It was raining when I reached the beach. It's not like I planned to go into the water anyway. The day was still young but the gloom made it feel like an unusually bright midnight. The fact I had lost a lot of blood and was therefore extremely tired could have helped set the mood. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, but I had managed to get on the abandoned pier somehow. Some fisherman seemed to have left some equipment on the deck. Why they would have thought to fish on a day like this was unclear to me.

My damp hair clung to my forehead as the rain poured. The coolness soothed my burning forearm, and for a moment I forgot it was still bleeding. Walking to the end of the pier, I gazed into the churning water below.

"Draco, honey, please go to your room."

I stared, wide-eyed at my parents. My father was obviously drunk; the smell of alcohol was coming off him like smoke comes off a fire. "W-what's going on?" I asked timidly from the kitchen doorway.

"Draco…" my father turned to me, his eyes burning a hole through my soul. "Come here, son."

"N-no…"

"What did you say?"

"No, father I won't come! You're scaring me! P-please stop!"

My father looked like a beast. His coward-like nature had melted and was replaced by something horrible. It was simply terrifying.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" he raised a beer bottle he had been clutching in his hand.

"Lucius!" I heard my mother exclaim as I threw my arm up to block the blow.

My father had just been fired. He had never drunk any more than a glass of wine before. I never knew how abusive he was when he was drunk.

"…that's going to leave one ugly scar." I chuckled dryly before shuddering from the effort of holding back tears. Weather those tears were surfacing due to physical pain or mental pain was unclear to me. It was probably a bit of both.

"Hey! You'll catch a cold out here!"

I spun around to see a figure emerging from the grey curtain of rain. It was a boy, a few inches shorter than me, whose wet dark hair framed a slightly tan face. The only distinguishable feature I could see at first was a pair of perfectly round classes, which was probably useless with all the water running down them.

As he came closer, however, I saw more. He was wearing a bright red hoodie and jeans with sneakers.

"…Hey, are you….okay?" I think I saw something under his bangs, like a zigzag line made with a tan sharpie. I blinked as he asked a question that I did not hear this time. I saw his eyes widen behind his glasses. He dove forward and gently took ahold of my arm, turning it over to see the poorly bandaged wound that ran almost all the way down my forearm. "You're bleeding!" he stated and looked into my eyes. That's when it happened. I saw them; his eyes, I mean. They were breathtaking- a brilliant color of dark green. I read them like a book, taking in the surprise, sadness, frustration, and…concern? Since when had anyone looked concern for me?

"H-hey…" he said again, but didn't finish his sentence. I felt warmness run down my cheeks as the tears I had tried so hard to hold back shook loose as I stared into his eyes. I fell forward into his chest and my knees buckled. He let go of my arm and caught me in a tight embrace before gently lowering me until we were on our knees. I buried my head in his absurdly red hoodie, not letting a single thought cross my mind as I cried for the sake of crying.

I felt cold fingers slowly rake through my hair and another hand rotate in a small circle on my back. My sobs slowly became soft whimpers until they eventually stopped. The grip loosened as I straitened myself a little, enough to look into the boy's eyes once more.

"There… all better?" he asked with a small, encouraging smile on his face. When I responded with a small nod and a sniffle, he said, "My name's Harry. Harry Potter."

I didn't say anything before looking at his chest and muttering, "D-Draco…Malfoy."

"That's an odd name." he said, grinning, and I blushed with embarrassment as I realized he was still holding me slightly. I shook off his arms before looking at the sky, feeling the rain lessen a little, before I heard a small gasp.

"Oh! Crud your arm! We need to get you to a nurse's office of something!" He exclaimed before grabbing my good arm and leading me off the pier.

Though I didn't know where we were headed, nor weather it would ever be the same at home, I knew that with Harry, everything would be okay eventually.