Dreaming

Dreaming

Draco Malfoy, a blond-haired pale-faced Slytherin of Hogwarts, stood in the center of a room. It was quite large with a bed in one corner and a high, arched ceiling. A large semi-circular window looked onto a balcony far below and a railing stood in front of the window. Boxes were stacked everywhere in the room, brimming with clothing, dishes, and other things. Another room adjoined this one with a kitchen in it and it too was filled with boxes. Draco furrowed his brows at the presence of so many boxes and made his way on the path around the boxes to a clearing in front of the semi-circular window where a black-haired boy with green eyes and glasses was leaning against the railing, regarding Draco with searching eyes.

"What's wrong?" Harry Potter asked.

"There's so many boxes," Draco replied, gesturing at all the boxes.

Harry laughed and Draco laughed with him. Then Harry told him, "Even I didn't know I had this much stuff."

A small tabby kitten suddenly jumped up onto a small dresser free of boxes but not free of blankets. Draco stared at the kitten and for a second he saw the kitten turn briefly into Harry lying on a hospital bed before turning back into the kitten.

"Shouldn't you be worried?" Draco asked Harry.

Harry shrugged nonchalantly. "About what?"

"That you haven't found a name for Miss Kitty."

Harry shrugged again. "She'll tell me her name when it is time."

Draco picked up a Magic 8 Ball out of one of the boxes and shook it. Briefly, it turned into a knife before turning back with a message that read, 'All signs point to yes.' Draco ignored it and turned back to Harry.

"Time for what?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged yet again, sticking his hands into his pockets. "When it happens," he said shortly, before turning to look out the window at the sun rising in the sky around a city busy getting ready for work.

As Draco looked at the window, he saw that the window became broken before becoming unbroken again. "When it happens, will I be there?" he asked.

Harry turned 90 degrees to look at Draco. "Of course, you will. What is it that they say sometimes? Human strength is one's weakness?"

Draco arched an eyebrow. Briefly, Harry had a knife stuck in his side and was grimacing because of it before turning back into being whole again. Draco looked at the Magic 8 Ball again before looking over the boxes.

"What are you going to do with this stuff?" Draco asked as Harry turned back to the window.

"You can have it," Harry said.

"I really don't need all of this," Draco told him.

Harry turned around to lean on the rail again. "Take what you want, or need," he said. As an afterthought, he added, "Or both, for that matter."

The pair stared at each other, their gases challenging but steady. Briefly, in place of the boxes, black-robed people appeared with a red circle drawn around the two before turning back into boxes.

Draco broke eye contact and looked at the alarm clock that was on the dresser next to Miss Kitty. It was 6:30.

"I should be going soon," Draco said as Harry's eyes followed to the clock.

"You should," Harry agreed. He smiled at Draco and Draco smiled back. "Go on then. Get a move on. You have a War to fight." Draco turned to leave but Harry called, "Hey! Wait a minute!"

Draco watched, lost, as Harry turned to a coffeemaker that was balancing on the railing. Harry roughly pulled the pot out of the coffeemaker, but it didn't fall or move.

Frowning, Draco asked, "Is this your mind or mine?"

"Who really knows?" Harry asked, laughing. He got out two mugs and poured himself and Draco some coffee, then handed Draco his cup. Both boys held up their mugs and knocked them together, saying, "Cheers!" before taking a drink.

Miss Kitty stood up and meowed.

* * * * *

Draco woke up in a hospital bed. Looking around, he saw boxes that looked like the computers that Harry had mentioned one time and other things he didn't recognize. He realized he must be in a Muggle hospital.

Draco moved to pull the covers off of him when he found that something was attached to his left hand and a black thing was attached to one of his right hand fingers. He ripped them both off, wincing slightly at the pain in his left hand and he realized that a needle had been there. He rubbed his hand and got out of bed, his bare feet touching cold tiles. He looked down suddenly and saw that he was wearing some kind of dress with little green dots against white.

Shaking his head in disbelief, he turned to look at his surroundings and saw that there was a mirror hanging over the bed. Equipment was stashed behind and around the bed and there were a few chairs. It was a relatively small room with turquoise green tiles on the floor and the walls. In one wall, there was a door to the outside hallway. In the opposite wall, there was a drawn curtain.

Curious, Draco walked over to this curtain. It was made of the same fabric as his dress and Draco grimaced at that. He tried to think of insults to use on the doctors but soon his curiosity overtook him and Draco pushed the curtain aside and stepped into another room.

It was much like his own, except there was more equipment and it was larger. Draco looked around before his eyes settled on the bed. He immediately recognized the boy.

Harry looked so bad, Draco was sure it was the worst he had ever seen him. Harry had bandages all over his forehead and down his arms. There was some sort of mask over Harry's mouth and nose and Draco recognized it from one of Hermione's books he had looked through the previous summer at Sirius' and Narcissa's wedding. It was helping Harry to breathe. The skin that wasn't covered with bandages was covered in bruises. Draco cursed himself for getting it better than Harry had and he noticed that one of Harry's legs had been propped up and had a cast on.

He was happy that he couldn't see the wound. He thought he wouldn't have been able to stand it if he'd seen the wound. He had been forced to do it, but he didn't aim for the heart like they had said to, he had aimed for the stomach, and then he had let Harry go.

Taking Harry's left hand, Draco called up the dream that they had shared before Draco had awoken. He smiled at the thought of drinking coffee. Draco loved to drink it but Harry had despised it. He still felt the taste of the coffee in his mouth from the dream and wondered if Harry could feel it too.

Behind Draco, the curtain rustled but he didn't move. Leaning forward, Draco lightly kissed Harry's hair in a brotherly movement. He brushed back some black bangs away from Harry's forehead, revealing the lightning-shaped scar.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered to Harry. Draco wished that Harry's eyes would flutter open and he would say that he would be able to forgive Draco, but they didn't. With hardening resolve, Draco turned back to the curtain where he saw a nervous looking woman standing. She had short blond hair that curled at the end and was wearing a shirt and pants that matched the curtain underneath a white lab coat.

"You should go rest now," the girl said gently and Draco obeyed. She closed the curtain after he walked back into his own room and had sat down on the bed. "You shouldn't have taken out your IV like that."

Confused, Draco looked at his left hand that had started to bleed in the center of the top of the hand and back at the woman, who nodded.

"My name is Margie," the woman said. "Now, I want you to rest before I come back with Dr. Hartford who will ask you some questions."

Draco nodded and Margie left and went into Harry's room. Draco lay back in bed and pulled the covers up over him. He stared at the mirror above him and saw that he had bandages on his forehead like Harry had and bruises loomed up ghastly all over the uncovered flesh. Several cuts shone on Draco's lip and for a moment he stared furiously at his reflection, before looking away again.

Sleep. That was the last thing he needed at the moment. The last thing he wanted was to be dreaming again.