Draco was reading over his potions essay when the morning post arrived. He looked up when the owls flew in but put his copy of The Daily Prophet aside in favour of his homework.
However, when he heard the words "Sirius Black" begin to echo throughout the hall, his head snapped up. Sirius Black was Harry's godfather, who had apparently caused the murder of her parents.
Draco quickly pulled the newspaper over his now- forgotten essay, and gaped at the headline in shock.
'Sirius Black Escapes Azkaban'
He blinked a few times, before reading on.
'Yesterday afternoon, the Death Eater Sirius Black became the first wizard to ever escape Azkaban. He has been imprisoned there for 10 years, for the murder of 13 people, and his assistance in the murder of Lily and James Potter.
'The Prophet asked the Minister for Magic, who had seen Black only two days before he escaped, what his impression of the criminal had been.'
Draco skipped that bit, uninterested in the bumbling fool, before reading on at 'Experts are concerned that Black may have something to do with the disappearance of the girl-who-lived, reported only two days ago in your faithfully. Now, we ask close friends of ...'
Draco stopped reading there; it was obvious they had no idea how Sirius Black escaped.
As far as Draco could remember, Sirius Black had been the Heir Black until 15, when he abdicated in favour of his brother, Regulus because he wasn't interested in the dark magic of the Blacks. At this point he left the Black household and moved in with the Potters. He later became Harry's godfather, because he was best friends with James and Lily Potter. Then he killed all of his closest friends, except for a werewolf Draco could only vaguely remember. When Draco looked up Black's trial later, he discovered that Black had never even had a trial.
But why would Black escape only now? He couldn't have had something to do with Harry's disappearance. Did he want to find her? But why? And why would a man who had shunned his Voldemort loving family then join Voldemort? None of it made any sense!
All the definite facts were saying one thing; all the unconfirmed ones were saying something completely different. If you looked at them all properly, Draco realised that Sirius Black was probably innocent.
o - o - o - o - o
A week later, a large black dog arrived on the door step of a seemingly ordinary house in the middle of the country. It stopped for a few seconds before morphing into a gaunt man with filthy black hair, dressed in rags. The man stepped forward and knocked on the worn door, and few seconds later it opened to reveal a man with greying hair and the second he saw the man in rags, he pulled his wand out. The man in rags stepped forward, and began to say "Moony, I didn't kill the..." before he collapsed to the ground unconscious. The man named Moony had to hold himself back from catching him, but in the end only bound him and then floated him over to his coach.
When the man in rags came to, he was once again on the other side of Moony's wand, except this time, there was a plate of food beside him.
"Did you or did you not cause the deaths of James and Lily Potter?" Moony asked, hand tightening on his wand.
"No, I didn't. I wasn't the secret keeper; Wormtail was. When I went to confront him, he blew up the street and faked his own death." the man in rags - Sirius Black - responded. Moony loosened his grip on his wand before putting it away in his pocket.
"I believe you; I'm sorry for doubting you for so long. I should have trusted you." Moony said.
"And I'm sorry that we thought you were the traitor; I should have trusted you too," Sirius replied.
o - o - o - o - o
Draco had eaten dinner in the great hall and was walking out of the doors with one of his fellow Slytherins, Blaise Zabini, when the Weasley walked up to him with a few fellow Gryffindors.
"Malfoy, what the hell did you do over Christmas to make you so much happier?" Weasley opened with. Draco glances towards the high table to make sure no teachers could see them, and remembered that they were all gone, searching for Harry.
"I just had a nice Yule celebration; I didn't think you cared, Weasel, or do you have a little crush?" Draco responded tauntingly.
"How dare you!" Weasley responded by turning the most glorious shade of red; Draco could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears.
"I challenge you to a duel, Weasel. Tonight, in the trophy room. Unless you're too scared..." Draco started.
"Of course I'm not! My second is Seamus," he nodded to a boy beside him. "Who's yours?"
Draco turned to Zabini. "Are you willing to be my second?" he asked.
"Sure." Zabini responded easily, fully aware that this was a trick; Draco would never break the rules for a stupid duel.
Weasley scowled. "We'll see you tonight, then, Malfoy."
"Don't be late" was Draco's the only response.
The next day, when Weasley and Finnigan had a weeks worth of detentions and a hundred points off Gryffindor, Draco was laughing so hard he almost choked.