United In Death

I just need this to be alright

I can’t feel this another night

I can’t take this I come unglued

I might breakdown in front of you

Necessary to medicate

I’m not sleeping can’t stay awake

Can’t see through this

Too much pressure

Drowning in this

Too much pressure

If you need me I’ll be here

Half unconscious to escape my fear

Staind-Pressure

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The next week passed quietly, the only high point was when Sirius sent Harry a hysterical letter saying that his godfather would beat him to death if he dared die. Harry had to send him back three letters to assure him he was fine.

The last day before the Christmas holidays was almost through.

Harry was heading for his final lesson - Care Of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins.

He made his way down after lunch with Hermione and Ron, all three wrapped warmly in scarf’s and gloves, their feet crunching through the fresh snow.

  "Oh look it’s Potty, Weasel and the Mudblood." A familiar voice drawled. Harry sighed.

  "Back off Malfoy, I’m not in the mood."

Before Draco had a chance to say anything else Hagrid came hurrying up.

  "Come on you lot, got a real treat for you today."

Many people groaned. That meant it was something dangerous.

Hagrid lead the 7^th years around the side of the snow covered forest until they reached a big clearing with an unfrozen, large pool in the centre.

  "What we’re lookin’ at today is Makals." Hagrid boomed happily.

  "What’s a Makal?" Someone asked and Hagrid looked towards Hermione. She answered promptly, sounding, as usual, as if she’d swallowed a textbook.

  "A Makal is a giant water serpent, vicious only when provoked. They have the special ability to see inside a person’s soul, seeing the person for who they really are."

Hagrid beamed.

  "Well done ‘Mione, 5 points to Gryffindor!"

The half giant asked everyone to move closer to the pool, which they did nervously.

  "Now everyone remember what Hermione said. Don’t provoke them and they won’t attack."

Hagrid bent down amid the frozen rushes on one side of the pool and picked up a chain.

  "Now this one’s only a young’n so it’s a lot smaller than any in pictures you may ‘ave seen."

Hagrid tugged gently on the chain. The murky waters of the pool suddenly rippled then parted as something rose from its depths.

Harry gasped but not in fright.

It was a beautiful. A silver/blue snake, about twenty feet long with a body as thick as a tree trunk, stretched out of the water. Each shimmering scale was a perfect diamond in shape, some with strange wavy markings. Its huge eyes were a deep, royal blue and glowed from within. Its delicate fangs were as white as the fresh snow and not as thick as the basilisk’s fangs had been. The Makal rose magnificently over the students and Harry felt a lump rise in his throat.

Wham.

The Makal jerked as a large stone hit its neck, then it turned hissing furiously at the boy who had done it. Goyle.

Draco stood next to him smirking, then he whispered something to Crabbe, who stooped and grabbed a fist-sized rock. Straightening up the huge boy threw it and gave a stupid chuckle as it hit the Makal on its head.

The Makal was livid with fury, and with a roar like a dragon, lunged towards the three laughing boys.

Draco obviously expected the chain around its neck to stop it, and it did for about five second. People screamed as, with a nasty, crunching noise, the chain snapped.

The colour drained from the three boys' faces as the serpent threw itself towards them again.

Crabbe and Goyle stumbled back with cries of horror but Draco just stood there parlayed with terror.

Draco! A voice in Harry’s head screamed, there was no way he could reach the blond in time.

  "Stop!" Harry bellowed at the Makal, preying that it was serpent enough to understand him. The Makal froze, then turned slowly to face him.

  "Stop?" It asked.

  "Yes. Stop." Harry repeated firmly. The class were getting back to their feet, staring at Harry hissing at the huge serpent.

  "Why?" The Makal sounded puzzled.

  "None of them deserve to be hurt or killed. They were just fooling around."

  "Ah, but fooling around can get you killed."

Harry folded his arms across his muscled chest, a determined glint coming to his eyes.

  "Yes, but not today."

The serpent laughed. Even the rest of the class who couldn’t speak Parseltounge could understand that sound.

The Makal swam slowly towards the raven-haired boy. Stopping a meter in front of him. Then it lowered its head so they were eye to eye, only inches apart.

  "You have a very unique soul. Good, pure, true. I will not kill them for you."

Harry sighed, relief flooding through his every nerve.

  "Thank you."

The serpent smiled.

  "I am Galdon."

Now Harry smiled.

  "Harry Potter."

Galdon nodded his awesome head.

  "Yes I know. Harry Potter whose soul is loved by destiny I give you a choice."

Harry blinked, a small frown creasing his forehead.

  "A choice?"

Galdon stared deeply into the boy’s eyes and was scared by the power and strength he found there.

  "Yes. Would you be willing to give everything, maybe even sacrifice yourself to save the heart and soul of another?"

Harry stared at Galdon, suddenly he was very aware of everything around him. The way the gray clouds curled around each other, promising more snow. The way the surface of the water rippled gently in the soft wind. The way Hagrid stood frozen on the far bank, still holding the now useless chain in his huge hands, eyes transfixed on the spectacle before him. The way Ron, several meters behind the half giant were kneeling on the cold ground with Hermione, tightly clutching her arms as they both stared at Harry with wide, scared eyes. The way the rest of the class stood or knelt tensely around him, holding their breath. The way Draco stood absolutely still, staring with petrified silver eyes at the enormous serpent almost touching the nose of the dark-haired boy, and the way Harry stared back with no fear whatsoever. The terror in Draco’s eyes caught Harry, it wasn’t terror for himself, standing there on the shore, it was terror for Harry, he was scared the serpent - Galdon, might hurt Harry.

  "Yes." Harry said in a steady, clear voice. Galdon smiled again.

  "I knew you would agree, your heart is too kind for you not to."

  "Who?" Was all the emerald-eyed boy said.

  "The one who ordered the two bumbling idiots to throw rocks at me."

Harry’s eyes widened.

  "Draco!?" He spluttered.

  "Yes Harry Potter. Your choice is, are you willing to risk your very existence to save this young man? There are two paths in front of him. He must take one. Down one he will be twisted beyond recognition into an evil, soulless creature, doomed to forever live a half-life. The other path is where he will become utterly pure, full of love and life. You must help him follow the right path even though it may cost you dearly."

Harry hung his head and closed his eyes tightly. Galdon watched him sadly. This boy had the fate of the world on his weary shoulders and he wasn’t even fully aware of it. Destiny had a cruel heart sometimes, but it was always for the best. The boy opened his eyes, showing his magnificent green irises.

  "Thank you for telling me Galdon."

The serpent smiled.

  "Oh my little, brave friend. It pains me to tell you this but you have the right to know."

Harry smiled, reached out and put his hand on the smooth scales between the serpent’s eyes. He heard terrified gasps issue form around him but ignored them.

  "You don’t know how much I appreciate it."

  "Harry Potter, if I may, may I ask you for a favour."

Harry pulled his hand away and looked at Galdon, who seemed a little embarrassed.

  "What?"

The serpent squirmed.

  "May I drink a little of your blood?"

  "H-huh? Could you just repeat that, I thought you asked if you could drink a little of my blood."

Galdon sighed.

  "I did. You see I am linked to every other Makal throughout the world, if I drink some of your blood I am linked to you. So if you ever need help from any of my race they will know you are Galdon’s friend, therefore trustworthy and will help you any way they can."

  "Oh I see."

Harry pondered the thought. It would mean more allies on the side of the light.

  "Okay." He said finally.

  "Really?" Galdon asked.

Harry pulled the robes on his left arm up past the elbow.

  "Yes." He said softly and held out his bare arm.

  "I will not take too much Harry Potter." Galdon hissed as he lowered his head until it was almost touching Harry’s translucent skin.

  "Just call me Harry."

Galdon nodded, opened his mouth and plunged his fangs into Harry’s arm.

  "Harry!" Hermione screamed. Ron also bellowed his name, jumped up and began to run around the side of the pool, towards his friend, Hermione hard on his heels. Even some of the Slytherin’s screamed.

Draco felt that he was going mad, not knowing weather to stand and sneer like he would of a few days ago, or to blow his cover and run to his friend, who was standing there eyes closed, jaw clenched and fist balled in pain as the serpent drank from his arm.

Draco decided he didn’t give a shit about blowing his cover as his friend stood there in obvious pain. But just as he was about to run forward the Makal realised Harry’s arm, fangs dripping blood.

  "I’m sorry if that hurt you, but it’s necessary."

Harry lowered his arm; it hadn’t been as bad as he thought it would be.

  "I’m fine, you better go Galdon."

The magnificent serpent lowered its head in farewell s it swam back out into the centre of the pool.

  "Be safe and fly free Harry my friend."

Harry didn’t really understand what Galdon said but he repeated the phrase anyway. The serpent smiled and sank back into the murky water.

  "Harry! Oh Merlin Harry!" A body thudded into him and he looked down into Hermione’s tear filled face.

  "Shhhh, shhhh, it’s okay ‘Mione, it was necessary."

  "Necessary? It could have killed you!"

Harry smiled at Hermione’s obvious, caring anger.

  "No. Galdon was just linking me to him."

  "That thing has a name?!"

Harry could feel the blood running down his arm and dripping onto the white snow, staining it with red tears.

  "I think I’d better go and see Madame Pomfrey again."

  "Yeah, that looks pretty nasty Harry." Ron said shakily coming up behind him and putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.

Harry turned to look at Hagrid, who was still frozen, gripping the useless chain.

  "Hagrid, do you mind if I go to Madame Pomfrey?"

The half giant snapped out of his daze and hurried around to study Harry’s dripping arm.

  "Not as bad as it looks, but yer right Harry and I wan’ sumone ta go with yer."

  "I will." A voice drawled before Hermione or Ron had a chance to even open their mouths.

The class turned as one to stare, completely stunned, at Draco. He walked up to Harry.

  "Well come on Potter, I haven’t got all day."

  "Actually you have Malfoy." Harry stated as they turned, side by side, and walked back up to the castle. Draco laughed a genuine laugh.

The rest of the Slytherins and Gryffindors watched the pair wonder off bickering, utterly gob smacked.

Hagrid scratched his bristly head in puzzlement.

  "Is summink goin’ on between those two that I don’t know about. I mean they’re almost bein’ nice t’ each other."

Hermione groaned softly and Ron’s eyes turned on her.

  "What is it?" Asked Ron wearily.

  "The spell! It’s starting to work, they’re starting to like each other."

  "Oh shit." Ron said and Pansy Parkinson, who had been eavesdropping, promptly fainted.

* * * * *

Harry and Draco walked into the entrance hall.

After checking no one was around Draco turned quickly and clutched Harry’s shoulder.

  "God Harry! Are you alright?"

Harry stared into Draco’s silver eyes and saw genuine concern there.

  "Yeah, just a little dizzy."

The concern grew.

  "Come on Harry."

Draco practically dragged Harry up to the hospital wing and pushed him through the door.

Madame Pomfrey was sitting at her desk and looked up as Harry was forced into the airy room.

  "Oh you again. What is it this time?"

Draco pointed to Harry’s bleeding arm. Madame Pomfrey hissed and hurried over.

  "What happened?" She asked, gently taking Harry’s arm and examining the two wounds. Draco explained as Madame Pomfrey searched the wounds carefully, then she went to fetch a cloth and a bowl of a mysterious mixture to heal them.

  "He was really nice actually, told me lots of interesting stuff." Harry said as Madame Pomfrey began to clean his arm.

  "Who?" Draco asked.

  "Galdon, the Makal. We’re friends now."

Draco stared at Harry’s arm. There was a lot of blood.

  "If he does that to you when you’re his friend I’d hate to see what he does to his enemies!"

Harry chuckled darkly.

  "You almost did get to see first-hand. If I hadn’t of talked him out of it he would have killed you Draco! That was a really stupid thing to do."

Draco squirmed. Being told off by Harry made him feel incredibly guilty. It was even worse than being told off by a favourite teacher. He stared hard at the gray flagstones.

  "I had to keep up my act, and that’s the sort of thing I would have done."

Harry gazed sadly at the top of Draco’s silver head.

  "Please don’t do anything like that again. I don’t want to lose you now we’re friends."

Draco looked up into Harry’s serious eyes. Eyes that had seen things in the short seventeen years that no one should see in a lifetime. It showed to. That was why most people were afraid to look into the emerald depths. It always was alarming seeing such old, sad, and wise eyes in such a young face. The blond realised Harry really meant what he’d said and smiled, happiness flooding through every pour in his body.

  "So what are you doing in the holidays?" He asked.

Harry turned his arm over so Madame Pomfrey could clean the blood off the underside of his arm and wrist.

  "Hermione and I are going to spend Christmas with Sirius while Ron’s going to go to the Alps with his family. Hermione’s parents are in hiding so she can’t go back to visit them and it would be lonely spending Christmas here by herself so I invited her to come back to Sirius and mine home."

  "Nice, I’m just going back home as usual."

They sat quietly for a little while, watching the wounds in Harry’s arm slowly knit back together under the power of Madame Pomfrey’s mysterious solution.

The medi-witch slowly cleaned off the blood, searching keenly for any more minor wounds she may have missed.

  "You live with Sirius now then?"

Draco watched as Harry smiled a small but fond smile.

  "Yeah. His name was cleared last year when Pettigrew came out of hiding with Voldemort. I moved in the second he got back his old house and this is our first Christmas together."

Draco smiled.

  "I’m glad you’ve finally got a family of your own who care for you Harry."

Harry grinned cheekily back at him, the mischievous sparkle back in his eyes.

  "Yeah, now I need to get Sirius married so I have a mother. Oh, she’ll have a son who’s my age so we’ll be brothers!"

Now Draco laughed, leaning back on the chair he’d pulled over to the bed.

  "Is that so Potter?"

  "You bet your life it is Malfoy!"

They started to call each other silly names just for the hell of it when Madame Pomfrey interrupted.

  "Potter. Do you have a tattoo on your wrist?"

Harry’s face contorted in confusion.

  "No. The only tattoo I’ve got is on my back."

  "What? I thought I was the only person in the school to have a tattoo!"

Harry blinked.

  "You’ve got a tattoo Draco? Where? What is it? When?"

Draco crossed his arms, the now familiar stubborn expression fixed on his pale face.

"Only if you tell me first."

  "Boys!" Madame Pomfrey snapped, bringing their attention back to her.

  "Well," she continued as if there had been no interruption, "if you didn’t you have now."

  "What?" Harry gasped.

He pulled his wrist out of Madame Pomfrey’s grasp and stared at the underside of it, where the skin was always creamy white and transparent, showing the green/blue veins underneath. And there, partly covering the veins was a beautiful wavy pattern inside a triangle. The pattern was the colour of Galdon’s eyes, and when it caught the light it shimmered silver.

  "It wasn’t there this morning. It must have something to do with Galdon linking me."

Madame Pomfrey blinked, and then her eyes went as wide as saucers.

  "Oh my." She breathed, before jumping to her feet.

  "Excuse me, I must see dumbeldoddy, I mean somebody, yes Dumbledore. You, blood loss, stay. You stay too, dinner, both go."

The boys stared incredulously after her retreating back before swiveling around to stare - wide eyed - at each other.

  "What the?" Draco spluttered. Harry could do no more than shrug.

  "Don’t look at me."

  "But I am looking at you!"

Draco then gave up on sarcasm and, with a sigh, slid down in his seat, bringing his legs up to rest on the edge of Harry’s bed.

  "Feet off!" Draco sniggered.

  "Make me Potter." Then he gave a small yell as Harry leapt forward, pulled his feet further onto the bed thus pulling Draco’s butt out of his chair and onto the cold stone floor. Draco’s feet quickly followed and he sat in an ungraceful and very undignified heap on the flagstones with more than just his pride bruised while Harry roared with laughter.

  "Ow."

  "W-well you d-deserved it!" Harry choked out while nursing his aching ribs, which were now sore from laughing so hard.

Draco pulled himself back into his chair, frowning fiercely at the raven-haired boy falling about laughing.

  "What the hell was she saying anyway." He asked, sulkily pouting.

Harry wiped tears from the corner of his eyes and took several deep breaths before he felt he could answer without suffocating.

  "Ummmm. I think it was for me to stay here because of blood loss, you could stay too and that I’d be fine for us both to go to dinner."

  "Makes sense to me. You need to take it easy for a while."

  "I’m fine." Said Harry rebelliously.

  "No you’re not."

  "Ha!" Harry threw his arms into the air in exasperation.

  "You’re acting just like an older brother. Fine then I’ll just sit here and rot, but I’m going to make sure I take you with me so there!"

Draco felt a smile twitching around his lips. Harry was acting just like a stubborn younger brother.

  "When’s your birthday?" The blond asked.

  "July 31st." Now it was Draco’s turn to yell.

  "HA! Mine’s July 30th. I am older than you!"

  "Only by one bloody day!"

  "Yeah. But I’m still older than you."

Draco jumped up and began to taunt Harry to the point where the raven-haired boy let out a frustrated cry and pounced on the teasing Slytherin.

Harry was just pushing Draco’s head into the cover’s on his bed, telling the blond to take back what he said or he’d suffocate when a gasp made him glance up.

Madame Pomfrey was standing between Dumbledore and McGonagall in the doorway.

The irate nurse hurried forward berating the two boys.

  "Can’t leave you alone for five minutes. Always fighting!"

Dumbledore stepped forward a twinkle in his clear blue eyes.

  "Now Poppy. I’m sure they were just fooling around, doing the sort of thing most boys their age prefer to do."

  "No we don’t, we prefer se-" Draco got no further because Harry clapped a hand over his mouth. Dumbledore hastily changed his laugh into a cough as both of the females in the room glared at him.

  "No need for concern." The shrewd headmaster finished off.

  "No need for concern?" Squeaked Madame Pomfrey totally outraged.

  "Albus one of these boys is an invalid!"

  "I’m not." Harry muttered.

   "Yes you are!" Snapped Draco and Madame Pomfrey at the same time, then they stared at each other in surprise as Harry burst out laughing again and Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall smiled, trying to hide their chuckles.

Dumbledore shook his head.

  "I can see very clearly that you Poppy and you Draco are very protective over Harry, but he’s not as weak as you think, quite the contrary in fact. I assure you."

Draco and Madame Pomfrey both gaped at each other. Both thinking the same thing - Why do you care about Harry?

  "Now. The reason I and Professor McGonagall here came was because we wanted to have a look at your wrist Harry."

Harry stopped laughing and looked around him.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were standing, now grim faced, by the door.

Outside the windows it had started snowing again. White flakes falling from infinity into infinity. There were no other patients in the hospital wing and Harry could see the other beds with crisp sheets, waiting to be filled. Draco and Madame Pomfrey stood either side of his bed, as if trying to shield him from the world. They were looking stone-faced at the Professors across the silent ward.

  "Alright." Harry said firmly, yet again pushing up his school robes on his left arm.

Dumbledore stepped forward and stared hard at the pattern on his wrist.

  "Interesting." McGonagall said critically. "From a Makal you say Potter?"

Harry bristled slightly. Did they think he’d stabbed himself and then tattooed his wrist for attention?

  "Yes, and everyone in my Care Of Magical Creatures class saw it happen."

  "I believe you. But now the question is did you give the Makal your arm to drink from or did it just bite you suddenly?"

Dumbledore's quiet voice froze Harry to the bed.

  "Galdon asked me and I gave him my arm voluntarily."

Dumbledore nodded.

  "Ah, I see. Take care Harry, you’ve not only linked with, um, Galdon was it? You’ve also been given some of his powers. You should be able to sense a persons feelings and things like that. This is quite exciting really as the last time this happened was a thousand years ago."

Harry stared at the tattoo on his wrist.

  "Who was the last person that had this happen to them?"

Dumbledore and McGonagall had walked back to the door as they both had important things to do.

As McGonagall pushed the door open Dumbledore turned back to look at Harry.

He saw a handsome young man radiating power from his very skin, sitting on a plain bed, staring intensely at him with flashing green eyes.

Draco stood next to him, as if trying to shield Harry. The blond Slytherin was glaring fiercely at the headmaster with glowing, silver eyes.

Madame Pomfrey was standing on Harry’s other side. The kind, plump woman was also glaring angrily, fists clenched, demanding an answer from the headmaster.

Dumbledore smiled. Harry drew loyalty out of many different types of people. He was a born leader.

  "Haven’t you guessed? Godric Gryffindor."

* * * * *

  "Come on Ron we should go and see how Harry is."

Hermione looked at Ron sitting in the chair opposite her in the cozy common room.

You know, she mused; at times you can almost forget the terrible war that’s going on out there in the wizarding world. You can almost forget the letters that come almost monthly to tell a student that their mother or father is missing. Or that they’ve found the body. Or that there had been an attack and their family had been killed. How many students had gone home for the holiday and had never come back because their family didn’t want them to go back as they were going into hiding. Or worse, that they were dead. How many people have stumbled up to Harry? Tears running down their face and the letter still clutched in their hands and told him he must end it. That he must kill You Know Who.

Care Of Magical Creatures class had been cancelled once Pansy Parkinson had been revived.

Hagrid had gone back to his cabin shaking his great head and muttering. Hermione knew he would very likely end up blaming himself for what happened and get very drunk. She, Ron and hopefully Harry would go down after dinner to visit him.

Ron looked up at her, his red hair glowing in the firelight.

  "Yeah, good idea ‘Mione. Let’s see if we can talk old Pomfrey into letting him go down to dinner."

They stood up and trooped out of the portrait hole.

  "Where are you going?" The pink lady asked.

  "Oh, we’re going to see how Harry is Lady." Hermione replied. The lady smiled.

  "Well give him my love dear."

Hermione waited until she and Ron were several corridors away before giggling.

  "She’s really gotten attached to Harry."

Ron made a face.

  "Harry seems to have a knack for attracting odd things. Her, Moaning Myrtle, snakes, trouble."

  "He does doesn’t he. Must be something in his blood."

They walked on in silence.

Ron thought about all the things that had happened to his best friend over the years. It must be hard for Harry, he thought. Ron hadn’t told anyone but late at night he would sometimes creep into Harry’s private Head Boy dorm to check on him. Most times Harry hadn’t been there. Unable to sleep he would go for a stroll. When he had been there the raven-haired boy had always been silent, but Ron could tell that he was sleeping in a land of nightmares. His fists would always be clenched; a faint sheen of sweat coating his body, (Harry didn’t wear a top in bed and often threw the covers off) and his face was always drawn and pale.

Harry was the hero. He always had to be the rock, never flinching, never scared. Harry had taught himself not to scream in his sleep in case anyone heard.

All the countless times Ron had checked on his best friend only once had Harry ever made a noise.

Ron was sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed watching his friend worriedly. Tonight it was bad.

Harry was drenched in sweat. His damp hair was plastered to his beaded forehead, showing the lightning scar, which seemed, if Ron looked at it out of the corner of his eye, to be pulsing. Harry’s hands were clenched so tightly that his nails had bitten into his palms and blood ran down onto the sheets on the bed.

Ron was contemplating waking Harry when a soft moan made him look up in surprise.

  "Mummy, Daddy where are you?"

*Snap*

That was the sound of Ron’s heart breaking.

He’d always known that talking about Harry’s parents was a sore point in the raven-haired boy, but the fiery-haired boy could barely believe the utter pain and confusion that was in the words.

Harry had always been the strong one so it hurt Ron to see his friend reduced to such a broken heap.

Ron leaned forward and stroked the black, sweat soaked hair.

  "Shhhh, it’s okay, rest Harry."

Harry finally calmed down under Ron’s insistent hushing and gentle stroking.

As Ron stood up to leave he brushed a hand over his face to move some hair away, and was shocked to find his face was soaked with tears.

Ron remembered all the times Harry had saved his life, selflessly putting himself in danger again and again.

Now Harry was in danger and Ron didn’t know what to do. How could you protect someone from their own dreams?

Ron shook his head sadly and walked out of the door, leaving the now calmly sleeping Harry.

Hermione walked along beside Ron, noticing that her tall, fiery-headed friend was deep in thought. She wondered if he was thinking about Harry.

Harry. Hermione sighed deeply.

She had been completely and utterly in love with Harry since he and Ron had saved her from the troll in their first year. But he didn’t seem to notice. She’d gone out with Ron briefly in their fifth year to try and make him jealous, as Victor Krum hadn’t worked. But Harry had just said he was happy for them and left it at that. She bathed in the presence of Harry and always felt as if half of her was missing when he wasn’t around. All the times he had ended up unconscious in the hospital wing after saving the world, yet again, from Voldemort, had almost driven her out of her mind with worry. That was one of the things she loved most about Harry. He always thought of others before himself. Plus, there was also the added bonus of him being very good-looking, even more so now he’d gotten rid of his glasses.

Hermione fiddled with one of the curls in her long hair remembering a conversation she’d heard Parvati and Lavender having the other night in their dormitory while she was passing.

  "...think they will really suit him!" Lavender was squealing.

  "Of course, and in black." Parvati replied smugly. There was another squeal from Lavender.

  "Ohhhhhhh, he’ll look so bad! But do you think we can get him to wear them?"

Parvati giggled.

  "Simple. On the card we just put that we’ll be really hurt if he doesn’t wear them where we can see him in them. You know he’ll do anything to keep someone happy, he’s too kind not to!"

There was a deep, dreamy sigh and a soft flump. It sounded like Lavender had fallen onto her bed with that familiar misty expression in her eyes, which she only got when she was thinking about a very cute boy.

  "Harry Potter in black, dragon hide trousers. I can hardly wait!"

Hermione froze.

A brief vision of Harry in his favourite black shirt and boots with the trousers Parvati and Lavender seemed to be ordering him for Christmas almost made her melt into a puddle on the stone floor.

She hastily walked away, leaving the two airheads talking about the price.

But if they sent them to him.

And if he wore them!

Hermione didn’t want to admit it, but Lavender wasn’t the only one who couldn’t wait.

The two friends walked down a corridor and found the hospital wing door slightly ajar in front of them.

Hermione and Ron surfaced from their thoughts and were about to go in when Harry’s raised but not angry voice halted them in their tracks.

  "I’m not showing you!"

There was a chuckle then a voice that was unmistakably Draco Malfoy’s.

  "Go on. I’ll show you mine afterwards."

  "No!"

"Now, now, Draco." This voice was Madame Pomfrey’s. "Stop badgering Harry. He needs his rest."

Another chuckle.

  "Come on Madame Pomfrey, you know you’re dying to see it as much as I am!" Now there was a giggle.

  "Did Madame Pomfrey just giggle?" Ron hissed.

  "Actually I am. Come on Harry, shirt off. But you’ve got to show us to Draco. Promise?"

  "Would I ever lie to you?’ An innocent voice asked.

  "Yes!" Harry and Madame Pomfrey chorused in unison.

  "Oh alright then, I promise." A huffy Draco replied. Laughter.

Ron tapped Hermione on the shoulder and she looked at him expectantly, rich brown waves of hair swinging around her beautiful face.

  "Come on lets try and see." Ron whispered. Hermione nodded and quietly pushed the door open.

The sight that met their startled eyes froze them in the doorway.

Harry was sitting on a bed pulling off his shirt while Madame Pomfrey and Draco Malfoy sat in chairs in front of him smiling eagerly.

Harry dropped his black shirt casually on the bed and his perfect body was once again reviled.

The raven-haired boy slowly stood and turned around. Running up his muscular back was a tattoo. Not just any tattoo, but one so painfully beautiful it brought a lump to everyone’s throat.

  "Damn Harry. You know how to pick a tattoo." Draco muttered.

He stood up and, to Ron and Hermione’s absolute shock and horror, ran a sleek hand over the masterpiece on Harry’s back.

  "They’re almost extinct." Draco continued staring hard at the tattoo.

It was a Black Unicorn. Rearing, bathed in blue flames. The dim light filtering into the room seemed to catch the silver on the magnificent beasts tail, mane, hooves and horn. It was a proud, powerful animal, with intelligent eyes and muscles rippling like silk under the soft, midnight black hair. Draco got the strongest impression that it was huge.

  "Yes, that’s an amazing tattoo Harry. Not like some of the cheap ones I’ve seen through my years at Hogwarts. I wouldn’t mind so much if they only got them done properly!"

Harry grinned at Madame Pomfrey in a very winning way before turning to Draco.

  "Come on now. Your turn!"

Draco grumbled but pulled off his robes and began to undo his shirt. He seemed to be whispering under his breath.

Probably trying to work out how to get out of whatever he’s doing, Hermione thought grimly.

Harry was watching Draco intently, not moving a muscle.

The blond pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the soft bed. Then he turned around, his sleek muscles moving smoothly under his skin like iron under silk.

His tattoo was just as heart-wrenchingly beautiful as Harry’s.

A silver dragon, called a Sprit Dragon, was clinging to the skin of his back. Smooth, gleaming scales coated every inch of its long body, but they could not hide the muscles underneath. Quicksilver eyes stared wisely up at Harry as he reached forward and ran his aristocratic hand over the glossy ink and skin.

  "It looks so real. I never thought I’d see a Sprit Dragon." Was all the raven-haired boy said, his voice hushed in awe.

Madame Pomfrey stood up reluctantly.

  "It certainly is just as beautiful as Harry’s Draco, but I sadly, have duties to attend to. You may leave anytime you want Harry, Draco."

She gave the boys a kind smile and walked away to her office, shutting the door behind her. Leaving Harry, Draco, and (un-noticed) Hermione and Ron who had crept into the room and were hiding behind one of the beds watching and waiting.

Draco stepped away and turned around to face Harry, an odd look in his silver eyes.

  "When and where did you get it done Harry?"

Harry sat down on the bed and Draco joined him.

Harry’s emerald eyes were distant, far away looking at another place.

  "In the summer holidays before we came back for sixth year. It was barely two weeks into July and something happened at the Dursleys. Needless to say I left and caught the Knight Bus to Diagon Ally. Once there I got my usual room - 11 - in the Leaky Cauldron. One week later I went into Diagon Ally to see if there had been any news on Voldemort and I went further than I’ve ever really been before, right into the back alleys and down small roads. Anyway, this shop I’d never seen caught my eye. It was a wizard tattoo parlour. I went up and looked in the window and there it was on the wall with no other tattoos around it. I just felt like it was calling me, like it was important. I went in and asked the guy behind the counter how much it was. When he told me sixty galleons I just took it straight out of my bag and within an hour was lying on a chair with it being crafted on my back."

The raven-haired boy let out a deep sigh and turned to Draco who was sitting frozen beside him. The candlelight turning the pale skin on his lean body golden.

  "Draco?" The silver-blond jumped then turned to Harry with a frantic look in his eyes.

  "B-but that’s exactly the same way I got mine!"

  "What?"

  "I had an argument with my father and buggered off to the Leaky Cauldron. I went into Diagon Ally the next day and got a bit lost. While I was wondering down this ally in the middle of nowhere I found this tattoo parlour and saw the dragon in the window, on its own. It was like it was calling my name. The guy gave me a real weird look when I asked how much it was. I paid the sixty galleons and within an hour was having it done. I was just about to turn sixteen so we must have been staying in the cauldron at the same time!"

Harry flopped backwards onto the bed, bare chest slowly rising and falling. He stared at the ceiling in defeat.

   "This is too weird. I’m not gonna think about it."

Draco nodded in understanding.

  "Me to."

Harry rolled onto his stomach and stared hard at the Slytherin through narrowed eyes.

  "So are you going to tell me?"

Draco had been staring out through the windows, watching the sun set on a pink, orange flaming sky.

  "Wah?" He mumbled, entranced in the ancient beauty and magic in the setting sun.

  "About why you always put a hiding charm on your body if anyone’s going to see it."

That completely snapped Draco out of his daze and he spun around, eyes flashing, to stare at the calm dark-haired boy lying on the bed staring at him through old, mysterious emerald eyes.

  "H-how the hell do you know?" He spluttered. Harry frowned.

  "I’m not stupid. I’ve seen and heard you do it twice. Once just now, and the other week when Madame Pomfrey needed to see your chest."

Draco was furious with himself. Harry wasn’t stupid! Far from it in fact, but Draco had become so accustomed to just muttering it under his breath whenever he changed around those two bumbling idiots Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry continued staring at him. His green eyes filled with quiet intelligence, silent determination, a soft worry for his friend and a deep, soul-eating sadness that never went away.

  "You don’t have to tell me. I just was worried about you."

Draco felt warmth flood through every part of his slender body. Harry worried about him! No one had ever worried about him before. It was a wonderful feeling to know someone cared about him enough to worry, and for that Harry deserved an answer.

Wordlessly Draco stood and turned to face Harry who slid to the edge of the bed and sat up waiting.

Ron and Hermione also waited tensely, still hidden behind a bed in the corner.

  "Finite Incantatum." Draco whispered.

There was a ripple over his body and suddenly all the scars appeared, clearly visible. They cried out violence, as they lay white and taught on his skin. They were long and thin. Some over eight inches. Not a single one looked like it had been caused by accident.

  "Oh Draco." Harry stood and wrapped the shaking blond in a gentle hug.

The warmth and comfort was too much for Draco and he broke down sobbing on Harry’s shoulder.

  "He hurt me." He wailed.

  "Shhhh. Shhhh, It’s okay. I’m here."

Harry quickly realised that Madame Pomfrey could walk in any second and then Draco would bottle it all up again. He silently raised a hand a pointed it towards her door.

  "Distrahere." He murmured and a soft yellow light leapt from his fingers and covered the door. Until he took the charm off whenever Madame Pomfrey would want to check to see if they were still there she would be distracted by something.

  "Father’s shouldn’t enjoy spilling their son’s blood. They shouldn’t laugh when they rip a knife through their son’s flesh and watch the blood spill onto the floor. They shouldn’t be interested in how long their son can stay conscious under the Cruciatus curse. Should they?"

Harry felt a deep sadness envelop him. No one should be afraid of their own father. No one should ever be hurt by their father, not like that.

   

  "No they shouldn’t. A father should never treat his son like an experiment. A father should love their son and never want to see him in pain or cry."

Draco laughed bitterly against Harry’s shoulder, tears still spilling over onto the raven-haired boys golden skin.

  "Love? I’ve never been loved and I don’t expect I ever will be. I'm not even sure if I can love. How do you know if you love someone when you don’t know what it feels like?"

  "Love is what we have." Harry’s words were soft, but there was such power in them that it sounded as clear as a shout.

Draco stopped sobbing and raised his head.

Red-rimmed, confused silver eyes stared into calm green ones.

  "How do you mean?" He croaked, his perfect voice for one breaking. Harry smiled gently.

  "We’re friends aren’t we? And already we feel as close as brothers, like we can trust each other with anything. There’s great love between friends and brothers Draco."

  "Really?"

  "Really."

Draco lowered his head back onto Harry’s shoulder.

  "That makes me feel a little better. But I’m still alone, because no matter how hard you try you won’t ever fully understand me."

  "Why?"

Draco tightened his grip on Harry’s shoulder so much that his fingers would leave a flower of purple bruises on each arm.

  "Because you’ve never been beaten by someone who should love you."

Harry said nothing, his mind just spiraling back one of the worst times.

  "Vernon! The stupid brat’s broken Duddie's favourite cup!"

Uncle Vernon tore into the Dursleys kitchen and looked at the fourteen year old Harry furiously.

  "Did you break Dudley’s favourite cup boy?" The huge man snarled dangerously.

Harry stared at the smashed crockery at his feet. Dudley had thrown it at him on purpose, then wailed to his mother that Harry had broken it.

  "No."

The next thing Harry knew was that he was slamming back into the kitchen table. The corner smashed into his ribs painfully. He slumped to the floor, trying to shake the ringing out of his head. Warm blood trickled down his chin from his split lip.

Harry had suddenly had enough.

He’d just witnessed Voldemort’s rebirth, seen an innocent person, who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time because of him, get murdered in cold blood. And on top of all that Fudge refused to believe him, putting hundreds of thousands of innocent witches and wizards at risk.

  "Fucking bastard!" Harry bellowed jumping to his feet.

All the plates and glasses at the sink exploded. The window shattered, covering them all in dangerous shards of broken glass. The chairs and table threw themselves at the wall, where they collapsed brokenly.

  "Stop it! Stop it boy!" Vernon screamed going purple in the face in the face while Dudley and Petunia cowered behind him. (Which was impossible in Dudley’s case as he was wider than his father.)

  "Why?" Harry asked coldly. "All you’ve ever done is hate me for something that’s not my fault. I hate this house......and I hate you."

The cupboards imploded, scattering tins, cereal packets and Dudley’s secret stash of chocolate over the kitchen floor.

  "Stop him!" Petunia wailed. "Knock him out or something, he’s ruining my kitchen!"

The pots and pans flew across the floor, a large, heavy cooking pot coming to rest, invitingly, at Vernon’s feet.

The big, red-faced man hesitated only for a moment then bent down and picked the huge, iron thing up.

He stepped forward and his nephew realised too late what he was doing. The pot smashed into the side of the small, dark-haired boy's head. He collapsed to the ground without a sound.

Equipment dropped out of the air. Silence descended like a shroud onto the kitchen. And The Boy Who Lived lay quietly in a widening pool of his own blood.

Vernon stood there breathing heavily, the pot hanging limply from his meaty hand.

  "H-have you killed him dad?" Dudley finally squeaked.

Vernon dropped the pot with a clatter and stared at his unconscious nephew in shock.

  "No, no of course not." He was trying to reassure himself, not just his wife and son. Then hysteria started to set in.

He suddenly spun around. 

  "Everyone pack some clothes. We’re going to Marge’s!"

Within an hour the house was empty except for a slender, pale boy lying in a red sea of pain.

The next day Harry regained consciousness. His head had been split open behind his ear and had swollen up into a large, tender bump. On top if that he had sever concussion.

Harry managed to pull himself to his feet, falling over twice in the process.

He was too giddy to care that one side of his face was streaked with dried blood, and that his shirt and jeans were stiff with it.

Harry staggered muzzily down the hall and blindly out through the front door, unaware of the hot sunshine blazing down from a cloudless blue sky.

Got to get to Mrs. Figgs, Harry dimly thought, then why? Oh yeah, Dumbledore said summink ‘bout Arabella Figg, maybe she’s her. Or is it her’s she? Stop thinking, hurts too much.

The raven-haired boy had no idea how he got to Mrs. Figgs house. He vaguely remembered being on the ground more times than should be possible.

He knocked on the door and fell over with the effort. After a few seconds the door opened and Harry fell backwards onto the rough welcome mat. Darkness was closing in on him but he faintly heard an exclamation, then a young woman’s voice cry out;

  "Oh my Lord! Remus! Sirius! Come quick!"

Then there was nothing but blackness.

Harry awoke five days later to find he’d been right. Mrs. Figg was Arabella Figg and she had been taking an aging potion all these years to fool any dark wizard. She was in fact, the same age as Remus and Sirius who were staying with her at the time.

Harry refused to tell them what had happened except that it was an accident that had happened while the Dursley’s were away on holiday and that it had nothing to do with Voldemort.

After some gentle prodding Harry exploded and told them it was none of their business. No one had bothered him about it again and he had gone back to the Dursley’s when they got back from their ‘holiday.’ They had been very shocked but relieved to see him alive - not of course that they gave a shit about him but because if Harry had died the Vernon would have been charged for murder.

  "I understand you more than you could imagine Draco." Harry whispered softly.

  "How?" The silver-haired boy asked straightening up and looking rather worriedly at his friend.

Harry shrugged and sighed deeply. Well Draco had trusted him enough to show him his.

  "Stand back." He said.

The blond stepped away from the raven-haired boy, looking at him with puzzlement. His scars seemed to glow in the candlelight.

  "Finite Incantatum." Harry said sadly. A ripple spread over his body and his own scars were revealed.

Draco stared at him in absolute shock.

  "Harry!" A familiar voice shrieked.

Both boys spun around surprised.

Hermione scrambled out from behind the bed with Ron following.

Tears streaked down her beautiful face as she looked at the broken body of the man she loved before her. Every scar cut into her soul, burned forever into the back of her mind for as long as she lived.

  "Why didn’t you ever tell us?" Ron fumed. Harry looked down at his booted feet.

  "Because I knew you would react like this. I didn’t want you to worry about me, you already do enough of that."

  "Worry!" Hermione screamed, hair flying everywhere and hazelnut eyes flashing in fury. She looked something like an angry Veela. Before anyone could do anything she had slapped Harry across the face with all the force she could muster.

  "We’re your best friends! How dare you keep this from us! I mean we always knew your family were bad but we were told it was the only place you were safe. If you’d have told us we would have gotten you out of there!"

Harry slowly raised a hand to the red patch blossoming on his cheek.

  "Dumbledore said for me to stay there so I did."

Ron growled in exasperation.

  "Yeah but he didn’t know they were doing………doing this!" He yelled waving a hand at Harry’s scared body.

  "Did you fight back?"

The soft voice broke through the seething emotions and they all turned to Draco, still sitting on the soft hospital bed. Harry nodded wearily.

  "Every day. Every time they added a new scar I refused to break."

Draco stood and glided over to Harry. He stared into the eyes of the raven-haired boy for a long as if searching for something.

  "Good. I always knew you were strong."

He handed Harry back his black shirt and smiled a real smile as they both pulled their tops back on.

The moon rising in the royal blue sky outside the window whispered to the stars and smiled in on the two young men who had been through so much. It’s light touching them as softly as a kiss.

  "Neither of us need to hide our scars anymore because we will always know that someone out there understands us, even if it’s only each other. Lets show the world we’ve been put through living hell and didn’t break. Never forget, that which does not break us makes us strong."

Harry smiled back at his silver-haired friend speaking with such power before him. Both of them seemed to have forgotten Ron and Hermione standing directly beside them.

  "You’re right Draco. Now we’d better go and eat before everyone scoffs everything."

Draco laughed, his perfect face clear of tears.

  "Come on then!"

The Slytherin strode towards the door, threw it open impressively and disappeared down the corridor.

Harry turned to his friends and gently wiped the tears from Hermione’s face.

  "Please forgive me. I didn’t tell you because I care about you both. Anyway I live with Sirius now and will never see the Dursleys again."

He looked at them both and sighed. I must give them time he thought then turned away, quickly withdrew the spell on Madame Pomfrey's door and walked out of the door after Draco.

Ron and Hermione heard the faint, trying to be annoyed, voice of Draco.

  "What took you so long Potter?"

A laugh, then.

  "Race you!"

Two fast sets of footsteps quickly carried them away.

Hermione desperately turned to her tall red-haired friend.

  "Why didn’t he ever tell us?" She quavered. Ron looked thoughtful then gave her then true answer that they both knew, just didn’t want to admit.

  "Because he’s the hero ‘Mione, and a hero must never tell anyone how much they’re hurting."

Hermione's deep brown eyes widened in shock.

  "But he must know we’d never judge him like that!"

Ron stared sadly at the door his best friend had just walked through.

  "Maybe he does, but he’s always been alone in so many ways Hermione. All we can do is be there for him and give him time."

 Hermione lowered her head, her loose hair falling around her face like a dark waterfall.

  "You’re right Ron. We must always be there for him."

She held out her small hand and Ron took it in his large one. Together they left the cool hospital wing to have dinner with their friend who had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Here ends the chapter.

Just want to say thanks to all the people who reviewed my last chapter.

Connie – Thanks! Don’t worry here’s more!

Emma Malfoy – *grin* I couldn’t agree more!

Sailor Gaia – Hope you didn’t have to wait too long for this chapter love.

Nupil – Don’t worry Draco/Ginny stuff coming up in chapter four *smirks evily* but you have to read this chapter properly first! Mwah.

Mitra – All I have to say to you is this. Thank you for being honest. Someone telling you where you’ve gone wrong is just as important as someone telling you you were good. It means I won’t make the same mistake again.

Chocoagirl23 – Hope your finals went well. Here’s chapter three to calm you down as exams are so flipping stressful! Hope you enjoyed it.

Cytix – I’m a Harry/Draco nut too! Ohhhhhh if you find any fab slashes on the two most shaggable guys in Hogwarts PLEASE tell me! Thanks for the first review.