No longer Royal

Chapter 5

AN: I originally wrote Neelam with a lisp, but decided to rewrite him without it. He still has one in my mind, but I decided to write the words normally to make it accessible to any blind or visually impaired readers. Please let me know if there are any alterations you would like to see for accessibility

Severus gently lifted Draco into his arms and apparated them to grimmauld place, he then carefully went to the nearest bedroom and layed Draco down onto the bed. Sirius floo called Pomfrey "Madam pomfrey thank God!" "Whatever's the matter dear?" "Draco is here,, he's been hurt. Bad. Deatheaters got him. He needs help and I don't know anyone else I can trust" "I understand" she then grabbed her medical supplies and stepped through

About 45 minutes later, pomfrey had done everything she could for the moment and walked over to Sirius "he should heal fine on his own now, but he will have scars... and I don't just mean physically. What happened to him Sirius?"

~Meanwhile~

Tonks went to the building Remus had told her about and found the young child "hello, I'm Tonks. What's your name?" "...I'm Neelam, are you here to help me find my friends?" "Yes I am." "Okay" Tonks took Neelam's hand and lead her outside to begin searching for her friends. "Do you know of anywhere else your friends like to go, Neelam?" "There's an alley a few blocks away from here... I can't remember which one it is though" Neelam was close to tears again. "It's okay, how about we go find them together? Do you remember which way to go?" "I think it's that way" she pointed in the opposite direction from where Draco was found.

A mile or two down the road, they came across an alley where there was a line of homeless people trying to stay cool in the heat of late july. They quickly found her friends near the center of the line Neelam ran up to one of the older boys and hugged him "big brother!" "Neelam! Oh Thank God you're okay! When we realized you weren't with the group we feared the worst..." "this nice lady helped me one of the others looked towards Tonks "thank you for bringing Neelam back to us" "My name is Tonks, Im a friend of Draco's. Is there any way I can help you guys? There are places, places that help children like you" Wren stood up, Ignoring most of what Tonks had said  "who were those people? how do we know we can trust you? ... is Draco okay?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you who they were, or why you should trust me. But Draco is okay, or at least he will be. We have a very good Doctor taking care of him" "show me. Take me to him" Tonks Paused for a minute. She greatly wished she could, but she knew that she couldn't, not only because of the ministry, and grimmauld place being hidden... but also for their safety. She sighed "why don't you all come with me to see him?"

Tonks led them away, then once she was sure no one was near or watching, she pulled out her wand "I'm sorry... Obliviate!"

(Back at grimmauld place, and time skip)

The first thing Draco became aware of was how dark and silent it was. He felt like he was awake, but at the same time not, almost as if his consciousness was separate from his body. 'Am I dead?' He thought.  Next he became aware of his breathing 'I'm alive then,,' he soon started to be aware of his body and tried to move his fingers. Then came his hearing, he could hear distant voices but couldn't understand what was being said, or tell who was talking. It all happened so fast, and yet so slow, everything seemed confusing. He heard someone saying his name, but it felt miles away.

He opened his eyes, but everything still felt confusing. He blinked slowly and opened and closed his mouth a couple of times he then noticed that Harry and Madame pomfrey were the ones there by him."What happened" he half-slurred
"You were hurt quite badly, but you're safe now dear. Here, drink this. It should help you start to feel better" Pomfrey handed him a vial of pinkish-red potion.

After Pomfrey had checked him over again and given him the potions he needed, she left to go talk to the others, Leaving him and Harry alone.

Draco wasn't sure what to say, "Potter, I-" he didn't know what to say. A part of him wanted to start a fight with him, but he no longer was the same person as he was last year, It's been such a short time but he's changed a lot. Perhaps a part of him wants the normalcy of fighting, Potter was one of the few ties he still had to his old life after all.

"You can call me Harry now, if you want"  there was a short pause as Draco gathered his words "Harry, I- I'm sorry. I know you probably hate me, but just know I'm genuinely sorry for all I've done, after I was kicked out I-" he stopped "why'd you get kicked out anyway?" Draco nearly jumped, not having heard Ron come in. Draco suddenly became defensive, straightening his posture "what's it to you, Weasley?" He snapped. Ron took an aggressive step towards Draco before Harry stopped him. Before either Draco or Harry could say anything Ron had stormed off in a huff.