Time Heals All Wounds?

Chapter 17:

A/N: I am so sorry that I have not been updating!! Bad Llama! I give you an offering to hopefully apease you for a little bit. I promise that I will put up the next chapter soon xx

Harry was in and out of consciousness the entire Christmas Holidays. Not that the young Malfoy heir knew that. Severus Snape was fully aware of this however, but not until the last week when a distraught Mediwitch tried to hammer down the door to his chambers at an ungodly hour. Once he had been dragged into the Hospital Wing completely and utterly against his will, Poppy pulled the curtain away from the young Potter boy's bed and saw for himself why Poppy was so upset.
They boy was bright red and sweating heavily, but was shaking and pulling the many blankets impossibly closer to his body. A dark pink rash was just visible in his neck and seemed to carry on to his chest and possibly further. The boy had his eyes shut and was clawing at his throat as if in extreme pain. This was bad. Very bad. Ever the Slytherin though, the Potions Master kept his mask of indifference in place. The Mediwitch could not know he had any part in Potter's current state, even if this was not supposed to have happened with the potion the boy had taken.
"I see Mr. Potter seems to be slightly under the weather. How...unfortunate."
"Severus, please. You have to help. He has been here since the day before the Holidays started. I have tried everything, but nothing is working. I am also limited to the Potions I can give him because of his allergy to lacewing flies." Of all the potion ingredients to be allergic to, it had to be that. "I am desperate Severus, please. If you can think of anything that could help him. He was already so weak, but this on top of it. He is dying, Severus. I am begging you." By the time she was finished, the normally strong and held together witch was sobbing.
Lacewing flies. Typical. Almost all medical potions contained at least a small amount. They could be substituted, but it made the potion less effective. Suddenly, a horrible penny dropped. The potion he had given Draco as to prevent the ill boy before him from returning home had lacewing flies as a base ingredient. No wonder the boy looked so bad. He was actually ill and on top of that having a reaction to the potion and had been for the past two weeks. He had to act quickly or else he would have a lot of explaining to do when lessons started back and the world was short a Potter.
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Everything was on fire. Any time he moved, fresh sparks of flame spread across his body. The pain was all consuming and it rendered him unable to speak. Not that he would have been able to speak if he wanted to. His throat was raw liked he had swallowed shards of glass.
Harry opened his eyes and saw the blurry figure of Madame Pomfrey and someone clothed in black. The Mediwitch was speaking to Death? The thought made him giggle maniacally and caught the attention of the two people before him.
"Mr. Potter? Find something amusing, have we?" Harry continued to laugh as the male approached him.
"Y-you are speaking to a Healer. D-death hav-ving a conv-versat-tion with s-someone who actively t-tries to prev-vent it-t. And after everything I h-have been-n through at h-home over the years, you w-want to take me n-now because of a c-cold." He continued to giggle for a moment but it then turned into violent coughing. Something wet fell from his mouth but he paid it little attention.
The edges of his vision began to go dark and fuzzy as he heard the mumble of the male speaking before everything went dark.
***
The next time Harry woke up, someone was holding his hand.
"Har, are you awake?" Slowly the raven-haired boy opened his eyes and looked towards the source of the voice. The blurry figure looked very pale, but was wearing dark clothes. The way that the sun hit the person's hair made it glow white which made Harry laugh.
"Y-you have a h-halo." He mumbled. The person holding his hand chuckled in response.
"If you say so, love. Do you remember where your glasses are? I bet you would be able to see better if you had them. You are practically blind otherwise." He gave a shake of the head in response. Something about the voice seemed familiar.
"D-draco?" He croaked quietly "Is th-thhat you? Y-you are supp-posed to b-be at h-home." He heard a sigh and then Draco moved close enough that he could see the silver of the boy's eyes.
"I did go home Harry and then came back for the start of lessons with everyone else to find you here in a right state. Severus said that you have been delusional. Your fever only broke last night. Harry, you have been really unwell. Madame Pomfrey almost lost you the day before I got back. I shouldn't have left you here on your own. I should have stayed with you." Harry shook his head to disagree but immediately regretted it due to the pain it caused him.
"Y-you. Saved. M-me. From. Them-m." He whispered slowly and forcefully. He didn't care if there were life changing results from the "illness" it would be worth it to know he was away from the Dursley's.
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Not long after that conversation, Harry fell asleep again. However, the blonde was relieved that Harry seemed more with it when he woke up compared to previous times. Hopefully that was a sign that the boy was finally getting better. Even though Harry had fallen asleep, he stayed in the chair beside the bed and ran his fingers through the other boy's hair. It never failed to surprise him how soft those raven locks were.

Madame Pomfrey suddenly interrupted his musings when she appeared at his shoulder and inquired how her patient was. The Mediwitch seemed relieved that Harry was slowly getting better and was coherent when he awoke. Once she had gathered her information, she shooed the boy out of the Wing and told him to get to class.
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The day dragged without Harry. Draco couldn't focus on anything that anyone said to him. By the time classes had finished for the day, he didn't even have a full page of notes between his classes. Without another thought, he stuffed the stuff in his bag and rushed to the Hospital Wing in as dignified as possible.

He entered after a brief pause outside the door to ensue he looked as presentable as a young pureblood should be. Draco instantly noticed that Harry was awake and sat up in his hospital bed and a sigh of relief left him.
"Hello Harry. How are you feeling? You look better." The dark-haired boy blushed in response and fiddled with the edge of the duvet that lay over him.
"I f-feel m-m-mu-uch bet-t-ter now." He said quietly while keeping his eyes on the bedding. Draco slowly raised his pale hand and placed it under Harry's chin. Then he pushed the boys head up so the brilliant green eyes connected with his silvery blue ones.
"I can't put into words how relieved I am that you are getting better. I am so sorry that you got so ill. Uncle Sev said that you had a reaction to one of the ingredients in the potion. Due to that, your body went haywire. Physically you were showing signs of that fever thing, but your body was also trying to reject the part of the potion you were allergic to. Harry just nodded his head minutely in response and cast his eyes back down to the bed.
Draco spent the rest of the afternoon telling Harry about his holiday and the classes that he had missed today. The brunette was mostly silent, but Draco didn't mind at all. As long as Harry was awake and well, everything would be okay. The blonde didn't even get upset when Madame Pomfrey came through at dinner time and told Draco to go down to the Great Hall for his own meal.

***
A week later, Harry was finally able to leave the Hospital Wing. It took much persuading from Severus to convince Madame Pomfrey that the boy was well enough to return to his dorm and classes. Thankfully, Draco had come to see Harry every afternoon after classes, so he wasn't behind with any class work.
He was very glad to have the raven-haired boy in his rooms with him again and sat beside him during meals. Draco hadn't noticed how much he had missed the boy until he had gone home and not been able to spend any time with him. Then, instead of coming back to having Harry around all the time again, he only saw him twice a day when he was able to visit.
As much as he hated to admit it, Draco's bed felt so much larger and colder without the small frame curled up flush against him. The blonde was very much looking forward to getting everything back to as it should be and fantasies to himself as he helped the concerningly thin Harry to the dungeons.
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No one in the common room bat an eye at the scene before them when the two boys entered the Common Room together.

Harry had been adopted by the snakes the second the Weasel confronted him in the Great Hall. They could all see him for what he was, not what they wanted him to be. Harry Potter was the same as them. Cast out for being different at the same time as having horrible assumptions and expectations made by the Wizarding community and beaten into submission disguised as respect and compliance at home. The-Boy-Who-Lived was doing just that. Trying to survive in two worlds who judged him without a second thought.
Everyone watched out the corner of their eye as the two boys walked it. At catching sight of the other pupils in the room, Harry quickly pushed away from the support that Draco had been providing. With slow and calculated steps, the boy made it to the room the boys shared. The snakes watching him nodded to themselves in agreement. They could see the pain the boy was in and how difficult it was for him to walk with his weak limbs, but he had done it anyway and for that they respected him. It was not to be a martyr or try and prove that he was better than they were. It was to show them he could and that he understood pain the same way they did. As soon as the door clicked shut behind Draco, everyone focused on their work once more.
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Harry collapsed onto the floor the instant the door closed behind him. His legs had barely handled the small distance between the portrait door and Draco's room without giving way beneath him. Once he had made it, they couldn't take the weight of him standing any longer. He was proud of himself no matter how much it had pained him to do it. Harry had proven to the Slytherin's that had taken him in and protected him that he was deserving of their acceptance. That he wasn't a pathetic weakling and could be strong and put up his Mask when need be.
Suddenly there was a hand under his knees and another around his shoulders. Just as he realised it was Draco, Harry was lifted off the ground and placed into the filled bath. A contented sigh escaped him as the warm water relaxed his muscles and calmed him. It was good to be out of the Hospital Wing and surrounded by comforting things again.
Once the bath was finished, Harry snuggled into Draco's side on the bed they shared. The weeks spent alone on the uncomfortable bed in the Hospital Wing had made the return to this bed much more inviting. Quickly the smaller raven-haired boy drifted off with the familiar blonde presence beside him stroking his hair.