Behind the Cover

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Behind the cover
By CelticFox
Chapter one

September the first, the day he looked forward to the most. It was the day he was able to leave the Dursley's until next summer when he was forced to return back here until school started again. He had not been allowed to go to his best friends house last summer, so he hadn't held high hopes for this summer but things hadn't been that bad. His uncle and aunt had taken to ignoring him completely again, and he hadn't even seen his cousin at all this summer. Not that he really cared, it just made the summer a bit better for him, and now he could look forward to the train ride to Hogwarts tomorrow.

Smiling he rolled over to stare at the calendar he had made himself, reaching over he checked off the last day for August and decided he should get ready for bed. As he made his way out of his room and headed to the bathroom he heard shouting coming from downstairs in the kitchen. Frowning Harry decided to ignore it and hurry up and get to bed before his uncle came up here and found something to blame on his useless nephew.

If Harry had paused to pay closer attention to the shouting and the sound of a braking glass he might have been more inclined to go investigate what was going on, or perhaps get out of the house before events started to unfold and his life was turned upside down for the third time in his sixteen years.

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Draco stood back against the wall watching as the other Hogwarts students hurried up and down the platform looking for an empty compartment to share with their friends while trying not to get drenched by the rain that poured down. Draco would have laughed at how stupid they all looked but he knew that he was probably just as stupid looking pressed back against the wall glaring when a rain drop dared to fall to close. It wasn't that he hated the water, he was rather fond of baths and showers on occasions, he just did not like the rain. It was wet, cold wet and well…wet. It was just his luck that he chose today to be stubborn and refuse to let his mother escort him like she had for the past five years, but he was sixteen now and he did not want to be mothered in front of every kid at Hogwarts. Not that his mother ever did that, but she seemed to have gotten worse since Lucius was now in Azkaban.

Not that Draco blamed her because he himself was upset about the whole ordeal, though he couldn't quite say if he was upset that his father was in prison, or if he was upset about the reason his father was in prison. Ever since Draco could remember his father had told him that Malfoy's don't serve anyone, and yet his father was, in Draco's eyes at least, a cowering mess when it came to the dark lord. Draco had thankfully been able to escape service to the dark lord for one more year thanks to Severus Snape, or as Draco now thought of him, Dumbledore's puppet.

His godfather was so transparent Draco was surprised that no one had seen right though him the way he had. Well, his aunt Bella had, but everyone thought she was insane to be a good judge. And then there was also the fact that Draco didn't think that anyone in the inner circle wanted to believe that they would be betrayed by someone the Dark lord trusted the way he trusted Snape.

Draco was knocked out of his thoughts by the train letting out a loud whistle letting stragglers know that it was getting ready to pull out. Sighing Draco pushed himself off the wall next to the barrier and decided he should get on the train and then he would decide if he wanted to sit alone for the first half of the trip, or if he wanted to find his friends and sit with them. Bracing himself he ran quickly across the platform onto the train and didn't really get wet at all because of it. He knew his things were already on the train somewhere because he had paid a third-year to put them on earlier. And he had put a strong enough locking charm on his trunk that he knew he wouldn't have to worry about anyone going through it. He looked around deciding he would head to the back of the train to sit alone and think some more before joining with the other sixth year Slytherin's.

It was just as he was about to head down the corridor that he saw something move out on the platform that caught his attention. He turned and stared as someone literally fell through the barrier and laid there on the ground. He looked around wondering if anyone else saw the person laying there. But most everyone was to occupied making sure their own children were on the train and would stay safe while at Hogwarts that even if they did notice him, they didn't have time to worry about someone else's child. Draco was about to agree with them and mind his own business when the figure on the ground shifted and slowly stood up, his clothes looked ripped and stained with blood, his hair was matted. To put it bluntly the boy looked like shit.

Draco watched practically frozen to the spot as the boy reached out a hand as if he was feeling out in front of him for something. 'or as if he couldn’t see where he was going' Draco stood there and watched for a moment longer, and not really knowing why he was doing it he stepped off the train again and went over to the boy. Only a few paces away Draco finally realized who it was he had been staring at and glared, surely the black messy hair, baggy clothes and glass…Draco stared, he knew this was Potter, he could see the scar, but the boy's glasses were missing, his eyes were closed and one of them looked as if it were swollen shut. His attention was yet again drawn to the blood stains on the torn clothes. The train whistle blew again and Draco jumped looking back at the scarlet engine then back to Potter who didn't seem to have noticed that there was someone watching him. Glancing around Draco saw that no one else had really noticed Potter yet, and once they did Draco didn't even want to think of what kind of mess that would turn into.

Nodding to himself Draco reached out and gently took Harry's hand. The black haired boy jumped and gasped pulling his hand back quickly but Draco caught it.

"The train will leave without us if we don't hurry." He said and pulled Harry along quickly ignoring the weak protests coming from him. He quickly boarded the train and scared a group of first-years out of their compartment before pulling Harry in, setting him down on the bench then closing and sealing the door. It would not be in his best interest if someone walked in and found him standing here with a beaten and bloody Potter.

No sooner had Draco finished the sealing spells did the train give one last whistle and begin to move. Sitting down across from Potter Draco stared at him and waited to see if Harry was going to say anything or just sit there.

Harry did just sit there, his arms wrapped around himself in a vain attempt to stop his shaking, his breathing was coming in short painful gasps and his eyes were still closed. Both boys sat there for about fifteen minutes before Draco got board with the silence, and annoyed at his own curiosity about what had happened that he was the first to speak.

"What happened to you Potter?" he asked. He was sure that Harry recognized who was in the compartment with him, if the flinch was any indication. "Fine, don't tell me, I don't particularly care." Draco leaned back against his own seat and put his feet up next to Harry. Harry felt the seat move when Draco's feet landed next to him and he flinched away from them but gasped and held his side.

"…Malfoy…?" Harry finally asked, Draco could barley hear the small voice that came from the boy across from him. This seemed to put Draco on edge more so then the silence had. At least then he could have pretended that Harry was only ignoring him, but this voice…it should not be coming out of that boy. No, he should be yelling at Draco to leave him alone, or getting ready to hex him, or spew out some insane Gryffindor speech and run off to find his friends.

"So, you finally speak." Draco attempted to have his trademark sneer as he spoke to Harry, but it seemed to come out more gentle then anything else.

"i…i…" Harry gasped for air still holding his side while the other was balled into a fist so tight that his knuckles were white and Draco saw a drop of blood being squeezed out from between the fingers.

"Shit Potter, as if you're not hurt enough you go adding more wounds to yourself?" Draco's hand shot out and he grabbed Harry's pulling the fingers apart, he could see where the finger nails had pierced the skin but only for a moment before Harry whimpered squeezed Draco's hand hard before it fell limp and Harry fell sideways off the seat. The only thing that stopped him from hitting the floor was Draco who had jumped up from his own seat to catch him. He stared down at Harry and made sure he was still breathing. It was shallow breaths, but still there at least. Carefully lifting Harry back onto the seat he laid him down, taking off his cloak he draped it over the unconscious boy while deciding what he should do. They wouldn't reach the school until tonight, which was fine by him but as he watched Harry closely a very unpleasant thought hit him, If he didn't know exactly what was wrong with the boy who was to say that Harry would even make it to school? Why this thought bothered him he didn't know. But it did help make up his mind, he unlocked the compartment and locked it behind him again before hurrying down the train in search of the few people he knew he could trust. And the only ones he knew might actually be able to help him with this situation he found himself in.

TBC>>>
Okay, I know this chapter is fairly short. I am hoping to get them to be longer as I progress on with the story. Also, I do not have a beta reader. So, if someone would like to apply for that position you are more then welcome!