A.N. I'm terribly sorry but I went through quite a few changes in my life recently and lost my will to write. I can't promise I'll keep writing but I can promise I'll at least finish the stories I've already started. And I promise Esmeralda will be the first one I finish...I don't expect it to be a long story so I'll attempt to finish by the latest Christmas. I have a huge work load to complete before I can relax but I always try to update on my birthday...and guess what...it's my birthday!!! So this is my gift to myself even though I plan to make this chapter better.

Note: This chapter hasn't been beta'd...And this chapter takes place in Harry's third year.

Chapter 3

Draco groaned and rolled over, pulling the thick sheets over his head. Lying still, he wondered what it is that had woken him up, but he could hear nothing. Sighing, he reached over and pulled the curtains surrounding his bed wide open. The room was very dark, as was expected in the dungeons, and Draco could hear Crabbe and Goyle snoring loud enough to start an avalanche. Nothing seemed out of place. Then he heard it, a sniffle, as if someone had been crying. Concerned, he swung his feet onto the cold dungeon floor and made his way towards the other end of the room, making sure to keep close to the other beds. Coming to stand outside the door to the shared bathroom, he strained his ears to listen for movement or any sign of life. Hearing nothing, he turned to make his way back to bed and heard the sound again. This time though, he was positive that it was coming from within the bathroom. Gathering as much of his Slytherin sneakiness as he could at 2 in the morning, he silently pushed the door open and stepped inside. Leaning over the sink was Harry. Draco could tell from the tanned skin and messy raven hair. Yet, what Draco could not recognize was the boy standing in front of him; the boy whose fingers were curled so tightly around the sides of the sink that his knuckles had turned white; the boy whose head was bent quite low over the sink, as if in shame; the boy whose bare shoulders shook with every silent sob and dry heave; this wasn't the boy Draco had come to know. Draco stepped back with every intention of allowing Harry some privacy but paused in his footsteps when his eyes caught sight of the jagged lines imprinted on Harry's lower back. Harry still hadn't noticed him, so Draco took his time in observing the scar; it was obviously old and seemed to have healed completely. It called out to Draco to comfort him and seek revenge on the douche bag who had done this. Draco once again stepped forward but didn't stop until he was standing about a foot behind Harry; reaching out, he couldn't help but reach forward and brush his fingers lightly over the angry scar. Harry jumped the moment he felt fingers come in contact with his back. Shocked, he grabbed for his shirt and pulled it on only a second before he spun around and found himself effectively caught between one very angry looking dragon and a bathroom sink. By now Harry's face was devoid of all colour and his body had begun to shake and had broken out in cold sweat. Seeing this reaction Draco immediately took a step back to give Harry space but never took his eyes off Harry's.

"Who did it?" Draco's voice was low and steely.

Seeing the panic in Harry's eyes as they darted around wildly Draco sighed and stepped back. Memorizing the terrified look on his best friend's face Draco swore to get revenge on whoever was responsible for that look being there in the first place, but he wasn't willing to push Harry into talking about it. Slowly walking backwards, Draco caught hold of the doorknob and tried to give Harry a small reassuring smile.

"I'm not going to force you to say anything. And I swear on my magic that I will not reveal anything I witnessed here." Harry's eyes widened as bright silver light surrounded Draco before disappearing, signaling that he was now bound never to reveal anything or he would lose his magic. "But always remember that I'm here if you ever need to talk."

Draco turned around and walked away.

Draco lay in bed staring at the ceiling. He hadn't wanted to leave Harry there by himself but he wanted the raven haired boy to be able to trust him fully. Sighing softly, he pulled his pillow close and hugged it tightly. A tiny creaking sound alerted him to the opening of the bathroom door, but he didn't move knowing it was futile to attempt to listen over Crabbe and Golye's snoring. He just snuggled closer to his makeshift teddy bear and closed his eyes.

A dip in his bed caused him to open his eyes. He found himself staring at an oddly composed Harry Potter. Harry settled himself on the bed along side Draco, pulling the curtains and apparently putting up a silencing spell, for the room went suddenly quiet. It wasn't until all this was done that Draco once again saw the broken boy from earlier. Harry's shoulders drooped, the weariness showing in his body as well as in his face. Draco smiled softly at him, situating the pillow he had been grasping under Harry's head and taking care to pull the sheets over the small boy.

Harry's emerald eyes met Draco's silver for a moment before they looked away and unexpectedly, Harry began to talk. "When my mother died, I moved in with my aunt and uncle. My aunt couldn't have children so even in her mourning, she was ecstatic to have me." Draco already knew this part but he just lay there allowing Harry to finally share his pain. "My uncle, for some reason, hated me. At first it was just mean glances and ignoring me. No matter how much my aunt Petunia begged and pleaded, he would never pay me any attention. Then one day he started paying attention to me, with harsh words. It hurt but I never let it bother me too much."

Here Harry's eyes began to water. "Then as I got older, he'd demand that I pulled my wait around the house. And even though I was too small to do much…he'd slap me for messing up. Then the physical abuse started. My aunt tried to stop him, but she couldn't and we had no where else to go. He cut her off from all her friends and my dad moved away; by the time she had the courage to leave him, her parents passed away. We were stuck, but she stood up for me and she took most of the beatings before she snapped and started fighting back. He begged her not to leave him, that he would change if she only gave him one more chance. She refused to; but in the three weeks it took her to find a house that she could afford to buy, he showed her that he could be gentle with me and with her. He got me a babysitter when she got her job."

Harry started to tremble and without thinking, Draco pulled him closer, cursing himself when he realized that Harry stiffened in his arms. He started to pull away but Harry only held on tighter. "His name was Tony and he quickly became my best friend." Harry started laughing hysterically, his laughter quickly becoming sobs.

"Harry, you don't have to do this now."

Harry buried his head in Draco's neck, his sobs slowly subsiding.

"He raped me."

Draco felt his insides freeze with shock before rage quickly took its place. His thoughts were set firmly on torturing this Tony within a breath of his life, breaking every single bone in his body, removing individual fingers and toes piece by piece, cutting his dick off and shoving it up his arse and maybe he'd be generous enough to return his bloody balls as earrings. Draco was shocked out of his dream when Harry began pulling away from him. Sadly he realized that Harry must have taken his lack of response as rejection. Quickly he pulled Harry back to his chest and hugged him.

"It's not your fault Harry. I don't think any less of you. You're still Harry Potter, my only real challenge at this school, my roommate, the only one I can stand, and the first guy I'd ever consider to have watch my back in a duel, the nicest, sweetest, most unbelievably awesome guy I've had the pleasure of knowing and the only guy I will ever allow to mess up my hair." Harry chuckled, bringing a smile to Draco's face. Big emerald eyes stared up at him.

"Because Pansy scares you?"

Draco winced. "Because Pansy scares the shit out of me."

Harry laughed.

"Thank you Dray." Harry seemed to be struggling with something but then he smiled and buried his face back in Draco's neck. "I think you're an awesome best friend."

Draco buried his face in Harry's hair as tears started to run down his face. "No problem Ry. Now sleep."

"You too."

Draco chuckled. "You first. Sweet dreams."

"Thank you."

Draco lay in bed struggling with the amount of emotions racking his body, begging to be released. And one Harrison James Potter slept soundly.

"A knut for your thoughts?"

Harry looked up at Draco and just patted the bed beside him. Draco dived into the bed causing Harry to bounce and when Harry gave him an unamused look, Draco just smiled charmingly.

"Watcha looking at?" Draco tried not to stare at the pictures held tightly in Harry's hands. Harry just held them out for him to take. The first picture was of Harry with his arms wrapped around a young girl who looked strikingly like him.

"That's Esmeralda Lillian Potter…my daughter."

Draco was almost sure he hadn't heard right. "Sorry?"

Harry began to play with the loose threads on his blanket. "When I was raped, Aunt Petunia had my uncle arrested. She was…is a certified healer and she helped me through it all. It wasn't until a few months after that she realized that I'm a bearer and that I was pregnant."

Draco could feel the fury pulsing through his veins. "And how old were you?"

"Six when he raped me and seven when I had Ezzie." Hearing the little girls name caused him to look back at her smiling picture. The fury was soon replaced with adoration. This little girl, who took after her daddy in his looks, was probably the biggest source of happiness in Harry's life. The rape was unforgivable, but the result seemed to be the best.

He liked Pansy…really he did. She was different from the others; she was bubbly and sweet, always looking out for him but at the same time giving him space. The other Slytherins tended to be snarky towards the new kids (a type of initiation as stated by Blaise) and very moody whenever other houses came around. But she was quickly becoming like a big sister to him. No one was able to even look at Harry strange without having to suffer a tongue lashing from Pansy.

Harry had fallen into a routine of waking up long before his roommates and getting ready for classes, going to breakfast with Blaise and Draco, partnering with Pansy for almost every class and avoiding that girl with the violet eyes. Ever since his first charms class, she had been throwing him looks of hatred every time their eyes met and they had started to get to him until he and Pansy always arrived early for charms and herbology. Except today.

The night before he had stayed up until really late finishing up an essay and as a result had woken up just as breakfast was finishing the next morning causing him to rush to bathe and dress within the five minute grace period. Racing through the corridors and dashing across the courtyard, he burst into Herbology hunched over and gasping for breath.

"Nice for you to join us Mr. Potter."

Harry tried to slow his breathing just enough to apologize to Professor Sprout but was brushed off while she continued her interrupted lecture.

"As I was saying before, this class will count for twenty five percent of your final grade. And seeing as this plant is one that takes time to manage, I will be assigning you into pairs. Zabini, Boot; Malfoy, Patil; Parkinson, Nott;….Potter, Johnson. Get into your pairs."

Harry stood at the door trying to figure out who was Johnson and watched as everyone paired off leaving only one other person partner-less. Sighing Harry approached her but stopped dead in his track when his emerald eyes met her violet ones.

"Are you just gonna stare at me all day dipshit, or are you gonna take your damn seat?"

Harry flushed, shifting uncomfortably and took his seat.

"Pansy no!"

His head snapped up just in time for him to duck as an unknown spell shot towards him. Hearing a scream he glanced towards his partner and couldn't help but notice her hair was ice blue and she was gripping at the horns coming out of her forehead.

Professor Sprout brushed pass them to stand in front of Pansy, who looked quite pleased with herself.

"Ms. Parkinson! What in Merlin's name were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that the dipshit's hair and face should match her crappy personality."

Professor Sprout looked at Pansy as if she had never heard such language before. "That'll be 40 points from Slytherin and a week of detention with Filch."

Pansy just smirked, silently observing her handy work before nodding. "That'll be fine Professor. It's more than worth it."

Professor Sprout turned her back to Pansy and kindly asked Harry to take his partner to the Hospital Wing. Grimacing, he looked towards Draco, Pansy and Blaise for help and catching Draco's eye he saw the blond wink at him and with more confidence in his step he led a red faced girl out of the greenhouse.

Harry stood awkwardly at the door to the Hospital Wing as he watched Madame Pomfrey reverse Pansy's hexes. With a flourish of her wand, the school healer stormed off muttering about childish behaviour. Harry followed her movements with a small smile on his face and when he looked back towards the bed, he found violet eyes staring coldly at him. Becoming frustrated, Harry snapped.

"Why?"

Violet eyes widened a fraction. "What?"

Harry took a step forward. "Why treat me like the scum on the bottom of your shoe for three years when you didn't even know me?"

Her eyes seemed to darken as she stood up. "Why? You want to know why? It's because you bloody well ruined my family!! That's why!!"

"What? I don't even know your family and you're blaming me for something I have no clue about?"

Violet eyes filled with tears as she began screaming at Harry. "If you hadn't been born, your mother wouldn't have died and your stupid father wouldn't have broken up my parents' marriage. I fucking hate you!!" She shoved passed him and ran out of the hospital wing.

A.N. Can anyone guess what happened to James? Or who this mysterious violet eyed girl is? Please review.