Hey everyone! I hope you liked the last chapter!
I think we need another Trigger Warning for this chapter. It's a little rough again, with the boys dealing with the aftermath of Harry drinking the potion.

Also, what did you think of my take on the potion? It was interesting to write, but I want to know if that's how you guys imagined the potion too.

Enjoy!

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Harry's legs refused to hold him any longer, and they buckled beneath him.

Draco lowered him to the ground without saying a word and dropped the backpack beside Harry. He started to walk in a wide circle around him, casting the protective enchantments.

Harry sat there for a minute, trying to ignore the fire, which was everywhere still. With the last of his strength, he tried to stand.

"No," Draco's tone was firm. "Stay seated."

Harry didn't bother to argue but sat and waited for Draco to be done. He pulled the tent out of the backpack and pointed his wand at it.

Nothing happened to it.

No jet of light burst out of Harry's wand. He tried again, mainly to distract himself from the overwhelming thirst which was still consuming him.

Again, nothing happened.

Draco came up behind him and pointed his wand at the tent. It constructed itself immediately.

"Come on," Draco said, and he helped Harry to his feet.

Harry stumbled into the tent, trying to look stronger than he felt. He did not want to worry Draco more than he already had. He tripped over to the sink and turned it on full force. He ducked his head under the steady stream.

It felt cold and refreshing like rain finally falling in a desert.At that moment, nothing, absolutely nothing, would have tasted better than water. He gulped it down greedily, and when he finally came up for air, his nerves no longer felt like they were on fire, though the water did nothing to ease the rest of him.

Sweat was still pouring down his back, and his legs started to shake from supporting his body. Perhaps worst of all, his scar was burning painfully.

He knew there was nothing he could do about it, though. Harry wiped his mouth on his sleeve and turned off the sink.

He turned and saw Draco standing close by. He was pretending to be busy putting something away in the backpack, but Harry knew Draco was making sure he didn't fall again.

In the absence of the sound of water, Draco looked up.

"How are you?" His eyes were still shining with worry, and Harry felt bad for putting him through all of that.

"Better now." He said, his voice weaker than normal.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Harry didn't quite meet Draco's eyes. "Listen, Draco… I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have asked—"

"Are you kidding me?" Draco asked, "I'm the one who's sorry! I kept giving you the potion. I knew I should have stopped. But I didn't…"

"Only because you were listening to me," Harry said quickly. "It wasn't your fault Draco. I shouldn't have asked you to do that."

"I shouldn't have done it!" Draco exclaimed.

"It's fine—"

"No, it isn't." Draco looked mad now, but Harry wasn't sure if he was mad at him or not. "Look at you! No offense, but you look awful."

"I'm not bad—"

"Really, Harry?" Draco said, frustrated.

"Well, I don't feel too bad."

"Yes, you do. You're just trying to hide it."

Harry sighed. Draco knew him too well. "It wasn't either of our faults, okay?"

"Fine," Draco said, but Harry was sure he didn't really think that.

"We got the Horcrux, right?" Harry asked, trying to lead the subject away from dangerous grounds.

Draco smiled for the first time since they got back, and he held up a large golden locket. Harry forced a smile as well. "See, it was worth it." Draco shrugged but didn't say anything.

Draco reached up and scratched his cheek, and Harry flinched. The cut he had made on his hand was still bleeding freely. It reminded Harry forcibly of Bellatrix and everything he had just had to watch.

He saw Draco frown, confused. Harry turned away from him, needing something to take his mind off of everything. To take up time, he turned on the sink again and took another drink of water.

This time, when he resurfaced, Draco was watching him closely.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"Really?" Harry raised an eyebrow at Draco, but only because he didn't want him to worry further.

"No, I know you just went through the potion and everything, and you obviously won't be feeling good. I just meant you seem off."

"I'm fine, just tired," Harry answered too quickly.

Draco pushed his slightly damp hair back off of his forehead. Harry was forced to see his hand again bleeding, just like with the potion. Harry couldn't stop himself from flinching.

"Do you want me to fix that?" Harry asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"What this?" Draco asked, raising his hand to examine it.

"Y-Yes, I can fix it if you want." Harry hated his voice for shaking.

"No, it's not very deep; it should be fine in a few minutes. Plus, you should take a break from magic for a while."

Harry nodded but didn't say anything. He knew Draco was right, but that didn't make it any easier to see him bleed.

"Do you want me to make it stop bleeding?" Draco asked slowly.

"Yes," Harry said firmly. He turned away, not wanting to look at Draco anymore.

"Look, I'm fine." Draco said after a minute, holding out his hand.

Harry glanced at it and nodded stiffly. It looked almost as good as new, maybe slightly red.

Harry walked over and sat down on the bottom bunk. He knew his legs wouldn't be able to hold him for much longer.

Draco didn't say anything for a moment, examining his hand. Then he turned and put the Horcrux back into the backpack. However, as he was removing his hand from the bag, he inhaled sharply.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked quickly.

"I got cut. We really shouldn't keep this knife in here." Draco withdrew his hand. There was a shape cut running from his wrist to his middle finger.

Harry watched with a mixture of horror and anxiety as Draco's hand bleed freely. It was the final straw for him.

Harry leaped up and practically ran out of the tent. He walked hurriedly to the outskirts of their protection and sank to the ground beside a tree.

He knew he couldn't hide from Draco for long; he was forced to just sit there and wait to be found. Harry really didn't care much at the moment.

No matter how hard he tried to suppress it, the memories were coming back to him. He could hear Bellatrix's laughter ringing in his ears and practically see the blood splattering the floor of the dungeon. And Voldemort's high, cold voice had been so real, and the flash of green light…

And it had seemed so real, much too real… Harry's whole body started to shake violently, and his breathing became sporadic. Eventually, he couldn't stand it and vomited.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Draco knelt down beside him.

"N-nothing." He tried to reassure Draco, but his tone gave him away.

"You're obviously still sick. Why did you leave the tent?" Draco's hand was substantially better, but it was still bleeding in some spots. He had healed it in a hurry.

"No reason…" Harry tried to brush him off, not wanting to have to tell him.

"Harry, you never reacted like that to blood before. Why do you now?"

"You want to know why?" Harry asked, frustrated.

"Yes! You have never cared about blood."

"It's not the blood; it's you bleeding! I just had to watch Bellatrix whip you over and over and Voldemort torture and kill you. And I could do absolutely nothing, nothing to help. And it killed me…"

Draco looked stunned for a minute. "Th-that was your worst memory?"

"Yes! Of course it was Draco! You're like a brother to me; I would rather die than watch you get hurt. And I had to again, and again, and again!" Harry was starting to shake again.

"Harry, calm down." Draco said firmly. He put an arm around Harry's shoulders. Harry gulped and forced himself into submission. "I'm fine, absolutely fine. That's in the past now."

Harry knew Draco was trying to help, but something was still eating away at him.

"That's the problem, Draco! The one where I saw Voldemort spoke to me. He said this was punishment for us leaving. And he said he would find us. He never killed you or tried to before. It wasn't a memory."

Draco didn't say anything, thinking. After a moment, his eyes met Harry's.

"So that's why you said you would go back…"

"What do you mean?" Harry was confused.

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but you were kind of shouting… a lot."

"Really? I didn't know that happened with the potion."

"Neither did I," Draco shrugged, "But you said you would go back if he stopped, well, stopped hurting me, I guess."

"Yes…" Harry shuttered, remembering Draco's screams. Draco's grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Harry, I want to make one thing clear." Draco said calmly, but Harry could tell he was trying to keep it together for his sake. "Don't go back to Voldemort, ever. No matter what, nothing is worth that."

"Draco," Harry said, his voice forced calm. "I would die rather than know that Voldemort had you and was doing that sort of stuff to you."

"Harry!" Draco exclaimed. "Nothing,nothingis worth going back to him! Remember everything he has done! Remember all of the things he had us do? He killed your family and kidnapped you."

Harry looked at Draco, their eyes meeting in the light cast by the setting sun. "Nothing,nothingis worth leaving you with him. I would sell my soul to him if it meant you were safe! You are the only family I have left, the only family I have really ever had. You aren't seriously telling me you wouldn't do the same?"

"Of course I would." Draco said without hesitation.

"So you can expect me to do the same for you!" Draco sighed heavily. Harry knew he had trapped him.

"Well then, we should focus on going somewhere he won't find us."

"Like where?" Harry asked.

"We should go to Hogwarts." Draco said, and he hurried on at Harry's expression. "We need to destroy the cup, and now we have the locket. Dumbledore is the only one who has something to destroy them unless you know of any other ways?"

Harry sighed deeply. "No, Voldemort never told me how to destroy Horcruxes, as strange as that sounds. I really hate to have to go back, though."

"So do I, but it's our only choice. Especially since he will be checking on the Horcruxes soon."

"Should we go now?"

"No," Draco said firmly, "It is getting late. Plus, if Voldemort is finding out about the Horcruxes tomorrow, we should be well rested."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Draco said, "If that's fine with you."

"Yes, that's fine." Harry assured him. He was very glad Draco had suggested it.

"Let's not keep watch, just for tonight." Harry said, "I think we both need sleep after the day we've had."

"I agree," Draco said quickly, and he offered his hand to help Harry up.

Harry saw him flick his wand at his vomit and make it disappear without saying anything. Draco followed Harry back into the tent, and both of them collapsed onto their beds.

Even though they were both exhausted, neither one fell asleep right away. They were too busy thinking.

In just two days, they had accomplished a huge task.

They now had two of the six Horcruxes in their possession, ready to be destroyed. Two more of those were already gone, and they knew roughly where the last two were located.

Tomorrow, they would go to Dumbledore and destroy the other Horcruxes. Then, there would be the final two left. For the first time, it actually felt like they might be able to pull this off.

Hope flared in Harry's heart, though he tried to stop it. He knew it was stupid to think like that when he hadn't even destroyed the other two Horcruxes yet; nevertheless, he closed his eyes with a slight smile on his face.

He knew they would have a job of searching through Hogwarts, and getting to Nagini would be almost impossible when Voldemort found out what they had done, but Harry had faith in him and Draco.

His last thought before closing his eyes was thatat least Draco was with him. He couldn't imagine having to go through all of this without him. He knew now that it would have been impossible. He would have died. He was lucky that Draco was so stubborn.

He and Draco would be sticking together to the end.