Draco's heart pounded. His muscles screamed. His lungs had no more. But there was no way he was going to stop running until he got there.

He burst through the hospital wing doors and stopped in front of Harry's bed. Pomfrey stood over him, a defeated look on her face. Draco tried to breathe, to talk. He gave over to breathing first until he could talk.

"He's been poisoned!" he gasped. "He's dying."

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy," she said quietly. "I see that he is."

"But…" He moved forward and touched her arm. He looked down at Harry. He was horribly pale. "But you've got to do something. You've got to save him."

"I am doing my best, Malfoy. But this is a poison I do not recognize."

The ring. They needed the ring. There was no time to go back. "Accio Harper's ring!" Draco held his hand up and waited. He hoped the spell would work. He hoped Tonks hadn't already flooed with Harper back to the Ministry.

But in moments, they both heard something whistling in the air. Something small and gold-much smaller than a snitch-screamed through the open doors and with his Seeker skills, Draco leapt and grabbed the ring out of mid-air. He put it in Pomfrey's open hands. "Here it is, Poppy. Will this help?"

"It will do a great deal of help. But quite frankly, Mr. Malfoy, I don't know if it's too late."

Draco wilted. Pomfrey ran to her table of potions and other concoctions and Draco dragged himself to Harry's bed. He sat on the edge and took Harry's hand. "Don't die, Harry," he whispered. "You wouldn't want to leave me here all alone, would you?" He raised the hand and kissed it, not worrying anymore what Pomfrey saw. Hadn't Harper announced it to all of Slytherin? Draco was outed, and he didn't give a damn.

He raised Harry's cold hand to his cheek and left it there. He barely looked up when Dumbledore came running in. He looked up sorrowfully into the old wizard's face.

"How is he?" he asked quietly.

"No better," said Draco. "Have you heard-?"

"I have talked to Tonks. And to Flitwick. It was as Harry suspected. Flitwick never heard of Cymbeline Sorenson. Harper had disguised himself as Flitwick in order to dupe Harry. It also seems that it was Harper who pushed poor Treeloft down the stairs. Seems he was in his Sorenson state and didn't want to be seen."

Draco half-listened. He didn't care about the rest of it. He just wanted Dumbledore to pull another miracle out of his pocket. But wait. He was potions master. Maybe there was something he could do. He left his place abruptly and went to Pomfrey. "Is there a potion I can brew, Poppy? Tell me. I don't want to feel helpless."

She looked at him with vacant eyes. She touched the ring. "This is a very powerful venom. It's not easily counteracted. If we had known first thing… But it's already been in his system two days."

"But there must be something. Can we slow the poison down? Stop it from doing more damage and then figure out how to clear it from his system?"

"Perhaps. But it is dangerous."

"But if we don't try, he won't survive anyway… will he?"

She slowly shook her head. "No, Mr. Malfoy. He won't."

"Draught of the Living Death. We'll have to nearly kill him to save him."

"Yes. I was thinking of that."

"I have some in my dungeon. I'll be right back."

Draco ran. It seemed he was always running, either away from his past or to help Harry; Harry, who was his present and future. At least he dearly hoped he was his future.

He entered the potions dungeon, ran to the cabinet, and grabbed the bottle. And then back he ran.

He gasped on entering the hospital wing, and Pomfrey took the bottle out of Draco's quivering hands. She poured from the bottle into a small glass and then moved to Harry's bedside. Dumbledore stepped aside for them. Draco lifted Harry to a sitting position and Pomfrey pressed the glass to his lips. Harry took it and then she motioned for Draco to lay him back down. "Now, we wait. Mr. Potter should sink into a more unconscious state, on the brink of death, and that is when the poison should stop." She had a faraway expression of a sudden and she turned the first hopeful expression to Draco she had worn. "Mr. Malfoy, can you make a Disintegrating Elixir? One designed for very detailed disintegration?"

"A medical potion? I've never done it before. But I can try. I'll have to, won't I?"

He took a swift glance at Harry, whose pale face had turned ashen, and hurried back to his potions dungeon. He thought furiously. He knew he had all the ingredients, he just wasn't sure-He hoped that old potions book of Snape's would have what he needed.

He entered the dungeons and yelled, "Lumos!" and went immediately to his desk and grabbed the old potions book. He flipped through the yellowed pages feverishly, going back and skipping forward again. "Come on, come on!" He turned a few more pages before he found it and nearly cheered. Disintegrating Elixir for Medical Purposes, it read. He ran his finger down the list of ingredients, pleased to see he had everything. For the elimination of tumors, blood diseases, and poisons, it went on. And scribbled in Snape's own hand, works better if ten drops of a loved one's blood added in last ten minutes. Draco nodded a silent thanks to the ghost of the Half-Blood Prince. "It will be."

Draco got to work. He swept the other things off the table with one sweep of his arm and let them crash to the floor. He lit the hob, settled the cauldron over it, and poured in the first part of the elixir.

He checked the book over and over again, making certain everything was precise. He chopped when it told him; he crushed when it told him; he raised the fire and lowered the fire; stirred and let it rest the requisite amount of time. And when the potion had eleven minutes left to brew, he took his silver knife, held his wrist over a bowl, and slashed it. Blood dribbled into the wooden bowl, certainly enough for ten drops. He put the knife down, got his wand, and sealed his skin before he got woozy. With a pipette, he sucked up the blood into the glass tube, raised it over the cauldron and counted as drop by drop his own blood mixed with the elixir. When he counted ten, he withdrew the pipette, set it down, and watched the cauldron continue to boil for the next ten minutes.

When ten minutes were up, he blew out the flame and got down some empty bottles. With a ladle, he poured some of the elixir into one bottle, stoppered it, and ran with it back to the hospital wing, keeping the hot phial clutched close to his body.

He sailed through the door. "Poppy! I have it!" She took it from his trembling hands and he bent over and breathed. Dumbledore patted his back and walked with him back to Harry's bed. They both stood over it as Pomfrey administered the potion between Harry's gray lips. He barely breathed at all-only a small breath every five minutes. And his skin had gone gray and lifeless. Draco knew if this didn't work Harry would never look any different from what he did now.

He clenched his hands into fists, waiting. Nothing seemed to be happening. He looked at Dumbledore who looked back at him with a sober expression. He moved closer to the bed and took Harry's hand again. "Come on, Harry. You know I'm not very patient. You've got to help it work, okay? Because I don't know any more potions. You've got to do it. Come on!" The gray face didn't change nor did the breathing. Draco bit his lip until he tasted the rusty flavor of blood. He chanced another look at Dumbledore, but the old wizard had already turned to Pomfrey. She had tears in her eyes. Draco whipped his head back at Harry. "No you don't! Damn you, Potter! You wake up now! I've had it with you! I'm really tired of this whole hero thing where everyone wants to hunt you down and kill you! That's enough, do you hear! I'm not going to stand for it! You'd better wake up or face the damned consequences-"

"Will you please shut up," said Harry hoarsely.

"Harry!" Draco collapsed to his knees and moved in close to hear him. "Oh Harry!"

He didn't open his eyes yet, but his skin returned to a nice pink glow and his lips a rosy color. "You sure make a lot of noise, Malfoy." He opened his eyes stickily and looked around. "I'm in the hospital wing? I thought I was through with the hospital wing."

"Apparently not, you idiot."

Dumbledore took Harry's hand and squeezed it affectionately. "Welcome back, Professor Potter. If you will excuse me, I have Hogwarts business to attend to. I trust Draco will be adequate company for you." He glanced at Madam Pomfrey, who moved the screen around the bed and moved off.

Draco handed him his glasses and Harry fixed them on his nose. "So what happened this time?"

"You were poisoned. By Cymbeline Sorenson. Only you were right. He was also Antonia Adams and Gordon Harper."

"And Flitwick."

"Yeah." Draco filled his gaze with Harry's face. The first flush of joy that Harry was alive dissipated. His anxiety had returned and he made himself stand. "So…I guess you feel a little foolish giving that prat Sorenson the time of day. Guess it wasn't a long-lived relationship after all."

Harry eyed Draco trying to decipher his cryptic words. "Well…he fooled me, yes. But…relationship?"

Draco sighed and turned away. "I saw you two, Harry. I saw that man come out of your bedroom and touch you. I was there."

Harry sat up. "You saw that?" He thought a moment. "That's not what you thought. Hang on. Is that why you were angry at me? You thought I was carrying on with Sorenson?"

"I know what I saw."

"You saw bloody little, Malfoy. If you must know, he invited himself into my bedroom and kissed me. That's when he poisoned me, I bet. His damned ring pricked my neck." He raised his hand to the place and rubbed it.

"He kissed you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't kiss him back and then I threw his arse out." He shook his head in disbelief. "Blimey, Draco. You're going to have to learn to trust people, especially me. When I tell you I love you, I bloody well mean it! Okay?"

Draco's breath returned and he felt a smile grow on his face. He also felt tears tracing lines down his cheeks. "Yes, Harry."

"Now come over here and kiss me, dammit."

Draco knelt again and leaned over Harry to plant a chaste kiss on his lips. Harry, however, had other ideas. He reached up and pulled Draco in for a thorough going over and Draco willingly and gratefully accepted it.


On to Chapter Eleven
"Hogwarts Eternal"

Back to Chapter Nine
"The Dreamless Sleep"

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