Harry woke up the next day to find himself still in the uncomfortable chair in the Hospital Wing. Harry looked towards Malfoy who was still unconscious. He noticed, however, that the blonde didn't look quite as pale as he had last night.
"Ah Harry, you're up." Startled, Harry turned to see Dumbledore sitting beside him.
"Hello Professor... Why are you here, Sir?" Harry asked while stretching. Note to self, Harry thought, never sleep in a chair like this again, it hurts like Hell the next day.
"I'm here because Professor Snape showed up at my office late last night with five body-binded students. He of course told me what happened. But unfortunately, I still have to ask you personally."
Harry sighed. He really didn't want to have to tell the story all over again. Harry was trying to think of a way to postpone it when an idea came to him.
"Sir? Could I possibly just give you my memory of what happened? It would be easier that way. Plus, then I wouldn't have to keep telling people what happened."
"Of course Harry, that is probably the best way to go about this." The Head Master pulled an empty vial out of his cloak and handed it to Harry. "I always carry one in case I see something that I can't afford to forget later on." Dumbledore explained to Harry, who had given him a questioning look.
Harry took out his wand and put it to his temple, thinking about what had happened in the hidden corridor and afterwards. He stopped just before it got to his and Snape's conversation. Harry didn't know who might be seeing this memory so he didn't want to accidentally expose Snape as a spy. Harry took his wand away from his head and put the long silver thread attached to it in the vial.
"Thank you Harry." Dumbledore said as Harry handed him the memory. "I assume you're staying here?"
"Yeah, I am." Harry said.
"Well, I'm sure that if you get hungry, then Dobby will be quite happy to bring you something."
The Head Master then turned to leave. Before he could get very far, though, Harry called for him not to leave yet. When Dumbledore turned back to Harry, he said, "Dumbledore, Sir, would you please show the memory to as few people as possible?"
"Might I ask why, Harry?"
"Because Malfoy wouldn't tell anyone about this happening. He would rather keep getting beat up then have anyone know."
"Ah, I believe I understanding. He didn't want people knowing Mr. Weasley had been the one to do this to him."
"It's not just about Weasley though... He doesn't want people to pity him, or worse, to see him as weak. He may have changed, but the Malfoy pride has been instilled in him since birth. It's not just going to up and leave because he's switched sides." Harry said.
"Yes Harry... I do believe you are correct. I promise I will show it to as few people as possible. Now eat some breakfast Harry, it's going to be lunch in a few hours."
"Thank you Sir." Harry said to Dumbledore's retreating form. When the Head Master had left, Harry called for Dobby. With a pop, Dobby appeared before Harry, looking eager to please.
"Harry Potter!" the House Elf squeaked happily, "How may Dobby be of service?"
"Hey Dobby. Could you possibly get me a change of clothes and something to eat?"
"Of course Harry Potter! Dobby would be honoured!"
Dobby popped away and came back barely a minute later with eggs, bacon, toast, and some pumpkin juice on a tray in one hand. In the other, Dobby held a change of clothes. Dobby then bowed when Harry told him he didn't need anything else and left Harry to eat in peace. When Harry had finished getting dressed and eating, Hermione came rushing in with tears rolling down her face.
"Oh Harry!" she started, "I can't believe someone would attack Malfoy like that! Oh goodness, look at him!" she said when she looked towards Malfoy. Turning back to Harry, she asked, "Is he going to be alright?"
"Yeah, Pomfrey said it was a close call. If I hadn't arrived when I had and stopped them... Well, he would have died..." Harry whispered the last part.
"Wait!? You saw who did this? You were the one who saved him?"
"Woah, hold on 'Mione! You didn't know what happened?" Harry asked, really confused.
"No! Snape came up to me, which was weird because he never does, and he told me that Malfoy had been attacked and that you were with him at the Hospital Wing. He didn't tell me anything else!"
Harry sighed and closed his eyes. Apparently I'm going to have to explain this again anyway... Harry sighed one more time before he began to speak. "It was Ron, 'Mione..." Harry started.
"Ron? What did Ron do?" Hermione asked, confused.
"He, along with four Slytherins, attacked Malfoy last night." Harry said, anger terribly hidden in his voice.
"RONALD DID WHAT!?" Hermione yelled.
Harry quickly put up a silencing charm around them so Madame Pomfrey wouldn't hear them. "He attacked Malfoy. They were laughing about it and when I got there, Ron was smirking, Hermione, Smirking!"
"I don't understand..." Hermione said, obviously shocked. "I knew he hated Malfoy, but to actually hurt him?"
"It wasn't simply hurting him, 'Mione." Harry said quietly.
"What do you mean Harry?"
"Malfoy almost died last night Hermione! They were going to kill him!" Harry had tears going down his face when he said this, the realization that Malfoy could have died finally hitting him.
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Hermione's POV:
Hermione was shocked. She had never seen Harry cry before. No, that's not true, Hermione thought, he cried when Sirius died. But that was the first and only time he'd cried. Why is he so upset about this? Hermione wondered. She rushed over to Harry and pulled him into a tight hug. She murmured random reassurances to him and eventually he calmed down. They sat like that for a while until Hermione realized she was late for Potions.
"Oh my GOD! HARRY! We're late for Potions!"
"I'm not going 'Mione. I'm staying with Malfoy."
Hermione was having an internal battle. I don't want to be even later... But Harry can't just skip the whole class and all the others! OH GOD! WHAT DO I DO!? Okay, calm yourself... Think logically... Hermione looked at Harry and she quickly realized that no matter what she said or did, he wasn't going to leave Malfoy. She sighed in defeat. "Oh alright! I'll bring you your homework..."
"Thanks 'Mione." Harry said.
But she barely heard him as she was rushing off to Potions. All the way there she thought about Harry's reaction to Malfoy almost dying and what it could possibly mean. The only thing that she could think of however, seemed way too far-fetched. She quickly forgot about that though, when she got to her Potions class.
"Well well, how nice of you to join us Miss Granger." Snape said.
Oh dear... Hermione thought, I'm in trouble now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry's POV:
It had been two days since Malfoy had been attacked and he was still unconscious. Harry hadn't left his side except to use the bathroom. Dobby brought him food and new clothes each day and anything else he asked for. Hermione brought him his homework every day.
Harry had transformed the uncomfortable chair into a reclining one so he could actually sleep and sit without hurting afterwards. Malfoy looked back to his normal self but he was still unconscious. Every once in a while though, he would move his hand or his foot.
Hermione had told him how, the day she had been late, Snape had told her to stay after class to talk about her detention. But, when she had stayed, he simply told her it was okay and that he understood why she was late. Needless to say, Hermione had been terribly confused. So Harry had told her about Snape and his conversation. She had been surprised at first but had accepted it, saying it made sense. Since then, Hermione had stayed with Harry during her free time to help him with his homework and to keep him company.
Narcissa came in at one point too. When she had found out Harry had been the one who saved Malfoy, she had rushed over to Harry and given him a huge hug. Tears in her eyes, she had thanked him too many times to count. Once she found out that Malfoy would be okay, she told Harry to inform her if the blonde woke up and then left Harry in peace. She had only returned one more time to check on Malfoy and make sure everything was okay.
The Weasel had gotten into a lot of trouble. He was taken off the Quidditch team, serving detention every day except for Sundays (which he ended up always having to use to get his homework done, rather than hang out with his friends), and warned that if he did one more violent act towards someone, then he'd be expelled.
The only reason they weren't expelled, according to Hermione, was because they said they didn't know that the spell they performed was Dark Magic and that they didn't know he was going to die. Harry and Hermione of course knew that this was complete crap, but Dumbledore couldn't really prove it without using something illegal, so he had to let them go, but not without punishment.
It was really late and Harry was trying to finish his Transfiguration homework when he fell asleep. He was woken up by someone calling his name about four hours later.
"Potter? Hey Potter, wake up!"
Harry groaned and opened his eyes slowly. Once his eyes adjusted to the lights, Harry looked to see who had called him. He turned his head to see silver-gray eyes staring into his own emerald ones.
"Malfoy! You're awake!"