The morning of graduation day Draco was sitting up in one of the low branches of a large oak tree. The sun had just started rising and the day was already comfortably warm. His graduation robes were pressed, hanging neatly in his empty closet. Everything he had brought to Hogwarts was packed in his trunk, which was waiting to be brought to the train the next morning.

When he had first come out here, the chipper chirping of the birds that surrounded him was a comfort. Now it was just annoying. He swung his legs childishly. He had developed a bad habit of doing that...

In two days time he wouldbe at the Order headquarters (wherever that was) and they would be deciding his future, more or less. If he didn't get in it... he wasn't sure what he'd do.

Draco looked down at the sound of footsteps. Neville Longbottom was walking toward him. Draco was sure that the other boy hadn't seen him yet. He didn't want to spook Neville, so he waited until Neville had spotted him to speak.

"Good morning, Longbottom," he said merrily. His legs were still swinging.

"'Morning Malfoy," he looked shocked at Draco's friendliness. "I wouldn't have come if I had know that this spot was taken," he mumbled. His hands were in his jean pockets. He, like Draco, wasn't wearing his school robes. Draco shrugged.

"I don't mind sharing, if you don't. There's plenty of room in this old tree," Neville looked at him. Draco waited calmly for Neville to make his decision. Abruptly, he nodded.

"All right," he climbed up onto the branch next to Draco. They sat in a comfortable silence. The sun was turning the horizon pale orange and pink. Draco shielded his eyes with his hand.

"Why are you out here?" Draco made sure to sound genuinely curious, not rude.

"Gryffindor Tower is too busy for me. Girls rushing around, bustling about their hair and clothes. Some of the guys are as bad, if not worse, than the girls! And Harry and Hermione are going back memory-lane about all the times they spent with Ron,"

"So, they're feeling well enough to talk about him now?" Neville made an affirmative noise. He continued after a moment.

"I was completely ready to go by last night, and was really just getting in the way. I had to get out of there,"

Draco nodded. "I wanted to remember Hogwarts like this," he said in response to the unasked question.

"With a million chirping birds making a racket?" Neville asked. Draco could hear thick sarcasm in his voice. He had to admit, the boy had gotten some guts over the years. Draco laughed.

"No, peaceful. With no other people to be loud and ruin it. Peaceful before all the death and destruction of the war,"

"I–" Neville started over in a quieter voice, "I heard that you plan to switch sides,"

"I do... And, no offense, but who told you? It was supposed to be a secret!"

"Harry told me last night. I plan to join the Order and he wanted me to know ahead of time," Draco nodded. He was relieved. He had thought for a moment that his secret had gotten out.

"That sounds like him," Neville chuckled lightly. "... Do you believe that I really want this?" Draco asked. His legs stopped swinging as he looked a Neville intently. Neville was staring at the bright sunrise as if it would tell him the answer. In the back of his mind, Draco wondered how he could stare into the sun like that.

"Well..." he started thoughtfully, "You have been different today. And you haven't been as rude lately..." Neville looked at him. He didn't even blink to adjust his eyes back to the dimmer light. "I can honestly say that I don't know which side I think you're on." Neville looked back at the sun. "For as long as I can remember, you've wanted to be a Death Eater... Everything's changing now. We're all graduating and leaving our safe haven and our opinions of each other are staying here,"

"Not everyone's opinions will remain in the past, you know. There will still be Slytherins who'll look at you and scowl... As well as Hufflepuffs who'll see me and run,"

"I feel sorry for them," Neville said after a few minutes silence.

"Who?"

"Those people who won't be able to drop their silly childhood prejudices... I think it's a good thing you've been able to drop yours before it was too late,"

"Yeah, well, I had help,"

"You bet your arse he did!" Draco looked down below him at the sound of the voice. He laughed.

"'Morning Harry!" Neville repeated the greeting. Harry mumbled a 'good morning' as he climbed onto the branch. He seated himself on Draco's other side.

"Tsk, tsk, Harry, swearing and all. What would my mother say?" Ginny Weasley was climbing up into another sturdy branch a little higher than Draco's. Hermione was right behind her.

"Well, your mum'd probably whack me with a towel,"a smile graced Harry's lips as he said this.

He slipped his hand into Draco's and gave it a squeeze. Draco watched Hermione sit on Ginny's branch against the tree trunk. Ginny settled her back against Hermione's front. They stared at the almost risen sun. Hermione kissed the back of Ginny's head and intertwined their fingers.

"Yes, they're together," Harry whispered in his ear. Draco ignored the chills of delight that went up his spine. He nodded, and they all fell into a contented silence. Harry rested his head on Draco's shoulder. Draco let his cheek lay against Harry's black hair.


Each student was dressed in a plain black robe. A small Hogwarts crest was on the right breast side. The hats were traditional, muggle-looking caps. The tassle that hung off of each was the same: two threads of silver, green, black, yellow, gold, red, bronze, and blue.

Draco was in line behind Neville. Behind him was Artemis Moon(1). Their parents were in seats around them. Someone's mom was already in tears of joy. Neville was stumbling a little. Draco watched him trip. Neville almost ran into Hermione but Draco held onto a bunch of his robes to steady him. He avoided a 'domino effect.'

"Thank you," Neville said it in a hushed whisper. They had sat down now.

"Don't mention it Longbottom," Draco said in the same tone of voice.

"Call me Neville,"

"Only if you call me Draco,"

"Alright." They had the conversation without looking at each other.

Draco scanned the people seated on all sides of him. His mother was sitting on his left, in the front. Severus was on the stage next to McGonagall, Remus on his other side.

As he looked around, Draco realized something. The muggles were seated on the right. The wizards and witches were on the left. A few witches and wizards were scattered amongst the muggles. Even the adults had segregated themselves! Hermione was at the opposite end of the row in front of him. A diagonal look backwards and he found Harry. One row back, two people over from him. Harry gave him a nervous smile. Draco returned it. The whispering between parents, professors and students had grown into talking at this point. Dumbledore stepped up to the podium, singled in the middle of the stage. A respectful silence fell over them.

Draco's nerves chose now to take control. His stomach cramped up. He couldn't breathe well. He zoned out during Dumbledore's speech. One by one, the students went up to accept their awards. He watched Neville stumble up to accept his award. Hewaited behind Hermione for his. He scanned the students nervously. Draco smiled at him. Neville looked less nervous. He accepted his certificate without any problems.

Draco stiffly shook hands with his professors. His relief was minimal when he sat back down. He still had to do his speech with Hermione. Step onein showing the world his change.

"...I'd like you all to welcome our Head Girl, Hermione Granger, and our Head Boy, Draco Malfoy. They will be delivering their speeches now,"

Hermione and Draco walked to the podium amid clapping (and cheering from their friends). Hermione set the papers onto the podium. She sighed and started.

"Thank you for that," she said with a smile. She looked down at the papers and went into 'Head Girl Mode.' "While most of the parents, professors and older siblings present today are used to a separate speech from both the Head Girl and Head Boy, Draco and I have done something different this year–"

"And don't worry, professor McGonagall, we didn't add anything that'll surprise you. We only added things intended to bring us back through memories, remember those we have lost, and maybe get a few of you to think,"

"We have combined our speeches into one, as I think you've all caught onto by now," she continued as if Draco hadn't added something. "Our seven years together in this sturdy (and slightly drafty) castle have been exciting–"

"But, keep in mind that exciting doesn't always mean good," Draco read Hermione's tight handwriting. "Exciting is the adjective form of excite, which means 'to bring forth a reaction or emotion, and to arouse a strong feeling in.' Take our first year for example. On top of making new friends and learning new things, we had a mountain troll in the castle, our first first-year seeker in over a century--" (Harry looked away) "--and the sorcerer's stone right under our noses the whole year."

"Second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened. I'm sure you can all recall what that was like. A group of twelve-year-olds having to question their new friendships. Not to mention that the school almost closed and many muggle-borns attacked."

"Before our third year began, the late Sirius Black escaped Azkaban. No one had before him and no one has since. So, to protect the students, we had dementors stationed outside Hogwarts' doors, as well as patrolling Hogsmeade. Who could forget that our third year marked our first admittance into Hogsmeade, and new classes that shaped our futures?"

"In fourth year our school was opened to the fine academes of Dumrstang and Beaubaxtons for the Triwizard Tournament. We were allowed to watch the tasks set for our four champions. But at the last task one of our champions was lost to us. While those of us who weren't in Hufflepuff didn't know Cedric Diggory as well, I'm sure that we can all agree that he was a good young man who didn't deserve to die at such a young age. The end of this year marked the unofficial return of Voldemort,"

Shudders ran throughout the crowd when Hermione said the name. Draco waited until they had stopped before continuing.

"Fifth year was a bit stricter than the rest. The Ministry sent a teacher to make sure that we were being taught according to Ministry law. So formed the Inquisitory Squad and Dumbledore's army. And the official return of Voldemort,"

More shudders. Draco fought the urge to smirk at them.

"Sixth year many families were attacked. None survived. Last year we lost two fine members of our year: Dean Thomas and Mandy Brocklehurst. They were great people who, like Cedric, didn't deserve their fate. The Ministry of Magic was invaded, and destroyed a year ago yesterday."

"This year hasn't been as exciting as the others. Most activity has been drawn out to into a calm. Except on Christmas, when we lost Ron Weasley–"

Hermione interrupted Draco with a shaky sigh. She was looking straight at the paper. Draco placed a comforting hand on her arm. He looked at her in concern.

All attention in the room was drawn to a woman sitting in front. She stood abruptly and walked toward the doors. Her heels clicked loudly on the stone floors. The sound echoed off the walls. While a few muggle parents were still confused on who the woman was, her pale blonde hair left little room for guesses. The doors slammed loudly behind her. Draco bowed his head solemnly. If that was how his mother wished to leave him, it was fine by him. He continued their speech as if nothing had happened.

"To Mandy, Dean, and Ron: You will be missed."

Hermione paused before speaking. A few girls (as well as boys) had tears in their eyes. The Weasley's, Thomas's and Brocklehurst's had been invited and were worked up as well. Hermione sighed again, and spoke.

"We'd like to point out one more thing before we end this speech. As I'm sure some of you have noticed, the graduation robes for this year are different. They are plain black instead of our house colors. Why, if you didn't know which house Draco and I were in, you wouldn't be able to tell right now,"

"And that was the point. We didn't want to have that separation. So we convinced the heads of each house and the headmaster to let us change the robes. Because when we leave here, our houses won't matter. Theses silly school prejudices we've developed over the years won't pass as an excuse when your boss asks you why you refuse to help the girl up front,"

"So if you pay attention to nothing else today, listen to this. We encourage you to use today to make amends with each other. Make a new friend from another house, you may thank us later."

Hermione and Draco exited the stage. Their audience clapped politely. Harry looked at Draco worriedly as he walked to his chair. Draco gave him a small smile. Just the turn of the corners of his lips. Harry was the only one who noticed it.


A/n– I wasn't sure whether to put in the whole speech, but I figured that since I had written it that I should go ahead and add it. Hope it wasn't too boring!

(1)- 'Artemis' is the Greek goddess of the moon (and other things). 'Moon' is an actual last name for someone in Harry and Draco's year (see book one; the sorting), but I haven't found a first name for that person, which house they're in, or if it's even a male of female character. For this story, it's a girl and she's in Ravenclaw. Not that it matters.

Please Review!

Note: Edited on 12/20/04 for grammar, spelling and punctuation. A few things may be different from the original version, but nothing drastic.

:-:silver-sunn101:-: