Deaf-A Harry Potter story

57

Trigger warning: mention of injury in this chapter.
Draco's POV:

I went up to the dorm whilst Harry and Pansy were out, I was bored and was trying to think why I was so annoyed by Harry not wanting to hang out with me over everyone else. I was his best friend after all.

My thoughts took over for so long that before I knew it, Harry came upstairs with Blaise and Theo. It wasn't long until I was hugging Harry and saying goodnight very happily.

We both went to bed shortly after but in the middle of the night, I awoke to someone twisting and turning in their bed, whimpering and whispering. I got up to investigate and immediately it was obvious it was coming from Harry's bed so I gently pulled back the heavy curtain.

Inside the confides of the curtains, Harry looked even smaller, entangled in the sheets and constantly writing around as though he was trying to escape something. But that wasn't what caught my eye. A huge, tattered looking shirt nearly swallowed his small figure yet on one side, going around to his back, it exposed some skin, the skin right under his ribs. This skin is what captured my attention under the dim lumos charm I had cast.

It was drawn tight to his body although he had a little muscle built up from quidditch. He was severely underweight but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the crosshatching of scars decorating his pale skin, as though he had been attacked by an animal yet the scars were way too clean to have been an animal. These scars looked deliberately placed as if to not show whilst out doing things. It was horrifying.

My immediate reaction was to step back and scream or cry, ask what happened. Yet I somehow stopped myself from doing any of these, realising that my Harry was upset albeit from a dream. I pretended like I hadn't seen the scars and instead focused on his messy hair and eyes that were squeezed tightly shut from the dream. Incoherent words were muttered as he moved and I gently moved his hair out of his face, attempting to think about how to draw him from the nightmare without scaring him even more.

The first thought that came to my head was to get Pansy but I was stuck on how so I had to think of something else. Eclipse was my next thought as she was curled on his trunk, on a blanket that a heating charm had been placed on.

Now obviously I can't communicate with snakes and Eclipse doesn't particularly like me but we do have one thing in common, looking after Harry. So I gently woke the snake who hissed at me rather displeased. Yet when I directed her attention to Harry she immediately slithered up the bed towards him, gently nudging his cheek with her nose and gently putting pressure around his shoulders with her body.

This seemed to ground him a little as he woke up, eyes darting around with fear until they settled on me. I sat on the edge of his bed and slowly reached for his hand, gently taking it in mine to ground him further.

He gave my hand a small squeeze and an apologetic smile.

"Did I wake you?" He asked with an apologetic look.

I nodded but looked into his big green doe eyes, "Harry, it's fine, you can't control your dreams but can I ask, do these dreams come often?"

He nodded shyly, "I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'll try to be quiet, I'll try, I promise. I'm sorry."

I wanted to assure him that it was fine but I knew it wouldn't stop him from trying to make it up to me or try to tell me that he promises things that he can't make sure of.

So instead, I sat with him until he'd calmed enough to stop apologising and promising things to me.

I stayed with him until he fell back asleep peacefully and then I went back to bed, thinking about what I had seen and what to do.

My mind drifted into sleep, still riddled with thought.

In the morning, I awoke before everyone and got ready before any of them even opened their eyes so I made my way down to the common room where Pansy was sat in front of the fire, reading the book Harry got her for Christmas.

"Morning, Dray! Damn you look like you haven't slept. Are you okay?" Her face and tone went from one of happiness to concern in a matter of seconds.

"Well, yes... but also no. I don't know what to do Pans... It's Harry." I told her, looking into the fire as I sat next to my oldest friend.

She put down her book and took my hand in hers. "Wanna tell me what's going on Dray? Is this about your little issue with sharing?" She asks with a teasing tone but then looks me in the eyes and realises that I'm talking about something serious.

"I saw something, Pansy. Something serious. I don't know what to do, I think someone did something to him, something bad. What do I do?" I looked at her with sadness, "...what do I do?"

A/N hey guys, here's an update that came within less than a year this time! Sorry it's kinda serious but I hope you still enjoyed anyway.
Hope you have an amazing morning/afternoon/evening/night wherever you are x
~~~Lissy~~~