Deathly Memories: Draco

Draco stood alone looking out the window from one of the classrooms in the castle. He gazed over the once proud lands of Hogwarts, letting memories of that distant battle fill his mind. The death eaters had attacked without warning and the professors had scrambled to hide away most of the students. Many of them refused to hide and joined all the professors, minus a few on the quidditch pitch to fight. The only professors not fighting that day had been Snape, Sprout and Flitwick, who had stayed behind to guard the remaining students. Lupin had also been missing since he was away following a lead to the main lair of Voldemort. Dumbledore had also been absent, he had gone with Potter and Sirius Black to destroy a group of death eaters rumoured to be massing to attack the school. A lot of good that had done. They had been tricked and the school had been attacked anyways.

The first to fall had been McGonagall, she had stood at the front of everyone, challenging the death eaters to attack. She had been followed by everyone who had joined her to fight, except for two Weasleys and a small child, who for some reason had been on the pitch that day. All those who had died had taken every single death eater with them. No minions of Voldemort had survived that day. Draco himself had been with Lupin, and they had returned to find Potter, Dumbledore and Black in the field with Ginny and Fred Weasley. The field had been glowing with orbs of light, each one marking a warrior of light who had fallen in the battle.

Draco took a sip from the cup in his hands and grimaced at the taste. He had been taking this stupid potion to suppress the pain from the Dark mark that had been branded on him while he had slept. Lately it had been giving him tremendous pain, though he didn't know why. He looked down at it, glaring up at him from his inner arm and he grimaced and pulled his sleeve down to cover it.

He turned away from the window and walked calmly across the room. Classes were still being given but at a greatly reduced rate since most of the Professors were dead now. He himself had been helping teach Transfiguration since, after Hermione Granger, it had been found he was the best at it. He picked up the text he had had his father buy all those years ago when he had first met Harry Potter in the robe shop, for some reason he couldn't remember the name, though it was a well known shop.

He replaced the text on his desk and picked up a picture that had been taken just before the battle that resulted in everyone’s death. Ginny and Hermione waved happily at him with Potter and Ron standing just behind them doing the same. They had developed a respect for each other and Ginny had given him this picture at the beginning of his seventh year. He returned the picture and found his mind filling with thought of Harry Potter. He had left him alone for the six months as Dumbledore had asked him too. He had been watching Harry fall into a deeper depression as time passed and was worried. If his father was alive to see him now he would be disgusted with him. A Malfoy, loyal defenders of Voldemort, consorting and worrying about a guardian of light.

He left the classroom to wander the halls and after passing the door of the room Harry had been hiding in recently several times, he opened it just in time to see Harry fall to the floor, blood pooling at his sides and a silver dagger glittering dully from the floor beside him.

"Shit!" He uttered the single word in exclamation and moved quickly to Harry's side. He was already unconscious and Draco pressed his fingers to Harry's throat and found a faint pulse. He quickly whipped out his wand and tried to heal the wounds at Harry's wrists but found that they stayed open even after the spell was said. Without thinking, he slashed at the bottom of his robes with the dagger on the floor and quickly bound Harry's wrists tight before scooping him up in his arms and carrying him to the hospital wing.

He looked down into Harry's pale face and then realized how light the young man really was. He had obviously lost weight since he was nowhere near as heavy as he had been a year before when he had held down Draco and beat on him for some stupid trick he had played. Harry had been surprisingly strong as well and Draco had walked away with many bruises and a bloody nose from that night. That was also when he had begun to try and befriend Harry and his group after he had watched his father kill his mother and he had renounced Voldemort's entire teachings. He had decided that it might look better when he joined the side of light if he didn't look like he hated Harry any more. He never really had, he had just been extremely jealous of the boy, his father had spoken of him with such hatred and had never really felt anything more then necessity with Draco. It had hurt him to have his father express such strong feelings for someone not of his blood or even their kind.

He reached the hospital wing and used his foot to kick through the doors. Madame Pomfrey bustled over, about to tell him off when she saw Harry dangling limply in his arms. She quickly moved the two over to a bed where Draco set him down. She unwrapped his wrists and tried to heal them as well but it seemed to only start the blood flowing again. Draco handed her the dagger Harry had used and she made a startled noise when she felt the anti-magic hanging on the dagger. She conjured up some linen bandages and efficiently re-wrapped his wrists and then bustled Draco to her desk and began to bombard him with questions.

"Where did you find him? How much blood did it appear he lost? Why would he ever do this?" She held up the dagger and shook it in Draco's face. "How long do you think he was bleeding before you found him?"

Draco was startled at the amount of questions for a moment and it took him nearly as long to formulate some answers. "He was in the room he has been hiding in lately. He lost maybe 2 pints of blood from what I saw. I don't know exactly why he choose to do it but I have a few suspicions. And the blood was only starting to congeal so he couldn't have been there for very long." Draco sank into a chair by the desk and sighed.

Madame Pomfrey bustled out of the wing after one last look at Harry and returned ten minutes later with Dumbledore and Sirius Black, who he had been talking to in his office. They came in, Dumbledore looking somber, Sirius frantic. He moved to where Harry lay unconscious and took his hand in his own and solemnly promised to kill him when he woke up for doing something as stupid as that. Dumbledore looked in Draco's direction and Draco nodded to the unasked question in his eyes. Dumbledore then moved over to the bed and stood at the end.

Apparently the Weasleys had been walking and had noticed Sirius and Dumbledore go into the hospital wing and they entered it five minutes later. Mrs. Weasley was a teacher at Hogwarts now that her family minus Ginny and Fred were dead. She zeroed in on Harry and moved over to the bed followed by a stunned Fred and Ginny. Finally soon after, Lupin came in for a routine monthly check and was surprised to see them all there until he saw Harry laying unmoving on the bed. Suddenly Harry groaned and loved a bit.

"Oh look," Ginny said happily.

"He's waking up." This from Lupin.

"Harry..."Sirius spoke just as Harry opened his eyes.

Draco had now moved to the wall behind the bed and was watching as Harry's eyes traveled around, looking at everyone surrounding the bed. Draco gazed over the entire group and caught Harry's eyes for a moment before turning and leaving the room. He wandered the halls, puzzling over the entire situation before finding himself back at his classroom. He went to get something from the drawer and his eye caught the small clear glass ball rolling around inside his desk. He picked it up and found memories filling his mind.

Himself stealing it from Neville Longbottom shortly after his grandmother had sent it to him in first year. Finding it on the quidditch pitch after during their first flying lesson and the resultant actions that had led Harry to being placed on the quidditch team. He smiled at that memory, but then sobered when he remembered how it had come to be in his possession now.

Neville had joined the other s on the field that day and had fallen. He had left his bag in the great hall with this item still inside. Draco had recovered it when he had returned to the castle with Lupin and they had been going through the dead students items to send to parents. He had found himself keeping this particular thing for some reason and he still didn't know why.

He sat in the classroom for a while, lost in his memories before deciding to returned to the hospital wing and Harry. He slipped the remembrall into his pocket and walked slowly there. He arrived to find everyone gone, even Mme Pomfrey. He pulled a chair over to the wall nearest the bed and sat in it. He took the ball from his pocket and sat playing a game of toss and catch with it to pass the time. After a while he felt Harry watching him but he continued his game as he said.

"Recognize this Harry? It belonged to someone you used to know." He held it tight in his hand, stilling the catch and toss game he had been playing. He looked over in Harry's direction now and searched Harry's dull green eyes with his own bright silver ones. Harry looked back with an owlish expression and he sighed. "This is a remembrall Harry, it once belonged to Neville Longbottom before he was killed in the battle against the death eaters with so many other students. I found it in his bag, abandoned in the great hall when he joined so many others in the fight." He tossed it over to Harry, who caught it with reflexes born of years on the quidditch pitch.

He watched as it began to glow bright red in Harry hand who dropped it almost immediately like it burned. Draco stood up, retrieved the ball and dragged a chair over to next to the bed. He watch Harry for a moment but the young man seemed to be avoiding his gaze. Finally he said:

"Why Harry, why did you feel the need to end your life?" He asked bluntly and Harry's head shot up in shock.

Harry then stammered some weak explanation about Draco not understanding why and looked down at his wrists. Draco responded that he would and explained a bit about his own tortured memories and how he had to live with them everyday. When Harry didn't answer, he grew fed up and smack Harry across the back of the head and told him to grow up. Then he turned to leave but stopped when Harry began to explain why he had even thought to kill himself. Draco listened with somber expression on his face then responded when Harry finished.

"Harry, it doesn’t get better. I know this because I live with my memories every day and they help me get through everything. I don't tuck them to the back of my mind, forgotten, like you seem to have. Your gonna need to dig those memories out if your gonna stay sane Harry." Draco tossed the Remembrall at Harry, who again caught it and Draco watched as this time he continued held it as it glowed bright red. "Use this to help you Harry." He turned to leave the room. "And Harry, next time you even think of this, find me so I can kick your ass to remind you why your alive."

Draco then turned and left with a smile, leaving Harry to muddle through his memories. Draco’s mind was filled soon with his own as he walked down the hallway, and towards a new beginning.