Time Heals All Wounds?

Chapter 12

Nothing more was said about the nightmare that Harry had in the Hospital wing and the dark-haired boy was overcome with relief. He didn't know why he had shared that information with Draco, but he knew that he had to be more careful from now on. Harry trusted the blonde boy very much, but anything that Harry said could get back to Vernon and-. He shut that train of thought off. The two boys were having a good day and he didn't want to ruin it. They were down by the lake, sat against one of the trees that partially hid them from view. Harry dubbed it 'Their Spot', but hadn't said it to Draco yet. He probably would soon, but for now he was content thinking it to himself.

Everything had calmed down since Draco's incident and Halloween was almost here. Harry had never been fond of the holiday for obvious reasons. Draco tried to keep him distracted as everyone ran about with decorations and sweets for the celebration that was to take place this weekend, but it didn't help as much as he had hoped. The blonde did bring him back some sweets from Hogsmeade. Harry loved trying all the different types that Draco had brought back. He had seen most of them at the shops around this time of year, but had never tried any because they were for good children for which, according to his relatives, Harry was not. Harry mentioned it vaugly to Draco when the boy asked him what his favourite Muggle sweet was and saw the paler boy's eyes become like ice rather than their usual liquid mercury and his jaw set.

"What kind of sick people are you forced to live with? They beat you, starve you, treat you as their slave and then on top of everything that you do for them, tell you that you are not good enough to have treats! Harry, how in the world is it okay for you to stay with these people?! This is abuse. There is no other way to describe it! Even the strictest of Pureblood families are nowhere near this bad. Have you spoken to Dumbledore? Maybe he could move you to another location?" after Harry got over his initial shock over Draco's sudden explosion, his eyes began to water and he moved to snuggle into the blonde's side. No one had ever shown this level of care for him before besides Hermione, but she didn't know as much as Draco did. Harry didn't want to upset her any more than he knew she was over his living situation. It wasn't fair to her. Not that it was fair to Draco either, but Draco seemed to want to know all of it. Hermione was happy to make him happy while they are together instead of dragging up bad memories. She told him that she would always be there if he needed to talk, but otherwise the two focused on happier things. Like boys.

"I-I d-don't know. D-d-dumb-b-bledore th-th-thinks I a-am ov-ver r-r-reacting or m-m-making it u-up. E-even if I d-d-did l-l-leave, I h-have n-n-o oth-ther f-f-f-family. They a-are a-a-all I h-h-have." Draco rubbed his back soothingly as Harry sniffled into his chest. He had always known that the Dursley's were the only living family he had, but just then it seemed to hit him full force. He was alone. He had to stay in that house until he was eighteen and there was no way around it. Unless he died before then, which was a possibility. As he calmed down, he realised that he wasn't in fact alone. He had Draco and he had Hermione. They cared about him, and though his relationship with the blonde may not have started out the best, he was here now and wanted to help Harry.

They sat for a little longer in a comfortable silence before Draco decided that Harry needed to eat. Slowly they got up and made their way to the Great Hall where the meal was almost finished, so most people had left the Hall. They sat at the Slytherin table near Draco's friends and began to eat. Harry tried to avoid eating, but Draco noticed and nudged the plate closer to him. He sighed and slowly ate the food before him until his stomach couldn't take any more. Draco seemed satisfied with the amount that Harry had eaten and after saying a quick farewell to his friends, stood and the two made their way towards the last class of the day.

* * *

Harry had always enjoyed Defence Against the Dark Arts, but he enjoyed it even more this year because they had an amazing teacher. Professor Lupin was a very kind and patient man, but also made the lessons as enjoyable as possible. When Harry walked into the classroom closely followed by Draco, all of the desks were gone and all that stood in the room was a large wooden wardrobe. Confused, he went over and stood beside Hermione who gave him a bright smile and quickly began speaking about how her day had been. He couldn't understand how his friend managed to do so many classes, but decided not to ask. Some things were better left a mystery. However, one piece of information caught Draco's attention as the girl rambled on.

"Sirius Black has been spotted where?" Hermione looked confused but answered the question anyway.

"A small village not far from Hogsmeade. Why do you ask?" the colour had drained from his face, but he just shook his head and muttered that it didn't matter. Before Hermione could say anything else, Professor Lupin walked in and began informing the class of what they would be doing today. Boggarts. This did not sound like a good idea to Harry, but he trusted that the Professor knew what he was doing.

Everyone formed a line in front of the wardrobe and Professor Lupin opened the lock with a swish of his wand. As the line shortened, everyone faced their fear from clowns to spiders and everything in between. They all said the spell just as they had been taught and the thing changed into something funny. However, none of that could calm the racing of Harry's heart. This could go desperately wrong if the Boggart turned into what he thought it would.

And he was right.

He stepped up and the Boggart quickly changed from a jack in the box to a man. The instant it changed, Harry's mind went blank. Every fibre of his being was telling him to run. Leave before he can hurt you in front of everyone. The room went silent when Harry didn't immediately perform the spell, but the dark-haired boy was too focused on getting away. After a few hasty steps back, Harry turned and sprinted out of the room. The only thing in his head was the repeated phrase – I have to get away. I have to get away.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Draco cursed under his breath as he saw that Harry was next in line to face the Boggart. Quickly and discreetly, he got Hermione's attention and indicated to the front of the line. Her eyes went wide as she spotted Harry.

"This isn't going to be good. He is either going to see You-Know-Who, or his Uncle. Neither of those options are going to end well. What are we going to do?" unfortunately, before Draco could think of a plan, the Boggart had changed. Stood before everyone was the largest person he had ever seen. He had a sandy blond moustache that made him look like a walrus and a permanent pink hue to his skin. His small beady eyes were trained on Harry and his mouth twisted into a sinister smile. Before the man even opened his mouth, Harry turned and bolted out of the classroom. Everyone was silent as they watched the scene unfold, but as Harry ran out, Draco turned and ran after him. That had to have been Vernon and there was no telling the state Harry would be in now. He had to find the boy before something bad happened to him. Draco followed Harry down the empty corridors until he turned a corner and saw that Harry wasn't there. He cursed under his breath. Slowly he walked down the corridor checking behind every suit or armour and every tapestry until he found the sobbing boy behind one of the larger tapestries towards the end of the corridor.

Harry was curled into a tight ball and was shaking violently. Draco approached the boy slowly as not to frighten him.

"Harry? Harry, it's Draco. Can you hear me, love? Is it okay if I come sit with you?" the sobbing boy gave no answer, but Draco continued to approach the Gryffindor. Once he was beside the boy he sat down beside him and pulled Harry onto his lap. At the first touch, Harry immediately panicked. However, once he was against that blonde's chest, he clamed again. As if he recognised Draco without even seeing him. The boy snuggled in and continued to sob. Intermixed with the crying were apologies.

"I'm sorry." "I promise I will do better." "I won't do it again." "I'm sorry, I will be good." Over and over again like a loop until he exhausted himself and fell asleep against the Slytherin's chest. Draco brushed the other boy's hair from his tear stained face and moved to get more comfortable on the floor. The only thing stopping Draco hunting down this good for nothing Muggle was Harry. Harry needed him right now, so his rampage would have to wait. He stroked a hand through Harry's wild black hair and contemplated possible ways to get rid of Harry's sad excuse of an Uncle. He would definitely need to have a meeting with Pansy, Blaise and Hermione about this.