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Nothing But The Truth

Parchment One: Second Chances?

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Back home, off the run
singing songs that make you slit your wrist
it isn't that much fun, staring down a loaded gun
so I won't stop dying, won't stop lying
if you want I'll keep on crying
did you get what you deserve?
is this what you always want me for?

"Cemetery Drive" by My Chemical Romance

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"Ah, eat dung Malfoy!" Ron's angry voice could be heard down the hall.

"Now, why would I do that when you could always do it for me?" Malfoy asked rolling his eyes. He was not in the mood for this bullshit.

Potter didn't seem to be either. His eyes downcast, as he stood to the side holding his books firmly in his hands. Ron glared, face the same color as his damned hair. Granger was tugging impatiently on his arm whispering quickly about being late to Charms.

Finally they left, leaving Draco to his on devices. It was his free hour, and he was at loss of what the hell he wanted to do. He looked about the pretty much empty grounds. He settled on finishing his Potions essays in the library.

He quickly cut his way through the halls to the eerily silent library—Draco figured that all libraries were like that. He slipped in and out of the book shelves. He tried to be as quite as possible; somehow it seemed just horrible to make any noise at all.

He ran his hands along the spines of the many different books. Finally finding the book he was searching for he slipped it out carefully. He hurriedly found a hidden table far in the back and settled down.

A piece of parchment, a quill, his ink bottle, and the book he knew would practically give him all the answers. He flipped open to the required information, dipped his quill, and began neatly writing on the parchment.

Soon finished, he rolled it up and slipped it into his bag. Packing his things he noticed that took him only a quarter of the time he predicted to finish. Returning the book to its place he began going over the things he could do again.

He sighed remorsefully wishing there were something interesting he could do. When it really came down to it, Hogwarts was quite a boring place. Especially during the day, when you couldn't get away with much.

No ideas what-so-ever in his mind, he left the library as quietly as he had come thirty minutes earlier. He scuffed his heels on the hard stone floor boredly, ignoring a portrait of an old man with a cane feeding birds as it asked him what the floor ever did to him.

Nothing to do, nowhere to go. That was all he was left with. He supposed he could go sit by the lake and read, but that seemed so very…Granger like. He did not like that thought at all.

He looked curiously around. The day would be over soon. This was his last hour. He was very hungry, but he didn't want to go to dinner at all. He realized, that he was never this indecisive. What was wrong with him today?

His mindless wandering had gotten him to an empty old classroom. He opened it slowly peering inside. It was old and very dusty in there—so much Draco almost sneezed—and very musty smelling. He quickly muttered a charm to get rid of the most dust (sadly he couldn't get rid of it all) and settled at one of the few unbroken desks.

He sat his bag beside him and leaned slouched comfortably in the chair. He then noticed something very odd about this ancient unused classroom that it was in fact not as unused as he thought. There sitting in plain sight was the newest book on Advanced Charms to come out. But, it had a thing layer of dust on it as everything else seemed to have.

Dust must be some sort of spell. Draco guessed that this was somebody's own personal snogging room or just some place people used for studying. They most likely made it so dusty that no one else would venture into the room as Draco had.

Draco smiled. Who would want to keep such a place so secret? He stood and walked slowly to the book and opened its cover. Right, written neatly in bright pink ink, was Hermione Granger. Draco almost laughed out loud, if he hadn't stopped himself before.

Granger leaving her things behind. How unlike her. She had Advanced Charms with Weasley, maybe it was his fault it was there. Either way, it was there, and Draco was there with it. He couldn't think of anything to do with it. He had heard the Glorious Three had a different place for study than the library he just never knew where. Now he did.

As ridiculous as it seemed, he could not in the greatest think of anything at all to do about it. It didn't surprise the Slytherin in the least bit. He seemed to be really out of it today. Why, he did not know. Maybe that Weasley has something to do with it. But, somehow that didn't seem as believable as it used to.

Maybe he was just losing his touch. Maybe he finally just lost it period. His father obviously had some where along the way, maybe it was his turn. Even if he were only seventeen. What did it matter? Hopefully, he'd end up doing something better than devoting his life to a walking talking corpse.

That was all he needed, to get involved with Voldemort even more. Immediately after his father's arrest Draco swore he would never associate himself with that…thing. His mother was torn and broken enough as it is. What good would it be if he ran off and followed in his stupid father's footsteps.

Stop. Don't let your mind wander anymore than it already has, he scolded himself. He sighed. This knowledge of this classroom (or should he say to Wonder Group's secret study room?) wasn't any use to him now.

He gathered his things and stretched his limbs. Well, that wasted a good twenty minutes. Only ten more minutes left. Hm, that didn't seem so good to him. He reached his hand to open the door, only to pause. He heard someone coming, not just down the hall, but to this room.

Their footsteps determined and defiantly walking towards the door. Did they know he was here? Were there charms on the room or that book to tell if any one had found out? Wait, if there were any, wouldn't all three of them be coming?

He slipped into the shadows; a talent a Slytherin should be born with. The door opened and the much brighter light filled into the room; catching little particles floating in the air with light. Draco hadn't even realized he'd been sitting in the dark all this time. He really was loosing it.

He couldn't see the persons face, hidden by a shadow as the light was coming in from behind them. They stepped in and closed the door. Draco distinctly heard a troubled sigh. He chewed his lip. How long would he be stuck in here with this person? This person that could be one of his greatest enemies.

"Damn," they cursed, it was a boy. Then Draco miraculously knew who it was. It was no other than the Harry Potter himself.

He was stuck, alone, in a dark room, with no one else around, with Harry Potter. He would have jumped on this chance last year. But now, it didn't seem that great. He didn't have the same ambitions to kill Potter for Voldemort or his father. This just seemed to make him feel very nervous.

Harry looked up, feeling as though he were being watched. God, please oh please, Draco thought desperately, do not allow him to turn on the lights. Shockingly, Harry didn't. He just wandered over and sat in the same exact chair Draco had been occupying only four minutes earlier.

It seemed as though an eternity had passed, but really only two minutes had since Potter had joined Draco. Damn him, Draco thought desperately glaring at the other boy through the dark. He wanted to reach out and touch him though, comfort him though.

The boy seemed to be very much in deep turmoil. Harry seemed very close to crying in fact; tears on the verge of spilling over his cheeks. Draco watched him squeeze his eyes shut and lay his head down on his crossed arms.

Draco was suddenly having a hard time breathing, feeling very claustrophobic suddenly. Harry's head snapped up, he looked around a bit. Oh no, Draco thought biting his lip hard hoping the pain would take his mind off the fact he could hardly breathe.

"Who's there?" Harry asked only to be replied with and empty silence. Draco winced slipping slowly deeper into the dark corner he occupied. Harry thankfully barely missed his movement as his eyes slipped back down to the desk top.

Draco could here him whispering something over and over again. It distinctly sounded like he were saying 'Go away.' Draco wasn't sure though. He wanted to pity the boy, feel sorry for poor Harry Potter. But, instead, he wanted to help him feel better.

What the hell was wrong with him?! Why did he want to help Harry Potter?! Was he going insane now?! Harry was looking around again, helplessly. "What do you want?" he was whispering. "It's not my fault" and "It is isn't it?" came next. What was it he was going on about?

Draco wanted to know. Wanted to know very bad. He wanted to stop the tears that now flowed so freely down his cheeks. But, he was Draco Malfoy. Not Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley. Harry would look at him like he was the plague and probably hex him. Draco had no choice but to wait out the sad scene.

Draco clenched his fists, the overwhelming sense that he would die from suffocation in a dark dusty room with Potter crying near by. He shivered slightly, catching Harry's attention. It was amazing now that a movement as small as this, caught Potter's attention.

"Who's there?" he said alarmed now, wiping off his cheeks quickly with the back of his sleeve. Draco almost started to cry himself. He began to think he just might not make it through this day with his life or a broken dignity. God, curiosity killed the cat.

Draco could see the light glint off Harry's glasses. Why wasn't Potter turning on the damned lights?! Just do it get it over with! He realized suddenly, that Potter didn't want the lights on. That he thought that someone was there with him in the room, but that someone was not Draco. They were not anyone among the living.

He didn't turn on the light for fear of chasing off this spirit. Who? His parents? No, he had to have accepted that already. Cedric? No, he wasn't Cho Chang. Who then? Who was this person making Harry break down there. He wanted to know…but…

Draco was just about to confront Harry when Harry himself rose. Harry seemed to be staring exactly and pointedly at Draco, his eyes seemed to clear. Maybe he'd finally seen Draco? Draco's heart rate increased.

This was too much adrenaline, way too much. He couldn't handle it as Harry slowly approached his hiding place only to reach past him to the cabinet he stood next to. Draco held back a relieve sigh as Harry searched around in the cabinet.

Apparently whatever the Gryffindor was looking for was not in there and he all but slammed the door to the poor old cabinet shut. This made Draco shake, something he could not stop and then Harry saw him. Or maybe not him, maybe someone else again. Either way, Draco was seen.

Potter gasped startled, and took a step back. It was in fact Malfoy he saw. "Ma-malfoy?!" he whispered urgently.

Draco looked at him wearily, before snapping his eyes away to the floor. He felt terribly ashamed. "What're you doing here?" Potter asked, surprising to Draco he didn't sound repulsed just shocked. Maybe he was repulsed just too much in shock to know it? Draco thought angrily.

Draco nodded. "Yes, Potter," he said very quietly. The Gryffindor just gave him a confused and hurt look.

"Go ahead and use this for ammunition against me," Potter said; Draco suddenly wished he were very, very small now. "I deserve it."

Draco didn't get it. Ammunition? What was that? Use what for this…ammunition? "Wh-what?" Draco managed not liking the even more confused look he got for Harry.

"Go ahead and tell people that you saw me…crying…" he choked out finally trailing off weakly.

Draco wanted to ask 'Why?' but it seemed very unlike him. Already though, he was acting unlike him self, all ruffled and confused. In a corner of all places! Potter had him trapped. "No," Draco said quietly. "I don't need to. I know you do deserve it though."

Draco thought years of hating Potter would come rushing back, but they didn't. Just the dry, stale, and putrid taste that they were all lies and he was worth just as much as the dust that lined the walls. Harry's gaze was very unnerving. It was a mixture between confusion, gratefulness, and a little bit of sadness.

"Why not?" Harry asked suddenly, his voice a tad bit louder than before. "I don't understand. I thought you hated me…"

"I do…I did," Draco said trying to glare at Potter and failing. "It's….not like it used to be. I'm not the same."

"I noticed…" Harry said looking at the floor. "Why is that?"

"Does it scare you that I changed, Potter? People do that after something big happens in their lives. It happened to me, and I was only sixteen. It's time for a wake up call, and you've obviously just received yours," Draco said in one quick breath. He knew that sunk in deep to Potter, cut him to the very bone, because it did the very same to him.

"You're right," Harry said a sad excuse of a smile twisting his lips. "I did get my wake up call. It's changed me too, Malfoy."

"I noticed," Malfoy replied, but it didn't come out so sarcastic as he wanted it to. "You've left Granger and Weasley behind, hm?"

"No, they just changed for the better," Harry said, that distant unhappy look in his eyes again. "I've changed for the worst."

"Join the club, Potter," Draco said back squeezing his hands tightly around the strap of his bag.

"We're late for dinner."

"I know."

"Aren't you hungry?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

This was very awkward for them both. Really the first conversation where they weren't trying to rip each other's guts out or sneering and throwing insults. It was a new and foreign feeling that fit just right, but somehow you wished it hadn't. Only because it changed things more. Change was supposed to be good though, isn't it?

Draco looked at him curiously. "Do you hate me Potter?"

Potter blinked, startled by the question. "Yes…not really though. I used to, just like you. It seems sort of silly now…after what's happened."

Malfoy nodded. Potter feels the same way, he thought. Normally he would of felt sick at that, but he wasn't normal anymore. "Are you hungry?"

"No," Potter said looking back up at Draco.

"Oh, okay."

Potter nodded.

"Your friends, they're going to be worried."

"I don't care," came Potter's angry reply, the only other emotion besides sadness and self pity Draco had heard from him all night.

"It's not good to resent the people who love you. They're only there because the do," Draco said, recalling the way he had treated his mother when he was nothing but his father's lap dog. "Love them back before they're gone too, Potter."

Potter looked startled because of Draco for the third time that night. "You're really different, Malfoy."

"I've always been this way, Potter. You've just never too the time to care," Draco said now he was angry. "Remember? I may have been bad before, maybe I'm even worse now. You're standing here as if you know I won't hurt you. Maybe I'm working for Voldemort and am supposed to strike you when you're down. Did you ever think of that, Potter?"

"Yes. I did. I knew you wouldn't," Harry said looking Draco straight in the eyes. The bright green eyes unnerved him greatly, they were so sincere…so trusting of scum like him….

"Why?" Draco choked out. "I'm horrible, don't you see? Horrible…"

"Yes, you are. You're very horrible. Or you were. You can always repent, Malfoy," Potter said not letting Draco break their gaze.

"Don't give me that second chance bullshit! If there were a second chance for me, shouldn't you be becoming my friend?!" Draco hissed angrily.

"Who says I'm not?"

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To Be Continued!

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A/N: Well, I could very much go on. Not just leave it as a one shot, but actually go on. I could. If you want me too. TELL ME! I NEED to know! I want feedback people! Please! Yes! I will if you say and go on with it! PLEASE read and review and then read and review my other stories maybe? Oh, if I go on with this, it will be Harry x Draco slash. I can NOT just do a Harry and Draco friendship fic.