Chapter 3
*Draco POV*
I walked into the giant infirmary, following close behind Proffeser Snape.
There was nobody there getting treated, thankfully, so we had the place to ourselves.
"Madame Pomfrey!" Snape called, and not long after the woman came rushing around the corner.
"What is it now- Oh heavens! What happened?!" She yelled apon seeing Harry.
"An accident in potions..." I mumbled.
"Well don't just stand there! Mr.Malfoy, will you take the boy to one of the beds please, I'll need to grab a few potions from my office. Oh, and Snape, please go alert Dumbledore." She asked, scurrying off into her office.
"I'll be back shortly." Snape anounced before walking out of the room.
I looked for one of the beds that looked more secluded, since little Harry didn't seem to like open or bright spaces.
After choosing a bed to the farthest corner of the room, I sat the boy down and plopped down next to him.
"Umm... Draco, why are we here?" He asked quietly.
"Well, everyone is worried about you, so we're just making sure you're not hurt or anything. If were lucky, they might have a way to turn you back to normal." I told him, and he looked confused when I said 'back to normal'.
"Back to normal?" He asked.
Shit...How do I explain this?
"Well, you see-" I began, but before I could tell him, Madame Pomfrey came up to us with her wand and a couple of potions.
"Okay dear, I'm gonna use a small spell on you, but I promise it won't hurt a bit." She said, reaching out a gentle hand to Harry.
He looked hesitant before nodding his head and squeezing his eyes shut.
Madame Pomfrey whispered a spell and a small list popped above Harry's head.
It read:
Name: Harry James Potter
Age: 4 years old
Gender: Male
DOB: July 31, 1980
Mother: Lily Potter
Father: James Potter
Height: 3ft
Weight: 28lbs
Me and Madame Pomfrey both gasped once seeing the weight.
"Oh, my. It would seem Mr.Potter is malnourished." Madame Pomfrey said, casting away the spell and pulling out a pair of clothes.
Harry opened his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Ma- Manurishht?" He tried to pronounce.
"Whats that mean?" He asked, tugging on my sleeve.
"Well, tell me Harry, how much do you eat at home?" I asked, hunching over to the boys level.
He took a second to think before he looked back at me.
"Well, less than Dudley..." He said quietly.
Me and Madame Pomfrey looked at each other before she asked him a question next.
"And how many times a day does Dudley eat?"
He thought again before looking back at her.
"3 times. But Uncle Vernon says I can't eat that much unless I'm the one cooking the food. Sometimes, he doesn't let me eat until my tummy starts to hurt a lot and my eyes start to see funny..." He said, holding his stomach at the last part.
I felt my blood boil, so I picked up the boy and hugged him.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." I said, and I gave him one last squeeze before putting him back down.
"Thank you for telling me that Mr.Pott- I mean Harry." Madame Pomfrey said, writing it all down on a piece of parchment nearby.
"Now, can you tell me what your rooms like? Or how do your aunt and Dudley treat you?" She asked, but Harry got quiet and started to cry.
"Whats wrong?" I asked, picking him up and sitting him in my lap.
"I-Its 'cause A-Aunt Petunia g-gives me punishments i-if I'm bad, a-and if she knows I-Im here I'll get a p-punishment."
I rubbed circles into his back and layed his head to rest on my shoulder.
"Is Aunt Petunia like your Uncle?" I asked, and I felt my heart drop when he nodded his head.
I gulped and prepared myself for his next answer.
"Are they all like that?" I asked, and was furious but not suprised when he gave a quiet yes.
Madame Pomfrey gave him a sad look before writing everything he had said down.
"Well, can you tell me what your rooms like? Like, what toys do you have in it?" She asked, her hand hovering over the piece of parchment paper, ready to write.
"Umm, I don't have any toys, except for the little soldiers I found in my room." He said, wiping the snot from his nose with the back of his hand.
"Oh? And wheres your room?" She asked, getting up to sit beside me.
He lifted his face from my shoulder and looked over at her.
"Its under the stairs.." He said, pursing his lips together and furowing his eyebrows upward.
"Under the stairs?" She asked.
He nodded his head and began to spread his arms out.
"My rooms this big." He said.
Me and Madame Pomfrey looked at each other in suprise. His arms had spread out as far as they could, wich wasn't very far at all.
He looked at us both frantically before his lips began to tremble.
"D-Don't tell anyone I told you though. Aunt P-Petunia and Uncle Vernon said i-if anyone finds out, I would get the biggest p-punishment ever."
I brought his head up to mine and I gave him a loving kiss on the forehead.
"Hey Harry?" I asked.
He looked at me with his tierd little eyes, and I gave him a soft smile.
No child should ever go through that, especially not my Harry.
"How would you like to live with me from now on?" I asked, wiping his tears and giving him a grin.
He began to cry even harder, a few hiccups escaping.
"Mhmm! I-I wanna l-live w-with Draco!" He cried, and I held him in my arms even tighter.
"Wait a minute!" Madame Pomfrey exlaimed, standing up abrubtley. "You can't just decide that on your own! We still need to make sure theres nothing wrong with him, a-and, and-"
We all stoped as the doors to the infirmary opened.
Dumbledore walked in, his steps heavy but graceful, Professor Snape tagging along close behind.
"Ahh, so this is what you were rushing me down here for." Dumbledore said to Snape.
Snape looked at the old man frusturatedly.
"Yes! Now do you realize how serious of a matter this is?!"
Dumbledore simply hummed and walked up to me and Harry.
Harry looked at the headmaster with fearful eyes, his hand trembling and clinging onto my shirt.
"You must be Harry. My name is Dumbledore." He introduced, pushing up his spectacles a bit.
"Dumba-dore?" Harry asked, relaxing a bit.
The old wizard chuckled at Harry's attempt to say his name."Yes. Can you tell me where you'd like to stay Harry? We have many places for you. You can stay with me, or Madame Pomfrey if you'd like." Dumbledore said, and I squeezed Harry a bit.
"U-Umm... I wanna stay with Draco..." Harry said shyly, looking back at me with a small smile.
The older man looked at me as if he was inspecting every nook and cranny, before giving me and Harry a gentle smile.
"Very well. I have a room that would suit your needs perfectly. If you could follow me." He said, walking past a shocked Snape and a bewildered Madame Pomfrey.
"B-but Dumbledore sir, w-we can't just leave a child in the care of a student!" She argued.
"Why not? Harry seems to trust Mr.Malfoy here the most out of all of us. Besides, I'm sure this will be a fun experiment." He said with a smile.
"B-But sir, what about finding a cure for the boy?" She asked.
Dumbledore paused and turned around to the lady, towering over her, but not in a menacing way.
"Well, Im sure you and Severus here will be able to come up with a cure. After all, this is Hogwarts. You teachers are the best of the best." He said, before motioning for me to follow him out the room, leaving Madame Pomfrey and Professor Snape to their own devices.
I took one last glance at the doors now closing behind me before I ran up to Dumbledore.
"Umm, are you sure this is okay?" I asked.
I didn't really know how to act around the man, since I had never paid much attention to him in the first place.
"Yes. Now, I will show the room. But I must ask that you not tell anyone about it. For you and Harrys safety." He said.
I questioned him in my head but said nothing.
Suddenly, he came to a stop.
"We're here." He said.
I cranked my neck to see past him but furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
In front of us was just a wall.
"Umm, Dumbledore, sir? I'm pretty sure that's just a wall..." I said, trying my best to not be rude.
He chuckled and turned around to face me.
"Well, its just a wall now, but it will be a room in a minute. Now, think of a room to your liking. You too Harry." He said looking at the boy in my arms.
"Sir, pardon me, but I really don't see the point-" I started, but he put up a hand as if to silence me.
Who does this old man think he is?
"Trust me." He said.
I sighed and closed my eyes along with Harry, and on Dumbledores cue, we thought of the type of room we wanted.
"You may open them." He said.
I opened them skeptically, but was surprised when a wooden door took the place of the wall, almost as if it had been there all along.
"Wha-" I stuttered, but he just chucked and told me to open it.
I opened it and was astonished.
We walked into the livingroom, plaid in the slytherin house color.
It was dark enough to remind me of the real slytherin common room, but bright enough so that Harry wouldn't be scared.
We walked a bit further and made it into the kitchen. "Wow! This is our new home?" Harry asked, and I smiled down at him.
We walked down into a hallway and opened the first door to the left, and in it was what I assumed to be my room. It reminded me of the rooms we had back at the mansion, and I smiled at the familiarity.
We looked through the other rooms down the hall, one of them being a bathroom, and the other a small libary, until we made it to the very last door at the end of the hallway. I opened the door, and heard Harry gasp. It was his room,it following the same green theme as the rest of the house.
I watched him run over to a small toy chest in the corner and squeal once he saw all the toys inside.
I laughed and walked over to him, crouching down so I could get to his level.
"Do you like it?" I asked.
A little bit of color shined through his sad eyes, and a small giggle escaped him.
"Uh huh! I love it! Do we really get to stay here?" He asked, clinging onto a stuffed lion he had found.
"Of course." Dumbledore said from behind us, drawing our attention to him. "You are both welcome to stay here for as long as necessary. Of course, I only ask you follow a few simple rules." He asked.
"And what might they be?" I asked, pulling Harry into my lap so he would listen too.
"Well, you are not allowed to take Harry into the Slytherin dormitories. We are not sure if Harry will remember everything that has happened while he is in this state, and as you know, he is a Gryffindor. Different houses are not permitted to go into each others dorms. You may, however, take Harry into other parts of the castle, as long as they aren't forbidden, of course. You may choose whether you would like to eat here, or in the dinning hall. And lastly, Harry will have checkups every two in a half weeks. Do you have any complaints?" He asked after explaining.
I looked down at Harry who was looking back at me.
"No sir." I replied.
"Very well then. I shall leave the two of you be now." He said, escorting himself out.
I waited until I heard the front door close to stand up.
"Harry, its getting late. How about a bath, and then we can eat dinner?" I asked.
He looked at me and scrunched his nose.
"Do I have to take a bath?" He asked, pouting a bit.
"Yes, look how dirty you are. Besides, I'm sure you'll feel much better after one." I said.
He furrowed his eyebrows and pouted his lips again, but reluctantly said yes.
Wait, do we even have any clothes for him? I thought to myself.
I looked around his room and noticed a closet.
Inside of it were various T-shirts, coats, shoes, and suits of the sort.
I laughed when I saw the little suits, and imagened what they'd look like on him.
But where are his pants and underwear?
I spotted a little dresser in the corner of the closet, and in it were his pants and underwear.
I grabbed a black t-shirt, a pair of jean shorts, and a pair of white converse to go with it.
"Come on Harry, bath time." I said, closing the closet door.
He sighed but followed along.
I walked into the bathroom and placed his clothes on the toilet, fishing in the cabinet above it for a towel.
There were a few toys for the bath in there as well, so I took them out.
I bent over to reach the faucets, and after messing with the water tempature a bit, I asked Harry to touch the water and tell me if the tempature was to his liking.
He reached over to feel, and gave me a thumbs up.
As the tub filled up, I poured in soap so that some bubbles would began to form.
After the tub was filled a little less than halfway, I stoped the water, added in the toys, and stood back up from my crouching position.
"Okay,I'm gonna turn the other way so you can change and get into the tub. Tell me when your done so I can turn back around, okay?" I asked, slowly turning around to face the door.
"Okay!" He said cheerfully, and after a bit of shuffling, I heard a splash. "Okay, you can turn around now Draco." He said happily.
I turned around and stoped myself from gasping.
I was only able to see his torso and up, but he had brusies and scars all over him. I was even able to see his ribs popping out a little, and I felt myself began to cry.
"D-Draco? What's wrong? Did I-I do something b-bad?" He asked, his eyes tearing up a bit.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just a little sad that your own family treated you like this." I said, getting on my knees next to the tub.
He looked down at his stomach, and next to his arms.
"Am...am I ugly?" He asked, sniffing a bit.
I brought a hand up to his cheek and rubbed it.
"No! Your not ugly Harry! Your very handsome! Don't let anyone every tell you your ugly, not even yourself, 'kay?" I said, and my heart melted a bit with the giggle he gave.
"Thank you Draco!" He said happily.
I wiped away my tears and sighed.
"Okay, lets get you all cleaned up now, 'kay?"
"'Kay!" He said happily.