Hey guys! I didn't forget about the story after all, I just suck at keeping a schedule. Hopefully there wont be as big of a gap for this next one.

I said it once and I'll say it again, If I wrote Harry Potter Dramione would be canon

I do not typically give second chances boy.

That was all the letter had said but it was enough to send ice through his veins. It no longer mattered what he wanted or how he made any of them feel, these friendships needed to end and they needed to end now.

But how would he tell them?

He had been hoping that he would have time to come up with a plan, but if course Harry and Ron had chosen that moment to come down into the common room with stupid grins on their faces.

"Draco, we have to tell you what we found out over the break!" Weasley said

He didn't want to do this, but he wasn't selfish enough to risk the wrath they would endure at no fault of their own. Draco couldn't think of a single thing that his father wouldn't do to them besides the killing curse; and honestly, with how he had been as of late that might not even be off of the table. He took a few deep breaths and tried to find a good way to do this, but nothing would come to him.

"I don't care what you found out."

Both boys froze in place before Potter cleared his throat, "Is something wrong Draco?"

He stood so quickly that his head spun a bit, "Yeah there is. You two are what's wrong, along with that bushy hair know-it-all."

"What's your problem?" Weasley asked, cocking his head and puffing up a bit, "No reason to talk like that….."

"You lot are my problem," he hoped that they couldn't hear the shake in his voice, "I'm a Malfoy, it's pathetic for you to think I'd actually want to be friends with any of you."

Neither boy responded, only looking at him with blank stares.

Or at least that's what Draco had thought, but after a few moments of silence he realized that their eyes weren't on him, they were behind him.

"So you were pretending to be our friends then….this whole time?"

Fuck, not her. He was hoping that he could just ignore her existence out of his life, but apparently she was going to be here for the entire shitshow. That's probably better honestly, allowing him to just rip the bandaid off and take care of it soon rather than put it off and risk more things to get back to his father.

But the tears that were threatening to leak from her eyes reminded him as to why he had so desperately wanted to tell Harry and Ron this without her present.

"You could say that," he hoped that none of them could hear the shake in his voice, "Though I'm not sure why you thought we would be friends in the first place, I'm pure blood and you're a…. You're a…."

WHY COULDN'T HE SAY IT.

"A what Draco….?" her eyes were still watery but her voice held steady.

"I… I don't have time for this. If you lot knows what's good for you then you'll leave me alone. I don't…. I don't want your friendships. I may be stuck in this terrible house, but I'm not that pathetic."

He managed to walk confidently out of the common room, and he continued to walk with no destination in mind. His thoughts were a jumbled up mess of fear and stress, he couldn't even remember what day it was let alone if classes were back in session; not that he could have brought himself to sit in the same room with anyone from his house. He had no idea how he would be able to continue charms class, where he was supposed to be sitting right next to Hermione, especially if the only other spot that had been open was next to the Longbottom kid who was also supposed to be on his shit list.

"Hey Draco!"

His speed increased until he was sprinting through the hallways and had burst to the grounds outside, but whoever had called his name had seemed to follow him out here. Why none of them could leave him alone he didnt know, damn gryffindors and their stupid big hearts.

"Oy Draco! Wait up mate."

Wait…. He knew who that was,

"Theo." he spoke as he stopped his movement, "Sorry, had I known it was you I would have waited."

He turned to see the boy jogging towards him with a crooked grin on his face. Theo and Draco hadn't been very close growing up, even though he and his father were around the manor all the time. Theo's father was a lot like Draco's in the fact that he wasn't a man you wanted to disobey. The amount of times he had been present for one of the beatings had caused a friendship to be difficult to create, but out of everyone he had grown up with Theo was the only one who understood what he was going through.

"Where are you going?" he asked when he finally caught up to him, "And why aren't you going to breakfast?"

Draco shook his head and began to walk again, this time slower as to not leave Theo to far behind, "I'm sick of having to sit with my house so I'd rather just skip the meals and have an elf bring me food later," he forced, what he hoped sounded like, a lighthearted chuckle, "I just can't stand being surrounded by blood traitors and mud…"

FUCK

Theo made no comment on his inability to finish the word and Draco was grateful for it. Before he had been forced to spend so much time with those idiots he had had no issue saying that word. There wasn't even anything wrong with the word, it described exactly what those kinds of people were, with muddy magic running through their veins instead of the magic of a pureblood.

Right?

Of course he was right, what a stupid question.

"Well I don't want you to sit out here alone." he said, finally replying.

"Don't worry about me, I'd rather be alone than be around them."

Neither spoke for a moment, but soon Theo cleared his throat as he turned back to the castle.

"I don't know what I would do if I was put into the wrong house…"

Draco didn't know how to respond to what he was saying, so he chose to stay silent instead. Eventually Theo began to walk away from him but stopped after a few steps and turned back towards him.

"But….. I do know that no matter what, my father would be mad. I know because I'm in the right house, but he is still saying things and punishing me for anything he can. I'm 3rd in the school right now… even though there are alot of us and I'm trying as hard as I can… It's like I'm also surrounding myself with the wrong people. Sometimes…..sometimes….."

Theo ran back towards him and before Draco knew it he was engulfed in his arms, "Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do. It won't ever be enough. I know you don't actually like me…...not really, not like you did with Blaise and Pansy, but I really want us to be close. Because when everyone else talks about their parents I have to stay silent because it always makes people uncomfortable. Even though I'm in the same house and wearing the same colors as everyone else it's like I don't belong either."

Draco had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation so he just gingerly patted the boys back until he finally let him go. Theo's eyes shined bright and he had a small smile on his lips that became bigger and bigger until he was loudly laughing.

Draco froze…...had this been a joke?

"I'm…. I'm sorry. I just…" he rubbed his eyes as he plopped himself onto the grass, "It's like neither of us can do anything right. I know what your fathers been saying because Blaise has been bragging about it. He thinks that eventually you'll get put back into Slytherin and everything will fix itself and he also thinks that what he's doing is helping. I don't think he understands that parents like ours don't just scold you and then help you solve your problems."

He was still laughing to a point where there was a tear coming from one of his eyes. Though Draco couldn't find a single thing funny he too soon found himself uncontrollably laughing until his sides began to hurt. It wasn't funny, what they were discussing, but that's what was making him like this. The knowledge that the others thought that they were helping him, even by bullying him and trying to seriously hurt one of his friends, they still thought that they were doing the right thing.

His friends.

Specifically Hermione, who had been there since day one and never treated him the way that he had expected to be. She had acted like he was any other person, because to her that's all he was. When he thought about it the only other people who treated him like that were his mother and…..

And Theo.

"I think we're friends." Draco said, suddenly realizing what Theo had said, "Not like I was with Blaise, you're right, but Blaise isn't the person out here with me right now, you are. So maybe….."

"My father doesn't want us to be friends."

Draco couldn't even bring himself to meet Theo's eyes. Why had he followed him out here and talked with him if he were just going to say something like that? Rejection a-fucking-gain and this time it had really come out of no where. Was this entire thing just to remind Draco that no one really liked him.

"Go away."

"Not yet. My father says that you're nothing but a disappointment to your family name, and that you'll never amount to anything."

When Draco finally glanced up he saw that though Theo's face was blank, but his eyes were burning with raw emotion, "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm in Slytherin, the correct house. I'm only hanging with the correct people, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to and my father said that if you could just act like me then maybe your father wouldn't be so angry with you."

Draco couldn't stop the tears that began to fall down his face, after everything that was this morning he didn't think he could handle much more, "Go away Theo."

"But I'm not finished," he never looked away from him, "I'm doing everything that a pureblood should be doing. But my father still sends me howlers to let me know how awful I am. My father still beat me over the Christmas Holiday because I could be doing better. And back when we were on the same page, back before we even came to this place, both of our fathers were still beating the ever loving shit out of us. So maybe….. Maybe they aren't going to be happy no matter what we do. Whether I surround myself with blood traitors or mudbloods or even if I never said a word to anyone else my father was going to beat the hell out of me when I returned home for the summer. So maybe we should just do what makes us happy now ya know? Because either way we won't be good enough."

There wasn't a single thing he could think to say back so the boys just sat there staring at each other until Theo finally stood up, dusted himself off and then wordlessly made his way back up to the castle.

Draco had attempted to attend at least one class today, but instead he found himself in the same crevice that he and Hermione had hidden in on the day his father had shown up to the school. He had tried to keep himself busy by practicing spells that he had already mastered, but it only got him so far and he had soon found himself curled up in the dark and drowning in his own thoughts. Everything that Theo had said was true and it made Draco wonder if he really wanted to end the friendships that he had managed to make. Only a few months ago Draco would have been disgusted with himself for this, and a small portion of him still was, but it had been so nice being around people who seemed to just want friendship and nothing more. No one was asking for anything, and no one had brought up his money even once. They saw him, and not what he had to offer. He had thought that his friendships before were real, and though they may have been, they were nothing in comparison to what his housemates were offering him and that itself left him feeling terrible.

Did he really want to be their friend? Or did he just crave the comfort they just seemed to radiate without a single thought.

"Ah , how are you? Do you have a moment to help me with a task?"

Draco jumped at the sound and turned to see the headmaster standing behind him like it was the most natural thing in the world to be where they were. Dumbledore gave him a small smile and then turned and began to walk into the hallway without a look back.

"Thank you very much, it won't take long and you should be done before lunch. I don't want to keep you hungry and away from all your classmates."

He couldn't find the words to respond but still found himself trailing after the odd man. When he was fully out in the open Dumbledore turned back to him and smiled once again before making his way down the hall.

"You see, I have a student that needs to be taken from Madam Pomfrey and returned to the Gryffindor common room. I could do it myself, but I have much going on and I was hoping that you would be free to help with this errand."

Before Draco could even open his mouth he was being led into the hospital wing where he couldn't help but see that Neville was the sole occupier of the entire hall.

" , I have brought someone to escort you back to your room. Be sure to get some rest and eat a few sweets at lunch to make yourself feel better. And Madam Pomfrey, a word if I may?"

The adults walked from the room leaving the boys alone to stare at each other. Neville wore the same look of nervousness that he always had on and today Draco just wasn't feeling it. He couldn't understand why Dumbledore had sought him out to do this, but he was seriously regretting having followed the Old Coot.

"Come on Neville, let's go."

"Why did you say those things to them?"

"Bloody hell Longbottom what gave you the idea that I would want to talk to you? I'm only here because Dumbledore told me I had to walk you to the common room so if you don't my shutting your face and coming." Draco rolled his eyes, "You would think that at least one of you purebloods would be smart enough…"

"Mione is plenty smart, and her blood doesn't change that. My nan said she is the brightest witch since Lily Potter."

"And where is Potter's mum now Longbottom?" Draco sneered, "A pureblood wouldn't have been stupid enough to get themselves killed when they had a child to take care of.

"You better stop it Draco" the boy wheezed like he was trying not to cry, "Not everyone's parents are weak enough…"

Draco leapt onto Neville and began swinging on him, taking out all the frustration the day had given him. He didn't know why he was even doing this, why he was so upset at a comment that wasn't even finished. Was it because he refused to let his mother be spoken of that way, or was it because he knew the boy couldn't have been more spot on about his father.

He was weak.

And Draco was weaker.