Mind Meld

Disclaimer: Not mine. They belong to Rowlings and those who make money off the characters, like Warner Bros. Me, I just pull them out of the closet and dress them in leather.


Chapter Four

Very quickly it was time for Harry to leave for the Weasley's. He heard them show up at the door. He gave a sigh of relief, remembering the time they tried to Floo. His trunk was ready to go and he had Hedwig's cage in hand. He heard his uncle coming up the stairs. The key turned in the lock and Harry got ready to leave.

"Don't forget about me," was the quiet comment.

"Of course not idiot," he said with affection. Impulsively, Harry reached out and gave Draco a hug. It was the first time since they had discovered the ability, either of them had hugged each other. Unless you count at night. But neither of them ever talked about that. It was just comfort. He felt Draco pause, then hug him back.

The door opened and Harry saw his uncle glaring at him, holding open the door. Harry walked down the stairs. Ron and his father stood at the foot of the stairs. Ron ran up the stairs to get Harry's trunk. Harry stood at the doorway and gave his uncle a cold look.

"My wand. Now," his tone was borrowed straight from Draco Malfoy and left no room for argument.

His uncle handed it to him like it would bite him. Harry stared at him, the coldness radiating from him.

"You ever take my wand from me again, I will kill you myself," Harry felt Ron pause on the stairway but didn't look away from his uncle. Not until he felt a hand on his shoulder did he look away. Not sure if it was Draco, or a real hand, Harry looked at his shoulder. It was Mr. Weasley.

"It's okay son," Mr. Weasley didn't seem shocked by Harry's response. "We need to get home. Molly will be waiting for us. She will be getting nervous."

Harry nodded and smiled. He hurried to the car and paused. "Tonks!" He was pleased and surprised to see her there.

"Hey Harry!" Her hair was far less flamboyant today. He didn't know what to make of the simple brown tones. "Guard duty." She said by way of explanation. "Not that it is a chore. Best duty I've pulled all summer!"

"Oh," said Harry. He wondered if she was one of the ones that had been Apparating outside all summer. And why she would let him live like that. He tamped down the feelings of anger.

The pleasant look on Tonks' face faded. She saw the look on Mr Weasley's face as he approached the car. She knew something had gone horribly wrong. He wasn't the type to get furious like that. He was the most easygoing person in the Order. Harry's stuff was loaded and they were on their way there before she was to find out what was wrong. When Arthur described the scene he and Ron had found she found herself furious. Quickly she turned to look at Harry. He hadn't spoken since he got in the car. She noticed that even though he had always been a very skinny boy, he appeared to have lost even more weight.

"What did they feed you Harry?" she asked the question even though she was afraid of the answer. She knew she was right to dread the answer when she heard it. Tonks almost launched herself into the back of the car with a desire to mother him. This was strange since she never felt like a motherly type. Somehow, this boy always brought out the most protective instincts from everyone who met him. Almost everyone, she modified.

"Harry mate," said Ron. "I wondered. I mean, no one heard from you. And our Owls came back without delivering the mail. But we thought maybe it was..." Ron seemed afraid to say something. Suddenly Harry realized he was thinking of Sirius. And Harry hadn't thought of him in a while. It wasn't such a heartbreaking thing when he thought of the loss. It still hurt, but it didn't make him want to curl up and never come out.

"You can say his name Ron. I'm okay with it." He assured his friend. He saw the look of doubt on Ron's face.

"Hey, lots of time to think. Sirius, well, he went out how he would have wanted to you know? A blaze of glory, fighting and laughing and doing SOMETHING. Not hiding and inactive." Harry realized as he said these words just how true they were. Sirius was miserable with the inactivity. He had been almost happy when he was fighting at the ministry. The most alive Harry had seen him since he escaped from Azkaban.

He saw the small smile of agreement on Tonks' face. "Well, on the topic of Sirius," started Tonks. He saw Mr. Weasley shake his head slightly.

"I think we should go ahead and wait for Professor Dumbledore for that," he said gently.

"Oh, of course." She sat back and thought. She didn't know what to say. She felt somehow she should apologize, just then the last part of what Arthur had said registered with her. "They took your wand away!" She practically roared the words. "When we set watch over you it was with the belief that you would at least be able to protect yourself to some extent. After what happened last year they dared..." she started sputtering in her fury.

Harry flinched slightly. He had thought of how to explain this and said "Well, I had a few problems with a lot of visions in the beginning of summer. My uncle came in because of the ...well, I was screaming. He grabbed my wand and left. I couldn't do anything because of the pain." He knew it was a mix of truth and partial truths, but the best he could give.

"Harry, we are going to get you home, and Molly will fuss over you," this came from Mr. Weasley. "I don't care what Dumbledore's reasons are, but next summer we are not going to let you go back there." This was said very firmly. Just then, Harry's stomach growled embarrassingly loud. The Dursleys had not fed him that day. "And Molly will have plenty of food for you."

Harry smiled. "Draco," he thought. He was careful not to let his mouth move or speak. He knew over the summer he hadn't really cared about that. It took effort.

‘Harry? Didn't expect you so soon,’ Draco was pleased.

‘I know. Tonks, Mr. Weasley and Ron are going on about what they want to do to the Dursleys. Don't seem to need me, except to answer a couple questions. But for now they are pretty busy with inventive threats. And promises of food from Mrs. Weasley. She loves to feed people,’ Harry explained briefly. ‘They didn't feed me this morning. Probably figured why bother, I was leaving after all.’

‘Bastards,’ was Draco's only comment. Harry noticed that everyone was looking at him waiting for an answer to something.

"What?" he asked, blushing slightly. He knew they probably thought he had gone half crazy over the summer.

"Just wondering how you fed Hedwig," repeated Ron. So Harry told them. The shock on their faces when they realized that he hadn't even gotten all his food helped melt the anger he felt towards them.

"Can we stop shortly before we get there so I can let her out?" he asked. "She can hunt and meet us back there."

"Of course, son, " said Mr. Weasley agreeably. Harry noticed that he kept referring to Harry as son. Somehow it felt good.

Finally they got back to The Burrow. Molly was horrified by Harry's weight loss and started feeding him immediately. While he was eating she kept fussing over him, fixing his hair, filling his tea, Harry kept waiting for her to take his fork and feed him directly.

"About bloody time," came an unexpected comment. Harry gave a brief start and hoped no one noticed. They hadn't.

"What?" Harry asked. He was thankful that it didn't matter his mouth was full.

"You're getting food. Finally you're not starving. It was a bit disconcerting." Harry smiled at the slight whine. It didn't take long before Harry was sitting back, completely full. He looked around for where everyone was. Apparently Tonks and Mr. Weasley had dragged Mrs. Weasley into the living room to get her to quit fussing. Only Ron and Hermione were sitting at the table.


***********

Draco lay on his bed. His hands were pillowing his head and he tried to smother the fear and jealousy gnawing at him. Harry had left him. He hoped he hadn’t forgotten about him. Then he smothered the annoyance. This was Harry Potter. He shouldn’t be missing him. He should be loathing him.

Why didn’t he hate Potter anymore? That question had been bothering him for a few days. Something to do with this bloody link. He just wished he knew what it was.

It was a great relief when he felt Harry’s stomach filling up. The ache was driving him crazy. At first he had tried to fill himself up, before realizing it wasn’t he that was hungry. He shuddered to think what the lean form would look like after that kind of starving. At least Draco’s own wounds heal quickly and the punishment didn’t last long.

Realizing where his thoughts were heading, he spoke to Harry to distract himself, ‘About bloody time!’ He stopped when he remembered that he wasn’t speaking to Harry.

‘What?’ was Harry’s comment. Draco paused, but was so glad to hear Harry that he went ahead and replied.

‘You're getting food. Finally you're not starving. It was a bit disconcerting,’ he felt Harry’s humour.

It was a few moments later that he felt surprise from Harry. He wanted to ask what was going on but was determined not to speak to him again.

‘They are throwing me a small party!’ the pleasure was radiating from Harry. Jealousy was tearing up Draco again.

‘I threw one for you too,’ he said. He knew he was being a shit, but didn’t care. He thought of the time he spent on the drawings he did. The careful details he planned. The moment he realized the perfect gift for Harry was a puppy.

They had been talking one day about mostly nothing. Harry had mentioned an aunt who had a bunch of dogs. Most of them were really nasty beasts, but Harry recalled when she had gotten a new puppy and had brought it along. The dog so cute he decided that he might like to get one someday. The comment was made very casually, almost off-hand, but Draco recognized the deep longing feeling that Harry was radiating. For some strange reason, Draco wanted to give him that gift.

Damn, these thoughts and feelings were annoying. He wasn’t supposed to *like* Potter. Years of hatred still bubbled below the surface. Draco found it hard to hold on to the hatred when he felt the emotions of his enemy. The pain that Harry carried around everywhere he went. Even when they were laughing and joking, the pain and fear was still there.

His mind drifted to the dreams that Harry had. He shuddered with the memory. It did however, stiffen his resolve to never join the Dark Lord. The memory of the night he saw an attack on a sleeping wizarding family was burned into his head. The Death Eaters tortured the family, including the two children before the Dark Lord finally killed them. They wouldn’t give him something.

Draco didn’t know how Harry lived with it. The abuse came from everywhere. He wasn’t even safe in his own mind. Draco remembered with shame the contribution that he had made to the layers of torture that Harry lived with.

He thought about his own life. His parents were, like most Death Eaters, sadistic monsters. They beat him frequently, but like he had told Harry, never leaving anything permanent.

They also spoiled him like was expected of the only child and heir of the Malfoy family. Anything Draco asked for he got. But usually at a price. Draco learned young to get what he really wanted while pretending it was something less important in order to reduce the…price he paid. He was a master at deception. Particularly when it came to something important.

Like Harry Potter. He hadn’t been lying when he told Harry that he wanted to be friends with him when they first met. When the friendship offer was spurned he put all the effort that he would have put into the friendship into making Harry’s life miserable.

Now he realized that Harry’s life was already miserable. Draco was little more than an annoyance really. Maybe a focal point for all Harry’s hatred. Now, he wasn’t that. But what was he? Friend?

Draco knew what it was to have friends. Crabbe and Goyle were friends. They would follow Draco where ever he went. They didn’t have much in the way of thought, but when they were young, Draco had taken a beating that was meant for them. It earned him their undying loyalty. No matter what Draco told them, he knew they would do. But that wasn’t an equal friendship. That was them following him. Something told Draco that Harry would never follow him. Push him perhaps, but never follow.

The night dragged on endlessly. He wanted to ask Harry what presents he received, he felt the happiness coming from Harry. He wanted more than anything to be part of the events. But he refused. Stubbornness, envy, loneliness, they all warred in Draco. He felt Harry’s hurt at Draco’s attitude but was unable to reach out to him. Draco felt him relaxing. He knew Harry was going to bed. But he also knew Harry wasn’t going to sleep. He wasn’t relaxing that much. And he didn’t know how Harry went with as little sleep as he seemed to function on.

It wasn’t much, but Draco did it. He reached out with his mind and touched Harry on the shoulder. He didn’t know why he always did it. He just knew that was the only way that he could sleep, when he was touching Harry in some way. He felt the hurt fading from Harry and knew he understood. Slowly he felt the answering arm wrap around him. With this contact, Draco finally fell asleep, knowing that even as he did, Harry was still awake.

************

Sunday was a bright day. Harry woke from a peaceful sleep. The past few days had flown past; it was just Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny. Fred and George had gotten their own place with the success of their store.

Every day he made a point of spending a few minutes periodically through the day with Draco. He made an excuse to everyone why he wanted to be alone. No one seemed to think twice about it, so he must be doing something right.

Tonight the whole family was supposed to be getting together for dinner. Professor Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks, Moody and several others of the Order were supposed to also be coming over. There were only two dim spots on the summer was the clock of Mrs. Weasley’s, who’s hands constantly pointed to ‘mortal peril’ and the fact that Percy was still being a prat and not speaking to the family, in spite of the fact that he was obviously wrong about Voldemort and Harry.

Dinner was a lively affair and afterwards Dumbledore had stood with calmness and made an announcement that shock Harry to the core. He informed everyone that Harry was Sirius’ sole heir. The Black family home, fortune and even the house elf, Kreacher all belonged to Harry now. Harry sat there in shock. The Order buzzed with the news that the headquarters wasn’t going to revert to the Lestranges as Sirius’ closest relatives. At Dumbledore’s suggestion, Harry sent Kreacher to Hogwarts to work under Dobby’s watchful eye. He barely registered what was happening.

Harry stood up and went outside. He heard people asking him questions, but didn’t respond. He just walked outside. He needed to get away. His mind didn’t want to process everything he had learned.

‘Harry?’ it was the one voice he couldn’t get away from. So he tried to ignore it. ‘Harry, what is wrong?’ The insistence of the voice combined with the concern and fear that made Harry respond.

‘I’m …I…’ he didn’t know how to form the words.

‘Harry, are you okay?’ there was a hint of panic starting.

‘Yeah. I just found out…Sirius,’ he stumbled over the name. ‘He left me everything. I’m, his …’ he couldn’t finish the sentence.

‘Oh wow. Harry, that’s big,’ Draco’s voice was a mix of sorrow and awe.

‘Why me?’ Harry was filled with pain. ‘Why not Remus? They were best friends. We….we only knew each other a couple years. He knew Remus for years. Since they were kids.’

‘You loved him right?’ Draco asked the question, but he already knew that answer. He didn’t wait for an answer before continuing ‘It stands to reason that he loved you too.’

Draco didn’t know how to continue. Harry felt the jealousy and pain Draco was feeling.

‘Yeah, and look what happens to people that love me. They all wind up dead,’ Harry couldn’t help the comment that flowed. It was one that had been burrowing deep inside him. ‘They call me a ‘saviour’ but am I really? The only reason Voldemort was defeated before was because of my mother, not me. I bring death. My parents, Sirius, Cedric. And somehow, I wind up richer, and with more…but I don’t want it. Cedric dies, I get the TriWizard winnings. My parents die and leave me a vault full of money. And I think there may be some property, I don’t really know about that. Sirius dies, I get his family money and home and even the damn house elf.’

‘Is that the sneaky little bastard that kept coming over here last year?’ Draco asked.

‘Yes. I wanted to kill him but Hermione had a dozen different fits.’ Draco couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Harry, you can’t blame yourself for the way people died. They all made their own choices. Sirius shouldn’t have gone to the Ministry. He was a convict for crying out loud, walking into the Ministry was foolish. Your parents knew what they were doing. Except in trusting Wormtail. Blame Wormtail, or Voldemort for their deaths.’

Harry hated it when Draco made so much sense. He wanted to argue with Draco. He knew this was all stuff others had said before, but he always thought they were just saying what they thought they should. Because of his connection with Draco, he knew Draco truly meant the words he was saying.

Harry sighed. ‘Guess I’d better get back in there. Hermione will be chasing me down soon.’

Just then the door opened. Harry turned expecting to see Hermione and was surprised to see Mrs. Weasley walking towards him.

“Harry, son,” her tone was concerned. “Are you okay?” She hurried towards him to pull him into her embrace.

“I know you loved Sirius,” she said. “He loved you. This has got to be difficult to deal with.” She pulled back from the embrace and brushed his hair back from his face.

Harry smiled at her. “I was just about to come back in. Thank you Mrs. Weasley.”

“Please, call me Molly.” this was a repeated phrase and somehow Harry knew this time he would be able to do it. He nodded.

“Thank you Molly.” The words were a whisper. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led him back to the house. When they walked in, conversation dimmed for a moment. Harry smiled at everyone to let them know he was okay.

“I just needed a moment to absorb this,” Harry said for explanation.

They talked for a few minutes longer before Molly announced it was enough business, this was family night. Fred and George suggested a game of night Quidditch which Ron and Ginny and Harry were quick to agree to.

They had only been playing for a few minutes when Harry, who was flying pretty high above everyone, felt a sudden terror hitting Draco. Harry started to head down towards the ground, his mind screaming out for Draco wanting to know what was wrong. He felt the first pain. It felt like a large stick hitting him. Almost immediately he felt the unmistakable feel of Crucio being cast. Only it wasn’t on himself. It was on Draco.

Harry almost bit through his lip trying not to scream out. The pain was over fairly quickly, and there was a moment pause before he felt it again. He did the only thing he could think of. He threw himself off his broom. The fall was only ten to fifteen feet, but it was enough. He hit the ground with a hard thud, his head making contact. He heard screaming just before he passed out.

When he woke up he was looking into the concerned face of Molly. She was hovering above him looking worried.

“Harry, thank God you are awake.” her face relaxed when she realized that he was okay.

“Yeah, sorry to worry you Molly,” he really did feel bad. He didn’t think about everyone else when he threw himself off the broom. Just something to help Draco. He couldn’t let Draco be tortured like that.

‘Draco?’ he realized Draco had been very quiet.

‘Why?’ the question was brief, and very confused.

‘Because. They were hurting you. It seemed the best thing. Did it do it? Did it make you pass out?’ Harry hoped that it had worked.

‘Yeah. Gave me one hell of a headache. But I think I am free from broken bones.’ The answer was dry, and still uncertain.

“Harry?” This was from Molly. Harry returned his gaze to hers. Relief went across her face. He realized he must have looked strange, and given the injury, he knew what she was thinking.

“I just have a headache,” he said. She nodded compassionately.

“I will get you something for that,” she hustled off to find a potion to help with his headache. As soon as she left Harry began to take assessment of his own injuries and where there were other aches from Draco. He knew what sort of effects Crucio had. Fortunately, most of the pain was surface. He knew it would fade fast.

‘Just pretend for a few days that you are in more pain than you really are. Take longer to recover,’ he advised Draco.

‘No kidding! I would never have thought of that,’ Draco’s sarcasm was very heavy. ‘After all, I’m not a Slytherin, oh wait, I am!’ Harry smiled. He knew the pain was causing Draco’s crankiness.

Molly came back into the room carrying a potion. It looked like a headache potion. She stood over him as he drank and made sure he took all of it. Several minutes passed and she hovered over him, tucking in blankets and smoothing his hair back being careful of his injury.

“Molly, I think I want to sleep now. Can I be alone?” He was starting to feel strange and didn’t know what was happening. He didn’t want to worry her any more.

“Of course son,” she said. With one last caress she left the room.

‘Harry,’ there was a hint of fear in Draco’s voice. ‘There is something strange going on.’

‘I know Draco.’ He replied. ’I think it is the potion Molly gave me for my headache.’ Harry was having trouble thinking straight. His head was spinning around and around. He tried to think but was unable to hold a thought. He felt slightly panicked and knew Draco was feeling the same.

Finally, desperate, Harry closed his eyes and hoped for sleep. It wasn’t going to come easily. A few moments later he felt a strong sense of nausea. He rolled out of the bed and tried to stand. His legs weren’t taking commands from a mind that wasn’t able to focus. Praying no one would be outside in the hall, he crawled to the bathroom he knew was across from the room.

His stomach expelled the remnants of the potion and he slowly stood up. He turned on the tap and began drinking water in large gulps. Breathing heavily, he slowly turned and tried to take a step back to his room. No one was in the hall, but Harry realized he wouldn’t be able to walk it. As quickly as possible, he crawled his way back to his room and into his bed.

‘Is that woman trying to poison you!?’ there was more than a hint of fear and panic in Draco’s voice.

‘No Draco,’ Harry was having a hard time putting together words. ‘Just a headache potion.’

‘Yeah, and Mr. Remedial Potions can tell that,’ Harry knew he should say something, but couldn’t think of what. He gave up and just closed his eyes. Finally, after several minutes, he was able to fall asleep.

Harry woke with a bit of fear. He opened his eyes slowly, looking around the room. Everything seemed to be standing still. He realized that he was able to string thoughts together.

‘Draco? You awake?’ He couldn’t really tell.

‘Yeah.’ Draco was as uncertain as Harry. ‘What the hell was all that about?’

‘I don’t really know. She gave me a headache potion for the head injury. Then, that,’ Harry couldn’t describe it.

‘Are you sure? She could be under a curse, or something else,’ Draco was trying to put a logical explanation to what had happened, but Harry couldn’t help but get upset.

‘She would never try to poison me! And before you go there again, I was NOT in Remedial Potions!’ Harry was quite indignant.

‘That is what Snape told me,’ Draco was confused.

‘I know. That’s what we told everyone. Only Dumbledore and Ron and Hermione know the truth. I was taking Occlumency lessons, ‘Harry felt strange telling someone else about it.

‘Occlumency? Why would you need that?’ Harry could tell that Draco knew, he just wanted to hear the words.

‘Because. I have to fight Voldemort. In the end yes, but every night. I have to keep him out of my mind. I told you he sent me a false vision, but also just every time I have the dreams.’ He shuddered thinking of some of the dreams.

‘But you still have them.’ Draco stated what was pretty obvious. ‘If you were learning to block, then why?’

Harry sighed. ‘In case you somehow missed it, Snape and I don’t exactly get along. The lessons were a disaster. They were making things worse rather than better.’

‘Worse? How could they be any worse?’ Draco was amazed.

‘I was getting the dreams almost every single night. Sometimes more than one a night. Every time I got another dream, the lessons got worse. Snape was even nastier, I hated him even more. It got really bad.’ Harry didn’t want to think about the scene that ended the lessons, but Draco pressed for the details.

‘I…I can’t really tell you Draco. It isn’t my…I …’ Harry paused. He tried to find the words. ‘I learned something about Snape, and my father and he got upset. I really can’t tell you what it was about, they are his memories. But he kicked me out.’

Harry tried to find the anger he always had when he thought about Snape. It was still there, but seemed to be mixed with…affection? That was never something he had towards Snape. He thought about it, and then realized that it was Draco who was feeling affection for Snape.

‘I … I know I need the lessons again. They failed miserably. I just can’t. He treated me, Sirius, everyone like…less than human. I can’t go back to him!’ Harry was furious.

‘And how is he supposed to act you prat! Like you are the wonderful fantastic Boy-Who-Lived? And still be a Death Eater spy without giving things away. Oh, and not to mention that Umbridge would have loved to fire anyone that was even vaguely willing to give support to your claims. Where would you have been if he was gone?’ Draco was being rather nasty with his comments, but Harry thought about what he was saying.

Slowly Harry stood up. The room wasn’t moving. It remained perfectly still. That was a good thing. ‘Draco, do you think maybe it has something to do with the mind thing? The headache potion affects the mind, but we are linked, so maybe it reacted badly with that?’

‘The prat has a brain,’ was the sarcastic response. Suddenly Harry felt Draco relax. ‘I think you might be right. If it was only a headache potion, then that would be the only explanation. Other than…but you don’t want to believe that. And I think I trust you with that.’

Harry sighed. Slowly he made his way around. He got dressed really carefully. His whole body ached from the fall and from the effects of Draco’s being cursed. Figuring out which were his and which were Draco’s was a bit trickier.

When he went downstairs he saw Hermione, Ron, Remus, and the twins. They looked up at him in shock.

“Harry!” Hermione rushed to him. “We didn’t think you would be up for a while yet. Are you okay?”

She started fussing over him, almost as bad as Molly. Speaking of Molly, Harry looked around, wondering where she was.

“Where’s Molly?” he asked.

“Um, she went shopping for the school stuff,” Hermione answered. “The owls arrived today and she wanted to get the stuff early. We stayed behind because of security reasons.”

“The owls arrived today? Do they have our O.W.L.s results?” Harry was eager for the results.

Hermione gave him a bright smile. “Yup! You got an O in potions!” She knew that was the score Harry was really worried about. “N.E.W.T.s potions starting this year. We will have to get a head start on our homework.”

Harry groaned. Trust Hermione to bring up homework to a guy who just fell off his broom.

‘Hah! O in potions! Told you I didn’t need Remedial Potions. Git.’ He threw in the last bit just because it was still Malfoy he was talking to.

‘Bite me,’ not original, but still amusing. Harry sent an appropriate image to Malfoy who laughed briefly, then groaned. A groan Harry almost verbalized himself as a sharp pain cut across his chest.

‘A bruised rib?’ Harry asked. He looked around the room and realized people were giving him funny looks. He moved to a chair and sat down.

‘Yeah, courtesy of the bitch that spawned me,’ Harry noticed Draco almost never referred to her as his mother, or Lucius as his father. Except when he was using them to be an arrogant idiot.

“Sorry guys,” he said to his room full of people. “Still a bit sore.”

Everyone nodded in understanding. Ron chimed in with a “We didn’t expect you would wake so soon. Those headache potions usually cause me to sleep for the better part of a day.”

“How long was I asleep?” Harry was curious.

“Only a couple hours,” Fred answered.

“And when did I fall from the broom?” Harry was starting to get a headache. He stopped thinking about what everything meant.

“Last night,” replied George. “Gave us a right scare mate! Thought Dementors were back or something.”

Harry smiled. “Sorry guys. I don’t know what happened. Started feeling dizzy and next thing I knew I was in bed with Molly stuffing potions down me.”

Everyone started laughing, having all been on the receiving end of Molly’s ministrations before. Except Hermione who was looking at Harry with concern. She looked ready to pick up the mothering again.

Harry decided to head her off by asking, “My head is aching. Would someone mind getting me a glass of water and some food?”

“Sure,” said Ginny. She got up and started filling a plate with a variety of food. “Do you want some coffee?”

Harry thought about it but wasn’t sure if he wanted caffeine. It might make his head start hurting again. “No, I think I’ll pass. Thanks though Ginny.”

She nodded and handed him the plate. Harry looked at the food with some trepidation. He recalled losing his stomach just a couple hours earlier. Finally he picked up a piece of toast and nibbled on it, figuring it would be the safest choice.

His stomach felt quite fine and he dug into the rest of the meal with gusto. Everyone chattered about the upcoming classes. Fred and George sat with smirks on their faces, clearly enjoying the fact that they didn’t have to worry about it this year.

Harry took a moment to look them over. He noticed that they were dressed much nicer than previous times. “Business doing well?” he asked them.

“Oh yeah! You are going to have to stop… by the shop some time… Always full... Had to hire some… help so we could have time off.” This was said by the two of them, alternating back and forth. Harry learned a long time ago not to try and follow which was speaking and just listen to the whole thing. It was less confusing that way.

“Mum’s having a fit over it though,” was Ron’s contribution. “She still wishes they would finish school.”

“Plus she keeps trying to get us to tell her how we could afford a shop and everything,” said Fred. George was grinning at Harry. Hermione gave Harry a funny look.

“Harry! You didn’t have any…” Harry’s eyes grew wide and he shook his head at Hermione. She broke off the sentence and glared at Harry. “Molly is going to kill you if she finds out.”

“It was the Tournament money. I didn’t want it. And they could put it to good use,” Harry gave her a look. She started to argue some more, but decided against it. Ginny and Ron were just looking at Harry with amazement.

“Mum really is going to kill you if she finds out,” said Ron. He looked like this was an old topic that he had heard many times.

“I know. That’s why she won’t find out right?” Harry gave him a conspiratory grin. Ron rolled his eyes and nodded. He saw Ginny nodding emphatically.

“So, what’s up for today?” Harry asked.

“Well, we have to get back to the shop,” said George. He and Fred were standing up getting ready to leave.

“And you need to take it easy today,” this came from Remus. Harry gave a start; he had forgotten that Remus was in the room. The look his former Professor was giving him was too knowing and worried. Harry lowered his eyes and nodded. Somehow Harry suspected if he truly knew what was going on, he would be even more worried.

“How about some wizard’s chess?” asked Ron. Harry had been trying since he met Ron to beat him. Occasionally he would win a game, but not very often. Harry agreed readily and Hermione just rolled her eyes. She made no secret of how she felt about the barbaric way the wizards played it.

While Ron got the game out, Harry looked at his O.W.L. scores. He was pretty pleased. His new schedule was included and he was able to take all the N.E.W.T. courses required for a career as an Auror.

Of course, he failed History of Magic, Binns’ class, miserably, and Divination. No big loss there. Might be nice to have an entire week go by without Trelawney predicting Harry’s death. Honestly, didn’t the woman get tired of it?

Harry smiled slightly to himself as he realized that Draco had fallen back to sleep. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be injured too badly. He would have to remember to tell Draco to warn him if he moved so Harry wouldn’t react in front of anyone.

“What’s so funny?” asked Ron. He had finished setting up the board.

“Just thinking Trelawney is going to be so disappointed that she won’t get to announce my death during every class now,” Ron snickered his agreement.

The day passed quickly. Harry made a few excuses for moving around, wincing with pain as Draco moved. After Molly returned, he made a point of taking time to look through his books. He wasn’t really reading anything, just trying to make it less obvious that he was talking to Draco.

‘Did you get your O.W.L. scores?’ he asked.

‘Yeah. Did pretty much as expected. O in Potions and Arithmancy and Transfiguration, E in Charms and Defence Against Dark Arts, A in History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures.’

Harry gave his scores to Malfoy and asked what class study he was wanting to take.

‘I don’t know. I keep thinking about it, but nothing seems to make sense. Why take a course of study if I am just going to wind up a Death Eater anyhow?’ there was a hint of despair in Draco that caused Harry to worry.

‘Don’t say that! You are not going to be a Death Eater. We’ll find a way to keep you safe,’ He knew that Draco was afraid that things would get worse until he was either dead or a Death Eater. Harry was determined neither would happen.

‘Now, forget about that, what do you want to be when you grow up?’ as hoped, the comment caused Draco’s humour to be restored.

‘Well, Potter, when you put it like that, I always thought it would be neat to be a Healer.’ This surprised Harry.

‘You’re kidding!’ Harry almost laughed out loud. ’I would have thought Minister of Magic.’

‘See! That is why I haven’t told anyone. I knew they would laugh.’ Harry immediately felt bad.

‘I’m not laughing at you,’ he was quick to try and reassure Draco. ’I’m just laughing because it is so far from what I would have guessed. It was a bit of a shock.’

‘I guess. I just want to be able to help people like I wish…’ he didn’t finish the sentence.

‘I’m going to help you Draco. You know I will. Shit, Hermione has accused me of having a hero complex more than once. You know me, good old Gryffindor spirit and all.’ he was feeling a bit less hostile than usual when he made the comment.

There was a slight pause, then came Draco’s comment ‘On the other hand, I have also thought that I would love to be a singer. Everyone in the audience screaming my name and lusting after my gorgeous body.’ Harry snickered.

He felt Draco grow serious again. When he spoke it was in almost reverent tones, ‘I just think it would be really great you know? Have people just look at you and recognize you. Have them love you because of who you are. Not to look at you and see you as a Death Eater’s kid. ‘

‘It really isn’t all it is cracked up to be,’ said Harry dryly. ‘Trust me.’

‘How can you say that? Everyone loves you,’ Draco was shocked.

‘Not really. They love The-Boy-Who-Lived. They don’t know me. Not one of them bothered to help me for 11 years. I’m not a person to them. I’m just someone that lived. And I shouldn’t have lived.’ Harry didn’t know if he was doing a good job of explaining. He just knew that he had to get his point across. Somehow. ‘I didn’t do anything, it was my mother. Every time someone looks at my scar or at me, I am just reminded that she died. She should get the credit but I was the one that lived.’

‘I guess I never saw it that way. They look at you and see, well, you. Not your parents,’ Harry could hear the envy in the other boy.

‘Well, not everyone. Snape, he just sees my father. And Si…Sirius, and Remus they tell me that I look just like my father, but have my mother’s eyes,’ Harry tried to figure out how he felt about that. How he would feel if everyone looked at him, or treated him the way Snape did. With hatred because of who his father was. Like Draco.

“Harry,” Hermione was talking to him. “How are you doing? Do you need another headache potion?” Harry shuddered remembering the first one.

“No thanks,” he answered. “Just a slight headache. Nothing serious. Mostly sore muscles.”

He spent the evening playing Exploding Snap with Ron and went to bed early. He held Draco lightly as the other boy fell asleep, but as usual, Harry lay awake for some time. He couldn’t bring himself to let go of the other boy, even though he knew he had fallen asleep. Harry lay there thinking of what had happened. Not just today, but all summer.

Within just a couple days both boys were completely recovered from their injuries. They agreed to exaggerate the wounds for a few days longer just because the recovery time would be expected. They figured it must also be connected to all the other strange things. No way could all those injuries heal that quickly otherwise.

The remainder of the summer passed quickly. Almost too quickly. Soon it was the night before they would head back to Hogwarts. Harry and Draco spent time discussing how they should act when they saw each other. It wouldn’t do to be friendly. But could they be as mean to each other?

Both boys were up rather late given they had to be awake early the next day. Well, late for Draco. For Harry it wasn’t all that late. Really rather earlier than the normal time. They talked about many things. Mostly plans for the year. Harry assured Draco that they could get almost any book they wished from the library. Even out of the restricted section. What Harry couldn’t get then they would just convince Snape to allow his Golden Boy of Slytherin to take out.

There were a lot of things he still hadn’t told Draco about. It wasn’t really that he didn’t trust him. Although that was a small part. But not really. It was just, he didn’t want to talk about the war. He wanted to talk about stuff. Inconsequential things. They didn’t agree on a lot of things. But they had learned to respect each other.

One night they argued over Quidditch strategies, that one ended in a rather nasty scene with Harry calling Draco a dirty cheating bastard.

Another night they had argued about Muggles. He wasn’t even sure how they started on the argument. Suddenly however, they found themselves disagreeing on whether Muggle-borns should be allowed into Hogwarts. Harry told Draco he was just pissed because Hermione did better than any pure-blood. Draco told him that it was book smarts, didn’t mean anything. All she ever did was quote book passages. Harry couldn’t really argue with that logic. So he settled for snarling ‘My mother was a Muggle-born.’ Then proceeded to ignore Draco.

He wouldn’t talk about the TriWizard Tournament. He felt he had said too much on that already. Same went for the Chamber, Philosopher’s Stone, Sirius, the Dursley’s. Draco never asked either. Which was more than Ron or Hermione did for him. That was why Harry liked talking to Draco. He didn’t press him for closure, or to talk about things.

Which is why it was such a surprise when that night Draco asked him, ‘Do you remember them? Your parents I mean.’

Harry gave a start of surprise. He felt a myriad of emotions at hearing Draco talk about them, even though it didn’t contain the normal sneer, he still felt anger that Draco would talk about them. He knew however, Draco was feeling something wistful, perhaps longing. He wasn’t asking to be mean, hurtful, or even out of idle curiosity so perhaps that was why he answered the question.

‘Not entirely. I mean, I sort of do. But only because of the Dementors,’ Harry paused. He had never told anyone everything he saw when the Dementors got close. He mostly gave vague descriptions of it. This time he wanted Draco to know. ‘I see, the final moments. My dad, I heard Voldemort arguing with my mum, I hear her screaming, and then I just see a blinding green light. Then another one.’

‘Arguing? He didn’t just…you know?” Draco was afraid to say the words. Afraid of how Harry might react.

‘No. He was offering her a choice,’ Harry didn’t know if he could talk about it much longer. The images started to run through his head. He choose instead to view the scene, projecting it towards Draco, sharing the only memory he had of his parents.

Draco was in shock. He couldn’t have ever imagined the scene. The pain Harry felt while reliving the memory. Suddenly his reaction to the Dementors didn’t seem so funny. Every time they got near, Harry had to relive these moments. He was also jealous. Because he knew his own mother would never have made that choice. Draco would have been handed over as an offering if the Dark Lord asked.

Slowly he reached out for Harry’s hand. He squeezed it tight and said simply, ‘I’m sorry.’ It was meant to cover everything. He knew somehow that Harry understood that. No other words were necessary.

‘As long as you don’t try to dress up like Dementors again,’ Harry commented. Draco laughed, startled.

‘Don’t worry; I think I learned my lesson on that one. What in the hell was that thing that charged me anyhow?’ he asked.

‘Short answer? My father,’ Harry smiled.

‘Huh? Okay, how about the long answer?’ Draco was puzzled.

‘Um, okay. Patronus Charm. It creates a sort of protector out of magical energy, which lets the Dementors focus on it, protecting the caster. It takes the form of whatever the caster feels will, well, protect them. My father was an Animagus, his form was a stag. So my Patronus took his Animagus form. Better?’ Harry gave the explanation as best as he understood it.

‘Oh,’ Draco’s answer was brief as he mulled over the explanation, finally settling on one part. ‘You father was an Animagus?’

‘Yeah. I guess he was really good with Transfiguration. He learned at the same time as Sirius and Peter Pettigrew. Sirius was a black dog and Pettigrew was a rat. Should have told them something,’ the last was tinged with the hatred he felt towards Pettigrew.

‘The dog. The one you were with at the train last year. That was your godfather?’ Draco was starting to put some of the pieces together.

‘Yeah.’ Harry remembered the scene. Lucius seeing the dog and figuring it out. Sirius chasing the train, running around, encouraging Harry to play fetch during the walk. ‘He needed to get out of the house.’

‘The house? The one he gave you right?’ Harry just nodded towards Draco. He felt Draco yawn.

‘Go to sleep you prat,’ he scolded gently. ‘Don’t you have to get up early?’

‘So do you,’ was the surly response.

‘Yeah, but I never sleep much, remember?’ he reminded Draco.

Harry followed the usual night time pattern and slid an arm around Draco. He felt the answering embrace and smiled. ‘Good night.’

He waited until he felt Draco drift off to sleep. He still kept his arm around him; Draco always seemed to sleep more comfortably that way. Many nights Harry lay like that. He thought about going back to school the next day. Somehow in his mind he found himself stroking Draco’s hair. He wondered how it would actually feel. Was it as soft as it looked? With that thought in his mind, he slowly started to drift off to sleep.

The morning came all too quickly for Harry. The night was a very dreamless night and he wished it could have continued. That was the problem with never wanting to go to sleep. When he did, he never wanted to wake up.

Molly was over him shaking him gently. “Harry, wake up. We have to get ready. The Ministry vehicle will be here to get us soon.”

Something about that statement sounded wrong, but in his sleep befuddled state he didn’t know what it was. He was sitting up and starting to move when it sunk in. “The Ministry vehicle?” he asked, but Molly was already out the door. Probably to wake the others. Everyone knew he wasn’t at his best in the mornings. Even Draco had figured that one out pretty quickly and birthday notwithstanding left him alone in the mornings until he had at least an hour to wake up.

The Burrow was at least more tolerable for mornings. Molly made coffee and tea. A cup of coffee, black to start the morning with. Followed by a cup of tea, no milk and two spoons of sugar, followed by another cup of coffee this time with three spoons of sugar completed his morning wake up ritual. Only abandoned during his stay with the Dursleys. Started during the last few months of the last term. When the nightmares had gotten so bad he couldn’t sleep.

After his second coffee, he approached the question again. This time making sure Molly was actually in the room. “What is this about a Ministry vehicle?”

“They are sending a vehicle to get us today. Along with a couple of guards Harry,” she answered, and then followed with the answer to the question that was already forming. “It is to protect you son. After they confirmed, at the Ministry last year, that You-Know-Who was back, they offered assistance in protecting you.”

“Oh,” Harry didn’t know what to say to that. He could just imagine Malfoy’s comments. Both before the spell and now. Probably be the same comments really.

“But Harry isn’t in any danger is he mum?” this comment came from Ginny who blushed as she realized what she had asked.

“Of course he is.” Her answer was rather flat. “He has already tried a few times. I’m sorry.” The last was said in Harry’s direction.

Harry smiled weakly at her. Suddenly Ron disrupted the rather grim mood by jumping up, knocking the table. He had a rather large growth spurt over the summer and hadn’t quite gotten used to the extra height. He tended to knock over stuff a lot. Everyone was looking at him in surprise.

“Sorry, forgot something upstairs,” he darted upstairs just as there was a knock at the door. Ginny opened the door for the Ministry representatives. Harry was pleased to see Tonks standing there.

The group went to pile into the car; Tonks was accompanied by another person she introduced as Annalise Martin, her Auror partner. Annalise seemed nice enough, but kept staring at Harry’s scar. He fussed with his hair, pulling it over the scar, which made her pull her eyes away, but they kept drifting back.