Chapter 3

Draco sat down on his silk bed, running his slim fingers over the material. Noticing he was alone, and partner-less, he curled his fingers into a fist and punched the designer pillows. He glanced over at the clock, 8:30am it read. In a couple hours, he would be catching the Hogwarts train, for another 'complete and useless year'. He had packed his trunk last night, while thinking of what he could do to keep himself entertained for the semester until the Holiday break.

As for last night, he knew exactly what his mother was going to say. How Father would be okay, Voldemort's watching out for him, and how puberty was going to be hell this year. He decided not to go.

'I get enough of that from everyone else, I don't need it from my mother.' he thought.

"Goodbye Draco, I love you, don't forget. I'll hope to receive an owl from you once in a while, to hear how you are. Look, there's Vincent and Greg."

"Yes Mother. I will behave and not hurt the family name. Everything will be fine, no worries. I'll be alright. I'm not 11 anymore." the platinum haired boy told his mother.

Draco walked off and took no notice of Crabbe nor Goyle as he sat down.

"Oi! Draco, how are ya? Haven't heard from you all summer, we were worried." Crabbe grunted

"Sorry, did you just say you were worried? I never speak to you over the holiday and you're just now getting worried? Does it take you 6 years to notice that I haven't been affiliated with you out of school? I wouldn't doubt it, you're the same way in class," Draco snorted.

"Draco, are you feeling well? What happened?" Goyle wobbled over to Draco's seat.

"Couldn't be more wonderful. Life happened to me Greg, it was life."

Draco sat back and rested his head against the window. Soon he would have to get up and patrol the little wizard brats. It was the thrill of being a prefect.

"Granger, do watch where you walk, I just got this new robe!" Malfoy snarled.

"Malfoy, I do suggest shutting up before my fist knocks your perfect jaw out of line. Go do something helpful, and patrol around. If I hear one incident about you terrorizing little kids, or Harry for that matter, I'll see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said.

"Coming up with petty remarks now are we, Granger? That's so Mud--" Draco was interrupted

"Sod off. Right. Now. Malfoy." Hermione stormed out of the prefect's compartment.

'I should really work on my comebacks..' Draco thought.

He was walking around aimlessly, ignoring all the kids who were misbehaving and causing mayhem. He blanked out for a while, until he saw Harry looking out the window. He walked in, and Harry ended up yelling and walking out.

'Well, that went great..'

Draco got all the first years to the boats, and the rest of the students on carriages without a problem. He needed to take some fresh air breaths, so instead of taking a prefect carriage to the doors of Hogwarts, he walked up the path. He was alone.

The lake glittered with little yellow lights which were the lanterns hanging from the posts on the boats. Draco could have sworn he saw the lake monster flap one of its tentacles just above the surface. The moon was a vibrant white, and the wind was starting up. Draco took a deep breath of the air and decided it smelled like it was going to rain.

The moon was practically covered when Draco got to the entrance of Hogwarts.

He looked at the moon once more.

'I promise, I won't become a death eater if I can find one person I would be able to trust in. One good person who would be worth saving, one person who could mean that much to me,'

he whispered into the night.

The burly wood doors of Hogwarts opened easily, so Draco could slip in without making much noise. He was late, he knew that, for the Sorting Hat was singing his song.

He took a seat next to Crabbe and Pansy at the Slytherin table.

"Hey Draco, where've you been?" Goyle asked.

"Places, it's none of your business anyways," he snapped back.

"You missed it, Potter tripped over the bench leg and fell flat on his face!" squealed Pansy.

"Did he now? Saint Potter loosing control over his body now, eh? That's a first." Draco smirked and caught Harry's glance from across the hall. He sniggered and then winked and started to chat with Pansy about what sixth year was going to be like.

After the Sorting and the feast, Draco escorted first year Slytherins to their dormitories, then he collapsed onto his own bed, not caring to change. He was full of exhaustion and boredom already. He soon fell asleep to wake up to Crabbe knocking on his prefect bedroom door.

"Draco! Get up! It's breakfast, and you have to get ready for Double Potions! It's first this morning."

"Stop the bloody knocking on my ruddy door. I am up, for Merlin's sake, and I was up before you kindly started to pound on my door!" the blonde yelled to the door as he rubbed his eyes.

"Sorry. Just wanted to make sure, you know? Well, see you in a few, I guess."

Draco mumbled, "Sure, whatever."

When he knew Crabbe was gone, and he was left in the privacy of his bedroom, he changed quickly, and ran to the bathroom to touch up his already perfect features. He flexed his muscles and traced a finger over his taught abs.

"Mmm, I wonder what lucky girl gets to have me. It's like the mad race to save Draco." he stared at the image of himself in the mirror.

He blinked and then felt terribly woozy, like he was drunk. He almost slid on the tile floor and fell, but he caught himself.

"Wow, what the hell was that?" He leaned over the sink to look at his grey eyes. They were normal. No redness, or puffy rings around them. He felt normal again, and decided it was just because it was too early in the morning and he was tired. Draco gathered his things together in his leather sack and slowly walked to breakfast.

After a relaxing meal of eggs and bacon, the Slytherin walked off to Potions with his head hung low, but his strides were long. When he arrived, Snape was reading over a piece of parchment, not taking any notice of Draco, his favorite student.

Slytherins and Gryffindor entered the room, getting ready for the first class of their sixth year.

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"Harry, hey Harry!" Colin called.

"Oh, hi Colin. What's going on?" Harry stammered, uninterested in the Creevy.

"Nothing much," *click*, "Just getting everyone's picture on their first day back."

"That sound wasn't you taking a photograph of me, was it?" Harry started to get angry.

"Yes, actually it was. I ought to be off now! See you around!" Colin bounced away.

Gryyfindors were starting to fill the seats, chattering among themselves. Some made conversation with Harry. Hermione and Ron were joking around, trying to lift Harry's spirits. It was working.

".. And then Fred was like, 'NO! DON'T TAKE THAT AND MIX IT WITH THE EWTER!' by the way, Ewters are Fred and George's new creation, makes you feel like a million bucks.. But after Charlie spilled the ingredients all over the floor, it burst into flame and now Charlie's hair is a bit shorter. Mum's glad," told Ron.

Everyone laughed. Harry started to feel much better, now that he was around familiar faces, and he was with friends who cared about his well being. The Gryffindor boy stood up to go talk with Hagrid, but his robes were stuck underneath the bench and caused him to trip. He felt his face redden, but he could only hear harsh giggles from the Slytherin side of the room. He got back up, and was very happy no one had noticed besides the greasy green gits. He sneaked a glance over to the Slytherin table. Harry could have sworn Draco winked at him, but he couldn't be sure. He ignored it and went back to having fun with his friends.

Harry went straight to his bed, not waiting for Ron to finish with his duties. It didn't really matter anyways, Harry was tired and needed to sleep before he got too grouchy.

The raven haired boy awoke to a punch on his arm from Ron, yelling at him for not waking up early enough. Now they were going to be late for Potions, and Snape would be mad.

Luckily they skipped breakfast and ran straight to the dungeons, making it just in time before class started. The majority of everyone was there already, but Ron and Harry weren't the only ones who were late.

After a very boring double lesson with Snape, completed with many lectures and morose glances at the Gryffindors, it was over, and the Gryffindors had Transfiguration before lunch. The Slytherins had History with Binns.

Harry successfully transformed his piece of copper into a small owl. He started talking with Ron and Hermione about how they were going to have fun this year, no matter what.

"You're right. We need to be more relaxed this year, but you two have got to do you homework on your own. I'm only helping you with very little now. I was surprised when I saw how well you did in your O.W.L.s."

"Thanks Hermione, I'm glad everyone thinks we weren't capable of doing well." Ron joked. He was turning into a spitting image of his two twin brothers.

When Transfiguration ended, it was time for lunch. The older Gryffindors were almost the first ones to the hall. Slytherin was there before them. Harry devoured his sandwich quickly, and everyone was surprised by how fast he ate it.

The next class was Divination. It was a breeze because today, Professor Trelawney couldn't find anything wrong with Harry, so she just called for a free study class time.

They were done with classes for the day. Ron was beating Hermione in a game of chess when Harry had said he wanted to go outside for a bit to think and calm down. His friends nodded and kept battling each other in the form of wizard chess pieces.

Hogwarts may be known for its great academics, but you can't describe how wonderful the grounds are when you need somewhere to breathe. Harry sat down, leaning his back against a tree, and started to inhale deep breaths of fresh air. It felt good to his lungs, so he repeated it until he fell asleep.