"You're going after Azkaban, aren't you?" Draco murmured.
                              
Harry swallowed nervously. "I-I didn't tell them what happened. J-Just to... look."
                              
Draco stared at him and grimaced. He looked to the wall.
                              
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry," Harry pleaded. "I just... couldn't... ignore it. I know I don't have the right, not without your permission. But... it's not just you, is it? Your dad... died in there. I mean, he was a bastard, but still. I'm sorry, if I...betrayed your trust."
                              
Draco took a deep breath. Harry loved the guilt, didn't he? "It's fine, Harry. I'm not mad. I'm a criminal, after all."
                              
"Don't... no one even deserves a second of that," Harry mumbled, picking at his blanket.
                              
"Harry... look at me," he ordered and he did. "There's no proof. There are no eyewitnesses, and no one is going to care. No one but you. Let it go. It's not worth fighting for."
                              
"It is, Draco!"
                              
"Harry...."
                              
"No. They shouldn't have done what they did. It was beyond cruel. It was torture! You can tell me not to reveal your information, but I can still investigate it."
                              
"First... you aren't an Auror. Second... it's a little lofty to try to convict my attackers, when you..." he stopped before he completed the sentence, but Harry understood it.
                              
He blushed. "Maybe. But he's locked up. He's in prison."
                              
"Do you feel any better?" Draco asked.
                              
Harry looked at him and nodded. "A little. I can live with myself. That no one else has to go through that pain and humiliation."
                              
Draco thought about it, and that would make sense to a Gryffindor. He had been thinking of his peace of mind. "Okay. But we're still back to the original point I made. There's no proof, and no one cares about what happens to Death Eaters serving life."
                              
Harry looked at him and said, "I do. I wouldn't want you or your father to go through this. I know people in there. That guy who hurt me is in there."
                              
"And you wouldn't want him to suffer?" Draco asked. He sure as hell was glad the guards did torture him. He knew that they did.
                              
But Harry looked at him and Draco could read his eyes and mind without difficulty. He was as honest as anyone could be. "No. I wouldn't."
                              
Draco considered that and nodded. "That's why you're the hero and I have this, I suppose," he murmured as he held up his faded mark.
                              
"No, you got that because a half-dead lunatic wanted to take over the world. I know you didn't take it willingly."
                              
Draco's head jerked up. "How do you know that?"
                              
"I was there... at the Tower. Invisible and frozen. I heard you talk to Dumbledore. I heard you say that Voldemort was going to kill you and your parents. I saw you lower your wand, Draco."
                              
Draco's mouth opened slightly, and he shut it and looked to the wall. It was safe. He hadn't counted on that. "I was... punishment for my father's screw up at the Ministry. I was supposed to fail and die for it. I knew it, and my mum knew it. The Dark Lord said as much as he tortured me and branded me like a steer. But I didn't fail."
                              
"And you still didn't kill Dumbledore."
                              
Draco's eyes watered.
                              
"Cause you're not a killer... or a Death Eater. And you didn't deserve any of this. I should have fought harder for you."
                              
"Don't, Potter. You fought harder than anyone would. Don't blame yourself. It was my fault Dumbledore died."
                              
"He was already dying."