65 Birthday

"There's something else..." Harry said suddenly remembering something.

"Fire away."

"Quirrell said Snape --"

"Professor Snape, Harry."

"Yes, him -- Quirrell said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?"

"Well, they did rather detest each other. Like Mr. Weasley and Draco here. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive."

"What?"

"He saved his life."

"What?"

"Yes..." said Dumbledore dreamily. "Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt... I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace..."

'If only you knew...' Draco thought to himself.

Harry tried to understand this but it made his head pound, so he stopped. "And sir, there's one more thing..."

"Just the one?"

"The invisibility cloak - do you know who sent it to me?" Harry asked but soon after he did he looked at Draco.

"It's not that rare, you can always buy one." Draco sneered looking away. He was kinda irritated by Harry's gaze which looked as if he would steal it at any moment. Harry sighed in relief as he looked back at Dumbledore.

"Ah - your father happened to leave it in my possession, and I thought you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Useful things... your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here."

"And sir, there's one more thing..." Harry said again awkwardly. Dumbledore smiled and nodded signaling Harry to go on.

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?"

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that. It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between the three of us, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone -- find it, but not use it -- would be able to get it, otherwise, they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes... Now, enough questions the stone's safe for now and I suggest you two, to make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans! I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit-flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them -- but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?"

He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Ear wax!"

Draco laughed on the side, "I think you could use this," he said taking his wand, which was on the top of his table as he pointed at the candies, "Separatum"

As the spell hit the cover some of the candies jumped out the tray and only a few remained.

"Only the sweet ones are there." Draco said putting his wand back.

"Wonderful spell!" Dumbledore complimented looking at Draco curiously,

"Don't look at me like that." Draco said rolling his eyes, "Let's just say I got a vomit-flavored one as well."

Dumbledore nodded, creating a new spell at his age was a marvelous feat even though it was a simple charm, which was seemingly made by combining two existing charms, nonetheless, it was very fascinating. "I need to learn this spell as well." He said taking out a bean again, "Coffee flavored" he smiled walking away.

After Dumbledore walked out, Harry turned to Draco, "Thanks." he said.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "No need, l wouldn't have done it, if there wasn't any profit for me."

Harry sat there silently, thinking Draco was pretending to annoy him but he would be shocked if he really knew the truth. Back then, Draco was struggling whether to let Quirrell who was half Voldemort kill Harry since it could have done the job and a Horcrux would disappear but when Voldemort called him out he changed his plans since if Quirrell killing Harry didn't work, there would be a lot of other inconveniences in the future so he changed his plans the last second and turned against Quirrell instead.

"What did you mean when you said Magic?" Harry asked after a while, the awkwardness was killing him.

"I don't know." Draco replied, "It's probably a rare magic that will let someone protect the other person and seeing the strength of the spell, the user sacrificed a lot in your case your mother..."

"Sacrificed herself." Harry said completing his sentence with a sad voice.

Draco didn't have memories of his mother back in his original world but in this world, if something were to happen to Narcissa, Draco would surely lose it, so from a mature perspective of things, he could understand a little of what Harry was feeling.

A couple of moments later they could hear some familiar voices outside the hospital.

"Just five minutes," They heard.

"Absolutely not."

"You let Professor Dumbledore in..."

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different. They need rest."

"Professor Snape said he woke up. Oh, come on, Madam Pomfrey..."

"Oh, very well," she said sighing. "But five minutes only."

And she finally let them in, Theodore, Daphne, Pansy, Ron, and Hermione came rushing in."Draco!"

Hermione and Daphne fling their arms around Draco, jumping into his bed. Draco was quite awkward as he didn't know what to do but after a while, a cough from Pansy came making the two hurriedly get off the bed, blushing deeply. Daphne looked out the window and Hermione went to check on Harry.

"Seems like you were quite busy." Pansy said with a strict tone coming in front of Draco as she punched his arm hard.

"Ow!" Draco started rubbing his arm in pain, "You know my body is still sore, right?"

"Hmph! you deserved it." She said with an annoyed look but her voice and actions said otherwise as she touched his arms feeling a bit guilty as she hugged him tightly, "Stupid! Idiot! Who do you think you are?"

The soft blissful hug was turning into a death hug as she was holding him too tight.

"I can't breathe." Draco gasped. Pansy finally let him go and looked at him still pissed.

"Why does your punishment seem so amazing?" Theodore said coming towards him, "Do you need a hug?" He smirked,

"Piss off." Draco said rolling his eyes.

"So this is what was going on huh?" Theodore said, "I hope the day you trust me comes soon since I am losing patience, you know."

"I know." Draco sighed. "I just didn't think it would be that dangerous and I trust you, I really do but if you had worked on your spell more, you could have tagged along."

"Che, annoying." Theodore clicked his tongue, "It worked out well for you, as I can see, by the way, you got the stuff?" he asked looking at him with hope in his eyes.

"Maybe." Draco said vaguely.

On the other side, Ron and Hermione were talking to Harry,

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. Harry looked at Draco wondering if he was okay with him telling it to everyone.

"They have the right to know." Draco said looking at Pansy, Daphne, and Theodore.

Harry nodded and slowly told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. Ron, Pansy, Daphne, and Hermione were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Harry told them what was under Quirrell's turban, The girls screamed out loud.

'Now that I think about it, this is more like a horror story.' Draco thought to himself.

"So the Stone's gone?" said Ron finally.

"I don't know." Harry replied, "Dumbledore just said that it was safe."

Theodore looked at Draco who winked in return signaling him to keep quiet for now.

"So he is really alive." Daphne shivered,

"Don't worry." Draco said with a determined tone, "As long as I am here, I won't allow Voldemort to harm anyone close to me."

He was really frustrated to the point of exhaustion, about his mistakes, goals and what to do next. This year was really useful to Draco as it helped him learn new things, his weakness and vulnerability. With a strong new ambition, he was ready to fight everything and everyone, for his goals.

Pansy caught his hands, distracting Draco's train of thoughts. He looked at her, "What?"

"Here." She said dropping a gift in his hand, "Happy Birthday!"

"What?" Draco was still confused when Theodore, Daphne, and Hermione gave him gifts as well.

"You forgot didn't you?" Daphne laughed.

'Oh! Now that I think about it, all that happened at the night of my birthday.'

"You were acting super shady so we sent Daphne to check on what happened and keep you out for a while since we wanted to surprise you but you never came back." Pansy said with a quivering voice. "Two hours later we came to find that you had done something stupid again and were in the hospital bed, fainted."

Pansy couldn't help it anymore and started crying, "I was so afraid."

Draco sighed as he hugged her tightly, "I am sorry."

Everyone was silent and they could only hear Pansy's sobbing.