The morning came and for the first time in what felt like forever, Draco woke up naturally, not from a nightmare or to his alarm after far too little sleep. He took a deep breath in, his right arm slipping underneath his pillow as he stretched his rested body. His eyes opened blearily as his hand came into contact with something. Exhaling and rubbing his eyes, he pulled the parchment out and opened it up, his eyes re-reading the list he wrote last night, the resolve coming back. Starting today he was going to start taking control of his life.

It was the first weekend at Hogwarts and he was going to make the most of the day off. He looked over the list and tried to decide where to start. It wouldn't be long before his father wanted him to return home for some weekends and while he hadn't decided what he wanted to do about his father in the long term, he knew that going back, potentially facing another round of the Cruciatus Curse and more beatings, could be deadly for him, could risk him not completing a single thing on the list.

So with that in mind, Draco took another deep breath, and settled on number 4. Own something for himself. That's where he'd begin. He had turned 18, and while his father was still in charge of the main Malfoy Gringotts vaults, Draco had come into some of his inheritance, and his personal vault could no longer be controlled by Lucius. He needed a base for himself, a safe space that his father couldn't get to him, so he could concentrate on living his last year as his own person.

Thankfully, having not had any practical classwork yet that involved casting spells, he was feeling fairly well, though was worried for the day he would need to start casting magic again. He felt helpless not being able to cast a spell for fear of ending up in St Mungo's again, the doctor had said that with rest, and avoiding stress and pain, he should be able to cast spells again, though the trickier the spell, the quicker it would drain him and cause more damage to his magical core.

He got up and looked around at his dorm mates. Weasley, Goyle and Nott were still in bed, and Longbottom had just left to go downstairs but everyone else was up already. Draco got showered and dressed, deciding to opt for muggle clothes to go looking for a property. The muggle world would be a better option for him, somewhere Lucius would never guess he would go. He pulled on a pair of light blue fitted jeans, black shoes, a white t-shirt, and a navy bomber jacket. He decided not to gel back his hair. It was something his mother and father had made him do and he'd never been a fan of it. He left it loose and gave himself a look over in the mirror, he felt more like himself already. He walked back over to his bed and put the folded parchment into his pocket, he didn't want anyone to find it and ask questions. He looked down at his silver Malfoy signet ring lying on his bed stand and considered not putting it on, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, they were still his family and it was a part of him. He slipped it on his hand and took a last deep breath, trying to calm his nerves before he left. He could do this.

- Harry's POV -

Harry had woken up early, the sunlight sneaking in through a crack in his four-poster bed. He could already see it was a nice day and decided to get up and make the most of it. Maybe he would go flying, or go to Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione. He got showered and dressed, seeing everyone else in the dorm was still asleep. He cast an extra glance over at Malfoy's bed, wondering if he was getting some rest. Harry had noticed him over the past week, looking and acting far more withdrawn than he had been even at the bookstore in Diagon Alley. The dark circles around his eyes stood out against his whiter-than-normal skin and Harry could tell he hadn't paid attention in class all week which worried him. Part of the condition of him doing a shorter spell in Azkaban was that he would continue school and pass all of his exams, a suggestion at his trial by McGonagal. And sure, Malfoy and Harry weren't friends or even friendly acquaintances, Malfoy had been an insufferable arsehole, but one that had been born into a family that had chose his future for him, and Voldemort had him backed in a corner. Harry didn't want him back in Azkaban. But with that all done, maybe they could get to know each other this year. He doubted either of them were the same people they were last year.

He tore his eyes away from Malfoy's four-poster curtains and headed down the stairs, where he saw Hermione sitting in the common room alone. He smiled at his friend with her nose in a book. It surprised him that there were still books she hadn't read at Hogwarts.

"Morning Hermione" he said, causing her to jump.

"Oh good morning Harry, you're up early!" Hermione replied.

"Yeah, it looks like a nice day, I thought I might make the most of the day, go flying or see if you and Ron felt like a trip to Hogsmeade or something?" He shrugged, smiling.

Hermione smiled warmly "Well someone's excited to be back at Hogwarts"

"I just can't wait for a year here without Voldemort or death eaters or any problems, just my friends," he paused and gave Hermione's shoulder a soft, friendly push "and a nice quiet year" he flopped back on the sofa beside Hermione and she laughed.

"It's great to see you so happy, you definitely deserve a rest!" her smile suddenly dropped and she bit her lip. "And hopefully it doesn't burst your bubble but there is something I wanted to talk to you about" she hesitated.

"What's up?" Harry asked, leaning forward in concern at the change in her voice "are you okay?"

"Yes" she replied sighing "I'm absolutely fine, but I'm uh, I'm slightly worried about Malfoy?" she looked up and misread the shock on Harry's face because she quickly continued "not that it should be something for you to worry about, and I know he's not suddenly a good guy because he went to Azkaban but um, he just hasn't seemed well and I'm worried he's not going to make it through the year as he is, I mean you obviously know the conditions for him being here."

Harry nodded "I've actually been thinking the same" he admitted and Hermione looked relieved "People still seem a bit scared of him so I haven't witnessed much bullying which is good, and I asked the Gryffindor's not to be assholes which has been going alright, so I thought he might settle into it, but he seems to be getting worse" Harry sighed, "I thought I could maybe talk to him this weekend but he's been avoiding me like the plague."

He looked over at Hermione and she was biting her lip, looking torn and slightly guilty.

"Hermione?" Harry asked "Is there something else?"

She chewed her lip and looked at Harry, as if she was trying to decide something, then suddenly leaned forward and spoke quietly, glancing towards the stairs to make sure they were alone, before she took a deep breath and filled Harry in on what happened in the bookshop over a week ago.

"So I apparated him to St Mungo's, and they told me they would look after him and I should leave, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you but it didn't feel like it was my business" she bit her lip and looked down guiltily, "please don't tell Ron, I don't think he would be as understanding".

Harry nodded "okay, let's keep an eye on him over the next little while, he might just be recovering from something, let's not jump to any big conclusions yet".

As he finished speaking, he heard footsteps coming down both the boys and girls dormitory steps and Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson came into view, they both greeted each other at the bottom of the steps and glanced over at Harry and Hermione. Harry had been surprised at how okay the two had been since they got back to school, no hateful stares like the other Slytherins, not that he'd ever had problems with Zabini before, but Parkinson had always been very vocal, the particular time when she shouted to turn Harry in to Lord Voldemort stuck at the front of Harry's mind when he saw her. But he had a feeling their lack of hostility was maybe something to do with Malfoy, perhaps since Harry had spoken at his trial.

Zabini went and sat down on another sofa and motioned for Pansy to join him.

"Sorry Blaise, I've actually got a date to go on, so I'll have to pass on your charming company today" she smirked coyly.

Now that she mentioned it, Harry noticed that she was dressed up, in a casual, naturally pretty way. Wearing a small amount of make-up and a flowy, short mint-coloured sundress, puberty had been kind to her. She had outgrown her pug-like features and was now quite beautiful, though still had her sharp tongue from what Harry had heard when she spoke to her friends, she thankfully hadn't turned it on the Gryffindor's yet.

"A date?" Zabini quirked an eyebrow "this early? This is normally the time you come back from your dates" he smirked playfully.

"Oh shut up you" Pansy rolled her eyes "this one seems to have much more honest intentions"

"Is that so?"

"Well" Pansy smirked slyly, popping her expensive looking sunglasses on her head and starting to head towards the door "let's hope they're not too honest" and with that she blew Blaise a kiss, nodded awkwardly at Harry and Hermione, and headed out the portrait hole.

Blaise chuckled and picked up a book, but as she left Harry saw the smile disappear and he looked slightly disappointed. Harry watched slyly, ahh, he thought, so that's something then.

As the hour passed and Harry read through a new quidditch magazine, a few more people from the dorm filtered through and headed down for the start of breakfast.

"Are you coming to breakfast Harry, Hermione?" Neville asked as he came down the stairs.

"I'll come down in a little bit" Harry said and Hermione nodded too "I'll just finish the end of this" he gestured to his magazine. In truth he wanted to see if Malfoy came down, to see how he was doing today.

He didn't have to wait long as about 10 minutes later he heard footsteps coming from the boys dormitory and as he looked up, his jaw dropped. As did Hermione's and Zabini's. Malfoy was dressed in muggle clothing. Expensive and tasteful muggle clothing that suited him incredibly well. None of the three in the common room could snap their gaze away.

Malfoy glanced at Harry and Hermione but didn't say anything or acknowledge them, but Harry could see a difference in him, in the way he carried himself, the dark circles under his eyes had faded a little and his skin looked a bit healthier. He walked over to Zabini and rolled his eyes.

"Don't say a word about it" he said defensively, but he was smiling slightly, and Harry was shocked again. Is this the first time I've seen a genuine smile from Malfoy? he wondered, like not a nasty smirk? He found himself wanting to be the recipient of a smile from Draco Malfoy then mentally slapped himself. It was just his saviour complex kicking in, he told himself.

Zabini laughed and held up his hands "Fine, but I don't actually have a bad word to say about it. Don't tell me you're busy too though? I can't be the only one without a social life! Pansy's left for a date already".

"And you're not jealous about that at all" Draco teased.

"Jealous?" Zabini scoffed "no way!"

Draco laughed, and again Harry was thrown into shock at the friendly, musical sound.

"Sure" he smiled slyly "well as it happens I do have plans" Blaise groaned "but" Draco continued, smiling "I would like it if you joined me, it might not be very exciting though."

"What is it?" Blaise asked curiously.

Draco hesitated, casting a quick glance over at the Gryffindors. Harry looking away quickly before they made eye contact.

"I'll tell you on the way" he said quietly, "let's get some breakfast and then we're off."

Blaise looked at him questioningly but shrugged, chucked his book aside and stood up. He was also dressed casually but that was more normal for him., than it was the uptight, overdressed Malfoy heir.

"Well alright then, I'm sure whatever it is will be better than me doing nothing"

They left the common room, Zabini copying Parkinson and nodding at Harry and Hermione, Malfoy resolutely ignoring them.

Once the portrait door closed, Harry and Hermione simultaneously put down what they were reading and stared at each other.

"What in the world is going on this morning?" Harry asked in shock.

"I have no idea, sounds very mysterious though" Hermione said thoughtfully "I hope it's nothing... immoral"

"Illegal you mean?" Harry heard the unspoken word.

"I think we definitely need to keep an eye on him."

- Draco's POV -

Draco ignored Blaise's questioning looks all the way to the Floo room that had been set up in Hogwarts, one of the new additions during the restoration after the war to allow students who couldn't (or would prefer not to) apparate to see their families or friends during term time as a form of emotional support and safe travel. The security charms only allowed students to go through, and the floo shut and sent alarms to the Headmistress if anyone was not a student or an illegal substance was detected.

Draco stepped into one of the fireplaces and called Diagon Alley, stepping elegantly out at the other side.

"So... do you want to fill me in on what this little adventure is all about?" Blaise asked, as he stepped out a few seconds later, checking himself for dirt.

Draco shook his head "not yet" he replied simply, and headed off to Gringotts, Blaise following behind him. Draco asked him to wait at the door and headed in, walking up to one of the Goblins and doing the mandatory ID checks.

"I'd like to withdraw quite a large sum of money" he told the goblin at the counter.

"How much?" the goblin asked in it's raspy voice.

With each galleon amounting to just under £5.00 Draco quickly did some maths "eighty thousand please"

The goblin peered over it's glasses in a mistrusting way.

"Are you sure? That is a large sum of money for someone your age to be carrying around" he sneered.

"Yes I'm sure" Draco said coldly, trying to channel his father's air of superiority and intimidation. "But I'm sure my family can move our gold elsewhere if this sort of withdrawal is too difficult for you?"

The goblin did a double take and hastily responded "No, no that won't be necessary, I will organise the withdrawal just now, one moment"

In just a few minutes Draco was handed a shrunken box of the gold, suitable for carrying around.

"Thank you" Draco said coldly "and I trust I have your confidentiality?"

"Why yes sir" the goblin huffed "we pride ourself on –"

"Good" Draco interrupted "that will be all" and left the bank. He didn't trust the Goblins here not to tell his father if he had it transferred to muggle cash so he made a second stop at a lesser known bank in Diagon Alley, and got it transferred into muggle money.

Meeting back up with Blaise he nodded at his friend "Okay, let's get started".

Draco led them through Diagon Alley, all the way out the brick wall and into muggle London.

"Okay" Blaise said, with the urgency of someone who had been biting his tongue for a while "can you please tell me what we're doing now?"

Draco stopped in the street and turned to him sighing. Blaise and Pansy knew some of his situation, having been his friends since they were young they had noticed the bruises and broken bones over the years, and Blaise had been smart enough to recognise symptoms of the Cruciatus Curse in the more recent years. They knew his father was an abusive tyrant and had repeatedly offered for Draco to stay at their houses whenever he wanted. Draco refused every time, knowing it would make things at home worse, and had snapped at them when they showed pity after a particularly bad beating. He had ordered them never to speak about it again and was more careful to hide the abuse from then on.

Now, he looked at his best friend, then looked out into the distance before speaking.

"I'm going to buy my own place" Draco told him honestly "somewhere in muggle London, where I can floo to when I need to get away, where... where my father can't find me, somewhere just for me"

"Draco you know you can always stay with me right? My mum would never mind –"

"No" Draco said sharply, then regretted it as Blaise looked down with a pained look. He sighed.

"Blaise listen, you and Pansy, you've both done more for me than I could ever ask for, and thank you for offering your homes but it's too risky, too close to home and I could never put you at risk like that" he stepped forward and put a hand on Blaise's shoulder "I need something for myself, everything I've ever owned has belonged to someone else. I need this space"

Blaise nodded and in a very un-Slytherin fashion, grabbed Draco in for a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you, you deserve this" he squeezed Draco tightly and Draco felt tears prick at his eyes from the warmth and friendliness of the hug, he couldn't remember the last time he felt this kind of comfort, and squeezed back just as tightly.

Blaise finally let go and let out a long exhale, then smiled "Alright, let's find you a fucking spectacular bachelor pad" and Draco laughed in response.

- a few hours later -

"Oh my god this is the one."

Draco laughed at Blaise "You've said that at literally every single one we've seen"

"I know but I really mean it this time! Look at this place!" Blaise gestured around the large modern country home in awe. He was right, Draco thought, it was stunning, out of the centre of London so he didn't have to worry about the Ministry, it had large panoramic windows looking out over the town and small lake just out in the distance. It had it's own balcony and a private rear garden, with the sunlight beaming in. It felt warm and inviting, spacious, a beautiful blank canvas for Draco to make his own. They had seen a few apartments in the centre but the further out they went, the more Draco knew it was right for him.

He turned to the estate agent that had brought them there "how much is this place?" he asked.

"It's £300,000" the estate agent answered "but you mentioned an all-cash purchase correct? So I would say you could buy this for about £260,000 for sure"

Draco and Blaise locked eyes and simultaneously smiled. Draco turned to the estate agent.

"I'll take it"

- 0 -

They spent the next few hours wandering around muggle London, using a little bit of the cash Draco had to sit outside a little restaurant and grab some lunch and a glass of wine, which turned into a bottle of wine.

"Are you trying to get me drunk Blaise?" Draco smirked

Blaise laughed as he topped up Draco's glass again, "I think this is a good cause for a celebration don't you? She said you could get the keys as early as next week since it's brand new and nobody needs to move out!"

"Fuck it your right" Draco smiled, lifting his glass and clinking it against Blaise's before sitting back in his seat, taking a sip and closing his eyes, enjoying the sunshine and warmth.

"That's the spirit" Blaise said sitting back as well, then suddenly almost choked on his wine as he burst out laughing, "oh God, Pansy is going to be so pissed she missed this! Oh man I can't wait for us to tell her"

Draco laughed along with him, "Ah I'll make it up to her, I'll let her go furniture shopping with me, maybe let her pick out some muggle clothes since I'll be spending more time here"

"She'll love that"

A few minutes of peaceful silence passed before Blaise turned to Draco again.

"Hey, how did you know about all this muggle money and estate agent stuff? You had one of those weird muggle electric owl posts and everything?"

Draco smirked "an email address you mean?" he nodded, "When I was in the Room of Requirement in sixth year trying to, well... you know, I found a bunch of books on it all. I don't know if the room sensed me wanting to escape somewhere but I decided to buy a muggle laptop and set one up and just be ready I guess, part of me never thought I'd actually go through with it, but here we are" Draco held up his hands vaguely.

"Yeah, funny how things work" Blaise said thoughtfully then bit his lip "and what made you decide to do it now? Did something happen at home? Something more than usual, Pansy and I were so worried about you this last week"

"I know, I just had a lot to think about, sorry. And no, nothing out of the ordinary, I guess I just had enough, I'm 18 now, it's time I stopped living my life worried about every decision I make" Draco shrugged.

"Okay" Blaise said thoughtfully, watching Draco carefully "If there was anything else though you would tell me right?"

Draco looked at his friend, his eyes holding genuine concern for Draco, and he felt guilty lying, but he didn't wanted to be treated differently this year, he wanted this to be a good year, and that meant keeping his friends oblivious to the truth.

"Yes I would tell you" he said, forcing an amused smile "now quit all this heavy stuff or you're going to have to carry my miserable drunk ass back to Hogwarts"

Blaise laughed "yeah nobody wants to deal with sad drunk Draco" he replied, pulling a face "so bottoms up, and let's talk about me and Pansy coming over for some wild muggle parties" and with that he poured the rest of the wine into Draco's empty glass, signalled the waiter for another bottle and started to talk about all the attractive muggle girls he could pull, whiling away the afternoon with their easy conversation.

- Harry's POV -

Once Ron had finally woken up, the trio had decided to go into Hogsmeade for lunch and a wander round the shops, it was a beautiful September day, and everyone seemed in good spirits, but Harry couldn't help looking around to see if Malfoy was about doing his mysterious activity with Zabini. He hated to admit how curious he was and how much he wanted to know where they were.

"Harry, hello? Earth to Harry" and Harry's head whipped round to Ron, realising he'd completely ignored what he was saying.

"Sorry Ron, what did you say?"

Ron snorted "Where were you? On the lookout for evil wizards hiding in Ice Cream shops?" he laughed.

Harry snorted "No sorry, it's just nice to see everywhere busy again after the war, everyone's getting back to normal" he smiled "speaking of ice cream though?"

Ron grinned "You read my mind"

Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled fondly "Do you boys ever not think about food?"

They walked around the shops, splitting for a little while as Hermione wanted to go to the bookshop and Harry and Ron wanted to look round the quidditch shop, both meeting up again to gather snacks at Honeydukes and heading back to Hogwarts to sit by the lake and laughed the afternoon away.

They headed back to the common room to drop their purchases off before dinner, and as Harry and Ron were putting their things into their trunks there was sudden tapping at the window.

"Whose owl is that?" Ron said frowning, as a barn owl tapped consistently at the window.

"No idea" Harry replied, walking over to the window and letting it in. It stepped onto the inside window sill and gracefully held out its leg which carried a letter. Harry untied the letter and looked at the envelope. In neat writing on expensive feeling parchment was the writing 'Draco Malfoy, eighth year dormitory, Hogwarts'.

"It's for Malfoy" Harry said, taking one last look at the writing before sitting the letter on Malfoy's neatly made bed.

"Oh really?" Ron's ears picked up and he walked over to it "do you think we should open it? Make sure there's nothing criminal in there?" he wiggled his eyebrows.

Harry laughed, trying to make it a joke "No I really don't, besides what criminal package could be inside that thin letter?"

"Oh I don't know" Ron said conspiratorially, "a meeting place for all the free death-eaters to resurrect Ol' Voldy from the dead?"

Harry gave an exaggerated shudder "Don't even say that, it's already happened once, let's not jinx it now!"

"True" Ron replied, pulling a face, and dropping the letter back on Malfoy's bed.

They headed downstairs and waited for Hermione to put her new books away, which could take some time. While they waited, they chatted about the new quidditch broom range coming out later in the year that they had seen in Hogsmeade. They were interrupted though by the portrait hole slamming open behind them and two very tipsy Slytherins falling through the opening, crashing on the floor at Harry's feet. Zabini dragged himself up, grabbing Harry's shoulder for support and giving him a very lopsided smile.

"Gosh hero of the wizardy worl'" he slurred "good, great, wonderful thing you were there to help your besty buddy out"

Draco meanwhile had crawled across the floor and dragged himself up onto the sofa still chuckling to himself and sprawled on his stomach across it.

"Best buddies are we?" Harry asked in an amused voice. Is this what their mysterious activity was today, getting drunk?

"Oh are we not?" Zabini looked genuinely sad for a second then burst out laughing, hanging onto Harry's arm until he could't hold it anymore and fell on the floor in a drunk laughing heap.

"He likes me better than you Blaise" Draco slurred from the sofa, blearily opening his eyes "he doesn't just go around saving any old blonde dams - wait - damsel - no - male damsels in distresses..." He paused thinking over his words then sat up and looked right at Harry with suddenly bright eyes and a beaming smile "right Potter?"

It was the first time Malfoy had spoken to him since the room of requirement fire during the war and Harry just gaped in shock.

Malfoy took it the wrong way though and suddenly pouted at Harry "Right Potter?!" he said louder, and Harry fought not to laugh, fighting even harder as he glimpsed Ron's bewildered and disgusted face.

"Right Malfoy" Harry answered chuckling and Malfoy smiled with relief and sank back on the sofa. Hermione came down a moment later, looking in shock at the two passed out Slytherins. She looked questioningly at Harry and Ron.

"People are just barmy this year" Ron said, shaking his head in disbelief.

They went down to the Great Hall, filling Hermione in as they went.

- 0 -

After dinner, the trio headed back up the stairs to find Malfoy sitting on the sofa, with Pansy standing in front of him arms crossed mid-rant.

"- lucky that I have something that soaks up all that alcohol, god knows what state you two would be in tomorrow otherwise" she huffed "though it would serve you right for going out drinking without me, honestly! I hope Blaise is puking his guts up right now" she finished with a mutter.

"Aw Pans don't be mad" Draco said with a charming smile, shaking her arm a little "we'll make it up to you". Harry could tell he was still slightly tipsy but nowhere near as drunk as he had been an hour before.

Pansy rolled her eyes and looked at her nails, trying not to smile and failing "well you better!"

"Uuugggghh" Blaise's voice sounded from the stairs and everyone in the common room looked over to see him curled up on the bottom step of the dormitory stairs.

"What did you give me woman, I feel horrific" he moaned.

Pansy smirked "I may have gave you a little extra of the alcohol absorbing potion than I was supposed to" her eyes were alight with mischief "sort of fast tracks you to the hangover stage, serves you right for making mean comments about my date earlier"

Blaise grumbled under his breath but managed to stand and shuffle over to the sofa beside Draco, slumping back and hitting Draco in the arm with a bit of parchment that Harry, who was observing the whole thing from the other sofa, recognised as the letter they got earlier.

"This was on your bed" he mumbled, taking deep breaths and looking like he was fighting the urge to spew.

Draco took it and ripped it open, reading quickly down it, a faint tinge of pink colouring his cheeks and a smirk crossing his face. He stood up and chucked the letter haphazardly into the fire beside Harry.

"Well as lovely as this has been, I'm off" he stated, jumping up from the sofa still smirking.

"Excuse me?" Pansy said "What was that?" she asked, pointing to the letter "where are you going?"

"Nowhere interesting" he smiled, eyes still a tad glassy.

"Don't tell me you have a date too?" Blaise laughed, and when Draco just looked away with a slightly guilty expression, he shot up, putting a hand out to balance him as the nausea hit after the sudden move, but staring at Draco with a dumbfounded expression. "You have a date?!"

Draco shrugged and started to walk towards the portrait hole.

"We were together for the entire day and you didn't tell me you were seeing someone?!" Blaise exclaimed.

Draco shrugged again, "Sorry" he said simply.

"And when will you be back?" Pansy asked in an accusatory tone.

"I don't know" Draco paused, "Maybe don't wait up though?" he suggested with a smirk and Blaise mock gasped.

Pansy just shook her head, lips quirking "you absolute whore"

"Do they have a sister or a friend?" Blaise asked hopefully and Pansy kicked him.

Draco rolled his eyes, gave them both the middle finger, then sauntered out of the portrait hole.

Harry watched him leave with the burning desire to follow him. Well maybe not to see what him and his... lover? would be up to, but he desperately wanted to know who it was. Why do you need to know? a voice in his head asked. For his safety, and maybe for the other person's safety too, to know he wasn't doing anything...immoral, as Hermione had said? Yes, he told himself, that was it.

Harry looked at where Malfoy had thrown the letter into the fire beside him and noticed that as Malfoy was slightly tipsy, he hadn't realised that the whole letter hadn't burned away. It must have been a fairly short note but he could make out the word 'floo' and the handwritten letters FB stood as the writers initials at the bottom of the page.

So Malfoy was leaving Hogwarts to see this girl, Harry thought, and internally his heart raced, he had a new mission. He would find out who Malfoy's secret girlfriend is!