Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. This story is merely my way of saluting her. I do not own any of these characters; I just manipulate their thoughts.

As Draco's luck had it, he walked smack dab into Harry the next week. They staggered back, rubbing their sore shoulders and frowning. Their mouths formed O's as they realized who they'd run into. In the hospital, no less.

"You," Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, me," Draco said.

"What're you doing here?"

That stuck Draco dumb. He didn't have a cover story. "I – er… Theo…" he said ambiguously.

Harry's mind filled in the rest. "Oh yeah! Nott's a Mediwizard, huh?"

Draco nodded and asked "You?" as courtesy indicated. Harry waved at his hidden scar and Draco frowned again. "Wait, it's still bothering you?" he asked.

"Oh, no, no," Harry said quickly. "Check-up. They like to shove me into Mungo's once in a while. Pointless."

They stood around uncomfortably for a few seconds. "Okay, I'll –" Draco started saying.

"Coming to the reunion?" Harry interrupted.

Draco snapped his mouth closed. Reunion? He thought he had heard something about that. "What?" he asked.

"Five year reunion. Are you coming?" Harry asked slower this time.

Draco looked at Harry as though he had sprouted another nose. "No," he said, laughing cynically.

Harry didn't look pleased at Draco's laugh. "Why not?" he asked, miffed.

"I'll be murdered, that's why!" The response Draco got was an annoyed harrumph. He sighed. "Your girlfriend looked quite intent on it," he muttered. "So would everyone else."

"Ginny wouldn't – besides, it's not like – and you're not – really, though, it doesn't matter."

"I really don't understand why you, of all people, would suggest I go," Draco said, amusement tingeing his words.

Harry let out a defeated sigh and shook his head. Before he could answer, Draco murmured his goodbye and left.

"Written a will yet?" Theo asked over lunch.

Draco practically choked on his sandwich. "Way to spring it on me," he coughed behind his hand.

His friend blushed generously. "I – um… Sorry, thought you'd… Never mind," he stuttered.

Draco smiled reassuringly. "No. I just hadn't thought about it, that's all," he said.

"Shouldn't you be?"

"Want some?" Draco asked with a wink.

Theo kicked him from under the table. "I'm being serious. I mean, after you… no more heirs."

"I'll give it away then."

"To who?"

"Dunno."

The server interrupted them for a few minutes and the trail of conversation died down. It didn't matter since Theo had other uncomfortable business to discuss with his patient. "Excited for the reunion?"

Draco let out a defeated sound and dropped his hands on the table with a thud. "Why is everyone so intent on going?" he asked none too gently.

Theo was taken aback by Draco's response. "Um… Okay, then…" he said.

"Why? Are you going?"

"Yeah. Which is why I asked if you were."

"It's going to be full of Gryffindors! They'll kill us in our sleep!"

Theo rolled his eyes at Draco's melodramatic expression and words. "They're Gryffindors. All the more reason they won't kill us in our sleep."

"And why the hell is it a three-day reunion?" Draco ranted on, glazing over Theo's snide remark. "A night is more than enough."

"Cynical much?"

"Shut up. I'm not going."

"Okay. Wasn't planning on forcing you to come," Theo said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Said I wasn't going to force you to come. She did. Stop being mad at me," Theo said, shifting the strap of his bag as they walked onto Platform 9 ¾. Draco, Blaise, and Pansy were silently fuming beside him. Heidi had the usual accomplished look on her face.

It was slightly surreal to be standing on the platform again. It was bustling with activity. Old friends and acquaintances met with hugs and kisses. Everyone was older but not quite old enough to have changed. Draco found himself looking at many familiar faces; too many familiar faces for his contentment. After Hogwarts, he had tried to keep away from familiarity, hiding away during trials and imprisonments after the Battle. To go back to the place that had spelled his doom was terrifying.

The train was already waiting for the ex-students to clamber on, so Theo took the initiative and climbed on. The women followed him in. Draco was feeling faint now. He did not want to do this. He did not want to go back. He did not want to be the new Undesirable No. 1.

"You came!"

Draco turned to find Harry's surprised face smiling at him. He also saw the smile falter and turn to befuddled amusement.

"You don't want to go?"

Draco guffawed in response. "It's that evident?" he asked.

"If that green face is anything to go by," Harry remarked, "Then yes, it is that obvious."

"Struck out, I guess."

"Didn't think I'd see the day you were forced to do something you didn't want to."

"Full of surprises, aren't I?"

Harry grinned. "You always were… Anyway, glad you're coming. Getting past our differences and all, it's bound to be –"

"Hell. Bound to be hell is the what you were about to say," Draco interjected sardonically.

"Take it as it comes, right?"

Draco pondered over the statement. He nodded slowly. "I suppose," he agreed.

"Good. See you around." With that, Harry was lost in the haze as the train puffed out steam.

Draco hoisted himself up onto the carriage, feeling slightly less burdened as he found his way to the compartment where Pansy was painfully grumbling and snarking. Theo looked at Draco dejectedly as he slumped onto the seat. Draco sat beside him and muttered, "Going to be a long ride."

By the time the lunch trolley arrived, Pansy had mellowed down. The gentle jostle of the train was calming Draco's nerves too. They were spending much of the journey chatting about what they wanted to do once they were back in the castle. They wanted to spend most of the time at Hogsmeade, lazing about and doing nothing. Theo was intent on trying to find each and every secret passageway around the school. Pansy and Heidi were bent on reorganizing the Slytherin dorm room even though the latter was an ex-Hufflepuff. "I bet it needs a bit sprucing up," were her exact words. Draco and Blaise cringed at this.

"I'm going out for a walk," Draco announced, getting up while feeling the heavy lunch weigh on him. He also needed to relieve the throbbing hurt on his stiff arm. His friends barely acknowledged him, being lulled to sleep by the food and the train. He stepped over feet and bags to get to the sliding door. Once he was out of the compartment, he let out a low groan and let his forehead rest against the glass that lined the corridor of the train. He knew that massaging his arm didn't do much, but he did so impulsively. The pain wasn't in his muscles. It seemed to be in his bones and blood. Each heartbeat would shoot slight impulses into his fingers. Theo was quite pleased that it hadn't spread yet. Draco was grateful for it too. Isolating the pain was important. This way, he could concentrate on the origins and quell it before it overwhelmed him. He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, grimacing as the breath clenched his chest tightly. He loosened up with effort, letting the coolness from the glass wash over him. His body always seemed much too warm to the touch. The cold was inviting. He steadied his mind and pushed off of the window after a calming minute. He stared out into the whipping scenery as his eyes finally focused. He found his condensed breath on the pane. He pressed his palm against it, letting his handprint show on the glass. A few seconds after he had dropped his hand, the print was gone with the rest of the water drops. Erased.

"Not forever."

Draco whipped around to find Luna's searching eyes on him. "Wh – what?" he stammered.

"Not erased forever," she said as though in a trance. She always seemed to be in a trance.

He hadn't realized that he was talking out loud. He blushed at Luna and stepped away quickly. She pulled her hair to one side and leaned her face towards the glass, breathing onto it. The water formed once again, a faint outline of Draco's handprint showing. "See?" she murmured. "Not erased forever." She outlined the edges with her finger.

Draco stared at Luna as though he was seeing her for the first time. He no longer noticed her long sweeping purple shirt and pale yellow blouse with birds flitting across the sleeves. He blinked into Luna's soft grey eyes. It was like she knew. "Okay," Draco said almost inaudible.

She smiled with a nod. "I'll talk to you later, Draco," she sang out, turning around and walking to her carriage.

The Great Hall was eerily silent as the ex-students walked in. All fifty of them remembered the night a little over five years ago when their lives had changed, for better and for worse. Remarkably, there was only two tables set up for them. Everyone hesitated, looking at each other for support. Uncomfortable seconds passed. The lights flickered lowly and the sky was dark with sparkling lights. The witches and wizards felt like they were about to be sorted again.

Hermione was the first to crack under the stress. She firmly grasped her fiancé by the hand and led him to the table. Draco saw Ginny following with Harry on the tow. That was all the prompt everyone needed. They moved to the tables, filling it up at random. The silence was soon enveloped in small chatter and soft greetings. Draco found himself sitting between Pansy and no one else. He noticed the wide berth that was left around him. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. He tried to ignore the empty meter of bench between him and Zacharias.

The noise slackened as Headmistress McGonagall entered the room, flanked by some of the professors. "Good evening!" she said cheerfully, her thin lips stretching welcomingly into a smile. "I'm so glad so many of you could come!" The men and women nodded and smiled in greeting. The Headmistress walked up to the dais and sat down at the head of the staff table. The other professors grinned happily at the gathered class of 1998 as they took their seats. The silence fell upon the crowd again as they waited for something to happen. Everyone merely contented at staring at each other and smiling at intervals.

"Awkward," Pansy murmured close-lipped into Draco's ear. Draco nodded heartily, fidgeting in his seat.

It took McGonagall another minute to realize that she would need to start the conversations once again. She stood up from her chair and clapped her hands together once. "Well then. I suppose a few words are apropos," she said, a sly glint in her eyes. "Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak."

A snort of laughter grabbed everyone's attention as they turned their heads in bafflement to find Harry clasping his hand to his mouth and shaking. Ron and Seamus were quick to join in. The amusement was contagious until even Draco cracked a small smile begrudgingly. The food appeared in a flash as the laughs and words grew louder. The hall was soon filled with clattering sounds of plates being pushed around and conversations being held in ten places at the same time. They were at Hogwarts once again.

Draco jerked awake from his nightmare and lurched to the bathroom. Or what he thought was the bathroom, but in actuality turned out to be a wall. He blinked blearily as the memory suddenly hit him. He was in his dorm again. He let his feet guide him to the large tiled bathroom where he hit the floor with his knees painfully and threw up into the toilet. He wasn't sure what prompted him to be sick, but he couldn't stop. He felt the bile rise up again and his arms shook from the effort of holding himself over the bowl. His body seemed quite set on rejecting all the food from his system and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He retched and gagged as his mind finally cleared to make way for the pain across his chest – the source of the nightmare and subsequent consequence. He breathed heavily as involuntary tears drained from him. He felt another bout striking him and he dry heaved. He didn't have anything else left in him. He gasped in relief at this. He knelt unsteadily over the toilet, one hand around his unsettled stomach and the other pressed against the wall.

He heard a soft spell being uttered behind him. He felt his shaking body steady itself under the magic. Theo quickly assessed Draco's health, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he knelt down beside his pale friend. He winced at the result he got. "Doing okay?" he asked.

Draco gulped down another gag and nodded.

"This has happened before?"

Draco shook his head slightly. "Must be the food," he whispered, swallowing painfully.

Theo sighed in frustration. "I'm a doctor. Give me some credit, Draco. I know it's not the food."

Draco didn't deign to respond, focusing on clearing the pain.

"Think you can get back to bed?"

"I'd rather not…"

"So you're planning on camping in here then?" Theo asked derisively.

Draco nodded with a faint smile. "Feel much safer here," he muttered, sounding more like himself.

"Sure you do."

"You go back to sleep, Theo."

"Um, I don't think so," he said decisively.

"I'm fine now. Just – just a nightmare. That's all," Draco said, trying to reason with his doctor. "Besides, don't want to miss tomorrow because you're too tired, do you?"

Theo chuckled. "Will you look at that? Malfoy's gone all righteous on me."

"Prick."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Before we start, let's hear the rules!" Harry shouted over the din. The group was making a loose circle around him, their shirts indicating which of the four teams they were split into. Hermione assured everyone that it was random although Draco wasn't completely sure about that. He seemed to have landed with the worst team, complete with one scowling Weasley and a murderous Longbottom. At least Harry was behaving civilly to Draco. That was relief unto itself.

"We already know the rules," Dean shouted out cheerfully. "Let's play!"

Draco also wondered how he had been roped into playing Capture the Flag. He hadn't played since he was twelve. And here he was, twenty-two and wearing a horrendous shade of red while eyeing his team surreptitiously. He was the only Slytherin in it. He didn't know why he was so surprised by his luck. It had never been on his side.

Wizarding Capture the Flag was quite different from the Muggle version in that magic was used to stun and the flags were placed across acres of field surrounding the Hogwarts castle. Each team had ten flags. No levitation was allowed. The boundaries between the four zones were drawn out using spells so translucent blue walls showed at the intersections. The flags could be guarded by up to six people. The rest was free-for-all. Once flags were snatched, all that was left to do was run like the devil was chasing you. A devil that could cast stunners and tripping hexes.

Harry was, obviously, voted captain of the horrendous-shade-of-red team. Their quarter of the grounds covered the open Quidditch pitch up to Hagrid's hut and the edge of the forest. "No real plan," the captain said with as he flicked his black hair out of his face. "Just grab the flags and book it. Two people per zone and four people back here." Draco found himself paired with mild-mannered Su, an ex-Ravenclaw with a very quiet disposition. Neither exchanged words as they waited for the whistle to sound.

The trill echoed through the grounds and all hell broke loose. Draco looked at Su and shrugged. She grabbed his wrist wordlessly, dragging him through the pitch. They sprinted towards the yellow zone, ducking away from the errant Impedimentas and Stupefys. Loud yells of disappointment and cheerful shouts of laughter echoed through the field. People froze all around them, some halting in mid-air while others sat down heavily, pushed onto the spot with magic. Draco's Protego held strong until the two neared the lake where the flags were guarded by Michael, Justin, Cho, and Dean. They were casting spells left, right, and centre, catching all intruders. Su let go of Draco and pushed him to the right. Draco nodded and smirked, swerving precariously as he sprinted around the flags. He saw Su doing the same on the other side, rounding towards the circle of guards.

Draco cast a rapid Jelly-legs Jinx when he saw Michael point a wand his way. The first guard was down in an instant. Su used Locomotor Mortis on Cho, grinning apologetically as her friend fell backwards onto the grass. Draco warded off the stunning spell Dean threw at him and shot back the same curse. By this time, Justin had managed to release Michael from the jinx. Draco saw Su getting tripped with double hexes and he took the momentary distraction of the two guards to leap into the circle and grab a flag. He raced out, hearing shouts of dismay behind him. He quickly threw a Protego behind his back and felt spells bounce off of it. He was now being chased by what seemed like a pack of hungry wolves. His path back to his zone was blocked so he made a split second decision, ducking towards the blue zone and successfully crossing the intersection without further mishap. Before he could catch his breath, a Tarantallegra whizzed by his knees and he leapt out of the way. He found Luna's wand aiming at him for another clear shot. He swore, his side in stitches, as he sprinted away towards the greenhouses. More flashes of light surrounded him as he glanced away wandering hexes. By the time he reached the glass houses, he knew the blue team surrounded him. He crept down the length of the second building and peeked around the corner. A flash of purple nearly took his eye out. He jerked his head out of the way, throwing a blind Petrificus with a flailing wand. He wound around to the fourth greenhouse, listening for sounds.

"'round the corner," he heard a few meters away from him.

"Damn," he muttered, trying to figure out a way to get out of the tough spot. That's when he heard a low whistle. He glanced to the right to find the utility shed with its door slightly opened. He heard the whistle coming from the wooden shed again. Without another moment's hesitation, he ran towards the door, stumbling in the darkness and slamming the door shut. His own deep breaths mingled with chuckles. Draco flicked his wand and light illuminated the small space. Harry was pressed against the wall, blue flag in hand and a hand pressed to his mouth. His eyes were crinkled, indicating that he was finding this situation highly amusing. Draco silently showed his yellow flag, feeling quite smug and proud. Harry dropped his hand from his face, a grin on his lips. He nodded in approval and pressed his finger against his lips, indicating for Draco to keep silent. They heard cautious mumbles outside.

"He was just here."

"Did you try inside?"

"The greenhouses are locked."

More scuffles sounded, now moving closer to the shed.

"How about in here?"

Draco was pulled forward at the same instant the door shot open. The two men were pressed between the wall and the door now. Draco's wand had extinguished itself when he was startled. The light that entered the room came from the outside. Tentative steps stopped at the doorway. Lisa and Lavender squinted to spot anyone in the room.

"No one here," Lavender said in disappointment.

"Maybe he doubled back," Lisa answered as the two women stepped out of the shed and wandered away, closing the door.

Draco held still, not daring to breathe. The reasons were less innocent this time. He could feel Harry's heart against his. An arm wound around his waist, pulling him close. His head had found its way to Harry's shoulder. And the pain… It was gone. He held still, not daring to breathe.

Harry shifted against Draco, so he started to move away on his own accord. But Harry didn't let go. Instead, the grip tightened slightly. Draco froze as his mind jumbled. Harry wasn't letting go. Why isn't he letting go? Draco's arms circled Harry's neck as he leaned in. They stood in silent embrace for minutes. Draco opened his eyes every few seconds to make sure he wasn't dreaming. And each time, he felt Harry against him. Their hearts beat together now and Draco no longer felt the sharp tingles in his fingers. He felt the cold breath against his neck and strong arms around his waist. He felt warmth enveloping his brain. He felt unusually euphoric. It felt amazing.

Draco didn't know who let go first, but after an eternity, he found himself staring at Harry from an arm's length away. They blinked at each other for silent seconds. It felt strange for the pale blond, not to have to worry about the consistent pain. Now Harry's confused gaze took up his worry. The comforting hug filled his mind. Shivers of thrill ran up his spine. Draco shook himself out of his daze and backed away further. "S – sorry," he mumbled breathlessly, opening the door with a sloppy slash of his wand and running out.

Draco was wandering the corridors after supper when Hermione literally ran into him. Books and parchment scattered to the ground. She groaned dismally before recognizing who she had run into. Draco didn't notice her expression harden because he was kneeling on the floor, picking up the paper. "You're out of school now, Granger. No need to keep studying," he said sarcastically, piling the parchment on top of the books and getting up. It was only when he tried to hand them back to her that he read her blank eyes and pursed lips. He quickly looked away. "I – um… Sorry. Here," he mumbled, shoving the books at Hermione. Her eyes reluctantly left Draco's as she grabbed the tomes. Her gaze deviated slightly. Draco held back a startled yelp when Hermione grabbed his hand and shoved the sleeve up.

"What's this?" she asked curtly, gesturing at the bandaged forearm.

Draco twisted his arm out of Hermione's grip and shrugged the sleeve down quickly. He turned to leave, but her hand had an almost vice-like hold on his shoulder now. Draco made a growl of exasperation. "What the fuck do you think it is, Hermione?" he asked harshly, his voice breaking as he spoke.

She frowned in confusion, backing up at the angered tone. Then realization struck like lightning. "Oh. I – no, that's – oh…" she stuttered and trailed off.

Draco was once again reminded of the pain and it started to creep up on him slowly. He sighed in defeat and turned around again. Hermione didn't stop him this time.

"What the hell did you say to her?"

Draco groaned as he turned around. He was shoved against the wall by Ron's heavy hands. "What?" he asked, pulling out his wand in derision.

Ron looked outraged and terrifyingly large at that moment. Even with Draco's height of nearly six feet, Ron's bulk was an added advantage. Draco knew he was in for it. Ron whipped his wand out and pointed it at Draco's chest. "Hermione. What did you say to her?" he asked again.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything to her," Draco replied, swatting the wand away and pushing off of the wall. "Fuck off."

Ron pulled Draco back with ease, tossing him against the wall again. "I don't know what your hidden agenda is and I don't care to know anything about you. But if you hurt Hermione in any way, I'll rip your head off, you hear me? Your kind is not welcome here and you know it," the red head spat out furiously.

Draco felt Ron's rage seeping into him as well. "Look. I didn't say anything to her, okay? Ask your precious girlfriend yourself. Don't drag me into this. And seeing as how I'm the last of my kind, don't worry, I'll be out of your hair before you can even blink. Like I said, fuck off, Weasley," he retorted, pushing Ron away.

Ron's fist connected with Draco's jaw in an instant. Draco staggered back, bracing himself against the wall for the rest of the punches. He didn't receive any. He found Ron seething in front of him. "Stay away," the ex-Gryffindor warned, stuffing his wand into his pocket. After one last glower, he stalked away. Draco had to resist the urge to hex Ron's back. He instead focused on his bruising jaw. Here was yet another reason why he shouldn't have come back to Hogwarts.

Hours later, Draco was in the Divination classroom, hidden away from the rest of the group. He wanted to stay in the attic until it was time to go home. He was seated on the plush cushions with a glass ball in his hand. He mindlessly swirled it in his palms. The mild ache on his jaw had now spread to the rest of him. He sighed and held the crystal steady in his hand. He stared at it with heavy concentration, trying to will it to show him something, anything. He thought he saw it cloud, but then it became apparent that his eyes watering from lack of sleep caused the fog. He grumbled to himself and dropped the ball onto the floor. It rolled away casually. He stared out of the window into the blue skies. He was surrounded by the sky and nothing else. His eyes dragged shut. He didn't have the time to fall asleep because the door opened with a bang at that moment. He jerked awake, wondering why the hell everyone was so intent on making his life a miserable pile of shit. He groaned anew when Hermione's head popped into view. "What do you want?" he asked, trying to be rude, but coming off as wary.

She climbed through the hole on the floor and walked to Draco without saying a word. Her wand was out and it was trained at him. He dropped his gaze from the wand to the floor, resigned. She lowered her wand arm. "You won't even defend yourself?" she asked.

"What do you want?" Draco asked again.

Her wand shot back up and a silent spell unleashed warmth onto Draco's jaw. He flinched away, clutching his healed jaw in his hand. "Uh…"

"How did that happen?" she asked.

Draco's frustration got the better of him. "Look, just… Forget about it. Nothing happened. Just leave," he said.

"You're covering for Ron now?"

He rubbed his hands furiously over his face. "I can't do this right now," he muttered, feeling a sudden bout of self-pity coursing through him. He was about to burst into tears. And he was not about to make a scene in front of Hermione. "Now," he reiterated, his voice muffled behind his hands.

Hermione seemed quite bad at taking hints because she sat down beside Draco instead of leaving him alone. "I wanted to apologize for Ron," she said.

"Whatever. Shit happens."

"It's my fault. So, I'm apologizing. That's how it works."

Draco had enough sense left in him to know when he was being yanked. But he wasn't in a mood to retort appropriately. Hermione continued.

"I was just preoccupied after last night. Ron is quick to jump to conclusions. Loose cannon. It's just that… I had forgotten about – and I was wondering if you… That is, um – how long do you – or don't you know?"

He vaguely marveled at Hermione's insight. "What?" he asked.

"It's been five years. I thought maybe you – maybe you wouldn't be affected."

"He's quite hell-bent on making me suffer, isn't he?" Draco responded sarcastically with a hint of malice in his tone as he spoke of Voldemort.

"You do know…" Hermione said quietly, more to herself.

"Three months. Maybe."

Her face paled as her eyes widened. "N- no, th – that's…" she stammered.

"You wanted to know," Draco shrugged.

"Three… Oh my gosh."

Hearing the words from someone else's mouth was terrifying Draco. He tried to shut out his emotions again as he averted his eyes from Hermione's horrified expression. "Why do you care anyway?" he asked, swallowing hard.

She didn't appear to have heard his question, still trying to think her thoughts through. "That's too soon. You have no time…"

His breath hitched as heat flooded into his eyes. He scrambled up to his feet. "I – I have to go," he said thickly, stumbling towards the door and climbing down blindly. Too soon… He knew it was too soon. No time… He tripped down the tower, his hands guiding him since his eyes were too teary to see. He knew he had no time. He had known for years. Pain… He gasped and pressed against the wall as the pain latched onto his mind. He swayed precariously and his knees gave way.

Hermione found Draco halfway down the tower. His head was cradling in his hands as he lost control of his mind. She raced down and held onto Draco's shoulders before he could fall down the rest of the stairs. His eyes opened at the touch and he looked placidly at Hermione. She felt clumsy fingers brushing against her cheeks. "Don't cry," he said softly, staring at Hermione with unblinking eyes. Hermione moved away in surprise and Draco's hands dropped to his sides. She hadn't known that she was crying. She quickly wiped away her tears. "Don't cry," he sighed, his eyes falling shut. "It doesn't matter if I die. Don't you see? Don't tell anyone. Don't cry," he murmured, fainting away into Hermione as the pain multiplied.

"'Mione…"

She looked down the stairs frantically and nearly sagged with relief when she saw Ron looking uncertain on the steps. "We need to take him downstairs," she said quickly. Ron didn't question Hermione as he quickly warded Draco's limp body and levitated him above the steps.

"Where?" Ron asked.

"I – I don't know," she replied helplessly.

"Slytherin dorms for now?"

She nodded as more tears formed. Ron frowned at his fiancé and then at Draco. "What did he mean?" he asked.

Hermione crushed Ron into a hug. "He's dying, Ron. And it's… he said in three months… Because of his Dark Mark. He's so young," she said falteringly.

"Dying? What?"

She finally let go of Ron and took a strengthening breath. She beckoned for him to follow as she entwined her fingers into his and pulled him along. Draco floated behind Ron. "There's a curse on the mark. When Voldemort died, the curse took effect. It kills in a day. I think the most has been a week since after… But they were all imprisoned. They died in Azkaban. I didn't think Malfoy would be – I mean, five years!"

"Because he's a Death Eater?" Ron asked, trying to figure out what Hermione was saying.

"It's painful. There isn't a lot that's known because it happened so fast. In fact, I don't even think the Ministry is looking into it anymore. I thought that since Draco was forced to join, he wouldn't be affected. But he is. Slower."

They walked in silence, contemplating Draco and his ailment. They didn't have to venture too far into the dungeons. Theo staggered to a halt when he saw Hermione and Ron practically running towards him.

"What're you two doing?" he asked.

"Malfoy," Hermione panted, trying to catch her breath and throwing her arm back to gesture wildly at the floating body.

"Fuck," Theo swore, quickly casting pain relief charms and cooling spells on the body. "In here," he said urgently, running through the maze with Hermione and Ron on the tow. He was the first one into the common room and he cleared it with a sweep of his wand. He indicated Ron to place Draco on the large couch. "What happened?" he asked as the body was floated to the couch and set down. Draco was pale but hot to the touch.

"We were just talking and then this – It's the curse," Hermione said. "Do you know of it?"

Theo frowned at Hermione. "Wait. You know?" he asked.

"I work for the Ministry," she said. "Sure, I know."

"He hasn't told anyone," Theo said rapidly. "You can't tell, okay?"

"Why doesn't he – and how do you know?" Ron asked, at a loss for words.

Theo Accio'd his medical kit from his dorm. "I'm his doctor."

Hermione stood agape beside Ron. Theo tried to force potion after potion into Draco for a few minutes. Every so often, he'd punctuate it with wordless spells. Draco's blank face was soon contorted with pain. After a deep breath, Theo shot a quick Rennervate at the unconscious man. Draco's eyes shot open then squeezed closed. He groaned and shifted uncomfortably on the couch, trying to sit up.

"Is he alright?" Hermione whispered cautiously.

Draco's head snapped at her and he shot up in an instant. "What's she – oh…" Memory filled itself in. He flicked his eyes at Theo, who shrugged with concern. Draco suddenly became aware of Ron shuffling uncomfortably on the spot beside Hermione. "I didn't say anything to her this time either," he said weakly, leaning against the back of the couch as the pain subsided.

"Oh, I – uh…" Ron stammered, blushing bright red. "Um… Sorry about that."

Draco wondered just how delirious he was as he glanced at Ron again. "Huh?" he asked wearily.

The red head rolled his eyes. "Said I was sorry," he muttered again.

"Oh…"

As Draco quickly regained his composure, Theo turned to the two ex-Gryffindors. "You guys can go. Thanks for bringing him here," he said quietly. The two nodded, casting a worried glance at Draco before walking out of the room. Theo whipped around angrily at Draco now. "What the hell was that?" he asked heatedly. "You were unconscious! What aren't you telling me? You have no reason to keep anything away, do you understand?"

Draco had the courtesy to flinch at Theo's reprimanding words. "Look, I don't know, okay? I haven't been keeping anything from you. It just – happened."

"What just happened?"

Draco shook his head as though he wanted to shake the memory out of him. "The pain was in my head this time."

Theo's jaw dropped. "In your head?"

"I'm fine now," Draco said rapidly, trying to ease Theo's worries. "I was just – whatever. Just a few more months, right?"

"You need to stop saying that."

"Doesn't matter. I'll live until then."