Crazy Is As Crazy Does

Draco Malfoy was breaking him. Slowly, and patiently destroying him inch by inch, and neither of them knew it, or was willing to confront it.

Hermione and Ron knew, but they were discreet. They knew what secrets to keep to themselves. It pained her, to watch Harry crumbling before her eyes, and knowing there was nothing she could do. If she pointed it out to him, he became angry, and lashed out with words he didn't mean. He always came back in tears, apologising for talking to her the way he did. Hermione always accepted his apologies, knowing that it wasn't her that caused him to explode, she was just a convenient target who wasn't Draco Malfoy. Whatever the Slytherin felt for Harry, it wasn't love, but love was precisely what Harry felt for the blond, and it was driving him insane, slowly.

The first signs that he was truly starting to crack came the very day after one of their fights over Draco, in Potions.

Hermione had thought to drop the class, and then decided that knowing all she could about Potions was worth more than ditching a disliked teacher. She had another time-turner - supposedly the last one left, still in McGonnagal's care when the rest of them had been destroyed at the Ministry - and was using it to take Arithmancy and Potions in the same period. She'd learned her lesson third year, however, and was very careful that she had a free period for homework, and made sure that she didn't overburden herself again.

She was somewhat distracted, going over Harry's words from the night before. His eyes had been broken, and she wondered how long his spirit would be in following. -Don't say things like that, Hermione, you don't know what you're talking about. -I don't, do I? I know that it's killing you inside and he doesn't notice! Or if he does he doesn't c- -Care? You're telling me he doesn't care!? After everything he's given up to be my friend, much less share my bed, you think he doesn't care?! Not every Slytherin is evil. I thought you found that out with Zabini?! -Harry, please! That was a mistake! -Fuck you, Her-Mi-O-Ne.

He'd drawled her name slowly, in a fair imitation of Malfoy's cruel mockery. And left immediately afterwards, hiding only Draco probably knew where.

"What are the magical properties of Dragon's tongue... Miss Granger?" Snape's inky gaze fell on her as he realized that she wasn't paying attention.

Blinking a few times, Hermione racked her brain for the answer, and was completely horrified to realize that she didn't know it. "I don't know, sir," she said quietly, and he nodded. "Five points to Gryffindor for honestly and a lack of wit." She blinked at him for the odd points award. Never had anyone gained points for not knowing.

Harry let out a laugh that he stifled just as quickly. Snape's eyes snapped to him, and he scowled. "Perhaps, Mister Potter, you would like those points removed?"

Hermione turned to look at him, and gasped quietly at what she saw. Everyone but Malfoy had turned in their seats to see what Potter would do, but then ended up staring transfixed at the expression on his face. His eyes were unfocused, and though his gaze was clearly aimed in Snape's direction, his mind was clearly not behind it. His lips twisted up into a mocking smile, as though he knew a secret the rest of them didn't.

"It's true," he whispered, sighing sadly. "The Dark Lord will come and kill me, did you know that?" As he spoke, the smile widened, and for a moment he looked like the old Harry again. The words that followed that smile were anything but Harry, though. "He's going to stab me and watch the blood run down the corridors and when I'm empty he's going to cut me open and watch my guts spill out into the puddle of blood on the floor, and while I'm still watching him he's going to lift his wand and say Avada-"

"GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!" Snape roared, and Harry fled, leaving everything behind. Hermione followed, rushing out into the corridors after him and ignoring Snape's uncharacteristic shouting. Malfoy followed a moment later, and Hermione rounded on him.

"What the fuck did you do to him you miserable little ferret!?" she spat, jabbing her wand against his throat. He was pale, and looked a little disturbed, but she'd seen the expression before she'd attacked him, and knew it wasn't because of her.

"What's wrong with him?" he whispered, and she stepped closer, driving the point of her wand deeper.

"That's what I'd like to know. He wasn't like this before you."

"Granger, I had to do it." She scowled at him. "I had to. Harry was telling me he loved me, and my Father had told me to stay as far from him as I could, and V-Voldemort was telling me to cultivate the relationship, and I couldn't stay near him when it would mean that the Dark Lord was happy about it."

Hermione, stunned into silence, oggled him for a moment. "What did you do?" she whispered suddenly.

"We...had sex. And then he said that to me. And I told him I didn't want to be with him anymore." Hermione's wand clattered to the floor, and she was swinging wildly. She felt bones crunch under her fist and blood exploded from his nose, but instead of running like the coward he'd been, he simply let her beat him up.
-
There was so much more to it than the short, terse version he'd given Granger. He left out just how happy it made the Dark lord that Harry was crumbling because of him, how furious his father was that he'd even started the ill-fated relationship in the first place. He left out the tender love-making they'd shared that night, and when Harry had lifted his green eyes to Draco's grey, and whispered those words, he'd panicked. This was what Voldemort wanted, this was bad, he wasn't meant to be doing this, and he'd said the first things that came to mind. "I can't do this anymore, Harry, I can't be with you. It's bad for you, and me, and us, and we just can't, and-" He'd said more, but it wasn't in his mind then, they were just words, and Harry's eyes, so tender and warm had splintered, his pain written across his features as his worst nightmares came true. Draco barely saw the pain, just that he needed to keep Harry safe, keep him away from the dark lord so that he could defeat him, and it had turned out all wrong. Harry was crying all the time, and there was a slump to his shoulders that told everyone he'd just given up, and after that stunt in Potions Draco finally realized that what he'd done hadn't been to protect Harry, but to drive him further towards Voldemort's mad clutches.

Moaning, he grabbed at his nose. "Oh Merlin, what have I done?" he whispered as Granger took off, barely remembering her wand, after Potter.
-
Hermione didn't know where Harry would have gone. She barely knew him any more, and suddenly she realized that it was her own fault. She should have seen, should have known that he wasn't the same before he finally fell apart. Malfoy was to him just another in a long series of deaths, the people closest to him, and the people he loved, gone, and it was finally just too much to handle. She hated herself for not seeing it sooner. The manic craze in his eyes as he'd defended Malfoy's honour against her, despite having had his heart shattered. Malfoy was already dead to him, as he seemed to be dead to Malfoy, and the Marauder's Map.

It hit her in the middle of her train of thought, and she spun around, heading back towards Gryffindor tower. She gave the rooms a perfunctory search, but no one in the common room had seen Harry go through. It was just sixth years with a free period, so most of them had been studying, but after that display in Potions, Hermione didn't think that Harry would have come through here quietly, no matter how immersed in studying they'd been.

She let herself into the boys' dorm, and found Harry's trunk. A few simple unlocking spells and a password let her in - it was Draco - and she found the map. Frantically searching, she finally found his name in the Astronomy Tower, and swore. Draco was making his way towards Gryffindor Tower, and Snape was following after Draco...

"What a mess." She tossed the map back, and relocked the trunk before leaving, hurrying out through the portrait hole and barely acknowledging any of the waves. Class was just letting out, and the halls were thronged with people. Pushing, she passed Draco, who didn't see her. Snape did, however, and he alerted Draco moments after she'd turned towards the Astronomy tower. "Come on, you bloody castle, slow them down!" she murmured under her breath, and felt the stairs start to move as she stepped off of them. "Good job." Instead of going to the Astronomy tower, they'd find themselves in the Charms classroom if they kept going straight.

After what seemed like forever, she was there in the tower, and Harry was looking out the window, leaning precariously on the sill. "So pretty, Hermy," he whispered, and she wondered if he would recover from this.

"Harry, please come away from there. We'll go talk to Madam Pomfrey, and she'll give you some sweets, alright?" Pleading with him. Don't do this.

He gave her a smile, and it was sad. Then his eyes focused behind her, and she realized that Snape and Draco had finally caught up.

"Potter, remove yourself from that window this instant or I will deduct two hundred points from Gryffindor." Snape said, and Hermione only laughed. Only two hundred? Wow, that's a lot, too bad my best friend just KILLED HIMSELF over your precious blonde haired twit.

"Be safe, Draco," Harry murmured, and turned his attention to the trees outside. He looked down, and gave the three one last smile, and for a few seconds, it was truly happy, and then he was falling, and Hermione threw herself at the window to watch him. He was as graceful falling as he was flying, and he cut an impressive figure. She turned from the sight before he hit, and suddenly the wall was at her back as she sobbed. Draco was being held back by Snape, and the look in his eyes was one of stark disbelief. There was dried blood on his face, and his nose was crooked, where she'd broken it, but it had been healed, and was no longer actively bleeding. His head shook slightly and Snape had the decency to look less forboding than usual.

"This is a lie," Draco said sternly. "I bet he's floating on his broom just out there waiting for me to come see him." His voice took on a hysterical note.

"You heard what he said in Potions, Draco," Snape said quietly. "He wasn't himself. This isn't a joke. Not even Potter could have faked that." There was a slight accusation in his voice. Look what you did, you went and killed the Savior, you bad, bad boy you!

Draco pulled away from Snape, and ignored Hermione, stumbling over to the window. He looked around, fully expecting to see a grinning Harry waving at him from his broom, and when it wasn't readily apparent, he slowly looked down. Hermione knew the moment it hit him as he made a choked noise and staggered back from the window, retching. After a few moments, Snape was moving towards him, getting ready to take them both to Madam Pomfrey, and Draco shoved him away. He leapt for the window, and made a stunning picture, framed in the afternoon sunlight.

"I loved him," he revealed quietly, and threw himself forward. Snape shouted something at him, and reached, but it was too late, and he missed.

----

McGonnagal could hardly believe what she was hearing. Potter had snapped, and killed himself, and Draco, mad with grief, had followed him?

"Severus, you must be joking," she said, and when his dark eyes snapped onto hers, she paled. "You're not." A shake of his greasy head, and she was running, lifting her robes from under her feet so that she didn't trip on them, and when she made it outside to the Astronomy tower, she was greeted by the sight of them sprawled about one another, as though they'd simply tumbled down for a nap. The blood was everywhere, though, and while Harry's face looked peaceful, Draco's was twisted, and she gasped, sobs shuddering through her body, and she spelled them into the infirmary before anyone could gather.

Three days later, she gathered everyone in the Great Hall.

"It is with great sorrow and deep regret that I must inform you that it is indeed true. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are dead."

Gasps rocked around the room, and more than a few people started crying.

"This does not mean that all is lost. They were brave, wonderful boys, but we must not dishonour their memory by giving up the war. We will fight for them, for what they died believing in, and we will WIN."

The rest of her words were meaningless.

----
I've no idea where this came from. I just wanted to see Harry go crazy. XD One shot, finished. Maybe I'll do a sequel. I particularly like seeing people going crazy.