𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐒𝐎 𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐒

Chapter 6

Chapter Number/Total: 6/44
Chapter Title: Never Again

Harry glanced around the bedroom and then stared at Draco, the confusion clearly marked upon his face.

Draco stepped back, releasing Harry as he did. "Strip and sit on the bed. Don't say anything."

Harry reached for his tattered shirt with shaking hands, eyes still on Draco as he slowly pulled it and the rest of his clothes off. Then he silently took a seat on the edge of the bed, shoulders hunched.

"Look at me and, no matter what I say, don't talk," Draco said, pulling out his own wand as well.

Harry nodded slowly, wondering if this was what Hermione had meant by, "Be there for him."

Draco held up both wands, looking at them for a long moment. "One of the first spells they teach us in Defence Against the Dark Arts is the Disarming Spell," he began. "It's one of the first, not because it is easy, but because it is the most important. A wizard or witch without a wand is helpless against one with." The blond stepped over to the bedside table and put both wands inside the top drawer, closing it firmly.

Harry kept his mouth shut, eyes intent upon Draco.

Draco stepped back, facing Harry again. He reached up and unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt. "I used it on Dumbledore that night on the tower." He took a deep breath and then reached for the top button of his black shirt, eyes still intent on Harry's as he did. "Voldemort took my father's wand, to use on you."

Harry looked only at Draco's eyes and nowhere else, listening to him.

Draco's fingers slowly worked each button down his shirt as he continued to talk. "You took my wand nearly a year ago," he said, eyes unfocused for a moment as he thought back. "You gave it back. That was the start of ... something new between us." He had worked his way down to his belly and now pulled the shirt tails from his trousers before continuing both his words and his buttons. "I didn't give my wand willingly to those men. They took it by force."

Harry continued to gaze into Draco's face, continued to listen. Had he really scared Draco so much when he'd given up his wand?

Draco finished the buttons and then reached both hands to open the shirt, revealing the angry red scars that were now layered over the older ones. He let the shirt slide from his shoulders and flutter to the floor. "If anyone at the Ministry had bothered to check, they would have found that neither Rodolphus' nor Rabastan's wands did this."

Harry frowned heavily at that. Had they used Draco's wand against him?

Draco nearly smiled at the look on Harry's face. "Yes, my wand," he said, turning in a slow circle so Harry would see the extent of the damage done in back as well. "I suppose someone like Skeeter could make a case for my being involved, couldn't she? All this done by my own wand."

Harry wanted to say something, to say something comforting in some way, but he forced himself to keep quiet, and his eyes strayed over the marks Draco was finally letting him see.

Draco faced him again, eyes still studying Harry as he reached and began to unbutton his trousers. Then he slowly slid them and his shorts down his legs, revealing more new scars. Once upon a time, before sixth year, Draco's body had been clean and perfect. Now there were more marked places than smooth.

Harry felt the rage bubble up inside him and could see in his mind the men who had left those scars, and what they had done to Draco. His body tensed fiercely as he thought about it. He really did wish that he had killed them both himself, that he could've been the one to mutilate Rodolphus Lestrange in his empty cell.