My name is Pansy Parkinson. I'm in my seventh year of Hogwarts, and the most popular girl in Slytherin, the best house in the entire school.
The last Quidditch match doesn't count.
Well I suppose it does. But it wasn't fair anyway. Gryffindor cheated. They've got Potter. And besides… Basil's a lousy Seeker.
I admit. Slytherin hasn't been at its best for almost… one and a half years now. Not since Draco left.
It's funny really. No one ever really understood him. They all see him as this arrogant bastard who doesn't care about anything or anyone except himself. Which is so far from the truth that I could laugh.
It's common rumor that he's the way he is because Lucius tortures him. It's common rumor that he's being trained to be a Death Eater. Only one is true, and it's not exactly voluntary. Like I said, he is not the person everyone thinks he is.
I bet you're all thinking 'Well what do you know?' More than you, that's for sure. For one thing, I grew up with Draco. I knew him since he was little. And believe me, he was- is not the prick everyone thinks he is. He's just been through a lot. Technically torture, I suppose. Not really. But from what I know of Draco… he's the most understanding and charming person I know. He's the way he is because of… influences. And an incident. I'm sworn to secrecy, and I have no intention of breaking his trust.
Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who knows how he's like inside. It just pisses me off so much when other people can't see it. Draco is… subtle. Not like those stupid Gryffindors, running around and hugging each other like mad lovers. The occasional word, a slight touch… it all has meaning.
I miss Draco. I've been writing so much, and he hasn't replied at all. I really do hope he's alright there in Durmstrang. It tends to get colder there this time of year…
The werewolf's eyes widened, and as Harry watched, its eyes turned from liquid silver to chill ice blue. It lifted its head in shock, just as Harry let go of his grip on its mouth. Then it started to change, the transformation so rapid it only took four seconds. Wild, dirt brown fur sucked back into pale skin, ears shrank back into a rounded skull as the body minimized to the one of an eight-year-old. The tail shriveled back, paws lengthening and splitting into hands, fingers, feet and toes, until Harry found himself staring into a pair of wide, terrified sky blue eyes.
But the transformation didn't stop there.
Draco's eyes flashed silver again, and his body started to grow out, the bones crunching sickeningly as limbs extended outwards. Streaks of light platinum blonde shot out amongst his spiky mass of mouse-brown hair, lengthening and softening. Draco screamed in pain, beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
The thought of kicking him off and running away fluttered vaguely in Harry's mind, but he watched in a mixture of slightly sickened fascination and idiotic Gryffindor-ish curiosity as arms and legs grew, losing their rounded, chubby childish shape and turning muscular, the skin turning just a slight shade darker. Harry' forced his eyes to move up from Draco's chest to his face, just to catch the last change; the blonde's eyes making a subtle change from bright, alert ice-blue to slightly clouded and hazy, with small, almost unnoticeable silver flecks, reminder of his lycanthropy, something Harry had never really noticed before. With one final snap the transformation was complete. Silver-flecked ice-blue eyes met with a somewhat bewildered emerald as the eighteen-year-old Draco Malfoy bent over Harry in the same position he had been in his werewolf state, knees and palms supporting him, and gave him the most surprised look the Gryffindor had ever seen in his life.
And that's how Ron and Hermione caught them only moments later.
Ron slammed the door open first. "Harry watch out there's a werewolf on the l-eeeeeaaaaaargh!"
Hermione blinked then turned pink. "Well. I guess you already know"
Harry broke out of his trance. Reflexively, he curled his legs under Draco and kicked him square in the stomach, the same way he had done with the werewolf. To his surprise, Draco was quite a bit lighter than he expected him to be. He flew off the Gryffindor with a yelp, landing hard on the floor.
"This better not be becoming a habit," he muttered, rubbing his back.
"Malfoy?" Harry said in a dazed voice.
"You remember me. Oh joy"
"I'm gonna be sick" Ron declared loudly and ran out of the room. Draco stood up.
"What am I doing here?" he asked.
"You don't know?" Hermione said.
"I'm not bloody all-knowing"
"Considering you were the one who flew into Dumbledore's office through a chimney, turned into a werewolf then attacked me, yes, I rather thought you would know" Harry said.
Draco's face twitched before he turned for the door and left without a word. Hermione looked at Harry, who was staring at the door with a strange mixture of anger and confusion.
"Well, at least you don't have to look after him anymore" Hermione supplied rather unhelpfully.
Draco approached the Slytherin dorms, looking hesitantly at the hanging picture frame.
"Well, are you going to say the password, or not?" it asked irritably, obviously not remembering him.
"Shut up, let me think…"
"What? You don't remember? Huh? You don't remember?" the picture laughed. "And you call yourself a Slytherin?"
Draco lunged forward, bringing his face very close to the one in the portrait. "Listen, I've been away from this school for one and a half years. I was trying to be nice. Now, I don't know the password, but what I do know is you're either going to let me in, or I'm going to have to take you and put you in a furnace"
The picture gulped. "Oh, it's you Mr. Malfoy… I didn't recognize you… long hair and all…"
Draco tossed his head, his shoulder length hair gleaming in the light. "Nice excuse. Now open the door"
The door flew open with such force the ends chipped.
Inside, a few Slytherins looked up in surprise. Draco walked past them, ignoring them. He went straight to the girls' dorms and knocked on a door.
"Hold on" a voice called. Draco waited then knocked again.
"I said hold on!" the voice said more irritably. This time Draco didn't wait. He opened the door and walked straight in. Pansy whirled around angrily.
"Hey, who said I- Draco!"
Draco tilted his head slightly. "Didn't I say I would be back?"
A happy smile blossomed on the girl's face as she stood up and ran to him, giving him a tight hug. Draco stiffened and Pansy soon let go, standing back.
"Right on time too" she joked. Draco's mouth quirked up slightly.
"One and a half years. As promised"
Pansy tiptoed up and touched his hair gently, the ends curling around her fingers. "You've grown," she said.
"Me, or my hair?"
"Both"
Draco touched her cheek softly, hesitantly, almost as if afraid to. "As you've shrunk"
"I did not shrink!" Pansy said indignantly. "All you said was you were going to return in one and a half years… who gave you permission to grow taller?"
"Who gave permission for the flowers to blossom?" Draco countered, a ghost of a smile flickering on his face. Pansy grinned.
"Ah, but those flowers eventually wither and die"
"But are sweet and beautiful in their youth"
Pansy giggled. "Still playing those games? Flatterer"
She touched his face gently. "These snakes get slyer as the get older"
"And more charming?"
"Dragons get charming. Snakes get sly"
"And I am?"
"Both"
Draco smirked. "Then I'm a dragon. I prefer not to think of myself as a snake, thank you"
"My icy dragon"
"My perfect blossom"
Pansy sighed. This had been what she had been missing. The affectionate wordplay, the exchanging and bantering…
"How did you get here?" she asked. Draco's face immediately lost all emotion.
"Floo powder"
"How's Durmstrang? I was afraid you'd catch a cold, it's freezing over there…"
"Dragons don't freeze"
Pansy could sense that he was trying to change the subject. She wasn't going to allow it. "No, but you could"
Draco was silent. He walked to the window.
"You're lucky. This is the best room in Hogwarts"
Pansy sighed. All right Draco, I'll let you off. This time. "Gryffindors get better I reckon"
"Why do you say that?"
"They're higher up there," Pansy pointed to a tower.
"Where they can be attacked by werewolves and freeze in the winter"
"Werewolves?" Pansy laughed. "Why did you suddenly think of that?"
Draco didn't laugh.
Hermione picked up a book, all the pages bent and folded, the cover ripped.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Harry asked, picking up the bed sheets, torn where the werewolf's claws had dug into it.
"That looks like a really nasty scratch"
Harry touched his cheek tentatively, bringing his fingers away to see them slightly bloodstained. "I'm not complaining"
"You wouldn't even if he had stuck a stake through your heart"
Harry grinned. "I'm not a vampire"
"I know" Hermione looked worriedly at the deep scars on the teen's face. "I really hope it doesn't get infected"
"I'm fine, Hermione!"
"Alright, alright…" Hermione said. Inside she was worrying deeply. Blood was caked all over his cheek and chin, and the scar was still red, not healed yet. But she didn't say anything about it. She knew better than to. Harry would just tell her he was fine.
He was just so stubborn at times.
Hermione picked up another book.
"You are going to have to pay so much for new books…" she sighed.
"I know. Bother"
"What happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"What happened?" Hermione repeated. "Why is the room… a wreck?"
"I don't really know… I just finish taking a shower, I come out, and this bloody werewolf jumps me"
"What happened then?"
"We fought" Harry shrugged.
"How did that happen?" Hermione pointed at the wrecked study table, broken and splintered.
"He ran into it"
Hermione tried to suppress a laugh at how absurd that just sounded. "Why didn't you just use your wand?"
Harry frowned. "I don't know… I guess it didn't really occur to me"
Hermione looked around. "Do you have it with you?"
"No"
"Well then… where is it?"
Harry looked at his bedside table. His face twisted into a furious snarl.
Draco walked slowly down the Slytherin corridor leading to the dorms. Hogwarts had hardly changed- it never seemed like it would. He suddenly had a vision of how Hogwarts looked like years back, a portrait hanging right where he was standing. He shook his head with a frown, and the portrait disappeared. Strange… where did that come from? He didn't remember ever seeing that portrait before.
Overworking imagination, he thought, and dismissed it immediately. He breathed in deeply, taking in the smell of fresh apples from his damp hair. He had just showered, borrowing Pansy's shampoo.
I never thought I would think it… but I missed Hogwarts.
He frowned, remembering Durmstrang. For some reason, he thought there was something he had to remember but for some reason his mind was blank…
"Malfoy!"
Harry suddenly stormed up and slammed Draco to the wall, pinning him by his shoulders.
"Where the hell is my wand?" he demanded. Draco looked at him.
"Rather close, aren't you Potter? My, I didn't know you missed me that much"
"Where is my wand?" Harry repeated, yelling.
"And messy. Don't you Gryffindors shower?"
"Where is it?" he shouted.
"Oh calm down. How the bloody fuck should I know? It's not like I frequently waltz into Gryffindor towers and steal wands. I might catch some disease"
"Where. Did. You. Put. It"
"I didn't do anything with it!" Draco yelled exasperatedly.
"It couldn't be anyone else. You must have done something, when I was playing Quidditch. Tell me. Now"
The memory of him jamming something into a wooden chest suddenly came to Draco.
"Let go of me Potter," he said in a deadly calm voice.
"Not until you tell me what you did with my wand"
Draco suddenly brought his fist up, fast as lightning, connecting it with Harry's jaw. Harry stumbled backward, letting go of Draco.
"Bloody stubborn. Heh, never thought I'd be the one calling you that," he said before turning and walking off. The Gryffindor got back up and went after Draco, grabbing him by the shoulder and whirling the surprised Slytherin around.
"Why did you even come back here?" Harry asked. "Why couldn't you just have stayed at Durmstrang?"
"Oh, so now you don't want to see me? Potter, I'm hurt"
"Why did you have to come back?" Harry asked, his tone of voice lower. Draco's face was carefully blank, but Harry could see his eyes soften. Draco had never really been that good at concealing his emotions; they showed too strongly in those cold blue orbs.
"To see you"
Harry punched the blonde in the face and Draco fell straight to the floor.
"Lying bastard!" Harry spat. Draco's face clouded with anger.
"How dare you call me that," he said. "How dare you"
"Are you saying I'm wrong?"
"I've done nothing but think of you. Did you know that? Nothing but think of you, and you accuse me of being a liar?"
"Sure, that's what you did, and that's why I broke your arm when you left"
"I was telling you the truth!"
"Liar"
"I would never lie to you Harry" Draco said, his voice softening.
"Don't give me that crap!"
"I-" Draco tried to think. Why? Why had he left Hogwarts, in such a hurry? He moaned. His head was hurting. Try as he might, he couldn't remember it. It was like someone had erased that part of his mind, leaving it completely blank.
"You what, Malfoy?" Harry challenged.
"Draco?"
Pansy turned the corner. "I thought I heard- what the hell are you doing here?"
She ran to Draco, who was sitting on the floor holding his head. "Are you alright?"
She saw the bruise starting to form on his cheek. "What the hell did you do to him?" she demanded. Harry's face darkened and he turned and walked away without a sound. Out of his peripheral vision he could see Pansy kneeling on the floor and touching Draco's face gently, saying, "Are you alright Draco? Do you need to see Pomfrey?"
It was only an hour later that the Gryffindor remembered that he hadn't gotten his wand back yet.