The author graciously thanks all her reviewers who didn't bring blowtorches. And for whoever suggested Skin Ticket, I thank you very much.

Title: Bruises
Author: Granitite Stone, granitite@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: If they were mine, would I be writing fanfiction? There is no malicious intent in this story, I know nothing about these men's real lives.
Distribution: The H/D List Archive can have whatever it wants. Everyone else, ask and you can have it.
Summary: Draco and Harry have always been enemies. No matter what appears to pass between them, that hasn't changed. Or has it?
Pairing: H/D
Rating: Hard R

~Skin Ticket by Slipknot

They had one more day before classes resumed. Ron wasn't going to waste a second of it. He slid out of bed, and walked over to Harry's. He was getting ready to break the locking spell Harry always put up at night, when he realized it wasn't there. Neither was the silencing spell. Ron's blood turned to ice.

Behind him, Neville crawled out of bed. "Well, aren't you going to wake him up?"

"Go get Professor McGonagall." He couldn’t bring himself to open the bed curtains more than a crack. All he could see was an unmoving body and glass shattered on the floor. Neville ran from the room, and Ron sat down on the floor with his back to Harry's bed. "What have you done, Harry?"

Neville ran down the corridors faster than he thought possible. Whatever had Ron that scared, he wanted to be as far away from it as possible. He banged on McGonagall's door until it opened a crack. "Mr. Longbottom. It is quite early, and we had an incident here last night. If you would-"

"Something's wrong with Harry!" He cut her off. "Ron went to wake him up, and the curtains were unlocked and the silence spells were down."

Minerva McGonagall turned the color of her white walls. They'd all gone to bed last night when Harry hadn't come back. Dumbledore said that if they woke up in the morning, all was well. If not, it wouldn't matter if Harry Potter had broken curfew. She slipped on her slippers, and ran almost as fast as Neville had.

Seeing a teacher such as Professor McGonagall running through the halls was more than a little disturbing. She burst into the dorms, and went to where Ron was sitting. She spoke hesitantly. "Have you looked?"

"I can't." Ron looked at her fearfully. "Professor, there's glass all over the floor. You don't suppose he just couldn't take it anymore?"

"I don't know." She stepped inside the curtains. "Dear lord."

"Is he alright?" Neville had finally caught up.

She ignored them both, and took a pulse in the darkness. "Cold. It's been hours."

"Oh god." Ron made a sobbing noise. "Hermione was right, I should have kept a closer eye on him. He killed himself!"

"It isn't Harry." Minerva could hardly believe how calm she sounded. "Someone go get the Headmaster. Wake up the others, everyone out into the Commons Room."

"If it isn't Harry-"

"OUT!" She looked at the pale body against the scarlet sheets. "What did you do last night, Harry?"
-----
The entire school was congregated in the Main Hall, waiting to see what was really going on. Rumors had already spread that the body carried from the Gryffindor house this morning had not been Harry Potter, but no one could say who it had been, not even Ron or Neville. Hermione was last to arrive. They had neglected to wake the Head boy and girl in the rush, and they dragged in just as Dumbledore was preparing to speak. "Why is everyone up so early?" The entire table shushed her.

Dumbledore wavered a little as he stood. "I have some good news, and some bad news, my children. All of you who would like to hear the good news first, please raise your hand." Most of the four houses raised their hands. "I see. So be it. As some of you know, there was an amazing flash of green light on the other side of the lake last night. It is as you may have suspected. Lord Voldemort is dead."

Cheering broke out, even from the Slytherines who were only slightly subdued. Dumbledore held up his hand, and all went silent. "And now for the bad news. No one is exactly sure what happened last night, because both men involved are now dead. I am reluctant to tell you, that when Voldemort died, he took Harry Potter with him."

Ginny Weasley screamed, and many others started to cry. At the Ravenclaw table, Kyle closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Sir, who did they carry out of the dorms this morning?"

"Draco Malfoy." When the uproar died, Dumbledore spoke again. "Very few of you knew that Draco had been working with us for several months. He is just as much a casualty in this war as Harry is. In fact, last night, he came to my office to warn me his own father was coming to kill Mr. Potter. The two of them had become friends, and though we are as of yet determine what killed him, he was invited into the Gryffindor house. Last night, Draco Malfoy saved your lives just as surely as Harry Potter did. I would like you all to think about that." He stepped down, and turned to Professor McGonagall. "Minerva, I believe it is time for me to retire. I've just put a second generation of Potters in the ground."

"I understand. Sir…what really happened to Malfoy?"

"I spoke with Sirius this morning. He'd been waiting for Harry in Hogsmead, but he'd never arrived. Harry knew all along what Draco was doing, and poisoned him. The only problem is that Draco couldn’t go through with it." They headed for his office. Inside was a weeping man. "Sirius. I've owled for Remus. He's on his way to collect you."

"What the hell has been going on here? Everything was fine, last night! What happened?" He looked as mad as when he'd first escaped Azkaban.

"Love happened." Dumbledore sat down. "It all started after Christmas."
-----
They had no family to speak of, either of them, so both Harry and Draco were being buried on school grounds. Ron thought they would have liked it that way. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think you would take it very well." Hermione dabbed at an eye with a handkerchief. "I never imagined it would come to this, Ron. Why did it have to happen this way?"

It was another voice that answered her. "Because Draco didn't listen to me, and decided to go for happily ever after." It was Kyle Stuart. "Damn it, I told him what Harry was capable of! He of all people should have understood."

"Understood what?" Hermione had nodded, but Ron was just lost.

"That there are no happy endings."

For those of you familiar with the term, this is written in the style of a Miller tragedy. Does it surprise you that Draco is the protagonist in this story, not Harry? A Miller protagonist is someone that is not too terribly important to the world. Kyle is an enlightened character, who by the end of the story recognizes the truth, and tells the moral to the audience. If you wish to believe Voldemort the bad guy, go ahead. But it's really Harry. This story was written after I read "Death of A Salesman" and watched Evangelion, so please pardon my angst.

~ When I look into the mirror, and see a face I don't recognize, I am no longer surprised.
Choose Your Poison at www.angelfire.com/weird/cobalite/index.html
AIM: Granitite2001