A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you are happy that, this time, I did not make you wait forever for an update! Well, here it is anyway. It is longer than my other chapters, and if you dislike long chapters, I am sorry. I had the whole thing planned out, and then, while I was writing it, I got all these other ideas and simply had to put them in... Oh well. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! Please keep them coming, guys. I really need them!

Dislaimer: Thought I'd put one of these in this chapter. Just so no one deletes my story or anything. Still don't own Harry Potter. So that's that.

The weeks went by very quickly, and both Harry and Draco had plenty to do; Draco was busy with homework, as he had been previously unable to do it, and Harry, who had been extremely bored during the month he had had to spend with the Dursleys and had, therefore, finished all his homework weeks ago, had several books to read that he had ordered that summer. Harry and Draco also spent a lot of time in Diagon Alley, walking around, looking at books and brooms, and talking. It was strange to Harry how much faster time went by when he had something to do and someone to spend it with.

A week after Harry and Draco had come to the Leaky Cauldron, they both received something they had been waiting for since the end of last year; their OWL-results had finally come. Harry had done a lot better than he had thought;

In Charms he had received an O on his theoretical exam and an E on his practical one, he had gotten E's on both his Transfiguration exams, and in Herbology. In Defence Against the Dark Arts he had, as expected, gotten two O's, and in Potions he had, to his great surprise received an O on the written exam and an E on the practical one. He didn't know quite how he had achieved this, -he must have known more about Potions than he had realised. He had also received an O on his Care of Magical Creatures exam. Harry was, all in all, very happy with himself until he reached Astronomy. He had gotten an E on his written exam, but had, due to the distraction during the test, only received an A on his practical exam. Then came Divination. On that exam Harry had received a P, and he was actually surprised that he hadn't gotten a D. That grade came on his History of Magic exam though. But Harry was, all in all, very happy with his results, and he spent the rest of the vacation feeling a lot better about himself than he had done in a long time.

The last day of the vacation came and went, and before Harry knew it, his trunk was packed and he and Draco were sitting in a Ministry-provided car on the way to King's Cross.

The Ministry and its officials had, naturally, tried to humble themselves and apologise to Harry after they realised that he and Dumbledore had been telling the truth all last year, and this was one of the ways they were trying to do just that. They had also conveniently ignored his use of magic the night he had been kidnapped by Lucius Malfoy.

The article about him, and this incident, had, to Harry's great relief, been extremely short; the only information the reporters had managed to acquire was the little he had told them. Now, as he was sitting in the car, he thought that he had, for once, been smart in what he had done. For had he not told them anything, they would certainly have become even more curious, gone further into it, and found out more details.

The ride to King's Cross took only twenty minutes, and Harry and Draco were soon entering the station, dragging their trunks and Hedwig's cage behind them, moving towards the barrier that hid platform nine-and-three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express would be waiting for them. They were early, as Harry had requested earlier due to the fact that he didn't want any surprise meetings with Ron or Hermione before he was ready to see them. He would just have to make himself ready on the train.

As they passed through the barrier, Harry first, closely followed by Draco, their eyes were met by the familiar sight of the scarlet steam engine waiting to take them to Hogwarts. They climbed on board and found an empty compartment at the very end of the train (actually, almost all of the compartments were empty, but they figured the further back, the better) where they put all their stuff, Harry putting Hedwig's cage on the seat next to him.

They sat in the compartment for a while, just talking about what was going to happen when they met up with Ron and Hermione and the rest of them. They found out that it was probably best to just wait and see.

When Draco's watch showed ten to eleven, he decided that he'd better go to the front of the train and join the other prefects, so he got up to leave, giving Harry an apologetic look as he opened the compartment door. Harry, finding this amusing, merely grinned and shrugged. Draco left the compartment and was on his way towards the other end of the carriage, when Harry thought of something.

"Draco!" he called, and Draco turned around, raising his eyebrows. "Be civil with them, ok?"

Draco merely gave him an evil grin and turned back around, opening the door that led to the carriage in front of them and closing it behind him as he disappeared.

Harry sighed, shaking his head. It was no use. Draco would be Draco. There was no point in trying to push it any other way. He sat back down, staring out of the window, and was soon lost in thought.

He didn't notice it when the compartment door slid open and someone sat down, saying his name softly. Only when the person reached out and poked him in the arm did he turn around, slightly startled.

"Ginny!" he said, still surprised at finding someone there. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

Ginny smiled and giggled slightly.

"You looked like you had been petrified or something," she said, clearly amused.

Harry smiled weakly.

"How's your summer been then?" he asked, hoping it had been eventful, as that would direct the conversation away from him.

"Oh, not bad," Ginny replied, shrugging. "Nothing out of the ordinary. –We did miss you though; we had been hoping you would have been able to make it to the Burrow this summer."

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You weren't at Headquarters?" he asked.

"Some of the time," Ginny said. "But not all summer, no. Not like last year. We went back and forth quite a bit. It was actually quite annoying, cause we had to take every safety precaution in existence every single time we wanted to go somewhere. Then again, I suppose if you had made it we would have had to stay in one place a lot more, and I am guessing that one place would have been Grimmauld Place, so…"

She gave Harry a nervous glance, as if afraid that mentioning the name of Sirius' house would upset him. Harry just sighed.

"I guess so," he said sadly. "I was fine though. Spent a lot of time in Diagon Alley. Read a lot. Did all my homework, for a change."

Ginny looked sad too. She looked at her feet for a moment before fixing her gaze back on Harry and opening her mouth to speak.

"It's fine, Ginny, I'm fine," Harry said, before she had a chance to say anything. "You don't have to- everyone is always… I don't- It's ok, it's fine. Really."

Ginny didn't look satisfied.

"I was just going to say that I am sorry," she mumbled.

"You don't need to be," Harry curtly replied. "It isn't your fault. Don't be sorry for something you can't help. I have enough with being sorry myself, if I don't have to worry about making everyone else sorry as well."

Ginny looked offended, and Harry put his head in his hands, sighing in exasperation. He never did seem to find the right things to say. His words hadn't come out the way he had intended them to either; he hadn't meant to sound so short and irritated.

"I'm sorry," he said, not looking up. "I didn't mean that. I'm an idiot. Just ignore me."

Ginny reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok, Harry," she said softly. "Just don't say that to Hermione. She'll cry."

Harry looked up to see Ginny grinning, and he couldn't help but smile himself. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he was laughing, and Ginny, who seemed to have been caught by surprise by this sudden reaction, was soon laughing with him. Everything was funny all of a sudden, and neither of them noticed it when the train started moving.

They sat for a while, saying the most random things they could think of and bursting into laughter every time, the Hogwarts Express moving ever further away from London. Harry couldn't remember having had this much completely pointless fun in a very long time, and it felt very good to be able to laugh properly again.

In the middle of one of Ginny's strange tales, the compartment door opened again, and Draco stepped in, causing Ginny to stop mid-sentence and scowl angrily.

"What do you want?" she asked irritably as Harry, unnoticed by her, gave Draco a wave, now trying to hold back his laughter.

"Be civil, huh?" said Draco, frowning. "Not bloody easy with that attitude."

Ginny gave Harry a questioning look.

"It's ok," Harry said. "He's ok. It's all ok."

And with that, he burst into laughter again, completely clueless as to what he found so amusing. Draco raised his eyebrows at him.

"You need me to come over there and slug you?" he asked. "You haven't been-"

Harry sobered immediately to give Draco a very stern look, telling him without words that he should not continue on that particular topic while Ginny was with them.

Ginny was now looking so confused that Harry felt genuinely sorry for her.

"Look," he said calmly. "Draco and I were sort of forced to spend some time together this summer, so we both decided that it would be a good idea to just make the best out of it, and well… It didn't turn out to be so bad after all. –It sounds unbelievable, I know," he added, seeing Ginny's perplexed look.

"It's quite simple actually," Draco started, but Harry cut him off.

"Shut up, Draco."

Draco put a hand to his chest, pretending to be offended.

"Way to make a person feel appreciated."

Harry smiled, shaking his head.

"You moron," he said, amused, while Ginny looked back and forth between them, wearing the same bewildered expression.

"I can't believe this," she said suddenly, causing both Harry and Draco to stop their bickering and look at her. "How can this be? Why are you- and why is he-? This is not happening. Harry! What on earth will Ron and Hermione say? Ron'll have a fit –you know him…"

"Yes, I know Ron," Harry said tiredly, while Draco sat down, looking at her. "And it isn't… -something happened this summer, Ginny. Oh, sod it, I was kidnapped. By Lucius Malfoy. Draco helped me, ok? It all sort of developed from there."

Ginny raised her eyebrows.

"Wait, you were kidnapped? By his father? And he helped you… -but what's to say he isn't going to betray your trust the first chance he gets?" Ginny said angrily, quite unconcerned by the fact that Draco was sitting right next to her.

"Veritaserum," Harry answered simply. "Don't think that Dumbledore, and I, didn't take precautions. And even after his words had been proven true, it took me a long time to trust him. I still wouldn't tell him anything of real importance –no offence, Draco-"

"None taken."

"-but I felt that, after what he did for me, he deserved a chance. And only that. One chance. Doesn't everyone deserve as much?"

"Well that depends," Ginny replied, eyeing Draco with great distrust. "But one can't just ignore everything that he has done to us over the past four or five years –how can you just forget that, Harry? The comments, the rude remarks, the ways in which he set us all up?"

Harry sighed, not knowing quite what to say. He knew what he wanted to say, but how was a different matter altogether.

"I think-" he started, putting a hand to his head and rubbing his scar absentmindedly. "-that people do stupid things. I think that a lot of the reason people do these things is pressure. No one's perfect, Ginny-"

"You can still do a whole lot better than-"

"Ginny, please," Harry said, exasperated.

"You know what?" Draco interrupted suddenly. "I really think I should just go."

"Oh, shut up," Harry said angrily, now so annoyed with everyone that he didn't know quite what to do.

"You know, you're always telling me to shut up," Draco said, also looking angry now.

"Well, that's because you're bloody bad at it, now isn't it?" Harry replied, as Draco gave him a look of pure loathing. "Look, I'm trying to explain and work everything out here, and you are both being idiots!"

"And who's to say you're not one?" Draco and Ginny said in unison.

Harry nearly screamed in frustration.

"NO ONE!" he cried. "No one's to say I'm not one! I am an idiot, ok? The whole bloody fucking world is an idiot! But you are both missing the point!"

Draco's mouth fell open and Ginny's eyes almost popped out of her head.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, now feeling utterly ashamed of himself on top of everything else. "I'm really sorry."

He looked at Draco, who nodded at him, looking as though he was finding the whole situation extremely awkward. He then looked at Ginny, and found himself thoroughly surprised; she was sitting there, a grin on her face, clearly trying to suppress laughter.

All of a sudden she couldn't suppress it any longer, and she burst into laughter, nearly falling out of her seat; Harry had to lunge over and grab her arm to keep her from doing just that.

"What on earth is funny?" Draco asked, as Harry struggled to keep Ginny in her seat.

"Nothing!" Ginny panted, grabbing Harry's arm and pulling herself to an upright position. "It's just (more laughter) –you sounded just like Ron, Harry… And I'm not used to you sounding like Ron. It really doesn't become you…"

She laughed again, tears now rolling down her face.

It took a while for her to calm down, but when she finally did, she turned to Draco.

"One chance," she said, back to being serious. "One."

Then she turned to Harry.

"I think Ron and Hermione will be coming soon," she said quietly. "They are probably looking for you right now; they were both very anxious to see you. Ron will not be happy though, but you know that of course. He was in a very good mood this morning though, so that may be of some help. Ron's mood can, naturally, change very quickly when he hears or sees something he doesn't like, as you know."

Harry nodded. He had been dreading that particular reunion for some time, not because he didn't want to see Ron again, but because he knew that Ron wouldn't be very understanding when it came to the whole situation with Draco.

"I'll try not to scream at him," Harry said, grinning slightly.

"Good plan," Ginny said, smiling too. "But I think I have to move around a little now –I haven't said hello to everyone yet. So I'll see you later, Harry."

And with that, she got up and opened the compartment door, closing it behind her as she left.

"Well, that was interesting," Draco muttered, after a small pause.

Harry put his head in his hands again and groaned.

"They're going to think I've lost it completely," he said bitterly. "Ron, especially, is not going to understand. Ginny was always good at listening and accepting things. Ron, well, he just isn't. Hermione –I really don't know what she will think."

"Well, I think they're all idiots," Draco said sourly.

Harry lifted his head up out of his hands to give him an irritated look.

"Yeah, I realise that," he said curtly. "But that just isn't going to help, now is it?"

Draco gave him a bored look and moved over to where Ginny had been sitting a little while ago, fixing his gaze on the passing countryside and saying no more. Harry decided to leave the subject for now and got out a book he had been reading over the summer; it was a book about the Dark Arts, something that had started to fascinate him more and more by the day since the happenings at the Ministry. He had almost finished it, and was now reading the final chapter, which was about the Unforgivables. He was just about to start reading about the Cruciatus Curse when the compartment door slid open yet again, and a tall, redheaded, long-nosed boy stuck his head inside, saw Harry, and let out a triumphant yell.

"Found him!"

Harry hurriedly stowed the book away, not really wanting Ron and Hermione to see what he was reading, and turned to face them.

Ron came in first, looking gleeful, and Hermione came right after him.

"Harry! How are you?" she said breathlessly, looking as though she wanted to hug him. Then, spotting Draco, she frowned deeply and Ron, who had noticed him at exactly the same time as Hermione, looked from Draco to Harry and said in a very loud voice,

"What the blazes is he doing here?"

Draco, who didn't seem to have noticed them coming in, turned towards them with a look of mild surprise, which quickly turned to one of irritation as he noticed the looks they were both giving him.

"Oh, fantastic," he muttered angrily. "More people."

Harry scowled at him and Draco returned his look with a sarcastic smile whereupon Harry mouthed the word 'try' and Draco rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut.

"What is this prat doing here, Harry?" Ron said, trying again to get Harry's attention.

Harry turned slowly towards him and sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.

"He is here because I invited him," Harry said simply, almost enjoying the effect these words had on Ron.

First, he raised his eyebrows so high that Harry was in awe that they actually came back down. Then, his mouth fell open (Harry was surprised that it didn't hit the floor), and finally, he started sputtering.

"What-you-invited? Him? He-what-b-but-huh? You're kidding, right?"

"Just sit down, Ron, and I'll explain," Harry said calmly, trying not to laugh.

Ron wrinkled his nose, looking at Draco with contempt, and shook his head.

"I'll sit down when he gets out," he said stubbornly, causing Harry to become very annoyed.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to stand then," he said curtly, then turned his gaze to his other best friend. "Hermione?"

Hermione nodded quietly and sat down beside him.

"Well," Harry started. "The explanation –please be quiet Ron. I know you both read the article in the Daily Prophet about my being kidnapped by Lucius Malfoy, because I did get your letters."

Hermione gave him a puzzled and slightly hurt look. Harry, knowing what she was thinking, quickly said,

"I'm sorry I didn't respond. I was very busy with other things."

This was, of course, a lie, but Harry figured the truth, that he simply hadn't felt like writing, would only serve to hurt them and that it was, therefore, better to keep that small fact to himself for the time being.

"Anyway," Harry continued. "The article didn't tell everything, as I wasn't about to give away potentially dangerous facts to reporters I didn't know. The main thing I didn't mention was that Draco was with his father (Draco growled at the word) –sorry, Draco. He was with Lucius at the time, and he helped me get out of there. I didn't know why at the moment, but it has been explained to me now. I'm not going to go into details, but the main fact is this: Draco has severed ties with the Dark Lord and his family; he did so in helping me, and for that, I owe him. So I am giving him this chance to prove himself truthful. One chance, that is all."

Ron didn't look convinced. Harry wasn't surprised, but it annoyed him all the same.

"Look," he said irritably. "I'm not asking you to trust him –I still have trouble with that part. I'm just asking you to keep your heads on and give him a chance."

Ron was looking as though Harry's words were part of a particularly nasty nightmare.

"Harry, this is Malfoy we are talking about," he said, the anger evident in his voice. "Malfoy. You can't possibly have forgotten all the nasty things we have had to put up with because of him-"

"Well, maybe people change!" Harry interrupted, causing Ron's face to go as scarlet as the Hogwarts Express.

"People-like-him-don't-change!" he said through gritted teeth. "What makes you think he can, after all the nasty things he has done?"

"My father was a right bastard when he was in school!" Harry retorted, his voice very loud now. "He would go around school, picking on those who were less popular than he was, ruffling up his hair so the girls would notice his big head! He was a conceited idiot, as was Sirius-"

Harry stopped mid-sentence, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. He felt the all too familiar lump in his throat, and found himself, suddenly, struggling not to cry. Hermione put her hand on his arm and Ron stopped glaring at Draco for a moment to give him a sympathetic look. Harry didn't really want all that though, and soon found that his irritation at the situation was winning over his sorrow. He took a couple of very deep breaths and continued.

"My point is they both turned out ok," he said quietly, as he pushed Hermione's hand gently away from his arm. "Despite the fact that they were big-headed morons as teenagers, they didn't turn out that way as adults. People change, for better and for worse."

"Beautiful, Harry," Draco said suddenly, clapping and smiling in a very sarcastic way. "Somehow I don't think you've convinced them though."

"Oh, shove it Malfoy," Harry and Ron said in unison.

"And again," Draco mumbled. "Could I please speak though?"

He raised his eyebrows at Harry, who rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Thank you," Draco said shortly. "I know full well that you aren't about to forget everything that has happened and trust me. I've been a prat at times, I suppose, but, then again, so have you. I would apologise, only that I don't believe apologies are in order."

He turned to Ron.

"I hated you from the first moment I saw you, and you hated me from the first moment you saw me. Mutual hatred. Simple, really."

"But you only disliked me because you knew I was a Weasley, and therefore, poor," Ron said sourly.

Draco dismissed this statement with a wave of his hand.

"And you only disliked me because you knew I was a Malfoy."

Ron didn't look happy.

"I didn't like you because you were a complete idiot from the first moment I met you!" he said indignantly. "The first thing you did was comment on my hair and the so-called 'poor' state of my robes."

Draco frowned, looking as if he was trying to remember that first encounter.

"You're right," he said after a short pause. "I did comment on that, didn't I? Well, I know our families have never gotten along, so don't pretend as if my comments were the only reason you didn't like me."

"It's all beside the point!" Ron said, raising his voice. "You have always gone out of your way to make us miserable! Family hatred is no excuse for that, you prat!"

Now Draco was getting angry too.

"It's got everything to do with what you grow up with!" he yelled. "If your parents bring you up a certain way, it's hard to break with that –you're lucky, you haven't had to do any such thing!"

"Look at Harry's childhood!" Ron yelled back.

"Harry's relatives weren't about to bloody kill him if he did something that wasn't to their liking now were they?" Draco yelled furiously.

Ron blinked a couple of times and opened his mouth, but closed it again, clearly not knowing how to reply to a thing like that.

A long pause followed where everyone sat in awkward silence. Draco was breathing heavily; it didn't seem like he was used to losing his temper like that. Ron was leaning against the compartment door, looking at his feet. Harry was looking from one to the other, hoping one of them would stop being so stubborn and try to listen.

It was Hermione who spoke first.

"I think Harry is right," she said quietly, breaking the silence. "I think people can change. I am uncertain about him –uh- I mean –Draco. But I am willing to give him a chance… -Please Ron," she added, looking at him. "I am so tired of someone always yelling at our reunions. If it means something to Harry, can't we just…"

She looked at Ron, giving him a pleading look. Ron looked as though he would rather eat a whole bucket of flobberworms than try to be civil with a Malfoy, but nodded all the same.

"Fine," he said grumpily, finally sitting down next to Draco, though edging as far towards the wall as he could go. "I still can't believe that this is really happening though. It seems absurd to me."

"It did to me too," Harry said calmly, looking at Ron.

"It's so good to see you though Harry," Hermione said, smiling. "We missed you over the summer –you didn't really write much. Did your aunt and uncle keep you from sending a lot of mail?"

Harry shook his head slowly and Hermione looked slightly disappointed.

"I didn't write because I was upset, Hermione," he said truthfully. "I was upset at everyone and everything, and I thought it better not to write at all than to write something that would only end up upsetting you. I'm sorry. I'm feeling better now though."

Hermione smiled again, and Harry turned to look out of the window.

The rest of the train-ride passed in silence only broken by the lunch-lady coming by, and every now and then, someone coughing. As Hogwarts approached, Ron and Hermione, who hadn't put on their school robes yet, went to change, and came back as the train was pulling to a stop at the station.

When the train was fully stopped, they all got up and made their way out to the carriages that were going to take them up to the castle. They found an empty one quickly and everyone hurried in but Draco, who was staring at the front of it. His face had gone very white.

Harry didn't need to ask why.

"You can see them now," he said quietly.

Draco nodded and, tearing his eyes away from the thestral, got into the carriage.

As Harry looked at Draco he was overcome by curiosity and leaned forwards so that Ron and Hermione, who were having a conversation of their own, wouldn't hear his question.

"Why can you see them now?"

Draco didn't seem to want to look up, but when he did, Harry noticed that his eyes were very clear.

"You know that thing I told you about the night you were kidnapped?" he said quietly.

Harry nodded, assuming that he was talking about the Death Eater raid he had been made to go on.

"Well, they made me watch," Draco said unhappily, looking away.

Harry leaned back and looked out of the window.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

And as the carriages made their way up to the school, Harry knew that his idea of the world wasn't the only one that had come crashing down recently.

A/N: Well, that's it guys. Please review -I am begging you on my knees. Pick at the minor details, tell me anything and everything you like and don't like. That way, I can improve as a writer. It is really important to me. Thanks a bunch! )