"And what time do you call this, Potter?" Draco asked, noticing the wizard had finally entered the common room.

"When my detention ends." Harry replied, feeling irritable from his anger at Umbridge, coupled with his recent lack of sleep.

"With Umbridge, right?" Blaise asked, looking up from his game of chess with a 7th year he was winning. "What does she even have you do?"

"Yeah, it was with that toad." Harry said, bitterness dripping from his tone. "She has me writing lines, I must not tell lies," Harry had to suppress a shudder as he repeated the words now thoroughly etched into his skin, "Won't let me go until she thinks it's sunk in."

"Sunk in? What does that mean?" Theo asked, looking up at Harry.

Until I bleed. Harry thought, although the only response he gave the others was a shrug, going to the dorm to put his things away. 

-----

That night Harry crawled into bed with the other boys, but he found himself unable to stay awake, his nights of forced wakefulness taking a toll on him.

It didn't take long for the nightmares to start, always the same, only now Ron and Hermione's ghostly figures joined the others, telling him how much they hated him. For some reason Sirius was also there, looking at Harry with disgust before casting Crucio on him.

"Harry! Harry, wake up!" A voice that seemed vaguely familiar called through the panicked fog that was his brain.

"What's going on? It sounds like someone's being tortured in here." Another familiar, but this time feminine voice asked, sounding scared.

Harry gasped for air, breathing heavily as he finally returned to the real world, noticing the concerned faces of the other Slytherin boys around him, Pansy standing a little further away looking scared.

"What was that Potter?" Theo whispered, looking at Harry in shock and even a little fear.

"Sorry... It was just a nightmare, I didn't mean to wake you up." Harry said, trying to smile, but it came out very lopsided, and he was still shaking with the residual adrenaline.

"I've had nightmares before, that wasn't just a nightmare." Blaise said, before the door opened again, revealing Snape with a first year by his side.

"What is going on here?" Snape asked, still looking as he did every potions lesson. He looked around to see everyone crowded around Harry. "Of course it has something to do with Potter."

"Potter was having night terrors, sir." Draco responded before Harry had the chance.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Snape said after a moment of silence when Harry was trying very hard to disappear into the bed. "Wait here, I will be back."

And with that, Snape went back to his office, sending Pansy and the first year back to their dorms with a wave of his hand.

"How long has this been going on?" Blaise asked as Harry refused to meet any of their eyes.

"... Since the third task..." Harry mumbled after a long pause.

"The whole time? But... You didn't scream yesterday." Theo said, before the realisation hit him. "You didn't sleep yesterday, did you?"

"I did!" Harry said, not wanting them to know how poor his sleeping habits had become over the summer.

"Not at night though." Draco said, fixing him with a look that seemed to see right through him.

Harry didn't need to say or do anything to confirm it, his lack of eye contact with anyone did it for him.

"But why didn't you go to Mme Pomfrey?" Blaise asked, worried about the still pale and shaking boy who had woken them all up screaming bloody murder.

"I don't like being in the hospital wing. I've been too many times." Harry said, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Then why didn't you ask someone else to get you a sleeping potion from her?" Draco asked, trying to not get annoyed with Harry. He had been staying with muggles over the summer, so obviously couldn't get any then, so who knows how sleep deprived he was by the time he got to Hogwarts?

"Because I wanted to deal with it on my own. What kind of hero can I be if I have to rely on others?" Harry mumbled, embarrassed.

"That's the most Gryffindor thing I've heard." Theo said, trying to suppress a groan

"What kind of hero will you be if you're so sleep deprived you can't even cast a spell?" Blaise asked, fixing Harry with a stern, but caring glare that honestly reminded him of McGonagall. "A dead one."

Harry was saved from responding to that by Snape's return. The potions professor was holding a small glass vial in his hand, a purple liquid gently shimmering in the half light filling it. He stalked straight over to Harry's bed, his expression less sour than usual.

"Potter, drink this." Snape said, uncorking the vial and handing it to Harry.

Harry swallowed it quickly, passing out almost as soon as the last drop had left the bottle. He fell against Draco, his breathing slowing down.

"Keep an eye on him. Looks like he's sleep deprived enough, if he seems to be having night terrors again, give him some dreamless sleep." Snape instructed, already leaving the room.

"Let's all get back to bed, it's midnight and we have a lot of homework to do tomorrow." Blaise said, spurring them to all go their own beds.

When Draco was putting Harry back in bed, rather than having the duvet wrapped around him and his weight on the former. Unfortunately Harry wouldn't let go of Draco, he wasn't even sure when Harry had grabbed onto him, he definitely hadn't been holding him before he took the potion, but now he wouldn't let him go.

Dreamless Sleep was supposed to be just that, dreamless, so Harry shouldn't grabbing onto him, let alone not letting him go.

"Draco, what are you doing? Get to bed." Blaise called, noticing his best friend was still standing by Harry's bed.

"I'm trying, but he won't let me go." Draco said, annoyed and trying to pull himself away from Harry.

"What? That sounds like something a veela would do." Blaise said, walking over, a look of confusion on his face.

"But there's no link to the Potters and veelas, so why is he acting like one?" Draco asked.

"No idea. Get to bed." Blaise said, freeing Draco from Harry's grasp and going back to his own bed.