Draco climbed out of the train carriage in Hogsmeade, glancing around the station, reaching to grasp Pansy's outstretched hand so he didn't lose his friends in the throng, before they plummeted into the middle of the pushing and shoving crowd and the lashing rain.

Eagerness to get to the school rampaged through Draco's body as his thoughts flew through the conversation he would be having with his Godfather very soon.

They reached a carriage and pushed into it, Pansy releasing his hand as she settled herself into the seat next to him, her hands flying up to try and amend the mess of her saturated, rain covered hair.

"What's up Drake?"

Draco jumped slightly as a question was asked him, turning to look in a slightly dazed way at Blaise.

"N…Nothing. Why?"

Blaise gave him a searching glance, raising an eyebrow slightly as though to say to tell him later.

Draco gave his friend a faint smile and turned to take up staring out of the window again, studying rain lashed countryside they were passing. It seemed that that weather was certainly matching his thoughts.

They were a tumult of confusion inside his head, feelings, memories and questions whirling round, one in particular coming back to the forefront.

"Why would Harry want to befriend him? How could he possibly succeed in what he was meant to do without bringing shame on his Father? And what had that dream meant in Potter's carriage?"

He sighed heavily, not noticing that the carriage was slowing down as they reached the Hogwarts grounds and stopped outside the castle, the door opening of its own accord.

"Drake? Come on. We're there."

Draco again was woken up from his thoughts, this time by Pansy.

He climbed to his feet, shaking his head slightly to try and alleviate some of the pressure which was forming there due to the overly active sub-conscious of his brain.

He pulled his cloak around himself a little more for warmth and protection from the still heavily falling rain, and began to step down from the carriage, ignoring the slightly awed looks he was receiving from the younger Slytherins within the crowd, now pushing to get to the Great Hall.

He merged into it without waiting for his friends, suddenly needing time to himself.

A conversation taking place about three paces in front of him caught his attention, and he glanced up to see Harry gesticulating angrily as he glared balefully at Hermione.

"…much as dares to try and put the blame on me, then he'll know about it. I don't know why they dared to say it was me. I don't know how you dared to say it was me! I hate the guy, but jeez! I wouldn't purposely hurt him like that."

Draco dropped his gaze again, trying to look as inconspicuous as he possibly could, so he could hear the others reply to what Harry was saying.

" Yes, well, he's fine now…"

"More's the pity…"

"Ronald! As I was saying, he's fine now, but you have to admit there was something strange about it. He just collapsed and then…"

She hesitated, for some reason side glancing Ron.

"That laugh…it wasn't natural. It was in a totally different timbre to his own."

Ron's sniggers suddenly subsided and he snapped pointedly,

"Why would you notice if it sounds like Malfoy or not? He's a ferret featured little shit, to put it bluntly. It doesn't matter if he didn't sound like himself. He probably…"

He was cut off by Harry.

"You think he was being possessed or something?"

Hermione shook her head, suddenly looking unsure of herself.

"No, no. Not possessed. You can't be possessed on anything to do with Hogwarts anyway. Too many protection spells. And certainly not in Hogwarts itself. I don't know. It's just…strange."

Harry nodded, all three of them turning silent as they ran quickly up the stairs, glancing up gratefully as they realised they were in the dry Entrance Hall.

Draco sighed heavily as he followed them in, splitting up as they reached the Gryffindor and Slytherin tables, the questions again bouncing around his already throbbing head again.

He sat gracefully down on the bench, dropping his head into his hands, trying to find some comfort in his cold fingers massaging his pulsing temples.

"Where'd you go to Drake? We turned around and you weren't there. You O.K?"

Blaise's' voice again broke through the chaos of Draco's thoughts.

He winced and unwillingly lifted his head from the safe haven of his hands, shaking his head slightly again. This was a bad mistake as his head exploded with pain, leaving him cringing in the bright light and for Blaise to instantly ask again what was wrong.

"N…Nothing…ouch!"

Everyone eventually being settled, the sorting had finally begun. The hat was in the middle of the stage, the rip acting as it's mouth as it sung the chosen song for that year.

Draco barely paid any attention to the words, his concentration taken up on the job of keeping his mouth tightly glued shut as he tried not to vomit.

He realised he was going to lose that battle as his stomach gave an uncomfortable and very painful squirm, the contents of the little food he had eaten on the train gurgling.

He shot to his feet, his hands clutching his stomach as he dashed out of the hall, ignoring the interested eyes of the other students on him.

He managed to just reach the toilets in the Dungeons and throw himself over a cubicle as he vomited noxious smelling green bile into the toilet.

Breathing heavily, and feeling a light sheen of sweat coat his forehead, he knew that he was perfectly alone in this quest. He didn't want to do this quest, but his Father needed him to do this for him. To keep family honour…

He closed his eyes and rested his head on the toilet seat, ignoring the smell.

His emotions had been confusing him lately.

He hated Harry, yet he couldn't ever kill him. He didn't have the guts to kill anyone. What the Dark Lord had asked him to do was the only thing that he didn't have the guts to complete, as he knew he would have to do in order to keep his own life and that of his Mother and Father's.

"Oh God, what have I gotten myself in with?"

The question wasn't meant to be answered, yet a well known voice did answer.

The subject of his thoughts answered loud and clear behind him, causing him to jump to quickly to his feet and his head to answer to that with a bout of dizziness, causing him to fall again.

"By the smell of in here, you're in with drugs, Malfoy."

Harry blatantly ignored the look on Draco's face and moved to the cubicle furthest away from him. His voice still carried on conversationally though, the words all intending to wound and hurt at the same.

"OR, of course, I've finally found out the secret to your runt like stature."

That raised the hackles a bit and Draco managed to choke out,

"I'm not exactly short Potter."

"Yeah, but you're not exactly Mr. Muscle either are you? It's obvious what's up with you."

The toilet flushed and Harry stepped out, throwing a critical look at Malfoy over his shoulder before continuing as he stepped to the sink.

"You're obviously more feminine than you'd like to admit. Sure you aren't using that spell to turn you into a bloke and you're actually a girl?"

Harry smirked, turning the tap and washing his hands, shaking them slightly to remove excess water before turning and grabbing a couple of hand towels, drying his hands and walking to drop them into the bin before turning and looking at Draco.

He was just emerging from the cubicle he had been in, his face ghostly pale making him look even whiter than usual.

Harry frowned slightly.

"What's the matter with you? Are you on drugs?"

Draco ignored Harry pointedly, not wanting to annoy the dark haired boy any more than he had to if he was going to have to befriend him.

The direction his thoughts immediately took caused his stomach to tighten again, causing him to turn back to the cubicle he had just vacated, lean over the toilet and heave violently.

He felt himself begin to shake slightly, his breathing coming in short sharp gasps, his head beginning to swim in dizziness.

"Malfoy…what are you doing?"

Draco closed his eyes, wishing Harry would leave him be, not wanting to be seen like this when he was at his most vulnerable. He was a private person with his feelings and didn't want Harry poking fun at him.

"Leave me alone, Potter…"

He retched over the toilet again, the shaking and dizziness getting worse. He closed his eyes, concentrating on trying to calm his breathing and so didn't hear the cubicle door creaking open.

"Malfoy…do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

Draco screwed his eyes tight shut, wishing Harry would leave him. Pain was shooting through his stomach now, spasms making him nearly cry out in pain, red spotting his vision.

He gripped onto the tiles of the floor, trying to control the pain and climb to his feet.

As he climbed up, he stumbled into Harry, the spinning in his head getting worse.

"Help me…"

He felt the pain in his stomach increase another notch and heard himself, as though in a dream, cry out. He felt a burning wetness coursing down his cheeks and realised he was crying from the pain.

"Woah…Malfoy…what are you…what's the matter?"

He gestured at his stomach, nearly doubling over as he did so.

"My stomach…make the pain stop…it's…"

He felt his legs begin to give way, bracing himself for the crash onto the cold tiles of the floor, but strong arms caught him, steadied him and then began to lead him slowly to the door.

"Take it easy Malfoy…we're nearly there…come on…hold on…"

Draco felt arms sweep his legs out from underneath him, his thoughts slowly slipping into delirium of the spotted redness and, finally, blackness.