Why Do You Love Me?

The burning in Draco’s left forearm was almost enough to make him collapse; the pain was so strong. His eyes widened in fright as he stared down at his Dark Mark, darkening with every second, causing his skin to ripple and flex as it literally burned his flesh. Angst-ridden, Draco raced from the safe haven of his room and bumped almost immediately into Severus.

One glance into Severus’ eyes told him everything he needed to know, and he hardly had a chance to say a word before Severus cast a quick memory charm and grabbed his wrist, effectively apperating them both to whence they were summoned.

…
…
…

Harry tossed in his sleep, a face flashing before him. This nightmare was different from all the other ones; the man was not there. Harry refused to allow himself to think about who the man who so brutally took him had been, though on a subconscious level, he knew quite well.

This time, the man was blonde, and rather thin. He seemed frightened, though Harry could not quite figure out why. A tall man wearing long, tattered black robes walked into a dark, dank room lit by a single, melted down candle, followed by the blonde man and a greasy-haired, hook-nosed man. A heavy door clanged shut behind them, and the tall man - Harry hadn’t seen his face yet - turned swiftly around. His voice, though high pitched, was booming.

“For quite some time, the protection charms placed over the Muggle relatives of Harry Potter have been disintegrated,” he began. “We have allowed the muggles to adjust comfortably, and now they are expecting nothing. Tonight is when we attack. Have no mercy,”

The tall man began to pace, and the blonde man gulped, his limbs visually quaking in fear.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Malfoy?” the tall man asked, his voice a menacing hiss.

The blond man gulped once more. “N-no, my Lord,” he bowed his head in respect.

“One would think, Draco, that you would be eager to kill them,” the tall man hissed out, his voice holding a chuckle in it. “Are you afraid?”

The blonde inhaled deeply. “I’ve never killed someone before, my Lord,” he stated, averting his eyes.

Harry could hear the smile in the voice of the tall man, and he knew that the smile was less than pleasing to the eye. “I see,” he chuckled. “There’s a first time for everything,”

Draco nodded once more, nervously. “Yes, my Lord,”

…

Harry woke with a start. The Dursleys were to be killed…and he felt oddly detached. He knew that he should feel something; fear, remorse, glee; but he didn’t. He should probably call a Mediwitch, or tell someone about his dream, but he found that he really didn’t care one way or the other if the Dursleys died; they deserved it, after all.

But Dudley didn’t. Dudley had changed. He had been a ruthless boy as a youngster, but he had taken care of Harry when Harry had needed it the most…he had changed.

Harry’s pulse gained speed as he sat up swiftly, almost becoming sick from the force of it. He grappled for his wand on the bedside table, nearly knocking it to the ground. With a swift flick of his wrist, a Mediwitch came bustling in to the room, her cheeks flushed.

“What’s the matter, dear?” the plump woman asked, clutching her bosom as she gasped for breath.

“I need to see…uh…I need to see…Mrs. Weasley, right away!”

The Mediwitch smiled softly. “Can’t wait to get home, I see,” she stated, plopping herself into the bedside chair. “You’ll be there in a few hours, my boy. No need to cause panic!”

“No, you don’t understand!” Harry cried, swinging his legs over the side of the bed in an attempt to get up. “I had a dream,” he began, gingerly standing up.

“A dream?” the Mediwitch interrupted, cocking an eyebrow. “Is that all? A nightmare?”

“No!” Harry shouted. “Listen to me!” The Mediwitch looked shocked, but she snapped her mouth shut. Harry continued. “In my dream…muggles are going to be killed! You don’t understand! Voldemort, he’s going to kill my family!”

The Mediwitch narrowed her eyes. “Your family? Harry, dear, your family would be better off dead, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Harry sighed in exasperation. “You don’t understand!”

“Honey,” the Mediwitch tried to soothe. “How do you even know that your dream will come true? Surely it was just that; a dream.”

Harry slapped his forehead in exasperation. “Look, lady, I’ve had a past with these types of things, okay? I know from experience, in case you hadn’t read in the Daily Prophet, and I’m really not in the mood to play games with you tonight, okay?”

The Mediwitch’s eyes widened for a moment and she raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I’ll trust you this once, but truthfully this goes against regulation, so we’ll have to keep this between ourselves, alright?”

At Harry’s nod, the Mediwitch bustled out of the room, only to reappear seconds later with her wand in hand. “Now, you just lie back on the bed, that’s it. I’ll take care of everything, okay?”

Harry eyed her warily. “You’re not going to help me, are you?” he asked with despair growing deeper in his sinking stomach.

“Of course I am, sweetie. Now, just get back into bed, I’ll summon Molly in moments. That’s a dear.”

Harry eyed her for a few moments, as his stomach seemed to flop the whole way down to his feet. Then he decided that he had nothing to lose and nothing to gain, so he did as he was told. He would have done it grudgingly if he were in a different situation, if the things in his past hadn’t happened…but Harry no longer had any hope. He was his only reliance, and he could trust no one. So why not just follow orders?

Harry’s heart screamed at him to do something, to lunge out the door and race down the hall to the flooing station, but he knew that he could never get away.

The Mediwitch smiled warmly at him. “That’s a boy,” she said in a soft, soothing manner as she stepped towards his bed. She drew up the covers and patted his head softly before poking her own out the door and looking up and down the long corridor. Nodding her head in approval, she stepped back into the room and smiled mischievously at Harry, as though they shared a secret that no one else knew about, and quickly raised her wand into the air.

Green sparks shot out the end of it and flew out the window that adorned the wall of Harry’s room. She nodded in approval as the sparks came back seconds later, similar to a boomerang, and shot Harry one more smile.

Harry stared at her all the while curiously. “That means that she’ll be here in a few seconds. We disabled the ability to apperate after that little incident with the attempted break-ins at Gringotts. Of course, we have no reason to believe that the Death Eaters will try to break into here - heavens, why would they want to? - But one can never be too careful. Ah, that would be Molly right now.”

She threw open the window quickly and stepped aside to allow Molly to jump from a hovering broom and land gently into the room. Immediately Molly rushed over to Harry’s bed, engulfing him in her warm arms tightly.

“What’s the problem, Harry? What’s happened?” she refused to let go of her smothering grasp on Harry as she turned to the Mediwitch with a flustered face. “Thank you so much for calling me, Angela.”

The Mediwitch called Angela nodded swiftly and with a soft smile, she winked at Harry and left the room.

Molly pulled away from Harry, though she still loomed over him. She patted his cheeks softly and felt his forehead, then sighed to herself and nodded before stepping away a fraction of an inch. “What’s wrong, Harry?”

Harry swallowed thickly. “Voldemort called on Draco and Snape,” he began, and Molly nodded knowingly. “He, uh…he’s asked them to kill my family.” Harry looked away for a moment before looking out the corner of his eye.

Molly stood there, lips pursed and eyes narrowed. “Harry, that’s horrible,” she murmured after a few second’s hesitation. She sat gingerly on the edge of his bed and patted his knee gently.

Harry cleared his throat. “They’re…they’re supposed to be doing it…n-now,” he said. He looked away once more as Molly wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m so sorry, Harry.” she said soothingly as she rubbed her arms up and down his back.

“Are…aren’t you going to do something to try to stop him?”

Molly looked at Harry, her eyes filled with sorrow. “I’m afraid I can’t, dear. And surely, Voldemort won’t be there; if he’s sent Draco and Severus to do the job, surely they’re going to find some way to pretend that they’ve done it. You’ve just got to trust them, honey,” Molly said, though her eyes betrayed her words; Draco and Severus were going to kill Harry’s only surviving family, and there was nothing that he could do to stop them while he was in the hospital.

Harry breathed in through his mouth and out through his nose deeply, trying to go to a place where everything was happy, and that was how he fell asleep once again, Molly encircling him in her warm embrace as he drifted off.

…
…
…

Harry woke to the sound of murmurs. “You’re not supposed to be here, Molly. Visiting hours don‘t begin for another hour, and Mr. Potter here doesn‘t go home for another four.” The voice was stressed and agitated.

“You think I don’t know that?” Molly’s voice retaliated. “He summoned me; I had no choice but to respond!”

“He still has to have his counseling session for the day, if you don’t mind! You must leave at once!”

“I’ll wait outside if I must, but I’m not leaving,”

The first voice sighed in exasperation. “Very well, but you cannot stay in this room. I have some very touchy subjects to touch upon today before he leaves.”

“Oh, you can’t do that to him, not now!” Harry could hear something clatter to the ground and he cracked his eye open a bit to see that it was the chair that Molly had been sitting on moments before. Molly was now standing nose to nose with Alicia, daring her to say otherwise.

“You’re not his legal guardian, Molly,” Alicia said with a superior raise of her brow.

Molly’s lips pursed and she glowered at Alicia, but backed down. “I’ll be waiting out in the corridor. If he should need me-”

“He won’t be needing you.” The door shut firmly behind Molly and Alicia sighed in relief. “Harry, wake up,” she said in a singsong voice.

Harry ignored her. “Up, Harry! You’re going home today! I’ve got some questions to ask you first, but afterwards you’re free to go!”

Harry rolled over so that his back was to her, and lifted the covers up over his head with a groan, wishing it all away. His bones ached and his eyes burned with unshed tears.

“Harry?”

Seconds later the covers were yanked from his grasp.

“I’m sorry, Harry, but this is the way it’s got to be. Obviously, you won’t be seeing me after you’re released - ah, ah, ah, don’t you pull that on me, mister, I know you’re awake. - so I have some questions for you now that must be answered before you can leave.”

Harry sighed in submission and rolled back over to face Alicia and his fate.

“Your relatives were…killed last night, Harry,” Alicia said calmly. “One of them has disappeared.”

Harry’s voice cracked when he finally spoke. “Which one?”

Alicia stared at him solemnly. “Dudley,”

Harry’s breath hitched on a rise of hope that he couldn’t stop from emerging in his throat. “Do they…do they think he’s alive?”

Alicia pursed her lips together and nodded. “It’s very likely that he is. But, Harry, please, don’t get your hopes up.”

Harry glowered at Alicia but nodded.

“Now, Harry, I know that this is a touchy subject, but I must know everything that went on this summer. Is that okay?”

Harry refused to answer.

“Harry, I don’t want to resort to forcing you to take Veritaserum, but if I must, I will.”

Harry’s eyes hardened as he glared at her.

“Harry, please.”

“You’re a counselor,” Harry stated, his eyes cold as ice and voice quavering. “You’re supposed to help me, not threaten me.”

“Harry, I’m trying to help you, but I really can’t if you won’t cooperate.”

“Maybe I don’t want your help,” Harry said, his eyes glistening with malice as he withdrew.

“Harry, I-”

“Do you know the damage it could cause me if I were to relive everything that’s happened to me over the summer?” Harry asked, his lip curling up in a sneer.

“Harry, I understand that-”

“Don’t,” Harry shouted at her, jumping to a standing defensive position, clenching his fists at his side and grinding his teeth. “Don’t tell me you understand, because you don’t!”

“I’d like to understand,” Alicia said, her face falling as she slumped defeatedly into the chair that Mrs. Weasley had previously been seated. “Harry, will you please help me to understand?” When she met Harry’s gaze, her eyes were filled with despair. She was giving up on trying to help him.

Harry had no mercy. “Would you really? You would like to understand what it’s like to be torn apart from the inside out for no reason? You want to know what it was like to have my head bashed into the headboard?” Harry pointed at another scar on his forehead, directly above his lightening bolt scar and spanning across his entire forehead.

“Harry-”

“No,” Harry cut Alicia off. “He raped me, okay? Should I be upset because he’s finally dead? He’s been waiting for the same thing of me since I was first brought to his house.”

Alicia closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were swimming with tears. “Harry, I do understand,” she said, though she didn’t go into details. “I understand more than you know, okay? I just want to help you heal.”

A tear slid down Harry’s face and he glared angrily at Alicia. “I don’t want to heal! I’m healing just fine! I.DON’T.NEED.YOUR.HELP!” He punctuated each word angrily and stepping toward her.

Just then, the door flew open and the room was flooded with people crowding around Harry, chattering excitedly. Harry looked up to see Alicia smiling at him grimly before she slipped from the room to allow Harry’s friends to engulf him in hugs and bubbling chatter.