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From, FantasyIsTheNewReal. :)

DPOV

Chapter 1) Hate

Draco Malfoy sits in his cavernous chamber in the Malfoy Manor, and stares down at his rough, scarred, hands. These are hands of a murderer, he thinks. Hands that have taken lives from innocent people. Hands he wishes he didn't have.

Finally, in the quiet and loneliness of his room, he cries. He lets loose tears for the first time in his life, tears that had been held back for months. The drops slide down his pale, defined face, leaving clear trails across his once-perfect profile. He doesn't wail or sob though… he just allows himself to silently, without drawing attention to himself, grieve… just as he's done for so long.

He hates himself. He hates himself for being weak, for being the cause of his father's death, for not being strong for his mother. He hates himself for striving for the approval of a man who brought his own family into a situation that could and would only end in disaster. Which it did. He hates himself for the last two years of his life, the years where the words good and bad held no meaning any more. He hates himself for being a Malfoy. He hates himself for being stupid, selfish, and confused. He hates himself for being a coward.

He hates himself for not being a Harry Potter – selfless, courageous, loved, happy. He hates himself for even comparing himself to that… that… Gryffindor.

He hates himself for everything he did wrong.

A sharp rapping on his bedroom door pulls him from his thoughts. Draco hastily wipes his tears away and slips on a cold, unreadable mask. A second later, his mother steps inside, a hollow smile playing at her lips. In her hand, she grips a scarlet envelope with a dark seal. He recognizes it immediately. It's a letter he had once eagerly awaited for, every year. But that was long ago.

Still staring at the letter, he snaps, "What is that for?", and there's a flash of hurt on his mother's pale face.

Just then, he notices a twinkle in Narcissa's eyes. It's a twinkle that had disappeared after his father's death, a twinkle he hasn't seen in far too long. It makes his mother's face beautiful once more, and it's so endearingly familiar that he softens his tone… to erase that painful, hurt expression that he never wants to see on her face again. "It's… it's the letter, isn't it?"

His mother doesn't say anything. She just smiles a little more, and sets it softly on his desk. Then, she walks out of the room, just as smoothly and quickly as she came in.

His heart – and it's funny just thinking it – he has a heart? – thuds nervously, frantically, as he heads to his desk and slits open the envelope. His eyes flit across the page as just barely scans the first few sentences of the letter.

We are pleased to inform you… are being welcomed back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry… supply list has been enclosed… We anticipate your arrival…

He can barely breathe. He reads over those same phrases again, hungrily, desperately, not daring to believe it. But for once, he lets himself dare, lets himself believe – and he lets himself hope. He runs just barely trembling fingers over that seal once more, and revels in its familiarity, in the fact that he's actually seeing it for the seventh time.

For the first time in weeks, Draco smiles.