Harry woke up on a bed. He tried to sit up but he was immediately pushed back down.

"Stay here. I'll go get Ms. Promfrey," he heard a deep voice say.

He heard footsteps fading away and stared at the ceiling while he waited. The bed felt soft and comforting, and he felt himself dozing off again.

"Will he be okay?" a worried voice was saying, drawing nearer and nearer.

"I assume so, yes," said another voice. It sounded like an old lady. He turned his head to the side and saw a woman with greying hair standing next to Draco Malfoy. "Was that the first panic attack you've ever had, Harry?"

Harry put on a confused look and lied. "Yeah. I- uh, didn't know that was a panic attack."

"Do you know what triggered it?" she asked lightly. Harry's eyes slid over to Draco's figure, and Ms. Promfrey glared at the blond, sensing Harry's discomfort.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Malfoy," she said plainly.

He was outraged. "What? Why? Whatever he has to say, he can say it in front of me too!"

"You may frighten the entire school body, Mr. Malfoy, but not me. Now, out." Malfoy pouted and left the room, giving Harry a meaningful look.

"Now, where were we?" she said politely, turning to Harry.

"I-" What was he going to say? That his parents were murdered in front of him by a gang leader because of their debt? Right. "I've just had some issues."

Ms. Pomfrey pursed her lips but didn't say anything about his lack of elaboration. "Would you like to talk to a professional about this?" she asked gently.

Harry laughed. Like he had the money for that. Or the time. "No, that's alright. I'm doing fine."

Lines appeared between the nurse's eyes, but she didn't push him. "Alright, but I want you to know my office is always open to you."

Harry just nodded, not sure of what to say. He felt tears brimming in his eyes. It had been so long since the last time someone had offered him help. His throat started to close up, and he wiped his eyes. Ms. Pomfrey averted her eyes carefully.

"I'll get going," Harry said suddenly. Ms. Pomfrey looked as if she wanted to protest but said nothing as he left the room.

"He carried you? Draco Malfoy? Carried you?!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief in their room thirty minutes later. Harry nodded solemnly, burying his head in his hands. "Mate, what exactly happened?"

"Well he confronted me about rejecting him and told me we apparently knew each other during a dark time in our past and my mind decided it's too fucked up to deal with that, and since Draco had no idea what the fuck to do, he carried me to the Hospital Wing," Harry recounted. Ron's eyes were wide as saucers.

"You knew him before he came here?" Ron asked. "Woah."

"Not really," Harry admitted. "I don't remember him at all."

"You must have been pretty memorable for Malfoy of all people to remember you," Ron said, curiosity flooding his voice. "What did he say he knew about you?"

"I was there the night your parents died." The words replayed in his mind, and Harry fought to keep himself calm. "Nothing. It wasn't important."

"You had a panic attack over it, though," Ron said, eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"I don't want to talk about it, Ron," Harry said firmly. The ginger nodded before lying down on his bed, the concerned look in his eyes never fading.

"What class do we have after our break?" he asked. Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards his new friend for dropping the subject.

"History," Harry said.

Ron shuddered. "I hate that one. Professor Binns is like a fucking ghost," Ron complained, a scowl entering his face.

"He can't be that bad," Harry tried to reason. Ron propped himself up on his elbows and turned his head in Harry's direction.

"Oh, he is, trust me. He drones on and on like some robot. He can make Jack the Ripper sound like a nursery rhyme," the tall boy grumbled, dropping back onto the pillows. Harry sighed.

"Every teacher here sounds awful," he said sadly. Ron shook his head.

"A lot of them are nice, actually. Like Professor Dumbledore, who teaches Math. And Professor McGonagall, our Physics teacher."

"What about the Principal?" Harry asked. "What's he like?"

"Oh, Professor Hagrid is a big softie," Ron laughed. "Ironically enough, he's the best professor here."

"Right, okay."

"Watch out, though, some of them can still be pretty strict," his friend warned.

The passing week consisted of Harry constantly receiving glare after glare from different teachers who had undoubtedly heard about what he had done to Umbridge. However, they treated him with grudging respect when word of what Draco did for Harry got around too. The students treated Harry like a hero because of his stand against Umbridge, and he quickly found friends in Seamus, his boyfriend Dean, and a tall, long-faced boy named Neville.

"I'm telling you," Neville said through a mouthful of chicken sandwich at lunch. "Snape's got it out for me."

"At least he doesn't call you Weasel," Ron muttered disdainfully, giving the High Table a look of disgust. "Who does he think he is anyway?"

Harry remained silent. Professor Snape was wonderful to Harry, offering to help him with any schoolwork he found tricky and telling him to report any acts of unkindness directed towards him. Umbridge, on the other hand, gave him detentions like she gave out homework. During those detentions, he would sweep the floor like a slave and clean her office. But that didn't stop him from speaking his mind in Reform class.

"He is a bit of an arsehole to some people," Harry decided on saying. Ron nodded, obviously pleased with Harry's choice of words.

"Hey, Harry," Seamus spoke up from beside him. "Has Malfoy said anything to you?"

Shaking his head truthfully, Harry looked down at the plate in front of him. The blond had been avoiding him like the plague. Whenever they passed each other in hallways, he would quickly rush past, leaving the brunet confused and dazed. He had also stopped coming to meals, and Harry would be lying if he said it didn't worry him.

"Why do you think that is?" Dean asked, looking speculative. "This guy, who's known to get people thrown out of the school for asking him for a pen, carries you to the Hospital Wing. And now he's avoiding you? Why?"

Harry shrugged, wishing that he knew the answer to that question.

***
Okay, so this update is very overdue. Sorry about that. But enjoy, I suppose!!