Disclaimer: the usual. Don't own anything. Maybe for my birthday?

The back of the library had a peculiar musty smell of old parchment and ink. Thankfully, Madame Pince used a rather ingenious spell to keep off dust, so Draco was able to lurk quite comfortably behind the rows and rows of shelving. There were a few desks that lined the walls, and nobody seemed to come back here except for the occasional couple desperate for a snog.

Now, however, the only person in the back of the library was Draco, working steadily on a Charms assignment – explaining what had gone wrong during Charms earlier that day. He had somehow managed to charm his lamp into biting some sixth year in his class and latching on. That was what happened when he was running on four hours of shuteye. It was only the third day back from the holidays, and he was already behind on sleep.

Neatly placing the last period at the end of the essay, Draco set it aside to dry and pulled over another stack of paper. He somewhat wished that his Charms essay had been longer, because then he could have avoided facing the familial duties of paperwork and accounting. As he reached for a quill to mark some changes on the Gringott's accounts, he felt the unfamiliar weight on his right hand from his father's ring. He set down his quill and rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing. Would he ever get used to it?

Before he had a chance to start again on the ledger, a rustling behind him warned of approaching people. He hoped it was a few amorous fifth-years who would run away at first glimpse of his glare. He snorted, remembering some of his own adventures with Pansy back when they had thought it might work out between them. But, alas, impassioned students it was not to be, unless Blaise and Pansy were secretly skulking together in dark corners. And Pansy was not a skulking type of girl.

"Blaise."

"Hey," Blaise replied, standing there and fidgeting. "So – "

"Blaise," Draco said again, abruptly. "I'm… I'm sorry I've been avoiding you and Pansy the last few days. It's just… I don't really know how to deal with all this –" he waved his hand vaguely at the piles of paper on the table.

"We're here for you, mate," Blaise responded gently. "And if you need time, we'll give you time. I just don't like seeing you give yourself up for your sense of… duty. It shouldn't be yours to have yet."

"Sanctimonia vincet semper," Draco spat at Blaise, albeit tiredly. "Purity always conquers. He always told me, 'good gold doesn't get that way without being tempered', and 'triumph without trial is a sham'." He laughed, a hollow, bitter sound. "Don't you see, Blaise? I have to do this – I have to see if there's anything decent in me that can rise to the occasion, or if the Malfoy principles will die out with Lucius – "

"I think your ancestors were going more along the lines of blood than virtue, Draco, but even if they weren't, you are good, and you don't need to kill yourself to prove it!"

"Alright, suppose you're right, Blaise. But you have one glaring error – who else is supposed to do all of this?" Draco was angry at Blaise for making him see an easier way out, but he was hungry and could feel a headache coming on and just didn't want to fight with his best friend any more. "And I'm not killing myself… I'm doing just fine," he added sullenly.

"Right, and when was the last time you got a decent night's sleep?" Blaise replied skeptically. "Have you thought about asking your mother, the other Malfoy in a position to take care of things?"

"I can't do that to her!"

"Why not?" Blaise pressed, stepping closer to Draco, who realized that at some point in their conversation he had gotten up from his chair.

"She has too much to worry about! And I'm handling it just fine."

"Your mother is not too busy. Don't disrespect her by thinking it would distract her too much from her redecorating – she sent me a note saying she was going stir-crazy and was thinking of taking up Muggle videogames to keep herself sane! Draco, you're eighteen, you haven't even finished school yet. Just relax – you have family who cares about you, you can wait until you get out of here to worry about… everything." Blaise looked at Draco expectantly, waiting for him to reply. Draco just felt worn down, and oh so tired.

"You're right, I suppose…" he muttered.

"What was that?" Blaise questioned, a smirk across his face and a hand to his ear. "I didn't quite catch that."

"Shove off, Zabini. You know perfectly well what I said."

"Yes, well. Shall we go down for dinner then? I'm guessing from your outstandingly good mood that you haven't eaten in a while." Draco grumbled, but accepted, though he hesitated as he moved to pack up the accounts. "No. No way. Don't even think about it, Draco. You are going to come down to dinner and sit with Pansy and me and hear all about her trip over the holidays and you are going to enjoy it."

"Well, in that case…" Draco swung his bag over his shoulder and limped after Blaise. He thought he heard some badly muffled giggling, and was glad he had gotten out of the library before the post-dinner flirting began.

-O-O-O-O-

"Now, when is your test again?" Draco asked Astoria, as they sat in the Slytherin common room, potions books and notes scattered around them.

"Second block tomorrow."

"Right. Well, you just review what we went over today and then go to bed." He paused and looked at her worried face. "You'll do fine, Astoria. You've been coming along really well."

"Oh… thank you," she blushed and looked down.

"So, shall we meet Thursday night then? That should give you time to learn some new material."

"Yes, thank you." She paused, and blushed again. "Thank you so much for doing this, Draco. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, my pleasure." He felt a wave of affection run through him, and he grinned at her. "You make it pretty easy, you know."

"Oh, erm…" Draco's grin stretched wider, and he heaved himself to his feet with a sigh.

"See you soon, then." He nodded at her wave of farewell – she was already looking over their notes – and headed out of the dungeon common room. He was quite glad to be out of the Slytherin dorms – being under the lake, they were quite damp, and he knew they would just wreak havoc on his leg.

The hallways were silent. Draco walked nearly soundlessly through them, despite the occasional clink of his cane against the stone floor. It was quite late – tutoring sessions had to be scheduled around Astoria's prefect rounds – and he was looking forward to going to bed.

Thanks to Blaise's advice, he was actually sleeping again, and reveled in every minute of it. His mother had gladly taken over the family affairs, writing that there were only so many things that she could set on fire before the house elves politely told her that perhaps cooking was not for missus Cissy. He had chuckled at that, glad that his mother had retained her sense of humor after everything.

He wondered what his mother would think of Astoria. There had always been talk of alliance between the Malfoys and the Greengrasses, though nothing had ever been confirmed. Not that he was thinking of marrying either of them, but it would be nice if Narcissa got to know some of Draco's friends. She already loved Pansy and Blaise, and lamented the fact that he never brought more people over to the Manor to entertain. Never mind that Theo's father was one of Lucius' main competitors for the Dark Lord's favor, but it was nice of her to care

His ruminations were, unfortunately, cut short with the approach of people behind him. Draco tensed, anticipating the worst. He was not disappointed. He was pinned next to the door inside the nearest classroom, and the ordeal began. One of the boys had cast a lumos, but it was not enough light to see their faces by. Knowing it was best to not fight back, Draco hung limply as their blows pounded into him. Hopefully it would end soon –

"Oi!" a voice shouted as the door suddenly swung open. "What the bloody hell is going on?" Another lumos lit the classroom, and Draco's present attacker's swinging arm missed and whacked him on the nose. He thought he heard a crack, and fell to the floor as he was released. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he focused on dabbing at his bleeding nose and ignored the rest of the proceedings, including the identities of his assailants.

"And what about you, Malfoy?" Weasley's rude tone sounded in Draco's ears as the redhead's lanky body drew closer. He seemed to be finished docking house points and dishing out detentions.

"Mm? Oh, yes, I'm fine. I'll just be going then, Weasley. Thanks ever so – nngh." Draco groaned as he tried to get up. Something had twinged quite painfully in his kidney area, though he didn't think anything was cracked.

"Are you bloody kidding me, Malfoy? You can hardly walk!" Weasley ignored the glare Draco shot at him, and stretched out his hand. "I may not like you very much, but I figure we'll be working together someday and might as well get used to it." Draco sighed, resigned, and allowed Weasley to help him up. "C'mon, let's get you back to the dorm. Unless you need the infirmary?" Draco shook his head – just some ice and he'd be fine.

Weasley looped his arm around Draco's waist, who was offended for all of five seconds before realizing he would very doubtfully make it to the dorms without assistance. They walked in somewhat companionable silence for a bit, before Weasley obviously became uncomfortable with the lack of noise.

"Geez, Malfoy, what do you eat? Feathers?" Draco gave a wheezing chuckle.

"We can't… all… eat a house for… for breakfast." It was hard work going up stairs without his cane, which Weasley was graciously holding in his other hand. They finally made it to the common room, and struggled to get inside, where they were greeted by a startled Granger and Potter, who immediately began asking questions.

A/N: So, a note about the Malfoy family motto: Basically, Draco looks at it like goodness will always prevail (goodness, purity, etc, etc.) instead of blood purity. And even though Lucius looked at it in the bloodlines way, he still managed to instill enough in Draco that he headed on the right path. And Draco is unwilling to totally diss his father because he still loves him even though he's angry at him – very weird/confused relationship they have.

Anyhoo, hope that clears things up. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

Xoxo, GusGus