Chapter 1: Subject
Harry had been volunteered for an experiment. Hermione had signed him up, thinking it might help him make some friends. He was now resignedly waiting in the lounge of a psychiatric hospital. Supposedly this experiment had something to do with mental capabilities and other things, and this hospital had everything the leader of the project could need.
Harry had been feeling down, and quite frankly, very lonely. His ex-wife, Ginny, who was also his best friend's sister, had divorced him, claiming that she couldn't manage a relationship and play quidditch internationally at the same time. Harry let her go, hoping that it was for the best. When clearly it wasn't. He drowned himself with liquor for the first couple of months, trying his hardest just to forget her.
Ginny had been the love of his life. They were the perfect love-story. They had known each other since second year, and he had saved her life. She was his best mate's little sister. When Harry first met her, she wasn't like everybody else, who loved him because he was The Boy-Who-Lived. She seemed to actually like him for him, just like Ron had. The Weasleys, Ginny's family, had accepted Harry into their home, and he spent almost all of his time either there or at school, anywhere that was away from his abusive relatives. Harry's parents were murdered by Voldemort, and his Aunt and Uncle were forced into taking him. The Weasleys had been the family that he never had. And marrying into them only seemed right. But of course, "perfect" never lasts. And now here he was, sitting in a psychiatric hospital, waiting to be used in an experiment.
"Isn't it enough to be used so much already? And here I am again, another pawn in someone else's world." He thought.
He heard a calm voice telling a patient that they needed to take their medicine.
"Alright, Bill, it's that time of day again." The nurse said.
"Nope. Not today Marlene. I'm all better, and nothing you can say will stop me. I'm walking out that door a free man!" The elderly patient, Bill, said.
The corner of Harry's mouth pulled up when the nurse, who obviously dealt with this daily, tapped her name tag and said, "Oh dear Bill, it seems I got confused. My name tag says my name is Penny. I must have written it wrong this morning." She said with a confused expression on her face. "Could you stay here for just one more day to help me fix it?"
"Well," the man said grudgingly, "I suppose that would be the nice thing to do, wouldn't it?"
'Marlene' nodded her head with a smile, "But you know, to stay here and help me, you have to take this medicine." She whispered as if telling a secret.
The old man nodded grimly, and took his pills. "You know Marlene, even though I know you're the brains of this here operation, sometimes I think you're just as crazy as I am."
'Marlene' giggled and shook her head, pushing Bill's wheelchair back to his room.
Harry smiled, maybe coming here wasn't such a bad idea. That nurse seemed nice, and maybe she would be interested in going on a date? He chided himself, "Harry James Potter, slow down, you only just met her, you haven't even said a word to the girl yet."
As if he would. Ginny had been the only person he was able to talk to other than Ron, Hermione, the Weasleys, and a few of his friends, like Neville and Luna. He was trying to pull himself together, he really was. The only problem was that it didn't seem to be working. Most of the time, if he saw someone who he might be able to talk to, his mind would shut down and he would be forced to walk away. And in the rare scenario where he was able to approach them successfully, they would, "Be a huge fan of Mr. Harry Potter! And I can't believe I'm actually talking to Harry Potter! Can I get your autograph? Please? I love you!!"
Harry didn't like the attention that came from his fame, and he didn't like the way no one could see past it. Ginny could, he reminisced sadly.
"Harry. Potter!" The receptionist squeaked.
Harry groaned, even the medical professionals acted like fools. He walked to the front desk, and put on his "No time for fan nonsense" voice. "Yes. I am here for the psychological experiment."
"Of course sir." The man cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. "Please follow me, right this way."
Harry followed him, passing 5 rooms before they stopped in front of a pair of doors.
"The experiment is being held through these doors sir. Please sign out at the front desk when you are ready to leave." The receptionist said, making a hasty exit.
Harry sighed and opened one of the doors, stepping inside. He walked in the room, it was less well-lit than the rest of the hospital, and reminded him of a house rather than a hospital. It smelled differently in here too, like candy and pumpkin juice. And was that- a hint of cologne? That's odd, Harry thought, I didn't put cologne on this morning.
He walked further into the room, where in the middle of it, was a single chair. It had a note stuck on it, "Subject, please sit here." He scoffed, now not only was he being used, but he was referred to as Subject?
He stood behind the chair instead of sitting in it. He heard fast footsteps from behind, and the cologne smell got stronger. Then, a familiar voice.
"Potter. Can't you read? It says sit down, does it not?" Draco Malfoy said, a hint of humor in his tone.
Chapter 2: I'm Leaving. Now.
Harry turned around, Malfoy still looked as elegant and proper as ever. The only change would be that his hair wasn't slicked back, it was loosely tossed.
Harry looked at Malfoy and then at the doors behind him. He made a run for it. He ran to the doors and skidded down the hallway to the front desk.
"Quick! Give me that sign out sheet! I am 100 percent ready to leave right now!" He told the receptionist breathlessly.
The man behind the desk was shocked. He was aware that the experiment was supposed to last at least 45 minutes. There was no way Mr. Potter could be done already. Especially after factoring in what the experiment was.
Nonetheless, he handed Harry the sign out sheet and a pen.
Harry frantically wrote his name on the paper. It wasn't writing, the pen wasn't writing! He shook it, and tried again, it still wasn't working. He heard footsteps nearing him, moving quickly, but not running.
Why me?? Harry inwardly sobbed. "This pen doesn't work, is there another I could use?" He asked the receptionist quickly.
"Um, let me look." He said, pushing his chair away from the desk and looking in the cabinets.
"Ah. That won't be necessary Terry." An aristocratic voice said from behind.
Harry nearly cried. The receptionist, Terry, looked up. Harry shook his head, "No, it is absolutely necessary, because I am leaving right now. And unless you would like me to leave without signing out, I need a pen."
Terry was torn, he could either give Harry the pen, have helped Harry Potter, and suffer the consequences; or, he could listen to his boss therefore ensuring his job and perhaps a raise. He sat back down in his chair and rolled back up to the desk.
"Sorry, I couldn't find any pens." Terry lied.
Malfoy smirked. Harry cringed.
"Well, Potter, if you needed a pen so badly, why didn't you just transfigure something into one?" Malfoy teased.
It took almost all of Harry's will not to slap himself on the forehead. Hermione's words from long ago came to him, "Are you a wizard, or what?" Even though those words were directed towards Ron, they still applied to him as well. He smiled feebly and raised his wand to transfigure a dead leaf into a writing pen.
It didn't work. He tried it again, this time saying the spell out loud. It still didn't work.
Malfoy was snickering and the receptionist was trying to hold in laughter. Harry glared at them. Terry the receptionist immediately stopped laughing, but Malfoy only laughed harder.
"You- you actually thought that magic works in this hospital?" He forced out through laughs, "It's a psychiatric hospital Potter, magic can't work in here, otherwise patients would constantly escape."
"Oh haha, Malfoy, very funny. I'm leaving." Harry said dryly, turning to walk away.
"No wait." Malfoy said, still laughing. He composed himself and smoothed his shirt. "You signed up for this, and now you have to go through with it. So Potter, if you would follow me?" Malfoy said, clearly not asking.
Harry turned around, Hermione would kill him if he didn't go through with it. He followed Malfoy back to the room with the double doors and sat in the chair.
Malfoy sat on a stool in front of him. "For this experiment to work, we cannot talk for very long. In this experiment, my colleagues and I are testing how the human mind responds to acts of intimacy from people with different relations to our subject." He paused, "That's you."
"Yeah I got that Malfoy. Thanks." Harry said sarcastically.
Chapter 3: Someone You've Never Met
Well, then, if you understand, let's get to work." Malfoy stood up and backed away into a corner, watching Harry. "First we shall start with someone that you have never met."
A lady, who must have been one of the hospital's nurses judging from her uniform, walked in. She had a blush painted across her cheeks as she walked up to Harry. She took a seat on the stool across from him.
Malfoy stood impatiently in the corner, "Come on, I haven't got all day."
The nurse leaned forward and pecked an uninterested Harry on the lips. She giggled and ran from the room. Harry leaned back and wiped his mouth, "And how many of these do I have to do?" He thought.
As if reading his mind, Malfoy calls out, "One down, 12 to go Potter."
Harry gritted his teeth, he was going to have a little talk with Hermione about all of this.
He leaned back in his chair and waited for the next person to come in.
Chapter 4: A Friend of Yours
"Alright Potter, the next category is 'A friend'." Malfoy said from his corner.
"Fine. Let's just get it over with already." Harry grumbled.
Luna Lovegood walked through the double doors, with Neville at her side.
"Hullo, Harry. How are you? Your brain seems to be overflowing with Nargles." Luna said dreamily. "Are you perhaps stressed lately?"
"Er- Yes, I suppose you could say that Luna." Harry agreed.
"Hi, Harry. Hermione told us she signed you up for this," Neville said, gesturing to the room, "So we decided to help too."
"Thanks mate." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now which one of you has to kiss me?"
Luna giggled, "That would be me Harry." She leaned in and peppered his face with tiny kisses.
Harry smiled and laughed happily. Leave it to Luna to bring his spirits up.
Neville and Luna said their goodbyes and left, hand in hand.
Draco coughed in the corner. "Your friends are very nice Potter."
"Thanks Malfoy. They're nicer than yours at least."
"I don't know Potter, Longbottom just revealed that Granger signed you up for this. I'm guessing it was without your permission? And that's why you tried to run away?" Malfoy said, "That doesn't seem like a 'friendly' thing to do."
Harry frowned, "And what exactly do you know about being a good friend?"
"You're right. I'm sorry." Malfoy said quietly, going back to his corner. He moved on as quickly as he said it, leaving Harry to think that he might have misheard the doctor. "The next subject will be in soon."
"Can you stop calling us that?"
"What?"
"Subjects. We're people, not animals."
"Oh. Um, sure I guess."
Chapter 5: An Aquaintance
"The next category is 'Acquaintances'. You remember Terry, don't you?" Malfoy said.
Harry wrinkled his nose at the mention of the receptionist, he was still upset about not getting a pen.
The man named Terry walked through the door and stooped in front of Harry. Without any warning or sign, he kissed Harry roughly.
Harry hated it and shoved him away. Terry fell into a pile on the floor. He sat there before getting up and trying to kiss Harry again.
Harry raised his fist and almost connected it with Terry's mouth before a slender hand pulled him back. He turned around, Malfoy looked furious.
"Sorry, I don't know what came over me." Harry said quickly, not really knowing why he was apologizing.
Malfoy's glare softened when it went across Harry, "You don't need to apologize." His glare got mean again, "He does." He said, jerking his thumb towards Terry.
The receptionist stood in shock. He mumbled a sorry.
Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What was that? I didn't quite hear you. Did you say that you don't want to work here anymore? Because you know the rules, and I made the rules. Force is not allowed at this hospital. With anything." He said icily.
Harry was speechless, he also kind of felt bad for Terry the Receptionist. Afterall, he knew how it felt to be on the receiving end of Malfoy's cruel words. But that thought only caused confusion for Harry. He had always been on Malfoy's bad side. And now he was on his good side? When did that happen?
Terry apologized out-loud and tried to shake Harry's hand before he left. He didn't get very far because Draco Malfoy's glare sent ice daggers into his heart.
After Terry left, Harry sat back down in his chair. Malfoy sat on the stool.
"Please accept my sincere apologies Potter. This establishment holds a strict no-force policy. If you wish, Terry can and will be removed from his position and given a job someplace else." Malfoy said.
"That's okay. He apologized, didn't he?" Harry said.
"Yes." Malfoy said, locking eyes with Harry. "He did."
Both stared at each other with understanding in their eyes. They weren't talking about Terry.