A/N: Message from Hplover4ever3: So sorry for the long wait! My computer broke for a while there, but we're now back in business! This chapter is not a special, because we're only having a maximum of one holiday special per month, and since we already released one this month, we're gonna ignore the fact that this weekend was Halloween. Hope you like the chapter...

And the update for the next one will be ready a lot sooner than this one was.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling. Thanks


CHAPTER 14: DIFFERENT

Draco and the others woke early next day as someone pulled back the curtains and let the blinding light into the room. Groaning and squinting, they sat up in their beds and looked around. Remus was leaning against the window ledge with his arms crossed and a bright smile on his face.

"Rise and shine!" he exclaimed.

"You're back," said Draco.

"Yep," said Remus. "Just got in this morning."

"What time is it?" Sirius groaned as he reached for his alarm clock.

"How...how are you feeling?" Draco asked Remus, keeping his voice cautiously levelled and his tone casual.

He couldn't see any scratches or visible marks on his friend's face. In fact, he looked loads better than he'd had last week.

"Fine," said Remus, simply. "Honestly, my mum had it worse than I did, but we're both better now."

Honestly? Was that supposed to be some kind of a joke?

"Awe Moony, it's 6:30!" cried Sirius, who now slumped back on his bed and hid behind his pillow.

Peter laughed and also slumped back on his bed, but Draco now felt wide awake. He stood up and stretched.

"Anyone fancy going out for a run or something?" said Remus.

Draco frowned at him. "Shouldn't you...I mean, isn't there some time you're supposed to wait before you...before you do that?"

"Why?" said Remus. "It's only the flu."

"Tell you what," said Sirius. "I'll run with you two hours from now, deal?"

"Nope," said Remus. "Two hours from now we'll be in Defense. It's Thursday, remember?"

"Blimey," said Sirius, sitting up. "Happy first of October, everyone!"

Draco started. It was actually October the first. He was officially one month into this chaotic timeline.

"So," said James, speaking for the first time since the boys had woken. "Tell us what you did last night."

It took Draco a second to realize that James was talking to him. All the boys were now watching him, and Draco even glanced in Peter's direction for some help. But the boy only sat there, waiting.

"Uh," said Draco, looking back at James, desperately waiting for Peter to catch on. "Just hung around, you know..."

"Doing what?" said James, simply.

"We played games," Peter finally helped.

THANK YOU, Draco wanted to shout at him.

"With Evans and Mcdonald," said James, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah," said Draco, who now reached into his trunk and began to pull out his Hogwarts robes.

"What kind of games?" said James.

Draco thought back to last night carefully...which bit was the juiciest? The way he and Lily had terrorised each other with personal questions or his angry outburst or their talk in the Forbidden Forest?

"Monopoly," said Draco, simply.

"Oh I love that game!" said Remus.

"Dunno it," shrugged Sirius.

But Draco was more bothered by the strange look that he was now getting from James. There was something not right there.

"You played Monopoly the entire night?" he said.

Draco narrowed his eyes at him. He knew perfectly well that they'd gone into the Forbidden Forest because he was the one who'd met them there. And Draco had no doubt in that James had already told the others this. What on earth was he playing at? Was he trying to catch Draco in a lie? Or perhaps it was the other way around?

"We also played Truth," said Peter.

At this, Sirius whistled. "Let it be known that no game of Truth will ever not end in a scandal of some sort."

"I'll say," said James, his eyes still on Draco.

The two of them seemed to be having a silent conversation that the others were immune to.

"How was detention?" Draco found himself asking, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Very refreshing," said Sirius.

"Is that right?" said Draco. "You guys didn't miss too much of it?"

He couldn't help himself. It bothered him a great deal how they were all just lying to each other...all of them.

"Uh no," said Sirius, who glanced briefly in James' direction. "No, actually we got to serve it with Hagrid and he's really cool so it didn't even feel like a detention at all."

"I'm sure," said Draco.

Remus cleared his throat. "Come on guys, let's go for that run."

So the boys reluctantly dressed and left the common room together. They jogged along the lake's shore until they'd made a full two circles, and by that time, breakfast was already being served. After their showers, they met up in the Great Hall where more than half the Gryffindors were already sitting. Draco automatically looked over at the Slytherin table when he first arrived.

But Severus and the others weren't there yet. Or maybe they'd already ate and left.

"Hey guess what today is?" Remus told Draco.

Draco groaned silently. He really hated guessing games.

"It's October the first!" said Peter.

James chuckled.

"Yeah, I think we've already established that, Pete," said Sirius.

Remus rolled his eyes at them and turned back to Draco.

"Slughorn's first dinner party is tonight!"

Draco's eyes went round. "I-is that right...?"

Sirius howled with laughter.

"Give him my best!" he cried.

Draco smiled weakly. He'd completely forgotten about that.

"What, having second thoughts now, are we?" said James. "Don't feel like attending the party after all?"

"No..." Draco grumbled. "I'm fine."

The owl post began to arrive and a tardy brown owl dropped a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet into Remus' lap. He instantly opened it up and hid behind it. Draco kept his head bent low and avoided James' eyes altogether. Somehow, he wasn't feeling too pleased with the oldest Potter this morning.

"Oy," said Sirius, poking at Draco's elbow to get his attention. "You hung out with Mcdonald last night, right?"

"Yeah."

"Did she, uh...I mean, how was she?"

Draco looked up from his cereal bowl.

"Why are you asking?"

"She went through a huge transformation this summer, that one...just wondering how she is..." said Sirius.

Draco shrugged. "She seemed okay."

"Good, good," said Sirius.

He began talking to Peter about something, but Draco still watched him, and now found himself remembering the big detention from a few weeks' back, and how bitter and hostile Sirius had seemed towards Mulciber. Was there something he wasn't telling Draco?

Well, who was he kidding...the boys still clearly didn't trust him enough to tell him their secrets...why would they though? It's not like he was going to suddenly open up one day, and "guess what, mates? I'm from the future and your kids end up being my enemies!"

"Oh fuck..." James muttered.

Draco looked up and found James and Remus huddled together, reading an article in the paper.

"What happened?" said Peter.

James snatched the paper from Remus.

"Another Raid At The Ministry, What'll We Do?" he read aloud. "Late last night, the minister made a statement upon leaving the ministry office. At around 8 o'clock on Wednesday evening, there was a massive Death Eater raid in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. At least a dozen ministry workers were injured and are now being cared for at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Unfortunately, the minister said, no Death Eaters have yet been captured. The families of the injured workers are asking for privacy at this time, but the minister will be releasing another statement Friday with more details."

James looked up from the paper, pale-faced.

"That's awful," said Peter.

But James was looking at Sirius with a strange expression. So was Remus, now that Draco looked at him.

"What?" he said, impatiently.

"Alice's parents work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," said Remus, quietly.

"Oh," said Draco.

"Has anyone seen her today?" said James, looking up and down the table.

The boys all shook their heads. But then, Lily turned around in her seat to face them.

"Alice's parents weren't one of the ones who got attacked," she told the group at large. "I saw her this morning. She was worried but then she received word that they had left work early last night."

The boys all looked round at Draco.

"Oh, that's good," he mumbled.

"Yeah, it is," said Lily, nodding. She turned her head slightly in Remus' direction. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," he said. "I'm really well."

"How's your mum?" said Lily.

Remus gave her a confused look."S-she's okay too."

But something was very off about the look Lily gave him now...almost like she was mad at him for something. Remus looked startled at this, but Lily only turned back around in her seat and resumed her conversation with her girlfriends. Draco sighed. It was going to be a very long day.

After breakfast, the boys made their way over to Claybrook's classroom together, whose lesson Draco was seriously starting to dread. He grudgingly took his seat near the front, just next to James, who also looked quite unhappy to be there. The rest of the class took their time filing in. When Sev arrived, he nodded once at Draco.

"Alright, settle down everybody," said Claybrook.

He waved his wand lazily to shut the door closed and bought down all the shutters on the windows so that they were plunged into total darkness. Another flick of his wand, and the projector at the front of the classroom turned on, revealing an image of a gaunt-looking skeleton that closely resembled a hideous zombie.

"Today, we will be starting a new unit called Necromancy," Claybrook announced as the class flipped their notebooks and began dating their pages. "Our first lesson will be on inferi."

Draco smiled.

After Defense against the Dark Arts, Draco and James said bye to the others and headed for their Muggle Studies lesson. The entire way there, they walked in silence, while Draco said every curse word known to mankind in his head. Today was just going to be one of those days where the person you'd rather see the least of would be at your side every second. At least James wasn't a member of the Slug Club and Draco was guaranteed a break from him tonight.

When they reached Livesey's classroom, Draco followed James to their seats at the very back. They took out their books and turned to fresh pages, neither of them talking to the other. Draco looked up everytime someone entered the classroom. When Severus entered, he was mid-conversation with Mulciber and so he didn't even so much as look in Draco's direction. But when Lily entered, all hell broke loose.

Draco and Lily locked eyes, and in the matter of seven seconds or so, they were able to have an entire silent conversation during which Lily reminded him of his promise to let Remus and the others tell him about Remus' secret in their own way. And Draco lied to Lily now by claiming that that was what he was really doing...letting them come to him. But even he, Draco, had a limit.

Soon, the silent conversation ended as Lily turned her back on him and took her seat at the front. But unfortunately for Draco, both James and Severus were now staring at him. This was not good at all.

By lunchtime, Draco wished that he had stayed in bed and feigned an illness. He couldn't ever remember having a worse day. And because of all the stress that he was under, he found himself forgetting simple facts in class that he'd studied ages ago. Dumbledore would not be pleased.

As if things couldn't get any worse though, about halfway through lunch, Draco felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked round to find Alice standing before him.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," said Draco. "Are you gonna sit down?"

"No, I'm feeling a little rundown, I was just gonna run on upstairs for a quick nap before class."

"Ah," said Draco, ignoring Sirius' smirks. Alice glanced at all the boys, hesitated, and then lowered her voice.

"Can we...can we talk later?"

"Uh, yeah sure," said Draco, slowly. "Is...everything alright?"

"Yeah," said Alice. "We just need to talk. I'll see you later then?"

Draco nodded.

Alice glanced again at the boys, all of whom were silently eating, and then left.

"Get a grip, Sirius," said Draco once his friend burst into laughter.

Ignoring Sirius, Remus leaned forwards. "Do you know what she wants to talk to you about?"

"Not a clue," said Draco, honestly. Whatever it was, he doubted he'd care much.

"You need a serious reality check then," said Sirius. Draco frowned at him. "Oh come on! Look, she said she needed to talk to you, right? And then she said she's going upstairs for a quick nap...talk to you? Nap?..." When the boys said nothing, Sirius exclaimed "The girl wants to shag you, mate!"

His outburst caused several second year girls at the table to gasp. James only smirked.

"Rubbish," said Draco.

"Honestly Sirius, if she only found out this morning how close her parents were to getting attacked last night, I doubt she has shagging on her mind right now," said Remus.

"Yeah, you probably have her confused with another one of the nameless, faceless girls who adore you," said James.

Sirius laughed. "Look Draco, you're missing a golden opportunity here, sitting and talking to us blokes. You go upstairs and you shag her senseless." He paused. "Or I might just go do it for you."

"Okay, it's time to go put some ice on it," said James, and he actually stood up and began to pull Sirius to his feet, but Sirius only punched him away. And just like that, quite easily, the usual mischievous atmosphere of the Marauders was back in business.

Transfiguration was a rather dull class that day, so Draco was fairly happy to arrive in Charms (mostly because he and Remus were partnered to practice cheering charms). With James and Sirius way on the other end of the classroom, Draco knew that the coast was clear.

"I'm really glad you're back and that you're not sick anymore," he told Remus, who was jotting some notes down from the board.

He looked up at him. "Thanks, Draco."

Remus continued to take down notes, but occasionally, Draco spotted him watching Lily who was practicing with Mary.

"Yeah I caught that this morning," said Draco, in an attempt to get Remus to talk to him for once, instead of about him later with his buddies.

"Huh?" said Remus, looking away from Lily.

"She seemed pretty pissed at you," Draco explained. "Any idea why that might be?"

"Nope," Remus shrugged. "Do you know why Alice really wants to talk?"

"Nope," said Draco.

There was silence.

"So Sirius told me that you guys all know how to produce the Patronus Charm," Draco blurted out.

Remus looked up at him. "When did he tell you that?"

"Just a few days ago," Draco mumbled. He really hadn't expected to tell Remus this, but he figured if he shared a little, maybe Remus would too.

"I see..." said Remus, looking over his shoulder at where Sirius was now howling with laughter.

"What does yours shape into?" Draco asked.

Remus looked back at him, and for a split second, Draco thought he might have a panic attack. But then...

"It's personal," he said, slowly, before looking back down at his notebook.

Draco watched him carefully. Seriously, what was it about him that made the boys think he was so untrustworthy? Was he giving off some kind of a vibe he was unaware of?!

"You know, I also can produce the patronus," he said.

Remus looked up at him, surprised. "Can you really?"

"Yeah, I learned it just recently...from Dumbledore."

"Good for you," said Remus. And he looked genuinely proud too. "What's yours shape into?"

"It's personal," said Draco.

Remus smirked. "Touché."

Draco smiled too, but then hesitated again. Had it been a good idea to tell Remus about the Patronus Charm? But to Draco's delight, Remus dropped the subject altogether. He finished taking his notes and then pulled out his wand.

"Okay, you ready?" he said.

Perhaps it'd be better if Remus told the marauders himself, so that Draco didn't have to keep repeating this conversation. Maybe if they heard it from Remus, they wouldn't question what Draco's shape was.

"Yep," he said, pulling his own wand out. "Let's do it."

At the end of the lesson, James and Sirius hurried out of the classroom before everyone else, no doubt to get up to some mischief. So Draco followed Remus and Peter out and together, they made their way to the Great Hall for a study session before dinner.

But when they reached the Entrance Hall, Remus and Peter turned to the front doors.

"Where you guys going?" said Draco.

"Oh to Hagrid's for tea," said Remus. "Didn't we tell you?"

Draco shook his head.

"Hey why don't you come with us?" said Remus. "I don't think you've had a chance to meet him yet..."

"Yeah, he's awesome!" said Peter.

"Uh," said Draco, who had absolutely no intention of doing that. He was momentarily distracted by a familiar face making its way out of the Great Hall and up the grand staircase. "No it's okay...I'll go to the library or something."

"Are you sure you don't wanna come?" said Remus.

Draco turned round to look at him. "I..." he glanced at Peter, who looked hopeful. "Next time, guys."

"Okay," said Remus. "But we'll definitely see you at dinner?"

"Yeah for sure," said Draco. "I don't know where Slughorn's dinner party is anyway."

Remus smirked. "Bye then."

Draco waited until they'd both left before he followed up the staircase. He kept his eyes out for blonde hair and ended up in the library, which was stocked with mostly seventh year students. Draco looked around from bookcase to bookcase, until he heard two familiar voices and froze instantly.

"...I mean, what, now I have to compete against him and Remus?" said James' voice.

"Come on," laughed Sirius. "You're being ridiculous here."

"Today it's Draco, yesterday it was Snivellus and tomorrow it'll be Peter?!" cried James.

Sirius shushed him and there was a pause.

"Peter?!" he hissed.

"Yeah, Mary told me he and Lily had a one-on-one last night..." said James, bitterly, "...several of them, actually."

"Hold on, you talked to Mary about this?!" cried Sirius, and this time, James shushed him.

"Of course I did," said James, whispering now. "Sirius, Draco lied to my face when I asked what they were doing in the forest."

"James, we lied to his face about our detentions," said Sirius, his tone full of mockery.

James sighed. "Well whatever...look, I'm sure something is going on here."

"I think you're just being a little paranoid," said Sirius.

"Am I?" said James.

But Draco had heard enough.

Careful not to knock any books over, Draco slowly shifted his way around the bookcase and headed in the other direction. So that's why James was so mad at him today. He was afraid of Draco fancying Lily! As if...

But this was easy to fix. He'd just simply have to start hating on Lily more publicly from now on. It wasn't like she was someone worth fighting with James over...or with Severus, for that matter...

Draco finally spotted what he'd come to the library for, and approached the little corner table. Mary looked up from her book.

"Oh," she said, a little startled. "Hi."

"Mind if I join you?" said Draco, taking a seat before she could answer.

"Uh yeah go ahead," said Mary, slowly.

Draco tried to read the title of her book upside-down, but Mary shifted uncomfortably in her seat, indicating that she was nervous.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Draco promised.

"I know that," said Mary, but even she couldn't hide the relief from her face.

Draco's eyes fell on her left arm and Mary, seeing this, quickly placed it under the desk and out of view. Draco's eyes met hers again. And then, without thinking of the many dangers of doing what he was about to do, Draco placed his own left arm on the desk and rolled up his sleeve. Mary leaned forwards, staring down at it.

"What is that?!" she whispered.

Draco turned his arm slightly so she could see it more clearly...what was left of the Dark Mark was not noticeably visible. Instead, it just looked like a really long scar that Draco could've procured ages ago...a scar that just never went away completely.

Mary looked up at him. "How did you get it?"

"Growing up in an orphanage is hard enough without being different from everyone else there," he invented. "I suppose my arrogance got the best of me one day."

"When did you get the scar?" said Mary.

Draco shrugged. "It was ages ago, but it never completely healed." He paused. "I don't think it'll ever go away entirely."

Mary nodded, and Draco pulled his sleeve back down and sat back against his seat.

"So why did you just show me that?" Mary asked him.

Draco's eyes fell on her arm again, and she grew self-conscious about it.

"I saw something last night," he began. "But I'd rather you told me the story firsthand, than I go find out a twisted version from someone else."

Mary watched him nervously.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Draco said. "That's what the incident with Mulciber was last year."

"How did you—?"

"I hear things," said Draco. "What happened then?"

Mary looked around to make sure they were alone. And then, with another nervous glance at Draco, she pulled up her own sleeve and revealed the scar imprinted into the skin of her left arm. It was still fairly young and so it didn't take much squinting for Draco to finally read the word "slut". He looked up at Mary.

"I was a very different person before this year started," Mary began. "I was more...outgoing and risk-taking. If you asked to hear this story from someone else, they'd probably tell you I was just snobby and popular. I suppose that's true on some level, and I'm definitely not proud of it...so I guess I have Mulciber to thank for making me into a completely different person."

"What happened?" said Draco again.

Mary sighed. "We were partnered together for Potions one day. Well obviously we didn't get along, as you can imagine. But he started making all these remarks about how I was getting around a lot...and only because I was with Sirius at the time." Draco's eyes went round. "Oh...you didn't know that."

"Go on," he said.

Mary hesitated. "We weren't together exclusively or anything, Sirius and I...in fact I broke it off with him shortly after the incident."

"What was the incident?" said Draco, impatiently.

"I...i-it's nothing...it doesn't matter anymore..."

"Mary..." said Draco.

She looked up at him. "Well I...I got mad that Mulciber was saying these things to me...so I tricked him."

"How?"

"I made it look like he was stealing from the Potions room, and Slughorn gave him a big speech about it in front of the entire class."

"So what did he do to you?" said Draco.

Mary paused, and then looked down at her arm again. "I deserved it," she said quietly. "I should have realized it though when he bumped me next day. My bag exploded on me and he helped me pick up all my things. But then our quills got mixed up...so that when I got to class and I used what I thought was my quill..."

"You mean to say he actually went out and bought that as revenge?" spat Draco.

A tear dropped onto Mary's book. "Madame Pomfrey managed to get all the other scars out, but this is the first...the original...I think it'll stay there forever."

"There were more scars?" Draco hissed, looking horrified.

Mary nodded silently, and Draco scowled down at her arm. Mulciber had always been a worthless piece of trash, even in his adult life, but this...

Mary's head snapped up again and her expression changed. "Please don't go talking about this with anyone. I don't want to refresh it in anyone's mind. It was bad enough that the whole school found out about it."

"As long as you don't tell anyone about my scar," said Draco. "It's bad enough I've been the talk of the school for a month now."

Mary smiled. "Deal."

There was a pause.

"Did he get caught for it then?" said Draco.

Mary's smile instantly vanished. "No, he made up a really good excuse about how he hadn't known it was a...blood quill..."

Draco frowned.

"He claimed that I'd rejected a date with him and that he'd gone out to get me a present in hopes that I'd change my mind...but that he hadn't known it was a blood quill...that he thought it was just a fancy quill."

"And Dumbledore believed that?!" cried Draco.

"There wasn't any evidence," said Mary, softly. "Listen, it...it's all in the past now."

"Yeah, except it's made you into a completely different person," Draco pointed out. "You said so yourself."

Mary shrugged. "Sometimes, different's good."

Someone coughed behind Draco, and he turned around instantly, heart beating fast, expecting it to be either James or Sirius. But it was only Frank, who was frowning down at him.

"Oh," said Draco. "Hey."

"You've got a message for Alice or something?" Mary asked Frank.

She looked a little annoyed, which told Draco that Frank and Alice bombarded their friends with messages for each other quite a fair often.

"No," said Frank, pulling a small bit of parchment from out of his bag and handing it to Draco. "From Dumbledore."

"Thanks," said Draco, unfolding it quickly.

Draco,

Please report to my office as soon as you can find the time to do so.

Yours sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Draco looked up at Mary.

"I've gotta go," he said, jumping from his chair.

"Kay," she said, smiling softly at him.

Draco sidestepped Frank and hurried out of the library. What now, he thought as he ran past students and straight through wandering ghosts, past portraits shouting after him and down steps until he almost tripped. A hand flew out of nowhere and caught him just as his face was about to hit the ground. Frank straightened him up.

"You okay?" he asked, seriously.

"Yeah," gasped Draco, who hadn't realized how fast he'd been running. "I'm just...in a hurry..."

"Well Dumbledore can wait a few more minutes," said Frank, who Draco now noticed was still holding his arm.

Draco's face changed.

"What's going on?"

"You tell me," said Frank. "First you're all nice and flirty with Alice, then you fight with Lily in the common room and now you're getting it on with Mary?!"

"What?!" hissed Draco, pulling his arm free. "I'm not getting it on with anybody!"

"You are with Alice," Frank pointed out.

"I..."

"Look, I like you, Draco. And because I like you, I trust you. But if you hurt her in any way, I will have to crush you. So please don't make me have to do that. It's my last year and I hadn't exactly planned on getting expelled before I take my NEWTs."

"Frank," said Draco, lowering his voice despite their being alone in the corridor. "I don't know what you think you saw just now, but back there...in the library...that was honestly nothing." And he meant it too.

Frank's eyes narrowed at him suspiciously.

"I swear," Draco added. He already had enough problems with James, Severus, Regulus, and Lily. He didn't need another from Frank.

"I believe you," said Frank. "But we still needed to have this talk."

Draco nodded.

"Well," said Frank, whose expression finally relaxed. "See you later then."

He left.

Draco stared after him until he remembered the letter in his hands. He continued his run, gave the gargoyle the password, and entered through the door into the Headmaster's office.

"What's happened?" he gasped once he was inside.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, hands crossed on the table.

"Why haven't you thought to tell me that you've been invited into the Slug Club?"

"What?" said Draco.

"Did it not occur to you that this was worth mentioning?" said Dumbledore, in his still calm voice.

"I..." said Draco, puzzled. "I guess I forgot...?"

Dumbledore looked away from him.

"Wait so that's why you called me in?" cried Draco. "That's the big emergency?" More silence. "I thought someone had died!"

Dumbledore's eyes found his again.

"You don't understand," sighed Dumbledore. "Being a member of the Slug Club means you'll have a lot of influence over its most primary members. Those members are on the verge of joining Voldemort and his loyal followers."

"How do you know this?" said Draco. "Uh, sir..."

"Because Professor Slughorn only invites the most promising of students," said Dumbledore. "And most of his club has always been made up of students from his own house. Can you guess which those might be?"

"Regulus," breathed Draco.

"And you already got a glimpse firsthand of how well the Black brothers get along," said Dumbledore.

Draco stared at him, now realizing that they never did discuss Sirius' fight with Regulus and the boys' detention.

"I'm just surprised you didn't tell me," Dumbledore added. "I thought we'd agreed, many times, that you would report everything to me."

"We did..."

"I must say I was very surprised when Horace mentioned this today at lunch."

"I just forgot..."

"And I suppose you haven't given much thought as to what you'll attend the dinner party in..."

Draco bit his lip. The way Dumbledore was looking at him now, his half-moon spectacles having slid down to the tip of his nose, made Draco's stomach turn. He felt massive guilt now, and definitely ashamed...it wasn't a good feeling, disappointing Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he mumbled. "I honestly didn't think much of it...it's just a stupid club anyway..."

"I must ask you, Draco, to please adopt a better attitude where the Slug Club is concerned," said Dumbledore. "You have an extraordinary opportunity here to influence some of these kids away from the dark arts."

"How?!" cried Draco. "Professor, I'm not a hero!"

"No one is, Draco," said Dumbledore. "But you are intelligent. And you do have an in with the professor in charge of the club. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Draco frowned at him, but Dumbledore only sighed and nodded at the bag on the table near the window.

"Take that on your way out," he said. "And please don't forget about our lesson this Saturday night."

"I won't," said Draco, feeling a little hurt that Dumbledore expected him to forget.

He took the bag and left the office without another word to the professor. He didn't open the bag or even peek inside of it until he was safely locked in his dormitory's bathroom. There, he unfolded the black, tailored dress robes that Dumbledore had fetched for him. Draco sighed as he eyed the expensive-looking material, and then looked up at the mirror in front of him.

"What are you doing?" he asked his reflection.


"Come on, Draco, we're gonna be late!" Remus called from the bottom of the staircase a few hours later. Draco straightened himself up and then pocketed his wand and left the dormitory.

He hurried down the stairs to join Remus, who was standing with a small group of people just near the portrait hole. Draco froze instantly.

Frank was standing there, looking handsome and cool, and was chatting with that 5th year chaser about something Quidditch related. But just on Frank's other side, was Lily. She was wearing a dark red dress for the occasion, which made her long hair light up even more.

"You're in the Slug Club?" Draco asked her.

Her eyes, which had wandered down to examine his overall attire, bounced back up to meet his, and to Draco's horror, she blushed.

"Yeah, I am."

"Cool," he muttered.

"Hey Lily," said Remus. She glanced at him. "You look good."

But Lily only gave him a vague smile and then turned to lead the way out of the common room, which was empty completely. Everyone else was probably hanging out in the Entrance Hall right now.

The group walked along the corridors in silence, Draco and Remus just at the back. The walk to Slughorn's office was not long at all, because soon enough Draco could hear music echoing from the walls.

When they reached the right corridor, they realized that they were being followed by a couple of students from a different house, all of them dressed nicely.

"Welcome, my students!" exclaimed Slughorn, who flew from out of his office in pure bliss. "Come in, come in!"

They followed into his office to find that a large round table had been conjured for the occasion. There were 17 plate settings and chairs but no food just yet.

Seating at the chairs were four people, three of which Draco recognised at a first glance. He smiled at Regulus, who smiled back. Draco actually made to sit next to him when Slughorn said, "Uh, since this is the first meeting of the year and we don't all know each other yet, I thought we'd sit according to our houses...just for today of course. Ah! Good evening, sweet Lily!"

"Hello Professor!" said Lily brightly. "How are you? How is Francis doing?"

"Fine, just fine," said Slughorn, who was waving the students to sit down.

Draco sat in between Remus and Frank, while Dirk Cresswell was on Frank's other side and Lily on Remus'. Regulus was seated in between Rosier and Avery and there was another girl with them. The other students also took their seats, but Draco didn't recognise any of them, except perhaps one of the younger girls who looked somewhat odd and confused. She was staring at Draco's plate setting and looking quite amused and incredibly familiar.

"Well then!" said Slughorn, taking his seat at the table and waving his wand for drinks to appear. "Let us begin. Welcome to the first club meeting of the year. The 17 of us shall be meeting regularly for dinners like these. Some of you have been here since you started at Hogwarts, while some of you are new to it this year." His eyes lingered over Draco. "But we shall all get acquainted soon enough, if not by the Christmas party at the very latest. Uh yes, there will be a Christmas party. I host it every year! And Adrian here, likes to take photographs of these parties, don't you, my boy?"

Slughorn patted the boy next to him on the back, and the boy smiled sheepishly.

"That's Adrian," Remus whispered to Draco. "He's in our year. Hufflepuff."

"So, why don't we all pick up our glasses and toast to what will soon become regular meetings," said Slughorn. Everyone picked up their water glasses.

"To new beginnings!" Slughorn cried.

"To new beginnings," they repeated.

When they set back their glasses, Slughorn waved his wand and food appeared all over the table. Everyone began loading their plates at once, while chatting amongst themselves. Draco tried to make eye contact with Regulus (though it had only been two days or so, it felt like weeks had passed since they'd last spoken) but he was too busy listening to the girl beside him talking about some new rule for the Prefects.

"I take it she's a prefect too then?" Draco said to Remus.

Remus followed his gaze to where the girl with the long black hair and the dark blue dress was talking to Regulus.

"That's Claire Cattermole," he nodded. "Slytherin."

"And who are they?" Draco asked, nodding his head once at the pair seated on the left.

"I think that girl's name is Florence but she's definitely in 7th year," said Remus. "She and Bertha Jorkins used to have it out for each other because of boys."

"Bertha who?" said Draco.

"Oh she's this girl who graduated last year," said Remus, dismissively. "She was always a bit...dim."

"Uh...Hufflepuff?" said Draco, his eyes on the girl called Florence who didn't look like she very much enjoyed being there at the moment.

Remus shook his head. "Ravenclaw."

"You don't say," said Draco, his eyebrows raised. "And the one next to her?"

"Stebbins, also Ravenclaw," said Remus. "He's in our year."

"What's his story?"

"Just a really good student," said Remus.

"So like you then," said Draco.

Remus paused. "Well...he's a little too obsessed with school." Draco looked round at him. "During our charms OWL, Flitwick had to take his paper away from him because he wanted to keep writing even after our time was up."

"Dork," snorted Draco. "And her?"

Remus followed his gaze to the confused looking girl. "Uh...I'm not too sure what her name is...I know she's a 4th year though...Sybill something...?"

"So, Mr. Abbott, any ideas on how you're going to achieve those NEWTs?" said Slughorn, addressing the boy from the remaining group which Draco could only guess belonged to Hufflepuff. "For those of you who don't know, Giffard Abbott here is a seventh year and he's pursuing a very respectable career after Hogwarts, in the ministry."

"Uh yes sir," said Abbott. "My mother and father have selected a tutor to keep me in check for the exams."

"Very good, very good," said Slughorn, turning to Abbott's neighbour. "And what about your NEWTs, Miss Jones?"

"Also a seventh year," Remus whispered to Draco. "And about the nicest girl you'll ever meet."

"You know her?"

"Hestia has helped me in the library quite a few times before," Remus explained.

"...but I think I'll get it all done in time," the girl called Hestia concluded.

"Ah I'm sure you will, Miss Jones," said Slughorn.

By the time dessert had come around, not only did Draco finally learn the identity of the weird girl as being the young form of Professor Trelawney, but Lily also managed to beat out Slughorn in every historical fact they practically shouted out at each other. It was actually very impressive. Beaming and eyes sparkling, Slughorn waved his wand to make more dessert appear on the table.

He then turned to talk to the blond Ravenclaw boy, whose familiar name Draco was also somewhat surprised to learn. Xenophilius Lovegood, the future editor in chief of that joke of a newspaper, the Quibbler, was sitting right before him in his fourth year youth.

This was surreal.

"So how did Slughorn pick who would come here tonight?" Draco wondered.

Remus shifted in his seat.

"Take a good look at everyone around you right now, Draco," he said. When Draco frowned at him, he added "Trust me". So Draco looked. He watched Regulus and Claire for a moment, chatting about prefect things again. He started to wonder whether Regulus had a thing for this girl who sure liked to talk a lot. He then looked at Avery, who was listening to Frank talking about something...then Trelawney who was staring curiously at the chandelier hanging above...then Stebbins, Lovegood, Florence, and Adrian, all of whom were watching Slughorn admirably as he told some tale...then Lily who was talking to Hestia in quiet tones, and Dirk, who was just sitting there and eating his dessert in silence...and finally Draco's eyes landed on Remus, watching him.

"Well?" said Remus. "Do you see it yet?"

Draco shook his head, still not understanding.

"Every single person at this table is a jewel on the invisible crown that Slughorn wears," he explained, his voice very hushed so that only Draco could hear him. "Every person here is someone he believes will go far in life, for whatever reason. Be it their determination or their courage...their cleverness or even just their money...and he collects these jewels every year because years after graduation, they all come back to thank the one who 'believed in them all this time'."

"That's disgusting," said Draco, his eyes on Slughorn who was sipping his wine.

Remus smiled. "It's the sad reality that lies beneath all of that."

"But then why do you bother coming to these things?" Draco asked.

Remus hesitated before answering. "You're gonna say I'm ridiculous...but I actually like the idea of students from different houses getting together, be it a stupid reason and everything, and just talking over dinner and stuff...there's something very assuring about that...like it's not yet hopeless...like interhouse friendships really can still exist."

"You're ridiculous," said Draco.

Remus grinned at him.

"Mr. Cresswell, do tell us how you managed to break it," Slughorn was saying now.

Everyone turned to look at the 5th year Gryffindor who'd been in his own little bubble until now. It was only now that Draco realized the boy had a cast on his left arm. He'd been so preoccupied with why Lily and Remus were acting weird back in the common room, and then learning everyone's names here at the dinner table, that he'd completely ignored Dirk, whose cast was now very clearly visible.

Dirk began to tell the enchanting tale, but Draco soon grew bored with it, and his eyes landed on Rosier, who was watching Dirk intently. Was this who Dumbledore was talking about, when he'd mentioned at-risk Slytherins? Was Draco supposed to better influence Rosier? And Avery? He knew Regulus was at the top of his list, but he'd already gained his trust. It shouldn't be too difficult now to say "FUCK OFF" if Regulus suggested a field trip to Voldemort's hideout anytime soon. But were Rosier and Avery serious threats? For now, they only looked like a couple of dumb school kids. How would it be possible for them to become Death Eaters not long from now?

And what about the rest of these kids? These Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who were seated before him, caring only about schoolwork and friendships...were they at risk too? Could monsters really be made from such innocent beings?

And then Draco remembered how easy it had been for him to get sucked into it...and he was exactly their age now when it had happened. It was very easy. Too easy.

"Bye bye now," said Slughorn an hour later as he waved the students off.

Lily and Remus had stayed behind to help him clean up, but Draco was not stupid, so he lingered around the neighbouring corridor instead of going back to the common room himself. Everyone else had left, and it wouldn't be long before Lily and Remus left too.

But boy was Draco wrong...as it turned out, Slughorn had kept them in there for a good forty minutes, rambling about whatever nonsense. Draco had actually taken a seat on the bench near one of the corridor's windows when he heard the door to Slughorn's office opening and closing. Footsteps echoed and Draco suddenly jumped to his feet.

"I suppose I shouldn't have mentioned the goblins," Remus was saying. "We both know how he gets when they're mentioned."

"Chatty," said Lily, coldly.

"Yeah, guess it's my fault then," said Remus.

"Yeah, guess it is," said Lily.

Draco crept along the corridor listening to their footsteps and following along to the rhythm. There was silence. And then...

"Lily wait," said Remus.

The footsteps stopped at once. Draco too, froze.

"Talk to me," said Remus. "Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not," said Lily.

"Come on, Lily, it's me!" said Remus. "What is it that you can't tell me?"

Lily said something but Draco couldn't quite make out what it was. Ever so carefully, he moved along the corridor until he reached the end of it, and knew that if they just took a few more steps to the right, they'd bump right into him.

"...and I must say, I expected more from you, Remus, I really did," Lily finished.

"Lily, I—"

"You lied to me, Remus! Over and over and over again! You promised me when I found you out that there would be no more secrets. You promised, Remus!"

"I know, Lily, but I—"

"I trusted you! And by lying to me, you just made me feel like an idiot."

"Lily, please listen to me!" cried Remus. Draco held his breath so as not to miss a single word. He had to know what this was about. "I know. Okay? I know! I know it was wrong of me to keep this a secret from you and I know how much danger we put ourselves in by doing this, but I really had no control over it! Lily, you've got to believe me. I told them. I tried to stop them but they just wouldn't listen to me!"

"Yeah you know what?" said Lily. "I happen to believe that."

Draco frowned, wondering what else the boys were hiding from him at this point.

"Well then you know that I must realize how idiotic and dangerous this has been," said Remus, his voice a little less desperate now. "But what can I do if they're stubborn? They know my secret and they're willing to keep it, Lily. They're willing to stay my friends! To me, that's a major sacrifice. And if they want to do this, who am I to stop them?"

Lily sighed, and both Draco and Remus knew he'd won that argument.

"And the map?" she said after a moment's silence.

There was a pause.

"We got the idea for it in third year but we didn't really start working on it until—"

"—until fourth year, yeah I know," said Lily. "Peter told me. At least he was honest with me."

"Lily..."

"Look Remus, I just don't get it. Professor Dumbledore has been so kind to you through all of this...and McGonagall too and Madame Pomfrey...why would you risk it all for a little rule-breaking fun with a couple of gits?"

"Don't call them that, Lily. They're my best friends. They're really tolerant. You don't know them like I do."

"Okay fine, but answer my question," said Lily.

Draco shifted again, desperate to catch every single word of this conversation.

"I'm not proud of it," said Remus, quietly. "But the map doesn't do anyone any harm."

"Right," laughed Lily. It was a cold laugh. "It only just violates the privacy of every single being to walk these grounds."

"Lily," said Remus, seriously. "For the longest time, I have been alone in this. Don't start with me with the whole 'you could've told me sooner' business, okay? No. I couldn't have told you. And if I had my way, I'd make sure you still didn't know. The only reason you know is because I put you in danger that night...and because you're too smart for your own good." He paused again. "Lily, they've done so much for me...more than you'll ever know. And every day, I think about how much danger I put them through and how I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I ever attacked any one of them. But don't you see? That's how I know they're true friends. They're willing to stick by me when I'm this ugly."

"You're not ugly," Lily said quickly.

"Thank you," said Remus, softly. "But my point is...I am hardly in any position to dictate their lives or tell them what to do. Surely you must understand that..."

And then there was the sound of shuffling and everything went quiet. Draco slowly and very carefully moved along the corridor to glimpse what was happening, and found Lily hugging Remus very tightly.

"When are you going to stick it into your head?" she was saying. "There is nothing, Remus, nothing ugly about you..." she pulled away from him. "There is no monster in here," she said, both her hands on his heart. "And the sooner you figure that out, the better for all of us."

"Lily," Remus whispered. "Have I ever told you that you're the best friend I've ever had?"

And suddenly, Draco felt very uncomfortable...like he was intruding on something very private. He had no business being there and listening to these personal things between two childhood friends. It was too private, and after all, he hadn't known Remus or Lily for that long to be able to eavesdrop on intense things like that. So he moved as silently as he possibly could, away from the corridor until he couldn't hear them anymore. Then, he climbed up some steps and took the long route back to Gryffindor Tower, all the while thinking that if James had been jealous because he'd found Draco and Lily in the Forbidden Forest, their werewolf friend would be dead meat if James should ever hear what Draco had just heard...

When Draco climbed in through the portrait hole, he found that Remus had already beaten him there and was sitting with the marauders in their usual spot by the fireplace. Lily was, presumably, already in her dormitory, sound asleep like all the rest of the Gryffindors.

"Hey, where've you been?" said Sirius while Draco approached them.

"I thought I forgot my wand back in Slughorn's office so I had to go check," he said, sitting down on the couch.

"Why d'you take it with you anyway?" Sirius began, but Remus stopped him. The boys all fell silent.

"W-what's going on?" Draco asked, afraid of hearing the answer at this point.

Remus glanced backwards at one of the tables in the far corner of the common room. He then looked back at Draco. "Alice is waiting for you."

Draco jumped out of his seat. Sure enough, Alice was sitting in the shadows of the common room, with her wand lit dimly over a book in her lap. Draco took a deep breath and then began to walk towards her. The rest of the boys got back to their conversations, no doubt by Remus' orders. He, unlike Draco, had the decency not to eavesdrop.

"Hey," Draco said once he'd reached Alice.

She looked up from her book and then quickly sat up.

"Hey," she said. "Didn't see you there. How was the party?"

"It was alright," he shrugged.

She made room for him on the window ledge and he shifted to sit next to her. Alice slowly closed the book in her lap and increased the light at the tip of her wand just by a smidge, so that she could see his face clearly.

"So," he said, slowly. "What's going on?"

Alice was quiet for a long time. She looked like whatever she had to say was going to be one of the toughest things she'd ever had to say. But before she even started talking, Draco realized what this was about.

"We need to break up," she began. Her eyes then went round. "Oh goodness, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blurt it out like that, I just...uh..." Draco stared at her. "Let me start over." She paused again. "Look, you're really nice but...you're just a kid!"

"You make it sound like I'm a newbie," Draco muttered.

Alice let out a nervous laugh. "No, of course not. But like...I have my NEWTs this year to focus on, and you're new here and all...I..." She took a deep breath. "Okay, the truth is, I'm not really looking into seeing anyone right now. I just want to be by myself for a while, you know?"

"Much better," thought Draco. He'd started to fear for Alice's breakup skills.

"I hope we could still be friends though," she said, desperately trying to read Draco's expression.

He smiled at her. "I'm sure we will be."

Alice smiled back at him, though apologetically. Then, she picked up her wand and book. "I'm gonna go to bed." She kissed him on the cheek and then retreated to her dormitory. Draco remained at the window for a good two minutes before he remembered the marauders and joined them near the fireplace again.

"What happened?" said Sirius.

Remus kicked him.

"OWWW! What d'you do that for?!"

"Quiet, you'll wake everybody up!" James hissed.

"I didn't say anything!" cried Peter.

"For the hundredth time," Remus was saying to Sirius, "You shouldn't butt in on other people's—

"We broke up," said Draco.

The boys all fell silent.

"We're not going out anymore," Draco added.

He too, was quite shocked. He didn't feel hurt or anything...just numb. Truth be told, this had never happened to him before...and it didn't feel great.

"Sorry, mate," Sirius mumbled. "You wanna talk about it?"

"No," said Draco. "I really don't."

"Are you okay?" said Peter.

Draco paused. "Y-yeah...I think I am."

"Good for you," said Remus, smiling brightly at him.

James was the only one who hadn't spoken. He looked almost regretful as he sat there, staring at a blank spot on the carpet.

"So..." said Sirius, awkwardly. "What did you lot and Sluggy talk about for two and a half hours?"

"The usual ruckus," Remus assured him. "It wasn't a special night or anything."

"What did you guys do?" Draco wondered.

"Wizard's Chess," shrugged Sirius.

James snapped back into reality and nodded.

"Oh, before I forget..." said Remus, leaning forwards. "Dirk Cresswell's arm is broken."

"What?!" cried James and Sirius together.

"Yeah, we saw him at the dinner," said Draco.

"Apparently it only happened this morning," said Remus. "Something about a squid and a seagull..."

"But..." said Sirius.

"How..." said James.

"He says Madame Pomfrey swears it'll take at least a month for it to heal properly," Remus went on.

"But then that means..."

"No Quidditch," said Remus.

"Oh great," said James, bitterly. "Now I'm out a chaser, and Dumbledore's moved up the first match of the season a full week."

"When is it?" said Remus.

"October 17," groaned Sirius. "We just found out today at dinner."

"Don't worry, you guys," said Peter.

But James was not listening.

"Well this is just bloody great," he said. "Just when I thought—"

"I'll do it," said Draco.

All boys' eyes fell on him.

"You will?" said Sirius.

"Yeah," said Draco, confidently. "I'll fill in for Cresswell. But just for this opening match."

"That's really nice of you," said Remus.

"It'd actually fix our problem easily..." said Sirius.

But James had his eyes narrowed at Draco.

"Why?" he asked him.

All boys turned back to Draco.

"Because I know how much it means to you," Draco declared.

"I...don't know what to say..." said James, who honestly looked to be speechless. "Um, t-thank you, Draco."

"Yeah, thanks," said Sirius. "If it wasn't for you..."

You have no idea, Draco wanted to say.


Please review and let us know...what do you think of Draco at this point in the story?