Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to J. K. Rowling. I just like to borrow them for a while.

Chapter 9

Smile and I'll Tell You

Harry sighed and tried to get as comfortable in his chair as he could get. He was sitting in the Hospital Wing for the fourth time in a week. Poppy kept assuring him that Draco would wake sometime during the week. Harry just couldn't wait for it to happen. Lucius Malfoy was starting to be more trouble than he was worth. Already he had already tried to escape twice. That had earned him some not so nice hexes from Harry, something the Harry a few months ago could never have done. He had changed. He knew what had to be done, and he was willing to do it now, more than ever.

Tom was wandering somewhere around in the castle, probably around the dungeons with Snape. The two of them got a long all right. Harry hadn't had a moment along with him since the night they both went to Grimmauld Place. The time that Harry wasn't at Grimmauld Place and here at Hogwarts, Tom was with him though he was never with him, just somewhere else in the castle. And when he wasn't with the others at Grimmauld Place or Ginny wasn't with the others, he was in his room. It was like he was almost… afraid of the others.

"Well, if this isn't ironic," a voice drawled quietly, hoarsely. "The Boy-Who-Lived at my bedside. The last I checked, Potter, we hated each other." The last was said jokingly.

Harry's eyes shot open and he reached out and gripped the blonde's hand. "Well, I think that we can get past that when you stop being an evil git," he said jokingly. "How are you feeling?"

Draco's eyes went to Harry's hand where it clasped his own. "I've felt better. You know, Harry, I don't go for the Golden Boys." His eyes were shining with amusement.

Harry laughed and gave Draco's hand a last squeeze before letting it go. "Well, I suppose that's alright, Draco. I swing your way, but I don't swing your way. I don't go for the blond evil git types, either. "

"What way do you swing," he asked, laughing.

Harry grinned in a slight wicked way. "I find myself strangely attracted to Slytherins."

"What is it about us Slytherins that attracts you Gryffindors?"

"Must be your wonderful sense of humor," Harry said dryly.

They stared at each other for a moment more before laughing out loud. The loud laughter brought Poppy running into the room. "Mr. Potter, if you cannot be quiet while the patient is sleeping then I'll have to ask you to leave," she huffed angrily.

"Sorry, Poppy," Harry said, shaking his head. "But your patient is already awake."

She automatically went into what can only be described as nurse-mode. She bustled up to Draco's bedside and waved Harry out of the way. "What did I tell you, Potter? He's awake before the end of the week. Now do me a favor and go fetch Severus."

"Oh, yes, I'll go fetch the greasy git," Harry said in a joking way. "I'll be the pack mule."

"I know you don't mind, Potter, so don't even start," she said, hovering over her patient, her voice implying more than it really said.

Harry smirked and mock saluted. "Aye, Aye, Poppy." He whirled around on his heels and stalked out the Wing door listening to Draco's laughter on his way down the stairs and Poppy's scolding.

He walked down stone corridors and down stone stairs. He honestly didn't know where to find Snape. Maybe at his classroom with Tom… Making potions or something? He knocked on the classroom door before entering and saw something he was expecting. Snape and Tom bending over a cauldron and watching its progress.

"Oh, dear Merlin, I'm blind," Harry said jokingly, throwing up his arms over his eyes to block the sight before him. "Save me from the Potion makers." He lowered his arms and grinned at the two.

"Are you through yet, Potter," Snape asked. It looked like he was having trouble to stop from smiling.

Harry smirked. "You know, if you smile, I won't tell anyone. Potter's pledge."

"I don't think so, Potter," Snape said, grabbing a ladle and stirring the potion. "I've heard about your 'Potter's Pledge'. It's nothing I want a part of."

Harry sighed. "Joking, Snape, joking. But I do have a piece of information you might want."

"What," Snape asked in an exasperated tone. Tom, who was standing beside him, didn't know whether to laugh or run away in fear.

"You have to smile before I give it to you," Harry said quietly. "It's not that hard."

Snape turned to glare at him but the glare vanished when he saw his face. A slight helpless look passed over his face before it was once again the blank mask. "I do not smile when there is not a reason to smile, Potter."

"Just imagine Sirius getting attacked by a hippogriff or falling off a cliff. Something, it doesn't matter. You can even imagine me getting failed in Potions."

"Well, when you put it that way, Potter, it helps, but it doesn't help all that much. Seeing Black getting hurt is enough to make anyone die laughing. However, the third option is most likely to happen so it really isn't an option."

"Just smile, dammit," Harry said angrily.

"No."

Harry threw up his arms and fell heavily into a chair. "I have all day, you know," he said.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "So do I, Mr. Potter." What an annoying Gryffindor brat.

"The sooner you smile, the sooner I'll tell you the good news."

"If you don't tell me now, Potter, then I will fail you in Potions this year," he growled dangerously, advancing with the ladle in his hand.

"As you said before, Professor Snape," Harry said lazily, "the failing part is most likely to happen so why would I tell you if I were going to fail anyway?"

Snape stared at him blankly for a few minutes before his mouth twisted in what must have been his version of a smile. "There, happy," he asked angrily. "Now tell me."

"Not quite, but it's a start," he said, raising an eyebrow at him. "We'll work on it. But for the good news, Draco's awake."

Snape sent a death glare to Harry and rushed out the door in a billow of robes. Harry watched with a slight smile. "I really got to ask him how he does that," he said to himself, forgetting momentarily that there was another in the room with him.

"I've been wondering that myself," Tom said quietly.

Harry's gaze whirled to him and stayed there for a moment. Tom fidgeted a little under the heavy scrutiny and regretted that he had even said anything. He turned to the potion and kept stirring counter-clockwise and trying not to look at Harry. Why did he have to stare?

Harry shook himself after a moment and cleared his throat. There was definitely something different about him. "I'm sorry about the other night, Tom," he said after a moment, surprised to realize that the words didn't have to be forced out like he thought they would. "I don't expect you to understand about the history between you and I. I don't expect you to even find out about it. But I am willing to become friends. That is, if you are willing to complete your part."

Tom was quiet for a moment before sighing and turning away from the potion to look at him. "I am willing to do that. I have never really had friends before, Harry, so I don't really know how to be a good friend. I might be bad at it."

To Harry's surprise, he felt himself smiling. "I doubt you'll be bad at it, Tom. You've already shown some good qualities, like how to forgive and forget, something I've never really been good at."

"You have to be forgiving when you are in Slytherin. Otherwise you wouldn't ever have friends within your house. It's a distrusting house and I wonder how I ever got into it."

"Dumbledore did say that he was going to allow you to chose whether you wanted to be sorted again or to stay in Slytherin," Harry said.

"I'm thinking about it," he said. The silence floated in and then, "Why is everyone so wary around me, Harry? That man, Sirius Black, he looks at me like he could kill me right at that moment. Some of the other grown-ups are the same. Ginny isn't that bad, and neither are the others. Have I done something wrong?" He turned to Harry with a sad look on his face.

Harry stared at his face a moment before sighing. Note to self: Cuss Sirius out as soon as I get home. "It's nothing that I can explain, Tom. It goes forward more than you know. You don't remember… And I can't help you remember. None of us can."

"I can't remember anything except the years at Hogwarts, I told you this a few days ago at Grimm. Place. I don't ever remember seeing any of you there. I know this isn't the right time period, Harry. I know I'm not in the right place. But even with that, it's something more. It's like something big is missing. Something horrible. And I don't want to have it back."

Harry stared at him in shock and then shook his head. "Some things you just can't change, Tom. Maybe postpone them for a while, but never change them. You can't erase the past or the future."

"I know that," he said softly, looking at the silver colored potion. "But you can change it. I want to change it so it won't happen. I want to change, I want…" You to trust me.

Sorry that it's taken me so long to update. Please leave a review and please, no flames. If you don't like it, you don't like it, no need to bring the author down. I'm hoping to have another chapter up soon.

Happy Reading!