Classes were light with homework and even the exams seemed as half hearted attempts instead of the usual threateningly long pieces of parchment with small print. McGonagall admitted to Brooke that she's been busy with a lot of outside Hogwarts business; things that she would most likely find out about later, but certainly not soon. Now Brooke had plenty more free time than she had over the year, no scheduled Animagus sessions and hours in the library with Hermione.

The day after the third task, Hermione pulled out a small enchanted glass case she held the beetle version of Rita Skeeter in. Brooke, Harry and Ron were all delighted as much as Hermione was to have physical control of her. At times, they rattled the case, making her bounce around, but in general, she tried to not stoop down to her level, besides blackmailing her to never write horrible stories again or her secret would be revealed. Inside the little sturdy bubble of a world, Brooke felt bad and gave her a small bed, a red rug (torn off from an old piece of fabric), shrunken lamps and a few shrunken Daily Prophets.

Besides their new pet, life at Hogwarts returned to normalcy, which was the opposite of what she expected, especially after the chaos at the Quidditch field two weeks ago. Dumbledore had called the students, all except Harry- who was still laying in the Hospital Wing, to the Great Hall. He politely asked them to not ask Harry anything about the incident, but that never stopped them from whispering about it whenever Harry passed by. Even she, Hermione and Ron hadn't mentioned anything about that night since it happened. They were prepared for him to go on about it at least a little, but he remained silent, often keeping to himself.

Brooke tried to split her newfound time between her best friends and Draco. As soon as she saw him after they said goodnight, he asked her what the entire story was. She admitted she only heard bits and pieces of what really happened, but still didn't want any of it spilling out to the school, in fear of rumors stemming from the little information they had. The only thing she promised him was that he would find out soon enough. Everyone would.

In those weeks, she hadn't forgotten the names of the Death Eaters Harry listed, the first one being the father of the boy whose hand she was holding in the corridors. Never had she taken a liking to Mr. Malfoy and she felt that neither had Draco. Although he never said it outright, Brooke got the feeling there was a lot more lurking behind his words.

During the last of the Hogsmeade weekends for the year, they sat down in Madam Puddifoot's. It wasn't Draco's first choice, but he agreed to try something new. They ordered their tea.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" she began, watching him as he frowned at the happy cherubs floating around the tables.

"Like what?"

"Well, you'd tell me the truth, right? Always? No matter what?"

"Is this another 'evil Draco' question?" he said, knowing that Brooke sometimes asked him about the rumors that went around Hogwarts or simply asking to make sure he wasn't much of a sniveling git she used to think.

"No, no," she said quickly. "Not exactly. You see, after the third task…" she trailed off, unsure of her wording. "Has anything…strange been going on around your house?"

"No," he said, eyeing her.

"Nothing unusual, like say, with your parents?"

"What are you talking about?"

She sighed. "Harry is quite convinced that your father is a Death Eater."

"What?" Draco put down the sugar packet he was playing with, looking at her incredulously. "My father, a Death Eater? So this is an 'evil Draco' question."

"It's not, I swear. I mean. I know you aren't-"

"But you're not sure whether or not I come from a Death Eater family, right?"

Brooke groaned, regretting she brought up the subject at all. A cherub came rushing at the sound of unhappiness, smiling from ear to ear. It only made her disgusted at the fake blank smile it gave her.

"It's just that, Harry said he saw your father that night when… Oh, might as well tell you the story anyway," she gave up. "But you have to promise me, you won't say a word, not to anyone, alright? Even me. It vanishes as soon as you hear it."

"Yeah, I promise," he leaned closer, curiosity swimming in his grey eyes.

She only whispered to him the important details of what she heard from Dumbledore and Fudge's conversation including the portkey, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return, and the Death Eaters returning at his side.

"Huh," was all he said after that.

"I was surprised too. It seemed so unrealistic, things I heard in stories only."

"No, I'm not too surprised. Slytherin's talk a lot," he added at her suspicious expression, "mostly about how he was already back or would be back soon enough, with all these odd things happening this year."

"Well, now it's for sure."

"And Potter said he saw my father there?"

She nodded.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure there's plenty of people in the entire Wizard community that look like my father."

"He said You-Know-Who said his name out loud. He's one hundred percent sure."
Draco gave a short hollow laugh and shook his head, looking out the window.

"You'll tell me, won't you?" asked Brooke, hesitantly. "If you find out?"

"Brooke, you think my father is a Death Eater and I'm sure you think that I'm one too."

"No, I don't," she said firmly. "And I trust Harry. He wouldn't lie."

"That may be so, but who knows what was in that godforsaken maze that messed with his head!"

She shushed him, trying to be patient and said, "Keep your voice down. And he hadn't gone mad alright? He knew what he saw."
"It's not like you were there, Brooke," he said sharply.

At this time, their tea had been given to them and Brooke had a half instant to pour the hot contents on Draco's head.

"Listen, I'm only telling you because I'm worried…for you and for Harry. Just say you'll promise me. Whatever happens, you'll tell me," she stared him straight in the eyes.

"Fine," he muttered.

"That's not promising."

"Fine," he raised his voice. "I promise."

She reached across the table to grab his hand. "I didn't want to fight," she said, lightheartedly. "Especially not now, with everything going on."

Draco stared on into this tea cup and Brooke hoped he would keep his promise, but a small stubborn feeling told her otherwise as she wondered just what he was thinking about.

With their bags all packed up, they left the dormitories to say goodbye to the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. Krum headed straight towards Hermione once he had her in sight and Brooke took this as a signal to leave the two alone. Everyone was saying their goodbyes, hugging each other and exchanging addresses. There, Brooke realized she hadn't been able to get to know many of them. But it made her smile to see how quickly friendships can be made.

"Hey," Draco came up to her from behind.
"Hey," she replied. "Done packing?"

"Yep, just finished right now. I'm ready to get out of here."

"Oh, really?" she said scathingly. "You're not going to miss me at all?"

"It's not like I won't see you again," he shrugged before hugging her.

"You better write to me though," smiled Brooke, who had to look up to see his face.

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes. "But you better have Caleb fly straight to my room. My parents already know you're friends with Potter and they'd have a fit if they ever found out," he added, making her promise.

The Hogwarts Express came to a stop. Waving goodbye to Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione, Brooke knew things were definitely changing.

A/N: Hello :) Hope you enjoyed the first of the four parts of Draco & Brooke's story! To those who have read the original, I hope this one was loads better.

Just as a side note, this story is really short in comparison to the others. Think of it more as a prologue of sorts.

I am most likely going to be making some more changes throughout the last three parts- more specifically the next one (that takes place during Order of the Phoenix). For the last two, they're will be very few changes. Nothing huge, just revision and things to coincide with the changes made in the first and second parts. Hopefully I can get those in, in a timely manner. But anyway, thank you so much for reading & I hope you continue on!