He sat cross-legged on his new bed, reading a book. The bed wasn't new as in 'just bought' - it was new as in it had just recently become his. Though he technically didn't own it. He read hungrily, only pausing to push his blonde bangs out of the way. Sometimes, when he got thinking, he would almost laugh. Not a year ago, he used to laugh and ridicule people who read books for leisure. But at Grimmuld Place, it was only thing he could do, beside sleep. No, that wasn't true, not any more. He could go play Quidditch or something similar with Harry now. Now. He hadn't been able to when he first came, as if anyone would welcome Draco Malfoy back with open arms.
Flashback
"I never wanted to come with you!"
"You are going to go back to the Manor, and we're going NOW!"
"NO!"
Snape grabbed his arm and pulled him forward.
"We are returning to the Manor, whether you want to or not."
He pretended to relax. Just like Draco predicted, Snape relaxed his grip. He jerked out of the grip and ran.
"Get back here! Serpensortia!"
He jumped at the familiar spell. Luckily, it didn't hit him.
"Come back here!"
"As if!"
He ran and ran, finally stopping to sit on a brick wall, out of breath. He had no where to go, no one to help, no one was extending a hand to pick him up. Except... Dumbledore had offered him protection, but would the rest of them hold up the offer? Would they even believe that Dumbledore had made the offer? Draco didn't know, but he did know it was his only choice. He ran through his mind all the places that the 'light side' would be.
"Diagon Alley? No - I'll be arrested.
Hogwarts? No - Can't apparate there and will be arrested.
Potters place? No - Don't know where it is and will be killed."
Only one other place occurred to him, it was also the only place he actually knew the location of. He stood, stepped forward and spun around concentrating on only one place - The Burrow.
He appeared at the end of a dirt path. He started to walk down the path, his mind blank of what to say. Draco finally got to the door and knocked. It swung open and he said the first thing that came to mind;
"Please don't kill me."
End Flashback
After some very excruciating questioning and, admittedly, Harry telling them that Dumbledore had offered him protection, they finally let him stay at a safe house. He was staying at Grimmuld Place along with Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. And of course, the rest of the Weasleys visited often.
During the first fortnight, Draco didn't really come out of his room. They all seemed to still hate him though he had (honestly) said sorry. Then one afternoon in his third week, when Hermione and Ron had been out on a date (those two had finally hooked up), he had a knock at the door. When opened, it revealed;
"Potter!"
"Hey, Malfoy. Um, I was thinking-"
Draco bit back a mean comment.
"Well, you've been holed up in here for a while and I know you've got all your stuff,"
This was true. He had been given back all his stuff he had left at Hogwarts.
"And Ron brought a Quaffle over, so I thought, maybe you'd want to chuck it around. Or something."
It took Draco a moment to register what he was being asked.
"You want to, play some Quidditch?"
Harry nodded.
"With me?"
Another nod and a comment, after Harry saw his expression.
"Is that so unbelievable?"
Draco's face cracked into something it didn't normally do; a true smile.
"Okay then, let me just get my broom."
That had been the start of Draco's first, real friendship. He was friends with them all now, to a point. They were at least on first name terms with each other. It was now about halfway through the summer holidays.
Draco sighed. He had read this book before and the second time was rather boring. He closed the book and walked to the library to return it. As he approached an aisle, he heard a distinctly human noise. This was strange because Harry, Ron and Hermione were out at the moment (though due back any second now) and Remus was meant to be in the kitchen. He proceed with caution. As he turned into the aisle, he saw an unconcious figure, under a small pile of books. The figure had neat black hair, pale skin and seemed to be wearing school robes. That was all Draco registered before he dropped his book and bolted out of there to find someone. Anyone.
Yay! Second chapter.
Thanks to BRM for being my sole reviewer! You rock!
Please, R&R (read and review).
