The first Potions lesson wasn't easy for Harry. The first thing Snape had done was quiz him on different potions and ingredients.
"Mr Potter, what are you doing?" Snape snapped at Harry as he was trying to sign out the answer to the question he was asked, the words not translating into sign language perfectly, so he was forced to spell some words out.
Realising that Snape didn't know sign language, Harry went to grab a piece of parchment to write his answer down, only to have it snatched away as he started to write.
"An answer everyone can hear, Mr Potter." Snape said, leering down at him. "What's this? Did the saviour of the wizarding world think he was too good to open a book over the holidays? Te-"
"He's mute professor." Draco said, interrupting Snape as he was about to take points away from Harry. "You don't understand him signing and then you took away the only other method of communication he has, he literally cannot answer you."
"Very well, Mr Malfoy, you answer my question then." Snape said, fixing Draco with a glare he had never seen on his godfather before. It meant nothing to him, though, after he saw the relieved look on Harry's face.
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They were about a week into the year, and people would pop up around Harry at random times, trying to get him to either speak or spend more time with Ron, still believing them to be friends. Harry was scared to go anywhere alone, but sometimes he had to, Draco couldn't always be with him, and it was impossible for the older students to always be with him either.
When a hand tapped Harry on the shoulder, he jumped about a foot in the air, accidentally letting out a burst of magic as he turned around. The moment he saw it was Draco, the magic swerved to avoid the blond, although the walls around the pair were badly damaged.
Harry turned pale, his eyes wide as he looked in horror between Draco and the grey, stone wall to his left. He had been letting out a lot more accidental magic recently, since they started learning spells, this had been happening, although it was normally the other way around for people, the teachers had been patient with him, possibly in part due to his skill in non-verbal spells.
"Harry,are you okay?" Draco's voice seemed to pull Harry out of the trance he was in, no longer trembling looking between Draco and the wall he had practically destroyed, instead hurtling down the corridor away from Draco.
Harry ran until he reached an alcove, just a tiny space that was just large enough for him and long enough to hide him in its shadows. He was terrified of himself, he didn't want to hurt Draco, but he clearly didn't know how to control his magic. He defeated the greatest dark wizard when he was only a baby, who was to say he wouldn't kill Draco?
"Harry! Where are you?" He heard Draco call, his feet pounding loudly against the stone floor as he ran. In reality he was worried for Harry, but in his mind, Harry twisted the concern in Draco's voice to fear and hatred of him.
Harry drew further back in the alcove, wishing he could just melt into the shadows and disappear forever. He didn't want to cause any more trouble for anyone, especially the Malfoys, but all he was was trouble.
"He's over here." A distinctly masculine voice said, three pairs of feet walking hurriedly towards where Harry was currently hiding.
"How can you be sure?" Draco asked, Harry would recognise his voice anywhere, both concern and irritation were audible in his voice, but Harry didn't know which was aimed at him.
"The map-" Another voice said, sounding almost the same as the first with only a slight difference in the tone.
"-Tells us where everyone is." The first voice said again.
"That sounds creepy." Draco said, his voice monotonous, but there was still an edge of worry for Harry.
"He's... In here." The second voice said, bending down to look in the alcove Harry was hiding in. It was one of the identical Weasley twins, some of the few non-Slytherin people who would make people stop forcing him to be around Ron or talk.
"Harry! There you are, are you okay?" Draco asked, trying to enter the alcove only to be pushed away by the magical barrier Harry had put up around him without realising it.
They didn't notice as Fred left to get a teacher, Harry trying to pull further away from Draco, but as his back was pressed against the wall, all that happened was that his magic made a larger barrier, pushing Draco and George back. Draco was grateful they were in a lesser used part of the castle, the last thing Harry would need from this would be it becoming gossip.
"Please, Harry, come out. What happened back there was my fault, not yours, and look, I'm fine." Draco said, knowing what was bothering Harry as it was rather obvious. "Nobody's angry, you're fine, I'm fine."
Harry shook his head. He knew Draco wouldn't hurt him, but he didn't exactly have a good relationship with the Weasleys, Ron's harassment and Percy's pompous attitude never helped anything, and Harry never did well with people he didn't know well being loud around him.
"Mr Weasley, if you want me to help with a situation, you really ought to tell me what's wrong." The irritated voice of Professor McGonagall came from along the corridor, making Harry's eyes widen.
"I don't know everything that happened, Professor, all I know is that Malfoy was looking for Potter so we helped find him and now he's not letting anyone near him." Fred said, sounding as though he had already repeated himself several times and was tired of it.
"Mr Malfoy, what is going on here?" McGonagall's firm voice came from just beyond Harry's line of sight, Draco scrambling to his feet.
"It's Harry, professor, I accidentally scared him and when he let out some accidental magic he freaked out and ran away. We're trying to convince him to come but, but there's a magical barrier preventing us from getting closer than this." Draco said, Harry couldn't see his expression, but George was still looking at him with concern.
He just wished they would leave him alone. He had messed up and destroyed something, he would rather stay in here for the rest of his life than face the punishment he knew he would receive if he got out. And if he faced no punishment, that could be worse, he had almost killed Draco!