"Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies. True friends help you move the bodies of those who turned out not to have been friends to begin with."
― Jeff Mach, There and NEVER, EVER BACK AGAIN: A Dark Lord's Diary

Draco sat back, staring at the door through which Lovegood had dragged Potter, and mentally sighed.

'That day just kept getting weirder and weirder-' he sighed, and he still had to muster up the courage for the upcoming meeting in the Slytherin common room, as it was the last night before students leave for their houses. As to maintain his position, he must complete the responsibilities that come with the title.

Draco was not nervous... No, Malfoys never get nervous... He was just a little bit uneasy about facing the upcoming meeting...

"Draco-" A voice called, and Draco snapped out of his thoughts and blinked when he noticed a spoon full of chocolate cake was hovering just right above his lips. Then he looked up to see that Theo was the one holding the spoon, leaning over the table. He analysed the situation out of the corner of his eyes.

There, the entire Slytherin table was observing his actions like a hawk scrutinising its prey, though the other tables were seeming to lose their interest in the topic of him being hand-fed.

'So very Slytherin' he mused. It was a bold move... Theo was one of the people he considered his friend and almost a family member; in short, much more than an ally. If he refused the offering, he would establish that Lovegood was more than his friend... And if he did accept the offer, it would establish that Lovegood was just a friend and he was not, by any chance, courting her, as the thought must be going through the entire Slytherins' heads...

He rolled his eyes and opened his lips accepting the spoon to his lips and he heard several sighs echo throughout the table... Theo grinned at him and nodded, leaning back to his usual position, and he watched Blaise and Pansy let out some relieved breaths.

'Guess they do not want him to date Lovegood after all-' He discreetly snorted, enjoying the sweet cinnamon spice tingling on his tongue along with the dark, rich flavour of chocolate...

'As if-'

The way back to the Slytherin common room was bereft of speech. Everyone was way too quiet, just following after Draco, giving him eyes full of hope for an explanation or simply anticipating his speech. He gulped, but his nose was held high, his face blank and devoid of any emotions as he led the group high on his heels.

"Erosmancy" he muttered to the snakes guarding the door of the dungeons, and he tightened his fists as the snakes slithered to coil themselves, unlocking the huge metallic door with a click.

Draco felt the blood rushing hastily through the meninges of his brain and he clenched and unclenched his jaw, pacing towards his Prince throne in the centre, second to the throne reserved for the heir or heiress of Slytherin, his robes swirled in a dramatic motion as he faced the anticipating audience and settled himself down on his seat, his every motion oozing off elegance, his eyes shining the reflections of green lights burning in the hall. Draco nodded towards them, and soon a fourth-year girl and a second-year boy walked towards the seats reserved for nobility. They perched themselves down in their respective positions, and they were practically bathing in all the attention. Draco smirked at them, re-calling his own reaction when he walked into the Slytherin common room for the first time after returning for his fourth year and the prince's throne started to shine. He was young and arrogant, proud of his position, and entirely innocent of the responsibilities that come with the title.

He mentally sighed, recalling the nights he had to spend reading about the rules and regulations of being a Slytherin, as the prince Throne had chosen him after almost twenty-six years of being devoid of any claim after the last Slytherin Princess, Pandora Malfoy... His father was elated; his mother was proud yet worried, and now he could guess what his mother was worried about.

The throne chooses its claim just like a wand chooses its wizard, judging them worthy of their title, thoroughly studying their potential for magic, but unlike the wand, the throne would abandon the individual if they turned out to be unworthy or didn't work hard to devote themselves to the well-being of fellow Slytherins.

Draco cleared his throat, and the room went silent. The silence was so complete that the waves of lake water thumping on the charmed unbreakable glasses, as well as the sound of burning wood, was the only thing that could be heard in the room, along with a collective intake of soft breaths, "As today is the last night before the Christmas break, I wish you all a merry Yuletide." Draco gave the crowd a small smile and they all nodded at him, murmuring little "same to you" under their breaths.

Draco continued, "The rules are the same; no one below the fifth year is permitted to wander out of the halls unless they have a minimum of two companions of their own age or have the company of a sixth year or above." He eyed the crowd of lower years and they all nodded, though a few of the first years looked like they wanted to contradict him...

'Guess they will learn the hard way-' Draco mentally sighed but continued, "Always remember Slytherins stick together; united we stand, divided we fall. No matter what you do, what you plan, never ever get caught-" Draco smirked when the lower years giggled, and the upper years smirked. Draco's eyes wandered and he caught Severus standing by the pillar with a glint of pride in his eyes, which made his heart flutter.

"The dunderheads-" Draco drawled, eyeing Snape whose lips twitched slightly at him, "- seem to be quite excited about the upcoming holidays, so the curfew time would be two hours early-" Draco said, and heard a few huffs and groans echo in the room.

"The time is turning dire... No matter what our views are... No matter where our allegiance lies, no matter where our faith wanders, we are first and foremost Slytherins. All Slytherins are like our family. Even if we utterly loath a member of our family, outside these doors we stand by their side. What happens in the dungeons stays in the dungeons. Some will try to break this unity, offering bait and glory alike, but in the end, they will stab us. For them, we will be nothing but a slimy snake'... The sorting hat has sorted us. We have the potential to achieve greatness like Merlin himself, and in our hearts, the ambition to do something great strides, make friends and make allies with any or all of the houses, but trust your friends only if they wear the same green and silver as the crest on your chest lies. Being a Slytherin does not mean being a coward; it means we know better when to be brave or when to flee instead of fight." Draco said that even if his brain was filled with quiet contradicting thoughts about himself, he would not let his fellow schoolmates down. He knew he was making a bold statement. Many suspicions would arise by the dawn, but no one would be foolish enough to question him.

All the Slytherins were either smirking at him or raising their brows, and he gave them his own smirk before continuing, "We are perceived as sinners in this school full of saints, so learn to laugh with the sinners rather than to cry in front of the saints." Draco winked, "I can assure you the sinners are much more fun." The giggles from the young witches filled the room, and the two little nobels clapped twice to turn the hall silent once again.

"Last but not least, the names of the individuals staying here must be revised twice, and yeah, never trust the desserts which will be served in the great hall tomorrow morning. With this, the meeting is adjourned."

Draco hastily made his way towards his dorm and locked the door with a bang.

"Dray!" Pansy whined outside the door.

"Draco!" Blaise exclaimed, banging his fists on the door. Draco leisurely cast a silencing charm over the door and, with a sigh, plopped himself on his bed, closing his eyes.

He knew the confrontation was inevitable and he was only delaying the 'friendly' meeting with his best friends, but he was rather tired and had had enough of the emotional surges of today. He sighed again, shaking his head and his hands fiddling with the laces of his dragon-hide boots, which he dropped on the floor and started to un-do his robes.

'Perks of having no roommates-' Draco mused, after the prince's throne had elected him as its heir in his fourth year, he was given the liberty of having the heir and the Prince's dorm entirely to himself as their heir was yet to be claimed.

Draco's eyes wandered towards the opposite side of the room where the large drapes were hovering above the wooden frame of the bed, which had been unused for decades.

He yawned and was about to take the Magic of Souls book out of his bag which the room of requirement had given to him when his eyes caught an elegant peach envelope resting above his table with a large box of exotic French chocolates and he gulped.

His mind rang. He felt a jolt of pure terror run down his spine. His fingers trembled as he reached for the envelope and unsealed the silver wax decorated with the Malfoy emblem.

With a deep breath, he started to read the letter...

My dearest darling dragon,

I hope you are doing fine, my love, and have been properly eating an adequate amount of nutrients to maintain the beauty and elegance of your lineage. I have received quite a number of letters wishing to start a courting ritual from both young witches and wizards alike and I wish you to keep maintaining your charm darling.

Okay, so now keeping the courting letters aside, though I would like you to go through them once to see whether someone is lucky enough to catch your eye, I would like to inform you that I am on my way to attend the annual Christmas ball with Issabella in Italy as she is hosting it in the Zabini Cottage and will be spending about two months catching up with the current cheesy gossip of witch weekly and meeting her new husband, Lord Shafiq... Maybe it can lead to the trip being extended some more months due to Lord Shafiq's constantly deteriorating health, so you don't have to worry about me being lonely at the festival.

I miss you to the moon and back, my dragon but all I can do is wish you luck in your studies and future projects. Our guests were being rather impatient to meet you when I left the manor, my child, but don't fret, I will deal with your aunt's smothering tendencies. As for your studies, trust your godfather and don't hesitate to take your worries to Severus.

That's all my darling. I am attaching a few courting suggestions for you to look at, though your choice will be the final. They will have to pass through me, as a mother knows the best.

~Narcissa ❤️

Draco sighed, a sense of relief washing over him as he traced his finger over the little heart at the end of the letter. His mother was out of the manor and safe with Mrs. Zabini. Draco re-read the letter and his stomach twisted over the words 'our guests', the Noseless Bitch had given him the deadline of the end of the term, but he was getting impatient and soon the pressure would increase. He gulped, thinking about the fate his mother had to face and the consequences of his actions. He immediately shot up and paced towards his study table, rummaging through his drawers to find the charmed-sticky notes.

He took the self-inking quill from the table and peeled off two leaflets of the notepad and stuck them on his table board and scribbled 'Immediate' and 'Future' on the top of the two pages.

Immediate-

Complete the Books.

He had only completed ⅔ of the 'Olde Magic and Ritual book' and had yet to even start the 'Becoming a True Lord' book... He needed to fucking get done with his reading... The Olde Magic and Ritual Book was more than intriguing; it contained various runes and spells that had completely blown his mind, and he was anticipating the right time to use a specific rune against the Nose-less bitch, but first he needed to get himself and his father out of the bind of the dark mark, as the rune will affect all dark-mark carriers.

Find a way to get mother and father out of danger.

Mother was temporarily safe for a few months, as was his father, though in Azkaban dealing with dementors yet safe from the Noseless Bitch. It was only temporary. Soon the bitch would 'free' his father and he would have no choice but to return as his right-hand man.

Confront Blaise and Pansy.

He needed to explain what was going on and the partial truth about his change of sides with his best friends.

Find out what's with Severus.

His mother had mentioned trusting Severus twice, and he knew there was something behind the blind trust his mother was showing in his godfather.

Interact with the girl Lovegood pointed out.Protect Slytherins.

Future

Find a way to change the school curriculum.Find a way to strengthen the Statue of Secrecy.Enhance the protection and early detection of muggle-borns.Intermingle Muggle technology and research with magic but maintain the old essence of magic.End restrictions on dark magic.End restrictions on creatures.

Draco went through the points, and with a sinking feeling in his gut, he knew to achieve them what he needed to do.

Become the Chief Mugwump and Minister of Magic.

Though writing that felt foolish, he knew it was the truth, and the only way to get the fucked-up system to return to normal. He knew it would be an extremely strenuous task with his profile of a perfect 'Slytherin Ice Prince' as well as a 'Death eater' but there was no other way...

So, then he switched the lists and added in the 'Immediate list'.

Study and ace the NEWTS.

He already had every elective required to attain his goals.

'Means I need to study history myself' Draco sighed as his plan of dropping the Advance History of Magic came to a halt, and then he switched back to the 'Future' list.

End the Dark and the Light Lord.

Draco straightened his collar and fixed his tie, and taking a deep breath, he opened his dorm room to make his appearance for breakfast. As he entered the common room, as usual, every single Slytherin was standing in their allotted positions and were ready to face the great hall. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Pansy was giving him a rather discreet glare while standing next to Crabbe and a few second years, whereas Blaise was smiling mischievously at him standing by Goyle and a bunch of first years.

He narrowed his eyes at the Italian boy, but he nodded at the group, and with that, he led the group to the great hall.

He took his usual place at the head of the table and looked up only to see that instead of Vincent and Gregory sitting across from him on both sides, Pansy and Blaise were claiming the position, and his eyes moved to see Crabbe and Goyle were plating their plates with a huge pile of sandwiches sitting on the terminal ends of the table with a few second years.

He wanted to protest, or better... storm away from the table, but it would not only raise questions about his position but also his relationship with his best friends, so he sighed and started to plate himself a few chunks of mashed potatoes and pour his black coffee.

Minutes passed in silence as his friends did nothing but dig their own breakfast, and he was about to relax, but alas!

"Buddlebears look good today-" Lovegood emerged from his back and hummed, smiling at him, and he had to cough the chunk of potato out of his mouth to prevent choking. He gave a half-hearted glare to the blondie and received a peal of melodious laughter in return.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Pansy was studying Lovegood with pure interest and Blaise was giving him an amused grin. Lovegood continued to chuckle, and he dreaded the moment when she would ask Pansy to budge over to get her usual seat and the pug-faced girl would explode, but what happened gave him a mild shock.

Instead of motioning Pansy to budge over as she did for Vincent, Lovegood motioned the third-year girl to scoot over, and, jumping on her bare feet, she took the seat next to Pansy, who continued to study the girl with interest.

Lovegood picked up an apple from the fruit basket and placed it on her plate. With a wave of her wand, the apple again carved itself into small bunny-shaped slices. She hummed in delight and picked up a slice and raised it in front of Draco's mouth. He was about to open his lips but stopped as at the same time, Pansy had raised her hand in front of him with a fresh piece of chocolate that was certainly imported from Japan, her motherland.

And with that, Draco was struck. They were offering him both at the same time. If he took the apple slice into his mouth, he would imply that Lovegood was more important than Pansy, his best friend for ages, and if he took the chocolate first, it would certainly be wrong as Lovegood shares Malfoy's blood and was practically his long-distance family.

'When the Bloody hell did this become feed Draco contest?' Draco mentally groaned.

Seconds passed as he was still in a dilemma when Lovegood's eyes twinkled in excitement, "Ohh!" she exclaimed, and then she turned her hand towards Pansy's mouth, who was way too stunned from the sudden change and turned to face Lovegood, her arm still outstretched holding the chocolate so that the chocolate was now in front of Lovegood's lips.

Lovegood parted her lips and with a delightful hum, she closed her mouth on the chocolate. Draco watched Pansy inhale a loud shaky breath as Lovegood's tongue licked away the traces of melted chocolate piece from her fingers and with her hand, she softly nudged the apple slice to press on Pansy's lips, which Pansy parted almost in the same daze that Lovegood always had in her eyes. Lovegood let out a soft hum which almost sounded like a small moan when Pansy bit the apple slice and Draco abruptly turned away from the bizarre scene... and oh! it was a mistake as he came face to face with a highly amused Blaise, which was never a good sign.

Blaise winked at him and Draco watched him pick up a banana, which was surely the heaviest in the bunch that he half peeled in slow motion, which made Draco roll his eyes, already knowing what the bloody hell Blasie was about to do.

Sure enough, there was a 'thick' half-peeled banana hovering over his lips, and Blaise the bastard he was, was giving him what he calls, an 'extremely flirtatious grin with occasional lip biting', Draco trailed his eyes at the entire Slytherin table and saw the first along with second and third years were watching the entire interaction in confusion may be in dilemma about what the bloody hell is so fascinating to see their Ice Prince being fed with his best friend, whereas fourth years were openly gaping at Blaise and him, the fifth along with sixth and seventh years have their eyes glinted with mischief and Draco swear he saw a few boys giving his an intense gaze as well as a few profusely blushing girls.

Draco's eyes then wandered over to the staff table and he saw the professors waiting for him with pinched lips, and Severus' lips were twitching between a snarl and a smirk.

'They can't possibly give me detention for eating a fruit offered by my best friend.' Draco then smirked at Blaise, who raised his brow in a challenge, which Draco wholeheartedly accepted.

After keeping his actions in the shadows and constantly avoiding the attention, he was rather enjoying the type of attention he was getting at that time, so while maintaining eye contact with Blaise, he slowly leaned to reach the fruit and gazed at his lips with his tongue. He saw Blaise's pupil start to dilate and he internally smirked.

'Oh, you started this-' his eyes shine in amusement as he saw Blaise's face twitch as if he was starting to regret his action, Draco then took out his tongue and licked the tip of the fruit lightly before slowly taking the fruit in his mouth, he heard a loud sound of shattering of glass and before he could stop himself his eyes travelled towards the sound of disturbance and his eyes met emerald eyes shining, staging intensely at him.

He knew he would definitely going to regret what he was about to do but the adrenaline pumped into his veins mixing with his blood and he took a small bite of the banana, his eyes never leaving the boy sitting on the Gryffindor table, he held the piece of banana on his tongue and gently rolled it into his mouth savouring the flavour. He didn't bite the piece and continued slowly enjoying the sweetness for moments before the bite completely melted in his mouth.

The pupils in the emerald iris dilated, and he again took his tongue out to let it gaze over his lips, and with that, Potter stood up from the Gryffindor table and fled out of the Great Hall.

Draco watched the boy pacing towards the exit in haste, and he heard Lovegood burst into her melodious laughter.

"Well, that was something" Pansy blushed, rasped out, and he looked up at Blaise, who let out a shaky breath and just nodded at him, his hand shaking still holding out the offered banana.

Draco couldn't control himself and laughed for the first time in months.

~Love-K.D