Author's Note: Please do review on my work. I do want to improve in certain aspects. I do welcome criticisms if they are necessary.


"Father will find me. And wonder where I am." Draco said, after both mother and son have been settled. "What will happen to you? He will know that something is wrong."

This time, Dumbledore spoke.

"Your father, Lucius Malfoy will not be allowed into Hogwart's grounds. Narcissa here, have already discussed with me about a Suspension Order that will disallow a parent to meet his/her child because of very valid reasons. And I am quite sure, Draco, that this is quite a valid reason. Although, of course, I can imagine your father's rage." He clasped his hands together. "As for Narcissa, she will be sent to somewhere safe, where no dark magic can find her. I promise you, Mr. Malfoy, your mother's protection. Are you sure, Mrs. Malfoy, that you do not want your husband arrested?"

Mother nodded her head firmly.

"As much bad that he had done, he is still my husband and I still love him, even if a little. I will not agree to testimony on court. I can't bear to land him in Azkaban."

Draco will miss his father. Even though he was afraid of him, he enjoyed the times when his father taught him how to protect himself, how to intimidate others and get his own way into stuff. It proved useful. In some ways perhaps, thought Draco and cringed inwardly as he remembered his mother calling him a bully earlier before. But some part of him had snapped when his mother confessed. Some soft and warm part of his heart was unearthed a little under the cold steel he had spent so many years building. He felt weak right at this moment.

Vulnerable.

Opened to the cruelness and the harsh reality of the world.

Easier to be hurt.

And he did not want to be a Death Eater. Draco knew he could never kill, as much as he wanted to believe that he could. That he could finally impress his unimpressed father. No, but he was never weak. He was brave, strong, and a bully he will remain if that will sustain this strength he felt in him. Being nice and good just made him feel so exposed.

Then Mother left and he proceeded to his Slytherin common room and went to the boys' dormitory. Putting down his suitcase and taking off his coat; he was still wearing his sleep clothes. Then crawling under the clean sheets on his bed prepared for next month, Draco Malfoy suddenly felt so, very alone.


"Good morning everyone!" Arthur Weasley's voice boomed across the dining table. Mrs. Weasley, the Weasley twins, Ron, Ginny, Percy, including Hermione and Harry who were staying with the Weasleys for one month before proceeding to Hogwarts all jumped up simultaneously.

"Good morning, Dad," Ron whimpered.

"Have you heard?" Mr. Weasley's voice coated with excitement. His eyes gleamed, like a little child's. "Narcissa Malfoy filed a Separation Order on Lucius Malfoy! Imagine how poor Draco is torn."

"WHAT!" Ron, Harry and Hermione exclaimed together, their cutlery clanging onto their plates, they jaws hanging wide open.

"Now, don't look at me like that. I overheard someone from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement talking about that. It's the new rave in the Ministry of Magic! What a story, don't you think, children? How dramatic! Have Lucius ran off to find a mistress?"

Harry was the first to gather his wits.

"And what was her valid reason to inflict such an order?" Everyone at the table had also stopped eating the delicious pancakes Mrs. Weasley had prepared for them. Now, that dejected and annoyed look on her face is finally explained.

"Now that, is the most baffling thing of all," Mr. Weasley said, his voice suddenly low, as if there was anyone else in this room who should not know. "That 'someone' I overheard, complained that this was the only case ever in history where high confidentiality is kept in the reason why such an order was inflicted. Even 'someone' knows nothing. And I also heard, that Dumbledore is very involved with this arrangement."

Percy, obviously bored with the topic started eating his breakfast again. Fred and George were contemplating on what reason it was.

"Lucius had a mistress!"

"He is gay!"

"He abused Malfoy sexually!"

Bursts of laughter could be heard.

"Bloody hell. Harry, can you imagine Malfoy without a father to cling on? I think he may be weeping at his bed now, crying, 'Father! Come back, Father! Why must I be separated from you! Now Potter won't be afraid of me anymore!' " Ron imitated Draco's voice and Harry smiled while Hermione poked Ron in the ribs. It just seemed so much of a mystery, and for Harry, his curiosity was just his downfall…

"NOW BE QUIET EVERYONE!" Molly Weasley screamed from her seat, her right hand clenching on her knife and the left on her fork. Both cutleries were quivering because she was shaking with rage. Everyone at the table could feel her anger; like waves of heat licking dangerously against their faces. No one dared to disobey. Even Fred and George had their faces almost flat into their pancakes.

"Thank you very much, my dears," she said sweetly, "oh my darling Percy is still the best." She cooed. Ron grunted.

Bad move.

"Ronald Weasley. I SAID EAT!"


One month passed quickly and everything needed were purchased. As for Draco, his mother had brought in all his necessary clothes and books for the new year, gave him a teary goodbye and both mother and son embraced each other for a long while. He was worried for his mother, but had learnt in his six years in Hogwarts to trust Dumbledore in everything he did.

Every night Draco sat at his bed, thinking of what it would be like if his mother had not saved him from Father. What it would be like to be a Death Eater, an unwilling one, with the Dark Mark on his arm. What it would be like to face the Dark Lord one day and serve him, kissing his feet at the same time trembling under his watchful gaze. A life full of fear and little choices, Draco concluded one faithful night. A life where the only thing he could do is to please the Dark Lord and never to offend him. A life he would rather die than experience.

Once, for he had forgotten when, (during his one month stay he did not keep track of time) Draco had taken a stroll at the school gardens, careful to avoid the monstrous willow. He remembered thinking of how much his life had changed. That now he was finally facing real dangers, to escape his destiny, and leaving his very pampered past life. Was this how Potter once felt? This emptiness and lost? This confusion and fear, fear of making the wrong decisions when knowing that the decision you will make concerns the livelihood of yourself and many other people? Was this how he had felt? If it was so, Potter was a brave person. Reluctantly that was what Draco admitted. Surprisingly over the past few days he had matured. He no longer lived on the fact that he hated Potter. He was even starting to understand that Gryffindor. And he hated it. He hated changes, he always had. So he did the thing he was best at. Whenever he feels an unwanted emotion, Draco pushes it down with all his might, until it is completely gone and hidden under the deep recesses of his heart. Then Dumbledore appeared from nowhere in the garden and soon they were walking together.

Funny how Draco used to dislike this sickening old man. Ah yes, he remembered Lucius saying, "Never trust that fool of Dumbledore, my dear boy. He will be your very downfall. He had always been foiling my plans." But that was when he was still young, naïve, ignorant that what his father actually was planning was evil.

Murderous.

Forbidden.

He was starting to look at Dumbledore in a new light now. The wise man who understands practically everyone he meets.

"You know, Draco, I have always thought you were a child with wonderful potential. A child, like your mother had said, with a beautiful heart. You feared your father, I know." It didn't feel good hearing Dumbledore addressing and finding out his fear, and Draco was a bit surprised that he did, but it seemed as if Dumbledore could do anything. "Your father brought you up by making you afraid. By forcing you to listen to him. Then he told you the wonders of violence, and fear, how much these two things can make people cower and frightened of you. As a young boy, you were fascinated, and your conduct in school wasn't that good, either."

He paused, the only sound coming from the muffled shuffling of their shoes. The full moon was high up in the air, and Draco thought he heard the howl of a werewolf.

"You met Harry, a boy who survived the Dark Lord; someone your father served. A boy who contained a huge amount of power. You became jealous."

"No…" He tried to protest but knew that Dumbledore could see right through him.

The headmaster merely smiled, the skin crinkling at the side of his eyes, and his spectacles glinted under the silvery moonlight. Absently Draco looked down at his shoes and kicked some stones.

"Then there was Hermione. You call her a 'Mudblood' but because you are also jealous of her intelligence. As for Ronald, you envied his large and loving family. You may not know these things yet, for you have a lot left to learn, but you will, in time to come unearth the reasons behind the jealousy. You will grow, and with the right direction, into a fine man indeed. Then last of all, you wanted a friendship like theirs. I must say, it was actually Voldemort who gave these three children such a precious gift – friendship. They went through thick and thin together, fighting Voldemort, which caused their relationship to grow. I doubt, Mr. Malfoy, that you are so close to your own friends?"

They stopped by the lake and Draco shoved his hands into his pockets, ignoring Dumbledore's question. He no longer tried to deny, and that surprised him tremendously. In the past, he hated anyone who judged him. But now, he is listening to Dumbledore, and he even ponders upon his words. Like now, now, when they are by the still lake, the perfect reflection of the moon carved onto the surface of the water. There was a profound serenity obscuring his heart there and then; and Draco thought, really thought hard, whether he never really hated Ron, Harry and Hermione but was only jealous about them.

He thought about his fears and insecurities. On the reasons why he liked picking on people. And by the one month, he had finally opened his heart, searched thoroughly through its contents, and attained enlightenment.

Draco Malfoy was a changed person.