Draco didn't stop himself from beaming when he was finally alone in his dorm room. He couldn't believe what was in his hands; one of the fastest brooms on the market, given to him by someone other than his parents. It almost made him feel, for a moment, that he wouldn't spend the rest of his life being hated by everyone who crossed his path. In the back of his mind, though, a voice reminded him he really should be hated and not to let himself get happy. Trying to ignore it as best he could and enjoy the moment, Draco spent a minute allowing himself to admire his new broom and fly around the room slowly a few feet off the floor. The Firebolt Supreme felt amazing; it was the first thing he had ever received that wasn't bought for him by his father, and that somehow made it seem even better.

Needing to get to class quickly, Draco tucked the broom into the back of his wardrobe and locked it securely with a few charms. Making sure to wipe the smile off of his face, he dashed through the common room and back out into the halls. He had barely made it down two corridors when his optimism was shattered.

"Hey Malfoy," a totally unfamiliar voice echoed from behind him.

Draco straightened up, but otherwise ignored whoever yelled and silently put up a few shields. Here we go again, he thought, still walking forward.

"See, he thinks he's better than us," the same voice said loudly, indicating he wasn't alone. Draco heard three or four pairs of footsteps speed up and gain on him.

"Daddy didn't give up all his money like he promised?" another joined in, the sneer on her face obvious from the tone of her voice.

Draco grimaced, knowing that must be what the whole school thought. It was only natural, as up until a few months ago it would have been true. Focusing on continuing to move steadily ahead, he wasn't at all surprised when he felt a spell hit the shield he had guarding his back. The shock of it made him stumble forward a half step.

After the first attempt, the gang behind him let loose. Dozens of jinxes, hexes, and whatever other spells they could think up were being shot his way. Thankfully, Draco was well practiced in defensive magic and each attack was deflected or dulled by his efforts. Unfortunately, as always, the sheer number of spells being flung his way was enough to ensure that a few hit well and did some damage.

Determined to keep walking, the Slytherin took one careful step forward at a time so as to acknowledge his attackers as little as possible. He tuned out their accusations and snide remarks, and tried not to flinch as he felt pain in his right elbow. Gripping his wand in his hand tightly to avoid dropping it from the impact, he tried to subtly repair the shield each time it was struck.

x

Harry raced around the corner of the corridor just in time to see Draco take what looked like a painful hit to his arm. Since Malfoy had never admit what had upset him the day the two had coincidentally met after the Veritaserum incident, Harry had taken to checking the Marauder's Map to see what the Slytherin was up to. He had gone to great lengths to make sure Hermione and Ron didn't catch him at it, because after his obsession with tracking Malfoy in sixth year they would never believe he wasn't up to something.

The original motivation for checking the map was to see where Draco would go with his new broom, as Harry thought it would provide insight to where Malfoy felt safe. He had stepped into a bathroom in his time before class and watched as Draco's footprints headed into the Slytherin common room, then around to what Harry assumed must be his bedroom. He had been about to put the map away when Draco had left the common room again and started down the hall for class, but hesitated when he saw four set of footprints speed up behind the Slytherin on the parchment. Sure enough, the four caught up to Malfoy quickly, and closed in without passing him. The steps Draco took seemed to slow unnaturally, and Harry assumed the worst. Stuffing his map back in his bag, he took off down the corridors to the now familiar basement hall.

"Hey!" he yelled sharply as he looked at the four students who were casting spells. They froze and looked at him in shock, as if they never would have thought Harry Potter would appear and stop them.

With a glare and a silent expelliarmus, Harry send their wands flying. Despite his rage, he stayed silent as he stalked over to where they stood.

"Don't bother, Potter," Malfoy grumbled as Harry stood facing the attackers. "They weren't doing anything."

The group consisted of two Ravenclaw students, one Gryffindor, and one Hufflepuff. They seemed to be around their third year, though the Gryffindor Harry vaguely recognized as a boy in his fifth year now. Perhaps he was their leader, the instigator. Harry frowned as the though confirmed that Gryffindors could just as easily lead witches and wizards to acts of cruelty as any Slytherin could. The student's mouths flapped open and closed as they stupidly tried to think up something to say in justification.

"Yeah?" Harry asked Draco, still eyeing the small group. "Didn't quite look like nothing to me."

The Gryffindor finally spoke up.

"Come on, Harry," the boy boldly tried for a tone that sounded as though he thought he and Harry had been friends for years. "You know he deserves it."

"Oh?" Harry challenged, further angered by the careless and shameless attitude of the other Gryffindor. "Right, sorry, I didn't realize you'd been raised by Death Eaters, had your family threatened by Voldemort, and somehow managed to come out better for it."

His sarcasm could almost have cut as he glared at the group. He lost his last shred of patience as the Ravenclaw girl opened her mouth to reply. Whatever it was going to be, Harry didn't want to hear it.

"Clear off!" he snapped sharply. "And don't let me catch you attacking classmates again! Have some dignity."

All six of them, Harry included, were shocked at the amount of venom in his voice as he reprimanded the young group. The Gryffindor fifth-year had the good sense to usher the other three down the hallway back in the direction they came at a brisk pace, mumbling something Harry didn't care to listen to as he went.

When he turned around to face the Slytherin, Draco was looking at him with an unimpressed expression.

"Why are you here?" the blond asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Harry rolled his eyes slightly in return.

"I didn't ask for your help," came the agitated reply.

They frowned at each other for a few moments, then Harry glanced to Draco's wounded arm and down to his hand. As he did, an idea came to Harry's mind, and he finally knew how he could help. Tucking his wand into his school bag and throwing the bag to the side of the hall, he stepped closer to Draco.

"Well, you're weak enough to need it," he accused Malfoy condescendingly.

Rage and an ashamed expression shot across Draco's face clearly before he could control it. Harry smirked, and without warning he ripped the wand from the Slytherin's hand.

"You don't really need this, do you?" Harry taunted, trying to channel everything he had learned from Dudley growing up. "I mean, all the use you put it to, you may as well not have it."

Harry put on his best smug expression and took a few steps back from the Slytherin. Draco followed him a step forward, the movement rigid with building anger.

"Give it back, Potter," he threatened.

"Or what?" Harry asked in a mocking tone, swinging Draco's wand between his fingers. "Your father will hear about it?"

"Don't you dare!" the Slytherin yelled as he quickly closed the gap between himself and Harry.

Harry quickly dodged out of the way as a fist flew toward his face. Thankful for all the practice he had evading his older cousin, Harry continued to sidestep around the blond while hitting him with the occasional mild stinging jinx. Harry let out a laugh as he dodged the hits, both out of surprise that he had managed to do so well and out of fear of what he had gotten himself into.

At that, Draco growled with rage and switched his strategy. Cleverly, he shot his foot out and tripped Harry up. Harry landed painfully on his left shoulder, but kept a tight grip on the wand. A foot made hard contact with his ribs as the Slytherin cursed at him and he winced, then managed to swing his leg around and bring Draco down too. Malfoy, unlike Harry, fell onto his hands and avoided a serious impact. Harry took the opportunity to throw himself at the blond boy and send them both tumbling to the floor. Feeling slightly more carried away by adrenaline than he had intended, Harry held Malfoy underneath him and landed a solid punch to his cheekbone, returning the favor from the previous week.

Quickly, Draco's size won out and he was able to flip their positions around to hold Harry against the ground. Harry struggled and retained his relentless grip on Draco's wand, and as the Slytherin tried to tug it out of his hand Harry shot stronger stinging jinxes. One hit Draco in his left forearm, which seized up and left him unable to move his fingers, and the other grazed his jaw. Hissing with the pain as the jinx hit his face, Malfoy threw his fist at Harry three times. One had Harry convinced his jaw may need fixing, the second had him thinking the bruise that had just faded from his cheek would surely be back in no time, and the third made his vision spin.

Stunned by the moment of disorientation, Harry wasn't able to focus enough attention on maintaining his grip and Draco tore the wand from his hand. Immediately, the Slytherin pushed off of the ground and scrambled away from Harry. He stood against the wall, wand pointed towards the Gryffindor on the ground, shaking.

"What the hell?" Draco snapped in outrage. Sure, he hadn't expected Harry to be his best friend, but he really couldn't believe the way any of this morning's events were turning out.

Harry groaned, feeling his back and shoulder sting from where he had scraped the cement floor and his head throb. He found his glasses broken next to his arm as he pushed off of the ground to stand. His knee giving out slightly, he limped over to his bag on the other side of the corridor. After taking a few moments to catch his breath, he picked it up and, tucked his glasses inside, and gingerly tossed the satchel over his shoulder.

Looking over at Draco, who was rather blurry in his unaided vision, he could see the taller boy still pointing the wand his way. It was hard to tell, but as he scanned the Slytherin's asymmetrically swollen face, it didn't seem that the hurt and anger was at all hidden. Harry limply waved an arm to gesture at the wand in Draco's hand.

"That should work properly for you now."