Summary: It's been a year since the Battle of Hogwarts, and the school was finally open to students again. The seventh year students who had taken part in the war were invited back to finish their education. However, no one was more surprised than Draco when he receives a letter too.

Pairing(s): Draco/Harry (Drarry).

Genre: Friendship.


A/N: This is my first Harry Potter fic! I grew up with Harry Potter and I finally decided to rewatch all the movies, and I was hit with so many feels and everything (I definitely cried a lot). I, unfortunately, have not read the books (because I don't own them and I don't like reading books online), so any kind of Harry Potter thing I write will be based on the movies and not the books. To help me get to know things better and such, I've been doing a lot of research on the Harry Potter Wikia, and I feel like that's helped a lot. So a lot of stuff will also be based on the things I've also read on the Harry Potter Wikia.

I've never written anything to with Harry Potter before, so I am terribly sorry if I write any of the characters wrong or I don't do things a certain way.

Practice makes perfect, right?

But while this is my first Harry Potter fic, it's also my first Drarry one. I wasn't going to do this because I know certain people like to see Drarry a certain way and get pissed if it isn't their way, but like I've said before, I'm doing this for me and I'm doing it because writing is a safe place for me.

I've always wanted to do a Drarry (or any kind of Harry Potter) fic before, and I've only now just gotten the courage to write one after what had been said to me a few years back.

But I do hope people enjoy it, and I'm sorry if it isn't up to your strandards, or if I don't play characters a certain way or something. Like I said, this is my first time doing this and I have tried my best! I also wrote this from 1 am til 6 am, so I'm sorry if there any errors and such!

Also, Uanitas Promissorum means 'Empty Promises' in Latin (I think). I looked it up on Google, that's what it said. It was the only thing I could think as a title for this fic because I'm bad with titles, so if I think of a new one, I might end up changing it, I don't know yet.


Draco had no intention of going back to Hogwarts ever again, even if it was just for a visit.

Not after everything that had happened - everything he had done. An he certainly didn't want to face those he had betrayed.

So, when he had received a letter from none other than 'Headmistress Minerva McGonagall' a few weeks ago, he was genuinely surprised. The letter simply explained that Seventh year students who had taken part in the war could return to the school to retake their Seventh year, but only if they wished to do so. The choice was theirs, and no one could force them into going.

Draco was still trying to get over his surprise of even haven gotten a letter, not thinking he would have been welcomed back with open arms from Professor- Headmistress McGonagall. All he could do was stare at the letter. He stared at it for much longer than he should have, slender fingers trembling slightly, before eventually shoving it between some pages of a book that was sitting on his bed.

It was his first year potions book.

Looking at the book made hm think about the new students that would be arriving this year - the first years. It made him wonder how eager they were to see the school and be sorted into their houses, just like Draco had been.

And then he couldn't help but wonder if any of them were actually excited to be placed in to Slytherin house, or if they would groan with distaste and ask to be placed into a different house, which would most probably be Gryffindor.

That could be done.

But if every Slytherin student asked to be placed into a different house - well...there wouldn't be any students in Slytherin.

Draco blamed himself for that, too.

His mother and father didn't know about the letter, and Draco wanted to keep it that way. After everything the family had been through, his parents were lucky to not be sent to Azkaban. And the only reason they had managed to get out of that was because they had turned their backs on the Dark Lord - they had abandoned him.

He wasn't so much worried about his father finding the letter, he was going through a rough time of his own. It was his mother he was worried about.

If she found out about the letter, she would ask for him to go back. To go back and see his friends because it was better than being cooped up in the manor almost every day. But that was another thing, Draco didn't even know if his friends were returning to Hogwarts. He still had the same friends...minus one.

It pained him to remember that Goyle - one of his best friends - was now dead.

A year had passed since his death, and he still hadn't completely gotten over it. A year had also passed since the Battle of Hogwarts.

It had taken most of the year to rebuild the damaged parts of the school, and now, it was finally time for the students to return - both old and new ones.

Draco would not be one of them. That was just the way it was going to be, and there would be no discussion about it.

At least, there wasn't supposed to be.

It was just two days before the start of the new school year, and Draco was in his bedroom, turning the envelope over and over in his hands. He had made his choice, he wasn't going, and that was final. But he found himself looking at the letter a lot more than he should have, along with a few of his old school things.

He had just been about to open it again when he heard his mother getting closer and closer to his bedroom, the clicking of her heels against the floor giving her away. He quickly shoved the letter between the pages of the book once more and swiftly turned to face his mother when she entered his bedroom. "Morning, mother. How are you today?"

"I'm well."

"And did you sleep alright?"

"Yes, I slept fine."

There was an awkward silence between them both as they just stared at each other before eventually Narcissa spoke up. "When were you going to tell me of your letter?" She asked with a soft sigh.

"What letter?"

"Your Hogwarts letter, Draco."

That voice was his not his mother's, and Draco had to tilt his head a little to look behind her, and his face immediately dropped when he saw who it was. "Pansy." He said with a groan. "What are you doing here?"

"Well it's nice to see you too, Draco." She said with a small huff, crossing her arms over her chest.

It wasn't that he didn't want to see her it, it was...just that he hadn't seen any of his friends from his time at the school and whenever he wanted to actually send them mail and ask how they were, he would always back out as he thought perhaps they didn't want to see him, or that they were no longer friends after what had happened.

Plus, since Pansy was here, it only meant one thing. She was the reason his mother knew about the letter.

Realizing he had just been staring at his mother and his friend, Draco finally let out a sigh and walked over to the book, grabbing the letter that was already partly sticking out. He handed it to his mother, who took it, read it over a few times, and then finally looked at her son.

"No." He immediately said the second his mother opened her mouth. "I'm not going back."

"This could be good for you."

"I fail to see how this could be good for me, mother."

Just as Narcissa was about to speak up again, Pansy stepped in and asked to speak to Draco alone, which Narcissa reluctantly agreed to. She handed Pansy the letter before giving her a small smile and leaving the bedroom, the door closing quietly behind her. Pansy immediately turned to her friend, who stared at her before rolling his eyes and walking over to sit down on his bed. "Your mother's right, you know. This could be good for you, it'll definitely be much better than sitting indoor all day. That's not good for your health."

Ah, there it was.

He had expected his mother to say it though, she was the kind of person to say things like that and of course worry about Draco's health. Even though he had told her countless times before that he was fine, and that she did not need to worry so much. That she should be worrying about his father instead of him. After all, he could tell his father was going through a much harder time.

The blond shook his head anyway. "I'm not going back, so coming here was a waste of your time.

"Just-" She sighed and walked over to sit next to him on the bed. "Just...listen to me. In two days, students will be filling Hogwarts again, old and new. And from what I've heard, a lot of the students who had been in our year are also returing. You should return with your friends, with us-with me. You're Draco Malfoy, you don't really care what anyone else thinks, do you?"

"No, of course not." But he did.

"Then come with me! Blaise, Millicent, Crabbe-they're coming back too. I'm sure they'd be more than happy to see you." She looked at him, waited for an answer, and then let out a rather loud - and slightly frustrated - sigh when her friend didn't answer. "...you can always leave."

That immediately pulled Draco's attention away from the floorboards that had apparently been much more interesting than whatever Pansy had been saying. "What?"

"If you don't like it, you can leave. You're 18 now, Draco. We all are. If you realize that you don't want to be there for another year, you can always leave."

Oh.

Draco hadn't thought about that, really.

He had too much things going on in his mind, leaving Hogwarts was the last thing he was thinking about. Returning to Hogwarts was the main thing he was thinking about. Perhaps he could return, he knew it would make his mother happy. It would be more education, too - not that he needed it or anything. And knowing that he could leave if he wished did help him make his choice.

He turned to look at his friend, nodding. "I'll give it a go. But if I decide to leave, you, and no one else, can try to convince me to stay."

"Alright-"

"Promise me, that you won't try to get me to stay."

Pansy sighed, "Fine, I promise."

Draco nodded, then looked to the letter when it was handed to him again.

He couldn't believe that he had just agreed to go back to Hogwarts after what had happened, what he had done. It was a completely stupid idea.

But...it would make his mother happy, and if he didn't like it, he could leave at any time. He had to remember that.


Two days later when they were on the Hogwarts Express, was when Draco first wanted to leave.

He had gotten all the things he needed for going back to Hogwarts and he wasn't really that worried about it then, but when he was sitting on the Hogwarts Express with other students, it was then that he started to worry just slightly. He didn't let it show though, and he certainly didn't let anyone know about it. But he did keep his face buried in a copy of The Daily Prophet for most of the train journey.

His friends didn't say anything about it, not at first anyway. But eventually Blaise spoke up. "Do you realize how stupid you look right now?"

"Do you realize how stupid you look all the time?" Draco hissed, the paper crumpling under his fingers as his grip tightened just slightly. He didn't even bother apologizing to Blaise, putting his attention back on the paper.

He hadn't really meant to say that, it just sort of slipped out before he could stop it from happening. But apologizing for it wasn't something he was going to do. Surely his friends understood how he felt right now. They were probably just as nervous as he was about returning to Hogwarts. After all, pretty much all of Slytherin house was on Draco's side during the war.

Pansy even wanted to hand Potter over to Lord Voldemort, yet she was returning with a smile on her face.

But the thing was, they didn't seem bothered. They didn't seem nervous or anxious. They seemed...happy, in a way. Happier than Draco was anyway.

Perhaps he was just overthinking things too much.

Perhaps things wouldn't be that bad for him.

If his friends (and some other students) could put on a smile and pretend that nothing had happened, then he could do that too. Well, maybe not the smiling part, but he could pretend that nothing had happened. So, eventually, he set down The Daily Prophet and looked around the carriage before then looking back to Pansy and Blaise. Crabbe and Millicent were sitting in a different compartment with two other Slytherin students - Draco had no idea who they were, but they were friendly anyway.

"How many students did you say were returning?" He asked after a while, glancing at Pansy.

"Well...pretty much...everyone from our year."

That was the first time Draco had wanted to leave then.

Everyone from their year.

Sure, Pansy might have mentioned it before, but Draco hadn't really been paying attention at the time, thinking about much more important things, like...all the cracks in the wood of the floorboards.

He had only gotten to 23 before he had heard Pansy mention the thing about leaving.

But now knowing that everyone from their Seventh year was returning to do it again, it made him panic, mentally of course. People who had seen what he had done, who knew what he had become, they were all returning. Draco would have to face them. He was mentally cursing himself now, telling himself that he should have just stayed at home and let his mother worry about his health-

No, that's why he was doing this.

It was so his mother would stop worrying. So that his parents could work things out, and not have to worry about Draco at the same time.

This would help his family, he just had to remember that. He just had to keep telling himself that. And that was exactly what he done as he sat there, gazing off out the window, not realizing that his friends had been trying to get his attention for quite a while until he was jolted back into reality when Pansy kicked him, he immediately sent her a glare, but it wasn't as...hateful as it had once been. "What?"

"You keep spacing out-"

"I've only done it once."

"No, you've done it more than once. You sat there staring at the same page of The Daily Prophet for longer than 20 minutes, Draco. It doesn't take you that long to read."

"And then you started staring down one of the new students who walked by our compartment, you scared them off."

"Good," Draco muttered and finally closed the paper, looking to his two friends. "I'm just thinking about mother and father, that's all."

Did his friends believe that? Draco wasn't too sure. Their facial expressions made them look like they did, but the look they gave each other made Draco have his doubts. Did they know what he was worrying about? Or were they going to try and get it out of him?

Luckily, his friends weren't the type to ask questions, so they just simply shrugged it off and started talking amongst each other again as Draco started to, yet again, space out as he looked out the window. There were so many thoughts going through his head right now.

Were his mother and father going to be okay?

Was he going to be okay?

How would people react to seeing him again?

Would anyone, aside from his friends, be happy to see him again?

After a while, it started to hurt thinking about all those sort of things and all he was doing was making himself dread it more. So, he done the only thing he could do to take his mind off of it, and he went to sleep for the rest of the journey.

.

.

.

When they were finally there and making their way to the school, Draco swore he could hear hushed whispers of his name and while it looked like it didn't bother him, it secretly did. If people had saw him already, the rumors were going to start spreading like wildfire. Really, he was now fine with it, but if anyone ever mentioned his parents or said something bad about them, they would wish they hadn't.

Draco had always been very protective of his parents, and he certainly didn't like it when anyone bad-mouthed them. It only showed more after everything that had happened.

And even though he had arrived at the school with all of the other students, he hadn't really been spotted yet. All that had been said was his name, and he was sure even those who had said it was just simply wondering if he was there or not. While everyone went to the Great Hall, Draco decided to take a wander around, just to see what had changed and what hadn't.

Not much had actually changed, it was still the same old Hogwarts that he had came to at the age of 11. There had been a few minor changes, but that was it. However, one of the more noticable changes was that there were now eighth year common rooms for the students who had returned. And just as he was about to explore the rest of the castle, Crabbe came running up to him and Draco just simply stared at his friend while waiting for him to catch his breath.

"P-Pansy said-...Pansy said that-" Crabbe raised his hand in a manner that let the blond know he had to wait until he had finished huffing and panting for him to speak. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, glancing around before finally looking back to him when he stood upright. "P-Pansy said I've to come get you, the Sorting Ceremony has just finished, so now it's time for the Start-Of-Term-Feast. You won't want to miss that-"

Had he really been walking around for so long that he had missed the Sorting Ceremony? It wasn't like he wanted to see it anyway, but time sure did fly when...well, he couldn't exactly say he was having fun right now.

"Alright" He muttered, beginning to walk in long strides. "You know, you don't have to do what she tells you to do."

"She's almost as scary as you, Draco. I wouldn't want to wrong her."

Draco couldn't help but feel proud of himself at that. At least some people still feared him the way he had been feared...before he had became a Death Eater. He was feared as a bully. Then again, Crabbe always had been the kind of person who was scared easily. But Draco did care deeply about his friend.

They walked back to the Great Hall together and even before the doors had opened, Draco could hear the many students chattering and laughing, and he felt his stomach turn. But there was no turning back now. So, he glanced to Crabbe before then making his way into the Great Hall, the sound of the doors opening catching the attention of everyone there.

But he didn't let that falter his steps as he walked to Slytherin table.

"Is that Malfoy?" He heard one of the students whispering to another.

"No, it can't be-"

"Would he really be that stupid to return here?"

"Why do you suppose he's came back?"

"Maybe he's trying to make up for what he done."

"Hah! He should have left when he had the chance, no one's going to forgive him."

Draco tried so hard not to let his attention get drawn towards the voices coming from the Gryffindor table, but his curiousity got the better of him and when he sat down at his house table, he glanced over to Gryffindor table, seeing that pretty much all of the Gryffindor students had returned.

And he had just been about to look away when his eyes locked with someone else's - it was none other than Harry Potter. Of course he had returned with the other two, anyone would have been stupid to think that they wouldn't have.

But as Draco soon tore his gaze away from the table and looked down at the food, he realized that looking over at the Gryffindor table and locking eyes with Potter was a mistake.

Because that had been the second thing that made Draco want to leave.


A/N: I just figured I'd place some footnotes here because there's somethings I should inform people of!

1) Like I said at the start, this entire fic will be based on what I've seen in the movies and what I've read on the Harry Potter Wiki. And one of the things I read on there while doing some research is that Lucius was able to get out of going to Azkaban after the war because hours before the war, Lucius and his family had abandoned Voldemort, so he didn't serve any time in Azkaban.

2) Also, on the Wiki, it says that both Crabbe and Goyle is dead. But Crabbe died in the book, Goyle died in the movie to replace Crabbe (because of some things relating with the actor who had played Crabbe), so I went with the movie version and made it just so that Goyle is dead while Crabbe is still alive.

3) I alsooo looked up some things about "Draco's Gang" and it did say that Millicent Bustrode was a part of Draco's gang, and I couldn't really tell if she still was, so I added her into it anyway. And it also said that Pike was a part of Malfoy's gang in Prisoner of Azkaban because the actor who had played Crabbe had injured his arm and couldn't do his scenes, or something along those lines anyway.

But I decided to just leave Pike out of it, at least for now, anyway.

I think...that's the only footnotes I have to say, that's all I can think of anyway!

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!