Dear Draco,

I am doing well, thank you for asking, and I'm pleased to hear that you are as well. I have to admit, I was rather surprised when I received your second letter, usually you wait for me to respond first. I am not complaining in any way however, you know how much I love hearing from you, even if it is only about your normal everyday life that you seem to consider rather boring, though I find it anything but that.

I am incredibly sorry about your father, he has always been the sort to put bloodlines and traditions before most else, which in my younger years I saw as admirable but now I simply see as something rather cowardly. Take pride in being different from Lucius, you have much more of your mother in you. To you that may not sound like a particularly good thing, but I assure you, I mean it as a compliment. Your mother has always been rather sympathetic, even if she attempts to hide it from the world, which is something that sets you apart from her.

I'm glad you have friends in your life who you feel so connected to and loved by, I never really had that in my school years. I had more of a group of people who stayed around me out of a mix of fear and respect, but now I wish I had made friends as you have, they are a great help to you in many ways, that I can tell clearly just from your letters. It's great that you have a place you know you can go over the summer where you feel happy, for I believe it to be a terrible thing for one to spend time in a place that feels cold and empty - I spent enough summers as a child feeling the same way, and I can tell you, just knowing there's a place that feels warm and loving out there for you to go will make things feel less painful.

A small tip about Harry, I would suggest not trying to pry an answer out of him on whether there is something more going on with his family than he is telling you. If it is truly something serious, he will either tell you himself or you will find out soon on your own. Still, perhaps ask him offhandedly about his relatives, he may say something to at least hint at what's going on. I wouldn't brush off the idea that it may not even truly be something bad, and it may simply be something normal, but don't brush aside other possibilities. If you are worried about him, then I would suggest letting him know. Sometimes just knowing somebody can tell something is bothering you helps you realize something is. Like I said, however, don't pry too much, that might freak him out and cause him to hide himself away.

I would love to hear about your exams once they are over, but for now I would suggest simply trying to study for those remaining and don't doubt yourself. A big part of success is confidence. I'll be awaiting your next letter, and until then I say good luck on your exams, and don't worry too much about what the future holds, focus more on the present before it slips away.

Aunt Andromeda

The exams all turned out to be much easier than any of them anticipated, and the two weeks they spent taking them seemed to blur together. Every day had practically the same schedule: get up, breakfast, one class's exam, lunch, study for the next day's exam, and then dinner before more studying, and then bed. The first week they had written exams, both Herbology and History of Magic on Friday, and Astronomy late at night on Wednesday. The second week they had "performance" exams, where they had to demonstrate what they knew, with the same schedule as the week before.

For the written exams they were given special quills that were bewitched so you couldn't cheat, which was something that Draco technically should have foreseen, but somehow didn't. Not that he tried to cheat, he had known everything on the exams, though it certainly felt more stressful, especially considering how hot it was in the rooms they had their exams in.

After all of it, Draco, and practically every other student at the school, felt as if they were dead on their feet from exhaustion. Still, the whole school seemed to be abuzz with excitement. The Friday they finished their exams on, June 5th, was one of the hottest they'd had all year. The sun beat down on Hogwarts, bathing the whole castle in unbearable heat. The air in the exam room they were tested in seemed to boil, the stone floor that over the winter was ice cold to the touch shimmered with heat. Outside wasn't much better than inside, though most of the students were heading out there after exams simply because there was a soft breeze blowing, which made it feel cooler than being trapped in a room with no shift happening in the air at all.

"Why does school have to end in summer? Can't it end in winter, so we could take our exams without getting heatstroke?" Ron said as they left the room where they had just taken their History of Magic exam, fidgeting with the strap of his bag as if it were uncomfortable.

"In some places school does end in the winter, but would taking exams while it's freezing be any better than while it's scorching?" Hermione retorted and rolled her eyes slightly as she pushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face. The redhead shrugged slightly, as if he knew she had a point but didn't want to admit it aloud, and averted his gaze out one of the windows they passed as they descended the staircase leading to the entrance hall. The sun shone brightly high in the bright blue sky, barely a cloud in sight, and the lake glistened in the sun down below them.

"Either way though, we've survived our exams! We're free!" Harry exclaimed, sort of pumping his fists in the air as he skipped a step, nearly tripping and falling down the last bit of the staircase they were on. Draco snorted in amusement at the slightly childish way his best friend was acting, though he secretly felt the same. They were finally free of studying, homework, and proper classes.

"Until next year at least." The blond said and the raven-haired boy shot him a slightly annoyed look, some of the enthusiasm draining out of his posture. He gave Draco a look that clearly said 'really?', to which he only shrugged. "What? We-" Before Draco could finish what he meant to say however, someone ran into him, almost knocking him down.

"I'm sorry. I didn't-" A familiar voice gasped out, only to cut off as its owner looked up at the boy he had run into. "Oh, thank Merlin. I was just looking for you four." Theodore Nott ran a hand through his mess of chocolate brown curls, his flushed cheeks puffing out as he heaved in unsteady breaths. He leaned forward slightly, bracing his hands against his knees as he tried to return his breathing to a normal pace like someone who had just run a mile. Judging by the way he looked, it seemed likely that he had at least ran halfway through the castle.

"What do you want, Nott?" Ron demanded, his tone icy as he glanced briefly over at Draco, who was straightening his robes, though almost being knocked over hadn't really done anything to cause them to need straightening. The redhead turned his gaze back to the slytherin standing in front of them, who was mostly composed once again.

"I want to warn you." The brunet said, his tone somewhat exasperated as if he expected what he had said was obvious. "I'm not here to be a prick, in fact for once I'm trying to be nice. Pansy and Blaise are trying to find you lot, and I thought I ought to tell you so you could get away first. I highly doubt Draco wants to be hexed on his birthday." The blond he was talking about raised a skeptical eyebrow, looking suspicious of the other boy's intentions.

"And why should we believe you, Theo? You haven't said one nice, or even remotely friendly, thing to any of us since the beginning of the school year; why would you suddenly change your attitude towards us?" Draco asked, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to look as if he really didn't believe a word his past best friend had said.

"Look," Theo sighed, hesitating for a moment as he fidgeted with the collar of his shirt before continuing. "I know I've given you no evidence of me being a nice person in any sense, and I'm not saying I am, but I swear, I'm not lying."

Ron snorted slightly, rolling his eyes in obvious disbelief. "Like I believe th-" Before the redhead could finish however, Harry stepped forward, looking up slightly at the slytherin. His emerald eyes glinted with distrust behind his glasses, but he seemed to be slightly less hostile towards the other boy than his redheaded best friend.

"Why would you bother telling us what your friends are up to, if it didn't have something to do with you?" The raven-haired boy asked skeptically, crossing his arms in a similar stance to Draco. "For all we know you could be stalling, or trying to lure us into a trap of some sort." Despite his better judgement, the blond who was standing just a bit behind Harry couldn't deny that he had a point. Some part of him wanted to believe that Theo really wasn't as terrible as he had seemed over the past few months, but in reality he knew that was simply wishful thinking done by the small part of him that still longed for his old life, before everything was difficult and out of control.

"Maybe, I have no way of proving to you I'm not, but as I said before; I swear I'm not lying. I may not particularly like any of you, but I don't really think anyone should be hexed or cursed simply because my friends don't like them, especially if it's the person's birthday. Seriously, you guys should get out of here before they show up. They have some nasty hexes up their sleeves, you don't want to-" The slytherin broke off abruptly mid sentence when another voice, one they all recognized and rather hated, called his name from the end of the corridor.

"Theo!" Pansy stalked towards the small group, a nasty smirk stretched across her lips. Blaise trailed half a step behind her, looking amused and bored at the same time, his stride confident. "Ah, you found them."

Theo looked at her with a bit of fear in his dark eyes for a moment, before quickly covering it up with a look of amusement that Draco subconsciously recognized as fake. "Yeah, got them to stay here and not wander off to their common room." A smirk, that looked somewhat less obviously forced tugged at the brunet's lips, and his gaze flickered towards the four gryffindors, an almost apologetic glint in them.

"I knew I was right…" Ron muttered under his breath, glaring at the first years from their rivaling house with a scowl on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes, wacking his arm in clear annoyance. " What ?" The redhead hissed and she just sighed, shaking her head as she rolled eyes once again. It seemed perhaps Draco was not the only one who noticed the forced looks, though Hermione had always attempted to see the good in people, so it may not have been that.

"How's the birthday boy ?" Pansy said with a smirk and an amused tilt of the head, dark eyes glinting. She stepped closer to Draco, one hand in the right pocket of her robes, likely gripping her wand. Theo was probably not lying about at least the hexes and curses thing, and the blond really would rather he and his friends not get hit by any such thing, especially on his birthday.

"Fine, though I would rather not deal with you right now." He said coolly and before he could see what any of the Slytherins' reactions were, Draco grabbed Ron and Harry's arms and spun around. The three of them, Hermione following after them, practically ran through the corridors of the castle, heading towards Gryffindor Tower. Behind them Draco could hear laughter, though it was impossible to tell if it was the slytherins', or not. He felt like a coward as he ran, not stopping until he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, where he stumbled slightly before gasping out the password, slipping into the common room with his three best friends. What Gryffindor ran from something like that? He hadn't even been in danger, they hadn't even said anything bad, Draco had fled too quickly for them to have. Draco tried to convince himself he simply didn't want to lose more points for "dueling the corridors", but he knew that wasn't really the reason, he had been scared of being hexed.

The blond stood in the entrance to the common room for a long moment, contemplating where to go as Harry, Ron, and Hermione did the same, all silent. The Common Room was louder than it had been in months. Nobody had to study anymore, and it seemed as if they were celebrating. Someone had, just like after the second Quidditch game Gryffindor had won that year, managed to sneak food and drinks out of the kitchen and into Gryffindor Tower. Groups of students were gathered in all places, taking up practically every possible seat. Seconds later, as if they knew what the others were thinking, all four of them ran to the spiraling staircase that led up to the boys' dorm rooms, taking the stairs two steps at a time and practically falling through the door into the 1st years' dorm. In sync they all let themselves fall back into a four poster bed -the boys onto their own and Hermione onto Dean's-, a rather loud thud coming from the thick blankets beneath them that they stripped off at night so as to not burn alive.

"Well, that went well." Ron said after a few minutes of silence, in a slightly amused tone of voice. Draco scoffed somewhat sarcastically and sat up on his bed. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his blond hair, which had mostly escaped its gel by that point in the day.

"Yeah, well…" The blond trailed off, suddenly feeling insecure again, his thoughts from while they fled to Gryffindor Tower returning swiftly as if they hadn't disappeared briefly. Perhaps they hadn't, perhaps they had only been pushed to the back of his mind so they didn't disturb him. "Merlin, I feel like such a coward for running away. They didn't even really say anything! I literally just said I didn't want to talk to them and then ran away. How am I a Gryffindor if I can't even find the courage to stand up to my old friends?" Draco buried his face in his hands, letting himself fall back onto his bed in sudden exhaustion.

"Sometimes walking away is braver than staying put. You're not a coward. The hat put you here for a reason, Draco." Hermione said, her voice more determined than he had ever heard it, even when they were studying and she was saying she would pass. The blond looked over at her in surprise, not having expected her to say something like that. She always seemed to be such a logical person, who looked at the facts and just saw what they meant. How did she think he wasn't a coward for running? Wasn't that the definition of the word, someone who runs away? Still, her words must have had some effect on him, for a small smile tugged at his lips and he looked up at the curtain covering the top of his bed, dropping his hands back down onto the bed beside him. He wasn't sure how to respond to her, and it seemed she wasn't looking for one since the room fell back into silence for a few moments after that.

"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if we were in different houses, if I was in Slytherin like I thought I would growing up. Would I be like them? Pansy and Blaise, I mean. Would I make your lives miserable? Would we even interact? Would we hate each other?" Draco's voice was soft as he broke the silence, voicing thoughts that he had obviously had somewhat often. For a moment none of his friends said a word, and he wondered if perhaps his thoughts were rather pointless, and didn't need to be spoken, especially not at such a random point in time.

"I'd like to think we wouldn't," Harry then said, cutting off the blond's doubts abruptly. "But in all honesty, I didn't particularly like you at first, and you were sort of a git, so… I don't know. But who cares? You're a Gryffindor, and you're my best friend, we're all best friends, that's what really matters, I think. We have each other and there's no point in dwelling on what life would be like if we didn't." The raven-haired boy glanced over at Draco for a second then before looking up again. There was truth to his words, that he knew, though it didn't particularly put a stop to his thoughts. He was sure that had he been in Slytherin, he may have been even worse than his old friends. It doesn't matter though. Draco told himself firmly and forced himself to believe it. There really was no point in dwelling on what ifs.

"Yeah, even though being best friends with you lot certainly got me into a lot of trouble, I wouldn't trade it for anything." Ron agreed then, turning his head towards the other three in the room. His blue eyes were shining with slight amusement and affection, as if he was both joking and being more serious than he had ever been before.

"You guys are the best friends I've ever had. Not that I've really had any before, but I think you would still be the best I've ever had if that were different." Hermione said, also looking at the others with affection shining in her dark eyes.

"Gee, who knew you were all such saps." Draco said with a small chuckle, even though he had a wide grin on his face. He had never had anyone express their love and affection for him in any way before. The most he had ever received was from his mother when he was young, and that was only a distant memory that was blurred and distorted, stored somewhere in the back of his mind, almost impossible to access. None of his old friends had ever been particularly affectionate, the most he got from them was Theo sharing a book with him that he thought he would enjoy, Blaise playing Quidditch with him, and Pansy staying up late talking with him about everything and nothing. They all showed affection in subtle ways like that, they never voiced it, and for some reason having someone do so now made him feel like they cared more, in some way.

"Well, for all we know Voldemort could come back and kill us all in the next couple days or weeks. We might as well be sappy while we still can, right?" Harry joked and then sat up with a sudden look of regret on his face, his eyebrows knitted together and his green eyes darker than usual. "I wish I could go just one day without thinking about the stone and whether or not Snape's tried to steal it again yet, or if he already has." Almost absentmindedly, Harry rubbed at the lightning scar on his forehead, a troubled expression on his face that had become a rather common look for him. Most likely assumed it had to do with exams, Neville had even told Harry that's what it likely was, but it wasn't that, Draco knew that, and so did Ron and Hermione, even if they didn't fully want to accept it.

"I'm sure we'd know if he had." Draco muttered under his breath, sitting up again as well as he looked over at the other boy. "C'mon," He quickly changed his tone of voice to an enthusiastic one in an attempt to change the mood. "We just finished our exams, it's my birthday, and a Friday night. Why don't we all play chess or something?" At this suggestion Ron sat up, a grin on his face, obviously agreeing.

"I suck at chess!" Harry protested, a look of annoyance clear on his face, and Draco grinned cheekily over at him as he tried to suppress his laughter.

"So? All the more fun it'll be to play." From across the room Ron burst out laughing, doubling over himself and clutching his stomach as if his insides would spill out if he didn't. Their raven-haired best friend scowled at the redhead and picked up one of his pillows, throwing it swiftly in his direction. Instead of hitting him in the face as it should have it was caught midair by Ron, who looked a bit shocked but also rather smug as he lowered the pillow and then placed it beside him.

"Shut up!" Harry mumbled, glaring at them as Draco snorted and Hermione began giggling softy. Still, despite his attempt to appear angry, a small grin was tugging at the corners of his lips.

"You guys are idiots." Hermione said as she attempted to stifle her laughter behind her hand, though she was mostly unsuccessful. Draco grinned over at her then and ran a hand through his hair again.

"They are, we're the smart ones." He said cheekily and the brunette grinned in return, only to burst out laughing again a few moments later when Ron yelled: "Hey!" and threw the pillow Harry had thrown at him moments before at the blond.