All This Time, You Were Missing From My Heart

Chapter Seven

"I'm going to kill those bastards," Sirius growled, his eyes blazing. "I told you, Albus! I knew that family of his would do something like this!"

"Sirius! Calm down!" Remus warned.

"No, Remus! I told you, Albus, that those people hated him! I told you that he said he'd been hit before!" Sirius yelled, pacing.

Albus looked down, ashamed at himself. The twinkle in his eyes was gone.

"I know, Sirius. He was protected from Voldemort there, though," Albus spoke.

"He was protected from Voldemort, but not those horrible people he lived with!" Severus spat, surprised as the words fell from his mouth.

Remus, Sirius, and Albus looked at him. Severus scowled and stomped out of the Infirmary, going back to the dungeons to make a Dreamless Sleep Potion.

***

"It was the Dursleys, I know it," Ron scowled. Hermione sniffed and wiped away her tears.

"It was just his Uncle," Draco spoke, looking up at the ceiling.

"How do you know?" Ron asked, his words hostile.

"He told me," Draco shrugged, blinking back his own tears. "I didn't know it was that bad."

"But, why didn't he tell us?" Hermione sniffled.

Draco looked over at her. "He thought you might think less of him."

"We wouldn't do that!" Ron and Hermione cried out together.

"It's one of the many insecurities people have when something like this happens to them," Draco smiled sadly. "They can't help but think that."

"At least he talked to somebody," Hermione wiped away some more tears. She smiled slightly at Draco.

"Yeah," Draco smiled back.

"His uncle didn't make those cuts on his arms, did he?" Ron asked suddenly. Draco looked away, not wanting to reveal Harry's other secret, but the two Gryffindors got their answer from his actions.

"You two already know more than he ever wanted you to," Draco turned back to them.

"How does he expect us to help him if he doesn't tell us?" Ron asked, exasperated.

"He doesn't want you to help him," Draco said shortly. "He needs to deal with it. He doesn't need the pity you would give him."

"We wouldn't pity him!"

"Yes, you would. Believe me, I know you only want to help him; Merlin knows I only want that too, but you wouldn't be able to not feel pity. You already pity him, you two. He's never known what you two have; parents. Parents or a real family," Draco argued. "He needs someone who knows what its like.'

"And you are that someone," Hermione said. Draco nodded.

***

"This shouldn't have happened, Remus," Sirius stated quietly, looking away from the boy who he loved like a son.

"I know, Sirius," Remus nodded, pulling the taller man into his arms. "He's a strong boy, Padfoot, he'll pull through and be fine."

"I just wish I hadn't been a coward," Sirius shook his head. "If I had have been their Secret Keeper, none, none!, of this would have happened. Harry would have had parents, Remy."

"You're not a coward, Sirius. You did what you thought best. It's not your fault. It's Pettigrew's, not yours. It was never yours," Remus spoke with conviction.

"

Remus, it was my fault. It's my fault they died, and it's my fault that Harry didn't have somebody to care for him," Sirius's voice was harsh. He pulled out of Remus's arms and transformed into Padfoot before trotting out of the Hospital Wing. Remus just sighed and watched him go, all the while twisting the gold band on his finger that had been on his hand since his and Sirius's wedding day.

***

In the Gryffindor Common Room, the seventh years were retelling the Potions class. The room got quiet as Hermione and Ron walked through the portrait.

"Harry still in the Hospital Wing?" Neville asked quietly as the two made their way to the dorms.

"Yeah, but he'll be fine," Hermione forced a smile at the concerned boy.

"That's good," Dean smiled back, knowing that the famous boy's friends didn't want to talk about it.

***

{"Oh, Sev."

"I love you, Harry," the Potions Professor told him. Harry stared into the black eyes of his lover. Severus leaned down and kissed the younger man. The Slytherin kissed a trail up his jaw and nibbled on the earlobe at the end of the path. Harry moaned. Severus pushed Harry's robes away and bit at Harry's collarbone. The other man lifted Harry's shirt off of him and licked at the thin chest beneath him. Severus started to unbutton Harry's pants.}

Harry sat up, sweaty and aroused from his dream. He looked around and found that he was in the familiar settings of the Infirmary. He ached all over, but no longer was his wrist and ribs hurting. In his right arm was a muggle IV needle and all the cuts on his torso and arms were healed. Including the ones he'd made himself. He turned to take the line out of his arm and jumped. He had missed seeing the large black dog watching him from beside his bed. The dog stood quickly as the Boy-Who-Lived cocked his head to the side in confusion.

"Sirius?" Harry asked. He was caught off guard as the ex-convict changed back into human form and hugged the boy in front of him.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Sirius whispered in his ear.

"About what?" Harry pulled away, perplexed.

"This," Sirius waved his hand over the bruises and scars on Harry's chest.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Harry talked like an innocent five-year-old. "You didn't do this."

"I should have been there for you," Sirius continued.

"It's not your fault. And you were there for me; you're here now," Harry smiled at him, hugging his godfather again.

Sirius sighed. He knew Harry would argue with him as long as he could stand to argue. "I'm still sorry."

"I know, Sirius."

***

Severus Snape sighed as he tossed in several Aconite leaves into the sleeping potion. Stirring the potion, he dropped in a few Belladonna berries and watched the concoction turn purple. He then threw in a bezoar to take the poisonous properties out of the Sleeping Draft.

As he bottled up the finished potion, he thought about the boy he'd tormented for the last six years. He didn't hate the famous Harry Potter. He had just assumed that Harry had been a spoiled little brat from day one. Now, he felt the rare pangs of guilt tug at his heart. The sight of Harry lying in that hospital bed like that disturbed him more than he wanted to admit. And when Madame Pomfrey had said those words, 'he was raped,' Severus felt like he was going to throw up. He wanted to rip up the muggles that the Boy-Who-Lived lived with. The former Slytherin had been surprised to find that he was concerned about the Gryffindor. Severus sighed and corked the phial. He just couldn't figure himself out.

***

The Hospital Wing doors creaked, and Sirius quickly turned back into Padfoot. Harry smiled as Draco walked through. Not seeing Harry's smile, Sirius growled at the boy that he knew to be a Malfoy.

"Uhm, Harry, could you call off your godfather?" Draco stayed a fair distance from the snarling Grim-like dog. Harry rolled his eyes. He'd learned that Draco had a fear of dogs after Draco had stumbled upon Fluffy in first year, as the Terrific Trio had.

"Sirius, quit scaring Draco," Harry laughed slightly. Draco gave a sigh of relief as Sirius stopped growling and gave Harry a strange look. Draco still stayed back, though.

"Could you have him change back?" Draco inched around to the other side of Harry's bed, staying away from the bed still.

"He's not going to hurt you, you git," the Gryffindor rolled his eyes again.

"I know," Draco said haltingly, "but he still makes me nervous."

"Go on, Sirius, you can change back," The Boy-Who-Lived shook his head. Sirius looked confused still but transformed back anyway.

"Thank you," Draco heaved a sigh and stepped up to Harry. "Hi, I'm Draco."

"I thought you two hated each other," Sirius was bemused.

"We did, but Lucius disowned me, so I thought I'd try to make up for my previous stupidity," Draco shrugged.

"'Previous stupidity'?" Harry raised an eyebrow. Draco glared as he and Sirius laughed.

"Prat."

"You know, you two act a lot like James and Lily did before they got together," Sirius grinned at them.

"Merlin, does anybody not think that we're together?" Harry threw his hands up.

Draco looked indignant. "Red heads, only red heads."

"Would you quit with that? Yes, we know you like red heads."

"Sirius doesn't," Draco lifted his chin up, looking smug.

"Speaking of red heads, where are your extra limbs?" Sirius asked Harry.

"They're in the Gryffindor Tower. Ron and Hermione are really upset," Draco told them.

"What do they know?" Harry's voice hardened.

"Just what you can see," was Draco's answer.

"Good," Harry sighed. "I don't want them to know anything else."

Draco and Sirius nodded; Harry's voice told them to not speak of anything else.

End Chapter Seven