Ch. 3: I'm Not A Baby!

Draco blinked, trying in vain to clear away the darkness. He zipped Harry's soft trousers quickly and draped the button-down shirt over his arm. He ran his right hand over the wall, whispering the number of steps. "Eight, nine, te-oww, FUCK!" He felt his toe ram into something hard and he stumbled backwards onto his bum. He took his foot into his hands and rocked slowly.

"Malfoy, are you okay? What ha- Merlin, you're bleeding," Harry said quietly and Draco felt the boy's presence sit next to him. "Move your hands, I've got some peroxide to clean that."

Draco obeyed grudgingly, resting his hands palm up on his knees as he said, "Sorry, I was just trying to... It is bloody awful being blind."

Harry gently wiped away the blood and wrapped a little gauze around where Draco had torn away his toenail. "I'm sorry he did that to you Malfoy. I don't want to sound callous, but you need to learn to pay more attention to your surroundings. I won't be checking in on you every few minutes to make sure you are all right when we get back to Hogwarts," he said softly as he studied Draco's expressionless face.

The blonde had his eyes closed; obviously realizing it was a moot point even trying to keep them open anymore.

Harry stood and reached down, clasping Draco's hand firmly and pulling him to his feet. "Come into the kitchen and you can wash your hands."

Draco kept a firm grip on Harry's hand.

"Don't you dare lead me into a wall Potter, I will hurt you."

Harry chuckled and said, "I won't lead you into a wall but... well, your hair..."

"What! What's wrong with it? Fix it, Potter!" Draco's eyes fluttered open and he ran his fingers through his blond locks frantically.

"Stop, you'll get blood in it. I'll do it," Harry said and he smoothed Draco's hair quickly. "There, much better. You looked half-crazed."

Draco grinned and trained his eyes to where Harry's voice had come from. For the first time, Harry saw just how bad the damage to Draco's eyes had been. The lenses seemed normal at first glance but upon further inspection there were small 'x's in silvery scar tissue covering his entire eye.

"You don't want to know how I always thought you looked," Draco said quietly before remembering he didn't have on a shirt. "Wait, let me put this on."

He released Harry's hand and pulled the shirt on, fumbling momentarily with the buttons before finally huffing, "Sod it Potter, button me up, would you?"

Harry snorted and buttoned Draco's shirt slowly, accidentally brushing his fingertips over the pale skin just above his belly button, causing Draco to shiver. "Sorry Malfoy, I didn't mean to..."

Draco shook his head. "No, it's fine. So... you are dating Oliver Wood? You're a pouf? I would have never guessed that one. Hey, wasn't Wood a Keeper on your House Quidditch Team? How much older than you is he?"

Harry placed a light hand on Draco's shoulder and steered him down the hall. "He's four years older than me, but it's about to be three. My birthday is in a couple of weeks. July 31st."

"Ha, I'm older than you! Mine was a couple of weeks ago," Draco teased and fluttered his eyelids.

Harry snorted, guiding Draco to the sofa. "Fine, but let's not fight right now. Why don't you just sit down here and not talk about what makes you better than me."

Draco lowered his head resignedly and crossed his legs. "All right, but what about my hands? Remember, they are bloody."

"I'll go get a wet towel for you to clean them. Ron is sitting next to you on the left and Remus is in the floor to the right of your legs, so you aren't alone. I'll be right back, okay?"

Draco nodded and said, "Okay, fine."

He could pinpoint the moment Harry left the room and he found himself clasping his hand together so tightly that he could feel the circulation draining from his hands.

"You look odd in red Malfoy," Ron said intensely, eyeing Draco's outfit of khaki and crimson.

Draco bowed his head, feeling his hair curtain around his face as he grumbled, "I wouldn't know."

He smirked as cool air hit his face, signaling that Ron had left. He could hear his irritated grumbles slowly grow quieter as he disappeared into the direction that Harry had went.

"So Draco, how did you make yourself bleed? It smells less than a minute old," Remus said in a worn voice.

Draco touched a sticky spot on his hand. "I ran into something coming in from Potter's bathroom. It is creepy you knowing how old blood is by scent."

"That is the curse of being a werewolf. What did you run into?"

"He ran into the bed post and tore off his toenail," Harry said as he entered the room, taking a seat to the right of the blonde.

Harry took Draco's left hand into his right and gently wiped away the blood using a wet cloth.

"Ah, so that's what attacked me...bloody bed," Draco grumbled and sat still, allowing himself to be cleaned. "This is really nice, being pampered by my enemy. Make sure you get it all, Potter. I don't want my skin to stain."

"There's the Malfoy we all know and love," Harry said offhandedly then sighed as he gave the blonde's digits one last stroke. "There, blood-free. Let's go to the dining room since Hermione was setting the table when I passed by."

The blonde held out a hand for Harry to take, causing the Gryffindor to grin. He obliged by grasping Draco's hand and leading him into the dining room, guiding him to a chair. Harry then took a seat on the left of the Slytherin teen.

"Are we the only ones in here, Potter?"

Harry looked around at possible entrances and grinned slightly. "Yes, but Oliver has just entered with the salad."

"Ooh, someone's excited. What, you get all bubbly around your boyfriend? That is either sick or cute, I'm not sure which," Draco stated with the slightest form of malice.

There was the clinking of china on the wooden table to signal to Draco that Oliver had entered the room. The ex-Gryffindor's voice was low and obviously holding a Scottish accent as he spoke. "Hey Malfoy, I heard you were haunting Harry's room. You have grown up quite a bit since I left Hogwarts, you are much taller."

"Yeah, that tends to happen to people as they age," Draco sarcastically said and turned his head in the direction Oliver's voice had come.

"Shut it Malfoy," Harry hissed through gritted teeth. Draco fancied that he could hear the embarrassment in the other boy's voice as he whispered, "You are such a prat."

Draco only snickered and said, "Thank you."

"Ron, could you take the pork chops out of the oven please," Hermione called from somewhere behind those seated at the table, causing Draco to jump in violent reaction to the comment.

"Sorry Draco didn't mean to frighten you," she apologized and sat the bowl of potatoes in front of them.

Draco merely nodded as he felt a fleeting hand around his shoulder and sensed Hermione take a seat next to him to the left, a gentle wafting of her perfume tickling his nose.

Draco occupied himself with trying to guess what Hermione had brought and trying to remember exactly the way he had come. Walk straight from my seat ten paces and we met a hallway. Twenty paces from there and turn right. The door is there...

He heard nearly synchronized chair-squeaking indicative of new people sitting at the table and turned his head to Harry questioningly.

"It is just Remus and Oliver. Ah, here's Ron," he whispered from Draco's left.

Ron set the platter of pork chops down and began forking them out to his fellow diners however grudgingly. Harry spooned some mashed potatoes on Draco's plate, then his own and passed them on to Hermione, leaning across the blonde to reach his fellow Gryffindor.

Draco took in a deep breath of Harry's clean-scented cologne, trying to memorize his scent, the comforting feeling of his presence. Before he could, however, Harry returned fully to his seat. Draco tried to move slightly closer to the Gryffindor inconspicuously. He thought he succeeded but there was no way to be certain.

"If you want more, Malfoy, the potatoes are exactly in front of you, pork chops to your right, salad directly to the left. Alright?"

Draco nodded curtly and Harry nudged a fork into the Slytherin's hand

Harry asked, "Do you want me to cut your meat for you?"

Draco narrowed his useless eyes and hissed, "No, I can cut up my own food, Potter."

He fumbled around for his knife on the left side of his plate momentarily before he felt a slightly calloused hand place it into his palm. He ripped his hand away from Harry's and grumbled, "I can do it."

Harry rolled his eyes as he allowed Oliver to fill his glass, as well as Draco's with the pitcher of ice water that Remus had placed beside Oliver when the werewolf had entered.

"So are you lot ready to go back to school?" Remus questioned as he sliced the loaf of white bread he had also brought from the kitchen.

Draco snorted to himself and he heard a chuckle from beside him. Harry had been listening. The blonde poked his portion of pork chop with the tip of his knife, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to get back into the classroom. Of course, I've already read through most of the books assigned for our coursework but I can't wait to actually put it into practice," Hermione answered, her enthusiasm causing almost every other student at the table, including Draco, to vomit into his plate.

There was an inaudible groan from Ron as he mixed together the contents of his plate, the uneasy screech of his fork's prongs on the china sending chills over Draco's body.

Oliver grinned broadly and said, "Obviously Ron isn't too thrilled about getting back to his classes.

"Yeah, and he's not the only one," Harry grumbled.

Draco sawed at a pork chop in silence not realizing it was with the blunt side of his knife.

Oliver tossed a slice of bread at Harry from across the table. The ebony-haired teen was caught off-guard, however, and his seeker reflexes kicked in. Without thinking, he batted it away, causing the slice to bounce onto Draco's plate.

The Slytherin jumped, his silverware clattering onto his plate.

Oliver covered his mouth in chagrin while Ron snickered quietly.

"Merlin Malfoy, I'm sorry," Oliver said through his fingers at about the same moment Ron's face turned violet with suppressed laughter.

Draco finally found the bread and removed it from his plate before fumbling with his silverware and grasping the utensils again. "No problem," he snarled, starting his frantic sawing again.

He had also started his mantra of directions out of the dining room once again in his head.

Harry sighed and took the knife from the blond. "Here, let me do it," he offered.

Draco attempted to take the knife back and stated, "I can do it."

"Stop being so bloody stubborn," Harry countered and continued dodging the Slytherin's attempt to retrieve the knife.

Draco ran a frustrated hand through his hair and said in a forced calm voice, "Stop treating me like a child!"

"I'm not treating you like a child, I'm just..."

"No, I know what you are doing," Draco whispered and stood gracefully, walking straight to the door, accurately remembering the way. Ten paces, hallway, twenty paces, door... Everyone seated at the table watched him retreat back to the bedroom, his fingertips running along the wall.

Harry then made to follow him but was restrained by Hermione. "Let him be for a while."

Oliver sent Harry a worried glance and said, "In my opinion he's being inconsiderate - you were only trying to help."

"Yeah, but he told me not to pity him. I guess I just need to remember that he's Malfoy," Harry sighed as he regained his seat.

Ron snorted and spat, "I personally find it rather hard to forget that he's Malfoy. He's an arse, which will never change."

Remus rested his chin in the palms of his hand and sighed before stating, "I have no doubt he will. You don't know him; you don't know what he's been through. You may be surprised how an experience like eliminating one's sight can change a person."

Hermione nodded in accord and took a small bite of her potatoes. "Maybe you should go after him, Harry."

Harry stood without hesitation, nodding to Hermione, and followed the route Draco had memorized and taken a few moments before.

Thanks to brionyjae for the beta!