Harry's POV

Exhausted but delighted with my night's work, I told Ron, (Y/N) and Hermione everything that had happened in the real memory during next morning's Charms lesson having first cast the Muffliato spell to make sure we could talk privately.

They were all satisfyingly impressed by the way I wheedled the memory out of Slughorn and positively awed when I told them about Voldemort's Horcruxes and Dumbledore's promise to take me along, should he find another one.

"Wow," said Ron, when Harry had finally finished telling them everything; Ron was waving his wand very vaguely in the direction of the ceiling without paying the slightest bit of attention to what he was doing. "Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore...and try and destroy...wow."

(Y/N) was the least interested in these new revelations, "So now we reckon how many he's got, but no way to destroy them and no way to know how many he's made since...wonderful." He said apathetically, resting his head on his desk, I found this curious, I turned to Hermione.

"I found him this morning huddled around the fireplace muttering to himself, I don't think he slept well" she explained quietly, Ron sighed heftily, "Not this again. I'm not waking him up every morning again, the cat always tries to maul me."

"She's got it out for me, I'm telling you. So Hermione's doing it!" I nodded, "Why'd he not go up to bed?" I asked Hermione, she looked at me strangely. "W...Why are you asking me! He can't even get into my dorms can he! How am I meant to know when he goes up to bed" she proclaimed loudly.

I was very happy to know the Prince's charm held up, but people could still see us, and Hermione had blushed so deeply I was surprised she didn't pass out too.

Suddenly, Hermione seemed to catch herself, remembering some urgent news, "Ginny and Dean split up, Harry." She said quickly, as if the thought had just come to her and she wanted to change the subject quickly.

There was a rather knowing look in her eye as she said it, but she could not possibly know that my insides were suddenly dancing the conga because of the excellent news, maybe now I had a chance.

Ron beamed at this thought as well, which suddenly made my conga line jolt a little. Keeping my face as immobile and my voice as indifferent as I could, I asked, "How come?"

"Oh, something really silly...She said he was always trying to help her through the portrait hole, like she couldn't climb in herself...but they've been a bit rocky for ages." My eyes glanced over at Dean on the other side of the classroom. He certainly looked unhappy.

"Of course, this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" said Hermione. "What d'you mean?" said I spluttered. "The Quidditch team," said Hermione. "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking..." "Oh...oh yeah," I nodded.

"Flitwick," said Ron in a warning tone. The tiny little Charms master was bobbing his way toward them, and Hermione was the only one who had managed to turn vinegar into wine; her glass flask was full of deep crimson liquid, whereas the contents of Harry's and Ron's were still murky brown.

(Y/N) was snoring on his desk with his cup filled with a similar liquid to Hermione's. Flitwick slapped him with a rolled up daily prophet, but he didn't stir so Flitwick sighed again and poured the wine onto his head.

"Shields!" he exclaimed as he awoke. "Now, now, boys," squeaked Professor Flitwick reproachfully, acting as if nothing had happened despite (Y/N)'s spluttering and going to rub his eyes so quickly he ended up poking one of them.

"A little less talk, a little more action...Let me see you try..." Together we raised our wands, concentrating with all our might, and pointed them at their flasks.

My vinegar turned to ice; Ron's flask exploded, (Y/N) lazily filled his glass with "Aguamenti" and then turned the water to vinegar and then the vinegar to wine. "Show off," muttered Hermione as he clattered his head against the desk again.

Flitwick didn't seem to know how to deal with (Y/N)'s behaviour so he moved on to us, "Yes...for homework," he said, re-emerging from under the table and pulling shards of glass out of the top of his hat, "practice."

We did not, we had one of our rare joint free periods after Charms and walked back to the common room together.

Me and Ron watched in great spirits as Hermione scolded (Y/N) the whole way there, "You said you'd be right back, I waited up and everything" he walked along hand in hand with her, but looked like a zombie.

"Sorry" he grumbled out finally, "...Came back late...Parkinson...still couldn't figure it out..." She looked livid at this casual name drop, "What do you mean? What were you doing with Pansy Parkinson!"

"Finding somewhere to sleep" he said tiredly, then even in his half dead state, he caught himself, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets "For Slughorn!" Hermione, who was halfway through the start of a clearly incredibly angry tirade, simply closed her mouth and glared forwards.

"I couldn't sleep, I was busy, I'm close to sorting this charm out, I can feel it, I just need the last little piece to fit in somewhere."

This reminded me of something I had forgotten about in the Prince's book, getting it out, I finally noticed the corner of a page folded down; turning to it, he saw the Sectumsempra spell, captioned "For Enemies," that I had marked a few weeks previously.

(Y/N)'s POV

The balmy days slid gently through May, I got increasingly less and less sleep, and Harry was becoming increasing more obsessed with Malfoy after his success with Slughorn.

Ron was more concerned with Quidditch, personally, I had doubled my efforts to create a working spell. I now had the concept of it down and could successfully summon up a unique charm, but it was nothing special.

Hermione was helping me a lot, we spent any matching free periods we had together with each other working on it. I had thanked her a thousand times. I tried letting her know how much it meant to me that she was giving up her spare time for my dumb idea but every time I said it she said the same thing.

"I'm your girlfriend silly, I like spending time with you" Then we would kiss and end up not getting much done. The charm was about average, it stopped projectiles and did everything any other charm of its nature did.

But that was just it, it was almost identical to any other charm, apart from when it was summoned, it was closer to a flame then a solid surface and looked like liquid silver. "Well, at least it looks pretty" I laughed, "ha, silver linings..."

To take a much needed break from my attempts to change the wizarding world forever I had found a new endeavour to fill my time that didn't involve making out with Hermione.

I dedicated some of my time every day to the ever important process of breaking into the girls dorms. Now, It's not what most people think, I didn't actually want to enter, I just wanted to knock on the door.

It was a game I'd developed for myself that was just mindless fun. Not to brag, but I was getting pretty close recently. Neville had helped me record my progress because he found the process hilarious apparently.

Almost every night after Hermione went up to bed ended the same. Me attempting to enter, and Harry and Ron laughing at my failure. All the while Bones sat at the top step of the stairs, taunting me for my failure and heading inside the dorm whenever it didn't work.

Ron's POV

I watched Hermione and (Y/N) kiss each other goodnight after some paticularly difficult potions homework, then (Y/N) got that look in his eyes again. "Here we go again," I said, nudging Harry. "Neville," (Y/N) called as Neville looked up from an advanced Herbology book.

"Take a note, attempt number?" "Twenty-One" Neville added tiredly. "Brute force." Then (Y/N) took a running start at the door to the girls' dormitories. Predictably, this wasn't very effective.

To be fair, he made it quite far this time, taking it three steps at a time meant he made it about three quarters of the way up the stairs before they suddenly changed into a slide.

Brilliantly, he lost his footing because of the speed he was running, this led to him landing face first rather harshly and sliding down the slope. The whole common room either cringed or laughed, or at least the people who were paying attention. Most of all, a group of first and second years found it very funny.

He took it in stride, he got up, dusted himself off and wiped blood from his nose. "One day," he winked to the first years. "I've always hated those stairs, don't make sense nowadays, but at least we have a game of it now" he explained.

I looked over to the corner to see Neville laughing along with the others "Neville, attempt unsuccessful" he groaned, he sighed again and went off to bed.

Neville finally stopped laughing, shuffled some papers and made a note, then went back to reading. "What are you going to do if you ever get to the door?" I asked as we all made our way up into our own dorm, he shrugged, "Knock."

(Y/N)'s POV

I sat down for lunch, more concerned with the durability of shield charms against muggle weapons then eating, I was lost in my thoughts until Hermione cried, "Katie! You're back! Are you okay?" I followed her eye line.

It was indeed Katie Bell, looking completely healthy and surrounded by her jubilant friends. "I'm really well!" she said happily.

"They let me out of St. Mungos on Monday, I had a couple of days at home with Mum and Dad and then came back here this morning. Leanne was just telling me about McLaggen and the last match, Harry..."

"Yeah," said Harry, "well, now you're back and Ron's fit, we'll have a decent chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could still be in the running for the Cup. Listen, Katie..." He started to question her at once.

"Harry not really the best time for an interrogation." I started to argue, he just shushed me. He dropped his voice as Katie's friends started gathering up their things; apparently they were late for Transfiguration. "...that necklace...can you remember who gave it to you now?"

"No," said Katie, shaking her head ruefully. "Everyone's been asking me, but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" said Hermione. "Well, I know I pushed open the door," said Katie, "so I suppose whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it."

"After that, my memory's a blank until about two weeks ago in St. Mungo's. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if it is my first day back..."

She caught up her bag and books and hurried after her friends, leaving us to sit down at a window table and ponder what she had told them. "Glad you're back Katie" I shouted after her awkwardly, she just kind of waved.

"So it must have been a girl or a woman who gave Katie the necklace," said Hermione, "to be in the ladies' bathroom." "Or someone who looked like a girl or a woman," said Harry.

"Don't forget, there was a cauldron full of Polyjuice Potion at Hogwarts. We know some of it got stolen..." "And somehow, I don't think someone who's out to send a cursed necklace to someone cares which bathroom they use to do it" I muttered.

"I think I'm going to take another swig of Felix," said Harry, "and have a go at the Room of Requirement again." "That would be a complete waste of potion," said Hermione flatly, putting down the copy of Spellmans Syllabary she had just taken out of her bag.

"Luck can only get you so far, Harry. The situation with Slughorn was different; you always had the ability to persuade him, you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit."

"Luck isn't enough to get you through a powerful enchantment, though. Don't go wasting the rest of that potion! You'll need all the luck you can get if Dumbledore takes you along with him..."

"Couldn't we make some more?" Ron asked Harry, ignoring Hermione. "It'd be great to have a stock of it...Have a look in the book..." Harry pulled his copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag, and looked up Felix Felicis.

"Blimey, it's seriously complicated," he said, running an eye down the list of ingredients. "And it takes six months...You've got to let it stew..." "Typical," said Ron.

Then, like a dog seeing a mailman, Harry's head darted up. "What?" I asked him, "Nothing," before I could turn to see what he found so enthralling he murmured "I'll be right back." I thought nothing of it, he probably just saw Ginny and decided now was the best time to confess his undying love for her while she was heartbroken over Dean.

Personally I thought this method was a bit distasteful, but to each their own I suppose. At this moment, the nerves of Katie returning and his pivotal role in the upcoming match seemed to hit Ron. He rushed off into a nearby bathroom to throw up yet again.

Then Hermione abandoned me too, she dashed off to see Professor Vector about a mistake she thought she might have made in her last Arithmancy essay. Which I told her about a thousand times was not a mistake it was just an alternate formula.

Sighing, I decided to just go and take another refreshing nap in the dorm, but as I got up there I realised I wasn't the only one.

Bones was curled up on Harry's bed, laying on some old parchment. "Lazy Bones...ha, I never get sick of that" I smiled, getting closer so I could move her to my bed to be polite.

Lifting her off it gently, I noticed it wasn't just parchment, it was the Marauders Map, open to the seventh floor corridor of course. Funny, I always thought he kept it on him, I suppose he didn't need it for lunch.

Then I came to the conclusion he must have just used it, that's why he left lunch early, to come check the map again. "Of course," I rolled my eyes, but something caught my attention.

Funnily enough I saw Harry's name dart past that corridor as if he was running from something, I was oddly entranced watching his footprints dash down the marble staircase and along the passageway below.

Then I realised he wasn't running from something, he was chasing after something, I found out what when some movement in front of him caught my eye and I saw Harry grind to a halt outside a sixth floor bathroom and inside was Draco Malfoy.

"That can't end well" I sighed, plopping Bones down on my bed and heading that way in case he gets ambushed by Crabbe and Goyle. "Sleep well princess" Then I broke off into a sprint. I just yelled "MOVE!" to anyone in my way and took any stairs I came across three at a time.

I was probably panicking too much, but if Malfoy was a Death Eater, Harry just walked up to him and gave him an opportunity to get rid of The Chosen One on a silver platter.

As I arrived in the hallway I heard screams from inside from all the way down the Hall, there were flashes of bright light peeking from under the door, sounds that I associated with spells happened one after the other, and then...nothing.

I quickened my pace, fearing I was already to late, my suspicions were all but confirmed when I heard a girl, Moaning Myrtle to be precise, scream. "MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

Upon hearing these words, I had a horrible scene flashing in my head of Harry's lifeless corpse with Malfoy stood over it, sneering and triumphant. In my hurry to prevent this outcome I skidded up to the bathroom and kicked it open, reminding me of an incident in a bathroom during my first year.

As I entered, I did not expect the scene I came across, the bathroom itself looked as if someone had dropped a bomb inside it, sinks were shattered, pipes were spraying water, stalls where collapsed. A duel had clearly taken place.

As I stepped into the the now flooded room, I rounded the corner of the stalls and found a scene from a horror movie, blood soaked the floors and trickled into the constant spray of water, but to my surprise. It was almost the exact opposite of what my mind had cooked up.

After seeing Draco Malfoy lying in a pool of his own blood I turned to Harry, "What did you do!" I said in my utter shock, not knowing what else was reasonable to say in this situation. Harry was stood above Malfoy, shaking and spluttering to himself, "No.." he gasped.

I looked, horrified, toward Malfoy, whose face was now shining scarlet, deep cuts and gouges across his face and blood seeping from his chest where similar, larger wounds started to open, his hands scrambling at his blood-soaked chest. "No...I didn't.."

In that moment, I couldn't remember Draco Malfoy's name, or even my own, I couldn't tell you what house he was in, or why I didn't like him, all I knew was someone was hurt and I had to help him.

"MYRTLE GET HELP!" I bellowed, she bolted through a wall and out of the room, wailing about a murder again, not exactly what I meant, but If it got someone's attention, why not. Meanwhile I knelt over Malfoy, using any healing spell I could muster in that moment that might have been useful, but It had basically no effect.

I couldn't understand why, his should work, just like the time with Buckbeak I should have been able to knit the wounds together at least a little, then something crept up from the back of my mind.

It seemed unlikely, but if it helped with treatment, I had to be sure, while I used my wand hand to heal Malfoy my other hand fished around in my belt, searching for Moody's gift.

Pulling it out and shaking the jar it was in until the lid came off, I tipped its contents onto the floored tile, but all I heard was the tiny 'Clack' as the Dark Detector hit the floor.

I waited for a tense second for the toy to start wailing again, but to my utter disbelief, it remained eerily quiet. I spoke to Harry again, "What did you do!"

Now I knew why anything I tried was pointless, dark magic couldn't be healed so easily, the blood was draining too fast, there were too many wounds, but in the back of my mind I knew I couldn't fix them all before he bled out.

But I fought it as long as I could, closing some of his smaller wounds and slowing the bleeding, but I could only buy him time, it was too much, so I held onto the hope that someone more capable then me would help.

"GO! GO!" I said to Harry, run, hide, call for help, I didn't care what he did, as long as he was out of the way. He just stood there in a state of shock. It must have only been about twenty seconds, but If you told me I was in that room for a year I would have believed you, because that's what it felt like.

I sat there, drenched in blood and water, nothing I tried worked, his wounds just didn't close properly, I heard him whimper constantly. I couldn't even spare the words to comfort him, all my efforts were to keep him alive.

Finally, after a horrifying eternity, I heard someone enter the door quickly, I didn't care who it was, I was hoping for Madam Pomfrey, but if Gilderoy Lockhart strutted through that door I would have welcomed him as long as he could have helped.

I just shouted, "Help! Please, someone help, In here!" Snape rushed into the room, I couldn't get the words out, "I....I...couldn't...I can't....what do I do?" I said. Looking up from Malfoy for the first time to look at him pleadingly.

Snape seemed rattled by the scene but quickly jumped into action. "Be of use, follow my instruction to the letter" he stood over Malfoy on the other side of me and said, "Do as I do."

Then he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. I repeated them in the same rhythmic tone, not knowing what they did or what they meant, just hoping to help. Knowing whatever it was, It seemed to work.

The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting. When Snape had performed his counter curse for the third time, he half-lifted Malfoy into a standing position.

"You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately, we might avoid even that...Come..." He supported Malfoy across the bathroom.

I took his other arm, we had to go slowly, not wanting to reopen the wounds. Only stopping at the door so Snape could say in a voice of cold fury, "And you, Potter...You wait here for me."

But soon, we were met by Madam Pomfrey and a wave of relief hit me, a deep pit in my stomach closing, my throat opening and finally I could take a breath. I sat on a hospital bed shakily, wanting a second of relief but I didn't get it.

Snape wrenched me up by the arm a second after I sat, pulling me along beside him. I was too numb to the world to stop him, I barely heard his lecture as we went back to the sixth floor.

"This is why I simply despise you boy, you are as gifted as one could ever hope to be but you choose to waste your life with idiotic decisions made among your reckless 'friends.'"

As soon as we entered the bathroom Snape snarled "Go," to Myrtle, and she swooped back into her toilet at once, leaving a ringing silence behind her. I busied myself with putting my toy away as it started up again.

"I didn't mean it to happen," said Harry at once. His voice echoed in the cold, watery space. "I didn't know what that spell did." But Snape ignored this. "Apparently I underestimated you, Potter," he said quietly.

"Who would have thought you knew such Dark Magic? Who taught you that spell?" "I, read about it somewhere." "Where?" "It was...a library book," Harry invented wildly. "I can't remember what it was call-"

"Liar," said Snape. I knew what Snape was going to do but I didn't feel like I had the right to stop it. Harry struggled to block out all thought, but try as he might, the Half-Blood Prince's copy of Advanced Potion-Making swam hazily to the forefront of his mind.

"Bring me your schoolbag," said Snape softly, "and all of your schoolbooks. All of them. Bring them to me here. Now!" There was no point arguing. I knew it and so did Harry, he turned at once and splashed out of the bathroom.

Snape turned his head to me, "So what where you? A lookout? A way to prevent Mr Malfoy's escape?" he snarled. I shook my head, "Speak!" he said in a bitter and cold tone that made me flinch. "No, I heard them fighting so I-"

"Don't lie to me, you would have me believe that you stumbled across your dear friend Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, someone that you have attacked in the past, fighting in a random bathroom, by chance!"

"No, I..." I struggled to find the explanation as to why I was here without revealing the Marauders Map was in Harry's possession or spilling the beans that he had essentially been hunting for Malfoy for weeks. So I used a tactic Harry used to rely on.

"I felt it...In my head, I was taking Hermione to see Vector in 7A when my head started pounding, I thought someone was hurt and I was feeling it, like when I was younger," He scowled at me.

"I thought it was Harry, so I came running." I told him a half truth, so that even if he did read my mind, he couldn't tell if I was truly lying. He sneered at me, "Very convenient Mr. (L/N), a very well thought out alibi, perhaps you are simply being too clever for your own good."

"I only arrived a few seconds before you did! Harry can tell you, so can Myrtle" I defended. He berated me for another ten minutes, threatening with almost any punishment he was allowed to give, but I didn't tell him anything else.

The next thing I knew Harry was back in front of Snape, who held out his hand wordlessly for Harry's schoolbag. Harry handed it over, panting, and waited. One by one, Snape extracted Harry's books and examined them.

Finally, the only book left was the Potions book, which he looked at very carefully before speaking. Me and Harry shared a glance but said nothing, both of us knowing that if Snape caught us out with this book, we were done for.

"This is your copy of Advanced Potion-Making, is it, Potter?" "Yes," said Harry, still breathing hard. "You're quite sure of that, are you, Potter?" "Yes," said Harry, with a touch more defiance.

"This is the copy of Advanced Potion-Making that you purchased from Flourish and Blotts?" "Yes," said Harry firmly. "Then why," asked Snape, "does it have the name 'Roonil Wazlib' written inside the front cover?"

I almost audibly sighed, we were so close. "That's my nickname," he said. "Your nickname," repeated Snape. "Yeah...that's what my friends call me," said Harry. "I understand what a nickname is," said Snape.

"Do you know what I think, Potter?" said Snape, very quietly. "I think that you are a liar and a cheat and that you deserve detention with me every Saturday until the end of term. What do you think, Potter?"

"I — I don't agree, sir," said Harry, still refusing to look into Snape's eyes. "Well, we shall see how you feel after your detentions," said Snape. "Ten o'clock Saturday morning, Potter. My office." "But sir..." said Harry, looking up desperately.

"Quidditch...the last match of the..." "Ten o'clock," whispered Snape, with a smile that showed his teeth. "Poor Gryffindor...fourth place this year, I fear..." "As for you Mr. (L/N), while your attempts to rectify this blunder is noted, your head of house will be informed and you are to face whatever punishment they deem necessary."

"Frankly, considering your...record, I don't think I will be seeing you in my classroom any longer. And make no mistake, if you were in Slytherin, we wouldn't be having this conversation, you would be devoting this time to packing." I nodded, knowing what he was implying.

Fear of expulsion was the last thing on my mind right now. I was more concerned with the consequences of Harry's spell. "Can I go see him?" I asked, Snape nodded just once, his cold eyes lighting up a tiny bit.

"If you must." I let out a slow breath of relief. They wouldn't let me see him if he was in bad shape. I gathered my wand, which I didn't realise I had dropped when I picked up Malfoy, as well as Moody's gift and walked out of the room. Feeling as if I had aged ten years since I entered.

Madam Pomfrey gave me a Draught of Peace as soon as I entered the hospital wing and I realised my hands were still shaking and I was still covered in a layer of dried blood. Sighing, I used my wand to clean myself and thanked her.

"How is he?" She smiled "Better, It was nothing I couldn't handle" I nodded, "Didn't doubt it for a second" I smiled, she seemed flattered.

Another thing crossed my mind, "Don't suppose you can spare some dittany...for personal use?" I thought I might as well ask, she frowned and shook her head. "What, so you can do something like this again with no consequence?"

My heart sank and guilt for an act I didn't commit filled my body, I pulled up a chair beside Malfoy, it took him five minutes before he even acknowledged my existence. "What are you doing here scum? Come to see Potter's handiwork?"

I shook my head, "No, came to see mine, no scars that I can see, that's good." I took note of both his face and arms and could barely see a scratch on him. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, "As if you care!"

"I do, oddly enough. Though part of me thinks it's this kicking in" I held out my empty draught of Peace, which I had downed happily upon receiving it. He turned away from me, "Leave me alone." "Sure, but I wanted to talk to you first, figured I'd give you some time to thank me."

Even I didn't know what was pouring out of my mouth now, I was too relaxed to care, but Malfoy didn't like that, so much so he turned back to me just to glare. "Why would I thank you?" he sneered, "Saving your life" I said simply.

Yeah, this Draught was definitely kicking in, he scoffed "You were next to worthless" I nodded, "Next to, being the key part of that sentence, but I suppose you're right." "Truth be told, my cat saved your life really,"

"She's lazy and refuses to nap unless it's on top of something important that she can annoy me with." Malfoy seemed to be unsure of how to take in this information and was just staring at me with a blank face.

I was rambling because I didn't know what to say but I wanted to try to at least make him feel a little better. Another reason for my rambling is that I like talking about my cat.

"There was this one time where she slept on my wand when I put it down on my bedroom cabinet and refused to move, she'd hiss and spit at me if I tried to move her, apparently it was hers now because she put her head on it and claimed it. It was Hermione who fina-"

"Shut up will you!" he said, finally running out of patience, "How can that Mudblood even stan-" I slapped him in the back of the head, clipping his ear, knowing Madam Pomfrey couldn't see us. "She has a name."

He hissed in pain and kicked out at me. "Don't touch me filth!" "Then don't be so rude!" I snapped back, then I got an idea, I used the Prince's charm to silence us, after all, I don't want Madam Pomfrey to kick me out.

"Why were you in the bathroom anyway?" I asked to satisfy my curiosity. "And don't tell me you just needed to go." Yet again he turned away from me angrily and refused to acknowledge me.

"I mean, I have some ideas, but knowing me there all too far fetched. You're not snogging Moaning Myrtle are you?" "Do you ever stop talking?" I shrugged, "Probably, but only if you answer my questions."

"Why are you doing this! Talking to me like nothing's happened, like we're friends," I put my hand to my chest in faux shock. "Draco, I am genuinely hurt, I've always considered us frenemies at least"

"I mean, we're about as close to polar opposites as it gets, and you are a git, but I'm glad you're ok...or at least not dead" I pat his leg, he just glared at me. "I know you're a good person really, just in a tough spot, so if you ever need any help, just ask yeah, as long as it's not anything too creepy."

"Stop talking to me like you know me!" he snarled. "I'm just saying if you need hel-" "I don't need your help, I don't need anyone's help, I'm not weak like you, I'm not!" he shouted furiously. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Normally I'd have shouted back or even just left, but I couldn't seem to get angry right now, "I know some things...I know back at the world cup, it was a very big forest," It was a thought that had only just entered my head, but it proved my point so I went with it.

"The chances of running into you were pretty slim, nobody knew what was happening or why, especially us, but I remember you being there, I remember you bragging about how they were hunting Muggles and Muggle-borns and laughing to Hermione that she should be in a hurry to leave."

He just looked at me, wide eyed and shocked. "But I suppose it was just coincidence," "Shut your mouth!" "Or what? Daddy's gonna hear about it? He gonna get you both early releases is he?"

I was just talking about things I chose to ignore normally, things I kept my eyes closed to because I didn't take the time to think about it. "I think I understand you better then you might think Draco."

"Third years boggart class, we never got to yours, mine was broomsticks, don't you ever wonder what yours would have been?" "What might have come sauntering out that closet, or whom?" "Don't you dare talk to me like that!" he seethed, I nodded, wasn't my business.

I kept pushing him a bit, hoping he would crack and let me in. "And I know why you are scared to look me of all people in the eyes-" "Leave" "-I just don't know what you've gotten yourself into, and I don't think you do either." "LEAVE!"

"The spell should last for a bit, nobody can hear you, I say you have about two more minutes" I said, walking away, handing him some sweets. "Don't worry, they aren't tricks this time, though, I admit I was tempted" I winked, as I walked away I exited the range of the spell.

As I was walking out the hospital wing I was stopped in a doorway by some slabs of meat, these slabs, were Crabbe and Goyle. "Afternoon boys, so...we going to do this, or are you letting me past?" I smiled sweetly, cracking my neck and pointing my wand between them threateningly.

Another, shorter figure parted to two blockades in front of me. "Afternoon Parkinson, nice to see you" I said, smiling at her quickly, placing my wand closer to her. "Think you can take all four of us freak?" said a sly voice behind me.

I looked over my shoulder to see Blaise Zabini glowering at me with his wand pressed to my spine. I chuckled to myself about 'cunning Slytherins' "Well, probably not, but mama didn't raise no quitter" I winked at him, then my attention was drawn back to Pansy.

She grabbed the front of my shirt, barely able to reach my collar even as she stood up on her tiptoes because of our wands pressed into each other. "We know you were with him when he was found" I nodded. "Did you do it!" she seethed.

"Would I be visiting in the hospital and giving him sweets if I did?" "Well... people with guilty consciences are usually awfully nice" spat Blaise from behind me. I rolled my eyes. "You would know" I muttered, this was the most words he'd spoken to me since I met him. "So...where did you go on holiday this summer?"

Pansy shoved me, well, a little, she was tiny, so it didn't do much, she huffed and placed her wand at my neck instead. "Was it one of those losers you hang out with? Potter?" I shrugged dismissively. "Dunno"

"What about the Mudblood? We know she's good with spells, did the scum cook up something special?" I scowled. "Language. Parkinson." I pushed my wand into her chest with each word.

She pressed her wand harder into me, "Or. What." She countered. I frowned, then sighed. "Ask. Him. Your. Self." I spat, knocking her hand to the side. The others flinched and drew their wands. She tutted and told them to let me pass.

Crabbe and Goyle seemed reluctant but shuffled out of the doorway, barging me a bit as they did and chuckling gutturally. "Watch it (L/N)" they drawled. "Whatever you say pretty" I smiled at them.

I was going to just keep walking until I remembered the scene I had left, I turned on a heel and caught Pansy's wrist. She snarled at me and all of them pointed their wands at me angrily, I lowered mine.

"Give it a minute or two before you see him" she scoffed and rolled her eyes to the others. "Who do you think you are, giving me-" I gave her a pleading look, "Pansy, please" her brow furrowed and she nodded.

I heard the others mutter at her for letting me get away with that as I walked off. As I looked back and saw the Slytherins all awkwardly waiting outside the Hospital Wing to see their friend, I realised. Maybe me and Draco have a lot more in common then I thought.