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Walking Free

The Professors

The small, white house that sat on the corner of Old Road in a muggle suburb had been silent when its occupants returned. Remus and Tonks had expected to find Harry and, as much as they hated the thought, Draco Malfoy residing there; however, when the front door had been unlocked and the family had entered, stillness was all that greeted them. When Remus, who had moved into the kitchen, called out to his best friend's son and received no answer he had not been overly worried. In his mind, there were several reasons as to why Harry was not in the house. He, himself, had childishly stormed out of his home and fled to a nearby park to cool off. There was no reason why Harry had not done the same.

As Tonks had stepped over the threshold with her son tightly wrapped around her hip, her foot met with a hard, lumpy object. On closer inspection, she had been surprised to see her house keys lying on the door mat. It was ridiculous to have house keys really, seeing as they were wizards and could easily unlock the door with a simple spell; however, Remus had insisted and so, she and Remus ended up with a set of several door keys for the petite house. Harry had also become the owner of a set of the keys when he had moved in with them. He seemed mush more willing to use them than Tonks could not be bothered with the extra hassle of carrying them around with her when she left the house. She had never used the things; they were just something else that could be lost or stolen. Tonks guessed it was because of Harry's muggle background that the teen used them and he was more careful than Tonks and therefore less likely to lose the damn things. She preferred to just use her wand, which she carried around about her person all of the time anyway. So her house keys remained in the top draw of the kitchen counter where she had placed them after Remus had first given them to her.

Tonks had paused at that thought; she barely noticed as her husband made his way upstairs, this time calling out for Malfoy. If her house keys were in the kitchen draw and Remus had used his to get into the house before putting them into his pocket, whose were these? Moving into the hallway, Tonks had closed the door, placed Teddy onto the floor and grabbed the coat that her husband had worn during his excursion. It had not taken her long to find Remus' keys in the side pocket of his worn jacket. As a frown had fallen on Tonks' face, she moved into the kitchen and opened the top draw of one of the cabinets. There, sitting on top of a scrunched up, important looking piece of parchment and a recipe for sticky toffee pudding sat Tonks unused house keys. The cogs in Tonks brain began to wind and she dropped the keys she was holding, having realised what it all meant.

Remus noted that his wife was dawdling at the front door as he jumped up the stairs, two at a time, calling out to the Malfoy boy. When Remus had received no reply form the blonde, he began to worry. He had quickly made his way to what was now Draco's room (Harry had been forced to sleep on the sofa when the blasted blonde at arrived at the doorstep. The argument over who slept in the only spare bedroom had lasted almost two hours, with Harry finally giving in, only because he felt guilty for causing a ruckus in his friend's house.) and poked his head around the door to find the room empty. It was then that he had begun to panic. Ever since arriving, Malfoy had refused to leave the house for fear of being killed by Death Eaters. When Remus had walked into the bedroom and had found none of the boy's possessions –not that there had been many- he realised that something was wrong.

Having jumped down the stairs, Remus had entered the room to find his wife standing over the kitchen draws, with her back to him. He had desperately tried to tell her that he couldn't find either of the teens and that when he had entered Draco's room, he had found none of the blonde's belongings. He had not heard his wife the first time when she had simply said 'He's gone.' He had, however, taken notice when Tonks had turned around, a disbelieving look on her face, and told him that they had not just gone out but they had, in fact, left the house for good.

Remus had frozen at his wife's exclamation. After a minute or so, when his brain began to function properly again, he asked what had happened after he had left the house. Tonks diligently told him of the events that had occurred but had paused when she got near to the end. She had been the one to cause this mess; she had been the on to tell Harry that he should leave. She had, of course not meant what she had said. Caught up in the heat of the moment, she yelled at the poor teen and he had mistaken her words. She had only meant that he should leave for a while; to calm down at least. She had not meant that he should pack up his belongings and find somewhere else to live, dragging that bloody Malfoy boy with him. She felt like crying and couldn't stop the hot tears falling.

The conversation between Harry and Professor Dumbledore had been a long and rather stressful one. Harry found himself confused, angry and upset as the Headmaster spoke. The elderly wizard had given Harry permission to interrupt anytime he wanted to question what was being said but the teen had not taken up the offer. He sat quietly as Dumbledore's soft voice filled the kitchen.

'I am under the impression that Tom Riddle created seven of these Horcruxes. As they contain part of his soul, without removing the soul from the object it resides in, one cannot kill Lord Voldemort. I believe this to be our only hope. We must defeat Voldemort and I believe this to be the only option. He is gaining power every minute and soon, I fear that we will not be able to do anything about it. We must take action now. We have to destroy the Horcruxes as soon as possible. That is the only way we can defeat Voldemort.' The man paused briefly before continuing, 'I take it you remember the prophecy?' When Harry grunted, Dumbledore spoke again, 'As I believe it, you must be the one to defeat Lord Voldemort. I thought that I should share my discoveries with you.'

The anger that bubbled up inside of Harry was purely his own this time. He could not just sit here and listen to the Headmaster go on about how he was supposed to defeat Voldemort. Who the hell did Dumbledore think he was storming into his house and almost demanding that he give up any preconceived ideas of having a quite, relaxing life so that he could save the Wizarding World? Yes, he knew about the prophecy and how it told of the savior of the Wizarding World but wasn't he allowed a break? Wasn't he allowed to just relax and get his life back into some order? Apparently not. Dumbledore had decided this and whatever Dumbledore wanted, Dumbledore got.

'What are you on about?' Harry almost yelled at the elderly man. 'Who do you think you are? You invite yourself and that greasy git into my house and demand this of me?' The teen's voice raised in volume with every sentence. 'There's no "Hi Harry. How are you? I see you've fucked up your life, again!" You just go off on one about how I'm supposed to kill Voldemort. You don't ask me how I feel or what I want. You just expect this of me. What if I don't want this? I didn't ask for this fucked up life! I didn't ask to become the bloody Boy Who Lived but because I am, everybody thinks that they can just throw me around with no thought of how I feel or what I want.' Harry was shouting now. He wanted to hit something or someone. It reminded him somewhat of the night after Sirius died when he had screamed, yelled, and thrown a tantrum in the Headmaster's office. 'You've never cared. No one has ever cared.'

Harry noted that the elderly wizard had not flinched at his outbreak; he sat rather calmly in the wooden chair. This did nothing to help Harry's temper; however, he had noticed that a small frown now graced the Headmaster's lips.

'Harry, my boy-'

'DON'T! I'm not your boy. You know nothing about me. You don't care so just shut up.'

'That is not true.' Albus' voice echoed around the room. It was harsher than it had been throughout the conversation and Harry felt a shiver of fear rise up his spine as he looked into the melancholy blue eyes. 'I have wronged you many times Harry and for that you cannot understand how regretful I am; however, I have never stopped loving you and I will never. You are like a grandson to me. You have made me proud to know and even though you have disappointed me once or twice with your disregard for the rules and your lack of self preservation, I have never stopped caring.' Dumbledore's voice had calmed throughout his speech. His eyes filled with unshed tears as he solely lowered himself back into the chair, his eyes never left Harry's emerald ones.

'I know I ask too much of you, Harry, and for that, I find myself apologizing to you yet again. I see that my mistake has been in assuming that you were trying to push yourself away from it all, from us all. I was under the impression that you did not welcome my company, so I thought, obviously rather foolishly, that I should get to business and therefore, I neglected common courtesy.'

The room fell silent. Harry sank down into his chair and watched in surprise as Dumbledore uncharacteristically took off his half moon spectacles and pushed his wrinkled hands into his face. If anything, Dumbledore showing weakness was far more irritating that the normal, cheery old man. Harry turned away and studied a broken brick on the wall. He was somewhat ashamed of the way he had acted. He needed to learn how to control his temper better but at the moment, with everything that was going on with Remus and his scar, he found he just couldn't suppress the anger.

The silence became deafening in the dark, basement kitchen. It seemed to echo around the room as the two men sat there, both with their heads in their hands. Harry wasn't sure how much time had passed when he had finally managed to calm down. He took a deep breath and hesitating before speaking again. He couldn't stand the silence and now that he was thinking more clearly, decided that he should at least try to understand what Dumbledore had come to tell him.

'So, these things, have you, err, managed to get rid of any?'

Albus straightened and placed his spectacle back onto his nose. He appeared to be slightly more composed no but his lips still held the frown. With a sigh, the elderly man answered.

'Yes, three of the seven have been destroyed.'

'Oh, right. So what were they?' Harry felt extremely awkward sat here trying to hold a calm conversation with a man he had wanted to tear apart not half an hour ago. With another great sigh, Dumbledore spoke up.

'The first was destroyed several years ago. I had not realised the true meaning of it when the situation was brought to light; however, after sifting through a great deal of information, including memories of several people who knew Lord Voldemort when he was young, I discovered that the object wan indeed a Horcrux. I knew at the time that there was a great deal of dark magic within the object, I just did not understand it at first. On closer inspection, it was easy to see that the diary had harbored a piece of Tom Riddle's soul.'

'Wait, diary? You mean Tom Riddle's diary that I destroyed in second year with the basilisk fang? That was a Horcrux?' Harry questioned, his interest in the conversation peaking.

'That's the one.' Dumbledore replied quietly. 'It was incredibly lucky in some ways that it was a basilisk which resided in the castle.' At Harry's questioning look, he continued, 'There are only a few substances that can destroy Horcruxes; basilisk venom being one. The other is far more dangerous and something that I would never condone. I would think that you have not come across a Fiendfyre?' At Harry's shake of the head, Dumbledore nodded. 'I thought not. A Fiendfyre is a type of fire, created from very dark magic, which cannot be extinguished using the common methods. They are extremely difficult to control and can rapidly get out of hand. Very dangerous but very potent and can therefore, destroy a Horcrux.'

The Headmaster paused in thought before continuing as he stroked his long, white beard.

'The second Horcrux was destroyed by myself shortly after your imprisonment. It was a family heirloom that caught Tom Riddle's eye. I will, in the near future, discuss with you Lord Voldemort's past as I believe it is somewhat key in order to understand the man. The ring belonged to Marvolo Gaunt, Tom Riddle's grandfather who was distantly related to Salazar Slytherin. The ring's link to the founder of Hogwarts appealed greatly to Lord Voldemort, you see. He wants nothing more than power and by claiming such an object, I suppose he feels somewhat closer to Slytherin. I found it in the Gaunt family home where Tom had hidden it. He placed a dark magic on the object, cursing any wearer, killing them rather rapidly. Fortunately, I was…distracted when I tried to put the ring on. I destroyed it soon after with the sword of Gryffindor.'

'But I thought-'

'Ah, yes, you are correct, the sword should not have been able to destroy the Horcrux; however, the sword is goblin made. Goblin made objects have special properties, one being the power to imbibe only that which strengthens it.'

'I don't understand.'

'You see, Harry, that night in the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor, thereby coating it in basilisk venom. The sword, now impregnated with basilisk venom, is capable of destroying Horcruxes.' Dumbledore smiled softy at that, recalling that Harry must have shown him great loyalty and trust when down in the Chamber as it was Fawkes who brought Harry the Sorting Hat from which he was able to obtain the sword of Gryffindor.

'The third Horcrux that has been destroyed is Hufflepuff's cup. That took a lot of work and perhaps the story can wait for another occasion but in essence, I found the cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and destroyed it once again with the sword of Gryffindor. I can only assume that one of the remaining Horcruxes belongs to Ravenclaw, the most obvious one being the Diadem; however, the Lost Diadem, as it has been called for many a year my boy, is, as you have probably already realised, lost.' Professor added the last part with another small smile. There was no way that the Diadem could be a Horcrux. It had been lost for centuries and as clever and cunning Tom Riddle was, Dumbledore suspected that he would not have bothered with that particular Founder's artifact.

'And you don't know what the other Horcruxes are then?'

'I believe I am right in assuming that Lord Voldemort's pet snake, Nagini, harbors a piece of his soul.' The Headmaster paused for a moment after that. Sighing, the elderly wizard continued. 'A couple of years ago, I thought I had found another. I travelled to a cave which Tom Riddle had visited as a child and found what I believed to be a Horcrux, alas, when I took a closer look at, I discovered that someone else had learned of Voldemort's Horcruxes and had taken the real one. I have the fake right here.' Dumbledore dug his hand into the pocket of his robe, in search of the object. When he finally pulled his hand out of the pocket, he passed a locket of heavy gold with a serpentine S in green stone to Harry who studied it carefully. 'Inside, you will find a note from the one who took the real locket.'

Harry looked up into the Headmaster's glittering blue eyes before turning his eyes back to the locket which he opened carefully. As he had been told, inside was a folded piece of yellow parchment. Unfolding the note, Harry found in tiny, smart writing, the message.

To the Dark Lord,

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B

'Naturally, I have searched everywhere for the real Horcrux but to no avail.'

'Who-'

'Regulus Arcturus Black.' Dumbledore answered sadly before Harry could finish the question.

Harry looked up again, confused. 'Sirius' brother?'

Albus just gave the teen a small nod. 'I am afraid that Regulus died shortly after he discovered the truth. Sirius always believed his younger brother to be truly dark but this' Albus gestured to the locket in Harry's hands, 'would suggest otherwise. Both Sirius and Regulus lived in this house at one point in their lives so naturally, I searched the place many times. I fear that after his death, Mundungus Fletcher raided Sirius' house in search of valuable belongings that could be sold; I am afraid that the locket ended up as one of those items. I have, of course, questioned him, but I am no closer to finding the Horcrux.'

Harry found the locket strangely familiar as he passed it from one hand to the other. He was sure that he had seen it before, but he couldn't, for the life of him, remember where he had seen it.

'I feel that I have intruded on you far too long. I will leave the locket in your possession; I have no use for it now. I will bid you goodbye. Allow me to find Severus and then we shall leave you in peace.' As he stood up, Albus moved over to Harry, who remained perched on his chair, and he gave the teen's shoulder a tight, affectionate squeeze. 'I truly am sorry, Harry.'

The stairs squeaked as the two made their way up the stairs of the dark hallway. Turning his head to make sure the Professor was still following, the teen turned into the living room. The room was large and spacious with old and quite formal furniture filling it quite nicely. The weak winter sunlight shone through the lace curtains, warming the dull room somewhat. Much of the furniture remained dusty and unused but the settee and arm chair, which Harry and Draco had use a couple of times since arriving at the house, had been cleaned and could be sat in comfortably.

Upon entering the room, Draco turned to ascertain the Professor's reaction. He was met with a sneer which surprisingly comforted him. For a moment, he felt as if he were still at school and his Head of House had called him into his office for a chat.

'It was incredibly foolish of you Draco. What were you thinking?' Snape's dark eyes fiercely bore into the blonde's grey ones. 'What possessed you to do that? Then, on top of that extremely idiotic stunt, you came to Potter of all people.' The potions master spat out Harry's name as if it were a piece of filth.

'I didn't think that-'

'No Draco, that is exactly it. You didn't think. Stupid boy. Did you not consider the repercussions of such a stunt had it gone wrong?'

Draco's mood darkened considerably. 'No, I was just trying to help.' His voice was now small and pathetic; there was not force behind it.

'Help whom exactly? From where I stand, you have helped no one.' Snape hissed as anger coursed through his veins. 'All you have exceeding in doing is causing the death of one of the more important and prominent ministry workers and angering the Dark Lord. I do not know what you are playing at Malfoy but you hade better stop it. You think you are so grown up but you know nothing. You are still merely a child, not the adult that you pretend to be.'

Gobsmacked, Draco stood silently, his mouth moving slightly as he tried to formulate an argument. 'I, whose side are you on anyway? What are you doing with him?'

'That is none of your concern and you will do well to remember that!' The man snapped at the blonde, his temper rising. 'Why Potter? What was going through your head when you decided to go to him of all people?'

'I, err, he owed me' Draco stated weakly. When he did not elaborate, Snape persisted.

'Owed you what?'

'It doesn't matter. Let's not talk about it.'

'No, Draco, let's talk about it.'

Draco kept his mouth shut. He didn't know why, but he felt that he should keep that to himself. Severus, on the other hand, did not want to drop the subject. When Draco looked up to his old Professor, he found the man with his wand out. Fear gripped Draco as she stared at the man; however, what Snape did next was not what he expected. He felt a sudden intrusion into his mind; it was an uncomfortable feeling; however, he did not have time to dwell on that as all of a sudden, memories came to the forefront of his mind as if someone was digging through a box of his old thoughts. Panic flooded the blonde as a particular memory came flooding back. He was sat in front of Potter in Azkaban, talking about helping the teen to escape.

When Snape found what he had wanted to see, he pulled out of Draco's mind, a mutinous look on his face.

'What the hell-'

'What did I just see, Mr. Malfoy?' The words were hissed dangerously and Draco knew there was no point in lying.

'I had to help him. I couldn't live with myself, I just couldn't. The nightmares of that night down in the dungeons… he was so, so weak and he had been tortured for hours and I saw the glee my father got out from it. It was disgusting and I had had enough of the guilt…' Draco couldn't continue as sobs wracked his body. It all seemed so vivid again; the blood, the screams. He couldn't deal with it.

Snape said no more as the teen cried into his hands. Some considerable time later, when Draco had finally calmed down, the blonde asked the man a question.

'Why are you here?'

'Your parents are quite worried. They asked that if I were to find you, I check that you are safe and out of harms way. I do not think that I will inform them of your choice of companion; they would not be too pleased with that. Your mother would like for you to return home; however, considering the situation and your parent's proximity to the Dark Lord, I would suggest that it would be wiser to estrange yourself from them for a while. I will, of course, inform them of your decisions when I next meet with them.'

'Oh, right.' Although Draco missed his mother and felt terribly guilty for leaving her, he was not sure how he felt about seeing his father. He had been taken by surprise when Lucius had let him flee after the catastrophe with Thicknesse. 'How did you find me then? I thought that this place was supposed to be protected.'

Severus sighed. Teenagers were too much trouble for their own good.

'The Headmaster has been watching this house closely. He quickly realised that you had taken up residents here. Do not ask me why he has been watching this slum, I do not know.'

Dumbledore and Snape made their way to the front door in the hallway. Snape, Harry noticed, appeared to be almost running to the door, obviously eager to leave the house as quickly as possible. Upon reaching the door, Professor Dumbledore turned to Harry and Draco, a small smile on his lips.

'Thank you for sparing your time. I believe our visit has been productive. I do hope you had an enjoyable conversation with Mr. Malfoy.' Albus turned to the man clad in black but Snape merely sneered. 'There was obviously no need for your worry Severus, Draco is quite safe.'

'I can see that' snarled the potions master.

Harry looked up to the potions master, his eyes wide. I can see that. The words made Harry tremble as if the man was about to turn on him and cast every dark curse he knew. Harry truly expected the man to shout Crucio, wand pointed at his chest. His head started to spin. Squeezing his eyes shut, Harry took a deep breath. He opened his eyes just in time to see the two men leave. He looked over to Draco, who was now giving him a strange look. Neither teen said anything, but after a moment, Draco moved up the stairs, making his way to his room.

Stumbling slightly, Harry turned to the kitchen. He had to use the wall for support as he moved into the room. A splitting headache raged throughout his head. He felt sick. Hot liquid streamed down his nose quickly and thickly. Harry only had time to move a hand away from his damp upper lip and see the sticky red substance when he collapsed face down onto the cold, hard tiled floor. His head made contact with a sickening thud and everything went black as he allowed the memories to take over his mind.

When Draco left his room half an hour later, he found the whole house dark and quiet. He found himself with the foreboding feeling that something was seriously wrong. Usually by this time, Potter would have turned on some of the lights and Draco would be able to smell the wafts of diner coming up from the kitchen. The situation unnerved Draco, so he decided to investigate. Pulling out his wand, he cast a quite Lumos and gingerly made his way down the stairs. He checked every room on the way to the kitchen. He couldn't remember hearing Potter make his way upstairs but checking did not do any harm. When he found nothing, he took the last set of stairs with some trepidation. It all felt wrong. Nothing was right here. He did not notice the body when he first entered the kitchen. He called out the teen's name but when he received no reply, he lit up the entire room. What he found made his stomach churn and flip; Harry was lying face down in a pool of his own blood, convulsing as if he was under the Cruciatus curse.

Draco took a step back, his mind going into shock at the sight of his school enemy on the ground, blood coating his clothes. The teen's glasses lay just above his head, the lenses smashed, the fragments of glass scattered over the floor. Harry continued to shake, his body twisting in pain. Draco's heart beat faster and faster, sweat gathering on his forehead as he started to panic. He didn't know what to do. He didn't really like Potter that much but he could just leave him to die. Swallowing the lump in his throat Draco hesitantly neared the other teen and knelt down by his side. He took Harry's shoulders and shook them, calling his name.

'Potter. Potter, wake up!' Draco almost felt like crying when there was no response. The body continued to writhe, blood pumping from his head and nose. 'Please Potter, please, just wake up!' Draco felt tears burning behind his eyes but he forced himself to calm down. 'Harry? Harry, can you hear me?' When once again he received no response from the raven headed teen, Draco stood and ran over to the fireplace. He crouched down and grabbed a handful of floo powder, tossing it onto the lit wood. As the flame burst into a vibrant green Draco bent his head into the fire and called out, 'The Burrow.'

Moments later he could see into the Weasley home. At first he couldn't see anyone but he immediately thought of Ginny. He knew that she had been to visit Harry and they seemed very close. She had been very good with him, managing to calm him and actually have a decent conversation with him without him throwing a hissy fit. However before he could call her name, Ronald Weasley and Granger appeared. Hermione noticed Draco first and rushed over to the fireplace, curious. Ron soon realised what was going on and joined her, both looking at Draco quizzically.

'Malfoy?' Ron asked, surprised. 'What the hell do you want?'

'Fuck!' Draco swore. 'Oh, to hell with it. Look, Potter needs help. Now!'

'What?' Hermione piped up. 'What's wrong?'

'I don't know but he's bleeding and he seems to be having a fit of some kind!'

'Okay, just calm down, Draco.' Hermione said gently.

'Don't tell me to calm down you…you- fuck it, just get here already!'

'Well where are you?' Ron growled.

'Grimmauld Place.'

'Okay,' Hermione replied, standing slightly. 'Move out of the way and we'll be over in just a second.'

'No. Potter blocked the floo connection. You'll have to apparate here.'

Hermione nodded and stood but Ron stopped her. 'Hey, how do we know that we can trust him?' he hissed. 'He's a Death Eater, this could be a trick.'

Hermione looked at him, worry in her eyes. 'Well we're just going to have to risk it. If Harry is in trouble, we need to help him.'

'I just don't want you to get hurt.' Ron whispered. 'What if he takes you and harms you?'

Hermione smiled gently and stroked her boyfriend's cheek. 'Ron, it's okay to be scared-'

'Oh for Merlin's sake, just get over here! Potter needs help or he'll die and I don't want that on my conscience!'

Ron gave Draco an unsure look but nodded none the less. 'We'll be right there.'

Draco pulled back from the fire and hurried over to Harry's side. He had stopped shaking so much and the bleeding seemed to have slowed slightly but his skin was ice cold. Draco shoved his right arm under Harry's chest and carefully turned him onto his back. The blonde gasped at the sight of Harry's face. If he didn't know who it was, Potter would be unrecognizable to anyone. His face was a mess of blood. It coated his skin and mattered in his hair. His eyes were close but they were obviously rolling back into his head. Draco quickly placed his index finger on the teen's neck to check how fast his pulse was. He could feel it gradually getting slower as Harry went limp in his arms.

Draco nearly cried for joy when someone began pounding at the front door. He laid Harry's head back down and ran to the door, unlocking it and flinging it open.

'Hurry! He's down in the kitchen.'

Ron and Hermione rushed passed him and down to Harry. Draco followed to the door then stopped to watch them. Hermione began to inspect Harry's body all over, immediately casting numerous spells. Ron had knelt by his best friend and cradled his head in his lap, desperately trying to get Harry to wake up. The teen called his friend's name again and again, becoming more and more distraught as Harry remained unconscious.

Draco put a hand to his mouth, feeling sick. 'Malfoy, are you going to help or just stand there?' Ron grumbled.

'I don't think I can. I feel a bit sick.' Draco closed his eyes, trying not to think about the situation he had found himself in. The smell of blood was thick in the air and it was becoming too much for the blonde to bear. Turning away from the scene Draco lent against the door, his head hung as he tried to calm his queasy stomach. 'Sorry,' he gasped, rushing from the room. 'I can't do this.'

'Fine, then piss off!' Ron shouted, his voice breaking as Harry remained still in his arms. 'Hurry, Hermione, I don't think he can last much longer.'

Hermione ignored her boyfriend and frantically waved her wand over Harry's body, whispering spell after spell.

Draco hurried away and up the stairs and shut himself in the living room. He plonked down on one of the armchairs and rested his head in his sweaty, shaking hands. He inhaled slowly through his nose; eyes squeezed shut and let out the breath in a gush. When he had calmed his racing heart he opened his eyes and dropped his hands to his side. He couldn't believe how stupid he had been. Why did he have to be such a wimp? What was wrong with him? It was only blood for Merlin's sake, and it wasn't as if it was his own. He had simple freaked out at the realization that Potter could die right there, in front of him. If the teen were to die at that very moment, Draco didn't want to be the only one there. He didn't want to be there full stop. He had seen enough deaths in the recent months alone; he didn't and could deal with witnessing anymore. What mad things worse was the fact that it was Potter. Draco had been trying to rid himself of the memory of Potter covered in blood, writing with pain as his captors tortured him senseless and seeing the boy like that again had brought back those horrific images and memories for the second time that day.

What felt like hours was really only minutes and soon Ron appeared at the door. Draco looked up as the red head cleared his throat.

'Thanks for letting us know.' Ron muttered quietly, looking away. 'He's fine now, still unconscious but he's breathing normally and he's stopped bleeding.'

Draco nodded and stood on wobbly legs. 'Okay, well that's good, I suppose.'

'Yeah, well now we just need to get him up to his room and I could do with some help. He's not as small as he was when we were at school and I don't think I can lift him myself.'

Draco thought about this and frowned. He didn't really like the idea of dragging Potter up three flights of stairs but he guessed it was the least his could do seeing as he did nothing to help save him. When the blonde nodded again Ron led the way back down to the kitchen.

'I'll only help if you take the armpits, I'm doing the ankles.' Draco grumbled causing a small chuckle from the other teen.

Yay! Another chapter! Please review. I had lots of reviews this time and it made me really happy. I got really excited so please let me know what you all think of this chapter! :)

Allen Pitt- Thanks for the review. Kreacher will come it into the story later but he's not living in the house at the moment. You'll find out later where he's been. I didn't mention him before really because I had already decided that he wouldn't be there so I forgot to mention that he wasn't at the house when Harry and Draco arrvied. I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Thanks! :)

Victoria of Menphis- Thank you! I'm glad that you think that Snape and Draco are well writen, I hope I kept Snape in character in this chapter. Ginny and Harry will have more time together later on and Draco will also be involved slightly. I'm trying to make it funny at the moment but I'm not too good at humour. :)

jafr86- Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. :)

Caelhir- Dumbledore is a twat but we do see an angry Harry in this chapter a bit. Yeah, I just read the seventh one again to remind myself of all the Horcruxes and stuff. Glad you liked it, looking forward to you're next review. :p

MissCassiebaby- Remus and Tonks will be in the next chapter and someone will visit them letting them know about Harry. Thanks for reviewing! :)

Bob Hammilton- Yeah, I finally got around to it. I've been planning this chapter for ages and it feels weird to write it up and suddenly bring up the Horcruxes after so long. :)

Nanchih- He really should, shouldn't he? Dumbles is a prick and he really pisses me off but poor Harry can't help but forgive the old coot. Okay, now Harry is a right twat!

CountDoom- Well I did intend it to be an Harry and Ginny story but you'll just have to wait and see what happens. :) Don't worry, you won't have to wait long to see more of them together.

Mei fa-chan- Thank you! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter too. :)

HP18- I know, Harry is far too kind to everyone and forgives really easily. However, he did get all mad and angry at the old man in this chapter so...Poor sod. :)

Lightbulb Moments- Aww, thank you so much! Sorry to make you cry! I hope you really liked this chapter. Thank you also for adding me as one of your fav authors. That made me soooo happy! :)

Miz636- I loved your review. Thanks so much. :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will try to update as soon as I can.