My name is Ron Weasley. It's my birthday in two days.
But that's irrelevant. This isn't about me. It's about him.
Malfoy.
The slimiest, sneakiest, most arrogant git on the face of the planet. To say that I hate him would be a complete understatement. He's been trying to make our lives hell for years, doing the most dirty, underhand tricks ever. I wouldn't find it surprisingly if he were really a Death Eater. He's the exact epitome of Slytherin.
I can't begin to say how happy I was when he left in the fifth year. Happy? More like joyful. 'Giddy with glee'.
For some reason Harry didn't seem so happy though. He was downright furious, though only he knows why. Him and Malfoy, I suppose. I don't know what Malfoy did to him, the bastard. He just couldn't leave us alone; he just had to get in that last jibe or whatever, just before he left. Harry did a nice number on him before he left at least; I personally would have made sure the prick would never be able to walk out in public without a mask ever. But that's Harry for you. A good boy, all the way.
Harry was jolted awake by Ron's horrified screeching.
"Wha?" he sat up.
And saw the tiny body huddled up beside him.
"ARGH!" he hollered and with a huge push, sent Draco flying off the bed to skid roughly on the floor.
"What the hell were you doing in my bed?" Harry demanded. Draco uncurled and yawned, then replied.
"I thought you might be cold"
"How would you know if I were cold or not?"
"You gave me your blanket" Draco said.
"Well, I wasn't cold"
"I didn't know that"
"You didn't have to assume it"
"Next time I'll just let you freeze"
"Next time I won't give you my blanket"
Draco paused then grinned. "Fair enough"
Harry had about a million different retorts to say, but what Draco said came as completely unexpected and he was found speechless. Instead, he scowled and stormed to the toilet, slamming the door. Draco looked at Ron, mouth gaping open by the door.
"He's very cuddly when he's asleep. You should try it someday," he said.
In the toilet Harry heard Ron's loud yell, footsteps running away and Draco's child-like, high-pitched laughter.
"Quidditch match tomorrow Harry, remember" a girl said, passing him. Harry recognized her as the new Gryffindor Captain; a girl called Acorn Rossaine. She was a full year younger than him, and even though she was his 'superior' in Quidditch she talked to him with the utmost respect.
Well, she didn't bellow at him as Wood had, at any rate.
"Against who?"
She sighed. "I told you yesterday, Harry"
"I forgot"
"Slytherin, remember?"
"Slytherin… right, right"
Acorn smiled at him then walked away.
"Slytherin…" Draco mused, standing next to the raven-haired Gryffindor.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Who's Slytherin?" Draco asked. Harry felt startled.
"Slytherin's a house"
"House?"
"Why do I even bother?" Harry stalked off. Draco hurried to keep up with him.
"It's the snake one, right?" he asked. Harry halted. Draco shrugged.
"Not very hard… Slytherin, slithering, snakes. Which house is the lion?"
"Gryffindor"
"Oh" Draco fell silent, but was soon talking again. "Gryffindor must be really good"
"Why do you say that?"
"Because it's lion" Draco said. "Brave, strong and courageous"
"Oh"
"Is Slytherin bad then?"
Harry frowned, and Draco elaborated. "Snake. Sly. And if poisonous, highly dangerous. Faster death than by a lion anyway. And the name says enough, doesn't it?"
"What did you say your name was again?"
Draco considered. "Daryn"
"Really?"
"No"
Harry sighed and started the pace again. Draco stayed behind for a while, staring at the large snake emblem hanging on the wall, then chased after Harry as fast as his legs could take him.
"Do you want it to be Daryn?"
"I just want you to tell me the truth"
"Really?" Draco asked softly.
"Of course! Why wouldn-"
"Because I've been telling the truth all this time, and you refuse to believe me. So the truth hurts and you don't want to accept it"
A flicker of something crossed Harry's face then was soon gone. Draco saw it, and finally kept silent, storing that piece of information in his head; yes, he was right, the truth did hurt the teen, and Draco was determined to find out what he had done that was so bad. Harry clenched his fists and for an instant Draco tensed, flinched, afraid that Harry was going to hit him. Then Harry turned and walked away slowly, and Draco relaxed.
He didn't follow.
"Ron?"
The redhead jumped and whirled around, dropping a huge pile of books onto himself. He looked to see who it was and groaned.
"Oh brilliant, Malfoy, thank you so much" he said, kneeling down to pick them up. Draco knelt down next to him.
"Sorry" he said and picked up a book. Ron started.
"What?"
"You're saying sorry?" Ron asked incredulously. Draco looked confused.
"You prefer I kick you in the ribs?"
"Ye- I mean no! It's… Malfoy would never say sorry to anyone"
"You believe I'm Draco?"
"Who are you then?"
"Draco"
"There you are"
"What if I said I was someone else… say… Daryn?"
Ron considered. "I might believe you"
"Might?"
"Probably not. After that fracas with Harry about your name being Draco"
"My name is Draco, you know"
"Yeah, sure"
"Why don't people believe me?"
"Because…" Ron paused. "Because Malfoy was a selfish, arrogant, slimy git"
"And I'm not?"
"Questioning, that's what you are"
"So then who am I?"
"Why don't you answer that for me?"
Draco looked at Ron helplessly. "I don't know. I say my name is Draco, but no one believes me. And when people do believe me, they always call me Malfoy"
Ron was silent.
"Am I really that bad?" Draco asked.
"You? No. Malfoy? Yes"
"But we're the same"
"How do you know that?"
"Do you know another Draco Malfoy?"
"No" Ron answered honestly.
"Draco's not a common name. Neither is Malfoy"
"I know"
"So I'm Draco Malfoy"
"I know"
"So why do you refer to me and me as different people?"
Ron frowned. He was getting immensely confused. "I don't know. You're just… different"
"Different to myself?"
"Yes"
"How?"
"Can you not ask me so many questions…"
"How am I different to myself?" Draco pressed.
Ron sighed. "Well for one thing, Mal- the other Malfoy wouldn't ever be having this conversation with me. If he and I were talking… I wouldn't call it talking. I'd be pummeling his slimy face into the floor by now"
"And you don't want to hit me?"
"If you keep asking questions I might just reconsider"
Draco grinned. He stood up and handed Ron a pile of books he had picked up. "Why do you have so many books anyway?"
"Hermione asked me to help her take them to her"
"Why?"
"Bogged down with homework"
"She works too much"
"No joke"
"Why doesn't she take a break?"
"Why don't you ask her?"
"She's too busy"
"Well there you are. That's why she doesn't take a break"
"But busy people need to take breaks too"
"Tell that to her"
"She's too busy"
Ron sighed in aggravation. "You're going round in circles"
"Oh. Do you need help with those books?"
Ron looked startled. "Uh… alright" he said, leaning down so Draco could take some.
Draco surprised Ron by taking half the stack.
Draco sat in Ron's room, watching the teen work on his studies. "Ron?"
"What?" Ron asked slightly irritably.
"Are you busy?"
"Does it look like I'm busy?" Ron asked, gesturing to the piles of books and scrolls stacked on his table. Draco walked up to the table and hefted himself up by his arms.
"This doesn't sound very believing" he said, pointing at something on Ron's paper.
"Yes, well, it's Divination. It doesn't have to sound believing"
"Mars is in alignment with the Earth and so I shall fall into the Great Lake and be consumed by many tiny man-eating jellyfish?" Draco read.
"What about it?'
"It's the phrasing. Not very convincing. Try 'because Mars is in alignment with the Earth this month I will drown in the Great Lake'"
"Rather short, isn't it?"
"Better than the jellyfish idea"
"Hm"
"Or… you could say that you drown because you walk too close to the Great Lake and the mermen pull you under"
Ron thought about it then grinned. "Perfect"
"Of course, that'll put a bad light on the mermen"
"Who cares? No one takes this stuff seriously anyway," Ron said, scribbling messily on the scroll. Draco fell back into silence.
"Ron?" he asked a while later.
"What is it?"
"Why does Harry hate me so much?"
That got Ron's attention. He dropped his quill.
"I mean, he doesn't even call me Malfoy like you and Hermione do. Why? What did I do?"
"I don't know" Ron said honestly.
"Yes you do; you're his best friend, how can you not know?"
"How do you know I'm his best friend?"
"I can see how close you two are"
"That sounds bad" Ron joked. Draco frowned then realized.
"I mean as brothers"
"I know, I was kidding"
Draco looked at Ron with his ice-blue eyes. "I know"
Ron squirmed a little despite himself under the intensity of those eyes and Draco continued. "What did I do that was so terrible to you and Hermione and Harry?"
"You didn't do anything"
"Don't give me that stuff about 'Malfoy' doing it. He's me, and I don't know what I've done, so tell me"
"Well well. How do I start. You've been trying to make our lives hell since the first day in Hogwarts"
"How?"
"Well, for one, calling Hermione Mudblood. Calling me Weasel. Calling Harry Scarhead, amongst various others"
"Name calling can't be the only reason"
Ron shook his head; no, it wasn't. "You would forever keep trying to get us into trouble. Not just us; Hagrid too. The Gamekeeper"
"I've seen him. Big guy"
"You kept trying to get him fired. You tried to get us expelled. You would yell abuse to us, time and time again"
"I was that bad?"
"That didn't even begin it"
Draco was silent. "Why are you so nice to me then?"
"I honestly don't know. Because you're a little kid. Because I somehow doubt that you're Malfoy. Because you're not a bit like him, however much you say you are him"
"Harry doesn't think so"
"What does he think?"
"You're his best friend. You should know"
Ron sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Unfortunately, I don't. Yes, Harry's my best friend; he'll always be my best friend. But after M- you left Hogwarts, he started distancing himself… I don't know him that well anymore"
"Yes we still talk" the redhead continued, seeing Draco open his mouth. "Yes we talk about stuff like Quidditch. We talk normally. But whenever I get to… to that subject, he goes all silent and closes himself up, like he has something to hide"
"What subject is that?" Draco asked softly. Ron looked at the small boy with his emerald green eyes.
"You"
"Come on now, we want to get good seats" Hermione said.
"MmIwannasleep" Draco said groggily, rubbing his eyes. Harry, true to his word, hadn't given him a blanket that night. In fact, Draco had gone to the room to find it locked. He had eventually gone to sleep in a very uncomfortable position on the Gryffindor sofa, where Hermione had found him the next morning.
"You can sleep in the stands"
"Wannasleepnow…" Draco mumbled but followed. Hermione approached the stands and saw Ron waving at them. She hurried to join him.
"Hey Hermione you're late"
"Yes, well, Malfoy wouldn't move any faster"
"Sleepy" Draco said drowsily.
"Why didn't you just pick him up?"
"I'm not a baby!" Draco said somewhat indignantly.
"Look, they're coming!" Hermione said. Draco looked down. At one end of the pitch a team whooshed out on broomsticks, dressed in splendid colors of red and gold. At the other end, the other team flew out, dressed in greens and silvers. The teams flew around each other, exchanging sneers and taunts. The sense of excited competition was thick in the air.
"Alright everybody, let's make this a fair game, alright?" Hooch said.
"As if" Ron muttered. Draco wondered what he meant by that statement.
"Ready? Go!"
Almost immediately the balls zoomed out, and instantaneously players were rushing around the field.
"What's the point of this game?" Draco asked Hermione. Hermione looked at Draco strangely then answered.
"The Seeker -that's Harry, for Gryffindor- has to catch the Snitch. Once he does, the game is over"
"That's it?" Draco looked disgusted.
"The Snitch is very small. Often it takes ages to be found. Plus, he has to catch it before the other Seeker does, and in the meantime has to avoid all the Bludgers"
"What does the Snitch look like?"
"Like a small golden ball with wings, I suppose"
Draco looked and pointed. "Like that?"
Hermione looked. "Yes, exactly l- HARRY! THE SNITCH!"
Harry saw. He dived for it, just as the Slytherin Seeker dove for it. Draco felt his blood race with excitement as he saw Harry near the Snitch, hand outstretched.
He's going to get it, he thought. He's going to get it.
So he was relatively shocked when he saw a large Slytherin Beater ram his body straight into Harry, sending him careening into the ground.
"FOUL! UNFAIR!" Ron yelled, and the rest of the Gryffindors were yelling the same. Draco leaned over the stands.
"Is he okay?"
"I don't know" Hermione said, looking over anxiously. To their relief, Harry got back onto his broom quickly, brushing off his trouser leg briefly.
"He's bleeding" Draco said.
"Don't worry. A few scratches can't harm him!" Ron said proudly. Draco looked at the Slytherin Seeker; watched as an expression of smugness turned back to pure hatred.
"That was really unfair," he said, staring in anger at the green and silver Seeker.
"Yeah… look, they're off again!"
And so they were. The game dragged on for hours, and soon Draco got bored, only jumping up when the Slytherin Keeper attempted to smash the Gryffindor Chaser's face into the hoop.
So far, the Slytherins were winning by a huge amount. Draco sighed. Why didn't just catch that damned Snitch already?
He looked at Ron and Hermione. They were completely engrossed in the game. Draco sighed again, then thought of something.
If everyone was here… then there was no one in the castle…
With that, he crept away silently, hoping that no one would notice.
The door to Harry's room creaked open as the small boy snuck inside, closing it gently behind him. The silence of the castle unnerved him somewhat; he almost wished for someone to come find him.
Stay focused, he reminded himself firmly. He looked around on Harry's desk. Everything was normal; quills, inkwell, scrolls and books. His eyes suddenly wandered to a chest that he hadn't seen before. He ran to it and knelt down, trying to open it. It was locked.
"What does he keep in here…" he wondered. He stepped back and walked to Harry's bedside table. He saw a long, polish stick of wood; Harry's wand. He obviously had forgotten to take it with him. Holding it in his hand, he walked back to the chest, shaking with excitement.
"Now, how does this work…" he said. He waved it around expectantly. Nothing happened.
"Open" he said. Nothing.
"Open… now"
Still nothing.
"I command you to open"
Nothing.
Draco frowned. He seemed to remember something… a spell…
"Alo… Alohomora"
A red beam shot out of the wand, flinging him violently backwards into the wall. He went back to the chest angrily.
"Why won't you open?" he yelled. Then, for a reason he didn't know the answer to, maybe because he was so angry, he rammed the wand into the lock.
The lock exploded and the tip of the wand cracked, a long crack that went the whole way down a half of it. Draco leapt back.
"Uh oh…" he said. Then noticed that now the chest was open, and ran to it.
"Wow…" he murmured, lifting out something. "What is this…"
He noticed that, when he held it on his hand, his hand disappeared. "An Invisibility Cloak…"
He put it back into the chest neatly then took out the next item. A photo album, filled with pictures of a redheaded woman Draco had never seen before, a man who looked like an adult version of Harry, and a baby. He assumed that they were Harry's parents.
They look nice, he thought as he closed the book and returned it. He pushed away layers of clothes and objects; some he looked at and examined, such as the Omnioculars, but didn't take much interest in them. He took great care to return everything to where it was before. Finally, he came to something at the bottom. He took it out carefully. It was a piece of parchment, slightly yellowed in age but still in pristine condition. He examined the writing. It was elegantly perfect; slanted ever so slightly, with all the loops and ticks in the right place with not a single blotch. He stared at it.
This looks important. I'll look at it later, he thought, putting the paper in his pocket. He looked down. There were only two more items left. He reached in and took the first one out. It was a picture of a boy around two years younger than Harry. He wore a tight black turtleneck sweater, his snowy blonde hair gleaming softly in the light of the moon. He wore a slightly surprised expression, a 'caught' expression, one which turned to an arrogant smirk. Draco stared at it. It looked familiar. But… he couldn't place it. Still, he kept the photograph in his memory, and placed it back. He took out the last object and slowly unwrapped it from its thick, soft covering. He breathed out in awe and held it up to the light.
"Wow…" he said. He turned the object round, watching as the light bounded and reflected.
It was a crystal rose, elegantly shaped, the petals thin and delicate. Upon closer look it seemed as if there was a real rose inside, midnight black, trapped by a case of crystal. Draco touched a petal tentatively. It was ice cold. He quickly drew his finger back, afraid that he might break it. He looked closely at the stalk. Near the tip of the stalk, where it blossomed into the flower, he could see something curling round and round. He looked closer. It was a tiny dragon, almost completely hidden by the petals. Draco frowned. Where would Harry get such an object? He wrapped it carefully back in the thick cloth and placed it back, covering it by the clothes. As he piled the clothes and object back, he wondered, it's so delicate… why does Harry keep it at the bottom? Isn't he afraid it'll break?
No matter. Draco closed the trunk and suddenly remembered the broken lock and wand. He placed the lock back onto the trunk, hoping that Harry wouldn't go opening it any time soon, and hid the wand inside Harry's duvet. Then he walked back out to the Quidditch game, his head full of unanswered questions.
Only when he got out he realized how long he had taken. He had gotten lost in the castle, only found by a house elf about two hours after he left the Gryffindor dorms. He had been taken down to the kitchen where he ate hungrily, talking with a particularly interesting house elf named Dobby, who had almost keeled over with shock (for some strange reason) when he saw him. Finally, a few hours later, when he wandered back into the Quidditch stands, it was late afternoon. The sun had already set, and it was the dark blue of the coming night.
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked when Draco walked to her. The boy detected anger in her voice.
"In the castle"
"You know how scared I was? I thought I lost you!"
"You were engrossed with the game"
"That was hours ago!"
"I got bored hours ago"
"That's not the point"
"I know"
"Frustrating, isn't he?" Ron asked, grinning.
"Are you hungry?" Draco asked.
"Why?" Hermione asked. Draco held up a small bag. "I asked Dobby to make some cupcakes"
"Food!" Ron seized the bag and grabbed the first cupcake he could get, chocolate chip.
"Mmm… sho good!" he munched. Hermione took out the next cupcake, blueberry flavored.
"When did you see Dobby?" she asked Draco, staring at him strangely. Draco shrugged.
"I saw a house elf. She took me to the kitchen. Dobby was there. Nice guy"
Hermione spluttered on her cupcake and Ron snorted. Draco felt a bit confused, but said nothing of it.
"Do Quidditch matches always take this long?" he asked. Hermione hesitated.
"No actually… normally it's a lot faster"
"Oh" Draco put him head on his arms. "Why is it taking so long? Hasn't Harry seen the Snitch yet?"
"Apparently not"
Draco sighed and watched the game. Five minutes later, he spoke.
"It's there," he pointed to the direction. Hermione squinted then started waving. Harry saw her, and she, Draco and Ron started looking very obviously at the Snitch. Harry saw it. He didn't waste any time signaling back; he immediately tilted the broom down and zoomed toward the Snitch. The Slytherin Seeker hadn't even seen him move until it was too late; he had been sitting lazily on his broom, keeping a not very watchful eye on the game, clearly bored out of his mind. When he finally did move to chase after Harry, Harry had already gotten the Snitch, holding it triumphantly over his head. Only a few people noticed this.
"HE'S GOT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR'S WON!" Ron started leaping up and down in excitement, just as the rest of the Gryffindors burst into a mad frenzy of cheering.
"Harry's got the Snitch!" the announcer yelled, and finally the rest of the school woke up and started cheering. Draco noticed with some mild amusement that some of the Slytherins were cheering as well.
Probably happy that it's finally over.
"Come on!" Ron said, grabbing his hand and dragging him along. Draco yelped as he was dragged through a rushing, pushing mass of red and gold. He let go of Ron and ran to the side, clutching it tightly so he wouldn't get swept into the crowd again. He watched as the Gryffindors ran down and cheered with Harry, threw him into the air. Draco looked at the happy grins and smiles on their faces, especially Harry's. He never seemed to look happy. He suddenly realized that the Gryffindor stand was now empty and contemplated going down and joining them. He looked at Harry again.
No, he thought. I'll make things worse. Harry should be happy.
He sighed sadly, feeling a pang in his heart. He didn't know why, and he sighed again as his head started to hurt. He knew so little. Why did Harry hate him so much? Why did he even care whether Harry hated him or not? Why was even getting a simple smile out of Harry such a big deal? Ron and Hermione were so nice to him… why did he keep going to Harry? He wasn't stupid; that much was certain.
And yet only a fool would keep going to someone who obviously hated him so much.
He tried hard to remember back, but the only thing he could remember was yesterday, when he had been thrown through a chimney into Dumbledore's office. All he could think of then had been 'Harry, Harry, get to Harry'. Why? He had been scared, but of what? And why Harry?
Draco remembered seeing Harry, when he had walked into the classroom with McGonagall, terrified, cowering. He frowned.
What was I so scared of?
He remembered Harry. He remembered what had gone through his head; he looks different. As if he remembered him, and yet he could swear that he had never seen him before. And then Ron and Hermione… they seemed to know him, and yet he didn't remember them. If it were true that he had once been to Hogwarts it would explain why he remembered Harry, but why not Ron or Hermione? And… why was he only eight?
He knew the Draco they talked about was him and yet he couldn't remember. He didn't even know really how he knew. He just felt this… this voice, in his head, saying, "That's you, that's you Draco, that's you".
He walked to a chair and sat down, watching the Gryffindors carry their triumphant team on their shoulders inside.
Who was that boy in the picture? Where did Harry get the rose? And why does he hide it at the bottom of the chest?
"Too many questions…" Draco murmured. He looked up into the sky, now a dark blue-black.
"What are you hiding?" he asked to no one in particular. His gaze shifted to the moon.
Wow. It's beautiful, he thought randomly, and shuddered at the sudden strong feeling of déjà vu which seemed to travel down his whole spine, freezing him. His hands suddenly starting to ball into fists, and his whole back blazed with fire and ice, like currents charging up and down his backbone.
What…
Every hair on his head stood up sharply, almost as if trying to embrace the moon. The hairs on his nape stood on end as a shock flew to his brain, like a jolt of sizzling electricity. His jaw started to hurt as his hair suddenly shot out of his scalp, long spikes hanging over his sweating forehead and cascading down his back. It hurt so much, and yet he couldn't tear his eyes away from the moon, the glowing, white moon…
And then his eyes turned silver.