Harry watched Draco leave the tower. He couldn't help the small smile on his face. He didn't have to go. He so did not want to go. He hated going every time. The only reprieve he got was from detention. The shaking was starting to subside. A few minutes later, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Draco was coming and that meant Snape was coming. He never thought the idea of Snape coming would bring a smile to his face, but it did.

Still shaking a bit, Harry turned his head to face the doorway.

"D-draco?" Harry tried to stop his voice from shaking.

"Draco?" the person said. "Now why would Draco be coming here."

When Harry heard the voice and looked up at who was at the doorway, the smile left his face. Sheer fear graced his features.

"N-no, please," Harry tried to sit up to move away but his arms weren't working the way he would like.

The man walked over to Harry and knelt down by him.

Draco's eyes fell on the place where Harry had been, but it was vacant. Quickly, his eyes darted about the astronomy tower to see if Harry had crawled into a corner to nurse his invisible wounds. But Harry was no where to be seen.

"What is the meaning of this, Draco?" Snape asked wearily.

"I don't know, sir!" Draco said, his voice bordering on hysterics. He brought his arms around his head protectively. "Harry - I mean, Potter - was in trouble! He asked for you!"

"Potter?" Snape said the word with disgust. "It sounds like you've been hallucinating. Back to my office."

"But Harry's in trouble! We need to find him!" Draco insisted.

"Has it occurred to you and perhaps Potter was playing a trick on you?" Snape asked as he turned to leave the tower. "You fell for it headlong, if he was. I advise you dismiss the situation from your mind."

"It wasn't a prank!" Draco insisted.

"How do you know?"

"Potter and I - we were writing letters in the mail station," Draco spilled suddenly. "We didn't know it was each other until today. Please, we've got to help him."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, are you suicidal?!" Snape hissed. Draco blinked suddenly. Was Snape being literal?

"Um - " Draco stalled.

"You're rubbish at Occlumency!" Snape shouted. "You make Potter look like a skilled Occlumens!"

"You're not a good teacher!" Draco shouted back.

"How are you going to hide a friendship with the Dark Lord's nemesis from him?" Draco's jaw worked up and down.

"I don't care," Draco finally said sullenly. "We need to help him! You said you would always help your students!"

"Fine," Snape growled. "We're not going to be able to help him here and without more information. Back to my office and we can try to sort this out."

When Draco and Snape returned to his office, Draco produced his letters with Alchemist and sat across from Snape, as the man settled down behind his desk.

"Why were you at the astronomy tower anyway?" Snape asked casually. Draco swallowed and his eyes dropped. He mumbled something. "What? Speak clearly."

"Just enjoying the view," Draco repeated.

"Are you suicidal?" Snape asked quietly. Draco winced, but nodded almost imperceptibly. It was better to give Snape all the information he had so that he could help Harry the best of his ability.

"I'm sorry," Draco apologized suddenly. He'd been doing more apologizing today than he ever had in his whole life. "Please don't hate me. I never meant to let you down. Can we just help Harry right now?"

"You realize you won't live long enough to commit suicide if you throw your lot in with Potter?" Snape asked quietly. Draco nodded.

"Here are the letters he wrote," Draco volunteered, laying the parchments in front of his professor. Snape picked them up and scanned through them.

"So there's a man who is targeting Potter?" Snape questioned.

"Yes," Draco confirmed breathlessly. "I don't know who it is. Potter never told. I - I told Potter about my plans this afternoon. He came up there to stop me. We talked for a bit, and then he asked me to curse him, because if he was cursed, he wouldn't have to go with the man."

"Go with the man?" Snape echoed.

"Yes," Draco said. "I didn't want to - but he was so scared, and it was what he was begging me to do, so I did. And he asked for me to get you, so I did, and then he was gone, and I just made him an easy target with that curse." Draco hid his face in his hands suddenly.

"Maybe, maybe not," Snape dismissed. "It isn't important. What's done is done. So Potter gave you no hints as to the identity of this man this afternoon?"

"No, sir," Draco said, pulling himself together a bit. "But there has to be a limited number of people who fit the description of 'man' at Hogwarts." It was a puzzle. Draco liked puzzles. If he just kept thinking of it like that, he might be able to keep control of himself. "There's Dumbledore. He wouldn't hurt Potter if his life depended on it. There's Flitwick. He's much too nice to hurt Potter. There's you, but you're innocent of that charge just because I was with you when Potter was taken. There's Slughorn - " Draco paused.

"Yes?" Snape prompted.

"What if it's Slughorn?" Draco asked. "Slughorn is always trying to suck up to people he thinks are powerful or influential. The Slug Club." Draco grimaced at the memory of the parties. "What if he's manipulating Harry somehow?"

"I don't think Professor Slughorn is that malintentioned," Snape said.

"Maybe not," Draco agreed. "But he's still a possibility! Wait!"

"What is it?"

"Filch! Filch hates everyone, especially Potter."

"A much more likely theory," Snape approved. "I believe Filch is the most likely suspect on that list so far. Remember the Headmaster is aware of every spell cast within Hogwarts, where, when, and by whom. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore was simply aware that you cursed Harry and went to take him to the infirmary."

"We can check if he's there, then, can't we?" Draco asked.

"Yes, let me floo call Madame Pomfrey. I am sure she will tell us the location of one elusive Harry Potter if she knows." Snape stood and after throwing some floo powder into the fireplace, stuck his head in.

"Poppy!" he called.

"Yes, Severus?" Draco heard.

"Please tell me you have Mr. Potter in the infirmary."

"No, Severus," Madame Pomfrey's worried voice came. "Has he been hurt?"

"Not anything I wouldn't be able to take care of," Snape replied. "No need to worry. Let me know if you find him though."

"Alright," Madame Pomfrey agreed. "Is something wrong?"

"I - am not sure," Severus replied haltingly. "Just let me know if you find him." Without further ado, Snape cut off the floo call.

"Not in the infirmary," Snape announced, frowning a bit. "Are you sure you've not blown this out of proportion?"

"Does it look like those letters are blowing it out of proportion? Potter asked me to curse him, for crying out loud!" Draco wrung his hands, and added quietly. "Alchemist was my only friend this year. I don't want anything to happen to him." He began to pace.

"I know," Snape replied, still looking concerned.

"Granger and Weasley!" Draco suddenly said. "They have to know what's going on."

"Entirely possible," Snape conceded. "Do you wish me to come along?"

"Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy demanding the whereabouts of Harry Potter," Draco muttered. "It doesn't sound like your presence would encourage them to tell. Perhaps if I tell them that I was the one who Potter wrote to. He mentioned his friend in there, you saw. I think that must be Granger."

"Then find her and ask," Snape advised. "Let me know what you find. Be quick."

"Yes, sir," Draco replied as he darted for the door and left.

After quickly searching the castle and not finding Granger or Weasley anywhere, Draco found the entrance to the Gryffindor common rooms and waited outside, much to the Old Lady's dismay.

A first year came down the hallway. He seemed hesitant when he spotted Draco lingering in the shadows.

"Hey you," Draco said, not harshly. "Can you find Hermione Granger or Ronald Weasley for me? I need to talk to either one or both of them."

"You're going to hurt them!" the first year accused. Draco rolled his eyes. Only a Gryffindor would come out with an accusation that bluntly.

"I promise I won't," Draco replied.

"Nope," the first year said. "Not good enough."

"Fine," Draco said. "As a sign of my good faith, here's my wand." He held it out to the first year. "Find Granger and Weasley, give them my wand, and tell them to come out here. There isn't much I can do without it." The little first year grabbed the wand and muttered the password. He disappeared, and a couple minutes later, Granger and Weasley came out of the lion's den.

"Malfoy!" Weasley said. "What do you want?"

"Listen to me," Draco replied, showing his empty hands to them. "I'm the Monster in the Dark. Potter's gone missing. Someone's been targeting him, and I'm trying to find him."

"You're - ?" Granger cut herself off. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically.

"We don't have time for this!" he said. "Yes, I'm the one Potter was writing to. Yes, I'm the one he got snippy with, and yes, I'm the one who has been trying to help him. We ended up meeting today, and he asked me to go get someone to help him, and when I got back, he was gone. He's not in the infirmary."

"You don't know what's happened to him?" Weasley asked suspiciously. "You were the last to see him, apparently."

"Oh my gosh," Draco said. "If I wanted to bring harm to Potter, I would not be here asking you!"

"Snape has to be behind it," Weasley said to Granger, who gave him a withering look.

"Weasley, will you stop being thick?" Draco shouted, no longer caring who heard. "Potter asked me to bring Snape to help him! Snape isn't behind it!"

"We'll start looking for Harry," Granger promised. "Thank you. You've been rather decent, in your letters, I mean."

"Thank you," Draco replied. "If you find anything - " Draco looked at them nervously, not able to finish the request.

"We'll let you know," Granger replied. "Here's your wand back." Draco accepted it, and then turned after nodding his farewell to Potter's friends.

Harry woke up. He was lying on a tattered bed. Everything was blurry. He tried to lift his arm to search for his glasses, but he was still too weak from the curse that Draco cast on him. He closed his eyes and realized that he was the biggest fool there was. He just made himself a sitting duck asking Draco to curse him. Why would he think that being cursed would keep him away? He really was an idiot. Idiot. There is no other name than that. Idiot. And now, Harry knew that since he wasn't on the Astronomy tower, Draco was going to blame himself for leaving Harry. How could he be so stupid?

The footsteps got closer and closer. Harry heard them come in the room and he felt the man sitting on the bed.

"I know you're awake," he said. "I want you to take this."

Harry didn't move. He didn't want to take anything that the man was going to give. He really hated this man. This man was someone who said they loved him and cared for him.

When Harry wouldn't open his mouth or acknowledge that someone said something to him, Harry felt him grip his cheeks tightly forcing Harry to open his mouth. Harry shrieked in pain. He poured the potion down Harry's throat.

Harry recognized the potion as the same one that Professor Snape had given him the night of his detention. As Harry cough and choked down the potion, he knew that soon it was going to start because he would not be shaking from the curse any more. His one leverage was going to be gone.

Tears welled up in Harry's eyes. He hated his life. He hated what he was going to be made to do. He didn't want to do this anymore. Now, at this moment, he wished he was with his 'Monster' rather than on this tattered bed.

"I'll be back. Once this potion takes effect," he said. "We will continue on our training."

Harry felt the man get up off the bed and he heard the footsteps receding out of the room. Tears spilled from his eyes as he turned on his side and cried.