Unlikely Companions:
Disclaimer: Really, really not mine.
Warnings:
Books 1-4
Slash HP/DM, some
harsh language, probably violence, great character changes,
character's death
This fic will be rated R, although not all the chapters will require this rating. If the story decides to move on in a different direction (I know that I don't have a saying in this.) I will change this warning so keep checking it.
Summary:
The last battle has been fought. Harry survived, but he is not the person he used to be. He forgot everything about his past. The sad things as well as the good things. He has to learn everything again. Almost like a child. But the keyword is ALMOST. The only person he trusts is Draco Malfoy. For Draco it's a difficult time, he has to adjust to a completely different situation. Now he has to care for somebody else. And what happens, when he starts to have certain feelings towards a certain boy? Strange things happen at Hogwarts, will our heroes manage to survive once again and live in peace?
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Chapter 10: The Curse"Severus, do you realize that you have only a handful of students above fourth year left? What do you think…?", the headmaster didn't continue. His face lost all colour and he would have fallen, if it wasn't for Severus Snape.
"What is it, Headmaster? Are you not well? Has something happened?", Severus Snape didn't think it was stupid to ask if something strange had happened. He didn't know how the headmaster knew things like that, but he was sure that he had the necessary powers.
"It's not over yet. Dark times lay ahead, and what we thought vanquished will plague us again.", for once, Albus Dumbledore looked his age, something that disturbed Severus.
Severus' skin became even paler than his usual dungeon's complexion. "Are you sure? But I thought he took care of that!"
"We don't know that, do we? Nobody knows, but him.", Albus felt so tired. So very tired of it all. He had been so happy to live the rest of his life in peace, but this hope seemed to be shattered.
"I hate the thought that he is the one we have to trust with our fate. At least now he has good company.", Severus seemed to be disgusted by the fact to be at the mercy of another human being.
"Severus, we do NOT have the time for discussions like this. They are in danger. They cannot get hurt. They are most important. We can't hope to come unharmed from this, without them.", Dumbledore straightened up and ran out of the dungeons. Too much time had been wasted talking instead of acting. The Potions master followed the Headmaster, but wasn't able to catch up to the graceful strides of the much older man
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Blinded by pain, he tried nonetheless to think clearly. He had to find what caused the pain. He heard moaning. Actually the other person's pain seemed to be in accord with the pain that penetrated him through his scar. He looked up and saw the fuzzy outline of his best friend lying only a few meters away from him. Draco also had regained consciousness and continued trembling from the curse. Harry tried to get up to help him, but couldn't. He felt more than dizzy. In addition to all the pain from his scar and the awful fall and the shock that came with it, he had lost his glasses and felt very disoriented. He decided that he shouldn't risk falling again by standing up, instead he tried to inch closer to his fallen companion.
As soon as he was close enough to see Draco clearly, without his glasses, he saw that Draco was in foetal position with his eyes squeezed shut. His whole body was still shaking with constant painful muscle contractions. Harry, feeling the same effects taking hold of him again, didn't know what to do, but to cradle the other in his arms. He was rocking the two of them, as if he could ease the pain with that.
"Draco, Draco are you okay? Say something! Please, everything is all right! I am here for you! Draco! Draco!….Please, be all right! Please, please, please, please……"
He didn't know how often he had used the word please, but all he could think was that he couldn't loose Draco. What would he do without him? He repeated his mantra over and over, until he couldn't think of anything else. Draco seemed to calm a little, but not much. The pain was still there. So they remained where they were. Draco in the arms of a Gryffindor, who desperately tried to calm him and stop the hurting, although had no idea, how to do it.
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Once he was at their side, he let himself plunge to the ground in order to help. While trying to assess the situation, he was only able to process simple information.
Harry was talking. Talking to Malfoy. Harry was alive. Harry was hurt. Harry was almost unconscious. He was holding a shaking Malfoy in HIS arms. Draco was shaking like a leaf in the wind. But who cared about Malfoy? Harry did. He had to help Malfoy to help Harry.
He sighed and tried to detach Harry's arms from the trembling body.
"Harry! I am here with you! Are you okay? Please, lie down! Please rest! I will look after Malfoy! Please let me look at him!"
"Draco, he needs help. Pain…so much pain! I can't bear it! I…help him! I need him!", with those words Harry, let go of him, and surrendered once again to the close lingering darkness, knowing that somebody would try to heal Draco.
Ron starred at Harry and couldn't believe what he had just heard. Harry had talked to him. In full sentences! He had to shake himself out of his astonished state. He put Harry in a stable position, feeling his friend's muscles contracting constantly in a painful matter, and decided to look after the young Slytherin.
Ron was at a loss; here he was with two fellow students! One of them was his dearly loved friend, who wanted nothing else, than have him help the other student, who coincidently was a Slytherin, about who he couldn't care less about. And they were both unconscious! Ron felt panic rising. Where were the others? Clearly they would need some more time until they could arrive, he needed to do SOMETHING! He switched his look from Harry to Draco, who lay writhed on the ground. Because not having an idea what could help, he decided to try to put Draco in a straight position. Maybe he could see what was wrong with him.
His task seemed impossible. Whatever had hit the Slytherin, all his muscles were hard as stone and contorted in a painful way. The only thing Ron could tell was that he was still breathing, although under much strain.
Ron was close to tears, when he looked in desperation back to Harry, seeing that Harry had started to bleed through his nose, didn't make him feel better. He was losing a dangerous amount of blood. Instantly Ron was at Harry's side and tried to wipe away the offending red with his sleeve, but it was a futile effort. Too much kept streaming down the face of their hero.
Just in this moment he could hear people running towards them. Looking up he recognised the Headmaster and the black shape of their Potion's master. Relieve washed over him that somebody had come to help him and a loud sob escaped him.
"Oh, thank Merlin! Please help them! I don't know what happened to them! Harry spoke! He said somebody needed to heal Malfoy, but I never took any healing courses! Do something!", although having said that, he did not want to let go of Harry. The headmaster who had rushed to his side could barely get a look at the black haired youth.
Severus who cradled the other teen in his lap, shot a worried look to Dumbledore who seemed to be at loss. "Albus I think I know what happened!", he didn't even wait for the Headmaster to give him his attention, "this must be Crucio Cogitare!" The old man became even paler, although it didn't seem possible and nodded silently, already thinking for a way to help.
Draco in the arms of Severus Snape started to come closer to the breech of consciousness, but felt all the pain awaiting him and retreated back into the back of his mind. Severus could sense the boy in his arms tensing and slipping away.
"Albus, you better hurry, we are loosing them. Potter is bleeding all over Weasley!" The Headmaster finally came to the decision that with his limited amount of knowledge of the art of healing, he could only do a simple spell to stabilize them, everything else could intervene severely with any necessary treatment that they should be given soon. Once he had uttered the combined relaxing and calming spell, he started to conjure stretchers for an immediate transport to the hospital wing.
Just at that moment Neville approached with a panting Madam Pomfrey, Hermione following them in a very slow manner, as if trying to treat her ankle with care. The School Nurse gasped, when she saw the state the two students were in.
"Oh, my what happened to the poor lads?", she asked urgently. Snape took it upon himself to answer her. "Severe injuries from falling of a broom in high altitude and Crucio Cogitare."
Poppy Pomfrey closed her eyes in resignation. "They don't have much time, I have to make an emergency transport. With that she knelt between the two injured and touched each of the stretchers while mumbling a difficult spell. Only seconds later she vanished. Professor Snape looked in bewilderment at the current Hogwarts Headmaster.
"What was that? Nobody can apparate within the wards of this school. That is completely impossible!", just in this moment Hermione had managed to close up to the group.
"Only the school nurse can do it. It is for real emergencies and has only been used four times in the entire history of Hogwarts as stated in 'Hogwarts a History' page 564. What happened?" Only Ron didn't seem to be irritated by her recitation, sadly he looked up from her, still sitting on the ground thoroughly drenched in the blood of his friend. "We have to go to the Hospital Wing. They are in a very bad shape from the fall and some curse. What happened with your foot?", Hermione paled when hearing it from Ronald Weasley that somebody was in a bad shape, because normally Ron liked to pretend that everything was fine and will always be. Having him admit something bad, meant that it had to be really bad!
"Sprained it. What are you waiting for? We have to hurry!", and with that she started to hobble towards the castle, following the two teachers as quick as she was able to.
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The sight that met them was crushing. Madam Pomfrey was crying while she thrust a large book into the hands of Dumbledore and told him and Professor Snape to learn that spell as quickly as they could or she would hex them into tomorrow. Then she turned and started to administer blood replenishing potions and to repair the many broken bones of the boys that they, but Harry the most, had sustained. All the while she kept looking at the magical monitoring charms. Even Hermione and Ron although lacking the concrete knowledge, knew that the erratic beeping noises did mean nothing good. Curiously both hearts seemed to beat in the exact same rhythm.Hermione fell down on a bed and started to sob, when Poppy urged the two men to hurry up because she could not guarantee that they would have enough time. In that moment one of the hearts of the two companions gave up the difficult duty of beating, the other one becoming drastically more erratic.
Time seemed to slow as Madam Pomfrey whirled around to be at Harry's side, her wand right above his heart, urging it with a spell to start beating again. Moments seemed like minutes, seconds like hours, until the soft beep of the monitor could be heard. A loud sigh echoed around the room as everybody remembered to breath out. For a second everything seemed peaceful, until the Matron yelled for the help of the two professors.
"Chant NOW!" The two men started immediately, while Poppy observed the two patients. A red glow appeared around the group of five. The colour became darker with each second, sparks appeared in the midst of it all, fighting the blackness of the curse, which remained to linger around the boys. The professors needed all their reserves to keep chanting the spell. Sweat and sickly green complexions were the proof that they used all the strength they possessed. An eternity later a deafening crack resounded in the infirmary. Everybody's ears were ringing painfully, but the relief they felt was greater than any discomfort they may have experienced.
Now Poppy moved into full action. "The curse is broken, but that doesn't take away all the side effects! Put cooling charms on them, they will feel too hot after this. But not too long, then cover them thoroughly. Don't forget!", seeing the nurse they all knew move on high speed, healing and helping her patients while ordering the people around them was quite an amazing sight and a hopeful one, too. It meant that there was hope for a full recovery. Of course Madam Pomfrey cared for every patient with the greatest possible care, but in this situation they took anything as a good sign.
It took nearly an hour to do everything that was possible to give the two companions the best chance of recovery. Poppy sank fully exhausted on the next free chair, looking a little lost. Ron was the first one to approach her with a question, although being there the whole time, they were not able to tell, the state of the boys.
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"Are they going to be okay? How are they? Please say something!", nobody could resist a Weasley if he put on his hopeful face, while asking any kind of question. The weary nurse sighed long, before answering the question."It's quite difficult to tell, my dear boy. The curse is broken, which means that they don't suffer any additional pain, but they had to endure so much that they have gone into shock.
You'll never know, what kind of effects that may have on a body or mind.
They have to deal with a lot, especially with such a dark curse and the physical injuries they have sustained. Magical medical research decides between physical and mental shocks and their different severities.
Draco suffered from a huge physical shock and a small mental one. For him the pain in the body was more intensive than the mental one. Harry on the other hand has received more physical injuries as Draco, but the mental pain must have been even greater for he is mainly in a mental shock. Quite curious….Don't know why….Hope they'll get better. Can only wait.", tiredly her voice trailed off.
Clearly she wasn't in a state to tell them more about the condition of the two of them. But as always Hermione's thirst for knowledge wasn't stilled yet and her concern was even greater.
"What kind of curse?", Snape and Dumbledore seemed surprised, being equally lost in thoughts. Silently the Headmaster agreed to explain, while Severus Snape, the seemingly cold Potions Master moved towards his favourite student, sat next to his bed and starting to talk quietly with him, meanwhile stroking his hand to give him some kind of comfort.
Dumbledore turned towards the young Gryffindors and looked searchingly upon them. Hermione was sitting on the bed next to Harry, her left foot resting on pillow, while Ron sat behind her offering to be her backrest. Both set of eyes were fixed on him, looking for an explanation.
The Headmaster felt very old, when he took the chair between Harry's bed and the one occupied by the other part of the Golden Trio. "The curse is called Crucio cogitare, it's related to the Unforgivable Cruciatus and it's highly illegal to perform it. It's the kind of curse that is unimaginably intense while cast and very, very painful, when it still lingers. Even, when the caster stops, the effect remains though a lot less, but still too much that the person could survive very long.
Therefore it needs to be broken, so that you can start to deal with the effects that it has caused. I believe that Draco and Harry will need some time to get over it, but it's different with every person. The main difference between it and the Cruciatus Curse is that it not only attacks your nerves and muscles, but your brain too. It activates everything in your brain and therefore causes some kind of overload. The person under the curse goes through every memory he has, and especially all the bad things that have happened to him or her.
The history of the curse tells of many victims, who have many side effects as we know of heart attack patients, and they cannot be healed by magic. We can only hope that the two lads haven't been to long under the curse. We'll have to see."
Hermione and Ron were shaken. They were hopeful that everything would be alright, or at least as it had been before the attack, but who knows? Hoping really was the only thing to do. Therefore they remained just were they were and did nothing but wish for the best. Soon they were lost in thoughts and didn't even notice that Madam Pomfrey stopped at their side to heal Hermione's ankle. In fact they weren't really moving until the next day, when they heard a faint moaning. It was almost lunchtime and in the bright sunlight they could see that a mop of blond hair started to move. At once they were at their feet. Ron went to fetch the school nurse, while Hermione cautiously moved to the bed of the Slytherin.
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"Draco, can you here me? How are you? You're in the Hospital Wing….", stopping herself when she heard Draco's barely audible question after Harry's well-being. She couldn't resist taking his hand. "He is right next to you, he has not woken yet. He has the best chances to be okay. Don't get yourself worked up. Everything will be fine.", the young witch was quite startled, when she saw the clear grey eyes watching her so intently, before Draco turned completely and faced the still sleeping Gryffindor boy. Along the way he seemed to ignore all the pain that he felt, concentrating very hard as if trying to make Harry better only by watching him.Draco managed to ignore everything around him. Not many people were able to do so, when somebody like the vigorous Hogwart's medi-witch was trying to get their attention. He was mentally present enough to take the pain-relieving potion, but nothing else seemed to disturb his unwavering attention to his companion.
Finally the unnerving questions of the Headmaster, who had arrived shortly after being informed of the Slytherin's wake, got through to Draco and he told them their tale, then went back to watching Harry.
Nothing he was told could put Albus Dumbledore at rest. He was rather worried about the fact that Draco could not tell anything really helpful. Somebody had struck the two boy with the curse from the shelter of the Dark Forest. But nobody knew the identity of the attacker or had an idea how to find out. The remaining teachers had searched the forest and found a place that looked as if a person had been smashed into one of the sturdy bushes that grew there. But they had no idea how that may have happened, or who the person was.
He dearly hoped that Harry, once he was awake, would be able to help them out of their dilemma. If a new enemy already took actions, it was vital to bring their defences back up. Sighing he left the Hospital Wing. He felt very old and worn out. He had enough of fighting and being scared. But it was not over yet.
Slowly Draco's eyes drifted closed. 'But they shouldn't, they really should be open…. He had to watch over Harry, you never knew what could happen. He really felt quite awake…okay that was a lie, but he was willing to try everything to stay awake and lying to himself had always been a special talent of him. But now he truly felt tired. He should…. ' Sleep finally took hold of him, as all the strength that he had had left, was now gone, too.
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At that a bright white shock-wave of primitive magic surged through the room, forcing everything away from the black haired person sitting straight up on one of the plain hospital beds.
Draco was thrown against the wall on the other side of the wing, only barely missing the window. His strained nerve system did everything possible to fight another round of unconsciousness, as he was hit with the intense pain. Too weak to do much but groan, his battered mind tried to understand what happened to him.
Once his brain was able to think a little bit more clearly, he was possessed of only one thought: Harry! Seeing the other boy sitting in his bed staring blankly ahead and not moving, activated all his remaining power to get to the one person for, who he cared above all others.
In seemed to take an eternity to crawl over all the rubble to get to Harry, because crawling was all he could manage.
'Harry, he is awake! Harry! He will live! What's up with him? Harry!?'
When he reached the bed he tried to heave himself up behind Harry to be able to speak with him. Just then the doors to the wing burst open, showing an harassed looking Pomfrey and Headmaster Dumbledore in his night gown, followed by Snape who looked his usual self.
Harry still did not notice their presence, not even Draco's hand on his shoulder. For half a minute nobody said a word. The soft humming, emanating from deep within Harry's throat resounded in the room, as if three times louder. Nobody of the others dared to move, being afraid to stop him. Moments passed until the humming changed to mumbling and the mumbling changed to clear words.
"Oh, please Mum, you promised! I want that broom! I hate Transfiguration Justin, stop making me learn that! I want to do potions! Draco, why are we fighting this war, I do not see the hope in it. Hermione don't fret you look wonderful. It's my wedding! What about my hair? Are mum and dad already there? Does Ron have the rings? Die, Voldemort, Die! You can kill me, but spare him! I want to go to see the muggle toys, please! I hate Potions! I am sure Snape hates me. Sirius, where are you? No, thank you I don't want any lemon drops. Should I tell him that I hate them? A Weasley jumper, great! Why does it hurt so much? I want to end it!"
The others looked confused from one person to the other, in the hope that one of the persons was able to bring sense in this. Madam Pomfrey inched closer, afraid to disturb the distressed teen, who was now crying freely, although his eyes did not focus anything. At least nothing that was not in his world of thoughts. For one second she stopped her movement, when Harry collapsed with a heartbreaking cry, right into Draco's arms. The blond seemed content to hold his friend, until his body started to convulse violently. In his weakened state, he could not hold on for long.
"Get over here, something is wrong! Help him!", he yelled full of desperation. Poppy was at once at his side and took Harry out of his arms and attempted to rest him on the bed.
"You two, make sure he doesn't fall! He has an epileptic seizure! A strong one!"
The headmaster and the professor raced over, jumping more or less gracefully over the ruins of the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey let go at once, getting her wand out and saying the needed spell. Nothing happened after she had cast it. Confusion and fear crossed her face, taking the wand up once again, and tried it again and again and again….
Draco leaned heavy against the wall, watching his friend trembling painfully, gone from consciousness. He hoped that he didn't feel the pain that raged through his body.
'Wake up Harry! We are not finished yet! You can't just die now! You survived a battle! You won't be so shaken by a little curse!', he never noticed the tears that stained his cheeks.
At last relaxed, because being taken out of the seizure, Harry sank down on the bed. Poppy had had the two other adults help her with the spell, because she alone could not manage. She never had to fight so hard against something like this. Sitting down on the floor she began to cry from exhaustion. The last days had cost her much.
Draco was the first, who dared to question her. "What happened?" She looked up at him and smiled sadly. "He had an epileptic seizure. A strong one. A long one. Never seen anybody resisting the alleviation spell….", the last bit of her sentence was mumbled. "What was that?", Draco had a cold feeling to his stomach. "Don't know, if he'll make it.", she said before starting to cry again.
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Author's Note:Thank you to my great beta CuriousDreamWeaver, you help me a lot!
It's been some time (okay a lot of time) since my last chapter! I started at university and sometimes time just flies away! Well I hope you like this chapter and I dearly hope that I did not lose all my readers. That would be really crushing!
PLEASE REVIEW!
Thanks to:
Katlyn: Thank you for reading my story. Well, writing dialogues is not easy, and everybody has a certain picture in his/her head. I am sorry that you didn't think it appropriate, but I could picture it…Well we are all different aren't we! But I will try to make it as believable as I can. I hope you continue to read.
Ssjmiraitrks: Thank you very much! Well it wasn't really soon, but I hope you continue to read it.
SilverDragon161: I fully understand you, we love the heroes, but they have to go through a lot of difficulties before having a Happy End.
Texasjeanette: Thank your for your detailed review! Please review again. It helps a lot, if a reader states, what he likes or dislikes!
Iced-forest: Thank you!
Dragonphly: Thanks!
Angel74: Thanks for reviewing. You made my day. I think the future will bring a lot more confusion for Draco…And no, Draco hasn't yet realised, which responsibility comes with his agreement to care for Harry. Great that you noticed. I could not really answer your questions in this chapter. But I promise everything will become clearer with each new chapter. Oh, and please update again! :-)
Marenvs: Danke für deine nette review! Ich habe mich sehr gefreut! Und ich will mehr! Tja, ja hat ein Weilchen gedauert, bis ich updaten konnte, aber du kennst mich ja. Ich hoffe du findest das ganze einigermaßen in Ordnung. Bis denn!
CuriousDreamWeaver: Thank you. I probably got the most comments on the fact that Harry doesn't like to fly anymore…Well, he has changed! And I have all kind of crazy plans for the story!
Hogwarts Fallen Angel: Thank you!