Morning could not come soon enough for Harry; he had lain in his bed without actually allowing himself to fall back asleep. His body protested his night vigil. But as he glanced to the bedroom door, it didn’t matter. He slowly swung his feet of the bed and clenched his teeth. He was pretty sure there wasn’t a single part of his body that didn’t hurt. He hissed and braced himself to stand up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice commented from the doorway. Harry raised his eyes and met gray ones from the doorway.

“Stuff it, Malfoy.” Harry said, though the words lacked the normal bite they had. Draco walked into the room watching Harry as if he were about to do something crazy.

“I didn’t mean it like an order, I meant you’ll just put yourself into a hell of a lot of pain you don’t have to be in,” Draco snapped. Harry shrugged and pushed himself to his feet and balanced mostly on his good leg.

“Thanks, but I think I am used to pain by now.” Harry snarled. Draco folded his arms and looked at his fingernails as if there were dirt beneath them. He watched Harry out of the corner of his eyes and waited while the dark haired teen struggled to hop towards the door.

“Severus is going to want to take a look at your injuries before you eat anything, so you might as well stay put,” Draco called out. Harry turned, intending to yell at Draco, but he lost his balance and crashed painfully to the floor. His hands went to his left knee as he felt hot fire burn on and within it. Draco sighed and walked over hooking his hands under Harry’s arms and hauled him to his feet, and then he took Harry’s left arm and pulled it over his shoulders. Harry stared at him, and neither said a word as Draco helped Harry back over to the bed. Harry sat on the edge and wiped at the sweat that had beaded on his forehead; he then raised his eyes and met Draco’s.

“Thanks…” he mumbled.

Draco sighed and sat down by Harry. The two sat in silence before Draco spoke.

“Its going to be one hell of a sixth year isn’t it?” Draco said softly. Harry closed his eyes and nodded.

“Yeah…” he said glumly. Silence elapsed for a few more minutes before Draco jumped to his feet.

“This is bloody well screwed up, we can’t even talk for a few lousy minutes, at school at least we can,” Draco exclaimed.

Harry opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Malfoy, those are normally all insults,” he pointed out quietly. Draco threw his hands up and began to pace the room.

“We are going to be stuck spending most of the summer together.” Draco ground out as he paced. Harry stifled a yawn; watching the blonde be so energetic was making him tired.

“Can’t you sit down? You’re making me tired just watching you,” Harry finally spoke up. Draco turned and watched Harry with narrowed eyes.

“You didn’t go back to sleep last night,” he accused. Harry covered another yawn and shrugged. Draco rolled his eyes and then narrowed them even more.

“You lied,” he said softly. Harry lowered his hand and rolled his eyes.

“Yes, shock of all shocks I lie,” he snapped annoyed. Draco let a grin slowly light his face.

“That’s very Slytherin of you,” he said.

Harry blinked at Draco for a moment then he burst into laughter. “Why thank you, coming from the heir to the Slytherin house that means a lot,” Harry countered. Draco rolled his eyes but walked back over to Harry.

“You do realize that Snape is going to pour another potion down your throat the minute he finds out.” Draco pointed out smirking. Harry shuddered.

“I’ve had enough potions in this house to last me a whole year at Hogwarts. And who says he has to find out?” Harry said, meeting Draco’s eyes. Draco burst into laughter.

“Po-Harry, this is Snape we are talking about…he has eyes in the back of his head. He’ll know…he always knows…” Draco said, adding the last part in a creepy voice. Harry shuttered.

“Please don’t kill my hope before it has a chance to actually take flight,” Harry whined. Draco grinned.

“I warned you earlier, I get to torture you without causing you bodily harm. Just think of the fun I’ll have – my life is now complete.” Draco said.

Harry glared then slid his hand down to grab his pillow. He smacked Draco across the face. A sound of someone coughing caused the teens to jump guiltily and glance at the door. Snape stood in the doorway, once again in muggle attire his arms folded and his hair, surprisingly clean-looking for a change, pulled back into a ponytail.

“Forgot to add the grease Professor?” Harry blurted out before he could think. Then his eyes went wide, and he paled covering his mouth with both his hands. Draco fell onto the bed, pressing the pillow to his face to smother his laughter as Snape stared at Harry blinking. He opened his mouth then shut it glancing at his godson.

“Potter…” Snape finally snarled. Harry jumped stupidly to his feet, standing at attention. It took all of two seconds for his face to drain of color, and he fell back onto the bed and stared at Snape.

“Yes…sir…” he said cautiously. Snape crossed the room as Draco slowly took the pillow from his face and sat up smothering a smile. Snape gave his godson a glare before he stared down at Harry. Harry tilted his head and stared up at Snape.

“I am going to forget you said that,” the potions master decided. He bent slightly, his hands moving towards Harry’s left knee. Harry instinctively moved his leg away from Snape’s hands. Snape raised his eyes, angry to meet Harry’s.

“I need to look at your knee, Potter,” Snape said through his teeth as he reached for Harry’s leg again. Again, Harry moved it from Snape’s reach.

“It’s fine – just leave it alone,” he said defensively. Snape rolled his eyes.

“I do not have the patience for this little game, Potter. I am going to look at your leg one way or the other.”

Still Harry shook his head.

“Draco, will you kindly help me here?” Snape snapped. Draco stood and walked over; Harry quickly moved his leg away from Draco’s hands. Snape just as quickly grabbed Harry’s leg, causing the teen to yelp in surprise. Draco seized Harry’s arms and held them out of Snape’s way as he rolled up Harry’s pant leg. Harry’s left knee was covered in a thick bandage, obviously an effort to try and keep it as immobile as possible. Carefully, Snape stretched Harry’s leg out straight. Slowly, he moved his own knee to that he could rest Harry’s leg on it, and he began to unravel the bandage. Harry squirmed in Draco’s grip and started to move his leg away from Snape’s, but the older man quickly moved a hand to have a firm grip on it. Harry groaned and glared at Draco.

“Just when I was beginning to tell myself I could like you,” he said half-heartedly. Draco laughed.

“Relax, this shouldn’t take that long. maybe if you’re good, Snape will let you sleep,” Draco said smirking. Snape paused from his work and raised his eyes, narrowing them as he finally took a good look at Harry’s face.

“You didn’t sleep,” he snapped. Harry rolled his eyes.

“And why the hell would you care if I slept or not?” Harry said bad-temperedl. His knee was throbbing to the point he could barely keep from crying out, and he certainly did not want Snape messing with it and making it hurt even more. Snape resumed his work without even commenting. Draco tightened his grip.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if he was laying down?” he asked. Snape shook his head.

“No, it would require moving his leg up and down to much.” Snape answered. Harry groaned closing his eyes. Why couldn’t his luck be with him just this once? Instead, he was being manhandled between a young bully and grouchy man. He yelped as the last of the bandage was peeled away. He heard Draco inhale sharply, and he opened his eyes and stared at his own knee. It was completely black and blue, and a dark shade of it at that. It was bumped up on the inner side, and dried blood was over the entire area. He winced as Snape ran his hands under and over it carefully. The man raised his eyes to meet Harry’s.

“Still holding onto the wall story?” Snape asked dryly.

Harry raised his eyes to glare at him. But he glanced down back at his knee and paled; he could actually see the bones pushing against his skin on the knee. He felt his stomach roll and quickly squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He felt Draco shift behind him pulling him onto the bed more. He hissed as he felt Snape gently set his leg down on the bed. For a moment he heard nothing, his eyes were still shut closed. Then he felt hands gently move down his back and over his stomach, rubbing in a soothing way to calm him down. Startled, Harry opened his eyes. Snape had a look on his face that could have been called compassion if it was anyone else. He removed his hands and looked into Harry’s eyes.

“I don’t suppose you’ll actually agree to take a potion if I give it to you,” Snape stated in almost a saddened voice. Harry felt his stomach roll again.

“If it wasn’t a sleeping draught, I might just agree to it, Professor,” Harry said, turning red slightly. Snape nodded and stood glancing at Draco.

“Do not move your leg even an inch Potter, because trust me on this, you won’t be able to stay conscious for long.” Snape warned and quickly left the room. Harry sighed and closed his eyes tightly trying to ignore the pain he felt. He should as hell be used to it by now. Draco watched the younger teen carefully. This was Potter, thorn in his side. Golden Boy of Dumbledore…and he actually found himself liking him despite all that.

“You should’ve been in Slytherin,” Draco stated bluntly. Harry nodded.

“So I have slowly been finding out myself. But then again…if I had been then…” Harry squeezed his eyes tighter…if he had been in Slytherin maybe Cedric and Sirius would still be alive. Sighing, he twisted to look at Draco.

“You can let go of me now you know, I am not going anywhere,” Harry said. Draco shook his head.

“You’ll probably try to move your knee away from Snape again, and I don’t feel like dealing with his attitude again.” Draco said simply as Snape himself walked back in the room handing Harry a vial.

“Drink it. I can assure you it is not a sleeping potion. I will deal with your lack of sleep at later,” Snape said dryly. Harry made a face at him, and after Draco released one of his arms, he downed the potion as quickly as he could and gagged.

“I don’t think I even want to know what that was,” Harry managed still gagging from the taste. Snape smirked and sat on the bed. With careful hands, he examined thoroughly Harry’s knee and sighed.

“If you hadn’t been an idiot Potter, and stayed off this, it wouldn’t be this bad,” Snape scolded with a scowl. Idiot Gryffindor and his pride. The potions master thought with a shake of his head. He stood again walking out of the room without a word.

“He seems grumpier than usual,” Harry commented and Draco rolled his eyes.

“He got woken up by you in the middle of the night - what did you expect Potter?” Draco sneered before he could catch himself. When Harry didn’t snap back, he shrugged it off. Snape came back in with a bag and sat it down on the bed beside Harry’s knee. He dug in and pulled out what seemed to be a brace.

“Wonderful…” Harry muttered. Just what he needed something that would most likely make it so he couldn’t bend his leg at all. Snape sent him a glare and then set to work. With skilled hands he gripped Harry’s knee, and with a silent look to Draco he straightened the knee completely. A loud pop sounded, and Harry’s eyes went wide for a moment. Then he sank back against Draco, having passed out entirely. Snape shook his head as he quickly put the brace on; then he turned to Draco. The blonde wasn’t looking at him at all, instead his eyes were on Harry’s face.

“He really is an idiot.” Draco mused out loud. Snape snorted.

“He is very much like his father in this one particular area. Luckily he is more like Lily in other areas.” Sighing, Snape stood and stared down at Draco again; the teen looked up.

“What?” he asked a bit of temper in his voice, which he immediately regretted as Snape raised one of his eyebrows.

“I have plenty of cauldrons that require cleaning if you desire to keep up with that tone of voice,” Snape said softly. Draco shuddered and nodded.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, keep Potter in that bed now Mr. Malfoy, or you’ll find yourself cleaning a stack of cauldrons as high as your head in the basement for the rest of the day,” Snape snapped digging into his pocket and setting a potions vial on the nightstand by the bed.

“Give that to Potter in a few hours. I’ll have one of the house elves bring you some food,” Snape said coldly and stalked towards the door.

“What if Potter doesn’t want to stay in bed? How far am I allowed to go?” Draco asked, a smirk lighting his face as he adjusted the younger teen so that he was no longer on him. Slipping pillows under Harry’s head, Draco turned to find his godfather watching him thoughtfully.

“No bodily harm Draco,” he said and then left the room. Draco smirked and then pulled the blanket’s over Harry’s body. He didn’t want to hear it if the teen caught a cold on top of his other injuries. Harry didn’t move, but he was breathing deeply as if he was in a deep sleep.

Draco moved to sit comfortably back in what he now considered his chair. Conjuring a book on hexes to his side, he settled himself in a position so that he could read and keep an eye on the still figure on the bed.