A/N Thanks to reviewers:

LunaParvulus: Thanks for saying you'll patiently wait, but as you can see this is a lot quicker than I thought it would originally be hehe! However you will have to wait for the next one, as I go to Poland in two days, but hope you like it!

.J.e.n.n.a.7.: Oh I'm so glad you don't think Hermione is out of character, seeing as you're like, a Hermione FREAK – so if you approve then its all ok lol! You best be glad that this has come before Poland, I have no idea when I got the time to write it; but I just put off all my other work to do this haha!

Murgy31: Thanks for everything. I did my first performance about an hour ago, and it actually went quite well. The examined performance is tomorrow night so I'm a little more scared about that one hehe! And then the next morning I'm off to Poland, so I'm afraid there definitely won't be a chapter for about a week. I'm glad I got this one up before I left though. Hope you're proud of me hehe!

StarDreamer1269: I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and thank you for being so patient for this chapter, but as I'm sure you can tell, I worked extremely hard to get this one up before I go to Poland, so hope you enjoy it!

narutoclaymorelove4evaI'm glad you're liking the general plot so far. And I hope this update was quick enough for you; as you have probably read already I have worked hard to get it up before I go away, so I hope it's ok and doesn't seemed to rushed.

SlashFan69: Thanks for saying you'll patiently wait, but you won't have to! However, you will have to wait for the next one, but just think, it will be sooner than it would have been… That made no sense, but I'm sure you understand!

A Name is a Name

"Harry, I'm just saying that you shouldn't talk to him; we don't like him!" Hermione said through half gritted teeth ten minutes later.

Harry had, indeed, walked straight in on Ron and Hermione talking about him. When he asked for an explanation, the tips of Ron's ears went bright red and Hermione looked at the floor. It seemed that they were talking about his friendship with Draco – and how they 'disapproved' of it.

"Yes, Hermione," Harry snapped back, "You two may not like him, but I do! If you want to tell me why you don't like him then go straight ahead and I might start to listen to you."

Hermione looked at Ron, who shrugged his shoulders. She then stood up quickly and pursed her lips, reminding Harry of an angry school teacher and walked briskly towards the door. Before she left she spat out a few words, "If Malfoy's such a better 'friend' than us then it's up to him to tell you!"

And with that she stepped out of the door and slammed it behind her, leaving Harry and Ron staring at it.

Harry waited a moment to make doubly sure that she was gone before turning back to face Ron, who seemed to know what was coming.

"Why doesn't she like him?" Harry asked.

"None of us do, mate…" Ron muttered back.

"Don't call me mate!" Harry yelled.

Ron flinched as he yelled, and Harry realised that it was probably only the second time he had said that sentence since coming out of his coma. There was a short pause before Ron said nothing about the comment but continued to speak:

"If Hermione doesn't want to tell you…" He muttered, "She says it's up to Malfoy to tell you…"

"Tell me what?" Harry shouted. "Why are you and Hermione ganging up on me?"

"We're not ma – Harry…"

"Yes you are! You think I can't handle whatever the truth is because I have the mind of an eleven year old! And I'll tell you that yes; sometimes I do think like an eleven year old! But it's hard waking up one day and finding out you're actually twenty! And then all these people surround you, trying to make you remember things that you think can't have happened because it's impossible! And people that call themselves your friends talk about you behind your back and don't even think about how lonely you must be! And then when you finally find someone to talk to they try to take him away! The only person in the world who seems to understand me! And you're trying to tell me that I'm not supposed to be friends with him?"

Ron stared at him. Harry didn't really know where that had come from: feelings that he had been bottling up had suddenly exploded from lips, and now his mouth was dry – he didn't want to argue anymore.

"We can't choose your friends, Harry," Ron said slowly a few moments later. His voice was quiet a soft, like he had been hurt. "But me and Hermione are your friends, we're just trying to look out for you…"

"Please, leave me alone…" Harry whispered.

Another short pause and Harry heard slow moving footsteps towards the door. However, when the door opened, Harry looked up and spoke for one last time.

"Ron," He said quickly, "I'm sorry… I know you're my friends… I'm just asking that you let me be friends with whoever else I like, please."

Ron tried at a smile, but it came out more as a wince, "I'll tell Hermione to lay off. Get some sleep, you look tired…"

Harry nodded his head slowly and lay down flat on his bed. As he closed his eyes, a wave of anger ran through him: he realised that he had just acted the age he felt when being told to go to sleep. But it was true; it may have been one o'clock in the afternoon, but Harry was exhausted.

"Potter. Potter, wake up!"

Harry breathed in quickly and jolted in his bed. He opened his eyes quickly to see a blurred version of Draco standing above him. He reached out for his glasses and put them on, realising only then that it was dark in the room.

"You've been asleep all day," Draco stated as he sat down.

"What time is it?" Harry asked croakily.

"Almost ten," Draco answered.

Harry yawned as he sat up in his bed. "That's strange."

"Yes, well," Draco said, "I saw Weasley earlier."

"Ron?" Harry asked.

"Yes, he wasn't pleased to see me," Draco answered. "He started shouting at me, telling me that I was to treat you properly. You see, Potter? You do have friends."

"Only because I shouted at him first," Harry replied, "Words just jumped out of my mouth that I didn't know I felt. What did he say to you, exactly?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Draco said in a bored voice, like he was waving it aside, "He thinks that I'm poisoning your mind to make you hate him and Granger. But I haven't to say that even the craziest man in the world wouldn't try to spilt you three up, so I'm not about to try."

Harry gulped and lowered his head. Did people really know how close the three of them were? But more to the point, was Harry supposed to be that close to them? It was clear that before his accident, they had their life and he had his.

"I don't think you have to try…" He mumbled in quiet response.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him and said, "If I am affecting your relationship with them, then perhaps we shouldn't continue as we are."

"No!" Harry said pleadingly, "You're not affecting it! I'm doing that part on my own. It's just… Being in here, I suppose things will get better when I leave…"

"Then you'll leave soon. Tomorrow if you like," Draco said professionally.

"Tomorrow? Are you sure?" Harry repeated.

"I'm your Healer, and I believe you to be well enough to go home. Staying in this place isn't going to help you get your memories back is it? You'll have to have regular visits to me, however, so that I can make sure you don't go mad."

"Go mad?" Harry asked.

"Well, I know they're your friends – despite what you say – but they do baby you quite a bit, don't they?" Draco smirked.

Harry smiled and looked at him. He didn't think he'd ever met a nicer person in his entire life. There Ron and Hermione were, shouting at him and telling Harry to not talk to him, and Draco still wanted to offer as much help as he could.

"Why are you helping me so much?" Harry asked quietly after a minute.

Draco took another moment to answer. "Because you're my patient. And I told you the other day, I want to start a fresh with you, and your… 'friends'."

Another pause, and one more question entered Harry's head. "My going home… It won't affect my lessons, will it?"

"Lessons?" Draco repeated.

"You, teaching me magic; you'll still do it, won't you?" Harry asked awkwardly.

To his relief, a bright smile appeared on Draco's face. "Of course I will." He stood up to leave, "But Potter, you do understand that it will take a long time, don't you?"

Harry nodded, but instead of verbally answering that question, he asked another; "Why do you call me that?"

Draco looked slightly taken aback. "It's your name," He said. Harry was surprised to hear that again, his tone of voice had suddenly changed back to the spitting sound that he used when talking to Hermione.

"It's not," Harry shook his head. "My name is Harry, and yours is Draco."

"Potter," Draco said with an air of trying to sound calm, "Too much has happened over the years for us to be on first name terms. I don't want you calling me Draco…"

"But you wanted a fresh start with me…" Harry began, but got cut off.

"Some things can't be undone!" Draco yelled. "A name is a name, it doesn't matter which one! I know it's petty, but I don't want to hear the word 'Draco' come out of your mouth!"

Harry stared at him, a completely calm expression on his face, and nodded.

Draco took a deep breath and sighed. "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow when you leave, we can talk about when we'll next have a 'lesson' as you like to call it."

Harry was glad to see that he had a smile on his face as he left the room, but he lay awake for a long time after thinking about the conversation they had just had. It was obvious that something must have happened in Hogwarts more than just a bit of petty bullying, but when he thought about it, Harry didn't much care. Whatever had happened, it was clear now that Draco had changed and was evidently working to help people and be nice to them. As long as Draco was there for him, he decided, none of the past mattered. It was time to leave it all behind; as if he hadn't done that already…

Harry woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed. He hadn't slept much during the night, but of course, yesterday he had slept for hours in the day. It took him a while to figure out why he felt refreshed, and then he remembered. He was going home today. Every time he thought about it he was overcome with excitement and anxiety. He was overjoyed to be leaving the hospital, where people stared at him everywhere he went, but also quite nervous to be going to the place which he called home. Exactly why he called it home, he didn't know, it wasn't as if he could picture the place in his mind, or had 'many happy memories' there. But then he would think of the possibility of memories coming back to him when he saw things that he may hold dear in his house, things that had a special sentimental value.

For most of the night when all of the other patients were sleeping, Harry stayed awake to try and think about what his house would look like. It was, after all, inhabited by four magical people, so it can't have looked like a 'muggle' house. But the more he thought, the more he realised that it can't actually have been that different. Perhaps the kitchen would be unusually small, since there was probably no need for muggle appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines. But then Harry remembered Ron coming in one day at the hospital and telling Hermione that the dishwasher had broken. Finally, settling that he would simply have to wait to see the house, Harry closed his eyes once more and fell into a light sleep.

That afternoon, Ron, Hermione and Ginny arrived to take him away, and his spirits fell slightly. Even though Draco had mentioned it last night, he hadn't thought about the fact that he also had to live with three people who he didn't connect with. But then again, this, along with his memories, may return with spending more time with them and living with them.

The arguments of the previous day had been 'temporarily' forgotten for this afternoon, and Harry quite appreciated it. Although the atmosphere was slightly thicker than usual, he was glad that Hermione and Ron weren't just telling him what to do again. However, he knew that this was too good to be true.

"So, you've got everything Harry?" Hermione said for the umpteenth time just before they were about to leave the room.

Harry rolled his eyes and repeated "Yes. Now let's go."

Ginny walked slowly up to him as he stood up from his bed, "You can hold my arm if you like."

Harry looked at it, "No, that's ok…" He said slowly, "I'm fine with walking now…"

He saw the tips of her ears burn just as her brothers' did when he was getting angry, but then he saw Hermione and Ron both shake their heads quickly at her from the corner of his eye. Ginny took an obviously deep breath and seemed to swallow whatever words were about to come from her mouth.

Harry looked at her and decided to quickly walk towards the door to avoid any awkward silences, and just as he put his hand on the handle, the door opened and almost hit him on the head.

"Watch it!" Ron yelled at Draco, who had just walked into the room.

"Sorry, Potter," Draco said, ignoring Ron. "You're just leaving then?"

Harry nodded, his expression turning to one that meant 'I don't really want to go with them'. Draco seemed to understand as he made that same smirk on his face and said loudly, "So what time shall I see you tomorrow? You'll be coming here, I suppose?"

"What?" Ron, Hermione and Ginny said together.

Harry turned to them, "Draco's teaching me magic again, remember? He can't exactly do that if I don't see him, can he?"

"Why can't one of us help you?" Ginny asked defensively.

Harry could think of no reply, but Draco butted in quickly for him. "Because I offered, and none of you seemed to care."

Ginny's eyes widened but she said nothing.

"Now, Potter," Draco said, turning back to Harry, "I'm working all night tonight and finish at nine tomorrow morning? Will you be able to get here for then?"

Harry nodded, but Ron said loudly, "And what if we don't want to bring him?"

"Then I'll just have to turn up at your house, won't I?" Draco spat back.

There was a quick pause in the room as Ron and Ginny's ears grew ever brighter. Hermione noticed and, evidently not wanting a fight to break out, quickly said, "Come on, lets go home…"

The three of them were out of the door in a flash, and Harry followed behind, mouthing 'thank you' behind him to Draco. He had no idea what his house was going to be like, but as long as he had something to look forward to tomorrow, he was sure it wouldn't be so bad…

A/N Hope you like the chapter! I wanted so much to get one up before I went to Poland, so here it is! I'm afraid the next probably won't be up for over a week, however; but let's be honest, I tried extremely hard with this one! Hope you all enjoyed it and I'll see you after Poland!