No reviews? I hope you haven't forgotten about me or anything... Oh, right, if you have you're not reading this anyway. And if you have... here's another chapter.

(Yeah, I'm still a little ill...)

Effects (Couldn't think of a better title again...)

The other Slytherins were not staring at him any more. Now they were desperate not to look at him. Except for Pepper. She was still looking at him from the Ravenclaw table (between Lovegood and Young), grinning. Was she laughing at him again! Draco panicked. He had lost all his old friends, he knew that. And the new ones were laughing at him! It was all Young's fault again. The kid had apparently played a really nasty trick on him. What was he going to to! He could not go back. Aunt Bellatrix had taken care of that. And where he was heading was apparently a dead end. Was he really all alone now! Young said something to the other Them and they laughed again. Draco nearly started to cry. He managed to stop himself. But he just couldn't take it any more. He stood up, ran out of the Great Hall, headed for his dormitory and decided not to come to class today. If he was alone now, he wanted at least to be alone on his own.(1)


(1)You know, it really is annoying when you're trying to be alone and all the people ale staring at you!

XXX

'Look at his face!' Pepper was, indeed, laughing at Malfoy. She just couldn't help it. The look of shock on his face really was funny.

'It's not funny!' Luna hissed at her, but she couldn't help smiling herself 'Not for him, I mean.'

'OK,' said Adam 'But look at the others' faces!'

'Goyle always looks like this,' Pepper pointed out.

'No,' Wensleydale argued 'He does close his mouth sometimes.'

'Yeah,' Brian added 'I guess the noise killed his last brain cell.'

'Anyway,' Pepper grinned with satisfaction 'Looks like we're sure we can trust Malfoy now.'

'I'm so proud of him,' said Adam and they all laughed.

A moment later Malfoy got up and ran out of the Great Hall.

XXX

Anathema looked at Dumbledore. She wanted to ask him a question, but wasn't sure what question it was. She noticed that Minerva and Severus were just as shocked as she was. She considered asking one of them what to ask about, but she was too shocked to speak anyway. All she knew was that it had not been just any Howler. It wasn't only one of the loudest Howlers in history either. It was also one of the most important ones.

XXX

'No, you idiot!' Pepper said 'Why would we want to do something like that!'

Draco wanted to answer but she didn't stop talking.

'Why would anyone wanna do it at all?' she asked 'I mean, that'd be really -'

'Well,' he finally managed to interrupt her 'you're Potter's friends,' he said 'Potter and I have always hated each other and…' he hesitated he really didn't know how to say it. He meant to say that Potter just might have a reason to hate him, but he had no experience at all in admitting that he could have done something wrong.

'Yeah, I know,' she said 'Ferret.'

And, once again, she laughed at him. But he finally understood it was different this time.

XXX

'Good morning' he said as he opened the classroom door 'Sorry I'm late.'

'What has happened to you lately, Malfoy?' Professor Snape asked 'If you keep getting late like that, I will be forced to take off points.'

'I -' Draco tried to say something.

'Sit down,' the teacher told him.

Draco headed for his usual seat next to Goyle, but then he thought better of it.

'Can I sit here?' he asked Weasley pointing at the empty chair next to him. He had nothing to lose. In this situation this might even be safer…

XXX

'You don't even have any proof that he -' Narcissa didn't even manage to finish the sentence.

'How else would you explain it?' Bellatrix asked angrily 'This task was too damn easy. He couldn't have failed, unless he didn't even try!'

'There might be a different reason,' said Narcissa uncertainly.

'Then why didn't he come here to explain it!' shouted Bellatrix furiously. Narcissa thought that the best answer would be showing her sister a mirror. Bellatrix Lestrange could be really scary sometimes.

'He is a stupid little blood-traitor if you ask me!' Bellatrix continued her speech 'If he was my son, I would have disowned him!'

'But he's mine,' Narcissa reminded her 'And he is the last of the Malfoys.'

'I wouldn't care.'

'Well, I do.'

'You were always like that'

'Like what?'

'Weak and sentimental,' Bellatrix said 'You actually cried at Regulus's funneral!'

'Well, isn't it sad,' Narcissa tried to defend herself 'When someone like him chooses the wrong path?'

'You'd better start crying about your son then,' Bellatrix said and left the room slamming the door loudly.

XXX

'You are late,' Anathema said, as Pepper entered the classroom 'What happened?'

'Sorry,' the girl said 'I had to talk to Malfoy,' her fellow Slytherins laughed but she didn't care 'About that Howler and stuff…'

The class laughed even harder. It was a very difficult lesson for Anathema.

XXX

'As I always say' said Dumbledore 'Most people deserve their second chance.'

'Most,' Fred commented 'Not all.' (2)

'True,' the headmaster agreed 'But I believe that Draco has just proved that he does.'

'See?' said Molly 'I told you.'

'I still can't believe it,' said Sirius 'Narcissa's son…'

'Looks like a family reunion is coming,' joked Tonks 'I will actually meet my cousin Draco.'

'A family reunion… that still sounds kind of strange…'


(2)some people can't live without something to disagree with.

XXX

It was a very difficult few months for Draco. He had tried to tell his classmates all sorts of stories about what had made his aunt so angry, but it was no use. She had called him a blood-traitor, and there was no way of explaining to them that she was wrong.(3) He tried to avoid the Slytherin common room and only entered his dormitory to sleep in there. But he still had to meet the other Slytherins in class. And, of course, there was the Quidditch team. He was captain now, but his team had no respect for him at all. They lost ten to two hundred in the match against Hufflepuff because it had been simply impossible to discuss the strategy. Of course, other people blamed him for that.

And then there was the really threatening thought that he would still have to come back home some day. He had stayed at the school during Christmas and he was probably going to spend Easter there as well, but the thought of the summer at the Malfoy Manor terrified him. And then there was the next summer, and another one, and probably quite a large part of the rest of his life. He really didn't want to go back there!


(3)Of course, the fact that she wasn't did not help.