'Harry, Draco was going to be forced to take the Dark Mark tonight. He ran away.' Harry was shocked. 'He has been severely beaten. I believe that pain tolerance is one of the tests Voldemort puts his high-ranking death eaters through before they may enter his inner circle.'

Harry didn't know what to say, so he just stood looking at Dumbledore, waiting for him to continue.

'Harry, you can tell your friends who he is, but you must tell him they are not to speak to him until he is ready. You are only to talk to him when it is absolutely necessary He will be staying in a private room. Just keep your distance as much as possible until he becomes more comfortable here.'

'Professor?' Harry asked.

'Mm?' Dumbledore answered.

'How do we know we can trust him?'

Dumbledore smiled. "Don't worry, Harry. He willingly took Veritaserum. He ran from Voldemort."

Harry nodded.

"And Harry, there is something else I need to talk to you about. Please come see my in my office at noon. And don't tell anyone about this. Understand?"

Harry agreed, and returned to his table in the dining hall.

As Harry reached his table, he noticed worried and confused looks on the faces of all of his friends.

"Harry…who is that?" asked Hermione.

Harry hesitated for a moment. "Um…it's Malfoy," he said slowly.

At this, Maddy looked quite worried. She must have heard stories about him from Hermione, Harry thought.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear. "What? What if he's spying on us? He could be here for Voldemort-" Ron Cringed "-and his father! How can we-" but Harry cut her off.

"Hermione…honestly. Do you think Dumbledore is that stupid? Don't worry…" he slipped his hand into hers under the table. "He was tested with Veritaserum. He ran from Voldemort."

Then Harry noticed something that nobody else at the table had seemed to notice. Ginny was staring off behind them, as if in a daze. Harry turned to see what she was looking at. It appeared that she was staring at Malfoy.

"Um…Gin?" Ginny snapped out of her trance and turned bright pink, her eyes widening. Harry raised his eyebrows at her but, not wanting to embarrass her, did not call any more attention to her at the table.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny slipped out of the dining hall and up to their rooms. Maddy had gone with her parents to their rooms.

When the group finally reached their common room, they all plopped down into the large comfy couches and chairs that were scattered around the room.

"So why is he here, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Dumbledore said he ran from Voldemort." Ron shivered a bit. "Ron…come on. It's just a name. Get used to it."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Keep going."

"You should have seen him… there were cuts and bruises all over his face, his hair was cut really short, and he had a scar like mine across his head."

Harry noticed that Ginny looked a bit worried. "Gin, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked her. She turned pink again, but got up and walked over towards the hall that lead to the dormitories. Harry quickly followed her.

 "Ok, Gin. I don't know what's going on, and I'm not going to tell anyone, and I'm not going to tell you to stop. I'm just letting you know that…you can't trust him. The only thing we know for sure about him is that he ran from Voldemort." Ginny flinched. "We don't know why, or when, or how he got away. Just don't trust him, ok Ginny?"

Ginny smiled. "I thought you were gonna get all mad and start yelling at me for even looking at him. Don't you hate him?" she asked.

"I only hate one person, Ginny."

Ginny gave him a friendly hug, and returned to the common room.

Harry sat down next to Hermione. "What was that about, Harry?" she asked him.

"I'll tell you later, ok?" She nodded in agreement.

Harry lowered his head into her neck and smelled her hair. Hermione giggled and pushed his head up with her hand, kissing him lightly on the lips. He pushed against her, turning it from a light kiss into…something else.