It had happened so fast that Harry wasn't even sure what he had done. All he knew was that his spell had found its target in Scorpius Malfoy, and the boy had dropped instantly to the ground, head tipped back as a scream ripped itself from his throat. His fingers were curled like claws, wildly scratching the hardwood floor for purchase. His spine curved so dramatically that it reminded Harry horrifyingly of an exorcism. Draco was shouting, screaming at Harry and kneeling beside Scorpius, sobbing over him as the spell cut off, and the boys body went slack, his eyes closing and his hands relaxing as his consciousness bled out of him. Harry was staring in shock, and his blood thrummed in his ears as his vision cleared. It hit him like a bludger what he had just done.

Holy fuck. He had just used an unforgivable on a twelve year old boy. His wand felt like a brick in his hand, heavy and rough, and his throat closed almost entirely as the scene washed over him violently. Ron was still sitting in the broken glass, all traces of anger gone, his face pale and his eyes round with shock. He panted raggedly, as if he had never spoken before, "Harry."

He barely heard him. He was far too invested in Scorpius and Draco. The boy had gasped awake, coughing and sucking in air like he had been jostled out of a nightmare. His knuckled were white and his hand gripped Draco's like it was a lifeline, his tiny voice choking out, "Dad!"

"Oh, thank Merlin, I thought you were dead!" Draco sobbed, crushing his son to his chest, "Oh, God, Scorp, thank Merlin you're okay! Tell me where it hurts, please tell me there isn't any permanent damage!"

Harrys wand slipped out of his hand, and clattered on the floor. He had done that. He could have killed Scorpius if he hadn't been able to harness control like he had. He vaguely remembered the feeling of the spell rushing through him, the anger igniting in his bones, the white-hot burn of magic flooding through his wand. He had done this. He wasn't sure how he managed to keep from falling to his knees from the weight of the realization.

He didn't hear it when Hermione burst through the doorway, and barely registered it when she flew to Draco's side, kneeling down beside him, her hand cradling Scorpius's head tenderly. She said shakily, not that Harry heard her, "He hit his head when he fell, he probably has a concussion. We should get him to St. Mungos. Merlin, what the hell happened?"

"Potter and Weasley." Draco rasped, looking up at them through his bangs with a horrifyingly betrayed look, "They were fighting. Potter used crucio."

"Harry!" Hermione cried, her horror so clear and raw that Harry felt bile rising in his throat. "How could you?!"

He opened his mouth to answer, but the words stuck like glue to the back of his throat. He didn't know. He didn't have an answer for her. He couldn't recall deciding to say the spell; all he could remember was the feeling of doing it. He shook his head, tears blurring his vision as the urge to vomit became worse.

"He needs to go to St. Mungos." Hermione said determinedly, her mouth snapping closed and pressing into a thin line. She didn't look at Harry when she said it. "tell me exactly what happened, Draco."

"It was so sudden, I don't...It wasn't meant for Scorpius, I don't think. It was like he didn't mean to say it, like it just fell out of his mouth almost, but you have to mean it with that sort of curse, don't you? It was like it wasn't him, it was like he was-" Draco stopped, and his head whippped back around to Harry, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open. He said slowly, his voice hollow and haunted, "It was like he was cursed. Like they both were."

It took Harry several seconds to register exactly what Malfoy was saying. Ron caught on first, saying shakily, "The case. You think we are under the same curse as those other aurors."

"I think you were." Malfoy said slowly, his face flipping through emotions like they were pages a scrapbook. "I think you shook it off, maybe. Potter was directing the spell at you; he shouldn't have been able to jerk it away at the last second if he was being controlled. How did we not notice? You've been acting so different these past few days, the both of you."

"Oh God." Hermione whispered, her hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes, "They've been under a spell this whole time. No wonder Ron's been so awful, and Harry's been so snappy."

Draco looked sharply at Ron, and said in horror, voice hoarse and raw, "That's how you knew about...what happened with Fenrir. Whoever is casting the spell knows about it, and somehow triggered you to say that. That's the only way you could have known."

"Dad." Scorpius repeated, his eyes heavy and sleepy as he moved further into his fathers arms. Harry's head was spinning. He was both relieved and horrified. His heart had swelled with relief at realizing he hadn't cast the spell, at least not consciously. The feeling was quickly replaced when he realized that it could have happened sooner; the spell could have hit him harder before. He was alone with his children while he was under the spell. If it had been stronger...he didn't want to think about that. He swallowed the heat that rose up his throat forcefully. Ron didn't. He turned his face away and was violently sick on the floor and over the broken glass that still surrounded him.

"St. Mungos, all of us." Hermione said decisively, as Draco picked Scorpius up in his arms, holding him as if he was afraid the boy would break if he so much as breathed the wrong way. "The kids can stay here with Ginny and Molly."

XXXXXXXXX

St. Mungos was miraculously empty of patients, and they were all able to secure rooms quickly. Harry was alone while Hermione and Ron sat bent together in a room across the hall, and Scorpius and Draco were a bit farther off. Harry felt sick to his stomach as mediwitches passed in and out through the door, casting spells in an attempt to diagnose what he had been cursed with. Harry held little hope for them finding what it was; they hadn't been able to determine what had hit the others before him, after all. He kept expecting that an auror would come in to take him to azkaban for cursing Scorpius, but one never came. He couldn't determine how he should feel, caught in an odd limbo between guilt and relief that things hadn't gotten worse.

He had been sitting in silence for the better part of half an hour when the curtains of his room separated again, and Draco Malfoy stepped through, looking older than he ever had before, every crease of his face defined by his exhaustion and worry. He was sure he didn't look any better himself. He pulled up the wooden chair that was beside the window and sat beside Harry with his arms folded on top of the thin hospital mattress, studying him for a long moment. Harry spoke first, swallowing hard and whispering, not trusting himself to speak aloud, "I'm so sorry, Malfoy. I would never have-"

"I know." Draco whispered, swallowing and twisting his fingers together uncomfortably. "I know what it's like to do terrible things against your will."

The dark mark was peeking out from beneath his sleeve, but Harry had a feeling that wasn't what he meant, and waited patiently for Malfoy to clarify. He didn't have to wait long, and the blond said shakily, "I, uh, I guess you probably want to know what happened with Fenrir, then. I already told Scorpius, and I'm giving him some time to let it set in, but he thinks I need to tell you."

"How is he?" Harry broke in, centered on the boys name. He still felt off balance, but he could focus well enough to catch snips of what Malfoy was saying, and the name rang in his head like a church bell. "Scorpius, I mean, not Fenrir. I know he's dead."

"Scorpius is doing well. His head is fine, too, luckily. Nobody knows you cursed him. He, uh, he sort of said that he heard about the spell in Knockturn Alley, and that he decided to test it out without knowing what it meant. Being my kid, nobody seems to be too suspicious of his story."

"You should have told them." Harry snapped, the residual anger that had laced his chest beginning to seep through again. "I cursed your son, Malfoy, I don't need you protecting me."

"Believe me, Potter, that's far from what I planned on doing. I was ready to apparate to Azkaban myself and engrave your name above a cell, but Scorpius put my head on straight again before I could manage it. He's going to be discharged as soon as they get the paperwork completed, no harm done, really."

"I'll figure out who did this, Malfoy." Harry told the blond earnestly, his hand reaching out on its own to close over Draco's.

"I should hope so." Draco nodded, and slowly pulled away. For some reason it stung to know that he wasn't at ease with Harry, and he had a sudden urge to ask him what he had said in the hall that had made him so upset, but he was also afraid to find out. Draco stood slowly, awkwardly put his hands into his pockets, and said, "Well, I should go check on Weasley, see how he's faring after everything."

"You'll stop by with Scorpius before you leave, won't you? I should apologize to him properly."

"Yeah, I'll bring him by. You've got a mediwitch on the way down, though, so I ought to step out."

Indeed, a few seconds after Draco disappeared behind the curtain a tall ginger witch stepped into the room with a severe look and a clipboard clutched close to her chest. She looked to be Harrys age, with little grey hairs twisting up into her tight bun. He was so caught up in analyzing her, as he often did thanks to his auror training, that he nearly didn't hear her when she said with a lilting cockney accent, "We've done all of the testing that we can to test you claim about being cursed, Mr. Potter, and you are, in fact, not under any spells at the moment, nor have you been for at least the last week as far as we can tell."

His heart stuttered, and a strangled sound squeezed out through his throat, as he demanded sharply, "What?"

"To be honest, we aren't quite sure why you and Mister Weasley are here at all. You have had normal behavior, and there is not a trace of anything abnormal about you in the least." She said, her lipsticked mouth curving into a deep frown.

"No, I'm sure I've been cursed. Try the tests again, there is no way I'm not under something dark, not with all thats happened!" Harry protested, but she seemed firm in her diagnosis, and sighed heavily.

"Mister Potter, there is nothing more we can do for you tonight. I have your discharge paperwork here, if you'd just sign on the line, and I can have my supervisor sign you out within the hour. There is no sign of a curse, or any foul play at all. I understand that you said your behavior has taken a turn, but all I can recommend for you is to see a psychiatrist and to get some mood potions. This has happened with aurors before, Mister Potter, where the stress of the job triggers odd symptoms and personality changes. I can contact your employer and suggest you take a week off until you're in your right mind, but I'm afraid thats the best I can offer you."

It didn't make sense. He was sure there was something else going on; that he hadn't acted on his own to curse Scorpius Malfoy. He felt the same anger as before stirring in his gut and he forced it down. It wouldn't do well to lose his temper like that again. He would work to control it, lest he cursed someone again. He signed the paperwork a tad more violently than he intended to, the ink smearing as his hand viciously trailed across it. The mediwitch pursed her lips in disapproval, but left without a word.

After a moment sorting through his thoughts, he pushed himself out of the bed and walked out into the hall, then into Ron's room. Hermione was holding Rons hands and looking anxious, and Draco was standing at the end of the bed with a scowl when he got there. Harry paused in the doorway, certain he had interrupted something, and Draco turned to look at him with a frown, saying, "What does he mean you two haven't been cursed? I thought you said that you had been under a spell."

"We are-we were. I mean, we thought we were." Harry said, his heartbeat quickening, "They've run every test they know, there is no trace of any magic on us. It doesn't make sense, I know, but-"

"Then how the fuck did Weasley hear about Fenrir?" Draco snarled, a darkness in his eyes that made Harrys stomach curl. Ron had a guilty look painted on his face, and Draco caught it a second before he managed to wipe it away. The blond paled, and took a step back, pain coloring his eyes as he said slowly, his voice tight, "That's why you were nice to me. I should have known you wouldn't be that accepting otherwise!"

"What is he talking about?" Harry asked with a frown, looking between Ron and Hermione in alarm. Hermione looked just as confused as Harry.

"You bloody spied on me, didn't you?" Draco hissed, shaking with fury as he glowered at Ron. "You went into my files! You've only acted like my friend because you've pitied me-this whole time!"

"That's not true, Malfoy, you know its not!" Ron said immediately, ,sitting up straighter on the bed, his eyes wide, "I didn't mean to snoop, it just happened! I was replacing a file for Currier in the vaults downstairs, and your name caught my eye when I was flipping through. I shouldn't have gotten into it, but I knew you were going to be visiting the burrow the next day and I couldn't help myself!"

"What was in that file was personal and private, Weasley!" Draco growled, and though he tried to maintain a look of extreme anger, Harry could see the look of panic on his face, pain leaking through again. He was sure the others saw it too.

"Ron, what did you-"

"Don't you say a word, Weasley! It's nobody else's business what was in it, least of all yours!"

"I didn't mean to!" Ron cried, "I didn't plan on finding it, it just happened! It looked like a criminal file, Malfoy, what was I supposed to do? You were a death eater, I wasn't about to risk inviting you into my house if I didn't know what you were capable of! I was protecting my family!"

"You were being a nosy and insensitive prat, not that it's anything new!"

"I didn't know!" Ron insisted, shaking his head wildly.

"And you were never going to, either! Nobody was supposed to know, and thanks to you I had to tell my son! Do you have any idea how hard that is? I'm supposed to be the one protecting him, how do you think it feels for me to tell him that I couldn't even protect myself!"

"It was years ago, you're overreacting!"

"Oh," Malfoy hissed scathingly, "Well, I hate to inform you, Weasley, but you actually don't have any say about how I should feel about being groped by some disgusting werewolf when I was sixteen! You don't get to assign me a grieving period, you don't get to tell me when I should feel better, and you certainly don't get to tell everyone I know that I was his fuck toy for the better part of two years! You don't have the bloody right, so don't speak to me like I'm the one being unreasonable!"

"I didn't know!" Ron backpedaled, as Harry and Hermione gaped at Malfoy.

"That's the bloody point!" Draco shrieked, "You didn't know, and you found out because you're too nosy for your own good! That's the only reason you've ever been friendly to me, admit it! You felt bad for me!"

"Well, of course I did!" Ron fired back, as tears streamed furiously down Draco's cheek, "I still feel bad for you! Merlin knows you don't have any friends to talk to about it, with Parkinson traveling so often, and I doubt you'd tell her anyways! I was trying to do the right thing by being nice to you, but don't think you get to make it out like everything I've done has been out of pity! You are my friend, Malfoy, regardless of what I did or didn't know when we started hanging out."

Draco opened his mouth to retort, his face still wet and shining, but he lost the chance when a mediwitch popped into the room, wand drawn, and asked, "Is there a problem in here?"

Everyone went silent and tight-lipped, and Draco finally croaked out, once he had scraped his palms over his face and rubbed out the tear marks, "No problem. We're fine, sorry for the noise."

"Hmph." The mediwitch snorted, not entirely convinced, then frowned and said, "Weren't you told you could leave ages ago?"

"Waiting on paperwork to be signed."Draco snapped, none too friendly.

"Right. I'm sure it's done by now. You're free to go, Mister Malfoy. You too, Misters Potter and Weasley." The woman nodded curtly, and turned on her heel, marching out of the room. Draco gave Ron a withering glare before following her out, barely sparing Harry a glance.

"You went through his file?" Hermione asked Ron in a horrified whisper. "Ron, you never should have touched it."

"You think I don't know that?" Ron groaned into his hands, "I shouldn't have gotten into it, I knew that as soon as I opened it, but I didn't plan on ever bringing it up! If it wasn't for the spell-or whatever it is that's been effecting me and Harry-I never would have said anything. I don't even remember what it was that I said to him. I just remember sitting to dinner, getting pissed about something, and then I was being thrown into the china cabinet."

"You need to apologize to him-properly." Hermione said sharply, then sighed and said, "But right now I think we need to go to the burrow and let everyone know whats going on. I'm sure Molly is worried out of her mind. You should rest, anyways."

Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to say to that, and the trip back to the burrow was silent and melancholy. Albus wasn't interested in hearing a word from him, and Molly seemed too afraid of him to ask about what had happened, which was somehow worse. He apparated home with the kids without saying goodbye, and once he got there he locked himself in the upstairs office-which he rarely used-to draft a letter to Kingsley to request time off.

XXXXXXXX

Authors Note: Any thoughts on this so far? Please review and let me know what you think! Also, since there is probably going to be sensitive subject matter discussed in this, would you guys prefer that I put trigger warnings on top of chapters that have that? I'd be more than happy to if people want that, but otherwise I'll keep doing things like I have been, just in the interest of not giving anything away. Please review and let me know!