DRACO POV:
The day must have suddenly changed so it lasted forever. Hours passed in the blink of an eye and before I knew it, the room's enchanted window lost the sun and was now pitch black with little stars here and there. I sat at the foot of my bed this entire time, watching the door. It was all I could do until I could get my hands on my belongings. The Ministry is probably tearing through it, keeping anything valuable while telling the Aurors that it's "suspect" and requires further investigation. I snorted. Father may have already sifted through it, removing all of the Dark objects I inherited. The ring, though. Has he gotten it? I wasn't very deep when I dropped it. Was he distraught to see that I wasn't attatched to it? Or is he already in the process of making another heir?
I shuddered, thinking about Mother. My chest ached for some parchment and a quill. I wanted to tell her, but how could I? My eyes stung and I swallowed down the large lump in my throat. Some part inside of me wanted nothing better than to throw myself on the floor, kicking and screaming, crying out for her. I haven't done that since I was three. Father hated it and Issy..., I sighed.
I miss her so much. I smiled, laying down across the bed. She would have liked Harry, maybe even fancied him. We were always so much alike. I bet she would have seen the signs of Harry's abuse right away. She would have loved Granger, and thrilled to see Weasley again. Harry would have liked her too. Her and Cho Chang were twins in figure, but polar opposites in appearance. Issy's skin was paler than mine, but with the right shade of green, she glowed like an angel. Her hair was long and flowing like silk and it was the color of fresh snow. Her large, bright eyes were blue and gray, almost like a frozen ocean. She looked like an ice queen, but when you looked her in the eyes, or talked to her, she was as warm and inviting as a fireplace during a blizzard.
Again, she probably would have fancied Harry. She would have loved Harry's messy, black hair. His gorgeous, bright-as-a-wildfire, green eyes, even if they are subdued by those horrible glasses. She would have loved that scar. Remind him that somehow it makes him look so much better. His shy smile, when he's in large crowds, but then that larger-than-life, brilliant smile when's he flying, or with just his friends. Her heart would skip a beat every time he smiled like that. She would feel an almost twisted thrill when his face would twist with rage. He is so easy to anger. His strong arms and his rough hands grabbing her by the shoulders and shoving her into the wall. His lips pressing into hers, demanding entrance, biting her bottom lip. His hands all over the place, until suddenly she feels his hand cupping her hardness...My thoughts hit a screeching halt. I sat up, breathing hard and cold sweat dripping down my neck. I groaned when I felt how tight my pants were. Merlin, I'm going mental. Where the hell was he?!
"Dobby!" I called. The little elf appeared with a crack. He bowed, his large ears brushing the floor. He looked absolutely ridiculous. He was wearing almost six pairs of socks, none of them matching. He had two scarves wrapped around his neck, one from Gryffindor and the other from Slytherin, and he had four hats, one on top of the other, piled on his head.
"What does Master Draco require, sir?" His eyes glittered with joy and his grin went from one ear to the other. I didn't remember him ever being this happy at the Manor.
"I want you to see what is taking Harry so long. He said he would be back by the end of the day." Dobby bowed again before vanishing. He was gone for all of five minutes before reappearing, looking alarmed.
"Master Draco, sir! Master Harry was in the Gryffindor common room talking to Miss Granger when the young Mister Weasley overheard them. He rushed over to them and started yelling at them. He asked Master Harry why he was doing this, but then Miss Granger pulled him close and whispered something to him. Master Harry then nodded, and sir, Dobby tried to stop before Master Harry could get hurt, but Dobby is so small and so...ugh!" He ran over to the bed and started banging his head on the footboard. "Ah! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" I rushed over and held him, shushing him like I used to when I was a child.
"Dobby, calm down. It's not your fault. Just tell me what happened." What did that red-headed git do now?
Dobby spoke in between pants, wringing his hands. "Mister Weasley...he pushed Master Harry...calling Master Harry names...Master Harry didn't fight back until...until Mister Weasley called him a ponce...then Master Harry tackled Mister Weasley and they started fighting." He took a deep breath and continued, "Miss Granger tried to break it up with her wand, but it wouldn't work. Dobby never seen Master Harry so angry. Mister Weasley punched him calling him a traitor. Master Harry kicked him calling him an arse. Dobby called for Master Harry to come with Dobby. Master Harry looked at Dobby, but then Mister Weasley rushed into Master Harry, shoving Master Harry until Master Harry hit the table with his head. Miss Granger screamed when Miss Granger saw Master Harry bleeding. Master Harry wouldn't wake up, and Mister Weasley pushed Dobby out of the way and ran out of the room. Sir, Dobby heard Mister Weasley say Mister Weasley was going to kill a weasel." Oh no. The room exploded with the sound of loud pounding. Dobby shrieked and my heart fell into my feet. I'm going to really die, I thought.
"Open the door, you bastard!" Weasley yelled, his booming voice echoing through the small room. "Open it before I blast it!"
"As if you possibly have the skill to accomplish it!" I yelled back. The minute the words left my mouth, I felt like an idiot. The minute the door exploded into shrapnel under the force of Weasley's spell, I felt like a downright dumbass. Dobby cringed and vanished.
I barely had time to prepare myself before his bulk crashed into me. My head cracked against the stone floor, my sight blacking out for a split second. A large fist hit my right cheek, pain blossoming through my head and blood in my mouth. I blocked the next blows and managed to curl on my side, spitting blood out at Weasley's feet. He stood up. I chanced a look at his face. His mouth was twisted in a sneer. His cheek was slowly turning purple where Harry had hit him. His eyes, I shuddered, his eyes were cold with hate, but years with my father have left me used to this.
"Get up!" He spat. "Get up, you traitorous little ferret." I sat up on my knees, refusing to stand. I held out my hands in surrender.
"I assure you, Weasley, I am no traitor to you." Another punch across my face. This time he left a cut on my cheek. "We needed to find a way to protect someone I love," I paused to spit out more blood, "so I am sorry to raise your hopes of my demise."
"Shut up! You don't care about anything but yourself! You just want to be on the winning side."
"Weasley, the entire world is playing into the Dark Lord's hands. I doubt the world is willing to follow the Boy-Who's-Bonkers." Weasley's foot lashed out and kicked me in the ribs. I fell back onto my side, gasping for breath. He must have broken something. Weasley knelt beside me.
"What did you do to Harry?" he asked calmly. "Ever since he's came back to school, it's been about you. Was it a potion? A curse?" I laughed bitterly, which made his face grow darker.
"If I had cursed Harry into becoming obsessed with me," I smiled, my mouth stained with blood, "he would have never left my bed long enough to tell you." He roared with rage and pounced. Next thing I know, my airway was cut off by two large, meaty hands.
He yelled in my face, enforcing each word by banging my head into the floor. "You miserable," bang, "evil," bang, my lungs were burning, "cowardly," bang, my vision started fading and I could hear my blood pounding in my ears, "spineless," bang, I lost feeling in my limbs, "treacherous little-"
"STUPEFY!" The hands around my throat disappeared, but it didn't help. Blood and air rushed through me faster than I could handle. Everything went black.
HARRY POV:
It didn't take me long to realize I was in the Hospital Wing. The room around me was blurry without my glasses. Hermoine mentioned once again about spells to repair my eyesight, but I just couldn't imagine a good enough reason to go through months of painful spellwork. My head throbbed, reminding me how I got here. I remember my head hitting something hard. I remember fighting with Ron when I fell. I also remembered Hermoine screaming for Ron when he ran out of the Common Room.
I jumped when someone beside me groaned. I turned over on my side to see Ron in another bed, being force-fed potion after potion by Madame Pomfrey. Ron glared daggers while at the same time looked positively green.
"Just be lucky that I don't tell McGonagall about the two of you." She snapped. "Honestly, muggle fights? Over Quidditch? You two are the most foolish boys I have ever seen." Ron finished the last potion, slamming the phial down on the tray. Madame Pomfrey picked up the tray, turning to me. "And you, Mr. Potter, stay put. You suffered a large blow to the head and I need to knit the fracture in your skull." I groaned, feeling the bandages wrapped around my head. She shook her head, her lips pursed. "You two, ugh!" She hurried away to her office, mumbling under her breath.
"Quidditch?" I asked. Ron crossed one arm over the other, struggling when his good arm met the one in a sling. His face was a mass of bruises and one swollen eye. His knuckles were torn and his ankle was propped on a pillow. He pouted, his eyebrows furrowed so deep, it made my head hurt to look at it. "Ron, what's the story? I know Hermoine came up with one." He turned his head away, huffing.
"If I was smart, I would let you try to figure it out yourself. Let you get in trouble for attacking me." I shook my head and sighed.
"Well, Ron, you're not smart, because you attacked me and if they know we're lying then we will be forced to tell the truth." Ron snuck a quick glance at me before huffing more.
"Fine," he started through gritted teeth. "We were at lunch when Fred and George spiked our pumpkin juice with Temper Tantrum Tonic. It took affect when we were arguing about the Chudley Cannons and a fight broke out. Hermoine broke it up by Stunning me, explaining the arm." He shrugged, then grimaced.
"And the ankle?" I asked slowly. He looked at the foot propped up on a pillow. He looked away, his ears turning red. "Ron, you ran out of the room. Where'd you go?" The redness in his ears spread to his face. "Ron?" He stayed silent. "You only punched me once. How did you mess up your knuckles so bad?" He curled his fingers, attempting to hide his hands.
"I went to the Room of Requirement." The words were quiet and empty, but it hit me like a train. "I figured that's where you were keeping him. It's where you would have hidden if you were in trouble."
"You son of a bitch!" I breathed. "What did you do?!" He finally faced me. His face was blood red under the bruises, but the anger was gone. It was a look I've seen many times. Stubborn and sorry.
"I lost my head. Before I was Stunned, I had my hands around his throat. I was so angry that I was going to kill him." He looked into my eyes. There was anger, but also faint horror at what he did. "I almost killed him, Harry." My heart raced. He almost killed Draco and where was I? Knocked out in the Hospital Wing? A brief thought ran through my head. Kill him, Harry. The voice sounded like it did in second year. Snake-like and slithering around my thoughts. My hands ached and my fingers curled, aching to wrap around Ron's throat. I wrapped my hands in my blanket, gripping the fabric until my knuckles turned white. Ron watched my hands, the red color leaving his face. "Harry, mate, I didn't mean for it to go that far. It's just he's got your mind twisted and he's tricked you into thinking-"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?! You do realize how you treat Malfoy isn't any better than how he used to treat you? Did you stop long enough for your thick head to realize that there is something going on with him?" His glare only made me want to choke him again.
"Yes, Harry, I did. Ever since you came back, it's been Draco-this and Malfoy-that. It's like he's made you forget how big of a git he really is."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed. The throbbing in my head moved down to my eyes. Sleep, that's all I need. After this day of emotional and physical trauma, all I wanted was to sleep. "Ron, we embarrassed the hell out of him first year when we blew him off in front of everyone. For Merlin's sake, Ron, you laughed at him. He has no friends, Ron. None! His entire house wants him for the Malfoy name. No one wants Draco. What if the entire school judged you by Weasley? The blood-traitor family that can't even afford to find a house big enough for the colony of children they make?" His ears reddened again.
"That wasn't called for, Harry." he hissed.
"I'm sorry, Ron, but it's the truth." He huffed and turned away. I took a deep breath and asked, "Will you come with me, Ron? Just talk to him. He has his reasons for being the way he is. If you don't trust him, then trust me. I really think that we can trust him." Ron rolled his eyes.
"You sound like you're in love with the git." I opened my mouth to say no, but nothing came out. What could I say after what I've seen today? Ron's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "No. No, Harry, no. No. No."
"I-I don't know, Ron. I saw a lot of stuff that makes me understand him, and I couldn't just see that and not let him-"
"Let him what? Please tell me the two of you didn't?"
"We shared memories. All the memories related to where we're at today."
"Oh, Merlin, Harry! Do you realize what you've done? What secrets you just let him have?!"
"I trust him." I replied calmly. He sighed.
"Fine," he groaned. "I'll go with you."
"Good, and we need to talk to Hermoine so she'll be on board, too." Ron rubbed his eyes and laughed humorlessly.
"She already knows, mate. She's the one who sent me flying across the room. She's probably in the Room of Requirement with him right now." Oh, no.
DRACO POV:
I felt like I was lying in a bed of needles. And there was hair in my face. It felt like feather duster gliding back and forth over my nose and it smelled like cinnamon. An urge to sneeze hit me with a groan. The mass of hair jumped and pulled back. "Sorry, Draco, I was just putting salve on your neck so these bruises will heal." I started to speak, but my throat closed up, sending me in a coughing fit. She grabbed a glass of water from the table and handed it to me, waiting with an irritated glare as I downed the whole thing.
I gasped for air again before speaking, "Are you sure you're not here to kill me, too?"
"If I wanted you dead, there wouldn't be any part of you left to be found." Her voice was ice, but there was a little glint of amusement in her eyes. "Draco, just lay back and wait for Harry to come back. As soon as Madame Pomfrey is done with those idiots, they're going to come straight here."
"Weasley is coming?! Your Muggle-blood brain is even more damaged than I thought!" Granger brought out her wand and before I could stop her, it was pressed to the fading bruises on my neck.
"Harry, Ronald, and I do everything together," she jabbed my neck, dull pain shooting through my throat, "no matter what. Ron just lost his temper and when he realizes what a dumbass he really is, he'll apologize. Until then, any mention of Mudbloods," another jab, "or blood traitors, will be met with swift and just consequence. Just because Harry trusts you, it doesn't make us any less cautious of you." I smirked.
"It's a wonder you weren't put in Slytherin," her answering smirk was almost too natural for her face. I could see now why those two were so afraid of her. A little inkling in the back of my mind said that I would like her. "And I am not your Golden Trio's pet Death Eater, so be warned that insults will be given if they are received."
She nodded, hiding her wand inside her robes. "I won't make promises for Ron. He is pretty thick."
"And the world thought we disagree on everything?" Her smirk fought not to turn into a smile.