Tired

It was quiet as they all walked into the Great Hall, and all the older students looked at all the new first years coming in, Harry was relieved he was standing with everyone else, because he hated being the centre of attention. Draco had ended up talking more with the people they had shared the boat with, and another person with bright red hair that Harry was sure had been with the family who had helped him find out where platform 9 and 3/4 was came to talk to him. Now they were walking into the hall, Harry stood awkwardly between Draco and Ron, the two of them glaring at each other.

"Malfoy Draco." Professor McGonagall called out from the very long list of students she was holding. It was in a scroll and hadn't been fully opened, McGonagall rolling it so it showed around 10 names at a time.

Draco strutted forwards looking completely in his element, how he managed to look so composed and sure of himself Harry would never know, but he was somewhat jealous. The Sorting Hat had barely touched Draco's head, so much so that McGonagall hadn't even let go of the hat yet, before he was sorted into Slytherin.

"Prat." Ron muttered under his breath at Draco, making Harry elbow him. Harry immediately regretting it, though, he didn't like hurting people, and if he ever did then whatever he did would be returned 10 fold at least twice over.

Ron didn't seem to notice Harry tense up, just took about another step away from Harry so he wouldn't be elbowed again and kept looking at the sorting. Harry turned to look at Draco, who gave him a smile, some other Slytherins glanced between the two of them and a couple chuckled, making Harry feel self conscious, immediately snapping his head back to the front of the hall like everyone else.

"Potter, Harry." McGonagall announced after a short while, making the small, whispered chats that had started immediately stop.

The hall was so quiet as Harry walked forwards to the Sorting Hat, that even though his shoes were so worn they made very little noise, you could hear them echoing around the room. All eyes in the room were on Harry, some interested, some hopeful, some kind, some greedy, and some cruel. Harry hated being the centre of attention, it usually meant he was going to be mocked, punched, kicked, locked in his cupboard, or all of the above.

Although McGonagall had a generally cold air around her, her eyes held a warmth Harry wasn't used to when their eyes met. Harry sat on the stool, having to look at everyone looking at him, his back now turned to the teachers where he felt a burning sensation and a prickly sensation at his back and the back of his head. The Sorting Hat was put on Harry's head, but it was much too big for him, falling down so it was pretty much resting on his shoulders.

"Ah, isn't your mind interesting." The sorting hat's voice said from somewhere in Harry's mind, the voice echoing weirdly and making Harry feel scared and uncomfortable. "No need to worry Potter, I'm not going to cause you any harm. There are three houses that would suit you, do you have any preference?"

"I don't know, I just want to be happy." Harry thought, as he wasn't able to have time to think of the best way to phrase what he wants to stop himself from getting hurt like he normally did as the Sorting Hat was able to hear his thoughts.

"I think you could be happy in Slytherin, but, better be Hufflepuff!!" The Sorting Hat announced the house it put Harry in to the whole hall, making the Hufflepuff table erupt into cheers so loud that made Harry's ears hurt.

Some of the other houses let out half hearted sighs as they too clapped for Harry and the Hufflepuffs for having him. Draco gave Harry a small thumbs up when they looked at each other, the other Hufflepuffs welcoming Harry warmly, something Harry was far from used to.

Words couldn't explain how relieved Harry was when the next person was called forth to be sorted, because it finally got most people's eyes off him. Some people would still turn to look at him whenever they thought they could get away with it. Some of the teachers also kept their eyes on him, Hagrid looked extremely happy to be there, and happy for Harry, McGonagall's eyes would sometimes linger on him with an odd sadness in her eyes, but there were two other teachers who looked at him, both looked displeased or angry with him, one's eyes burning into him, and whenever he looked at the man in the middle of the table with long, silvery hair it felt like someone was poking his brain with a sharp object.

-----

Draco was still worried about Harry and had decided to ask one of the older years to show him to the Hospital Wing with Harry after dinner. He was glad Harry was a Hufflepuff, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were usually friends, and it was far from unusual for Slytherins to protect their Hufflepuff, so nobody would question him for playing the part his mate needed him to. Another benefit of Harry being in Hufflepuff was that he wouldn't face the hatred other houses had towards Slytherin and instead be treated with kindness.

He kept an eye on Harry as they ate, smiling at him whenever they made eye contact, but mostly looking at how much Harry ate. It wasn't much.

"Hey, can you show me where the Hospital Wing is? I'm worried about a friend." Draco asked a Slytherin in one of the older years.

"They're a Hufflepuff, aren't they?" The older Slytherin asked with a chuckle. "Go get your friend, I'll let my Hufflebuddy know and the prefects."

"Thank you," Draco said, rushing over to the Hufflepuff table to get Harry. He wasn't even mildly embarrassed about how the other Slytherin already knew he was talking about a Hufflepuff, why should he be embarrassed about looking after his mate.

"Hey, Ven, I need to take Malfoy to the Hospital Wing, he's worried about a friend." The older Slytherin said, pulling a prefect Slytherin from the crowd, almost like magic.

"Hufflepuff?" Ven, the Slytherin prefect asked with a knowing smile.

"Of course. I'm going to let Rose know so the Hufflepuffs don't get worried." The Slytherin said, stretching their arms over their head.

"See you soon, Mel." Ven said with a chuckle, giving Mel a wave and walking back to the front of the group of new first years, the older years still milling around, finding their friends and chatting, waiting for the first years to settle into their room before they went back to their dorms.

"See you, you owe me a game!" Melissa called after them, turning around to conveniently see Rose behind her.

"So there's going to be a first year Puff missing? I'll let Professor Sprout know, take them to the Hospital Wing and then come meet us outside our common room and tell us everything." Rose said, not even giving Melissa a chance to talk before walking off to join the first year Hufflepuffs.

"You ready?" Melissa asked, looking behind her to see Draco with Harry. "Let's go."

-----

Harry didn't know where he was going with Draco, all he knew was that he was getting up to go with everyone else to their new common rooms, when Draco came up to him and dragged him over to an older Slytherin who started leading only him and Draco somewhere completely different. Had he done something wrong? Was this his punishment for doing something wrong on the train? What was it he did? He couldn't ask because he wasn't supposed to ask questions.

The room they got to was very sterile looking and filled with uncomfortable looking beds with curtains around them. The room was only white, pale blue, and pale green, each bed had a bedside table.

Harry had never seen a room like this before, and he didn't know where they were. Draco led him over to one of the beds and the older Slytherin went to look for something or someone.

"What seems to be the problem?" A greying woman with an outfit that didn't match that which everyone else in the school wore, and while the white of her robes was like the white of the room, her robes had warmer colours like red and orange.

"I'm worried about Harry." Draco said immediately, making the woman walk over to the two boys, Harry's heart starting to beat quickly as he was worried about what he could have done wrong.

"What happened?" The woman asked.

"He seemed really tired the whole journey and said some things I thought was concerning and he hasn't eaten much today. I don't know how much he had for breakfast, but he had one rather small pumpkin pasty for lunch a little late and he didn't have very much at dinner. Then there's obviously how he looks too young to be here." Draco explained, Harry being pushed onto the bed they had been standing by.

"Mr Potter, how do you feel?" The woman said, turning to Harry quickly.

"I- um- I'm fine." Harry stuttered out, eyes on the wand that the woman was waving over at him.

"Hm." She said, pursing her lips as she saw the results of her spells. "Mr Potter, drink this."

A potion was shoved into Harry's hands as the woman continued to bustle around him. Harry didn't want to drink it, he had already had more than enough for the day, but from the look on her face it seemed like she might already be upset with him, and if he refused she would be angry and would probably hurt him.

Harry drank it, it was sweet, which would have been nice if he wasn't feeling nauseated already, but he was. His complexion went slightly green as he was feeling queasy, and started to feel dizzy pretty quickly after that. He hated it, he couldn't see straight and it was like when they were on the boat, but 100 times worse. Harry tried to get up to leave, but a delicate push from Mme Pomfrey was enough to put him back on the bed.

Everything was getting blurrier and darker, but Harry was pretty sure he was drooping, getting moved so he was lying on his side before he finally slipped into sleep.