AN: Alright, chapter four. A big huge thanks to the people still reading this, even though I took so long to update, and another big huge thanks to those who took time to review. My life has been pretty crazy..I haven't gotten to the computer in..months? In any case, I promised myself I wouldn't abandon this story, so even though it might take me ages to update, I will finish this.
Warnings: same as always. M for later chapters
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or it's characters. If I did, Harry would have dumped Ginny and married Draco long ago. Fortunately, I do own this plot –evil grin-
Harry groaned softly and rolled onto his side, stifling a yawn. It felt far too early to be waking up now, but for some reason he had been pulled from his sleep. Stubbornly, he kept his eyes shut and pulled the covers closer around him. After a while, a pair of voices could be heard, getting clearer and slightly louder. It sounded like Ron and Hermione, arguing about something like exams.
" OH!" he gasped as he remembered everything that had happened the night before, sitting up quickly and opening his eyes to stare at two bewildered Gryffindors.
They were both quick to recover and gave him a smile. " Harry, you're finally awake!" Hermione exclaimed, shifting over to pull him into a crushing hug. " Yeah, you had us worried for a second there, mate." Ron added, but smiled also.
" Sorry." The boy mumbled, then paused, confused. The last thing he remembered, strangely, was talking to Malfoy..But that couldn't have happened…maybe it had been a dream..but..a dream about Malfoy?
" Umm, how long have you been here?" Harry asked, curious.
Ron shrugged slightly. " Since we woke up today I guess…It's about noon now so a couple of hours." He mumbled, then grinned. " I got to miss potions." He declared victoriously, earning himself another glare from the girl.
So it could have happened. It wasn't a dream. Malfoy had been here and they had talked about..food? Yes..his favorite food. Strange. He would have imagined Draco Malfoy's food to be something exotic and threatening sounding. Maybe something that exploded when cut wrong..
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the Headmaster's voice ringing out. " Ah, good to see you awake Harry. Now, you two had best get to class, you've already missed half of the day. " he reminded Ron and Hermionie.
When the two retreated out of the room with a small sigh and wave, Dumbledore turned back to Harry, his expression sullen. " Harry, is there something you would like to tell me?"
'Of course, Vernon's drunk ever waking hour of the day, Dudley has invented a new sport called 'beat the life out of Harry' I've been too sick to heal my injuries lately and they're getting worse, I'm tired, in pain and starving to death and I might have just had an actual conversation with MALFOY of all people but no, I'm perfectly fine.'
" No sir." He mumbled blankly with a short shake of his head, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. " Why? "
This seemed to perplex the professor somewhat, and he remained silent for a moment, debating weather or not he should speak. He wondered weathers he should just mention the bruises, or wait until Harry was ready to talk about them. Dumbledore sighed and stared at harry for a moment before offering a warm smile.
" If anything ever bothers you, you know I'll listen to what you have to say..now, get some rest. Madam Pomfrey should be back with an early dinner and some more potions soon."
Harry paused, then nodded. " Okay…thanks Professor." He mumbled, crumpling the sheets between his fingers absent-mindedly. The boy probably wouldn't speak to him about his problems..after all, he was just another wizard, he wouldn't really understand. They had quite different priorities.
Of course, both wanted to defeat Voldemord, but lately it seemed like everywhere that Harry went, he caused pain and suffering. And everyone he tried to save ended up..
Either Voldemord or Harry would survive according to the prophecy, but lately, Harry had been debating a new plan, a loophole in the prophecy. What if, none of them survived? Somehow, that option just sounded better.
" Weasley, would you please step away from the cauldron before you send the whole school off in smoke.." Draco hissed, making it sound more like a threat than a request. The red hared Gryffindor only looked up at him shortly before huffing and leaning back in his chair. " I hate bloody potions.." he murmured, turning away from the bubbling mass of goo he'd produced.
Draco rolled his eyes before turning to the cauldron, starting to try to fix the damage the Weasel had doe to what would have been a perfectly good potion. As strange as it sounded, he missed Potter. When he was present they usually got paired up together. He hated potions too, but at least he could brew some of the simpler ones…Weasley was completely incompetent.
It didn't take long for the potion to acquire the requested color, but he was sure that after all the ingredients Weasley had added, it would taste horrible.
For the remainder of the class, Draco didn't speak to Weasley, Ron continued to glare hatefully at the blonde, Snape continued to hand out detentions and the Granger's hand would always be raised high. Just another day. Except, it didn't feel like just another day. Even to Draco, it felt like something, someone was missing.
Madam Pomfrey was going over the potions she had in storage the third time now..There just weren't enough. She had the basics, but some of Harry's injuries were so strange. As if the wounds had been closed with magic, but not enough to heal properly. She sighed in frustration, picking up a few blood replenishing potions and setting those aside for the boy. As she heard a knock on the door, she stood and went to let Professor Snape in.
" I'll need a lot more than these Serverus, and fast. We need blood replenishing potions, sleeping potions, bone mending potions, and he probably has blood poisoning too.." she listed, shaking her head.
The potions master sighed, rolling his eyes as the list went on. " Can the Gryffindor Golden Boy do nothing right?" he mumbled under his breath, making a quick not of the potions needed. " I'll try to have them for you by midnight" he confirmed, then scowled slightly and turned towards the door again
Heading back to his lab, he stopped Draco on the way, motioning for him to follow. " Hurry up, we have some potions to brew." He explained, starting to walk again.
Draco, who just finished getting rid of Pansy, again, frowned up at the potions master. " Why? I've already served out my detention dragging Potter all the was out of the forest." He retorted calmly.
" This isn't detention, Madam Pomfrey needs these and there is absolutely no way I was willing to work with the Granger girl. " Snape explained with another sigh, opening the door to the lab.
This seemed to quiet Draco down, at least slightly. He was still sneering as he entered the lab, but didn't complain, just pulled up a cauldron and started brining out some basic ingredients. As he set everything up, Snape started listing all the potions they needed to make.
" You'll take the four blood replenishing potions, and we'll see about the blood cleansing one later, have a couple of healing ones ready, flesh and bone, and we're going to have to have some newt eyes and lizard's scales ready for the last one." The professor mumbled unenthusiastically.
The blonde raised an eyebrow as he heard the extensive list. " What, has half the school gotten mauled by something?" he drawled, starting to cut a few dried wizard's nettle roots.
" No, just Potter." Snape retorted, then went back to concentrating on the potion he was brewing.
Draco's eyes widened slightly as he took the information in. All of these were for Harry ? What could have possibly done this much damage? Something just didn't look right, and the suspicious feeling stayed with him as he was preparing the potions. An encounter with the Dark Lord perhaps? But the whole school would have known by now, especially Draco.
" Is he okay?" he mumbled quietly before catching himself.
Snape looked up with an unamused expression. " Draco, don't tell me you've actually developed a feeling of compassion.."
" Of course not." The boy snapped back, turning back to the cauldron with an angry huff.
" I hope Harry gets well soon, I can't not do homework all by myself." Ron said over dinner, earning himself yet another glare from the red hared girl sitting across from him. If he had a galleon for every time Hermione had glared at, or scolded him, he could pay someone to do his homework for him every day. Actually, that sounded quite nice.
" Ron…what are you smiling at?" the Gryffindor asked, perplexed. " It had better not be because of those fumes you inhaled in potions, that cauldron looked dangerous." She started, looking to him with a scrutinizing expression. " Don't you get sick too, it's enough one of us is in the hospital wing."
Ron rolled his eyes and continued eating. " Don't worry 'Mionie, it's not the potion..I was just thinking about someone who I could pay to do my homework assignments." He explained casually.
The girl scowled at him. " Ronald, that is not funny, and for Merlin's sake, chew with your mouth closed!"
" Hah, take that you stupid pawn! Didn't see that coming did you?" Harry exclaimed, then sighed and leaned back against the headboard again. Playing Wizard's Chess with himself was beyond boring. First of all, he never won, second of all, it was stupid that he knew every move the opponent (in this case, sadly, himself) was going to make, and thirdly he wasn't even that good in chess.
" This is so stupid.." he said out loud, in the hopes that maybe some god up there would hear him and send down a lightning bolt carrying a more interactive version of chess. 'And that is officially the weirdest wish I have ever had.' He concluded, glaring at the chessboard that was balanced on his lap.
He felt tired, pained, grumpy and edgy, and for some reason the chessboard was just making it worse. Still, he was snapped out of his thoughts abruptly as he noticed a piece on the opposite end of the board move into place.
Harry stared at the board, dumbfounded. As far as he knew, those pieces didn't just move by themselves, something was..fishy. Still, he decided to go along with the weird haunted board he now had in front of him, and moved a piece of his own, attacking the..'other'.
The piece moved out of the way expertly and managed to take a bishop of his own in the process. Harry huffed angrily. So this was a professional, chess-playing ghost? Alright…he'd play rough then. With that thought in mind, he moved another piece forward, meaning to force the ghost player back.
It turned out that the ghost player was actually quite skilled, and Harry found himself being pushed back by the other's pieces until one moment, when his king was in check, he couldn't find a way out anymore. The Gryffindor stared quietly at the board. The ghost had actually won.
" Checkmate " Draco said lazily, setting his wand down.
Harry gasped and spun around to find Draco sitting in a chair beside him with a smug expression. " Funny, I liked it better when I thought the board was haunted." The boy mumbled, turning back to the board and starting to put the pieces away.
" That would be impossible Potter, that board hasn't been here that long. Besides, you are not at all good at this. Isn't the Gryffindor Golden Boy supposed to be great at everything?" the blonde added, raising an eyebrow at him.
" Oh, so now we're back to Potter, Malfoy? Have you come to brag about your chess playing abilities or just to frustrate me, because you're doing a great job so far." Harry replied sarcastically.
" Well, I was here expecting a good game of Wizard's Chess, Harry, but since you have proved to be so weak there really wasn't any fun in beating you. " Draco added, then paused slightly. " I could teach you how to play.." he mumbled quietly, as if it was something unheard of.
The Gryffindor raised an eyebrow, staring at the other curiously. " Tell me, Draco, do you know about schizophrenia? I think it's something you should look up. "
" Very funny, Potter." The Slytherin retorted, sinking back in his chair. " As long as we're recommending books to eachother, I think you should give "Potions for first years' a try."
Harry glared at the other for a moment, then leaned back again with a sigh. " Alright, I'm not going to do this. I feel to sick to argue." He mumbled tiredly. " What, is it Potter that brings out Malfoy, and Harry that brings out Draco, because I like Draco a lot more.." he mumbled to himself, then shrugged. " Alright, I'll try Harry then. Why are you here?"
Draco rolled his eyes at that. " To bring you the mountain of potions I was forced to brew for you, Potter, you require more maintenance than this whole school combined." He retorted with a sneer.
The Gryffindor turned to glare sharply at the other. " If you can't even make a small effort to be Draco, then Potter will hex you right out the door." He promised angrily.
The blonde stayed rooted in place, though the smug look faded off of his face. " I was brought up to be Malfoy."
" And I'm being brought up to be the Gryffindor Golden Boy..but I can still manage to be myself." He pointed out, to which the other huffed slightly.
" You know nothing about me" Draco hissed, glowering at the other, watching the Gryffindor shrug slightly.
" No, I guess I don't" Harry replied calmly. " Why don't you tell me then? It's not like I'm going anywhere." The boy added, gesturing to the bed.
" You wouldn't understand anyway Po-..Harry." the blonde mumbled. " Why does it interest you so much anyway?"
Harry smiled sadly at that. " It's horribly lonely when no one knows you." He responded, and Draco could tell he was speaking from experience, but blocked it off with a sneer.
" Malfoy's don't get lonely.." Draco said, crossing his arms with an unamused look.
" Does Draco?" Harry asked then, turning to look to the other, curiously. That seemed to confuse the blonde.
In his whole life he'd used that same expression of possibly hundreds of people, and not one had ever asked that. It was almost as strange as the time when he'd found Snape wearing pink pajama boxers with moose and mugs of ale on them.
" How did you get your injuries?" he asked quietly, receiving another shrug in response.
" It involves muggles, emotion, and real life…Malfoy wouldn't understand." Harry replied softly.
Draco sighed slightly, choosing to ignore the small insult in the comment. " Maybe not…but Draco might.."
AN: Guess what? It's one am yet again . now, before I go, I'll just quickly mention this, just in case anyone got confused. Schizophrenia is a type of brain disorder involving split personalities. Two people living inside the same body. Harry refers to Draco and Malfoy when he says that.