-CHAPTER ONE-

"I know it's been a while now,

But, I still feel so much pain,

Like a knife that cuts you the wound heals

But the scar, the scar remains."

- Poison {Every Rose Has It's Thorn}

As the ceremony drew nearer he rushed to place the needle in his left arm. He no longer cared that this arm bore his Mark or that his drug of choice had been created by Muggles, no that no longer mattered as long as he got the fix he so desperately needed. He couldn't go out there, to a room filled with hundreds of people who hated him, with out it.

"Come on Draco." Pansy Parkinson, a blonde Slytherin in his year, demanded as she stood outside his door waiting for him. "Graduation starts in ten minutes."

Yes, graduation, his graduation, started in ten minutes. But what did that matter to him anymore. Neither of his parents, his only relatives that he spoke to, would be there to see him cross the stage.

"Just a minute Parkinson." he snapped, pulling the needle out slowly and carefully.

Then after cleaning it and hiding it in with his things he joined Pansy at the door. Together they strolled through the cold dungeon hallways that surrounded the Slytherin dormitories. It was hard for him to believe that this would be the last time he would walk down the corridors that he had called home for the past eight years. How could those days of being a scared eleven year old be so long ago. It was as though nothing had really changed yet he knew that they had.

After all now his parents were locked in Azkaban, serving time for the crimes the committed under the rule of the Dark Lord. While they were imprisoned Draco suffered the worst part of the punishment. The Malfoy name had lost all its power and meaning, leaving it to be a joke in the world that once feared it. Everything he had known was gone and the heroin was the only thing that numbed him to the outside world.

"Harry let's go." Ron said as he rushed towards the door of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

"Ron we've still got an hour."

With that his friend turned to him and replied, "But, I want to get there early."

It was the night of Hermione's graduation and he and Ron were headed for Hogwarts to attend the ceremony. Yet, Ron seemed extremely anxious to get there and Harry couldn't place why. He knew Ron and Hermione were together, but that didn't seem to be the reason, after all Ron knew he wouldn't be able to see Hermione. He did know he wouldn't be able to see Hermione, right?

"Ron. You do know you won't be able to see Hermione until after the ceremony?" Harry questioned as Ron tried to drag him towards the door.

"I won't?" Ron asked stopping suddenly. "Oh."

So Ron had been hoping to see Hermione that would explain why he was in such a rush to get to their old school.

"Ron," Harry said looking his best friend in the eye, "why are you in such a hurry to see Hermione?"

"Cause she's my girlfriend."

Harry knew Ron well enough to know that was not the only reason that he was in such a hurry. "There's got to be more."

"Okay, fine." Ron sighed as he pulled a small black box from inside a pocket of his dress robes. As he opened the box Harry caught a glimpse of silver until finally a small silver engagement ring was revealed. "Don't tell anyone."

"You're going to purpose! She's going to be so happy."

He could hear the hundreds of voices that filled the Great Hall as he waited with the other graduates in a room just off the main entrance. The room was quiet as the others waited nervously to be presented in front of their families. He noticed Hermione Granger sitting in a corner reading over her speech-again. She was probably checking to make sure she humiliated him somehow. That's what they always did, her and Potter, they always made sure to humiliate him. Then suddenly there was silence in the Hall and a soft song began to play as the graduates made their entrance.

As he walked through the large doors that opened into the Great Hall he was almost surprised by the number of people he saw sitting where the house tables usually sat. But what truly surprised him was the first person he saw- Potter. Sitting there next to his Weasley girlfriend looking lost. Why did the Chosen-One, the Saviour of the Wizarding World look lost as he watched a graduation ceremony. Maybe it was to quiet for him, after all there was no glory in this- at least not for him. No the spotlight wasn't on him for once.

"Harry are you okay?" the red headed girl next to him asked.

"Yeah," he lied, "I'm fine." The truth was he wasn't fine. How could he be when he was back in this room that haunted his nightmares? Here he learned that Tonks and Lupin along with Fred and so many more had died trying to hide him. Here he fought the final battle against Voldemort. Here his entire life changed forever and he wasn't fine coming back so casually. The desire to stay away from this place filled his heart yet he knew he couldn't miss Hermione's nor Neville's graduation.

There was another thing that bothered him and it didn't really have to do with being back at Hogwarts. Today he decided would be the perfect day to give Draco back his wand. Something he had been meaning to do for a while now but hadn't exactly attempted. But he worried about how Malfoy would respond to him suddenly talking to him. After all it had been Harry who put his parents in Azkaban.

"Look there's Hermione." Ginny said to him pointing and waving to her.

He looked and just walking through the main entrance was Hermione, looking nervous and excited. But it was the person behind Hermione that he really noticed. It was Draco Malfoy, yet it wasn't the same Malfoy he remembered. His eyes were sunken and his skin was- if it was even possible- paler and he looked emancipated almost. It was like he lost all the muscle he had gained from Quidditch and was now just mere skin and bones. He wondered what could've happened that made him look like that, how could Malfoy who prided himself on the way he looked have allowed himself to look so horrible.

The ceremony was over, finally, and Draco wanted nothing more than to leave this prison, but Potter wouldn't allow for it. No Potter had to run over to him as soon McGonagall had stopped talking and ask him they could talk alone. Why would he want to talk to him alone?

"Want do you want Potter?" he asked as they entered an empty classroom just off the main entrance.

"Are you okay Malfoy?" Potter asked as he looked down at his shoes. Draco didn't want to no admit it but he couldn't help just staring at the way Harry, no, Potter held himself. The way his hair fell perfectly in to it's messy place. The way his lips were so perfectly- No! Stop! Just Stop! his insides screamed.

"I'm fine." he hissed, "Now is that all?"

"No, I actually just wanted to return this." Harry said pulling a thin but long box from his robes. Draco wondered what it was. What could Harry Potter want to give to him?

He took it from Potter and as he did he felt Potters soft skin brush his hand. With that single accidental touch butterflies filled his stomach and emotions he had hidden from himself rushed to the surface using all their strenght to escape. In that moment he wanted to tell Harry how he felt, how he wished for something more between them. But a glance into the Gryffindor's green eyes told him to stop. That he shouldn't, he couldn't. So with that he opened the box that had been given to him.

In it he found his wand, the Hawthorn one, that Harry had once taken from him. He couldn't believe he was getting it back after all this time- he thought it was gone for good. How happy he was to have his wand back- in fact it was the only happy moment he'd had since the end of the war. Why'd it have to be with Potter?

"Thanks."

"No problem." Harry said and turned towards the door.

"Wait!" he heard come from his mouth.

At that Harry turned and looked the Slytherin in the eye trying to put everything that he was feeling into that glance. "What's up?"

Draco didn't even stop to say anything, he wanted to answer the questions that the Gryffindor's eyes had asked. He took a step, then another, toward the other boy until he was less then an inch away from his face.

The last thing he saw were those green eyes looking deep into his own gray ones. He stared at them for an eternity then made the move he had been wanting to make, he leaned in further in and let his lips meet Harry's.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This is another story I had waiting on my computer to finally be published, I hope you guys enjoyed it! It's been a long time since I last looked at this story so let me know if anything needs to be edited! This one will definately turn into a full lenght story :) I hope you'll stick around to read this rest but if not thanks for reading what you have!