Cruel

Let me Go! Seven days, I am entwined in depression

Let me Go! Seven days, Neither my hands nor feet can get out

Let me Go! Seven days, I'm driving fast but I'm just idling

Let me Go! Seven days, This nightmare of seven days

I'm not worrying, I am not really troubled

I want to do a dandy handstand

Tonight I might as well decide for sure

The memory disappears after my dreams

During these seven days,

I may have bent back more than ever!

Let me Go! Seven days, Deliberately I did not lay it to rest

Let me Go! Seven days, Many thanks to the sun

Let me Go! Seven days, Steadily like a doodlebug

Let me Go! Seven days, These melancholy seven days

--Gravitation, TV Ep. 11 - Yuutsu Na Seven Days (Melancholy Seven Days)

Harry could hear the rustling of the grass and the shift of the trees. He opened his eyes and glanced around, careful not to move too much. Even with the heat of both men and the cover of the cloak, things had begun to feel much colder. He reached for his shirt as he watched Death Eaters search around for him. They knew he was there, somewhere.

He looked down at the precious man beneath him, innocent in the way he slept. It nearly broke his heart realizing he must have taken some of that innocence away. Of course, such things mattered little at the moment.

"Draco," he whispered, shaking him a little. "Come on, wake up."

Draco let out a small whine then opened his eyes. The first thing that struck him was the unfamiliarity of where he was, followed by the cold and the fact that Harry was directly over him. He would have jumped if he hadn't been laying flat on his back and pinned down, but the thing he could do was yell. If it weren't for the frightened look in Harry's eyes, and Harry's hand going immediately to his mouth, he probably would have.

"Death Eaters," Harry whispered. "Just a few feet away. Getting way too close. Quiet, alright? Stay under the cloak and follow me."

The first thing Draco wanted to ask is if they were expected to leave their clothes behind, but he saw Harry had them already. The second thing was really very petty: why did Harry get to have a shirt on? But he did as he was told, being that he wasn't planning on getting caught any time soon. Briefly he had a thought that he could simply shout. If he turned Harry over, there would be no problem. But as brief as it had come, it left. He realized there would be a problem. He would die either way. But trying to live without Harry, or perhaps if the Dark Lord commanded that he kill Harry himself...No, he wouldn't live that way either.

That being settled, they moved slowly away from the Death Eaters and toward the castle. Unfortunately, they found themselves both pleased and frightened that a group of teachers were coming toward them. Of course, the intruders would have set off some sort of alarm. It had been inevitable. As they passed, Harry could have sworn he saw Dumbledore look right at him and motion for him to hurry back to the castle. Though instead of dwelling on it, he decided it would be best to follow that action.

Once inside the doors and after making sure no one could see them they got dressed. They both sat there a moment, trying to figure out what to do. Once the panic of being caught out of the castle, and by Death Eaters, no less, everything that had happened sank in.

"Harry we..." Draco blinked, unbelieving. "I mean we just..."

Harry watched him carefully, looking for regret, anger... anything. He knew what it was: fear of rejection. If Draco rejected him now, it was all over for him.

But Draco smiled wide, slowly coming to a laugh as he realized what had happened. He leapt on Harry, holding him. "We actually did it!"

Harry laughed too and held his new lover. "We did. And it was just... wow."

Draco nodded. "Wow is certainly a word for it."

Emerald eyes met silver and both boys enjoyed the moment, now free of fear and exhaustion. For the first time, they could truly enjoy the very knowledge of what happened, rather than the feel of passion and the euphoria that followed. But the emerald eyes turned serious very quickly.

"Draco, we'd better go to Dumbledore's office and wait for him."

He couldn't hide his curiosity. "Why? We can just sneak back and..."

The taller boy shook his head. "They know, Draco. Voldemort and his little group know. That's why they were there. And Voldemort will be after you too."

Draco sighed in defeat and understanding, while the gray eyes grew storms about them. "You're right. Let's go."

It was a while before Dumbledore returned to his office, and it was rather surprised to find both boys there. Almost proud, though he was thinking his password was rather simple to figure out. Oh well, it wasn't the first time he'd thought that, nor was it the last.

"Nice password, Professor," Harry remarked. "It took us a while this time."

This rather made the old man smile, and he took a seat behind his desk. "How may I help you boys this late?"

"Asylum," Draco said plainly. "I don't want to go back home, and I don't want to join the Dark Lord. So I'm begging asylum."

The old wizard leaned back and considered this a while. "You know this is a hard thing to ask of me, but I also know it was hard for you to ask as well. But my concerns not only lie with trying to withhold you from your parents, but with your sudden change of heart. Though the latter I have little doubt on how it would happen." He glanced down at their hands, which were clasped together between them.

Draco nodded. "I understand."

"We may have time yet before this truly becomes a problem. I'll let you know in a week. Sooner, if anything comes up."

This time, both boys nodded and they were dismissed from the office. Harry got to the portrait and considered a moment before handing the cloak over to Draco.

"You may need this for the next week. In case the others..."

Draco nodded. "I know. Thanks."

There was a quick kiss, and both students were on their way to bed.

Harry awoke early in the morning with someone collapsing onto him. He winced slightly then looked down to see half of Draco lying there. The rest of the cloak slipped off and Draco strained to pull himself off the larger man. Harry carefully looked the other over, seeing bruises and cuts every which way. He could swear the man was also sporting a tail. Cute, but obviously not something he consented to.

"Draco, what happened?" he asked, pulling the other man onto his bed, looking him over for other injuries.

"They must have gotten a contact sometime last night, before we got back." He winced as he moved just enough to lean again Harry. "They were all asleep when I got back, but once they woke and saw me..."

Harry shook his head. "I can't believe it... And you were one of them."

"I believe at the moment 'were' is the operative word."

Harry looked down and noticed blood dripping from Draco's hand to his bed. He looked to where Draco had fallen and noticed it was stained there too, though it was faint on the already red comforter. It was also a small trail coming through the door. Eyes wide, Harry reached for the arm and Draco pulled back, though automatically regretted it. As he moved, the room spun, pain blinding him.

"Harry, don't. Please..."

Harry managed to take hold of the arm and pull the sleeve up. There, etched into the skin, blood oozing from the wound, was a crudely perceived version of the Dark Mark.

"Bloody hell! Get whipped by yer own mates, ferret?"

Draco winced and Harry looked up. He hadn't realized they'd gained an audience, though he could understand how it happened. The others looked more shocked than anything else. Ron, however, was glaring at Draco.

"Ron, this isn't the time."

"Never seems to be, Harry. Lemme give him a good one, will ya? Can't break him any more than he's already broken, ya know."

Draco, having already been through enough punishment, did his best to shy away, though every part of him hurt like hell. He toppled off the bed, hitting the floor hard. The flash of pain that ensued broke through what will he had to remain conscious and the world turned black.

Harry scrambled down after him and tried to lift the man, but found the task nearly impossible. Sure he was bigger, but not by much. "Ron, help me, please..."

All the boys stood there and looked at one another. Most of them hadn't wanted to be awake, much less helping out Malfoy. But Ron saw the pained look in Harry's eyes then looked down at Malfoy. Maybe it was the shock of having the boy in their tower that had made him feel so aggressive, but now that he really looked at Malfoy, looking pale, weak, and completely destroyed, he couldn't urge any more of that fighting spirit out enough to hate the boy.

Reluctantly, he kneeled down with Harry and Malfoy then lifted his legs. "On three, okay? One, two, three!"

They both lifted the blond and suddenly a stretcher appeared floating underneath. The two set the frail being onto the stretcher then looked to see Neville standing with his wand out.

"We'd better hurry. He's lost a lot of blood."

Madame Pomfry was quite surprised to see five boys from Gryffindor bringing in Draco Malfoy. Not so much that he was brought in, but more that they were all looking concerned. Along the way Harry had told the others what happened the night before, excluding some extremely personal areas. Hearing that Draco had not only saved him, but had Death Eaters after them both, had given them a softer spot for the Malfoy. While they weren't quite sure they trusted him, or even really liked him, they all promised not to harm him at least until he'd healed up some. And even then nothing too serious. After all, Harry couldn't stop him from acting like a git, nor could he stop the others from smacking him when he did.

Pomfry helped the boys get Draco onto a bed then drew curtains around the small boy and shooed the rest away. They all went to wait out in the hall for Dumbledore, talking about what happened. It was Ron who pointed out that with his injuries, it was unlikely he escaped on his own. They all nodded in agreement and they had to feel sorry for the Slytherin who helped Draco out. But it was the question of who that bothered them the most.

Dumbledore came and spoke to each of them, then told them to return to bed for the morning. They agreed and wandered off, but none of them went to bed. The Great Hall should be open to early arrivals, so they went there.

They sat there, many of them in worry, until Hermione came and asked them what had happened. She'd thought to wake Harry and Ron early for a project, and found the dorm room empty. They told the situation to her, and even she began to worry for Draco. After all, they may have hated him for one reason or another, but why wish death upon a person who never did any real harm? Come to think of it, Harry thought, Sirius did worse things in his years at Hogwarts than Draco ever did. Even if it was to Snape.

But this was the worst they'd ever seen any Slytherin do to another student. Other students had filtered in by this time, and the Great Hall was now full of students. There were a few that were rather rambunctious at the Slytherin table, but a good majority looked ashamed or scared. Then there were the ones who were missing: Pansy among them. No doubt they were the ones who helped Draco get away.

Sadly, Harry knew it would be hard to expel the kids who had done that to Draco. Not without alerting parents that there had been a Death Eater attack at school and not without nearly getting rid of an entire house. Many of the students from Slytherin cast horrid looks at Harry. Some blaming him for what happened to Draco, and some threatening him that he was next.

A letter came for the boys, saying that Harry may be able to visit Draco by the next morning, and the others by midday. Harry folded it away and just looked at the food which had already appeared before them. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to eat.

-///-

The next morning couldn't come soon enough and he was out of his bed the moment the first rays of sun worked their way into the tower. He raced down to the hospital wing and entered hesitantly. Madame Pomfry looked over and nodded then returned to her own business. He pulled up a seat next to the slender man and watched him a few minutes before Draco noticed and spoke.

"Scared a full room of Gryffindors, didn't I?"

Harry gave him a small smile. "Sure did."

Draco nodded. "Good. My crowning achievement."

Harry couldn't help a laugh. He looked down at Draco's arm. "The mark..."

"Is staying." He looked over at Harry's wide-eyed expression then closed his eyes again. "I was under the Cruciatus Curse when they did it, and for some reason that made it permanent. Not that it won't heal, it already has. But there'll always be the scar."

Harry closed his eyes against tears. "What are we going to do?"

Draco looked up at the ceiling. "Only Dumbledore knows, and knowing him, that doesn't really mean anything."

"It does!" Draco raised a brow, but Harry only continued. "Dumbledore's protected me this long, hasn't he? I'm still alive, and it's all thanks to him. Otherwise I would never have come this far. Remember? You said if I'd died back then you'd be a Death Eater. You told me I couldn't die because you needed me. Well you never would have known that if it weren't for him! But then..." And here, he began to cry. "Then you wouldn't be here, all hurt and everything..."

Draco realized that he'd brought Harry right back to where they started; only right now Harry didn't have a window to jump out of. Draco sat up wincing then took the other man's hand. "And it was worth all of it."

The two men watched each other, Harry through tears and stained glasses, and Draco regretting having ever sat up. But then he continued. "Harry, I love you. If I'd known when I saved you that night that all this would happen to me, I'd do it again. I'm still not sure how I did it, but I would. I'd find a way. I don't regret anything between us, do you hear me? Let's not let this worry us. If my back didn't hurt, I'd do a handstand for you right now to show you I'm fine. Never been better. And the tail might help my balance a little."

Harry blinked, wiping tears from his eyes and glasses. "You still have the tail?"

Draco nodded. "Yeah. She said I had to stay here until it went away. No way to just get rid of it, I'm afraid. It has to wear off. But I think I kind of like it." He brought the tail up and brushed Harry's face with it. "See? Soft..."

He laughed then pet the tail. The smaller man took in a sharp breath and Harry pulled back. "Sorry."

Draco shook his head. "No continue. Petting tail very good."

Harry grinned. "I'll keep that in mind if you still have the tail when that soreness goes away."

Draco leaned over and kissed Harry, then whispered, "don't you have class in a few minutes?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. But I'd rather stay here with you."

"Go. I'll be fine."

"Alright." As he got up and moved toward the door, he looked back and smiled. "Be forewarned: you'll be getting a nice group of Gryffindor visitors."

A deep groan. "Lovely. I can see already this will be a depressing seven days."

"Seven days?"

"How long I'll probably be in here. They'll likely keep me here even if the tail disappears before then, until Dumbledore makes his decision."

A nod. "Makes sense. I'll see you later, Draco."

"See ya."

"And Draco?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you too."

Draco leaned back one more and stared at the ceiling. He had to make a decision, and tonight. He had to decide whether or not he would tell Dumbledore. So, by tonight, then. For such a decision, that was all the time he would need.