Goodnight Sweet Girl

Six: Haunted

It was after dinner and no one had seen hide nor hair of 'Diana' since the incident from that morning and Harry hadn't seen her since he'd left her in Madam Pomfrey's care. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence. Once they were in the Gryffindor common room Harry began pacing. Ron just looked at his friend in confusion and Hermione was watching him with interest, no longer pretending to be interested in her book.

"Honestly Harry, could you alter your pacing? The carpet is beginning to look worn," Hermione said.

This stopped him in his tracks and he looked at her. She shook her head and then sighed. "If you are so worried just go up and see her. You know the password, and I'll be sure to keep little Ronniekins occupied down here so there are no intrusions. Now go."

She made a shooing gesture at Harry and he practically ran up the stairs and straight for the room Hermione shared with Draco. He muttered the password ("Polyjuice potion"), and then went inside when the door opened for him. The room was dark and cold. Harry sighed and then said "Lumos." Soft light filled the room and he noticed a lump curled up on the four-poster to the left of Hermione's. He approached the bed slowly, and then looked down at its occupant.

Draco was curled up into a ball on the bed, the sheets and blankets pulled up so high around him that all that was visible was the top of his platinum head. Harry smiled at the sight until he pulled the covers back and saw the look of terror on the sleeping girl's face. A whimper escaped the slightly parted lips and Harry knew without a doubt that Draco was having a nightmare.

---------

He knelt down upon the dark carpeted floor of his father's study. He'd already removed his shirt. He had his arms crossed against his chest, his hands on his shoulders, delicate fingers digging into the pale skin of his shoulder blades with each lash of his father's whip. He'd cried out with the first lash, but he refused to give his father the satisfaction beyond that first sign of weakness. He bit down hard on his bottom lip, as the thin strip of leather bit hotly into his back once more. Sweat beaded on his forehead and trailed down his face like tears, but he never cried.

Finally his father grew tired of the torment, because he was no longer eliciting a response from the boy.

The cold voice of Lucius Malfoy tainted the air. "Get up boy. You have shamed me enough tonight. Go to your room. Someone will be sent to tend your wounds. Out of my sight!"

The boy, Draco, gave a terse nod, got up stiffly, and again, bit his lip until he drew blood to keep from crying out. Once the boy was on his feet he straightened as much as his injured back would allow, took his shirt from the chair he'd laid it across, and then walked out of his father's study and straight to his room. He could feel the warm blood seeping from the wounds in his back with every throbbing pulse of his heart, could feel the warm rivers of his blood streaming down his back.

Once in his room he threw the shirt into a corner and collapsed face down on his bed, not caring if he soiled the sheets with his blood. Soon exhaustion brought with it comforting darkness, and then a pair of arms wrapped around him...

---------

Draco's eyes flew open and he tried to sit up, but couldn't. Something... No. Someone was holding him. Strong sinewy arms were wrapped around his shaking frame. He leaned against the chest that was pressed against his back and recognized it as male. Draco's back stiffened as he recalled the dream and tried to recoil from the embrace.

Then a soft soothing voice was next to his ear. "You're safe, and nothing will happen to you. I won't let it."

"Potter," Draco let out in one breath.

"Stop fighting me. It's bad enough that I was fighting myself to realize that..."

"What?" Draco said and then carefully turned in Harry's arms.

"Well," Harry began sheepishly. "I care about you."

Draco raised an eyebrow at this and then remembered his problem. His eyes widened and then he looked at Harry. The bloody prat just had to show up at the most opportune times.

"Let me up now!" Draco snapped.

Harry shocked at the sudden turn of events did as he was told and watched as Draco made a mad dash to the bathroom.

Draco slammed the door of the bathroom shut and let out a relieved sigh. A woman's "condition" was less than a blessing in his eyes and he was expected to endure it for a week? Draco used the facilities as quickly as possible, then washed his hands, and upon a second thought brushed his teeth. Then upon noticing his "waddle" he gave a world-weary sigh, made an adjustment and then walked as normally as possible out of the bathroom.

Harry was sitting on Draco's bed and looked up when he heard the door. Draco blushed faintly and then returned to the bed. He sent a glare Harry's way, but that hardly fazed the dark haired boy.

"So..." Harry said and didn't know how to continue.

"Your conversational skills never cease to amaze me, Potter," Draco snapped tiredly.

Harry gave him a funny look and then asked, "What is wrong with you?"

"I've become a..." Draco let out a sharp breath, and continued, voice dripping with disdain, "real woman, if you must know."

"Huh?" Harry managed and then his mouth fell open and he understood immediately. "Right, I'm sorry. I've been a bit thick today. So all of this is because of the monthly visit? Doesn't sound too pleasant."

Draco glared at him. "Doesn't sound pleasant? You try bleeding like a stuck pig for a week and see how you feel! Prat!"

Harry's eyes widened, and he was not sure how to take that outburst so he turned to the issue of the nightmare instead. "What were you dreaming about? It looked like you were having a nightmare."

"You were watching me sleep? How long were you in here?" Draco asked; his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Only a few minutes. If you hadn't been having a nightmare I'm sure you would have looked adorable in your sleep," Harry said with a slight grin.

"Slytherins never look adorable," Draco growled.

Harry let out a chuckle. "Have you forgotten that you're a Gryffindor now."

Draco was positively seething with anger, and he was in misery, not to mention that Harry sodding Potter was sitting across from him, on his bed, and there was little he could do about it, aside from glare at the boy in anger and frustration.

"What do you want?"

Harry looked at the blonde and shrugged. "We could start by what is wrong with you, and then work into what I want a bit later."

Just what Draco needed, an emotionally considerate Gryffindor...

---------

Nearly ten minutes after Harry had gone to check on Draco, a loud noise could be heard, almost like the sound of a door slamming. A few minutes later Harry crept out of the room followed by a stream of peppered obscenities yelled in a voice of frozen elemental magic. Everyone looked up at the dormitories and watched as Harry ducked and a book flew out of the open doorway and landed on the floor of the common room. Harry quickly pulled the door shut and a resonating thump could be heard as another object hit the door and then he briskly walked down the stairs, a sheepish grin on his face, and a rosy hue to his cheeks.

Ron looked at the black haired boy in shock and then asked, "Bloody hell, and mum thought my mouth was bad. I never heard anything like that. What did you do to her?"

Hermione smacked Ron on the shoulder and gave him a dirty look.

"I don't know. She asked me what I wanted and I said I thought we should start with what was wrong with her and work on what I wanted a little later and she went mad. Never saw anything like it. Talk about a temper," Harry said with shrug.

"It's her first period, you git! What do you expect?" Hermione hissed at him. "Honestly, have you thought of what must be going through that mind of hers?"

Ron's eyes widened. "You mean, she's got the monthlies now? This is too rich. As if he weren't bad tempered before go and add cramps to the mess. Eew!"

Hermione's nostrils flared as she drew her palm across Ron's cheek in a harsh slap.

"Hey! What was that about?" he asked.

"For being an inconsiderate prat. Honestly, and you have a sister! You would think you would be a bit more sensitive to the subject!" Hermione snapped.

Harry was trying to bite down on his laughter. Hermione sent an icy glare his way and then went upstairs and to her room. All of the Gryffindors in the common room had watched the scene unfold with interest and many of them looked on, impressed by the bravery it took, as Hermione Granger walked up the stairs and into her room where a very angry 'Diana Marlowe' awaited. Once Hermione disappeared from sight, the Gryffindors' attention turned to Harry and Ron (who was still rubbing his smarting cheek). Both boys blushed and then turned to take a couple of seats by the fire. Everyone was interested in what had gone on with Harry and 'Diana' only moments before...

---------

Hermione cautiously opened her door and peered in. Once she knew it was safe she walked in and noticed Draco curled up on his bed, face in his hands. She sighed and closed the door behind her, warding it and putting a silencing charm in place. Draco looked up at the sound of the door closing.

Hermione looked at the poor girl in sympathy. "I've heard about your condition. Can't be too pleasant, and being with Harry when it happened. It must have been mortifying, and then having him come in on you like he did. I shouldn't have told him to look in on you."

"It's not that, although that was rather less than pleasant. Actually, he came in while I was having a nightmare, and he wanted to play the role of caring Gryffindor prat," Draco said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the last comment. "With Harry that isn't an act. You know that."

Draco nodded.

The dark haired girl approached the blonde cautiously until she sat on the edge of the blonde's bed. She looked at the blonde and noticed the looked in the gray eyes. They looked odd...

"You've been having a lot of nightmares lately. Sometimes I hear you cry out or whimper when you sleep," Hermione said gently and then she took the pale delicate hand of the blonde. "Want to talk about it?"

Draco looked up at her, tears in his eyes, but he wasn't ready yet to shed them. He took a shaky breath and then let it out slowly. "The paper said I was dead. I can't help but think that I should be... Haunted. How could my body have been found when I'm right here? And there is so much in my head. People I thought I admired, even loved, and then the things that I've done that made me hate myself. I mean how can people respect someone whom they hated? I supposedly died and no one seems to care. And I've never really loved or cared about anyone beyond myself until..."

"What are you saying Draco?" Hermione asked softly.

Draco looked up at her and a tear slipped from his right eye and slid down his cheek, a single tear. "After eighteen years of not knowing what feelings were real and fabricated... How do I know if I'm in love? How do I know if I care for people? I know I hated Flint, and I hate my father. I thought I might have loved Blaise, but this feeling I get when I'm with Harry... I don't know what's real anymore. I don't know if I was ever Draco Malfoy or Diana Marlowe. I don't know if Harry cares about Draco or Diana, and I don't know who I am or who I should be."

"You are Draco Malfoy, and that is who you need be. I haven't always liked you, or respected you, but I am now proud to call you my friend. After all that you have been through, and all you will probably go through, I find that you are the single strongest person I have ever met. And what I've seen of you and Harry together, I couldn't call it anything but love, despite the sexual innuendo you put into play just to embarrass him. You bait each other, and its like you two are drawn together... I can't even describe what it is that I sense between you and Harry, but its strong and very real," Hermione said and then on a lighter note added, "And after tonight's display, the fact that he is still worried about you is proof that he feels it too. And you don't have to worry about all of this. I won't tell anyone that you got emotional; it's probably just your hormones fluctuating. After all this is your first monthly, and finding out that your 'body' has supposedly been found cannot be good on any level."

---------

Ron looked at Harry as they sat down in chairs across from each other, and after giving his cheek one more final rub, he said, "Girls are bloody mental!"

Harry merely nodded in agreement and then asked Ron about Ginny.

Ron shook his head and ran a hand through his bright red hair. "She's still at home. Mum hasn't let her out of her sight. She won't reveal the father. If I ever find out who did that to her, I'll..." Ron finished off that thought by balling up his fist and slamming it into his hand.

Harry looked at Ron and then patted the redhead's knee in a gesture of support. "Did she ever say what happened? Do you recall any of her boyfriends?"

"No," Ron said irritably. "I don't think it was a boyfriend. I... I think she was attacked."

"Attacked?" Harry asked. "But that isn't what she told your mum or dad."

"I know, but it's these looks she sometimes gets. Ginny isn't careless. She wouldn't have allowed herself to get pregnant. I know my sister. You've seen how close we are. I bet it happened that day when she disappeared in Diagon Alley and didn't come home until the day after. Bloody hell, I wish she'd say something," Ron sighed.

"I'm sure she will when she's ready. I'm just surprised your mum pulled her out of school," Harry said.

"I'm not," Ron replied. "She wanted Ginny to have her full support through it all. She's watched Gin like a hawk, she has."

"Your mum has always been protective."

"Sometimes she over does it though."

"I wish I could have known if my mom were like yours. I suppose she was very protective of me. I mean she did die for me," Harry spoke softly and looked up at Ron. Ron looked at Harry in sympathy.

"Bloody hell, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Ron tried to apologize awkwardly.

"No," Harry said. "It's not you. It's just these things in my head..."

"It's not your scar acting up is it?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "No... It's like I'm haunted. There are so many things in my head, lives that have mattered and its almost like they weren't real. My parents, Cedric, Sirius, it's almost like I have their voices in my head telling me things, or I see Sirius or Cedric rounding a corner only I know it couldn't be them. I haven't had feelings like this since right after Sirius... I think it might have to do with Draco... His voice, the way it used to be, is in my head and I hear him taunting me and teasing me and then I see him now, and hear that voice, it's like magic, and then I remember things I thought I'd forgotten. What is he doing to me?"

Ron looked at his friend, unsure of how to answer, but Harry sighed and then shook his head, obviously not expecting an answer from his friend.

---------

After his talk with Hermione, Draco felt somewhat better. He had come to two conclusions. He was in love with Harry Potter. And he was Draco Malfoy, despite anything his father or anyone else had to say. Diana Marlowe was the fabrication, the reflection. Draco was real.

He sighed and curled up under the covers. Having that talk with Granger... No, Hermione, had really helped him. How had he ever been so cruel to her in the past? He had a lot to atone for to her and to Harry. Weasley could go and bite him for all he cared on that front. That was when a terrible thought occurred to him.

Weasley. Bright red hair on the dark carpet in his father's study. He had seen the strands almost glowing in the fire from the fireplace. The blood drained from his face and cold realization hit him. He hadn't seen the youngest Weasley at school this year. Where was she?

Sleep pulled Draco ruthlessly into darkness as these new questions haunted his thoughts. How could long strands of bright red hair find their way on the carpet in his father's study? What sins of the father would he have to pay for?

---------

It was getting late by the time Harry and Ron went upstairs and to their dormitory. Both boys slipped into their pajamas and then into their respected four-posters. Harry set his glasses down on his bedside table, and was just drifting off to sleep when he heard Ron's voice.

"Harry, do you think Ginny will ever tell me the truth?"

"You two have always been close. I'm sure when she is ready you'll be the first one she tells. Now go to sleep Ron. It doesn't do any good to dwell on things and we have Double Potions in the morning. Can you imagine what Snape would do if you fell asleep in his class?"

"Would that be before or after the aneurysm?" Ron asked, a light humor in his voice.

"Go to bed," Harry answered.

"Night Harry."

"Sod off, Ronniekins."

With that Harry pulled the blankets up over his head and something began to nag at the back of his head, and he wondered just what had happened to Ginny Weasley. Still sleep was demanding and ruthless, as darkness crashed in waves against Harry's consciousness.