Chapter 1: A Return to Hogwarts

"Mr. Malfoy,

We at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry would be pleased to invite you to finish your seventh year. Though you will be a bit older, it is our policy in the next few years to extend our hand to those students who missed part or all of their final years of classes due to the ongoing conflict with Voldemort. Please find enclosed the book list and your class schedule, per your records. If anything has changed, do not hesitate to send an owl. Sincerely,

Professor Minerva Mcgonagoll

Headmistress"

Draco reread the letter once more before folding it as he saw his mother approach.

Despite the long summer months of testifying and being testified for, her beautiful smile broke open at him at the sight of his Slytherin robes. He tried to look more confident than he felt.

"My handsome boy. It's a pity they couldn't make you prefect again," She said. "Your father and I agree this is the best for you. With all the trials coming up it'll be best you have the full attention of teachers to pass your N.E.W.T.S."

"Won't you need my help here," Draco asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

"We'll manage," Narcissa Malfoy pushed a stray hair from her son's forehead carefully. She paused looking at him. "Remember, you are not to discuss any business related to the trials or our summons. I need not remind you that you will be summoned sooner or later to testify. We are Malfoys and we will act as we always have- gracious even in the face of the difficult."

"Yes, Mother," Draco said. WHo would he talk to about the cases anyway? He doubted anyone would want to talk to a known deatheater or traitor, and that was fine by him. He wished his father could be here to see him off, but he was in Azkaban, serving a reduced sentence after providing the names and locations of some high level members of the Dark Lord's circle. Draco looked at his mother again, thankful that even though she had stood witness and trial this summer that she had been cleared of direct responsibility. He would hate to imagine her in Azkaban.

Narcissa checked her watch. "They ought the have arrived and unloaded. Into the fireplace."

Heads held high and on his own terms, Draco had written ahead to request a skipping of the train ride and instead asked to be allowed to floo into Hogwarts. So far he had been invited back under the assumption that all wizards and witches were innocent until proven guilty, but Draco doubted his peers would see it that way. In fact, he knew they wouldn't. If he were honest with himself, he had stayed up long nights wondering if he believed it either.

He looked once more at his Mother, who gave him a final stern nod before he dropped the flu powder and said "Hogwarts."

When he stopped spinning and stepped from the fire he found himself in a dusty old classroom. Dusting himself off and straightening his hair, Draco peered around the darkness, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Slowly he saw the large shadows take form as chairs piled on tables, covered in a coat of dust as if they had been stored here and forgotten for years. In the corner was an old chalkboard with a cauldron laying at it's feet, the bottom burned out by some unfortunate potions accident. Draco felt his stomach churn uncomfortably as he recognized Professor Snape's spidery writing still on the chalkboard, some sort of notes or potions that now seemed like gibberish to Draco's untrained eye. Looking around Draco recognized where he was at last: Professor Snape's old office was now a storage closet, a memorial of his academic career.

Draco spotted Professor Snape's old desk. In a moment of weakness in his 6th year, Draco had come to Professor Snape with anguish- he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat. He had been angry with Professor Snape, had been spending his whole year avoiding the man and yet, despite that Professor Snape had reached nto his desk and taken out a golden potion to give Draco a dreamless sleep. Draco wondered if there were still extra vials in the drawer. He had his own vials now, tucked deep in his pockets, magiced to be tiny as pins, but one could always use more dreamless potions in times like these. When you had seen what Draco had seen.

Draco opened the lower left hand drawer and there they were. Beautiful dreamless golden vials just aching for the taking. Just as he was reaching for one, a light turned on and Draco wipped around, slamming the drawer closed while whipping out his wand with his others.

From behind an especially tal stack of chairs stepped a blonde haired Ravenclaw, a head girl badge shining on her robes.

"You shouldn't go through drawers that don't belong to you, that's how the Hillypucks get you," she said in a dreamy tone.

Draco felt his face blanch. It was the same voice and face that he had seen flashing passed in the manor during the Dark Lord's stay. She had been kept in the stone cold underbellies where Draco never went now. Not without seeing and smelling the despair that was there just a few short months ago. His feelings were made worse by the fact that despite the trauma she had been put through in his family manor, he could not remember her name. Looney was the only name coming to mind, but he knew that wasn't it. She continued unaware and unfazed by his thoughts.

"The Headmistress asked me to meet you here. You're a bit late for dinner, but I suppose you wanted that." She stepped closer so that the shadows of the chair tower were off of her completely and Draco noticed she was barefoot.

"Your shoes..." Draco said before he could stop himself. The name came to him suddenly: Looney Luna Lovegood, whose shoes were hidden around the castle as a game. Hadn't he even participated once with Pansy Parkinson and her Ravenclaw friend? Hadn't he also poked fun at her Quibbler copy flipped upside down. He swallowed trying to regain his Malfoy attitude from those years. Luna's blue eyes watched him and he felt suddenly like she could read minds. He steeled himself, thinking "You are a Malfoy and we face trouble with our heads held high."

"You haven't been bothered by Wraiths, have you," Luna asked looking concerned.

"Wraiths-" Draco repeated. So much for steeling himself. WIth that simple distraction his mind let go, feeling tired. She seemed to almost float over to him and he felt like he was shrinking before Luna's orb like blue eyes. Despite the fact that he was at least a head taller than her, he felt small as a mouse.

"From the Highlands, they can cause symptoms like depression. You look a bit peeky," Luna said. She reached up and touched her hand to his forehead as if feeling for a fever. Now he did shrink away, hitting the back of his leg on Professor Snape's blackboard. He made a noise of pain.

"Would you like to get some tea before you go to bed?"

"No," Draco said. This brief social interaction had been enough for him. He was feeling emotionally exhausted as it was. She tilted her head at him for a moment, nodded, and then moved towards the door.

"This way, I'll take you to the Slytherin dorms and tell you the password."

"Your shoes," Draco repeated.

"Oh," Luna looked down at her toes and wiggled them, confirming their presence. "They've gone missing, I'm afraid."

"Missing," Draco repeated as he followed Luna from the room and closed the door gently behind him. He almost ran into Luna as he turned. Her head was bowed and her eyes closed. She stood paying her respect as one would at a cemetery for a few moments and Draco wondered if he ought to join, but before he could she continued down the hall as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

"Sometimes students hide them. They always turn up, so I try not to dwell on it." She smiled.

"You know who it is," Draco asked. He couldn't understand her calm demeanor. Didn't she know that he was the Malfoy that she had be hostage to under the Dark Lord? Didn't she care about some pricks taking her shoes every few weeks?

"I'm fairly sure it's a few of the Ravenclaw girls," She replied in the same nonchalant tone "or Nargles." She seemed only a tad bit more concerned by that. As Draco took his long steps she half skipped, half walked to keep in time. She began humming as they went.

"It's very quiet," he commented, looking around to see that the dungeons were especially dreary and creepy tonight. He tried to distract himself by looking at the suits of armor, but they turned away. The portrait frames were empty.

"I think they're avoiding you," Luna observed."Some people need to distract themselves, you know. From the last battle and the war and all. I think it distracts them. Helps them cope with being back here. Hermione is already studying, Ginny is writing to Harry almost every day, and I suppose my dorm mates are hiding my shoes."

"Granger is back this year," Draco asked. He felt sick in his stomach again.

"Oh, yes. She's in Arithmancy with me this year," Luna said nonchalantly. They had reached the entrance to the Slytherin Commonroon. He had Arithmancy this year.

"You look a bit green," Luna observed. "Do you need a restroom? The password is Salazar."

"Creative," Draco drawled, trying to push down his bile. Hermione Granger would return to Hogwarts- of course she would. And they had been in Arithmancy together before, hadn't they? So why would that have changed? Their classes were assigned based on their records. Behind his eyelids Draco could see Bellatrix's maniacal eyes, Hermione's scream, and the word mudblood carved into Hermione's arm. Bellatrix' laughter as she retold the story gleefully to others later. The statues jumped out of the way just as the bile in Draco's stomach made its way to the floor.

He felt a small figure tuck itself under his arm and help him through the entrance. His body flopped on the couch as if disconnect from his thoughts. he felt hot in the cold dungeon- humid almost. A hand touched his forehead again, this time he didn't shrink away.

"Not Wraiths," Luna's voice said. Draco open his eyes and the blurry blonde figure came in and out of focus.

Draco wanted to regain himself, remind Luna that she wasn't allowed to be in the Slytherin commonroom and that she ought to leave. He tried to put on his traditional Malfoy haughtiness as he had practices for all seventeen years before this. Maybe if he pretended he were thirteen, and he was making fun of Potter's fainting fits? Instead, he managed to throw up once more and then, felt the world go dark. It was the darkness he had been trying to avoid.