Draco woke slowly as pain and cold slowly began to creep into his consciousness, he wasn't sure which was more uncomfortable but eventually he decided it didn't matter because he couldn't seem to open his eyes. Draco groaned when his head only seemed to pound more the more he tried to open his eyes, and eventually he just gave up. He wasn't sure how long he had been lost in the darkness that gripped him when he heard voices, "Mrs. Weasley, he still hasn't woken up."

He heard a faint sigh and felt a tingle of a diagnostic spell before a second feminine voice said, "Harry dear, he just needs another healing potion, it looks like that blow to his head hasn't completely healed up yet, but he is doing fine otherwise, and he might even wake up any moment."

The familiar male voice spoke again, "Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

Draco tried to think over what was going on, tried to remember what had happened to him to make him hurt so much, but the more he tried to think the more his head hurt. Finally he gave up when he felt someone lifting him into a sitting position and then a foul tasted potion was being forced down his throat, he vaguely recognized the taste and smell as that of one of the many healing potions he brewed on a regular basis, they were stronger than most any other master had tried to brew. Draco felt like retching but he fought the feeling off and tried his best to drink the potion down. He knew it was laced with another potion that numbed the pain, and the pain was too much for him to bear thinking about.

Draco felt his body slowly tingle with the effects of the potion and after a few minutes the pain dimmed and he felt well enough to finally open his eyes. The dim light was almost enough for him to immediately regret that decision but slowly he blinked and adjusted to the light. Draco groaned when his head throbbed and he reached his hand up to a strip of linen wrapped around his head. He started to pull at the wrap when a familiar voice said, "Don't pull at that, you have a bad head injury and that's the only thing keeping you from bleeding all over."

Draco blinked and asked, "Potter?"

Harry quickly sat on the mattress next to him and said, "I'm here. Do you feel okay?"

Draco groaned, and asked, "Why do I feel bloody horrible?"

Harry sighed and asked, "What is the last thing you remember?"

Draco tried to think back, and thought aloud, "Your little tempered flair of magic ruined almost every potion I was brewing, except a few sleeping droughts, I barely got it all cleaned up before… Oh, where is Finnigan?"

Harry sighed, "Ron took him to lock up. Why did you sign those papers for the ministry, even I can tell they were pretty much taking away all of your rights."

Draco sighed and asked, "What else was I suppose to do? I was starving, I hadn't eaten in months and they talked like they weren't going to feed any of us any time soon. I was freezing; I lost all feeling in most of my body from hyperthermia. The guards were horrible, at the time I couldn't focus on anything, all I know was that if I hadn't signed I probably would have died in that prison cell. I didn't realize exactly what I had signed until after I was out and had my first meal."

Harry winced and asked, "Was it really that bad?"

Draco simply raised an eyebrow and tried to sit up, wincing when he got a good look at the bruises littering his body. He groaned as he tried to move his legs and the stung like they had been asleep for some time. He frowned and asked, "Why are you even here? I'm not up to brewing your potion, even if I was it is impossible for me to start from scratch and have it done on time for the full moon."

Harry sighed and asked, "Why can't you just accept anyone's help? I'm here to help you, why do you have to assume I'm here for some other reason?"

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Everyone always has one reason or another to do anything; if you believe otherwise then you must be delusional or lying to yourself."

Harry gaped for a moment, then said, "I just want to help you! Why is that so hard to believe?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and said, "Probably because you never bothered to help me before your whole being bitten and then bighting me affair."

Harry gaped at Draco for a moment before he noticed Draco's attempt to try and stand up, "Whoa, hold up, you are supposed to stay in bed."

Draco frowned when Harry pulled him back onto the mattress and all but man handled him so that he was lying back down with his head on the pillow. He didn't really struggle, mainly because even sitting up had taken a lot of energy out of him and had made his pain flair up. Draco winced and tried to ignore the pain. Potter frowned and asked, "Are you okay? Where were you even going?"

Draco might have groaned a bit before saying, "I'm hungry, I was kind of planning to get food, especially since you lot force fed me healing potions on a bloody empty stomach, which is not to say I don't sort of appreciate the healing potion but it's terrible on the stomach and can cause all sorts of problems."

Harry sighed in exasperation and asked, "Why didn't you just say you were hungry?"

When Draco didn't respond Harry added, "Look I will go get you food and water if you promise to stay in bed and not move around a lot, because Mrs. Weasley said that you should keep as still as possible."

Draco sighed and said, "Trust me Potter, I am not planning on moving any time soon."

Harry gave him an assessing look then frowned and asked, "Are you going to toss up anything? Do I need to get a bucket?"

Draco groaned and said, "I'm just going to hold very still and hope the room stops spinning."

Harry laughed and said, "Well I'll grab a bucket just in case before I grab you something you might tossup."

Draco wanted to throw something at Harry, but since he didn't have anything in arms reach and he still felt terrible. He heard harry leave and suddenly realized that he was in nothing but his pants, and Harry Potter had been sitting on his bed with him. He tried not to think about a few dreams he had that had been under similar circumstances, but he couldn't help but remember them in sudden vivid detail. Draco bit his lip to fight back a groan as he felt a certain organ beginning to stir. Blasted Potter and his bloody hair that always looked like he had just shagged like his life depended on it. Draco forced himself to take deep breaths and imagine Hagrid and Severus in pink dresses talking dirty. It worked for a moment but then instead of imagining Severus talking dirt he started imagining Potter talking dirty and he let out another groan of frustration.

Draco was just trying to come up with another scenario that would prevent any cross over when Harry himself suddenly asked, "Are you okay?"

Draco blinked and Harry was standing next to his mattress with a tray filled with eggs, bacon, slices of pomegranate, and toast, along with a glass of water and a glass of orange juice. Harry set the tray down on a small dresser table next to the mattress and Draco asked, "Where the hell did all that come from?"

Harry laughed and said, "Apparently Mrs. Weasley was rather affronted earlier by the fact that you are slimmer than me, so she dropped off some supplies, mainly food."

Draco frowned and asked, "Where did that table come from? Wait did Weasley's mother know who I am? Did you bribe her or something?"

Harry just smirked and said, "Yes Mrs. Weasley knows who you are, no I didn't bribe her, and she's proof that people do things just to be nice."

Draco groaned as he tried to sit up and asked, "You didn't answer my first question, and I hesitate to believe your other answers."

Harry helped him sit the rest of the way up and pushed another pillow behind Draco's back so that he could lean back a bit. Draco frowned and settled back into the pillow as Harry grabbed the tray and sat it in Draco's lap. Draco tried to ignore the faint blush he could feel building as he seemed to be overly aware of his partial nudity, there were very few people who had seen him in just his pants and none of them had ever really been people he had considered getting intimate with. Harry suddenly frowned and asked, "Are you warm or something, you look flushed?"

Draco grabbed the fork and stabbed at a bight of egg, and said, "I'm fine Potter. Don't you have places to be? You are still acting head aurora aren't you?"

Harry sighed and said, "I'm having Ron stand in for me for the next few days, at least till this whole situation gets sorted out, because I can't exactly keep my cool around Seamus right now."

Draco noticed Harry clenched his fist a bit on the last bit, and decided to not comment on it and simply took a bight of the egg, and tried not to groan because he hadn't had fresh eggs since before the war. He had been pretty much surviving off of stale bread and nearly expired cut meats for what felt like a lifetime. He tried to act like he wasn't in utter bliss but judging by the smirk on Harry's face he wasn't exactly doing a good job. He finished the eggs and took a bight of the toast which had a bit of strawberry jam. At that point he just gave up trying to hide his reactions and just enjoyed the best meal he had the pleasure of devouring in what felt like eternity. He had never really appreciated food prior to being deprived of it for so long.

Harry was still smirking when Draco finished off the last bight of bacon, and when Draco finally put his fork down Harry said, "I'll be sure to inform Mrs. Weasley that you enjoyed her cooking."

Draco grabbed the napkin off of the tray and dabbed at his face before saying, "Yes, well like I said I was hungry."

Harry's smirk dimmed a bit and he asked, "When was the last time you ate an actual meal?"

Draco shrugged, then winced and said, "I was eating a sandwich before Finnigan stopped by."

Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, "you mean you took two bights out of some meat and bread on that plate in the kitchen? What about before that?"

Draco winced and said, "Look Potter, I would rather do without the interrogation on my eating habits, besides its not that big a deal if I've skipped a couple meals recently. It's not like I'm starving myself to death."

Harry frowned and said, "I can count every single one of your ribs and your spine is starting to show through, it's not healthy and it can cause more long term damage than a healing potion on an empty stomach."

Draco tensed and said, "Look Potter, I've gotten by just fine without you for my entire life."

Harry felt his anger stir and said, "Yes you have been getting by just fine, so fine that you can barely afford the potion ingredients that you use to pay for your food, and the ministry was going to try and take that from you, they were trying to say that you were a convicted felon and shouldn't be supplying potions to innocent people."

Draco felt all color and emotion drain away from him. They had taken everything away from him, his parents, everything he had known. His home his accounts even his family titles. They had left him a shadow of what he once had been but he had still had Severus' notes, he had still had the ability to ease his tension with one potion or another. He had still the familiar feel of a ladle and a stirring stick long after they had taken his wand. It had long seized to be a way to make ends meet and had become his only outlet when his emotions were overwhelming. It was the only thing he still took pride in and they were going to take it from him.

Harry frowned as Draco became paler and paler. He didn't feel his anger ebb though until Draco's eyes became distant and slightly moist. He felt his throat tighten with some unknown emotion when Draco asked, "they won't stop until they have broken me, and then I won't even have the piece of mind that I will be buried with my ancestors."

Harry suddenly couldn't stop himself from pulling Draco into his arms, placing Draco's head on his chest, and when Draco just let him, and stayed a stiff board, Harry whispered into his ears, "I won't let them break you, I won't let this travesty continue. I already have my best people looking in to all the mistreatment that has been going on, we've already got Seamus and two others in holding, waiting for trial. Hermione thinks she might have found a few things that could be potential loop holes with the probation contracts and she thinks that she can declare that your case needs to be looked over again because she said there were a lot of flaws in your trial and no one allowed you representation. I told you before and I'll tell you again, I will fix this."

Draco took a deep breath and somehow managed to pull himself free of the pit of despair that had almost claimed him, then he realized Potter was bloody hugging him and he snapped, "Alright, you don't need to bloody coddle me, I'm a grown man Potter."

Harry just tightened his hold on him and said, "Yes, and you have just been through a horrible experience and now you are trying to hide your emotions like you did in school behind an angry mask. You might have been able to fool me back then but not now."

Draco snapped, "Don't assume you know me all of a sudden, you don't know me, you may know pieces of my personality, pieces of who I am but you don't know me."

Harry smiled as he pulled back a bit, "You know you probably shouldn't challenge a Gryffindor, we take such things very serious and we never back down from a challenge."

Draco spluttered, "That wasn't a bloody challenge Potter, it was just a statement."

Harry's smile widened, "I'm pretty sure it was a challenge, because you always challenge me, even when you don't mean to. So I will get to know the real Draco Malfoy, your right, I've only gotten to see pieces and flashes of him, but I will gladly spend the rest of my life trying to figure him out."

Draco frowned and said, "How long was I actually asleep for, because the only logical explanation for why anyone would make such a statement to me, especially a male, is the fact that it's close to the full moon and their other half is under the impression I'm there mate."

Harry smirked and reached out to run his finger around the edge of the still very visible mark on Draco's neck, it had almost healed over, but it was definitely scarring. Harry smirked when Draco's breathing became a bit more labored with the touch and he said, "You know, if you truly believed that I was by no means compatible with you, if you truly believed you were not my mate, this would have disappeared after the first day, but a part of you, a large part if the books I've read are correct, truly wants to wear my mark, wants to be my mate. If the mark weren't proof enough, your dreams give you away as well."

Draco licked his lips and said, "You can't know my dreams Potter."

Harry leaned closer to Draco and brought his mouth to the mark he had made, gently pressing his lips to it before whispering, "I may not know you dreams, but you called out my name, my first name, last night, and your voice and your scent and every aspect of you was laced with lust and passion."

Draco closed his eyes and tried to think past his growing lust, and said, "Lust does not beget a relationship."

Harry smiled like he had just caught the snitch and said, "Yes, but it's a good start, also you should probably know that I was lying a moment ago, I didn't hear you call my name in your sleep, but it's good to know you have been dreaming of me recent enough for you to believe my bluff."

Draco felt his face flush and his jaw drop in outrage. He wasn't sure how to respond and was considering throwing a pillow at Harry when a chime sounded throughout the house to signal that someone was fire-calling.