Chapter 4 - New pains

Hihi I'm very happy to see Tilted Truth gaining more love and attention. Thank you all!

Now, this chapter will contain some medical inaccuracies, and I'd like to apologize in advance for that. This will also be in chapter 5, and maybe chapter 6 as well?

I'll stick with updating every Wednesday, but I do have question for you. Do you like the longer chapters and updates once a week, or should I shorten the chapters and update more often?

Anyway, here is chapter four, hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Harry Potter content, including characters, except for the AU ones.

Draco walked up the few stairs to get to their common room. It was too early for today's first classes, but it was a habit to get up early. It was always the best way to start the day, with no one there to bother him.

Unsurprisingly, he also found Daphne sitting near the fireplace continuing the same book he'd seen her with last night.

Draco paused by the entry and observed his friend. She had yet to notice his presence even though there was barely anyone else beside them in the common room. Green light shone through the dark waters outside the tall windows. The fire in the fireplace was crackling and protecting the common room's inhabitants from the biting cold outside.

"Morning, Daphne" Draco announced his presence, flopping down carelessly into his usual chair by the fire. Daphne, to her credit, didn't startle.

"Good morning," Daphne said looking up at him giving him a small smile.

Draco cocked his head to the side. "You're up earlier than usual."

"Couldn't really sleep." Daphne marked the page she had been on and closed her book. "Thought I better do something productive instead."

Draco couldn't help but notice the small smudges underneath her eyes. He wondered what had kept her up this time around but didn't ask. He knew her well enough that even if he asked, she wouldn't want to talk about it anyway.

"Is Harry up yet?" Daphne asked.

Draco shook his head. "I assume he came back quite late last night."

"I see," Daphne frowned, her face scrunching up in a grimace. Draco noted that something was amiss.

Did the two have a fight last night that he wasn't aware of?

"Did something happen?" Draco wondered; he knew that he should have stayed up with Daphne to wait for Harry. But Daphne had insisted that he'd go lay down and Draco hadn't put up much resistance if he was being honest. But now he's regretting that decision, something had happened. He'd noticed the tension building up between these two the past few days. But he hadn't thought things might escalate.

Daphne just shook her head.

"You know you can tell me, Daphne" Draco tried.

"Nothing happened really, just Harry being stubborn." Daphne responded, opening her book again. "Don't worry, I'm probably just overreacting."

Draco knew that she wasn't. He'd also picked up on the energy that had been surrounding Harry for a while now. Harry had been hiding something since the start of their year. Sometimes, even if he was sitting with them, he's mind would be elsewhere. Whenever either of them wondered out loud what had his mind so preoccupied, he'd avoid answering and change the topic.

Daphne and Draco allowed silence to settle between them, each doing their own thing. There wasn't much else to talk about and Daphne was clearly done speaking. Draco turned to his essay and started going through it as he had initially planned for this morning.

An hour later, with the common room nearly full, Draco got up and stretched. Harry had yet to show up.

"I'll go and check on Harry."

Daphne nodded, her brow furrowing again. She was being too quiet, to the point it was becoming unnerving.

Draco nodded and went to the dorms, not knowing how to respond to Daphne's mood changes. He walked into the dorm he shares with Harry and Blaise. The other Slytherin boys had another dorm for themselves that they shared together. Initially, Draco had wanted Crabbe and Goyle to be his roommates, but now he's glad to be sharing dormitory with Harry and Blaise instead. Nott being in the same room as Harry would have been a terrible choice. That guy was trouble alright.

The dorm would have been empty had it not been for the one bed that's still occupied. Draco sneered and spelled the drawn window curtains open. What a lazy arse that one. Harry was usually amongst the first ones to get up, but apparently not today. Draco had thought that he'd at least be in the bathroom by now. He checked the alarm clock on the bedside table beside Harry and noticed that it had been turned off. Draco eyed the closed drapes to Harry's bed and cocked his head to the side in contemplation.

What to do with annoying prats, hmm…

He pulled open the bed curtains in a quick motion to wake his friend. Harry's back was turned to him, and his duvet was tightly wound around him like a cocoon. The only visible part of him was the black hair spread in all directions on the pillow.

Draco smirked and started shaking Harry. But the rough manhandling didn't bother the other boy.

How bothersome.

Enough was enough, Draco took hold of the blanket and pulled them off. It was wound so tight around Harry that it only exposed his shoulder. But the motion had also managed to turn him onto his back. The moment Draco put his hand on Harry's shoulder the smirk immediately transformed into a deep frown.

Heat like no other radiated off Harry. Shivers were now easily felt through the thin fabric of his thoroughly sweat soaked shirt.

Draco stared for a moment and stepped back. It was only now that he noticed Harry's pale face.

"Harry?" Draco shook him firmly this time, while trying not to overreact. Harry's head lolled from side to side, his black fringe sticking to his forehead. "Hey scarhead" Draco called, but there was no response.

"Harry, you git, wake up!"

A slight grunt was the response to Draco's yell. Harry moved his head a bit, seemingly trying to fall back asleep.

"Harry, I swear I'll go and get Severus if you don't get up!" Draco threatened, his patience wearing thin. He was also, maybe, slightly panicking now. This didn't seem right.

But just as he started considering actually going to the Potion's Master, Harry's eyes slowly blinked open. His eyes swivelled around for a bit, slowly taking in his surroundings. Once his eyes seemed to focus, he looked up at Draco.

Draco stepped away from the bed, letting out a relived breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding back.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked while watching Harry's sluggish movements as he struggled to sit up.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Harry answered hoarsely, finally managing to sit upright. He stayed hunched over for a little bit, taking in a slow breath. Draco watched him turn away from him and slowly slide his legs over the edge of the bed. "Why didn't you wake me up before now?" Harry asked as he glanced at the clock and saw that he only had half an hour till classes started. He dragged a hand over his face and through his hair.

Harry barely seemed to notice his own state.

"It's not like I didn't try" Draco responded, gnawing at his lip without really noticing it. Harry turned slightly and looked at Draco over his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Draco responded instead, feeling slightly unsure on what he should do. "Are you sure you should be getting up? I can tell Severus that you're feeling unwell."

"No, I said I'm fine." Harry immediately shook his head, "You don't need to wait for me, you'll be late." He'd managed to get up and drag himself to the door by their shared bathroom. But he was leaning hard against the doorframe, something that didn't go unnoticed by Draco.

Draco barely managed to not step forward and drag Harry back to his bed. Harry was difficult like that when it came to receiving help and care when in need. Draco had witnessed that first hand when an especially brutal quidditch practice had gotten Harry pretty bad. He'd been limping around, refusing any sort of help from anyone, and pretending he was fine. It wasn't until his foot was so swollen it could be mistaken for a troll's foot, that he'd been willing to go to Pomfrey.

"I'll wait downstairs with Daphne," Draco said firmly, not leaving a room for argument. Harry noticed that and nodded in resignation, before closing the door to the bathroom.

Draco was left standing in the empty room. He was no mediwizard, but he knew that it was never a good sign to not be able to rouse someone, or in Harry's case, to take ages to wake up. It was one thing to have a fever, but this was worse.

In the end, Draco left the dorm and started up the stairs to the common room. He was startled at seeing Daphne by the landing, but quickly masked his features. Daphne could easily detect if anything had happened, and he didn't want her to be worrying. Harry might have caught a mere cold. Simple as that, nothing major to be concerned about.

"Where is he?" Daphne asked before anything else, craning her neck to look behind Draco.

Draco didn't say anything at first but only eyed her apprehensively, which seemed to concern her very much.

"What is it?" Daphne demanded to know, and when Draco didn't respond, she started walking up the stairs towards him.

Draco stopped her by taking hold of her elbow, "Give him a moment, he'll join us soon."

"Draco, what is going on?" Daphne asked, pulling away from his grip. Draco looked up and saw her cold eyes focused on him. There seemed to be anger brewing in them. He knew that to anger Daphne wouldn't bode well for anyone, even him. Draco hesitated a little before conceding. To hell with not worrying her, he'd already done that.

"It's that–" Draco hesitated, "–when I went to check on Harry, he was still asleep."

"Yes, and what's wrong with that? He came late from the detention yesterday and–"

"That's not what I meant", Draco hissed, but cleared his throat to try and compose himself. Daphne's mouth became a straight line. She didn't like being interrupted, but neither did Draco.

"Like I said, he was still sleeping. I tried to wake him several times, which he eventually did, but–" Draco hesitated, but at Daphne's look he continued. "–he seems ill." Draco shrugged and stepped down the remaining few steps past Daphne. "He walked to the bathroom looking half dead on his feet."

He went from not wanting to say anything to bluntly telling her everything. Daphne had that effect on him. She stood unmoving for a few seconds, pondering what had just been said.

"He could be suffering from fatigue or stress", Daphne suggested, while glancing back towards the stairs.

"I don't think it's that simple, Daphne." Draco sighed.

"Don't over-…" Daphne paused midsentence as she looked up. Harry was slowly descending the stairs. She pushed passed Draco to walk towards Harry, but a terrible sight met her eyes. She couldn't blame Draco for being concerned anymore.

All her anger at Harry from yesterday dissipated as Daphne ran up to him and held his elbow tightly in her grip. "Harry?" Daphne whispered cautiously.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Harry gave her a small reassuring smile. It seemed he'd forgotten about yesterday as well. He winced slightly as he continued walking with Daphne by his side.

"Clearly!" Daphne shook her head. "You're not fine. We're going to the hospital wing", Daphne said calmly, while Draco took Harry's bag from his shoulder without permission and carried it himself.

But Harry didn't like what they were doing and pulled away from Daphne.

"No, absolutely not," Harry said through clenched teeth and turned to Draco. He reached with his hand to take his bag back from Draco – and everything came to a standstill. By reaching for his bag, Harry's sleeve had slipped.

A heavy silence befell them as both Draco and Daphne stared wide-eyed at Harry's hand. There were thick bandages, reaching past his wrist. They seemed to have been recently changed and hastily wound around the injury, but he hadn't been able to cover every inch of the harm done to his hand. Fresh blood was soaking the new bandages, and his fingers had an unhealthy colour to them.

They were nearly white, with blue tinted fingernails. But the worst and oddest were the dark blue veins that were clearly sticking out and spread all over his hand. All together with the clear swelling created a ghastly sight.

"Oh," Daphne looked horrified. Draco couldn't help but agree.

Harry sagged in resignation but didn't say anything. He snatched his bag out of Draco's grip and staggered away. Draco stood stock still before following Harry out with Daphne right behind them. They'll not leave him alone this time around. Enough giving him time and space, it was their turn to decide what to do.

.*.*.*.*.*.

They tried to convince him to get help, but Harry outright refused. He knew, deep down, that they were looking out for him, but he couldn't do what they were asking of him. Even if he was feeling as if he'd been trampled by a thousand hippogriffs, Harry knew he just needed some rest. His body was aching something fierce and the cold sweats were not helping in the least, but he just needed to make it to their first class. They'll be having Care of Magical Creatures later and then Herbiology, two classes he was certain Umbridge would not be visiting today for her reviewing.

Umbridge had been going around and reviewing the each of the professors' ability to teach. And most likely reporting everything back to their useless Minister.

The audacity of that woman.

But the weather outside was awful today, and Umbridge would surely avoid going out. He'll just drag himself through the day and deal with whatever happens after classes. No point in planning too much. If Harry was being honest with himself, he'd admit that he just didn't have enough energy to think that far.

Harry himself didn't know what the hell was going on, but he suspected that he might be coming down with something.

When Draco had woken him up this morning, all he'd wanted was to go back to sleep. And he did for a little while before Draco's yell had startled him awake. The second he'd opened his eyes and become aware of the different aches in his body, Harry had to resist groaning out loud. Sweat had clung to him and ran down his back. But he'd forced himself up on shaky limbs and managed to get himself to the bathroom.

And oh God, it was then that he'd noticed the pain radiating up and down his arm. It was also then he'd seen what had become of his previously bandaged hand.

It was a gnarly sight, one he had absolutely not expected. After cleaning as much as possible, aside from the wound, Harry's hand had looked dead. Literally dead, as in no blood left in his veins. He could still move his fingers, but that did not make him feel less worried. And it was pure luck that he'd managed to hide the ugly, stark blue veining that looked to be surrounding and spreading from the open wound.

It was a worrisome sight; one he couldn't explain. Is it possible that the blood quill had caused all of this?

Had Draco and Daphne seen that, they'd unquestionably ignored his opinion on going to the matron and would've forcibly dragged him there. He managed instead to convince his friends that he'd get back to bed after their lesson with Flitwick.

"Let's just go before classes start." Daphne said dejectedly, her frown clearly unhappy with Harry's stubbornness.

They headed off to the Charms classroom, the three of them skipping breakfast. Harry felt guilt churning in his stomach – it was his fault that his friends were skipping a meal. Everyone was already inside when they walked in. They made their way to the very back of the classroom and sat there. Harry was completely winded from that walk; he could feel his heart pounding in his chest as if he'd run a marathon.

He tried his best to hide his shuddering breaths.

They sat there quietly, only the chatter from the rest of the class filling the silence between them. Harry vaguely noticed his Gryffindor friends waving at him, he might have waved back. Harry shuffled awkwardly in his seat which made the Daphne and Draco look his way. He could feel the back of his neck turning redder as he stared at the front of the classroom, embarrassment was making itself known.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, guys. You keep asking me questions that I can't answer," Harry said in one breath, wincing at how that sounded. He didn't notice the increasing worry radiating off his friends. It should have told him enough of their concern that they didn't comment on his apology.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Neither Draco nor Daphne said anything. Both watched the sweat on Harry's forehead and the way his hand went to his chest every now and then. Daphne only rested her hand over Harry's that was currently nervously playing with the bandages on his other hand. Draco nodded his head in acceptance.

This was bad. Really bad.

Not much later, Flitwick walked in and began his lecture about 'Cave inimicum'. The spell could be used to warn the caster of enemies nearby. It would act as a shield of sorts. He also told them they would learn the spell even though it wasn't on the fifth-year curriculum, but the seventh. There were a lot of excited whispers but those who understood why, got apprehensive. Reality of the oncoming dark times was too terrifying to think about, and many wanted to ignore it as long as possible.

While the lesson progressed, Harry seemed to get worse. He was blinking slowly throughout the whole lesson, and massaging his head every now and then. Daphne even noticed small shivers wracking through Harry's frame.

She noticed him observing his hand and grimacing, completely ignoring the lesson. It didn't seem that he was comprehending anything going on around him.

Daphne's knee started bounding under the table, biting her lip in distress. The lesson couldn't end anytime sooner.

.*.*.*.*.*.

"Harry?" Draco whispered questionably, sending a quick glance at Flitwick, but the professor's attention was diverted elsewhere. Draco, however, had seen Harry's odd behaviour.

"Hm?" Harry responded. Draco noticed Harry swaying in his seat between him and Daphne. Daphne noticed that too. Harry was holding his injured hand and was trying to calm his suddenly erratic breathing. Draco did not like that, no, he did not like it one bit.

"You're still with us?"

Harry didn't respond, which was more than slightly concerning.

Draco tried to not outwardly react. Daphne was biting her lip and sitting on the edge of her seat. They had to keep up with the professor and just wait for the class to end. Harry just closed his eyes, completely giving up on the lesson.

Time ticked by very slowly. Every second felt like an eternity. Draco was nearly snarling at the part-goblin for choosing today to be ignorant of the happenings in his class. Had professor seen anything he'd might have ended the class earlier and done something to help Harry.

The second the bells rang, indicating the lessons' end, Draco gave a relieved sigh. It was time.

They waited until everyone walked out, Flitwick seemed to be in a hurry and left them to fend for themselves. A few of their classmates had spotted them lingering but hadn't commented on it thanks to Daphne's infamous death-glares. The two Gryffindorks that Harry chose to be friends with, paused and stared. Their faces paled at what they saw.

"Not now, Weasley," Draco growled in warning when the ginger made to step closer.

Weasley glared and was about to open his stupid mouth when Daphne interrupted with a simple "Granger".

The other girl saw something in Daphne's face, biting her lip as she sent another glance at their mutual friend. She finally gave a tight nod. "We'll go now, but we'll need to know everything later."

Daphne nodded back in agreement, something that Draco didn't agree with but decided not to say anything.

And with that Granger dragged a protesting Weasley out of the classroom with her.

Harry, however, didn't make any sort of indication that he'd heard anything of their short interaction with his two other friends.

Daphne gestured for Draco that they needed to hurry, or they'd find themselves locked inside the classroom. The wards would prevent anyone from lingering inside without permission. It hadn't happened to any of them before, but Daphne had heard first years complaining about suddenly finding themselves flung out of the classroom. It was something Daphne knew they didn't need right now.

Both Draco and Daphne felt the increased shivers coming from their friend as they tried holding him up by his elbows. They're going to drag Harry to the hospital wing no matter what, even if she would still have preferred his cooperation. But he didn't seem to have any energy left to protest anyway and was therefore very compliant.

"Harry, come on, try holding onto me." Daphne said gently. Without Draco's and Daphne's hold on him he'd already fallen over.

"I'm trying, Daphne," Harry grunted, sounding out of breath. He coughed and stumbled. His knees were shaking harder and started to buckle under him. The strong hold on his elbows was the only thing keeping him on his feet. They hurried to pull him out of the classroom and out to the empty corridor, Draco having to let go to hold the large doors open. But it all went down from there, literally.

Harry's knees gave out.

"Harry!" Daphne cried, as Harry lost his remaining balance and fell on to the ground, unintentionally bringing her down with him. She barely managed to catch him and prevent his head from colliding with the stone floors.

Blue veins were climbing up his neck and towards his cheeks at a rapid rate. Harry lay completely limp in her hold, eyes barely open.

There was a cracking noise, and cold was Draco watched in horrified fascination ice spreading from underneath his friends and climb the walls around them. The fire in the torches went out, leaving them in the dim light coming from the large windows at the end of the corridor. Their breaths starting to mist in front of them.

"Harry! Har-…Draco! Get help!" Daphne cried when she saw blood trickle down Harry's chin from his paling lips, which also broke Draco from his trance.

Draco all but sprinted in the direction of the hospital wing.

.*.*.*.*.*.

Daphne was shaking in fear for her friend but forced herself to move. Blood continued to trail down Harry's chin. The dark streaks were nearly reaching his eyes, and it only added to the awful sight of what was happening with Harry. Daphne forced herself to focus and hurried to move him to a horizontal position. She at least remembered the necessity of moving a person on their side to keep their airways open.

Harry lay there gasping for air and his eyes tightly closed. Daphne felt helpless watching him like that.

But it was also then she noticed the ice cold and darkness they found themselves in. But she couldn't think right now. Nothing made sense. She didn't even notice her limbs beginning to freeze from the cold.

"Harry? What can I do… please, tell me how I can help," Daphne stuttered to say between her tears as she saw Harry slowly blinking and then closing his eyes, progressively losing strength. Daphne's heart stuttered in her chest.

"Hey, stay with me, don't close your eyes."

Harry blinked up again, blearily looking at Daphne's. He was trying to stay awake, but Daphne could see his struggle. She tried wracking her brain for any healing spells, anything. But she came up short in her panicked state, she didn't even know where to start.

She could only hope that Draco was on his way to them by now. Daphne took hold of Harry's hand and held it between her hands. She heard Harry groaning; he was trying to stifle his cries.

Daphne watched Harry's eyes roll to the back of his head in a numb captivation.

The hand in her grip slackened and so did her hold onto it in her shock.

The only thing she seemed able to register was the hurried footsteps getting closer to them.

Phew, haha that was a bit difficult. And don't be too mad at Harry, he was being quite irrational throughout this chapter.

You're probably wondering what the hell is happening, but it will be explained in the next chapter!

Thank you for reading, see you next Wednesday!