Disclaimer: All rights remain with J K Rowling and her associated companies, not with me.

Yes, I know. Two months was a horribly long time to leave you without a new chapter. Fortunately for you, kowabungabrittany convinced me to start posting chapters again.

For you kowabungabrittany, I dedicate this chapter and apologise profusely for not updating sooner.

Harry frowned at Malfoy before giving him a light shove. "Why do you even trust him anyway?" he asked curiously. Harry knew that Dumbledore had instructed Snape to kill him, even if he was unsure of the circumstances, so he passably trusted Snape. But why did Malfoy?

Malfoy stopped laughing suddenly before giving Harry a searching look. He tilted his head to the left as if contemplating whether to tell Harry and then stood up. The words he said next shocked Harry to his very core.

"Potter...Snape was the one who saved me from the Elemental Curse."

Harry could see Malfoy's mouth moving, but no sound reached his ears.

A dull ringing was resonating inside his head; the revelation that Snape had saved Malfoy's life silenced him. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of this before. Malfoy had always seen to trust Snape indisputably. They didn't have the type of relationship normally expected of a student and their head of house, but Harry hadn't questioned it aloud before.

Now he wished wholly that he could take back his question.

His perception of Snape had warped dramatically throughout the last week or so, but this severed it completely. Snape had been a murderer. He was a murderer. Hell, he had been a Death Eater. But...he had saved Malfoy's life and he was helping Harry with training.

"Potter!" A finger poked him harshly on the arm, and Harry's eyes flicked back into focus. Malfoy's face was hovering concerned next to him. "Are you alright?"

Harry pondered that for a second. Was he alright? He needed answers that much he was sure of. He could reorganise his thoughts about Snape till later though, that wasn't necessary at the moment.

"Does Voldemort know how he did it?" Harry knew his question surprised Malfoy who had obviously thought Harry would want to hear the exciting tale before asking sensible questions. Malfoy could surely indulge Harry later on those facts, right now he needed to know if a hundred plus Death Eaters would be besieging the Order with forces that could obliterate them in a matter of minutes.

Malfoy's eyes shadowed slightly, "No, Snape escaped before they could force torture him."

Harry's mind focused sharply. "But he was injured before. How do you know that wasn't from the Death Eaters torturing him? He could easily have deceived you into thinking the secret was safe."

Malfoy's chin came up defiantly and he folded his arms stiffly. "He said he received those before he could escape and I believe him. He wouldn't give the Dark Lord such a valuable weapon to use at his arsenal." Harry frowned and turned around swiftly. In reality, Malfoy had no idea whether or not Snape had told Voldemort. For all Harry knew Voldemort could be preparing a super army to lead an assault on the Wizarding world.

He needed to talk to Snape.

Without waiting acknowledging Malfoy, Harry began to stride towards the Ballroom. Harry heard Malfoy growl softly from behind him, but he ignored it. Malfoy could be pissed if he wanted, this was more important.

He threw open the door to the Ballroom, not even wincing when it hit the wall with a deafening crash. He quickly spotted Snape sitting on one of the few clean chairs by a wall. He raised a single eyebrow slowly as Harry advanced towards him. "Eager to get started with training Potter?" he remarked flippantly.

Harry didn't answer; instead he kept striding towards Snape.

Snape let out a measured breath as Harry's expression didn't change. "I gather you informed him, Draco?" he stated mildly before getting to his feet gradually. "I thought I instructed you to let me tell him. Merlin forbid, we all know how volatile his temper can get."

Harry halted and ground his teeth. He had a steady grasp on his temper at the moment, but he wasn't sure how long he could contain it if Snape kept taunting him like this.

"Leave him out of it," he barked. He narrowed his eyes to slits as he glared at Snape, not at all liking the disapproving looks Snape was sending over his shoulder at Malfoy. "Did. You. Tell. Him?"

Snape sneered at Harry. "Do you really need an answer to that, Potter? After all, I assumed you were aware we're trying to defeat the Dark Lord, not aid him." He slowly withdrew his wand from his sleeve, alarming Harry slightly but not enough to quell his anger.

"I was aware of that, thank you Snape," Harry replied waspishly, "but you and I both know that's not what I meant." He reached into his pocket to withdraw his own wand, only to clasp at air. Snape must still have his wand. He casually let his hand fall back to his side, ignoring Snape's superior smirk. "Did they torture you and find out how to make an Elemental?"

Snape looked back at him coolly, not even raising his wand yet. "Your concern for me is touching Potter. I am actually staggered that you haven't asked me how I did it yet. I thought you of all people would be frantic to get your moronic hands on that information." The corner of his mouth tilted up maliciously. His hand made a small movement then and Harry rolled to the side as a Stunner shot over his head.

He stayed crouched on the ground as Snape gazed at him unruffled. "That's not a piece of information I require, Snape. I do need to know if Voldemort knows how to do it though" he shot back. He had seen what the curse had done to Malfoy. Why on earth would he want to inflict that on someone else? He reached deep for his wandless magic, exhaustion flooding him almost as once. He couldn't feel the pressure that had been surrounding him last time, but he still couldn't quite reach that power that kept evading him.

He glanced to his left as the door to the Ballroom slammed. Malfoy was probably still annoyed at him. He sighed inwardly, but focused his attention back on Snape. He darted to the right again as Snape shot another spell at him. He crouched panting as Snape studied him thoughtfully.

"Fortunately for you Potter, that information is safe for now. I appear to be something of an expert at keeping extremely dangerous information secret," Snape finally broke the silence that had spread between them. He looked extremely reluctant to part with this knowledge that could have caused Harry endless anxiety for weeks. "I have burned all notes I made on that certain potion and I was the only one that worked on it."

A potion? McGonagall said that nothing had been invented that could stop the Elemental curse from either burning or freezing the victim alive. "McGonagall said there was no such thing" Harry answered sharply, forgetting momentarily that he didn't want to know. Something about what Snape had just said was niggling the back of his mind.

Snape sneered knowingly. "That Potter, is because I, and to some extent Dumbledore, invented it. After all I am a Potions master. How did you think I stopped the curse?" He lazily flicked another stunner at Harry who dodged it with ease. "Unless you thought there was something special about Malfoy that enabled him to fight off the effects of the curse" he scoffed at Harry's embarrassed flush, "How naïve of you."

"But you're sure nobody else knows how to make this...potion?" Harry clarified. Dumbledore obviously wouldn't have said anything to anybody about this potion. He would have known the risks.

Snape smirked, "Yes Potter. I - unlike some of the Order - know how to make operations covert." He changed his tactics and sent four spells shooting at Harry, forcing Harry to dodge three but the last one hit him in his shoulder.

It was just a Stinging Hex, but it made him wince nonetheless. He racked his brains trying to remember what he did last time, but he couldn't remember any triggers instead it rather seemed to explode outwards by itself. He remembered being incredibly angry at Snape, but that was impossible when Snape had just revealed he had managed to save Malfoy's life. He bit his lip hard, his nails digging into his palm slightly. Snape had mentioned that this new, and very annoying, new power had been triggered from helping Malfoy with his Elemental powers.

He reminded himself to smack Malfoy later.

No, that was ridiculous. It was hardly Malfoy's fault after all. He sighed inwardly before straightening up slightly. If he could just, somehow get his wand back then maybe he'd be able to fight Snape on more even grounds. He refused to be hexed until his powers burst free on their own, rendering him unconscious in the process. That certainly wouldn't help him at all to learn how his powers worked.

Dodging another curse, Harry landed so one of his hands was tilted up towards Snape. Hopefully Snape wouldn't realise what he was trying to do.

"Potter, you should know by now that you're incapable of summoning your wand from this distance," Snape sneered at him, not fooled in the slightest.

Damn it, Harry cursed inwardly. Undeterred, he stretched his fingers in his right hand, willing with all his might that somehow his wand would appear and fly to his hand.

He rolled to his side, narrowly missing a bolt of yellow light that didn't look pleasant in the slightest. He scowled deeply, stretching endlessly for that thread of magic dancing just out of his reach. Sweat broke out on his forehead as a tingling sensation spread across the palm of his right hand. Harry stared hard at his palm as the tingling sensation began to spread through his arm and up to his shoulder.

He glanced up momentarily distracted as Snape shouted a spell at him. It struck him as odd that Snape had shouted this spell instead of casting it nonverbally like all the rest. He rolled out of the way before raising his arm fully this time. He was panting from the exertion now and Snape was glaring at him from across the room. He shot a Cruciatus curse at Harry, his eyes tracking Harry's every movement.

Without knowing exactly why, Harry raised his right arm...

...and watched in astonishment as the spell dissipated a foot away from his right arm.

Immediately his concentration was broken and he dropped onto all fours, his chest heaving. Sweat trickled down his forehead from strands stuck to his head, but he ignored that. Instead he forced his head to look back up at Snape who was striding towards him.

Snape stopped a metre away from Harry before throwing Harry's wand down on the floor. "That'll do for today Potter. I expect to see you tomorrow though." He levelled one last look at Harry before striding away, his robes billowing as usual.

An exhausted grin broke across Harry's face.

He tumbled out of the fireplace as was his custom, when arms enfolded him from nowhere. Harry gasped slightly as his ribs creaked worryingly, and his mouth immediately filled with bushy brown hair. Though just as quickly as he was grabbed, he was released and shoved away.

"Where on earth have you been?!" Hermione fairly screeched into his ear. Harry batted away her fussing hands that were brushing the soot from his hair and his shoulders. Another hand punched his arm and Harry glanced up to look at Ron's scarlet face.

"She's been like this since yesterday," Ron muttered darkly, "I only just convinced her not to alert the Order of your disappearance." He sighed deeply before tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Well excuse me Ronald for being concerned about our best friend," Hermione sniffed haughtily. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Harry. "So did you go and see Snape?" she demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, I did and I'll tell you about it later, but right now I need to sleep." He yawned widely behind his hand, exhaustion washing over him again.

"But...it's only one in the afternoon Harry," Hermione said puzzled. Harry waved his hand at her in vaguely. "I'm really tired Hermione." He didn't care what time in the bloody afternoon it was, he needed to sleep now.

"Alright," she said bewildered, "but I want to talk to you later."

He nodded vaguely before slowly making his way upstairs, his feet trudging all the way.

Finally, he reached his and Ron's bedroom and opened the door...only to find the room dark and Malfoy curled up asleep in his bed. He blinked tiredly before moving to close the door again, when Malfoy spoke up softly.

"Where are you going?" Malfoy's voice was muffled by the duvet but he was clearly staring expectedly at Harry.

Harry's eyes widened. "Just going to find somewhere to sleep," he stammered out awkwardly. Malfoy didn't say anything for a while and Harry assumed he had fallen asleep again. He quietly began to close the door again when Malfoy spoke.

"What's wrong with this bed?" he questioned softly. Harry could just see one of his eyebrows raised sardonically. He let out a soft breath as Malfoy sat up. "Well, you seem to be occupying it, Malfoy," he answered teasing.

"So?" Malfoy shot back quickly.

Harry hesitated a second before walking over to his bed. Malfoy edged over to make room before lying back down, facing the wall this time. Harry wavered slightly, but made up his mind quickly. He climbed into the bed next to Malfoy, his back pressed into Harry's arm. He lay stiffly for a few minutes before relaxing into the warmth of his bed.

He could hear Malfoy's even breathing, but Malfoy's back was too stiff for him to be asleep. Harry gently rested a hand on Malfoy's shoulder. "Listen...I'm sorry about earlier. I was worried and I had no excuse to take it out on you," he apologised softly.

Slowly, Malfoy's back softened and he shifted more firmly into Harry. "Don't worry about it Potter. I'll get you back later." He yawned once before settling down fully and became still.

Harry grinned, not at all worried about Malfoy's threat, and let his own eyelids close.

Oh this chapter reminded me how much I love Drarry. I hope it was alright for you.