Falling

Falling

It had all begun four days before when the Hogwarts Express had slowed to a stop at the King's Cross train station. Sixth-year Draco Malfoy got off the train with his trunk and said goodbye to Crabbe and Goyle as he looked through the crowd for Harry Potter.

He spotted Harry and his friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, getting off the train just further down the line. Draco sighed and dragged his trunk over to where Harry was and greeted them.

Hermione and Harry said hello while Ron just nodded. Hermione had been able to accept Draco into the group when he became Harry's stepbrother but Ron hadn't. This was because the Malfoys and the Weasleys hated each other with a burning passion. Passed down into each generation was the seething hatred for the other family and that wasn't going to stop just because a Malfoy became a stepbrother to a Weasley's best friend.

Hermione soon joined her family and waved goodbye to them. Then Ron went off with his parents and his sister and said goodbye to Harry only, which suited Draco fine. He didn't really want to say goodbye to Weasley anyway.

"Come on," Harry said, putting his trunk on a cart and settling Hedwig's cage on top of it. The owl hooted as Draco put his own trunk on his own cart as well and the pair went through the magical barrier on Platform 9 3/4 onto the Muggle platforms 9 and 10. There, they were greeted by the happy couple, Sirius and Narcissa Black. They were going to live with their new parents in London during each summer in an apartment Sirius had rented when the charges against him were dropped and he was able to marry Narcissa.

Sirius loaded the trunks into the back of Narcissa's car and they drove to Surrey to pick up Harry's belongings at his aunt's and uncle's home to bring over to the apartment. When they got to Privet Drive, all seemed quiet and normal and Sirius navigated the car into the driveway of Number 4 next to a blue car. Harry was the last to get out of the car and he walked slowly to the door and knocked.

Not a sound came from inside of the house. Draco looked back at the driveway to see if the Dursleys' car was still there and it was. Harry knocked again. Still, there was no answer. Growing impatient, Harry knocked for the third time. Nothing happened.

"Is the door open?" Draco asked. Harry turned the handle and the door opened easily, letting them in. Harry walked in first and the others followed with Draco coming in last. The house was very homey and pictures of a fat little boy decorated the whole place. Draco was surprised that the Dursleys hadn't taken the fat boy's pictures and made them into wallpaper. But then again there were so many pictures on the walls of this fat boy that it actually looked like wallpaper.

"Hello?" Harry called, walking down the hallway to an open door and peeking in. "Hello?"

"Maybe they left," Sirius suggested.

Draco shook his head while Harry ventured into the room beyond the door. "Their car is still in the driveway and sensible people lock the door when they leave."

Harry came back into the hallway, scratching his head. "I wonder where they went," he said, going up the stairs. Draco followed him curiously and their parents waited in the hallway. Crossing the hallway behind Harry, Draco gasped as Harry opened the door and they looked in.

There was absolutely nothing in the room except for a small piece of paper taped with Spellotape to the wall beside the door. Seeing it, Draco nudged Harry and read aloud the message.

"'If you want what you are missing,'" Draco read, "' come and find it!'" Draco looked at Harry then and he knew what Harry must be thinking. The Death Eaters must have taken the stuff.

Both boys ran out of the room and Harry said, "They must have done something to the Dursleys!"

"Never knew you cared so much about these Dursleys, Harry," Draco commented and Harry ignored him. As they ran down the stairs, a crash sounded at the bottom of the stairs, causing both boys to freeze on the second landing. Draco looked past Harry down the stairs and saw nothing so they kept going. Once they were down the stairs, they quickly found out what happened. The Dursleys had been stuffed into the cupboard under the stairs.

"Are they dead?" Draco asked, walking closer.

"Stunned," Sirius answered, pulling Aunt Petunia out and laying her down on the floor. "Enervate," he said, pointing his wand at Petunia. Petunia opened her eyes and looked around, confused, as Harry came over to help her stand up and Sirius pulled the other two Dursleys out of the cupboard. Draco wondered how such huge people could have fit into the tiny cupboard at all. Well, maybe Petunia could since she was the skinnier of the three.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, keeping Petunia steady as she straightened up. She nodded.

"What happened, Petunia?" Sirius asked when he was finished moving what must've been Vernon and Dudley into the living room. Those two were exactly as Harry had described them of being: fat with many chins and no necks.

Petunia gasped at the sight of Sirius. "You're-" she said, pointing a shaky finger at him, obviously remembering the broadcast on Sirius escaping jail and being dangerous, especially to the Muggle world, in third year.

"I was cleared," Sirius said shortly. Which was true, he was cleared in Draco's fifth year when Peter Pettigrew was spotted by a very large group of wizards. Fifty of them in fact (He seems to be off his game a little). The news had spread around the Wizarding World like wild fire and Narcissa had went to the hearing that would clear Sirius' name after reading the story on the front page of the Daily Prophet which took up three pages, so it was quite hard to miss. When Sirius had spotted her, old feelings had stirred up from their days at Hogwarts and pretty soon Narcissa had gotten up the nerve to divorce Lucius and marry Sirius in a small ceremony in the summer before Draco's sixth year. She had always been afraid of what would happen to Draco if she did divorce Lucius but Sirius had tucked Draco away in a safe place when Narcissa had announced the news of divorce to Lucius. "Answer my question."

Petunia retracted her finger and tried to recall what happened. "I remember I was making breakfast when suddenly these people dressed in black cloaks appeared."

"Did you see their faces?" Draco asked.

"No," Petunia answered, shaking her head. "They had their faces covered with hoods. Before we had time to do anything, they whipped out those wandish things you lot have and pointed them at us, muttering something. And then everything went black."

Draco looked at Harry who met his eye and Harry understood what Draco wanted him to do. Turning to Sirius, Harry told him about the empty bedroom, to which Petunia gave a startled cry.

"Everything?" she asked. "Including Dudley's toys?"

"You shouldn't be too worried about those," Harry snapped. "They were all broken anyway."

Petunia threw a dirty look at him and Narcissa, who had been standing in a corner watching the whole scene with quite large and worried eyes, broke up the party by saying that they should go to London so Sirius could go to the Ministry of Magic to report what had happened. The Ministry had finally accepted that Voldemort was back when their best wizards were in that very large group that had spotted Peter Pettigrew and Cornelius Fudge had reluctantly agreed with Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, that Voldemort was back when the day after Pettigrew was spotted, a mass murder was staged upon Burkle's Burrow, the town Pettigrew was spotted in. The Death Eaters were looking to kill the Ministry officials that had spotted Pettigrew but they had already left for London.

The foursome drove back to London in silence when they had woken up Vernon and Dudley. When they got to the apartment on Borough High Street, they found that Harry's school trunk had been taken from right underneath their noses. Worried and possibly very angry, Sirius had Apparated to the Ministry and Draco, Narcissa, and Harry stayed home and played Exploding Snap.

The next morning, dawning bright and clear, they found that Sirius wasn't back yet which made them even more nervous. Narcissa made breakfast and her anxiousness showed in her cooking. Harry stirred his spoon around in his food and Draco pushed his bowl away, earning him an "eat-it-it's-good-for-you" look from his mother.

Suddenly, Sirius appeared with a faint 'pop'. He sat down at the table and Narcissa handed him a bowl of oatmeal. He looked at the bowl and sniffed. Then he raised both eyebrows and asked, "Nervous?"

Narcissa smiled and chose to ignore him. "Well? What did you find out?"

"I have the address of where Harry's stuff is," Siruis replied and looked sternly around the table, prolonging his gaze on Harry and Draco when he spoke again. "But I don't want any of you going there. It is extremely dangerous for all of you because the Death Eaters have heavy Dark Magic guarding the place which made it easy to find in the first place. The Ministry is going to look at it for us."

They all nodded and Harry sighed as Sirius went back to the Ministry. It became absolutely boring after that and Draco and Harry had to content themselves with watching shows on the new television that Sirius had bought for the apartment sometime before the summer holidays and nothing happened until the evening. Narcissa had found nothing wrong in going for a little trip so Harry and Draco had went out that evening for groceries when it started. Draco would have preferred to go by himself since he did know a little about the supermarkets and Muggle money from what Harry had taught him, but Narcissa had insisted on strength in numbers. So Harry and Draco walked down Borough High Street and were passing a couple of houses when something caught Draco's eye. He stopped and looked at the house they were about to pass, trying to figure out what he had seen. His eyes traveled skywards and he realized what he had seen. Above the house was a symbol of a giant skull with a snake protruding from its mouth, the Dark Mark.

Harry had seen it too. Somebody ran out of the house then in tears and ran next door. Soon sirens were blazing and the police and ambulances were driving up. Harry pulled Draco back off the driveway to let the police cars drive up and something brushed Draco's neck. Draco twisted around to see something white flutter to the ground. He bent down to pick it up and saw that it was a note.

"'Do you want more people to die?'" Draco read aloud in a hushed tone to Harry who had noticed the note fluttering down as well. "'Use the address and you won't have to. 687 Long Lane. Apt. 418.'"

"Let's go," Harry said without hesitance, turning around and starting back up the street to Long Lane, which they had passed a few minutes ago.

"Sirius is going to kill us," Draco called after him trying to see if Harry will own up to being the good boy again. Harry ignored him and Draco looked back at the house with the Dark Mark above it. Several stretchers were being carried out of the house with blankets covering the still forms on them. The girl who ran out of the house was being comforted by the neighbors and a crowd was already starting to gather. Then he looked back to Harry who was already several yards ahead. Draco ran after him and the pair turned onto Long Lane. By now, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, the last of its rays casting an eerie glow on the houses lining the street. Apartment towers loomed up in the quickly approaching darkness; some were a couple of stories high and others were decked with many stories. Draco looked down at the note for the address as they made their way closer to the buildings. Building 687 was the second building on the left. Harry crossed the street cautiously and Draco followed him.

Draco felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as they approached the building and knew at once that they were being watched. Harry went to open one of the double doors when he jerked back and his hand went to his forehead; the scar he had gotten from facing Voldemort when he was just a baby stood out livid on his forehead. Harry started to fall backwards and Draco caught him, steadying him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked Harry, who shot him a look that said, "Where-have-you-been-in-the-past-hour?" Draco let go of Harry abruptly and Harry nearly fell backwards again, but he balanced himself without the aid of Draco and determinedly started for the door again and this time he paused.

"What is it this time?" Draco asked irritably, walking up behind Harry ready to catch him if he fainted.

"The pain in my head," Harry began. "It was so strong when was in this spot before. Now, it just disappeared."

Harry reached for the door again and opened it. They went inside without any problems and they got onto the elevator that was open already. The elevator door closed and Harry pushed a button that said "4" but the elevator was already moving. Draco had the vague sensation of flying without a broomstick which unnerved him since he was so used to a broomstick. He was, afterall, the seeker and soon-to-be captain of Slytherin House's Quidditch team. Suddenly, it jerked to a stop and the door opened on a different floor. Harry stepped off the elevator and Draco followed him. They walked down a narrow hall with blue walls and found door 418. Harry knocked and the door opened for him under his touch, letting them inside.

It was a large room with a bed in one corner and a high arched ceiling. A large semi-circular window that reached down to the floor looked out to the world and a railing stood guard in front of it. A door opened onto a kitchen and beyond that was a bathroom. In all rooms, boxes were stacked everywhere, their tops brimming. The boxes were stacked so that small paths led to a large clearing in front of the semi-circular window. Draco felt along the wall for a light switch like the one in Sirius' apartment. Last summer when Sirius and Narcissa had married, Draco had read some of Hermione's Muggle Studies books that she had taken in third year and knew enough to know what a light switch was for. He found it and pushed down and a small light in the center of the ceiling went on, illuminating something that was on the floor in the clearing.

Curiously, Draco made his way over to the clearing and stepped aside to let Harry by. On the floor drawn in red was a large five-pointed star barely visible with a more visible circle drawn around it connecting each point. In the middle of the star was the Dark Mark. Harry stepped around the circle and Draco stepped in it, looking at the Dark Mark. It looked like it was drawn in blood.

"Is that blood?" Harry asked, joining Draco.

Draco nodded in answer. "I think I have seen this design before," he said, straightening up. "Though I'm still not sure what it means, it definitely can't be good."

Harry straightened too. Then he tensed. "Do you hear that?"

Draco tuned his ears into any sounds around him. He picked up the smallest hint of whispering that sounded like it was coming from the floor and nodded to Harry. The whisperers were speaking in a dead language, Draco guessed. Probably Latin. "Maybe we should leave," he suggested. "I don't like the sound of these voices- er- whispers."

Harry nodded and they started for the door when a single flame rose up from the floor. Draco backed into Harry as the flame came closer to him, pushing them back into the circle. He noticed that the whispers were steadily growing louder and a crack of lightning suddenly split the sky. The flame stretched into a circle around the star and suddenly the star glowed a faint white and the building shuddered. The circle of fire vanished leaving behind a very livid red circle. Thunder could be heard outside and the voices grew yet more louder. The star stopped glowing just as people in black robes appeared around the circle and the voices grew yet even more louder. The cloaked people, most likely the Death Eaters, chanted non-stop until the circle of fire arose again and the star glowed. Then suddenly everything stopped and the Death Eaters disappeared, and so did the circle of fire, and the star stopped glowing. Only the Dark Mark was glowing, casting a pale but noticeable light on the room. Nothing could be heard except the soft drumming of the rain that had started to fall.

"Harry," Draco said, a bit tentatively. An odd emotion had stirred up inside of him: jealousy? rage? both? something else?

"Yeah?" said the boy behind him.

"I think I'm supposed to kill you," Draco told him, still not turning around.

There was a pause. "I figured," Harry said.

In one swift movement, Draco picked up a knife from off of one of the boxes, raised his left arm and turned around, aiming the knife for Harry's heart. Harry's arm shot up and caught Draco's arm. Draco pushed his arm down on Harry's hold and the knife pricked at the skin on the top of Harry's hand, drawing some blood. Harry didn't falter and kept staring back into Draco's eyes. They were both thinking the same thing: What the hell was happening?

Neither moved, nor did their eyes stray away. Thousands of emotions crossed Harry's eyes and as soon as Draco had guessed what each one was and what its meaning was, the emotion had disappeared and was replaced by a new emotion. In the back of his mind, he felt the same thing happening to him. All of the emotions he had ever experienced and then some played across his eyes. There was another thing he felt in the back of his mind as well. He was being controlled. There was a small little voice that he couldn't hear in his mind but physically he could. He felt a tugging on his muscles as his body wanted so much to jump into action but his mind wouldn't let it, which was tiring. As soon as he had made a decision about whether to fight this, Harry had made it for him.

Harry's left arm came up and hit Draco's left arm, jarring the knife from his grasp and letting it clatter to the floor. Harry moved his right hand to hit Draco's face but Draco caught his fist with his left hand and punched Harry on the jaw with his right. Then using Hary's own right hand for leverage, Draco flipped Harry against a wall. Harry retaliated by leaning his elbows on a dresser by the wall and kicking hard against Draco's stomach, making Draco fly back into a stack of boxes behind him, knocking them to the ground. Who was going to win was anyone's call.

Almost an hour later, Draco and Harry had numerous bruises, cuts, and bleeding wounds. By now, the knife had traveled from the floor to beyond the railing and after kicking Draco into a dresser, Harry jumped over the railing to grab the knife. Draco jumped over the railing too when he recovered his balance and knocked the knife out of Harry's grasp with a kick. He hit the back of his hand against Harry's jaw, then he leaned back and kicked Harry lightly in the chest, making Harry fall backwards. He picked up the knife and walked over to Harry with his left arm raised, ready to bring it down. He stood over Harry who just stared at him defiantly and challenging, gasping for breath.

"Do it," Harry said raspily.

"Goodnight," Draco said, just as raspily. He bent and brought the knife down, aiming it for the heart but, once again, Harry blocked the strike by grabbing hold of Draco's arm, surprising Draco by how much strength was left in him. Harry kicked Draco's legs making Draco fall on top of him and he stared into Harry's eyes, just centimetres away from his own.

"Goodnight," Harry whispered. He then pushed his body up against Draco's and rolled to the right, smashing their bodies with incredible force into the semi-circular window that stretched down to the floor, falling down to the third floor balcony below them. A roof trellis was set up on the balcony and they smashed into it, the knife falling somewhere in shadow, and Harry fell on top of Draco. Draco pushed him off roughly, wincing slightly at the sudden pain in his back and shoulders. Harry rolled away and stood up, confused. Draco slowly got up and looked around, confused as well.

The controlling voice in the back of his mind had subsided. His body didn't feel as strong as it did before and Draco leaned against the stone railing to keep himself up. His mind was clear and more powerful and that was a definite plus sign. He looked up to see Harry, who was leaning against the back of a patio chair, staring at him.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, concerned.

Draco nodded and looked down at his arms which had many disgusting colored bruises and long gashes from the knife. "I think so. You?" He had barely asked the question when the familiar control was reinstated. He looked up at Harry and noticed that Harry had felt it too.

Both boys suddenly lunged at each other and began a fresh round of punching. Draco's adrenaline pumped furiously through his veins, renewing his energy. They punched and kicked at each othe,r and the rain that had stopped briefly when they fell through the window, began again, at first pounding them making them soaking wet with water and blood, then lightly. Finally, it succumbed altogether and the moon slid out from behind clouds, illuminating the boys with a ghostly glow. Draco saw a flash of light off of a blade in the shadows and he pushed Harry away making Harry stumble into the patio chair he had been leaning on previously. As Harry slid off the chair and onto the floor with a groan, Draco ran into the shadows to fetch the knife. He came back into the light with it and went over to Harry. Raising it over his head, he brought the knife down and Harry knocked it from his grasp with his leg. Then Harry kicked him in the stomach and scrambled for the knife while Draco fell into the patio table, hitting his head and drawing fresh blood.

Harry grabbed the knife and ran over to Draco, who rolled away from the table and kicked Harry in the calves, forcing Harry down on his knees. Draco pried the knife out of Harry's hand with his left hand while hitting him with his right. Harry dropped the knife and fell backwards onto his elbows and Draco picked it up. Both boys stood up and Draco was pulled towards Harry by the voice, knife in his right hand and ready to strike. Harry rolled his eyes. The defiance had left them and for the first time Draco saw how vulnerable Harry looked.

Neither of them were prepared for anything that happened next. Harry took a few steps towards Draco and closed the gap between them. Draco didn't move as Harry took his right hand and guided the knife down to Harry's heart. Seconds before the knife would've plunged into Harry's heart, Draco realized through the haze what was happening and pulled his right hand roughly further down Harry's chest. The blade grazed the flesh above the heart and then plunged into the side of Harry's abdomen. Harry gasped but kept his hand over Draco's on the blade.

The controlling voice susided completely and Draco pulled the knife out quickly and let it clatter to the floor. He was stunned to see what he had did and so was Harry. Blood came pouring out of the wound and Draco found he had blood on his right hand and this shocked him even further. This was Harry' blood that was on his hand, not his own.

A horn sounded in the alleyway behind the building, startling the pair. Harry walked shakily over to the low stone wall that was the balcony's railing as if he had made a decision. Clutching at his side, Harry pulled a chair over to the railing and got onto it, then got onto the railing. Draco could hear a truck coming into the alley and Harry turned to Draco saying "Goodbye" before falling backwards off the railing and down three stories. Draco rushed to the railing and saw that Harry had fallen onto the back of a lorry that had entered the alley with wooden crates to be delivered which meant that Harry would have a chance to live when the driver made his delivery and this cheered him up a little bit, but still the mind-numbing shock was on him and he almost didn't even notice the noise behind him.

A faint 'pop' sounded behind Draco and he tensed, immediately knowing who it was. He started to turn to face his father but he felt strong hands pick him up and throw him sideways off the balcony onto garbage bags three stories below. Draco thanked God that the bags were miraculously there to break his fall but he knew that Lucius Malfoy was not finished.

Lucius Apparated in front of Draco and Draco wearily raised his eyes to his father. Lucius was livid. He picked up his son and threw him down the alley. Draco hit the pavement with a thud and fresh blood came out of the graze on his arms from trying to break his fall. All too quickly, Lucius was above him and had picked him up and was banging Draco's head on a brick wall. Out of the darkness that was slowly creeping up on Draco, he heard several shouts and then felt his body being thrown at the wall before the pain vanished and all was suddenly dark and quiet.

***

Draco was sitting on his hospital bed in the Muggle hospital. He tried not to think about that night but thinking about not thinking about it made him think about it, if that made sense. He wasn't sure if he would be able to make sense until Harry was awake and that might be a long time. He hadn't slept, though Margie, his nurse, told him to rest, and the weariness had enveloped him fully but he would not let himself sleep so that he wouldn't have to encounter any nightmares about that night.

The door to the hallway opened and a man in a white lab coat came in. He had balding brown hair and was quite tall. In one hand he carried a clipboard and in the other he carried a file. Draco watched out of the corner of his eye as the man pulled some papers out of the file and put them on the clipboard.

"My name is Dr. Hartford," the man said, walking towards the bed and taking out a pen. "I will be your doctor while you are here and I would like to ask you a couple of questions."

"Draco Malfoy," Draco told him before the doctor could ask him his name. The doctor smiled and wrote his name down on the papers and then showed them to Draco.

"Is this how you spell your name?" he asked. Draco looked at the page, making sure the spelling was correct, and nodded. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know by any chance the boy in the adjacent room, would you?"

Draco nodded again and said, "Harry Potter." Saying Harry's name out loud felt very weird to him. Dr. Hartford nodded and flipped some papers on the clipboard and then wrote on one. He flipped the clipboard around for Draco to check any spelling mistakes and by now it was annoying Draco. "That's correct," Draco told the doctor.

"Were you two in a fight?" Dr. Hartford asked, a hint of curiousity in his voice.

Draco considered whether telling the doctor at least part of the truth would be okay. Then, he nodded.

"Fighting each other?" the doctor asked. Draco shook his head innocently, coming up with an alternative story. "Do you know the people you fought?" Draco shook his head again and the doctor smiled. "If you rest for a little while more, you may be able to go home sometime today. But until then rest. Marige will be in here to check on you in a couple of minutes." The doctor left, his lab coat billowing out behind him.

Only what seemed two seconds later, Margie came into the room from the room behind the curtain on the opposite wall from the door, startling Draco. Draco jumped and then composed himself to try not to show that he was startled. Margie didn't notice, however, and started to plump up his pillows, talking at the same time.

"Here, I'll plump up your pillows for ya," Margie said. She continued to plump them up. "You are looking better today, young man. See what rest can do for you?" She stopped suddenly and put a hand to her forehead. "I almost forgot that you need to eat. Afterall you have just woken up and need to get some vitamins into your body so that you will heal much faster. Here, I'll go make something for ya. Would you like a sandwich? Peanut butter and jelly sound good? Well, maybe not the jelly, it's not like your seven years old again. I will be right back."

Margie left and Draco lay back against his pillows. One eyebrow went up when he thought about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. The darkness that he encountered felt comforting and soothing. His eyes had been burning from keeping them open for so long. The door to the hallway opened again a few minutes later and Draco's eyes flew open. Margie came in with a plate with a sandwich on it and she smiled when she saw him laying down.

She handed Draco the plate when he sat up and she turned to leave. "Margie?" Draco called out before Margie had reached the door. "How long have Harry and I been here?"

Margie turned to face him, her eyes growing dark. "It has been two days since you and Harry first came in."

"Who brought us in? Where did the people find Harry?"

"A young girl and her parents brought you in," Margie answered, walking back to his bed. "She found you unconscious in a back alley when she was going to visit a friend's house. Harry was brought in by a truck driver. He said he was at a delivery stop getting out to pull some crates out of the back of the lorry when he discovered Harry, all bloody and unconscious. He said it was a terrible sight to see, with that gash in his side and blood coming out and all. Whoever attacked you two boys probably had a knife and you were lucky to escape the amount of damage a knife could have done with just a few scratches." She paused, considering whether to tell Draco the next part. "Harry was hardly breathing when they brought him in. I remember thinking that surely he was going to die but he fought hard and that is the reason why he is still alive today." She smiled, sensing that she should talk about something else judging from the way Draco looked at the moment. "Soon I'll be bringing your clothes for you. Would you like to call your parents?"

Draco shook his head blindly. His thoughts strayed back to that night again and he realized that even though he tried not to kill Harry, it hadn't worked. Harry had almost died and it was all his--well, it might not have been his fault judging from the spell. Margie was talking about something else that Draco wasn't paying attention to and he ignored his thoughts and tried to listen to what Margie was saying.

"...they are. If I hadn't of known better, I would have said they were wands. But that's your belongings, not mine, so it's not for me to judge you by what you have in your pockets." Margie turned to leave again and said over her shoulder, "Eat your sandwich. It's good for you." Margie left then and left Draco to his thoughts as a silence crept up in the room. He strained his ears for any sound that came from the room behind the curtain but heard nothing.

Draco had guessed that a Dark spell had been performed that night and that Death Eaters casted it. He also had guessed that they had wanted him to stab Harry in the heart and not in the stomach, which was probably why his father had been so angry. Lucius always seemed to be angry when he was around Draco but that night, Lucius had stooped to a brand new low.

Draco took a bite from the sandwich and put the rest on the bedside table, surprised at how good the sandwich tasted to him. He supposed it was because he was so hungry from not eating for two days. He looked up at the curtain, wondering how Harry ws doing. He got up from the bed and walked slowly to the curtain, drawing it back so he could look in. He stood in the doorway, not daring to go any further, and watched Harry lie motionless in the bed. His appearance hadn't changed since Draco first saw him in the hospital. Draco looked down at his injuries which were starting to heal. He seemed to be doing better than Harry was.

He wondered what he was supposed to do now. Harry was vulnerable in the Muggle hospital and that would draw You-Know-Who like a moth to a flame. He might come in right at that moment and Draco would be forced to fight him, without a wand too. He knew he alone would not be able to stop You-Know-Who and that meant certain death. He wondered why the Dark Lord wasn't here right at that moment.

"I think Harry will be fine, Draco," said a voice from behind Draco, startling him. Draco knew the voice was familiar and he turned around, curious as to who it was.

A man with long white hair and a long white beard stood by the bed. He was wearing a green-striped suit, the stripes alternating between light green and dark green. Half-moon glasses were perched on the man's nose and the man smiled at Draco, the smile reaching his eyes. Draco's fastly beating heart slowed down somewhat and he breathed a sigh of relief.

The man was Albus Dumbledore.