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[It was hard for Draco to keep lying to his best friend like this, but he couldn't very well go out and tell him that the Dark Lord had summoned him -- Draco knew how Harry felt about him.]

You can't, Harry. [Takes in a breath and takes a step away, turning his back.]

... My father broke out of Azkaban when he found out, I- [And he takes another breath, his form trembling a little.] I don't know how, but he came to me. Told me that the Healers would come to me.

Was that why... That's why I'm here, actually, to tell that I saw your father by the edge of the grounds.

[Harry gets a very stubborn look on his face. Draco might be a bit of a prat at times, and he might be off screwing his Gryffindor counterpart and falling in love with him and making Harry feel like crap... but dammit, he was Harry's best friend. And best friends do not let friends go home to look after very (possibly seriously) ill family members alone.]

But that means your father thinks this is serious. Draco... I'm not giving you a choice.

Harry, you don't understand. This is something... something that I have to do on my own, I have to go and prove that I can do things myself.

[Turns back to look at him, he was being stubborn himself right now, and even though he knew that his mother would be feigning her sickness for whomever happened to come by, Draco didn't want to risk Harry seeing him portkey away. It was too risky.]

I need you to trust me when I say that I'm alright...

[Harry glared back, mouth pinched together and brows furrowed. He didn't want Draco to go face this alone. Without him. But Draco just stared back, just as stubborn and Harry could feel his shoulders slumping. It wasn't fair to Draco that Harry put more pressure on him. He sighs and nudges Draco with his shoulder, a sad little smile on his face.]

I trust you. I'm only an owl away, yeah? Remember that, Draco. And give my best to your mother.

[Feeling himself relax a little more, Draco mirrors the small smile and nods.] Of course. Now, don't you be doing anything stupid without me while I'm gone, yeah?

[He inhales a deep breath and tries to shake the gloomy feeling off of his chest.]

I'll be leaving tonight at sun down, they've permitted me to use the Floo Network to the Manor. So at least I won't have to spend a carriage ride worrying for too long.

I promise - I'll only do stupid things when you're with me. Honest.

But, not until tonight -- that's just cruel, it's not as if you can think about anything else and all it'll do, is worry you.

[Harry looks up.]

... if there's anything I can do, Draco, just tell me.

I was thinking that I might take a walk down to Hogsmeade, since I've already gotten what I need packed, and I'll be taking my homework...

[The worry he feels isn't entirely fabricated. He is still worried, just... for different reasons. Maybe there had been a change in his mission, but still, he wasn't sure why he had to go, when Snape could have gone instead.]

I know, and thank you for that.

Want company?

[He says it lightly, striving for normality and probably failing. Concerned about Narcissa, who's always been kind to him and concern for Draco, who must be sick with worry by now. Stupid, bloody healers.]

That... was kind of the point, actually.

[He smiles weakly. What without knowing just when he was going to come back or what the Dark Lord wanted with him, Draco wanted to use this time to spend with his best friend, at least until he had to go.]

All right. I'm ready, if you are.

[He bounces a little on the balls of his feet, unsure and awkward, because how do you distract your best friend from the fact that his mother is ill. Ill enough to get her son get pulled from school.

Harry wraps an arm around Draco's shoulders and gives him a squeeze.]

I'm sure everything is going to be okay, Draco.

[Draco's not quite used to or comfortable with awkward, which is usually why he tends to keep these sort of things to himself, or even some of the darker thoughts that sometimes swam around in his mind. He was fine with confrontation, just not particularly when it was him in question.

Hunching his shoulders a little at the hug, Draco just nods and then nudges Harry back with his elbow, almost teasingly.]

Alright, come on, let's go.

[Harry picks up his outer-robe and roots around in his trunk for his bag of money. It takes a while, because Harry has a bad habit of just throwing everything in there once he's done with it, and now the money is under weeks of things he found in his pockets, old class notes and his towel.

His fishes it out from under a piles of used socks and stuffs it in to his pocket.]

After you.

[Already having a few Galleons and Sickles tucked in his pockets, Draco waits as Harry gets himself ready and fetches his money before slipping his shoes on again and adjusting his blazer.

Nodding, he heads out of the dormitory and leads the way from the dungeons. He was hoping that a nice walk would help clear his mind a little, get his mind off of things, but it could also do the exact opposite.]

[Harry keeps up a steady, mindless chatter all the way there. Gossip, questions he had wrong on the last potions test and how he got out of being late for Divination by faking Blaise's death and how he made a few Hufflepuffs cry about it.

And it's awful, because Harry wants to rage and yell a little, wants to go with Draco and make sure the healers do a proper job of it and make absolutely sure that Draco is all right.

He wants to confront Draco about the other Harry and ask if Blaise was telling the truth. But in the light of Narcissa being sick, it just seems petty.

So, he talks about nothings and school and everything in between as they walk towards Hogsmeade.]

[Draco can feel the heavy weight of guilt pressure on his shoulders the further they walk, but he keeps himself just as chatty as Harry so that maybe it wouldn't dampen the mood too much.

He wishes that he could tell his friend just what he was really doing, and just how confused and nervous he was, but he had no idea what Harry would do, if he were to find out Draco was a Death Eater. Following the man who killed his parents.

So he lies, but that doesn't mean that he likes it.]