This is the second part of my one-shot story that turned out to long. As it looks now it might even turn into a trilogy. =S Why is it impossible for me to write a short, simple story? Hopefully I can keep it inside two chapters. (Personally I doubt it, since I already have ideas on how to continue this spinning in my head.)

Disclaimer:

I don't own anything, at least nothing connected to Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling. I prefer to keep my clothes, thank you.

Chapter 2

Draco sighted and leaned his head back against the locker when the realization hit him that Potter hadn't even been unfriendly to him, probably for the first time ever, and he just snapped at him and ran off.

'Great job, you idiot' he scolded himself. 'Like you'll ever have a chance to change what people think about you if you just snap at them when they try to be nice to you.'

He leaned his head on his arms and looked at the lockers on the other side of the room. There was no way that he would return to the castle for now, he would have to deal with the whispered rumors concluding, in a colorful and absolutely incorrect version, the happenings of the past day. Draco felt like a coward and hated it, but he was so damn tired of dealing with the 'oh-my-god-no-you-are-an-evil-death-eater-I-cant-be-close-to-you' image that had been glued stuck to his person. He just couldn't. What he wanted the most was to get on with his life, away from all pureblood prejudging and old childish 'I'm-better-than-you' behavior that had trademarked his life until the end of the war.

He knew that it would be hard to changed peoples view of him, since he'd honestly been directly cruel during most of his time at the school and when he wasn't he'd been a spoiled brat flashing of his dads connections to the Dark lord like it was something to be proud of.

Draco stretched and stood up, deciding to take a flight on his old broom. He hadn't touched it for a very long time, since being in the middle of a war puts a serious dent into things like quidditch practice.

This time the lock opened without any trouble and he picked the broom out. It was a bit dusty and the bristles a bit untidy, but he smoothed them out as good as he could. Something glimmering in the depth of his locker caught his eye. On the top shelf, lonely and discarded lay a Golden Snitch. He didn't remember where he got it, probably kept it after winning a game sometime. Holding it in its hand he gently blew the dust of it and saw the small wings flutter to life. The Snitch whooshed up and past his ear and started circling the small room. Draco watched it, a small smile in the corner of his mouth. How he had missed Quidditch. He grabbed his broom and headed for the doors that lead to the big playfield. When he opened one of them the Snitch flew past his head with a low whirring noise. It was already high up in the air, presumably happy to retrieve freedom, when he mounted his broom and shot up in the air.

Feeling the wind whirling around him, sending strands of blond hair in his face and muffling his hearing he started to relax for the first time in months. He lazily zigzagged across the field a few times to get the feel of his broom back before he made a dive and then rose again. He playfully tumbled around in the air for a little while before starting to search for the snitch. It wasn't anywhere to be seen. He knew it couldn't move far from the pitch on its own accord but there where lot of places for a tiny golden ball to hide. Circling slowly he searched for it. And there it was, hovering between two of the towers that usually held the audience. Draco darted after it and it lopped away from him, almost tauntingly. He chased it in and out between the towers and the goalposts not really making an effort to catch it. This was just what he needed. With a sudden dive he caught the Snitch and held it in his right hand, looking at the struggling ball. Did he really want to quit flying already? Draco could feel the answer in his whole body so he released it again and started the chase it once more.

ooo

Harry was sitting on one of the beds in the Hospital Wing, rubbing a big white towel over his hair in an attempt to dry it up. It would have been much easier to use a drying spell but Madame Pomfrey had told him not to use any magic on himself until she was sure that the potion accident hadn't resulted in any side effects. He looked up from under the towel when he heard footsteps on the floor and he wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see Ron and Hermione. Both of them had relived looks on their faces when they saw he was back to his normal colors again.

"You should hear the talk around the school, mate" Ron exclaimed. "Somehow it's turned into how Malfoy in secret mixed up, and I don't think you will be surprised on this, the flesh-melting thing that Slughorn warned us it could have turned into. But that's where it failed and instead you where transformed into a purple panda and Malfoy was magically vanished to Azkaban or something like that. And it's only been about few hours since the accident. I honestly can't wait to hear what it's turned into by tomorrow."

At this point he was grinning wildly and Harry couldn't help smiling. He knew the stories where a bit cruel to Malfoy, but Harry himself had also been a target for many messed up rumors, mostly because of said Slytherin. Somehow it was nice to be on the other side for once.

"I'm not surprised at all" he said, removing the towel from his head and hanging it over the bedpost next to him. "This schools gossip mills are as unique as the rest of the place."

A small giggle escaped Hermione and he looked up at her. She had her hands over her mouth but her eyes where sparkling with mirth as she kept her eyes on him. Ron also sprouted an amused look.

"May I ask what's so fun with my appearance this time?" he said, in a fake serious voice. "Have I sprouted antennas or something?"

"No" Hermione answered no longer trying to stop laughing. "But I think you should take a look in a mirror."

Harry gave her a puzzled look before getting up.

"If he managed to disfigure me somehow I will find that Ferret spell, make it permanent and use it on his ass" he stated in a half serious voice. When he reached the mirror that hung over the sink in one end of the room he couldn't help but crack a smile himself. He turned his head from side to side before he started to laugh.

"Well, it could have been worse. Too bad it doesn't match my eyes" he managed to state before he started to laugh again. The amused boy in the mirror looked just like he should, except the fact that this boy had his black unruly hair streaked with pink and purple strips. This would indeed be the talk of the school for some time.

After being checked one last time by Madam Pomfrey the trio left the Hospital Wing and made their way down from the third floor they were indeed stared at. Some of the older students stopped them and asked what happened to Harry's hair and Harry would explained what had occurred earlier, even thought he knew it wouldn't really matter in the end. A lie could run around the world before truth got its boots on. And on top of that lies were usually more interesting.

And you had to be deaf not to hear the new stories already circling around. How Malfoy and another Slytherin student had cornered a Ravenclaw girl and tore her clothes of or how bravely some 1st years had defended their friend when he suddenly had attacked them while they were on their way to breakfast.

"It might sound weird" Hermione said as they sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. "But I'm actually starting to feel sorry for Malfoy. He really tries to prove that he isn't a bad person, but all these incidents that wouldn't mean a thing if it was someone else then him involved in them just pushes him back to where he was before. Have you realized he hasn't messed with us at all since school started?"

The boys paused in their eating, thinking for a moment

"I think you're right" Harry said when he had swallowed the piece of food he'd been chewing. "Sure, he's been snappy and irritated but that's no real surprise. But I still don't know if I trust him, he did change side very late in the war."

"I'll never like his arse" Ron growled. "He treated all of us like shit for years and he was the one letting Death Eaters into the school. It's his fault that people died here!"

He angrily stabbed a piece of toast with his fork and glared down on his food. With a voice that cracked a bit he whispered.

"It's his fault that Fred is dead…"

Hermione and Harry couldn't really say anything to that. They sat in silence for a while.

"I used to blame him for killing Dumbledore" Harry spoke in a low voice. "I used to think that he wanted to do it, to gain credit in front of Voldemort. After seeing Dumbledore's memory from the evening when he talked to Malfoy I know that I was wrong. Malfoy was as scared as us, maybe even more, because his actions controlled the fate of his whole family. Voldemort ruled his followers with treats and pain and many felt forced to obey because they were to afraid not to. I don't say he did the right thing, and I still blame him somewhat, but I think I also understand why he did what he did. I'd probably done the same to keep my family safe from harm."

The silence fell once again, the subject being too serious to try to joke away. None of them felt like eating more, Ron was the first to push his plate away and soon Harry followed. Hermione watched the boys, knowing the pain they both felt, the same pain she felt. The war had changed them all in different ways, no one could come out of that untouched. She sighted and looked at the two boys.

"We all admit that we change during the war. Maybe it's time for us to admit that it applies to everyone else as well, including Malfoy?"

ooo

Hours later, when it was already starting to get dark outside Draco finally landed on the field, the Snitch circling his head when he walked to the changing room. As he tucked the broom into the locker he motioned for the little ball to go back onto the shelf. Instead it flew high up under the ceiling and stayed there, floating, as if to tell him that it was not going back into that locker again. He laughed at it, feeling some of the built up tension release, it felt so good to be able to relax, If just for a while. He shivered a bit, for the last thirty minutes it had been really cold outside and it looked like a storm was drawing up over the mountains. He decided to take a shower to get warm before he headed up to the castle again. Maybe he could sneak past the kitchens and grab some dinner.

He snatched his towel from its hanger in the locker and proceeded to the showers. Hot water would be the perfect cure, both from the shivers and the sore muscles from flying for so long. To be honest he didn't really have a clue on what time it was. It was also unknown to Draco how long he stood under the hot drizzling water, just letting his mind wonder and his body relax and it wasn't until he almost slipped and fell from more or less sleeping in a standing position that he decided that he was done.

Quickly getting dressed he headed for the exit, but stopped halfway and returned to his locker to retrieve his broom. It didn't feel right to leave it there. If he saw it more often it might remind him to go flying more frequently. When he headed for the door the second time the Snitch flew down from where it had been hiding and started to circle him again. He wondered if Snitches could hold a personality, because this little thing seemed to have taken a liking to him.

'At least someone likes me' he thought only half joking with himself.

As soon as he opened the door he realized he'd been showering for way to long. The storm he thought he'd been seeing when he left the field had reached the school grounds and heavy rain was pouring down from an almost black sky. He could hear thunder as well.

'So much for that shower' he thought as he stepped through the door, closed it and then ran for the castle, splashing water around him and getting completely drenched. Sliding and wiping wet hair out of his face he reached the big oak doors leading into the Great Hall and tugged on one of the big handles. Nothing happened. He tugged harder, putting all his strength behind the pull and this only concluded in a rattling sound. The doors had been locked from the inside. Taking two steps back into the pouring rain he locked up at the big magical watch over the door. Almost ten minutes past ten. And the doors were locked at ten pm sharp. Damn. He considered going back to the changing room before he realized that all doors locked at ten and that he probably just left the changing rooms before it locked itself. He sat down on the stairs, trying to get as close to the big doors as possible but the rain still spluttered and splashed on him.

'Okay' he thought. 'What options do I have? I could bang on the doors until someone hears me, but that would put me in even more trouble than I've already been in today. Or I could sit out here for the rest of the night, slowly getting drowned. What wonderful choices.'

He looked out over what he could see of the school yard in the heavy rain and something caught his eye. Some way out onto the grounds was a weak square of reflected light. He jumped to his feat and without caring, since he was already soaked to the bone, ran out onto the grounds and turned around. Draco was awarded with the view of one window, high up on the castle, probably on the 7th floor, he decided, where the soft light of lit candles flickered at him.

He praised his luck that he decided to bring his broom along and mounted it, hesitating for a second, knowing that flying around in a thunderstorm was among the top five things not to do if you wanted a long and healthy life. He ignored that fact for the time being and took off from the ground, struggling to keep the broom in order in the wind howling around the tins and towers. With some effort he reached the lit window and tried to peer inside to see if someone was present that could open it for him. But the rain flooding down the glass made it impossible to see anything clearly, so he headed for plan B, which consisted of knocking heavily on the window itself. Over the sound of the rain, wind and thunder he thought he heard a muffled yelp and then footsteps approaching. To his relief a silhouette showed up against the light and in less than a minute the window creaked open. He was met by the surprised face of no one else then Hermione Granger.

"Malfoy!" she exclaimed in surprise. "What in all heavens are you doing outside?"

I know this turned into a very short chapter but I really wanted to end it right here, and yes, that means the story will be longer than 2 chapters. I even added the section in the Hospital wing just to make it a bit longer, but also to give some information on Harry, Ron and Hermione's view of things.

I think I can give the idea of a one-shot up for good now, since I'm not even halfway to the point where I considered ending the story from the beginning. I guess it could have turned out as a decent one-shot, but then it would lack a lot of the details, reactions and background things that I personally think are essential for a good story. But that also means the story turns out much longer. Good thing I like writing. =) And to be honest, I have some hope for this story to turn out really well even if I'm not totally satisfied with this chapter.

Magic R's please! Critic and nice comments are always helpful, flames are not since they leave burn marks on the furniture.

And have a great weekend as well!

/Miriam