Torment

A/N: Finally, next chapter's done. Enjoy!

I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters, I wish I did though.

Chapter 4: Surprises

Ron and Hermione dashed down staircases and corridors to the lower parts of Hogwarts, trying not to be anymore late for their potions lesson then they already were. They finally made it to the heavy wooden door that led to their classroom and stood outside it for a moment, trying to catch their breath. They pulled the door open and slipped inside.

‘Mr Weasely, Miss Granger, you are forty-five minutes late. Care to explain why?’ Drawled the potions master, Severus Snape.

‘Um… We were seeing Harry sir,’ Hermione said.

‘Care to tell me why you were seeing him and not here and where he is now?’

‘Uh, in the hospital wing.’

Snape raised an eyebrow. ‘And why is Mr Potter in the hospital wing?’
Ron opened his mouth to say something but Hermione trod on his foot. ‘Sorry sir but we can’t say,’ she said.

‘Fine, twenty points from Gryffindor,’ Snape hissed. Ron and Hermione took their seats, Malfoy looking curiously over at them. For Ron and Hermione, the rest of the potions lesson couldn’t have been any slower. The entire time they were distracted, both thinking of Harry and what he tried to do. Their thoughts returned to when they had seen Harry hanging from the noose and they both shivered involuntarily. Finally, after forty minutes, the class ended. Ron and Hermione were the only students left in the class when they started packing up. Snape moved towards them, his long black cloak billowing slightly. They looked up at him.

‘Mr Weasely, Miss Granger, why could you not tell me why Mr Potter is in the hospital wing?’ he asked.

Hermione and Ron shared a glance. ‘Because it’s not our place to say. If you really care, either ask Dumbledore or Harry. Goodbye,’ Hermione said as she dragged Ron out of the room, Snape scowling after them. They left the room, walking as quickly as they could. They walked along, heading towards the hospital wing but before they could get anywhere near there, a classroom door opened and Ron and Hermione were both pulled roughly into the room by someone. They let out noises of alarm as they landed in a heap on the floor. Once they had untangled themselves, they stood up and spun around to face their assailant, to come face to face with Draco Malfoy. He quickly silenced and locked the door before turning to the two enraged Gryffindor’s but before they could yell at him, he spoke.

‘What happened to Harry?’ Draco waited for a few seconds as they gawked at him but then became impatient. ‘What?’ he snapped.

‘Malfoy, you just called Harry by his first name,’ Ron said in disbelief.

Draco silently cursed at his slip of the tongue. ‘So?’

Ron shook his head and opened his mouth to speak but closed it again when Hermione glared at him. ‘Never mind,’ Hermione said. ‘Anyway, we can’t tell you what happened to Harry.’

Malfoy glared at her. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s private.’

Draco took a threatening step towards her. ‘Did Harry tell you what I said yesterday?’ Hermione looked between Ron and Draco and burst out laughing. ‘What’s so funny?’ he snapped.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said between laughs, ‘It’s just what Ron said. Harry came up to the common room looking like the first time he got kissed and Ron asked if you kissed him.’ She burst into a renewed set of giggles and Draco gapped like a fish and Ron blushed. Finally, Hermione contained her giggles and looked up at Draco.

‘Right, now will you please tell me what happened to Harry?’ Ron and Hermione shared a glance. One, at whether they should tell Draco or not and two, at the fact that he said please to them. Hermione stepped forward and pushed Draco back so his back was firmly pressed against the wall. She pinned him there as he looked down on her in shock. ‘What are you doing?’

‘You’d better promise me right now that you will not tell anyone and I mean anyone what I tell you now or I swear I’ll hex your genitals off. Do you agree?’ Hermione said menacingly. Draco gulped but nodded as he saw Ron wince at the threat. ‘Good,’ she said as she stepped backwards and released him. ‘I swear I will if you tell but… Harry tried to hang himself,’ Hermione continued quietly. There was a brief pause before…

‘HE WHAT?’ Malfoy yelled.

‘Draco, calm down. He’s OK. When we saw him, we got McGonagal and she took him to the hospital wing. That’s why we were late for potions. We’re going there now, you can come if you want,’ Hermione said soothingly. Draco took a deep breath before he stalked over to the door, unlocked it and gestured at it. Ron and Hermione got the hint and left the room, Draco trailing behind them. They made their way to the hospital wing and when they got there, they pushed the doors open and walked inside. They found Harry sitting in one of the beds with a tray of food across his lap. He looked up at them as they entered, smiled and Ron and Hermione but frowned when he noticed Malfoy. They came over, pulling three chairs over to his bedside as they did so. Harry watched as Draco’s gaze lingered on his neck, where the skin was red and raw, and sighed.

‘You told him?’ he asked.

Ron grinned sheepishly. ‘We had to, he wouldn’t stop bugging us, but don’t worry, ‘Mione threatened to hex his balls off if he tells.’

Harry grinned at Draco. ‘Well that’s good, I wouldn’t want the entire school knowing I’m a nutcase.’

Malfoy didn’t smile at the joke. ‘Harry, if there’s anything I can do, you know, to help you with this…’

‘Thanks,’ was Harry’s quiet reply.

‘You’re really serious aren’t you?’ Ron asked as he gawked at Malfoy.

‘What?’ the Slytherin asked, confused.

‘About being nice, helping Harry with this. First you say you won’t tell about his Uncle, then you say please to me and ‘Mione and now this.’

‘Yes. Did you think I was lying?’ the blonde snapped.

‘Hey, you can’t blame me. After everything you’ve done, I can’t help but be suspicious.’ Ron crossed his arms over his chest.

‘I guess…’ Draco said grudgingly, ‘Although I do regret all that now.’

‘It’s OK,’ Hermione said with a grin, ‘For me, all is forgiven.’

Draco grinned at her. ‘Yeah, I guess I can forgive some of the stuff you did but other parts are gonna take some time,’ Ron said. They turned back to Harry when he spoke.

‘Yep, fine by me too as long as you don’t revert to being a complete bastard to us. I rather like the new model. Anyway, Can one of you ask Pomfrey when I can leave here?’

Malfoy stood up. ‘I’ll go ask.’ With that, the blonde boy stalked off and went to go speak with Madame Pomfrey.

Hermione tuned to Harry. ‘How are you doing?’

He gave a sigh. ‘Bit better but not much.’

‘Harry, when we talk about your past and what’s happened in your life, do you want Draco there too?’ she questioned.

He gave a nod. ‘Yeah, I’m sure he’ll want to and probably won’t stop nagging I say no, so yeah.’ They sat in silence after that, not really knowing what to say. A minute later, Draco returned.

‘She say’s at least a day but she also says you need counselling.’ Malfoy said.

‘Great, just what I need.’ Harry groaned. ‘I want you three there though, no matter what anyone says.’

‘You want me there too?’ asked the surprised Slytherin.

‘Yes I do, is that OK?’

‘Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t think you’re going to like your counsellor though.’

‘Who is it?’

‘It’s Severus Snape.’

Harry paled a little while Hermione and Ron had their mouths hanging open. ‘What? No, I don’t want it to be him. I don’t want to have to tell him anything,’ Harry said.

‘Um… Harry, Snape was asking why you weren’t in potions today,’ Hermione said.

‘Please don’t tell m you told him.’

‘Of course we didn’t,’ she snapped irritably. ‘I only said you were in the hospital wing and that if he really wanted to know, that he should talk to Dumbledore or ask you so he probably already knows.’

‘Great, the entire school might as well know. Maybe I should just shout it out in the Great Hall.’

‘Harry, don’t joke about something like that,’ Ron said.

‘Who said I was joking? I’m being serious.’

‘Harry, don’t please… It’ll just make things harder for you. As it is, all the teachers will be told and you won’t be allowed to hold dangerous objects like knives, in case you try to hurt yourself again,’ Draco said.

‘And you know this how?’ Harry asked.

Draco grimaced. ‘Uh… Well… I sort of had this thing last year that made me try to… Well, you know.’

Harry stared at the blonde youth in shock. Draco tried to kill himself last year? Ron and Hermione also wore similar expressions to Harry. ‘I’m sorry, Draco,’ Harry said sadly.

‘It’s OK, Harry, I’m over it now. That’s also how I know who the counsellor is. It’s not actually as bad as you may think.’

‘Yeah right, only if you’re in Snape’s house and is his favourite student,’ Harry scoffed.

‘It also helps that I’m his godson,’ Draco muttered but a bit too loudly.

‘What?! Snape’s your godfather?’ Harry asked.

‘Uh… Yeah. Anyway, with me there, I’ll make sure he plays nice. I do have the Malfoy charm after all,’ Draco said, some of the usual smugness showing through.

Harry rolled his eyes but grinned all the same. ‘Thanks. Now then, I think you three should get going other wise you’ll be late for class.’

‘Nah, I’ll skip lessons and keep you company,’ Draco said.

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, you could do with it, and I can tell you more about the counsellor sessions.’

‘That OK with you two?’ Harry asked Ron and Hermione.

‘That’s fine, come on Ron,’ Hermione said as they left. Harry and Draco were left alone, Madame Pomfrey still not having returned and no other patients in the room.

Harry turned to the other boy. ‘So, tell me about these counselling sessions I’m going to have.’

‘Sev will probably start by asking you why you tried to commit suicide and how you feel and stuff,’ Draco said.

‘Then what?’

‘Well, he’ll most likely ask you about everything that’s happened that’s added to what you tried to do.’

‘He’s gonna have a lot to go through then. All I have received my entire life is abuse and neglect, apart from when I met Ron and Hermione and everyone. They were my first real friends. My cousin Dudley had everyone so terrified of him and his gang that no one would go near me and if they did, Dudley would deal with them.

‘You want to talk about some of it now? It may help to go through it once.’

‘Yeah OK. Hmmm, where to start?’

‘Just start at what happened when you were a child.’

Harry sighed and rubbed his face. ‘ I don’t remember what happened when I was a baby but the things I remember from when I was older, I wish I couldn’t remember them. The Dursley’s didn’t care for me at all. They didn’t want me there, they only took me in because of Dumbledore. For eleven years, I was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. If I did any magic or ’Funny business’, as my Uncle called it, then I would be locked under there and often never given food. That’s why, every year, I’m so thin.
Dudley would make fun of me but as we got older, he used me as his punching bag since he was training to be a boxer. Some of the stuff that happened, you would never believe half of it. Name calling, beating, starvation. All my life it never changed, until I turned eleven. Then it got better and worse. Dudley stopped hitting but Vernon, my Uncle, took over. He can pack a punch harder than any f Dudley’s, much harder. I got sent to hospital loads of times with broken bones and internal bleeding because of them and as the years past, the beatings and things only got worse. The very worst, in terms of what I felt, was this summer.’

Draco just stared at him in shock. ‘You mean… God, I’m such an idiot.’

‘What? Why?’

‘I thought you would have been pampered all your life. I thought, since you’re the Boy-Who-Lived, that you would be treated like royalty. I was wrong, very wrong, I’m sorry.’

‘It’s OK, most people probably believe that. And stop saying sorry, I’m sick of people pitying me!’ Harry said with a sudden flare of anger. Everyone was sorry, Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore and now Draco. He was sick of it! Draco winced at the outburst, not used to Harry being so made before. He could hear the resentment clearly in his voice and that shocked him. Harry saw the wince and sighed again. ‘I’m sorry, Draco. It’s just that everyone’s sorry and I’m on edge right now.’

‘Don’t worry about it, it’s understandable. Anyway, I don’t think Sev’s got a class right now so I’ll go and ask him when the first session is. I’ll see you later,’ Draco said.

Harry nodded. ‘Good idea, I’ll see you whenever. Bye.’ Draco got up, waved Harry goodbye and then left. He walked along, thinking about everything Harry had said. He couldn’t believe that the boy had lived like that. He continued walking, making his way to the Dungeons. He soon got there and made his way towards Snape’s office. He reached the large wooden door with the words ‘Severus Snape, Head of Slytherin’ written on the door. He knocked, a gruff voice told him to enter and he did, pulling the door open and then closing it behind him. He walked up to Snape’s desk, where the potion’s master was marking a pile of essay’s. He looked up at Draco.

‘Hello, Sev,’ Draco said as he took a seat.

Snape scowled slightly. ‘I know I am your godfather, Draco, but do refrain from calling me that in school.’ Draco nodded in understanding but didn’t speak. ‘Now then, why are you here?’

‘I was wondering if you know what Harry did?’

Snape raised an eyebrow at Draco’s use of Harry’s first name. ‘Yes I do. Are you and Mr Potter friends now?’

Malfoy shrugged. ‘We’re getting along. When’s the first session?’

‘Two days from now on Friday at 6pm.’

Draco stood. ‘Very well, we’ll see you then.’

Snape raised both his eyebrows. ‘We?’

‘Yes, we. Me, Harry, Hermione and Ron. There’s no use trying to argue though, Harry’s adamant that he wants us there.’

‘Fine, goodbye Draco.’

‘Bye Sev,’ the blonde replied as he hurried out of the room, Snape scowling after him.


A/N: There, another chapter done. Please REVIEW!