Harry woke up the next day feeling more rested than he had felt in what seemed like a lifetime. For a very small, very short moment, his mind thought he was back at Hogwarts, in his bed, wrapped in his red blankets with his best friend just feet away from him. For a moment, he thought about getting up, showering, getting dressed and going down to eat breakfast at the Great Hall. For a split second, he felt safe.

Safe... until reality crashed upon him. The softness beneath him was all too familiar. He immediately opened his eyes in alarm, prepared for the pain to start tearing through his body, but it never did. In fact, a dull ache was the only unpleasant thing he was feeling. He looked around and remembered his rescue, the cave, the Dreamless potion...

"Harry," Ginny said, next to him, handing him a pouch full of water.

Harry took it, a reminder that while he was not in the safety and comfort of his school, he was not with Voldemort anymore.

"Thanks," Harry muttered after taking a big gulp, handing the pouch back to her and eyeing everyone else.

The twins were cooking something in the corner, sharing jokes and laughing and snickering. Malfoy was sitting further away, but he wasn't doing anything in particular, simply staring at nothing. Harry swallowed a little, and realized that they had made the inside of the cave a little bigger with some kind of magic, which allowed for the blonde boy to stay very far away without actually exiting the cave. With a slight pang in his chest, Harry realized that he could very well recognize Draco's expression, the slight crease of his brow, the downturned corners of his lips, the way the rubbed his fingers and palms. He was concerned about something, and Harry's first instinct, such a long time ago, would've been to ask him what he was thinking to help him ease his mind.

A glowing light outside broke his concentration and he could hear McGonagall's voice giving a lecture to someone.

"McGonagall is teaching Hermione and Ron a few spells. Since there are only a number of wands available we've had to take turns with the lessons." Ginny explained. "Lupin and Snape went to find even more supplies but they should be back soon."

Harry was surprised at the sudden eagerness that befell him. Back at Voldemort's clutches, he had several moments of sudden bravery and anger that, despite the panic and fear and constant agony, spurred him on to keep being defiant. His brain pushed forward that damn Gryffindor courage and he would insult Voldemort and his followers even with the dreaded wands pointing at him, even after bouts of the Cruciatus curse, even with his body torn apart, knives sticking out, bared bone splintering through flesh... he had these lucid moments of a lion roaring in his chest. They had been becoming less and less frequent, with his brain less willing to go through the pain each day, with the fear taking permanent residence in every fiber of his being, with his sanity slowly slipping away each day until there was almost nothing left.

But at that moment, he could feel it. Not anger born out of panic, not an insult spat out of unbearable agony... but eagerness to get back what that bastard had taken from him.

"I want to join them." he said.

Everyone was stunned. He shifted uncomfortably a little bit, especially at Draco's eyes settling wide on him.

"Are you sure?" Fred asked.

Harry knew he might have looked downright insane at the moment, when merely hours ago (how long had he actually been out cold?) he had been terrified of the mere image of a wand, had been unresponsive and practically mute. But he was better. He was mostly healed, and fed, and well-rested. And hadn't had nightmares, or recent torture sessions... He thought he could handle it. At least attempt to. He might have not been able to walk a long distance or perform complicated spells, but learn and practice? Sure.

"I don't want to say in here forever." he said. "You said it yourself, we need to fight."

He lurched forward, intent on getting to his feet, but his underused legs shook, his head swimming. He landed forward on all fours with a slight gasp. At least they had clothed him now that he had no open injuries, so the blanket falling off of him wasn't that bad.

"Harry, you might be feeling better..." Fred began.

"...but you still look like hell, no offense." George continued.

"You're still, um, malnourished. And the healing potions are still at it, so you're not at your best." Ginny added.

"No, but I need to be," he countered. "I need to train. I can't - I won't - "

"Ok. Fine." Ginny said, softly. "But breakfast first."

After eating, a hesitant Harry exited the cave with Ginny on his heels.

He had not realized how much he missed the sun until it hit his skin, warmed his face. The wind blew through his hair. He took a deep breath, no stabs of pain in his chest and no blood stuck in his throat to chase it, and almost started crying again in joy. He had missed so many damn things during the past few months that he had barely stopped to consider this. Simply freedom.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, walking up to him.

Harry noticed they had been training target practice with a few trees. It reminded him of the DA days, when he himself had tried to teach them with what the Requirement Room had to offer.

"Mate, how are you feeling?" Ron asked, also getting closer.

Harry smiled slightly.

"Much better. I - " he wanted to tell them his intentions, but now, seeing the wands clutched in their hands, a twinge of fear clawed at his heart.

"Mr. Potter." McGonagall said, smiling gently at him. "Would you like to watch?"

Harry didn't know if she knew about his sudden change of plans, but he was grateful. He nodded and sat down close by, on a rock. Ginny sat next to him.

McGonagall proceeded with her lecture, demonstrating a spell with her own wand and explaining how to control the trajectory of it. Harry flinched slightly at the first few spells were cast and crashed against the tree, but he smiled when Ron whopped as his own hit the target and Hermione smiled at him, even as her own missed the tree.

"Good, Weasley. That was good."

Harry suddenly felt extremely nostalgic about his time at school. It had never been easy, and it had never been completely stress-free. Voldemort's threat always looming above him, bullying from his peers, tournaments and enemies and teachers who despised him and...

But his friends were there. They were always there. And in the end, after every ordeal, they continued to be there.

He was so happy they were alive, and well.

"Ah, I can do better than that." Ginny said loudly, intent of riling Ron up. "And with a stronger curse, too."

"Yeah, right." Ron said, rolling his eyes.

Ginny got up, the playful sibling banter making Harry chuckle softly. Until he felt a presence behind him, eyes boring into the back of his neck. He had become keenly aware of people's presence near him, of eyes on his skin, of someone creeping up behind him.

"Potter."

Harry suppressed a flinch, his eyes landing on his hands which began shaking even more.

"Harry," the same voice said, this time in a much softer tone, even though the first time it hadn't been harsh at all. "Can I sit?"

Harry stared as his friends pointed their wands, Ginny laughing in Ron's face as her spell hit even closer to the center of the tree. He was safe. They were skilled, and fierce, and close to him. He nodded jerkily, but couldn't help his body tensing, his heart rate accelerating, bile creeping up his throat, as the blonde took a seat next to him where Ginny had been mere moments before. Draco looked pale, and gaunt, his hair disheveled. Harry hadn't had time to notice, but he had gone through hell too apparently.

"Are you okay?" they both said at the same time, softly. Their eyes met.

Draco looked away first, his eye twitching.

"Always that damn Gryffindor kindness, huh?"

"You asked the same thing."

"Yeah, because you still look... not your best."

Harry almost smiled at Draco's effort of not going back to old ways and throwing an insult to pull him into playful banter. He wouldn't have minded, but he knew the Slytherin was trying not to upset him.

"You don't look like the Slytherin prince either, Malfoy." he bit back, softly.

Draco's eyebrows rose at the slight joke, his heart beating with hope. Hope that Harry was not broken, that he was fighting back, again. That he was willing to forgive him. He needed to play his next cards carefully.

"My question was honest. I want to know how you're doing. I... you..." he was at a loss for words.

Harry cleared his throat.

"I'm fine, because I'm not thinking about it."

Draco took the hint and nodded, turning his head to look at the make shift little aim practice they were doing against a few trees. His own thoughts invaded him again. He was extremely worried, and he didn't know how the others hid it but he knew they had to be as well. It was a matter of time before Voldemort and his posse figured out that two of their bastards were dead. They still had a few days, since the search could have taken longer, what with their protection spells and all... but it was not nearly enough. They were in so much danger...

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a slight chuckle. His heart fluttered at Potter's genuine smile, his eyes shinning with life for one precious moment as he watched his friends joke and tease each other over their aim. McGonagall said a few half-hearted admonishing words before explaining the technique again.

"Ugh, figures a bunch of Gryffindors would be rubbish at this. We learned this spell in third year." Malfoy said, before thinking. He snapped his mouth shut, scared that Harry would take his joke-insult as real hatred and remind him of Voldemort's cruelty in some way, but the Golden boy's smile never faltered.

"It's not about casting the spell. It's about aiming it right, with enough force. If it's too strong it will go above your enemy's head, but if it's too weak it won't reach them. Then again, if you aim right at your opponent and then they move, the spell might hit someone else, one of your allies. Or if you aim it too predictably, they will bounce it back towards you, maybe fast enough so that you won't have time to put up a shield or move out of the way."

It was the most Draco had heard from Harry in months. He hadn't stuttered, his voice hadn't cracked. He sounded like... like before.

"How the hell did you learn all that? I don't recall that lesson."

The smile did slip slowly then, a hard swallow making his throat bob.

"I have faced real battle before," he whispered, "more than once."

Draco desperately tried to change the subject before Harry remembered the battle and defeat that had preceded the worst six months of his life.

"How can you even tell what's happening? I thought you were blind." Not smooth, but at least it didn't have anything to do with the Dark Lord.

"I'm not completely blind. I can see... shapes, I guess. Not in clear detail. And I can also hear Ron complaining and Ginny teasing him and Hermione laughing."

For a short moment, it felt like one of those times they sat together staring over the lake at school in the very early hours of the morning, when nobody was up yet, and Harry was telling him about his friends and the latest benevolent Gryffindor gossip. He would often answer with stupid jokes to tease Harry. Now he had no idea what to say.

Turns out he didn't need to say much, as Lupin and Snape interrupted the scene then, opening the wards hastily and walking inside.

Snape's presence was much harder for Harry to ignore. He immediately tensed, his eyes staring resolutely at the ground, his hands clasping together to hide his shaking. The memory of the man whipping him with almost as much force as Voldemort himself stabbed at him and he felt nauseous. In that same memory, he could remember Draco hesitating, looking disturbed, whipping him with not even a quarter of his strength... but Snape had been vicious. And the worst part was that Harry had expected it, because Snape truly loathed him. He couldn't think of one good reason why the man would be there among them if he wasn't manipulating them.

Ron was the first to notice Harry's shift in demeanor, since he had been watching the slight conversation he had been having with Malfoy. He walked closer to Harry, and when the green eyes lifted to stare at him, he smiled.

"Up for a short walk? Within the wards of course, just right around the cave. 'Mione and I wanna show you something wicked." he said.

Hermione hid the confusion in her face, as she knew damn well there wasn't anything to show anywhere, but Harry needed space from the Slytherins, desperately. Harry nodded and Ron helped him up, letting his slight frame lean into him as he practically dragged him behind some trees to hide Snape's presence.

Draco was disappointed when Harry left, but he understood completely. He turned to his godfather.

"Draco, come here. I need an assistant for an urgent potion."

.

By the time Ron and Hermione had taken Harry behind a big oak that hid them from view, their friend was hyperventilating, his eyes bright and wide.

Ron eased him into a sitting position and sat across from him, Hermione following the lead.

"It's okay, mate. We're here."

Harry swallowed, trying to get under control. Back with Voldemort, he needed to show as little pain and fear as possible, or they would hurt him worse. But it got harder each time.

"It's just us, Harry. It's just us."

"Do you want to tell us?"

Harry shook his head, but the words still tumbled out of his mouth as he drew his knees closer to his chest and his hands gripped his head.

"S-S-Snape he... you know how he's always hated me. H-h-he hates me. A-and..." he swallowed hard against the rising bile, "he never hesitated when Voldemort asked him to torture me. One time he... Voldemort wanted D-D-M-Malfoy to whip me, and when he refused Snape took it upon himself to-to... he didn't even have to do it. The request was for Malfoy but Snape, he... he offered. A-and... and he..." his watering eyes closed tightly, his hands pulling at his hair to try to focus on another less painful thing than his memory, "he was so violent, and aggressive. Almost as much as V-V..." a sob escaped him. "Snape hates me. He enjoys hurting me. He's a Death Eater. He... he wants to see me in pain."

"Harry..." Hermione muttered. She wanted to help him reason things a little bit. Snape, just like Draco, was only acting out of survival instincts. Voldemort was probably much less lenient with him than with Draco, since he was an adult and a double agent, so he needed the horrible facade. But she knew Harry was not being guided by reason, but by emotion.

Ron was quicker than her to reach a solution.

"Snape sucks. He has always sucked," he said, not smoothly but very animatedly. "But we outnumber him. Even if he really wanted to hurt you, all of us together are so much stronger than him. You are better than him."

"We will never let anyone hurt you again. Much less that bloody greasy git." Hermione added.

The uncharacteristically articulated insult startled both boys, and pulled Harry out of his stupor for a moment. Ron let out a small laugh.

"I am so glad we are rubbing off on you." the redhair said, Hermione chuckling reluctantly with a roll of her eyes.

Harry looked up at his friends, his breathing getting slower, just like his heart. Horrible flashes tried to take his mind away into hell, but Hermione's hand on his own, Ron's gentle words, the voices of his best friends kept him grounded. He wanted to close his eyes but he forced himself to stare at them, he screamed at his damaged brain that he was with them, and they were healthy and real. And he was safe.

And they were safe. No matter what, they were safe.

His breathing calmed down and he took a deep breath.

"You're okay. You're safe. We're here." Hermione repeated.

"We'll always be here." Ron added.

"I know." Harry said, his voice thin, "I-I know."

Ron wracked his brain for anything else that could work to bring Harry's mind back to a somewhat peaceful state.

"Just us... just like the time we stayed in the Common Room until past midnight to help Hermione come up with the most farfetched readings of the tea leaves to see if Trelawney fell for any of it."

Hermione rolled her eyes even as a playful smile appeared on her face.

"I actually wrote down in the parchment that the moon would cause a tsunami in the lake and drown all of us and she gave me a good grade."

Harry smiled, a slight chuckle escaping him.

"Do you remember Harry suggested that you write that love awaited her in the future with a cleaning elf?"

Hermione laughed heartily then, remembering how she had actually considered it.

"Knowing that lunatic, she would have gone down to the kitchens to find her one true love."

"Dobby and Trelawney, the couple of the century." Ron added between peals of laughter.

Harry was truly surprised at the bursts of laughter that escaped him, truly glad that his ribs were just aching and not actually in the usual horrid agony. The smile felt weird on his face but it was honest. He never thought he would laugh like that again, but here he was, with the only people he actually trusted.

They both kept telling stories, and Harry was surprised that he remembered a few of them, and added a few details of his own.

Before long, Harry began feeling exhausted, his eyelids dropping. The healing potions and spells drew upon his energy and his magical core, draining him faster than ever. And the malnourishment was still taking a toll on him. Ron helped him up and they rounded the oak back to the entrance of the cave. To their surprise, the twins and Ginny were huddled around a fire, talking quietly.

"Harry," Ginny said, smiling. "You should eat. It's way past lunch time."

"He's not the only one." Ron said. "I could eat a hippogriff right now."

"Harry wanted to get some sleep." Hermione mentioned.

"Oh, uh... Malfoy and Snape are in there, brewing something." George said.

"But McGonagall and Lupin are there, too." Fred added, seeing the flash of fear in Harry's eyes.

"Or, you could just sit with us, grab a little bite, doze off next to the fire." George piled on.

"We can tell you a few jokes."

"We heard you laughing back there."

"Should've invited us. We've enlarged our repertoire."

"We won't pick on you while you sleep."

"And I won't add nose-bloating substance to the food like that time you spent the holidays with us."

"Although you could use some fattening powder."

"Reckon Angelina didn't like it when we accidentally added it to her pumpkin juice right before that Quidditch practice."

"Okay, enough you two!" Ginny said, sounding much like her mother. "You're driving me insane."

Harry snickered a little.

"Merlin..."

"We were just trying to - "

"Just bloody shut it." she said. "Harry, if you want to get in there and sleep in your bed, we'll march inside with you and keep you safe. And if you want to stay out here with these two knuckle heads and get some rest beside the fire, we will stay with you."

Harry didn't need to answer before Ron was helping him into a sitting position between Ginny and Fred. Hermione sat down as well.

Ginny noticed Harry's eyelids dropping, and she gently, slowly, pulled him to lean down on her shoulder, rubbing softly at his head.

Before long, the boy fell asleep.

And without Dreamless sleep, came the intrusions.

"Yeah, scream for us, little Potter. I bet that hurts."

"This hurts way worse."

There were so many spells and curses and hexes attacking him that he could barely discern what was being done to him. All he knew was that his existence consisted only of pain. He did not want to imagine what he looked like, but the comments left little to the imagination.

"Ah, so how many points for that bone jutting out of his leg?"

"Hardly as many as his arms split in half at the elbow down to the fingers. I win."

"What? I tore half his face off, I am the clear winner."

"I burnt and then tore at the entirety of the skin on his back. That's got to win me a few points."

"Let's have him decide. What hurts more, Potter? This, or this?"

Both increases in agony were the exact same. He no longer held enough consciousness to pinpoint the difference. He only shrieked at both.

"You don't really expect to compete against my Bella's spell, do you? That was the one that made him cry the hardest."

"Yeah, the Thousand Knives Curse was wicked... but he did cry harder when I shoved that Cruciatus esscence down his throat."

"Enough." a cold voice bellowed.

Harry, despite being unable to see with his eyes swollen shut, recognized that voice immediately. But he had nothing else in him. His nerves had reached their peak, his fear had done a 180... he had nothing left to feel.

"Fix him, now. Then bring him to my chambers."

At the next Episky spell, Harry passed out.

He woke up on the all-too-familiar soft bed. The Death Eaters usually only healed him just enough to keep him alive, so his eyes were still swollen shut, but he could fell the horrid dark presence close by. He knew the pain that would follow, and tried to brace himself for it.

"Finally awake, my little toy. My Death Eaters really did a number on you, did they not? But most of the injuries are healed... Well, the life-threatening ones at least." the horrible voice drawled. A few coughs escaped Harry, rattling his still injured ribs.

He felt the cold hands grabbing him, turning him onto his stomach. He wanted to cry, but there was absolutely nothing left inside of him.

"Yes, this is the way I want you. Completely devastated."

Something tugged at his emotions. The memory was deforming. His eyes opened, and he was no longer on that bed. He was standing once again on that barren field where his latest encounters with the Dark Lord had taken place.

His tormentor several feet away, staring at him.

"You used to be such a perfect little slave. I will have to break you all over again."

"Try me." Harry blurted out.

Voldemort smiled, despite himself. "Oh, a few days without me, with a few scarce comforts, and you go back to your old ways."

"Guess you didn't actually break me, Tom."

The name enraged Voldemort so much that Harry could actually feel it. Half of his brain screamed in self preservation, telling him to ask for forgiveness.

Voldemort smiled.

"That's good. I will just have to double my efforts when I get you back."

"Y-you're not getting me back."

"Do you not think that I will search every corner of this Earth to find you?"

"By the time you find me, Tom, I will be back to my full strength and you won't have a chance to even touch me."

The pain that followed was immediate, as his skull felt like it was going to burst. Voldemort was somehow using their wretched bond to cause him actual pain. Harry fell to his knees, clutching his forehead, crying out. When the pain receded a bit, he cracked open one eye... and the sight before him made him gag. Ron and Hermione were lying down, covered in blood, their eyes open and vacant. Dead. He couldn't help but scream. And then more bodies began to appear... Ginny, Remus, Neville.

"This isn't real." he sobbed, closing his eyes shut, but Voldemort forced them open. "This is not real. They are alive."

"It will be real, if you don't cooperate."

"I already told you I don't know where I am!"

The anger that surged from Voldemort was overwhelming, and the pain in his skull increased.

He was forced to open his eyes.

They surrounded Harry's screaming, writhing form, trying to get him to awaken. His eyes shot open suddenly... but they were an intense shade of red. A hauntingly familiar red.

Tears sprang from Harry's eyes as he closed them again, and with each blink they changed from red to green and back to red, as if he were fighting the entity inside him. He kept writhing, his hands going to his head, sobs escaping his mouth. He began talking in Parsel and then went back to English. He knew Voldemort was trying to see his surroundings in order to find out where they were. They were surrounded by random trees and caves, but Harry didn't want to chance it. Perhaps the Dark Lord could know simply by taking a glimpse around.

"STOP!" he screamed. "GET OUT!" among his screams, a smile tugged at his lips, his mouth saying words that were not his own. "Never, Harry. I will never get out. Open your eyes and let me see where you are." the boy put his hands on his eyes before the red shade could catch anything major, and in the next second his nails sank into the skin above his eyebrows. "NO! NO!" his legs were kicking wildly. "Yes. Let me see or I will make you gouge your eyes out... NO! NO! STOP!"

Ginny immediately sprung into action, grabbing Harry's wrists with her hands and pulling them away from his face before the Dark Lord made real on his threat. "Someone, cover his eyes!"

Fred immediately dove, his hands clasping over Harry's eyes. He was still screaming, writhing. Blood was coming out of his nose and ears.

Then he suddenly fell silent and completely still, gasps escaping him. Fred slowly removed his hands, but Harry didn't open his eyes. An insane smile suddenly split his face.

"Oh yes, how does that feel? A Cruciatus curse inside your own head. Didn't think it could get much worse, did you?" his own voice said. Fred covered his eyes again, realizing that it was Voldemort and not Harry that had taken control. Harry was inside his own head, going through the strongest Cruciatus curse he had felt yet, and it wasn't stopping, the agony tearing through him in devastating waves. "You cannot imagine the agony he is in right now. Remove your hands from his eyes and allow me to see your location, or I will make him feel pain beyond his understanding."

Fred looked up at the rest, and noticed that at some point Draco and the Professors had heard the ruckus and had gone out, but there was little any of them could do.

"He's lying." Ginny said. "He can't hurt Harry in his mind, can he?."

As if to prove his point, the Dark Lord seemed to give his body back to Harry for a moment. An inhuman scream broke from his lips, his body convulsing in agony. "PLEASE! STOP IT, PLEASE!"

Snape, determined, marched forward, pushing the twin back and taking his place. Harry's screaming ceased as Voldemort regained control of his body, but when the red eyes opened, the Potions master immediately delved into his head, blinding him from the outside world. He saw, through almost black fog, Harry's body writhing on the floor, crying desperately, and Voldemort standing a few feet away, his wand trained on him.

"Severus..." the man said, stunned, temporarily releasing his curse on the boy.

"PRESENCIA EVANESCO!" Snape shouted.

Voldemort cried out, unprepared for the attack, and finally withdrew from Harry's head.

Snape came back to his own body with a gasp, noticing the blood also running down his own nose. That had been a terrifying, painful experience. But at least Potter was now wide awake, gasping, shaking, his nose bleeding... but unharmed otherwise.

"How did you do that?" Remus asked, his voice thin.

Snape panted and his eyes crossed momentarily with Harry before both looked away.

"I don't... I'm not sure. My plan was to perform Legilimens to see what was going on. I didn't expect... the Dark Lord was actually in there. And then I... it's a spell that Dumbledore taught me many years ago in case I couldn't Occlude from the Dark Lord. I had never used it until now."

Harry kept panting, tears coursing down his face. It wasn't the first time Voldemort tried to take control of his body, but it was the first time he had tortured him within his own head. It had been much worse than he could've ever anticipated. The man had never cast that strong of a curse on him, and he had to wonder if it was worse just because he was in his head, or if there was power inside the Dark Lord that he hadn't yet unleashed. If he had been taking it easy with him the past few months, holding back... the thought made him gag, and soon he threw up on the floor.

"Harry..." McGonagall said, inching closer to him. "My boy..."

The endearing term reminded him of Dumbledore, a painful pang in his chest. What would the Headmaster say about this whole predicament?

A hand landed on his shoulder and he flinched, flinging himself backwards. "Don't touch me."

Hermione, who had been the one that had reached to touch his shoulder in a comforting manner, sat back down on her heels.

"Harry..."

"How - the hell - did he do that?" he asked, still gasping. To everyone's surprise, including his own, he wasn't feeling terrified but incredibly angry. How was it that the bastard could keep finding ways to make his life miserable, even after he had escaped?

"Your mind bond with him." Lupin said. "You're growing stronger, so perhaps the bond is strengthening as well."

"It's never felt like this. Not even when I was in school, not half-dead. That bastard Crucio'd me in my own bloody head." he turned savagely to Snape, glaring at him, the fear forgotten to give way to waves of anger. "How is that even possible?"

Snape was taken aback by Potter's sudden change in demeanor, especially since he had just been tortured again. But the boy was showing that unbreakable Gryffindor courage, that anger and bravery and determination that had frustrated him so much in the past... but now made him feel a level of admiration for the boy that he'd never felt for anyone.

"Your time with the Lord must have taught him how to control and manipulate that bond beyond your own understanding. But, to be honest, I don't think it was an actual curse. He is not here, physically, much less is his wand. I think he was playing with your memories, making you relive that particular feeling in stronger ways than before. He can't actually, physically harm you." Snape explained.

"Oh, great. He can just torture me every time I fall asleep without the Dreamless potion. And take control of my body. Thank Merlin, and here I was getting worried." Harry spat with sarcasm, his teeth bared and a wild expression on his face. His stomach heaved again and he began throwing up a second time.

When he was done, he sat back on his heels and shakily cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand. Ginny handed him the pouch of water and he drank very slowly.

"I know you're feeling like shit," she said softly, "but I hope you also realize that this reaction you are having, this anger, shows how strong and brave you really are."

"Yeah, mate." Ron added. "What you went through was awful, and here you are all angry and snapping back at Snape."

Snape growled behind him, but silently agreed.

Harry didn't say anything for a while, simply stared down at the floor.

"I want Dreamless sleep." he muttered. He was hesitant and terrified of falling into unconsciousness again, but the prospect of staying awake thinking about what had just transpired was much worse.

A few minutes later, he was inside the cave, sleeping.

Draco stared at him from a distance, feeling lost and worried and terrified. Yes, he was proud of him for not cracking, and hope swelled in his chest at the rage that had invaded him which was a complete opposite of the fear he had been portraying so far... but Voldemort kept on beating him down.

"I don't want to be brave."

Draco stared up at him from his spot on the bed. Harry was standing up, reading a letter.

"Talking to yourself to add to the pile of insane things you do?"

Harry chuckled softly, but his smile wasn't sincere.

"It's a letter from the Weasleys. I wrote to Mr. Weasley to inquire about something I read in the paper about the Ministry and he is just giving me a sermon about focusing on my schoolwork but also being brave and strong and..."

"Isn't bravery literally part of a Gryffindor's flesh and blood?"

Harry left the letter on the desk and sat down next to Draco.

"I'm tired of having to pretend that Voldemort - oh grow up, will you? - doesn't scare me. Or the threat of war. I hate it when people ask me to be brave, as if I hadn't been brave enough already."

"Then don't be." Draco shrugged. "Tell that Muggle-lover where he can shove it."

Harry looked at him disapprovingly, but with a smile on his face.

"I'm not sure I can help being brave. Like you said, Gryffindor blood and all."

"Right... but what do they expect you to do? Go knocking on the Dark Lord's door asking for a fight? You're just a kid, for Merlin's sake."

"Unless he comes knocking on my door first."

Draco stared at him for a moment before lowering his Slytherin defenses to try to talk honestly to the boy.

"Potter, you don't owe anyone anything. If you don't want to face him, you don't have to."

"The Prophecy - "

"Fuck that, honestly. How can they expect a mere kid to go up against the greatest evil wizard to ever exist, on his own, without showing fear? The adults who keep telling you to be brave and strong should be the ones handling this."

"They are." Harry answered. "But when the time comes, I have to be the one to... face him. Otherwise everyone else is doomed."

"Why are their lives more important than yours?"

Harry didn't answer, but anger did cross his features. He glared at Malfoy for a moment before getting up and exiting the room.