First off, I'm sorry about the mishap in which this chapter was posted as chapter seven... I was half asleep and hadn't had my coffee yet. So, now you can have this chapter. Enjoy!
Harry, Ron, and Hermione sneaked out of the dormitories early the next morning. They walked to the Great Hall with much on their minds. What they saw when they arrived made Ron and Hermione realize why Harry had suggested that they repeat their actions from the previous day. There in the deserted hall was a very shifty Draco Malfoy.
Harry began to walk toward him. Ron grabbed his arm. "Uh… Harry," he said cautiously. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Harry replied. "I'm going to go talk to him."
"Why exactly?" Ron persisted.
Hermione glared at him as though she were trying to burn a hole through his head. Ron got her point and released Harry, who continued walking toward Draco. When he reached the Slytherin table, he did the exact thing he never thought he would... he sat down directly in front of his fellow student. Draco looked up.
"I think we should talk," Harry said.
Draco shifted his gaze to the empty Staff table. "Sod off, Potter," he said. But Harry could tell he didn't mean it.
Ron and Hermione came slowly to be seated on either side of Harry.
"We're not leaving until you tell us what happened," Harry said.
Draco looked back at him. "Why?" he said. "You were there. Or are you really so dense that you can't figure it out from that?"
Ron looked disgusted at this remark and was about to say something, but Harry held up his hand for silence.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked.
Draco tried to maintain eye contact, but couldn't.
"Always," he said quietly.
"Why didn't you ever tell anyone about it?"
Harry was obviously going to interrogate him until he was sufficiently informed, so, Draco decided to play along.
"Hmm…" he said sarcastically, "let's think about this for a moment. I piss him off; he hits me. I do what he wants; he hits me. I mind my own fucking business; he hits me. And so ends the wonderfully interesting story of Draco Malfoy. Now, I hope you don't find this too terribly strange, but I rather like not knowing what he'd do to me if I told someone. And besides… who am I going to tell? It's not like I have any friends."
"What about Crabbe and Goyle?" Hermione said. "Or Pansy?"
Draco snorted. "You think I actually like Pansy? Well, I suppose she's the best option of all of them… just annoying as hell most of the time. And as for Crabbe and Goyle… their not friends… no. It's more like their parents told them to pretend they liked me because they're all afraid of my father. Then again, who isn't?"
Harry couldn't help himself; he had to smile at that last comment.
"What?" Draco asked.
"Oh, nothing," Harry replied. "But I just took it as a personal challenge to try and find someone who's not afraid of your father. Well... besides Dumbledore and Voldemort."
Harry saw Ron cringe at his last word.
"Oh, get used to it!"
Harry turned back to Draco. "So, umm… just out of curiosity," he said, "why was your father here, anyway?"
Draco went impossibly pale, seeing as how he was naturally a very pale person.
"Oh…" he said. "Well… I, uh… he… I've got to go."
And he stood to leave the table. But Hermione was quicker. By the time he had risen, she already had her wand out.
"Sit," she said firmly, and he did so, but he didn't say anything.
"Well?" Ron said.
Finally, Draco looked down and answered. "He came to make me choose my side," he said quietly. "He told me I have to pick before I turn seventeen. He asked me if I would go with him to the side of Voldemort."
This startled Harry, as he had never heard anyone aside from Dumbledore and himself use Voldemort's real name.
"Well," Hermione said, "at least he gave you a choice."
"Not really," Draco said as he looked up. "Yes, it was technically a question, but it wasn't really a question... more like a command in the form of a question. And, when I said no…." He trailed off.
"You mean, you chose our side?" Harry said, now even more startled than before. "You chose to... to fight Voldemort?"
"Yes, well... surprising as it may be, I'm not like my father," Draco said. Then he smiled. "And besides, if I get a chance to kill him while I'm at it... who cares which side I'm on?"
"Yeah," Harry said, "you've got a point there. I'm just glad you're on our side... you're a powerful wizard."
Draco looked at him, shocked. "Uh... thanks," he said.
Just then, a flock of students began to file their way sleepily into the Great Hall. The four students looked up.
"I'd better go," Draco said. "They probably all know by now."
"Yeah," Harry said turning to Ron and Hermione. "We should go too."
They walked silently toward the doors, catching a few stares and whispers from the more awake students in the hall. When they reached the outside hall, Hermione did what just two days ago would have been against all of her moral beliefs. She stopped, turned to Draco, and hugged him.
Draco was too shocked to do anything but stand there. When she released him, he noticed that her eyes had looks of sorrow and forgiveness in them.
She smiled when she saw the look on his face. Then, she turned and walked toward her awestruck friends.
Happy now?