Whee! Back to this fab-u-lous story! Sorry, I'm just in a giddy little mood…I won't bore you guys for long, let's just get to the goddamn story…

NOTE: I'm going to address two things here: 1) Harry's behavior in the last chapter. Well, I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. I thought it was in character but I guess that's just me. Ron was being a dick, Harry told him off. Ron's my favorite character in the whole series so it's not like I'm picking on him. 2) Who said this was slash? I don't remember revealing the pairings to anyone…

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter…with very good reason, it would be even darker than it already is…

Warnings: Oh, stuff.

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Ghosts

Chapter Eight

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It was a strangely quiet, almost subdued affair, getting them all to the train station. Everyone was already packed and so they were ready to go the next morning after everyone had showers. Of course, with time to spare, there was some milling around.

Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all one last cup of hot chocolate in the kitchen and Harry was going to join them, he really was. But part of him just felt…separated from them, detached almost. He knew that if he went in, they'd all greet him and make room for him at the table. Ron would slap him on the back and Hermione would be shaking her head over the latest thing that Ron said wrong.

Harry glanced up the stairs. Draco hadn't come down. And to go and join the others, forgetting about Draco altogether seemed strange to him. Even though he never thought he'd care one way or another whether Malfoy was feeling included or not. Things had changed.

He slowly climbed the stairs, the floorboards creaking in their familiar fashion, his hand sliding up the wooden banister. The finished wood was cool and smooth to the touch. For a brief moment, Harry could just picture a young Sirius running down those steps, his hands barely touching the banister in his eagerness to get to Hogwarts and away from this dreary old house.

Strangely, the house didn't feel so dreary anymore. It seemed…cozy, old, nostalgic. That summer with Sirius seemed a thousand years ago. This was a different place now. No longer a formidable house of dust, it was full of other memories. Ones from this summer.

Suddenly he was dreading going back to school. He remember what Draco said to him last night, about him going back to hating him. Things would change when they got back, he just knew it. He wouldn't be able to stop it.

To say that they would always have this summer sounded stupid to Harry. It was something you'd read in a weepy romance story or something. This was different. It just was.

He found Draco sitting in his room. His back was to Harry and he was staring out the window. It didn't seem that long ago that they were both sitting on that bed, looking out that window. The blonde-haired young man looked a thousand miles away, in his own world.

"Draco?" Harry broke the silent spell by whispering the name. Draco turned around. His face betrayed no emotion. If anything, he looked faintly irritated.

"What?" Draco was looking right at him and for some reason he began to fumble.

"Oh…we're all having hot chocolate in the kitchen." Harry tried lamely. "I thought…well, do you want some?" Draco looked at him for a moment more before turning back around.

"No."

"Are you ready to leave?" Harry didn't want to leave the room quite yet.

"No." Draco repeated himself. "But I don't really have a choice."

"Yeah." Harry nodded his head. He couldn't say why later, but this conversation seemed to be a very important one. Somehow he had memorized the room at that moment, the way it was dimly lit, the way it cast shadows on the walls—or ghosts of things past.

Will I stay here forever as a ghost?

This house was haunted. By him.

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The train sat at the station, blowing off steam that would temporarily fog the platform nine and three-quarters. Parents were saying good-bye left and right. The moment they had gotten through the barrier, Draco disappeared. Harry was about to go look for him but Ginny stopped him and shook her head.

"We've got to go up to the prefects' compartment." Hermione went a bright shade of pink. "I've got to explain prefect duties to the newest ones."

"This is going to be worse than fifth year." Ron rolled his eyes. Then he turned towards Harry. "We'll be around as soon as we can."

"Come on, Harry." Ginny tugged on his sleeve. "Let's go sit somewhere."

"Alright." Harry didn't know why he felt so reluctant about everything. He needed to cheer up; he was going back to Hogwarts. It was his last year. It felt as though he had been going to school forever, even though it hadn't been that long ago that he lived under the reign of his bullying cousin and slept in a cupboard under the stairs.

As they filed down the train, they kept looking into the little compartments to see which ones were open. Ginny was greeting people and Harry would just wave. Seamus and Dean were in a compartment with Parvati and Lavender but Ginny promised they'd be around to say hello later.

That's when it happened. They went past a compartment full of Slytherins. Harry didn't mean to look inside but he did. His eyes connected with a pair of blue ones. Draco looked like he was in the middle of saying something but he stopped short. The other Slytherin seventh years turned to see why and all sneered at him.

"What are you looking at, Potter?" The cold drawl was back in full force. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Pansy Parkinson let out a short, barking laugh and Blaise Zabini slammed the door shut.

"Forget about that." Ginny tugged on his sleeve again. "I found an empty one."

"It's fine." Harry shrugged and put on his best nonchalant expression. "Let's sit down." But deep down inside, something hurt.

Why?

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"I'm surprised at you." Pansy Parkinson put on a nasty expression. For the seventh year in a row, Draco's compartment had a little more people than it could actually fit. "I heard you've…been disowned."

"My father says you've turned traitor." Crabbe, who obviously didn't know what loyalty was, started up.

"I heard you've been living with…the other side." Vincent looked completely disillusioned.

"What should we do to you?" Blaise Zabini tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "We won't kill you of course. We'll just make your life a living hell."

"You," Draco drew himself up and his face had superiority written all over it. "Are all a bunch of idiots."

"Oh, really?" Pansy arched an eyebrow.

"Yes, really." Draco flicked her nose with his index finger arrogantly. "Did it ever occur to you gits that maybe, the Dark Lord, orchestrated these events? Did it ever occur to you that I, Draco Malfoy, would never turn traitor? With my generations pure blood? Perhaps, but don't take my word for it, you kids don't get to know every little thing about the Dark Lord's master plan."

"Oh!" Pansy's eyes grew wide. "You mean…?"

"Maybe." Draco looked irritatingly vague at that moment. "But I'll let you decide whether I would run off and join the Mudbloods and blood traitors, or if there might be some sort of secret agenda."

"But my father said the night that you—" Crabbe began but Draco interrupted him.

"As much as I'd like to pretend that they're all morons, Dumbledore's not just going to let a Slytherin waltz into his secret little camp unless he's thoroughly convinced." Draco buffed his nails on his black robes. Then he rolled his eyes. "I knew I shouldn't have said anything, you're all going to blab to the entire school and that would ruin everything."

"No, we won't." Zabini frowned. Then he looked apologetic. "Sorry about that, Malfoy, but we hadn't heard anything different all summer…"

"That's right." Draco spoke sharply. "And no one's supposed to hear any differently at all. That's also why you might see me pretending to be decent to people who are far below me."

"Ugh, like Potter?" Pansy grimaced.

"Yes, like Potter." Draco looked weary. "Him and his gang of do-gooders will probably try to talk to me a lot."

"But you were mean to him just now." Zabini pointed out.

"Yes, but he and I worked that all out beforehand." Draco waved a nonchalant hand in the air. "I'm not actually supposed to tell any of you any of this, but I thought I could trust you four."

"You can!" Pansy vowed. "No one's to breathe a word of this under pain of death." She brandished her wand.

"Very good." Draco settled himself into his seat. "Now, who wants to buy me food off the trolley?"

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The start of the year feast was as lavish as ever, to the point where you couldn't tell that they were in the midst of a war. Harry came in with Hermione and Ron, who were telling him about what they had been doing on the train. When they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Harry pointedly did not glance over at the Slytherin table.

He thinks he can get to me, but he can't.

It didn't help matters in when Ginny glanced over at the table, frowned a little, and said, "It seems like Draco's in everyone's good graces…that was fast."

"Ginny…" Ron didn't seem to understand why they had to keep tabs on Draco now that they were all back at school.

"Wait a minute…" Hermione seemed slightly confused. "Look around. There's lots of people here that I'm sure I've never seen before."

Harry did glance around and saw that there were unfamiliar faces throughout the whole dining hall. They looked the right ages to be in school, but he was sure he had never seen any of them before.

"Excuse me." Dumbledore had gotten up to the podium and everyone immediately stopped talking. (Well, a few people kept talking but very quietly and kept glancing up towards the podium because whatever Dumbledore had to say was bound to be interesting.) "Before you begin eating, I have a few announcements to make. First, it is my duty to inform you all once more that our caretaker, Mr. Filch, wants all students to review the list of banned items from the castle. Take some time to go over them at your own leisure. And second, you may have noticed that there are a few new faces among you."

"Who cares about Filch? I've never seen that list and I'm pretty sure no one else has." Ron muttered out of the corner of his mouth and Harry grinned.

"These are transfer students. Some other schools have suffered damages recently and we've agreed to take on students until their schools are repaired. Please welcome them to our school and help them with any questions they have." Dumbledore explained. "And now, I believe it's time to eat."

"Transfer students?" Hermione's head tilted to one side. "From where?"

"Who knows?" Ron was distracted by a large steak that he was furiously attacking. "Foreign schools. I did hear something about some kind of attack in the States but as soon as my mum saw me listening she shut the door. 'You're too young for this, Ron.'" He did an imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

"It'll be interesting to hear about other curriculums." Hermione cheerfully poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice. "As prefects, Ron, it's our duty help out the new students."

"Dumbledore said it was everyone's job." Ron pointed out. "Don't we have enough to do?"

"Some of the transfers are cute." Ginny waved a little at a boy who was sitting further down the table who very shyly waved back.

Strangely, Ron didn't seem too bothered by this. When Hermione nudged him, he shrugged in such a manner that said, "If it's not Malfoy, I don't care."

After the feast was finished and there were a few more announcements, Harry and the others began heading upstairs. It was crowded with people going to their separate common rooms and talking to each other in large groups. He saw someone with red hair and thought for a moment in was Ginny but then she turned towards him.

He stopped breathing for a moment.

It wasn't because she was remarkably pretty or anything, it was just her features. Her red hair, her face, a face he had seen before, but only in photographs and once in memory. A face that was almost a perfect copy of…

Except the eyes.

She had her father's eyes.

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Dun, dun, DUN! Man I'm awesome. What's going on? Oh…I don't know. Stuff. I told you guys that the storyline got weird. Really weird. This story is kind of a personal challenge to myself. This chapter is all wonky and transitional. Please review.