we're gonna go find Potter. It's okay." Realising that there was no point in arguing with the darker boy, Draco allowed him to lead them out of the Slytherin dorms.

As they trekked their way up to the Gryffindor tower, he wished desperately that he could stop crying. It was years ago for fucks sake and he was still terrified.

The two arrive at the portrait of the Fat Lady around two thirty.

"Oh, my. Is he alright?" The woman addressed Blaise, seeming to understand that Draco wasn't likely to answer.

"No. Please, I've got to get him into see his boyfriend. I know we're not Gryffindors but he needs him right now. The Fat Lady, having seen Draco frequently in and out of the common room before, obliged in opening up.

"No..." Draco said quietly. "I don't want to wake him up." Blaise sighed. Malfoy, I can't imagine how much sleep you've been losing lately. Go." Blaise Zabini lead Draco Malfoy into the common room and up toward the spiral staircase, being sure that they remained silent.

Harry Potter awoke to someone prodding him. Confused and half asleep, the boy opened his eyes to find his boyfriend standing, crying, with Blaise Zabini. For a moment he wondered if he was dreaming.

"Shh.." He sat up quickly, determining that this was really happening. "Shh, it's okay." He turned to the other Slytherin in the room with a glare. "What the hell did you do to him?!" He snapped in a furious whisper.

"Not here." The darker boy replied, just as quietly. "Let's go downstairs and I'll explain." Harry stood up and ushered the upset blonde toward the door.

"How the hell did you get in here?" He sat down on a sofa, pulled Draco with him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "Hey, look at me." Draco did. "You're alright. Lumos Maxima." The common room was illuminated. He held the boy closer. "You're okay. Shh." His attention returned to Blaise. "Explain."

"It's the other Slytherins." He said at once. "Nott, actually. They've been treating him like shite. Took that candle of his and hid it somewhere. And some stuffed animal thing. He's been putting a silencing charm around his bed at night. I was getting worried so I took him here." Harry glared.

"When the bloody hell did this start?" Draco was now hiding his face in Harry's shirt, mistaking the anger in his tone for annoyance at his pathetic behaviour.

"Second night back." He recoiled under Harry's cold stare. "I know I should have said something earlier... but..." He trailed off. "Look, is he going to be alright?" Harry glared for a moment more before sighing and looking down at the boy who was beginning to calm down.

"Yeah he'll be fine. Thanks, anyway." Blaise just nodded.

"Listen, Nott's a real dick. I..." He was cut off.

"Forget about it, Zabini. Now if you don't mind... I need to speak with Draco." Blaise nodded.

"I really am sorry... and Draco?" The blonde looked up. "It makes no difference to me if you're gay." Draco offered him a weak smile and Blaise left out the portrait hole, allowing Harry to fix the smaller boy with a reprimanding stare.

"Why in the bloody hell did you not come to me a week ago, Dray?" Draco pulled away from Harry and pulled his knees to his chest, staring into the fire.

"You told me to be strong..."

"I didn't mean try to handle this when you can't!" Harry said in exasperation. "Draco, I don't want you crying at night. You know as well as I do that you can't handle that. You should've told me first thing what those assholes were doing." He sighed as the blondes lip trembled slightly and he sniffed.

"Yeah," he snapped, suddenly turning around. "Well maybe I'm just sick of feeling pathetic! I'm sixteen! And I'm fucking crying at night because it's dark! What's wrong with me, Harry?!" Harry frowned and pulled Draco back into his arms.

"There's nothing wrong with you, baby." He whispered. "We all have our weaknesses. You can't be expected to not fear anything. I'm sure you're not the only one. If you sleep with a candle at night, then fine. Don't try to handle it on your own if you can't." Draco sniffed.

"I feel so..." He didn't finish, but Harry understood.

"Look at me, Draco. You don't have to take that shit off anyone, understand?" Draco looked as though he was about to cry again.

"Yes I do. They don't respect me anymore." Harry rolled his eyes. "And I can't fight."

"So fucking what, Draco? You're one of the top in the year. I'm sure you know more hexes than all of them combined. And if you won't, I will. Nott's going to be getting an earful from me tomorrow anyway." Draco shook his head.

"I don't want you fighting my battles..." He mumbled.

"Then fight them yourself." Harry said simply. "But if you won't, don't expect me to do nothing." Draco Malfoy mulled this over for a minute.

He thought of the hell he'd been put through last week. He thought of the sessions where he'd sit and think of how to make it stop, all of them involving his own injury. He thought of the insults. The shoves. The jeers. The tears returned to his eyes, escaping down his cheeks. But with the sadness came anger.

Rage.

Fury.

How dare they treat him like something that didn't deserve to live!

"I'm Draco Malfoy, dammit!" he said forcefully. "I don't deserve this! I'm just as human as any of them! I hurt, I cry, I laugh. Fuck this..." He whispered with a slight angry sob. "Fuck all of this!"

"That's the spirit, Draco." Harry said with a smile. "You don't have to take this." He reached out and wiped some tears from the boy's cheeks. "Now don't cry anymore. You're alright. You need some sleep, come on." Draco nodded, sniffing, and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes.

He fell asleep curled up against Harry's chest.

Draco Malfoy fell asleep without nightmares for the first time since his return to Hogwarts.

There we go. I got a review telling me they wanted kind of a vengeful Draco. I think that can be arranged. =) And yes, Blaise IS a good guy. Keep reading, and I'll keep writing. Well, not forever of course, cuz even forever has an end (horrible pun, I know.)

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Love,

xForeversEndx