Disclaimer: I am not now, nor have I ever been, J.K. Rowling or any person affiliated with Warner Brothers and Bloomsbury. I am not profiting from this story, which contains characters to which I claim no right. Rest easy, copyright lawyers, this is just imitation as a form of flattery. Disclaimer applies to the rest of the story.

Hello, new readers and old! Seeing as it's been over a year since I updated this story, I thought I'd ease myself back into writing with a quick edit and re-publish of the original chapters. I look forward to posting some new chapters in the very near future - and if you've been with me since the beginning, thank you so much for your patience xx

Chapter 1: Aware

"Do it, Draco!"

"I-I can't..."

"Do it! Kill him!"

The tall, blond boy pointed his wand and cleared his throat. He took a deep, fortifying breath and lifted his eyes to his target, met the steady gaze of Albus Dumbledore... and faltered.

"What are you waiting for? Kill him now!"

"Aunt Bella, I-"

"Just do it. Do it for the Dark Lord, for the glory of your family!"

Draco risked another glance at his headmaster. The old man regarded him without expression. "Draco, I can help you."

Bellatrix laughed, an unholy sound that sent shivers down the spine. "What kind of help could my nephew possibly want from you?"

Dumbledore ignored the interruption, keeping his eyes firmly locked with his student's. "You don't need to do this. There is another way. Lower your wand."

The boy shuddered. "He'll kill me. He'll kill my mother."

"He will do that whether you succeed here or not. Tom Riddle is not a man of his word. He has no concept of honour-"

"You dare insult the Dark Lord? You dare use his name?" Bellatrix shrieked. She swished her wand in temper, not noticing that her nephew had lowered his own.

But Dumbledore had noticed. He gave the boy an infinitesimal nod and gestured to someone in the shadows. Draco felt arms close around him, slowly pulling him from his aunt's side. He fought the urge to cry with relief. Too late, Bellatrix sensed her nephew's withdrawal.

"Draco?"

The arms released him, and a figure swathed in black took a protective stance in front of him.

"Severus," Bellatrix greeted. "Have you come to accomplish what the boy could not?"

From his partially obscured position, Draco could see the Headmaster edging towards him, wordlessly summoning the wand that had been removed from him earlier.

"No."

No. That single word seemed to resonate around the Astronomy Tower's wind-whipped platform. It seemed to shake the very foundations of the building.

"No?" she repeated, almost dumbly. "No? But the Unbreakable Vow-"

"I have been released from my promise."

Even in his current state of shock, Draco realised that Snape was distracting his aunt, playing for time, and he willed Dumbledore closer to safety. Bellatrix, in a rare display of un-Slytherin abstraction, remained unsuspecting.

"Why would Narcissa do such a thing?"

"Her reasons are her own."

"I will make her see sense. Why, the Dark Lord himself-"

"The Dark Lord no longer has Narcissa Malfoy in his power."

Bellatrix released a scream of rage, a terrifying sound that carried on the wind and returned as an echo. Her wild eyes scanned the platform until they lighted on Dumbledore, now barely two feet from Draco's side. "Betrayed! I am betrayed!" With a razor-sharp movement, she levelled her wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

The Headmaster dodged the curse neatly, watching with interest as the green light sailed past him. Snape took the opportunity to disarm her as a commotion on the stairs below drew all of their attention.

Aurors.

Bellatrix bared her teeth at her nephew. "Death would be too good for you, you Blood Traitor bastard."

Draco watched, frozen with horror, as she executed a complicated manoeuvre with her hands, sending purple-black tendrils of Dark Magic twisting across the platform towards him. He vaguely registered the Headmaster reciting counter-curse after counter-curse, but the pace of the oncoming doom remained unchanged. The wisps surrounded him, rooting him to the spot as Bellatrix let out a chilling cackle. He was pulled to the floor by the strength of the magic, falling with a sickening, bone-cracking thud. He was faintly aware of his aunt's shrill laughter, faintly aware of the booted feet of several Aurors rushing past him, faintly aware of their frustrated shouts. Faintly aware of Dumbledore quickly issuing orders, and the mutters of Snape's diagnostic and protective spells. Aware.

"Dormite Vivere. The Curse of Living Sleep."

Draco opened his eyes onto an unfamiliar ceiling, painted white and flickering with the reflections of a chandelier. He blinked to accustom himself to the harshness of the light, so different to the murk of the Slytherin dungeons.

Where the hell am I?

He scanned his most recent memories for clues. The Astronomy Tower. Trying to muster the courage to Avada Dumbledore. His hesitation. Snape. Swirls of purple and black light...

"And what does it do?"

Voices. Female voices. Who's there? Why are they whispering?

"It's an old curse, very old. Nobody's seen it for two centuries. Its purpose is to send the victim into a form of paralysis, as if they're asleep, but the mind is awake. The victim is aware of everything but unable to move. It's a cruel fate, intended to drive the recipient slowly mad."

Ah, this voice he definitely recognised. How typical of Mudblood Granger to have all the answers. It begged further questions though – such as where was he, and why in Salazar's name was Granger giving someone a damned lecture?

"That's horrid!"

"It's meant to be."

As it had so often in the past, the know-it-all tone sent Draco into a blinding fury. He tried to pull himself into an upright position, determined to knock Granger down a peg or two, when...

What the fuck? Why can't I move?

The rage died in an instant and his blood ran cold. The Mudblood's sotto voce lesson reverberated through his head. The mind is awake, she'd said. Aware of everything but unable to move. Had they... Had they been discussing him? Was this the effect of that purplish light? Oh, Merlin. Panic clawed at him with icy hands as he struggled in vain against the curse.

"Hermione, he's blinking!"

Draco's line of vision was assaulted by copious amounts of red hair before it was pushed aside, replaced by Granger's face, concern evident on her features. Her small sigh of relief tickled his nose, and he was furious that he couldn't wipe away the remnants of her contaminating breath.

"That's a good sign," she murmured, lifting her head away and fixing him with an assessing look. "There may be hope for him yet. Ginny, help me lift him so he can sit up."

He wanted to bat them away, scream at them for daring to touch him, but he was forced to remain still, obedient to their fumbling hands as they wrenched him up against the headboard. As the Mudblood busied herself arranging pillows at his back, Draco was livid to discover that he couldn't even narrow his eyes properly to glare at the Weaselette.

Granger appeared at the foot of the bed, directly in his eye-line. "You can hear us properly, can't you, Malfoy? You're conscious and aware?"

Silence. What in Merlin's name is she expecting? How the fuck am I supposed to answer her?

"He's looking at you like he wants to murder you, Hermione."

An intelligent observation from a Weasley? The apocalypse must be well and truly nigh.

Granger rolled her eyes – alright for some – and smacked a palm to her forehead. "I'm such an idiot." In his mind, Draco was nodding vigorously in agreement. "Okay, we can get around this. Malfoy, when I ask you a question, I want you to blink once for yes and twice for no. Are you in any pain?"

Draco stared at her, resolutely unblinking. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Do you remember what happened?"

He steeled himself not to react.

Granger cast a despairing look to the She-Weasel, who huffed from somewhere to his right. "He's just being an arsehole." Realisation dawned across Granger's face, and her mouth twisted into a half-smirk before she turned her attention back to Draco.

"Well, if that's the way you want to play it. Are you, Draco Malfoy, an arsehole?"

Granger swears?

"Are you an arrogant, smarmy prick?"

The Girl Weasley joined her at the foot of the bed. "Are you a secret Hufflepuff-hugger, dying to declare your love of all things Muggle?"

Fuck this. Draco blinked twice, outraged, much to the delight of the two girls, who promptly burst into peals of laughter. Merlin, how he wanted to hex them. Or at least have the ability to scowl at them.

"Thank you for clearing that up," said Granger, unsuccessfully stifling her giggles. She took a few deep breaths to compose herself. "Did you hear me explaining your condition to Ginny?"

He waited for a moment, then blinked.

"And we're right? Your mind is responsive but you are without the use of your motor functions?"

By all means, rub it in. Bitch. Another blink.

"The fact that you can blink at all is very heartening. Professor Snape has stuffed you full of potions in the hope of slowing the curse down. The research on how to reverse it completely has already started."

The She-Weasel gave an indelicate snort. "Do we have to reverse it? My favourite kind of Malfoy is a silent one."

And my favourite kind of Weasley is one that isn't sharing my fucking oxygen.

Granger rolled her eyes again. It was infuriating, not being able to do the same. "That's not very helpful."

"Who said I was trying to be helpful?"

"Go to bed."

"But-"

"Go to bed. There'll be plenty of time for you to antagonise him tomorrow."

I can't decide which one of you I hate the most.

Draco was an unwilling witness to the affectionate goodbye hug between the two. He was partially glad for his current state, as it suppressed his urge to gag. Sodding Gryffindors. As soon as the ginger one had left, Granger turned to him once more.

"I understand that the curse knocked you out on the Astronomy Tower. Is that correct?"

He tried to make his answering blink the most sullen movement in history.

"Would you like to know what happened afterwards?"

A wary blink this time. Granger sighed and perched on the end of the bed. Every instinct Draco possessed urged him to recoil, but he had no choice other than to submit to her proximity.

"Amycus Carrow and Rowle were killed. Alecto Carrow was captured and taken into custody. Greyback and Bellatrix Lestrange escaped. They jumped from the Tower and disappeared. As no bodies have been recovered, we can only assume that they found their way back to Voldemort." Her mouth twisted momentarily in distaste, but she quickly schooled her face to blankness. "Professors Snape and Dumbledore immediately began their attempts to treat you. As I said, we are searching for a cure, but that may take some time."

She glanced around, before returning her gaze to him. "This is the Head Dorm in Gryffindor Tower. It's not been in use, and Professor Dumbledore thought it would be safer to keep you away from the Slytherins in case of any...retaliation. I've been moved in here too, to oversee your care. I know you won't like it. God knows I don't, but it was necessary. Your continued presence at Hogwarts is a secret that only a handful of teachers and students are privy to." She paused. "We will try to keep somebody with you as much as possible. It won't just be me, which is a relief to both of us, I'm sure. Professor Dumbledore says that interaction is important to someone in your condition."

Piss off, Granger. Interacting with you is doing unspeakable things to my blood pressure.

Unfortunately for him, she continued. "Madam Pomfrey has been here, and she'll be dropping in now and then to monitor your progress. She's placed you under a spell to keep you healthy, give you nourishment and take care of your, ah, bodily functions."

Kill me. Kill me now.

She seemed to sense his discomfort, or at least give in to her own. Standing up, she cleared her throat and straightened his bedsheets.

"It's getting late, so I'm going to bed. Do you want me to put you on your back so you can sleep?"

Two blinks. As if I'd ever consent to you touching me.

"You're okay like that?"

One blink. Just fuck off already, mudblood.

"Fine. Goodnight, Malfoy." She flicked a hand to extinguish the candles and left Draco alone with his thoughts. He closed his eyes against the gloom, his thoughts dark.

It would have been so much easier if they'd just let the Slytherins at me.

A/N: Please leave a review! But do be gentle, it's my first time :)