Scarlet Pain

Scarlet Pain
Chapter Nineteen

Harry paced the length of the Astronomy Tower room. He was out of sorts, and incredibly sore. The Dark Lord had outdone himself this week, and Harry worried a bit about how his potions professor was doing. And on that note, he had twenty minutes before he was supposed to meet with Severus and the Gryffindor was inexplainably nervous. Unable to come up with any sort of reasoning, even for himself, Harry kicked at the wall.

\"Ow, shit,\" the Gryffindor cursed softly.

\"Yes well, it usually does hurt when you kick a stone wall.\" Harry spun around so fast he nearly tripped and found himself looking into the amused gaze of Draco Malfoy who was leaning casually against the entranceway. The blonde smirked at Harry\'s shocked face, but it faded as soon as he realized that instead of a snappy comeback, all the other boy did was look away and shrug.

Harry was unsure of how to respond. The last time he\'d been up here with Draco, he\'d said blundered badly and managed to make the blonde upset with him.

Draco sighed, unconsciously itching at his arm, something that did not go unnoticed by the Gryffindor, before striding past the other boy to stand at the window.

\"So what\'s got your knickers in a bunch?\"

Harry shrugged again, a slightly pained look crossing his features before he went to stand next to the blonde.

\"Nothing, just have a lot of energy right now.\" Harry paused before beginning hesitantly. \"How was your day?\" He bit his lip, hoping the blonde wouldn\'t find his question too \'curious.\' Draco just chuckled softly.

\"And yet you were placed in Gryffindor. Really, Potter, there\'s no need to walk on eggshells just because I chose to act like a prat.\" As far as apologies went, that was probably the closest thing Harry was ever going to get. Still, it was still something of an apology, especially for Draco.

\"As for how my day\'s been,\" the blonde continued, scratching at his arm again. \"Obviously not as stressed as yours.\" Harry noticed both the scratching and the Slytherin\'s attempt at redirection.

\"That doesn\'t really answer the question Draco.\" Without thinking Harry reached out and grabbed the blonde\'s arm, and moved to pull up the other\'s sleeve.

\"Hey!\" Draco tried to yank his arm away, suddenly very uncomfortable with the fact that Harry had noticed. Not that it matters, he\'s seen me do it before. The Gryffindor just looked up at the other, the pained expression back. He wanted to ask why, wanted to convince him that it wasn\'t worth it, but he knew that words would never really help.

For a while the two just stared at each other. Finally Harry sighed, but he didn\'t let go.

\"Can I heal them for you?\" To say that Draco was surprised would have been quite an understatement. After another few tense moments, the blonde pushed his arms forward, though he refused to meet Harry\'s gaze.

Harry pushed up the other boy\'s sleeves and had to keep himself from gasping outloud at the new network of cuts that covered the blonde\'s arms. It made him upset, the sadness at the entire situation clenching around his heart like a vice, driving some still innocent part of him \'make it better.\' Harry focused on that, the need to wash the pain away, and let his magic do the rest. He never really thought about the fact that he wasn\'t using his wand. But Draco noticed.

At first, Draco didn\'t want to meet what he was sure would be a look of disgust in other boy\'s face. Yet when he felt a tingling warmth flow through his arms he couldn\'t stop himself from looking at Harry. What he saw startled him almost as much as the Gryffindor\'s request to heal him, even though he knew he really shouldn\'t be all that surprised. Harry\'s expression was filled with sadness, not pity or disgust, but honest emotional pain. It was the expression Draco imagined caring mother\'s would have when their child had accidently hurt themselves while playing. It wasn\'t until Harry started to pull away that the blonde realized that the Gryffindor had healed him with wandless magic. He couldn\'t hold in his gasp of shock.

Harry looked up at the startled sound that escaped from Draco.

\"What?

\"You did it without a wand...\" There was no mistaking the awe in Draco\'s voice. Harry snatched his hands away and took a step back.

\"Oh, well...I...\" Harry tried to come up with some sort of explanation, and nearly jumped out of his skin when Draco put a hand on his shoulder. The Gryffindor nearly stopped breathing when he looked up at the blonde.

\"Don\'t worry,\" Draco gave him a secretive grin. \"I won\'t tell anyone.\" Harry let out his breath and smiled back, before moving back towards the window. Draco continued after a short pause, \"So where\'d you learn to do that?\" Immediately Harry\'s gaze fell on him. The Gryffindor stared at him a moment, obviously uncomfortable, and Draco wondered if he was going to bolt again. But Harry just nodded as if coming to some sort of descision.

\"I learned it on myself. There have been times when...I didn\'t have a wand handy and had marks I needed to cover up.\" Draco cocked his head to the side, assessing Harry through curious eyes.

\"Isn\'t it tiring?\" He asked, even though he was dying to know what kind of circumstances Harry was talking about.

\"Incredibly,\" Harry laughed quietly and gave a lopsided grin that didn\'t reach his eyes. He didn\'t mention the fact that it was only incredibly tiring if he hadn\'t done it in a while or if the injury was particularly bad...or if he was already so exhausted that his magic was all being used to keep him from slipping into coma.

Once again, they stood in silence. Harry was just about to excuse himself, as he needed to get down the dungeons, when Draco called his name.

\"Harry...\" The look on the boy\'s face was contemplative, and a little distracted.

\"Yeah?\" There was another pause before Draco leaned forward and pressed his lips against Harry\'s. Harry for that matter was a little to shocked to do anything but let the kiss continue. And suddenly, Draco was hesitantly deepening the kiss. Harry, unsure of what to do gave a tentative response, yet still there was nothing there but two mouths interacting. Finally Draco pulled back and gave Harry another assessing look. Both seemed to be holding there breath. Then they burst out laughing.

\"That was...\" Draco started.

\"Expertly done,\" Harry continued, a grin on his face. They both paused. \"Really,\" Harry continued. \"As kisses go that was incredible.\"

\"There is absolutely no chemistry between us is there?\" Draco asked, a grin on his face.

\"None.\"

\"Good, \'cause I think I\'m straight anyways.\"

\"Then why did you kiss me?\" Harry was still a little confused, even if he was happy that this hadn\'t really made things uncomfortable between. Still, being kissed made him feel, odd, somewhat out of sorts. Added to his earlier nervousness and Harry wasn\'t quite sure what was going on anymore.

\"I don\'t know. I figured if I did have any tendency\'s to play for the home team, I might as well check with someone who wasn\'t going to blackmail me with it later.\" Draco shrugged. \"You\'re not weirded out are you?\" Harry just raised an eyebrow.

\"I would quite the hypocrite if I was.\" Harry replied evenly. Draco\'s eyes widened.

\"Oh.\"

\"Oh indeed.\" The statement held a certain defensiveness.

\"I don\'t care if you\'re worried. Hell, Sev is one too, so it\'s not like I have any issues.\" Harry smiled at the blonde\'s attempt to cover his reaction to Harry\'s coming out to him.

\"No worries. I didn\'t think you meant anything anyways, though I don\'t know if Professor Snape would be all that pleased with you telling me about that.\"

\"No I don\'t think he would.\" Both boys whirled around to see the imposing form of their Potions Master come out from the shadows. Harry\'s stance immediatly changed and he backed up a few paces till he had hit the wall.

\"Professor,\" he nearly squeaked.

Draco\'s eyes widened and he tensed, also suddenly very nervous, but seeing the quick change from the confident, laughing Harry to the one who looked like he was trying to disappear made him inexplainable defensive. So instead of shying away the blonde crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

\"Professor,\" he said coolly. Snape\'s eyes glittered as he glanced between his two students.

\"Potter, kindly make your way down to my office. You are late to your detention.\" Harry took a few nervous steps forward then stopped and glanced at the blonde before stopping and standing next to him, his arms crossed defiantly. Draco looked at him in complete shock, and by the slight start in the professor\'s eyes, Snape too had not expected this.

\"Draco didn\'t mean anything harmful by it Professor,\" Harry\'s voice was unusually strong.

\"Potter - \" Snape warned.

\"No, sir, if your going to be upset you may as well be upset with me. I led the conversation that way anyways.\" It was a blatant fabrication, considering Draco had been the one to kiss him.

\"Who told you I wasn\'t?\" Snape\'s voice was hard and unforgiving, and Harry nearly quailed. Oh Merlin, he was going to get it. Harry jumped slightly when he felt Draco\'s hand touch his shoulder. He looked up into slightly shocked grey eyes.

\"Harry just get going,\" Draco told him, very aware of the pair of onyx eyes watching him.

\"But - \"

\"It\'s fine, honest.\" Harry nodded slowly, glancing between the two Slytherins. Noticing the professor\'s growing agitation, he grabbed his bag and fled.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

\"Look, I\'m sorry I told him, but what you\'d have to do that for?\" Draco said, frustrated. \"He was doing fine until you ame swooping in here like a bat.\" Severus just glared at him. Draco shifted uncomfortably under the piercing gaze.

\"What? It\'s not like you told me not to tell anyone. Besides, it\'s not like he\'s going to tell the whole school, I mean - \" He was interrupted by Snape\'s exasperated sigh.

\"Quiet. If you honestly think that is the only thing I am upset about then you do not know me as well as I thought.\" Draco sighed and turned away, unable to meet his godfather\'s eyes.

\"I\'m sorry okay? I never promised I\'d be able to stop right away. I\'m trying, and you have to give me some credit, that was the first time since you found me.\" Severus looked at his godson, and let his shoulders droop. Walking up behind the blonde, Severus placed an almost gently hand on the boy\'s shoulder, innapropriately and unexpectedly amused that Draco had not yet reached his height, despite the fact that he was on his way to getting up there. Snape shook his head.

\"Draco, I\'m not dissapointed in you. I\'m just worried.\" The blonde looked up at him.

\"I know.\" After a pause Draco spoke up again. \"Did you see what Harry could do though? That was...impressive.\" Severus nodded, though his expression darkened slightly.

\"Indeed.\" Draco pulled away and turned completely to look at his godfather.

\"You\'re not mad at him for that are you?\" The blonde asked incredulously. Severus didn\'t respond. \"Are you kidding me? That\'s rediculous!\"

\"Watch your tone with me Draco.\"

\"But...Why would you be mad at him?\"

\"I\'m not.\" Draco didn\'t looked convinced. Snape frowned at his godson. \"It makes it extremely difficult to know if you need anything if he gets rid of the evidence.\" The blonde couldn\'t help it, he started laughing. \"I fail to see how this is amusing.\"

\"Severus, I highly doubt that\'s what was on his mind when got rid of them. And that can\'t be the only thing that\'s put you in a fit - \" Draco stopped suddenly, his expression suddenly twisted in concern. \"Did that... that...thing that calls himself a Lord do something?\"

Severus looked startled for a moment then shook his head with a sigh.

\"We\'ll continue this later, Draco. Please return to the rooms, I have a training session to oversee.\" Draco wanted to argue but refrained at the suddenly exhausted look on his godfather\'s face.

\"Sev, don\'t be hard on him, he didn\'t do anything wrong, and you\'ll just set back all the progress he\'s made.\" Snape didn\'t respond, only swept out past him. Draco shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips at the sight of the billowing black robes disappearing into the shadows.

\"Drama queen,\" he murmured, unknowingly echoing the Headmaster\'s sentiments.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Severus stalked to his office. He was tired, aching because of his latest rounds with the Dark Lord, and now he was even more...concerned (not worried, he was definately not worried, or so he told himself) over everything that was happening with Potter. What the boy had done with his display of wandless healing magic had Severus more confused than he\'d like to admit. It was not just the awesome power that Harry must have in order to do that, more than once, without completely exhausting himself that the professor found disturbing, but the implications as well. This ability had the notoriety of showing up in abused magical children, many from Muggle homes that wouldn\'t be able to recognize what was going on. Once again, all the evidence was pointing away from Snape\'s preconceived notions of Harry\'s life. Once again, Snape\'s inner voice was reminding him of what a bastard he had been to his school-yard rival\'s son.

Meanwhile, down in the dungeons, Harry was slowly working himself into a panic even while he tried to calm himself down. When Snape stalked into the office, a scowl firmly set on his face, Harry felt his stomach drop to his feet. When Severus fixed his gaze with Harry, the young Gryffindor wanted to say something but it was as if his words were caught in his throat.

Snape sighed. This already wasn\'t going well.

\"You have five minutes to reach your center, then after we are done with Occlumency you and I are going to discuss your apparent talent with wandless healing.\" The words were sharp, but they definately could have been worse. Harry nodded quickly and went to sit down on the cushion already set up in the middle of the room.

Maybe it was his nerves, maybe it was his physical fatigue, or maybe it was a combination of both, but Harry couldn\'t seem to find his center. When Snape\'s mind began to invade his, it took only a few minutes before he was caught and the memories were forced from him.

Standing up to Snape even though he was terrified, kissing Draco, the rather unimpressive kiss with Cho, another kiss, the only other one he\'d had and the terror that went with it, the one kiss Mr. Collins had ever tried to give him...fighting back against the man, the one slap he\'d ever received from the man, terror, cold despair, Mr. Collins grabbing his hair as he lay sprawled on the floor of his room...NO! He wouldn\'t think of that...He shoved desperately at the intruding mind but only managed to redirect it...cooking dinner, dropping the pan because Dudley had tripped him, Vernon\'s angry face as he lunged at him, the pain and fear as his uncle\'s fist made contact with his head....NONONO! He shoved again at the mind but it was a losing battle this time. And yet this time the intruding mind backed off on its own.

Harry found himself on the floor of his professor\'s office, dry eyed, out of breath, and trembling uncontrollably. Oh dear Merlin, Snape had seen. Maybe not all, but there was no way he could not know now. Harry tried to catch his breath but it was as if he throat was constricting. He heard the cautious footsteps of his professor as the man approached him.

Snape was without words. There was no longer any doubt in his mind about what may have driven the younger man to the state he was now in. He looked at the young Gryffindor whose small frame still shook from the shock or fear or pain or whatever emotion had accompanied Severus\' discovery. From this vantage point it Harry looked even smaller than normal, and a surge of protectiveness that had Snape\'s mind realing in confusion clenched at his heart. The Potions Master took a few cautious steps forward but hesitated when he saw how the Harry stiffened considerable at his approach.

\"Harry?\"

Harry shook his head, unable to look up. He wouldn\'t look at Snape\'s face, if he didn\'t see the disgust, or even worse, the pity, then he could pretend it wasn\'t there. The air was beginning to suffocate him, and Harry knew he was close to either passing out from hyperventilating, or haveing a nervous breakdown.

\"No,\" he gasped out. \"No!\" With the speed of desperation Harry bolted from the classroom, barely managing to snag his bag on the way out. He had to get out, but where to? He needed space, some time alone to calm down.

The Room of Requirement.... The idea came to him as if from someone else. In fact it had, though even if Harry had known that little fact he never would have guessed that it was from the ghost of Salaazar Slytherin himself.

Severus just watched with a hooded expression as the young man fled before sighing and throwing himself into his chair. It was then that a folded piece of parchment sticking out from his desk caught his eye. He was a tad surprised that he hadn\'t noticed it before, though had he known that the ghost of Helga Hufflepuff had been the one to hide it from him he may have decided to just ignore it. As it was, the Potions Master picked it up, only to realize that it the parchment was definately not a student\'s essay that he had missed. It was, actually, the Marauders Map.

As if drawn to his name by some unknown impulse, Severus found himself following Harry\'s progress all the way to the Room of Requirement.

Go to him...

Severus shoved the map into one of the deeper pockets of his robe and stalked out of his office. The scene he walked in on was not one that he had expected. Harry was firing spells at small black ball, only a tad larger than a snitch, yet for every spell that Harry hit it with, it responded with a stronger one. The young Gryffindor was trying to dodge the spells, but it was obvious to Severus that because of his nervous and panicked state, Harry was not doing to well.

A cry of pain broke Snape\'s revery and with a quick motion he had locked the little black ball in the strongest binding curse he knew. He made sure it was secure before turning to his student, who was sprawled on the floor, eyes wide with shock and fear, blood staining his shirt where the Cutting Curse had hit him.

\"Oh Potter, what have you done now,\" Snape murmered to himself before slowly approaching the young Gryffindor. Harry tried to scoot back but cried out again in pain. He was now at the mercy of his Potions Master. The panic attack he\'d been attempting to kill returned in strength.

\"Calm yourself Harry,\" Severus tried to sound soothing and surprising did quite well considering it wasn\'t something he often attempted, let alone succeeded at. Harry for his part just stared up at the man, unable to speak.

\"I\'m going to levitate you to the Infirmary - \"

\"No!\" Harry tried to protest, only further aggravating his injuries. \"No, not there.\" Severus sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

\"Fine, I am going to levitate you to my chambers so that I can treat your wounds then you and I are going to have a serious discussion.\" Harry could only nod, then clenched his eyes in pain. He waited for the spell that would have him floating above the ground. At the professor\'s aggravated curse, Harry\'s eyes shot open. Snape stood, wand out, glaring at the door.

Severus muttered a few more unlocking charms, then a few breaking charms. And still the door would not budge. He didn\'t know that two very self-satisfied ghosts were now congradulating themselves on a job well-done, even if they were a tad worried about the state young Harry was in. After all, this was the Room of Requirement.

Snape growled low in his throat then turned toward his young charge who was staring up at him with an expression of growing anxiety.

\"It would appear, Mr. Potter, that we have been locked in.\"

TBC