A/N: Thank you for my first review, hermyandron4evr! I was so nervous, but I feel better now. ;D

In addition to that, I would like to say something. I am not adverse to constructive criticism; anything anyone has to offer to help me improve my writing is more than welcome. However, I was reading a fanfic last night where two ANONYMOUS readers flamed this poor girl to death. I've never thought telling someone 'you suck', 'your writing sucks', 'you're a bitchy writer', etc. was constructive, probably because it's NOT. Well, anyway, please don't flame me, unless you have the nuts to at least tell me who you are. Thank you, and I hope I never have to write anything like this again.

Disclaimer: I disclaim the characters.

"OK, Draco," Pansy said when her firewhiskey appeared before her. "Please continue." She lit her cigarette with her wand tip.

Draco, who had been staring out the window again, sighed. Turning to Pansy, he startled her with some unknown look in his eyes, turning the silver a deep, cloudy gray. "I – ." He sighed again.

XXXXX

Dumbledore and Draco descended the stairs, passing many portraits and decapitated heads of house-elves. They continued on, down a dark path and through a door. The kitchen was empty of life, except for a petite woman with long, curly hair, wearing robes of midnight blue. In his current state, he could have seen this woman naked on the table doing a backbend and not batted an eye. The first thing that caught his attention was how cozy this room was. Aside from the woman, it contained only a table set; loads of parchment; piles of books, some stacked over a meter high; and a fireplace. Yet somehow, being as empty as it was, it felt warmer than the small fire could account for. It felt welcoming, as though he somehow belonged here. Finally, his eyes fell upon the woman. He couldn't see her face, but her aura glowed, almost like some kind of inner light.

"Hermione," Dumbledore said. She looked up from the book she was scanning, placing her finger on the page to hold her place.

"Yes, Pro—"she stopped when her eyes alit on the man standing next to Dumbledore. He was tall, only a few centimeters shorter than Dumbledore himself, with what appeared to be very pale blond underneath the mud. His silvery eyes looked familiar, but there was something not quite right about them. He was filthy, this man, covered in blood and streaked with dirt.

"Hermione, I would like to reintroduce Draco Malfoy." Draco thought he saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but when he blinked, it was gone. She was examining him like she would a new book, and it was starting to make him uncomfortable.

"Good morning, Draco."

Had he been in a frame of mind to notice her dark auburn hair, her creamy ivory skin, and her deep brown eyes, he would have been interested in this woman. Instead, he noticed she was being polite to him. The first emotion that ran through him was shock at her polite behavior. He knew he didn't deserve it after the way he treated her all through school. After a moment, he felt a rush of gratitude for her, which was followed by another wave of shock. A Mudblood? Gratitude? He didn't want to think about this now. He'd experienced in the last 13 hours shock, fear, anger, loathing, hatred, surprise, fear (again), shock (again), and now gratitude. It was just too much.

He needed a drink.

XXXXX

Pansy listened the entire time Draco was speaking, not interrupting, but allowing him to tell his story. She was simply amazed.

She had realized at Hogwarts that this rude, arrogant git had other emotions, compassion being one of them. Why else would he have let her tell everyone lies about their relationship? They never even kissed, let alone get it on like she told everyone. It actually made her uncomfortable to realize that she didn't actually know the person she considered to be her best friend. She never knew, hadn't even bothered to ask. A pang of guilt caused her cheeks to turn pink. She had to quit doing this – purebloods such as herself had to remember not to show such emotion. Besides, pink was not her color.

Pansy pulled herself out of her thoughts, noticing Draco was staring out the window again. He had been quiet for about five minutes. Pansy cleared her throat, trying to get his attention.

Fortunately, it worked. He looked down at his coffee for a minute, then cleared his throat. He lit a new cigarette from the end of his old one and inhaled. He held it in for a minute, feeling the burn as the nicotine ate away at his lungs. Eventually, when he felt himself getting lightheaded, he exhaled towards the ceiling. "Where was I?"

"Um, you... needed a drink?"

"Yeah." He gestured at the waitress and asked for some whiskey for his coffee. "Make it a, oh, a triple."

A/N: Ok, there it is. My second chapter. Let me know what you think.

-Kat