Ugh. There's so many other things I need to be doing. But I can't concentrate. I'm really excited for this chapter.

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(Hermione POV)

Yep. There is it.

After the curse (or blessing, however one chooses to look upon it), last for an extended amount of time, fragments of the original bodies memories will leak into the minds of those inhabiting them.

Perfect.

Well, I guess that explained the flashes I had seen in my dreams of laughing friends and loud clinking glasses, three blonds sitting around a table, chuckling softly while sipping cups of tea, running through hallways, laughing heartily as someone chased me, laughing as a large boy ran from birds with brightly colored feathers, a tall brunette passing me notes and giving me flowers and gently kissing my hand.

Then the memories changed. Once Draco started dating Montague, there wasn't nearly as much laughter. There was a lot more screaming, crying, fighting; a lot of being alone, of pained looks and tired eyes.

He was a different person.

I had known the images were too real to just be a dream.

And I was really afraid of some of the things I might see.

I felt like I had invaded his privacy.

Oh, well. Not like he won't be doing the same.

I'll just have to talk to him about it.
(Darkboe POV)

"I don't really understand what you're-,"

Graham's hands slammed down onto the table once again. "What is confusing about this, Christian? I've explained this four times already!"

"I don't understand why you're involving me." I snapped back at him.

"Well, I can't exactly be at two places at once, can I?"

"Why do you have to be two places at once?" I threw my hands in the air.

"Because I can't risk getting caught!" He put his face in his hand, shaking his head. "Damn, Chris. It's really not that complicated."

"Why do I have to be the sappy one?"

"Will you quit whining? Salazar, why are we friends?"

"'Cause I'm the only one stupid enough to help your dumb ass!"

I watched as Graham's glare faltered and he snorted. "Sadly enough, that's true. So are you going to do this?"

"Depends."

Graham rolled his eyes, groaning. "On what?"

"After you get at him again, can I have a go?"

His eyebrows shot up. "I didn't think you even swung that way."

"I don't really. I just want to put that little bitch in his place."

Graham laughed again. "You still sore that he called you cock-eyed?"

I glared at him. "He's a little bitch. And I'd love to get the chance to knock him off his high horse."

"Tell you what." Montague raised his glass, "this goes off successfully, I'll let you fuck him as much as you want."

I laughed. "Alright."

I clinked my glass with his.

Graham grinned at me. "Cheers."

(Draco POV)

I looked again at the small object in my hand. I had seen it a million times since we had been switched, by I still wasn't sure what it was. Silver back, dark glass front, with one small button, and a picture of an apple of the back.

Harry, who had been sitting on the bed next to mine, watching me closely, laughed. "Do you know what that is?"

"No clue." I said honestly.

"It's called an iPod." He moved over to Hermione's trunk, pulling out a long white wire with two ends. "Let me see."

I handed him the contraption, watching him with interest.

He plugged the wire into the bottom before pushing the button, causing the screen to light up.

"Here," He smiled, handing me the "iPod" and the wire. "Put those in your ears."

"My ears?"

Harry began laughing once again. "Here." He took one of the ends and stuck it in his ear. "I'll do it too. It won't hurt you. I promise."

I hesitantly took the other end and stuck it in my ear too.

"This feels weird." I groaned, causing him to laugh harder.

"Now press that little orange button on the bottom."

I touched the button and another little screen came up with a very long list on it.

"Now touch anything."

I hit one of the titles ("Starships") and music immediately reached my ears, causing me to jump slightly.

After a moment of listening to it, I smiled at Harry. "I like this thing. And this song."

He smiled back. "I figured you would. I hear you singing under your breath a lot."

I nodded, laughing slightly. "I do love to sing. I will admit that."

I heard someone clear their throat and Harry and I both jerked up.

Neville stood in the doorway, leaned against it, arms crossed, one foot propped flatly against the wall.

I raised an eyebrow.

That pose seemed really out of character for him.

But, for some reason, it seemed familiar.

"Hey, you two." He greeted, his grin crooked.

Neville's grin wasn't crooked. It was shy.

"Mind if I talk to 'Mione alone for a minute?"

The nickname was still there.

Harry smiled, pulling the wire out of his ear. "Go right ahead." He gave me a look. "Have fun."

Once he was out of the room, Neville flopped down unceremoniously onto the bed, groaning.

"You look irritated." I noted.

"I am." He wriggled slightly, obviously trying to get comfortable in his position on the bed. "I'm just hoping that all this shit with Draco is worth it."

"Worth it?"

"I mean, I know you know all the stuff about Montague and his father and all that crap. And I, personally, the more I learn about all of it, don't believe that any of it was one sided. I just think he likes attention."

My heart began to pound.

"But I figured if he would do it with them, why not with me?"

"But… But you-,"

"I'm sick of being a virgin." He looked at me, rolling his eyes slightly. "I just want to lose my virginity and I'll be happy."

"So you think he's gonna have sex with you the night of the ball." My voice cracked slightly.

"Well, that's what I'm hoping for anyway. I don't see the two of us really having a relationship. The more I think about, I really just don't think I'm the type for a commitment right now anyway. I'm too young. And there's a lot of better looking people out there than Draco."

My blood was boiling. I could feel tears stinging my eyes.

"I don't want to turn into Montague." He snickered.

"What do you mean?" I managed.

"Oh, now that everyone is accusing him of raping Draco, he's starting to get all corny and shit. Talking about the good times they had – the dinners in Paris, Italy, and Monte Carlo. The yacht rides. Going to see shows that Draco wanted to see. I've even heard him talking about cuddling by a campfire. Keeps talking about how much he misses him. How he regrets the times that he was cruel to him; that it was just jealousy and insecurity. I never realized how much of a faggot he was."

I couldn't speak.

"You okay, 'Mione?" Neville suddenly looked at me, eyebrow still raised, mouth quirked slightly. "You look pale."

"I'm fine." I snapped. "But I think I'm going to lay down for a while, so can you leave?"

He flinched slightly, looking hurt. "Alright. I'll see you at dinner?"

I just nodded.

As he left, I plugged the wires back in my ears and began to flip through the music again.

(Harry POV)

Draco wouldn't leave his bed the rest of the day, laying there instead, opting to listen to Hermione's iPod.

He seemed…off.

Neville had said something to really piss him off or to really upset him.

At dinner, the very same man sat down just a few seats from me.

"Hey, Neville." I called, getting his attention.

Neville, ever the too-kind guy he was looked at me, smiling slightly. "Yeah, mate?"

"What did you and Hermione talk about earlier?"

He raised his eyebrows, looking at me, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"When you and Hermione talked earlier, what did you-,"

"I haven't talked to Hermione at all today." Neville said. "After classes, I was in the green houses. Just got back."

"Oh." My heart dropped.

Well, that definitely cannot be good.

I looked up and noticed silver eyes boring straight into me. Hermione seemed upset about something. She pointed towards the doors to the Great Hall, telling me to meet her out there.

I immediately stood and walked towards them, noticing as she, Daphne, and Blaise made their way towards them too.

"Something's wrong." I said once we were out.

"Something's definitely wrong." Hermione agreed. "Neville came and saw me today. Said we couldn't go to the ball together anymore because he didn't like the things people were saying about me and didn't want them to be attached to him. One, doesn't make sense, two, Neville's in love with Draco and I don't think anything could change that, and three, Neville does not care about anything people in this school have to say.

"I think it was Darkboe. He was kinda acting weird and twitchy."

"Neville came and saw Draco too. I don't know what he said, but, whatever it was, it really upset him. He didn't even come down for dinner."

The slap of shoes on the floor suddenly caught my attention and I turned to see Draco coming down the stairs, looking at the floor, muttering to himself.

As he got closer, I realized he was whispering, "Stay strong. Be brave. You're brave. You're brave. Just like mum. Just like mum."

My heart squeezed at him words.

"Draco." Blaise called, jogging over to him, struggling to keep up with his quick pace. "Where are you going?"

"To talk to Graham. I need to talk to him now. I'm tired of playing this game. I'm going to set things right."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's been telling people he missed me, so I'm going to show him that I'm still here."

"Surely you don't mean-,"

"Stay out of it, Blaise. This is my decision. I know what's good for me."

Blaise looked shocked, but all of us followed him, watching nervously.

"Draco, he's just going to hurt you." Daphne tried. "You know that."

"No, he won't. I promise he won't. He won't have it in him."

We were all trying to talk him out of it, but he had already made up his mind.

Entering their common room, the four of us hid ourselves, watching as Draco walked towards Montague and Darkboe who were currently sitting by the fire.

"Draco?" I heard Montague say softly.

"Yeah. I'm here."

Montague climbed to his feet, hugging Draco to him gently. "I was hoping you would come by here."

Draco didn't try to push him away or fight him. He just hugged him back.

"I'm so sorry about everything that's happened." Montague whispered. "I took you for granted. I was scared of losing you and I just managed to push you away. And seeing you with Longbottom…" he shook his head. "It made my blood boil. I just hope you can forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you." Draco smiled at him. "How could I not? We've had so many good times. We can just forget the bad."

Montague's grin grew. "I'm so happy you feel that way." He pushed the frizzy brunette hair out of his face. "You know, this is weird not being able to say this to your face. Granger doesn't have a thing on you. You're so hot."

Montague sat back down, patting his leg. "Come on, babe. Sit with me."

"First things first," Draco sighed. "I feel like I should admit something to you."

Montague suddenly looked nervous. "What's that?"

"Before Hermione and I switched and everything – about two months ago – you were right about something and I lied to you about it.

"I did have sex with Neville."

All of us froze. Montague nearly fell out of his chair.

"Wh-what?"

Draco nodded, face turned down. "Yeah. We met in the Room of Requirement and just," he laughed, "fucked eachother's brains out. Several times, actually."

Montague's face turned red, his eyes ablaze.

"And it was amazing. Best I've ever had. There's just something about that boy that drive me wild!"

"Are you serious?" Montague seethed.

Draco's face grew serious, he rose to his full height, he raised his chin. "No. I'm not serious. You know why? Because Neville respects me. He loves me. He doesn't worry about sex because he wants a loving, genuine relationship. Not a fuck session.

"And that is the major way you gave yourself away today. By being too fucking stupid to realize that I would know that sex doesn't matter to Neville."

Montague looked shocked.

"Neville would never hold me down and force me to have sex with him. Never. Not in a million years. Because he loves me."

Draco laughed. "And our good times? There were no good times! You fucking raped me two weeks into our relationship! Any other times we spent together was me being too afraid to tell you to fuck off." He shook his head. "You should be proud of yourself. You completely fucking destroyed me. You turned me into a shell of myself. I was ashamed of myself for what you did to me. I thought I wasn't worth your time, I was so disgusting. You gave me all this baggage that I thought no one would ever want me.

"But then Neville came and swept me off my feet and didn't care about what happened and just loved me more because of it and just wanted to protect me and I realized that I didn't do a damn thing wrong. I was the victim. And Neville is my hero. He will always be there to save me because I have seen what actual love is, and I refuse to let it go.

"And I am a strong person. I always have been. I'm strong. I'm independent. I'm outspoken and opinionated and damn it, I like it that way. I enjoy being a bitch. I'm loud. I'm obnoxious. I'm a hyper, immature idiot. And I'm a good person. I care about people. I love my friends more than anything in the world and I will stand up for people I feel like need to be stood up for. And I like it that way. And I won't let you take that away from me. I won't let you take away the things that make me me."

Montague was beginning to look angry.

"And I refuse to let you ruin my relationship with Neville. I am finally happy and you won't ruin that for me. I won't let you. So before you and your faggot, dumb ass, cock eyed friend go and take Polyjuice Potion again and try to make me believe that Neville doesn't what to go to the dance with me or that he only wants to fuck me, you better fucking think twice.

"I am not going to be the same shell that you turned me into. Not anymore. I have been what I've turned into for far to long and I hate it. I'm back – the real me – and Merlin knows that I am not scared of anything. I am not afraid to stand up for myself anymore. I am not afraid to live anymore.

"So I've got a proposition for you. You leave me and Neville and all of our friends alone, and I will totally drop anything I have against you. I'll tell people that what happened isn't true and you won't have to get in trouble and we can graduate and go our separate ways and I'll never have to worry about you again.

"Or, you can continue to do what you are doing and I promise I will have you kicked out of this school and in a very damp, vey cold, very small cell in Azkaban before the sun sets tomorrow.

"Don't make a joke about my father. I will fucking kill you right here.

"And I know you share our dorm, but you better find another damn place to sleep. I don't care where.

"The choice is yours, Graham. But choose wisely. I have some of the best lawyers in the Wizarding World and millions of galleons on my side." Draco grinned. "And just one word of advice, Graham. No matter what happened in my past, no matter what happened to my parents, I am still a Malfoy.

"Never underestimate me."

And with that, he turned on you heel and strutted straight out of the room.

All of us were in shock, including Montague and Darkboe. It shocked me even more when Darkboe burst into laughter, shaking hard with it.

Montague jumped across the table, fists flying, pummeling Darkboe, who was still laughing, into the ground.

We took that as our cue to leave.

Almost back out to the Great Hall, we finally caught up with Draco.

Blaise and Daphne both ran to him, hugging him tightly, and I realized that Draco was sobbing harshly.

"Why are you crying?" Blaise asked, laughing, tears in his own eyes.

"I don't know." He was laughing as hard as he was crying.

"I am so proud of you." Blaise said, hugging him tighter, one of the tears slipping. "Merlin I am so proud of you. Oh, and your mum and dad… they would've been so happy, Dray. Gods, they probably would've bought you France as a reward."

The three of them were laughing as Hermione and I moved forward, hugging him as well.

"I can't stop crying." Draco said, wiping at his face, having a hard time catching his breath. "I don't know why I'm crying so hard, but I can't stop."

"What made you do it?" Hermione asked, tears burning in her own eyes.

"I was listening to your iPod and this song came on." He paused to gulp for air and laugh again. "A song by… Katy something."

"Perry. It was 'Pearl', wasn't it?"

He nodded before explaining to us that the song was about a girl who was in an abusive relationship that had changed and become a shell of who she used to be. But she stood up for herself and she changed her life.

"I decided I wanted that to be me." He smiled. "I wanted to be the pearl. Not the shell."

There were another round of hugs and laughter before Blaise smiled at the grinning brunette. "You hungry?"

"Oh, Salazar, I'm starving. Let's go steal some stuff from the kitchen, though. I'm feeling adventurous."

(Page Break)

Hopefully a splash of happiness in something so terrible.

And trust me, I'm not finished yet:) haha if you're not a fan of the fluff, I promise there'll be more angst. And if you do like the fluff, there'll be more of that too.

The song that Draco listened to, as I said, is called "Pearl" by Katy Perry (the acoustic version), and if you haven't heard it, you should definitely look it up. It's a beautiful song and it was actually kind of the inspiration for this story.

"You don't have to be a shell, no.

And you're the one that rules your world, oh.

You are strong and you'll learn that you can still go on,

And you'll always be a pearl.

She is unstoppable."

Hope you guys enjoyed it.

P.S. I'm kind of planning a sequel. Like post-Hogwarts maybe. Good idea: Yes or No?

Reviews are Love!