Harry stared listlessly at the pond for hours. It was well past noon when he was startled by the sound of approaching footsteps.
He didn't have to look up. He saw the reflection of Malfoy's blond hair in the water as he approached. As he drew level with Harry he hesitated for a moment, then sat down.
"Listen, Potter." His voice was hoarse and cracked. "I shouldn't have hit you. Things have been really hard for me lately and… I lost control." his voice trailed off.
Harry sighed. "It wasn't all you, Malfoy. I shouldn't have been watching you like that. And I shouldn't have told you to stay away from me the other night either. It's just…" He took a deep breath; his voice was quivering. "Well, I've been thinking about something Dumbledore said, about there being wrongs on both sides. Maybe he was right."
Malfoy silently nodded his head. Both boys stared into the water, an unspoken agreement forming between them. Harry was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the crunch of approaching footsteps.
"Oy, look who it is!" Harry's head swivelled up at the sound of Dudley's voice. He was with one of his more vile friends, Piers Polkiss. "It's Harry and his boyfriend, the down-in-the-dumps dragon!" Dudley jeered. "That was quite the spat you two had this morning. What happened, did one of you look at another boy?"
"Go away Dudley," Harry responded icily. "Your stench is making it impossible to enjoy nature."
"Should we beat you up, or has your boyfriend already done it for us?" Piers sneered. "Or was it really just a misunderstanding, and you weren't fighting at all this morning?"
Immediately both Harry and Malfoy's faces turned red with rage. Malfoy covered his face with his hand as Harry leapt to his feet.
"You shut your filthy mouths and sod off!" he yelled at Piers and Dudley. "If I was a year older I would curse you both!"
Dudley looked horrified by Harry's threat. Piers, however, had fixed his attention on something else. He turned his back, scowling.
"Let's go Dudley," he said. "These two are no fun anyways." He looked back for a moment. "Nice tattoo blondie. A snake? So unoriginal."
It took Harry a second to realize the meaning of Piers' words. Looking down, he saw Malfoy pressing his left arm tightly against his body, his sleeve drawn halfway down his hand, a look of dread on his face.
Harry leapt onto Malfoy. The boy kicked and squirmed, trying to throw Harry off.
"Don't, please," Malfoy begged as Harry reached for his left sleeve. The dark-haired boy didn't listen. He wrenched down the sleeve and gasped in horror.
In an instant Harry had his wand in hand, pointed at the face of the boy below him.
"Stop!" yelled Malfoy, going limp. "Please, don't use magic. Please, they can't find me! They'll kill me!"
"Then explain this!" Harry demanded, gesturing towards the Mark on Malfoy's forearm. "Are you trying to kill me? Hide in my house so you can take me straight to Voldemort?"
"No!" screamed Malfoy. "Please, put down your wand. Hit me, I deserve it, but don't let them find me!" Tears were falling from his eyes as he shook with fear.
Harry moved his wand away from Malfoy's face, wondering what was making him so terrified of it.
"Please," the boy begged, more coherent now that the wand was not in his face, "We're both still underage. If you use magic the Ministry will know and they'll send an auror to check on you. But if they see me, the Dark Lord will find out." He seemed to fold in upon himself; his voice became barely a whisper. "And if he knows where I am he'll kill me."
Confused, Harry slipped his wand back into his pocket. Malfoy stayed limp beneath him.
"If Voldemort wants to kill you then what is the Dark Mark doing on your arm?" Harry yelled. "We both know that your parents are Death Eaters Malfoy. Why shouldn't I believe that you're one too?"
"Draco," the boy on the ground whispered. "You may as well call me Draco."
Harry stiffened in surprise. "Why?" he barked.
Draco took a deep breath that caught in his throat and came out as a sob. "I ran away Potter. Don't you understand? They were forcing me to join them, the Dark Lord, Bellatrix, the other Death Eaters. To take my father's place. I thought I wanted to. I always thought I wanted to." He sobbed again. "But I was wrong. He branded me, with that- that Mark." He paused for a moment as an expression of agony crossed his face. Tears were streaming from his eyes as he took another big gulp of air. "Dumbledore got me out, I still don't know how. My mother wouldn't come with me, and I can't go back, I can't ever go back, they'll kill me if they find me."
Harry looked down at Draco. Gently, he slid the sleeve back over the Mark on his arm, being careful not to touch it. He rolled off of the boy and resumed his seat next to him. "That's why you're here then?"
Draco nodded his head and sat up. "Dumbledore said it was the only way to keep me safe. Something about you being protected here." Harry nodded his head; he knew what the headmaster had meant. "That's the only reason I agreed to come. I didn't want to stay with you Potter, any more than you want me to be here."
"Harry," the dark-haired boy said. "Call me Harry." Draco nodded his head again before pulling up his knees and burying his face in them. He wrapped his arms around his head.
"I must look pathetic," he muttered, "I haven't been able to stop crying for days."
Harry sighed. "You're not pathetic. Honestly, the only reason I've not been crying the last few days is I've been too busy being angry at you."
Draco lifted his head a little to smirk. "Or maybe we're both pathetic." Harry returned a grim smile.
Harry-" Draco didn't seem sure of what to say. "I'm sorry about your godfather. And the way I always laughed about your parents. I couldn't understand what it was like, before, to lose someone you cared about. But now… I begged my mother to come with me when I left. And she refused. And my father… I don't know if I'll ever see either of them again."
Harry reached his hand slowly towards the other boy. Gently he rested it on Draco's shoulder. The blond boy lifted his head and gave a weak smile.
"The Dursleys seem like awful people to live with. Are all muggles like them?"
Harry shook his head. "No, most muggles are no different than me or Hermione. The Dursleys are just really awful. You know that little cupboard under the stairs? That used to be my bedroom."
A look of disgust passed across Draco's face. "And I thought the guest room was small!"
Harry laughed. "It probably is compared to what you're used to."
Draco nodded. "My room back at the manor was about the same size as my whole dormitory at school. And I had my own bathroom."
At the mention of the school dormitories a thought popped into Harry's head. "What are you going to do at school?" he blurted out. "Half the Slytherins have Death Eater parents. You can't stay with them can you?"
Draco grimaced. "It's more than half of them now. Dumbledore said we could see what to do about it when school starts. I'll probably have to join another house."
Harry kicked at the ground as Draco buried his head in his knees again. He couldn't imagine being forced to join another house. As important as being a Gryffindor was to him, he knew that Draco took pride in his family's long Slytherin heritage. Joining another house would truly cement his betrayal. He looked at the boy sitting next to him.
"Hey," said Harry. "Are you hungry? It's almost suppertime, and I never had lunch."
Draco looked lost in thought for a moment but then nodded his head. "Yeah, I am. But I don't have any muggle money." He paused for a second "And I probably don't have much of our money either."
"That's okay," Harry assured him. "I've got muggle money, and I'm happy to share with you. Let's get McDonalds."
Draco stared at him blankly. "What?"
"It's what the muggles call fast food," Harry explained. "They have hamburgers and chips. You'll probably like it."
Harry and Draco arrived back at the Dursley's late that evening in surprisingly good spirits. While they were eating Harry had realized that Draco had never been to a movie theater and decided to remedy the situation. The wizard-born boy had been amazed by the lights and sound, and couldn't stop asking questions afterwards. Harry found himself smiling; he had never seen Draco so excited about anything. Once the Dursleys had grudgingly let them in, Draco had excitedly pointed to the telly and asked if it could show the same things. This had elicited a sharp remark about the ridiculous antics of "their kind" from Uncle Vernon, who demanded that they go to bed immediately.
