Careful What You Wish For

By Coco Bebo aka EternusCaries

Chapter Twenty-Three

Harry groaned as he tried to figure out why his head felt like it had been repeatedly ran over. He remembered with a jolt of panic what he had seen and sat up quickly, opening his eyes and wincing in pain as his head gave a vicious throb.

"Harry! Be careful will you? You probably shouldn't move a lot."

Harry couldn't help but smile to himself when he realized that Draco was there and probably had been there for who knows how long.

"Here, drink this, Severus said it will help."

Harry grabbed the familiar looking potion and gulped the entire contents down before he could taste the foul acidic potion. He felt his muscles relaxing first then his nerves stopped sending out signals of panic and then finally his head gave one last violent throb and quit.

"Harry…"

"Hold on Draco, give me that parchment, I have to get this down."

Draco sighed heavily as he handed Harry the parchment and a quill and Harry began writing as fast as he could everything he could remember about what Voldemort had done. He felt the panic creeping back through his veins as he remembered how he had the pleasure of being in Pansy Parkinson's shoes. How he had the pleasure of feeling crucio after crucio after crucio. By the time he was done his hand was shaking and he knew he was crying. Nothing crucial had come out of this trip to Voldemort's mind, no pieces of information that might lead them to their next big break; just the torture of a girl who had displeased a sick, demented man.

"Harry! Just stop alright? I don't have another one of those potions and you are starting to shake…"

"Draco…you have to understand, this needs to be done."

Harry didn't look up from what he was writing and after a few more moments he was done, folding the parchment up and standing up slowly from bed. Groaning as he felt his body protest at the moment.

"Harry…"

"Draco! Look I know that I should have told you that this happens occasionally, and I know that I should have told you how invested I am at helping the Order. But, you have to understand, this is my fight, my war, I have to win it. I will do whatever I can to help the order and…well I was hoping that eventually you would join me."

Draco clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to say anything at the moment. He couldn't remember feeling this angry at Harry Potter since the previous year.

"We'll talk when I get back alright? Please…even if you don't help me….don't…just don't do anything rash alright?"

Draco rolled his eyes and sat down heavily at his desk as he watched Harry run out of the room and undoubtedly toward the head master's office.

"Come in." Albus wasn't surprised when he saw Harry walk in, he had hoped that Harry would give himself a little more time to relax after his episode but he never did.

"I've written it all down sir; sorry to say that there wasn't anything important though."

"Then why not wait until you had some more sleep?"

"Because any information helps, even if it isn't important."

Albus took the parchment from Harry and frowned as he read its contents. Pansy had gotten worse than Albus had feared. He couldn't help but think of Neville's parents as he finished reading it and hoped with everything in him that Pansy had not been subjected to the same fate.

"Thank you very much for this Harry, now please, go back to your room and let Draco know that you both are excused from classes today."

"Alright, but please…I mean I can feel it that something is going to happen his year. Don't leave me in the dark ok sir? We both know who will have to finish Voldemort off and I'll need all the help I can get."

Albus closed his eyes and nodded and didn't reopen them until Harry closed the door to his office. Reading over the parchment again he sighed before throwing it down on his desk. Harry had been of course right, they really couldn't afford to treat him like a child any longer, even though that was exactly what he was. Looking down at his blackened hand once more he realized that he had a very hard decision to make.

Draco watched as Harry made his way back into the room and felt a surge of anger at Harry, Dumbledore, his godfather, and honestly the entire situation. He could see Harry's frame shaking with exhaustion and his scar was still a puffy angry red. He remained quiet as he watched Harry sit down on his bed with a soft thump, "Dumbledore said that we are both excused from classes today."

For some reason that infuriated Draco even more and before he could even think twice about it he was up and pacing around the room. "How bloody nice of him, you know I can't believe you didn't warn me about this. I have a right to know that you have more than just nightmares; that you actually can see what he's doing. Tell me Harry, how much farther are you willing to risk your own mental and physical health to help this charade against good and evil?"

Harry looked over at Draco shock splashed over his face before it turned to anger as well, "as much as it takes! Fine, maybe I should've told you about the visions, but you have to understand what that monster has taken away from me! I can't have a normal life and it's pretty much been decided by fate that I have to be the one to kill the bugger! So yes, I will do whatever I can, I will suffer the visions; I will suffer through him trying to kill me and everyone that even pretends to get close to me! But I won't ask you to understand because there just is no way you can!"

Draco turned toward Harry and suddenly remembered how they could've kept their 5 year rivalry going; sometimes he just couldn't stand how hard headed and stubborn Harry could be and as he turned toward the door to leave, he almost pulled his wand when he felt Harry grab his arm to stop him.

"Please, don't leave…look I'm sorry and I know that we still get mad at each other." Harry looked away before shaking his head and looking back at Draco, "I really care about you Draco and I don't want that to be ruined because of this. I promise that from now on I'll be more open about everything alright? Just…please?"

Draco sighed as he felt his body relax slightly, pulling Harry to him for a passionate kiss before pushing him away gently, "I suppose if you can apologize I can too, it startled me is all and you'll quickly find that I don't like to be startled or surprised."

Harry smiled his signature half smile as he nodded, "noted, no more surprises."

Draco rolled his eyes before walking back over to his bed and lying down, "so no classes today then?" He watched as Harry shook his head and sighed before patting the spot beside him, "then what you waiting for? Let's go to bed." Draco felt a small trill of pleasure go through him when he saw the brilliantly happy smile break over Harry's face as he climbed in bed with Draco.

END OF CHAPTER