A/N: So, in order to make up for the lack of chapters recently, I have written another one. It's unbeta'd as I decided to put it up with as much haste as possible, yet again. This chapter is for xErised. She has read and written reviews for all my chapters like the wonderful person she is, but I have yet to do the same for her. I promise to do so soon. Everyone, enjoy! OH, and thank you everyone for favouriting it and subscribing for alerts (58 favourites and 102 alerts = me blown away). I'm flattered.

I felt as my chest constricted, the pressure making impossible to breathe. My hands grasped for some comforting touch, but I was only met with the cold, stone wall as I blended with my shadow. That single word continued to pound incessantly over the furious white noise. It was only in fairy tales, after all, that there was a happily ever after, right? But if there was any justice in the world, something would prevent Harry from dying. Sweet, pure Harry, tainted only by the pressure on his shoulders to save the whole world. It was almost as if I could hear a voice cackling at the absurd concept – life is fair? It was obviously meant to be lonely and devoid of any love. Just because Harry had momentarily come into my life and made me a fool, didn't mean it was going to change.

"Harry," I choked, the word barely whispering out on my last wisps of air. This was improbably, impossible. A shuddering breath betrayed my will to die, and my heart rebelliously kept on beating. Fantastical thoughts of love had fogged any reason, and I found it unimaginable that my heart hadn't stopped the very moment his had. White spots danced in front of my eyes, and the faint sound of the clicking of heels barely registered in my mind.

"Albus, come quick!" Two pairs of footsteps followed, and a pair of hands grabbed me tightly, shaking me violently. "Mr. Malfoy? Mr. Malfoy, are you alright?" How could anyone ask me that? Could I make it any more clear how far I was from alright?

"Harry," was all I managed to say before breaking down into another set of heaving sobs.

"What about Mr. Potter?" she asked me gently. As if she didn't know. As if she didn't care. But I refused to answer, and even if I had attempted, I doubted any noise would have come out. Instead, Thomas spoke in a quivering voice.

"He can't really be dead, can he?"

"Dead, what in the wor –"

"I'm afraid," Dumbledore interrupted, "that these two boys must have overheard us as they walked by, and misinterpreted what we were discussing. While Harry is, happily, still alive, I fear that Voldemort has killed your mother." At first, a wave of relief settled over me. Harry wasn't dead. But any joy I had quickly evaporated as what he said fully hit me. Mother was dead. She had tried to protect me before. Gods know how many times my father had hit her, but she had still fought for me, serving as a damaged umbrella. His anger still had come upon me in the form of his "lessons", but she weakened the blows by taking some of the impact herself.

"We think it was to serve as a warning to you," Dumbledore continued. Finally, I lifted my head up from their resting place on my knees, and saw that only Dumbledore remained. Professor McGonagall must have gone off with Thomas. Another set of footsteps, however, echoed through the nearly empty halls, and I turned to find Lupin walking toward us.

"Minerva told me that you needed me." His eyes travelled down to me and an eyebrow lifted quizzically, although he asked nothing.

"Ah, yes. Draco seems to have had a rough night. Perhaps, I was wondering, could you give him something to soothe the nerves?" That seemed like something more along Madame Pomfrey's area of expertise, but I kept my mouth shut. The unmistakable glint in his eyes told me that he had something planned. "In any case, I'm off. Good night…or at least have a better one than you've had so far."

The moment he left, a tense silence filled the air. I had never before hesitated to express how much I detested Lupin, and how underqualified I thought he was for the job. Truth be told, I never really thought it, but I had an appearance I had to maintain. His gaze was still hardened, but I didn't blame him. I knew that he was on good terms with Harry, or at least, I assumed he was. It certainly seemed that way during class. I found myself unable to meet his glare, and mumbled, "I thought Harry had died, but it turns out it was my mother the bastard killed." The curse slipped out easily, and I was surprised at how little fear I felt. He immediately helped me up, his expression suddenly sympathetic.

"Do you think you can make it to my office?" I nodded, and with his support, I made my way up the flights of stairs. While I clung to him, like a child might cling to a parent, we both remained silent once more, although there was noticeably less tension. But when a question popped up in my head, I didn't hesitate to ask.

"You know Harry well, right?"

"He's practically like a son to me." There was pain in his voice.

"Do you think he's going to be okay?"

"I hope so. I can't imagine life without him." There was a pause, then: "You've changed. I have to admit, I like you better like this." We entered his office, and he motioned for me to sit in a chair. I obliged, and fiddled nervously with my hands while he searched around the room. "I can't say I trusted you completely before now. It isn't that I that I thought Dumbledore was lying, but I had seen the way you treated Harry. Now, where did I put that? Really, this is impossible to find. Also, Harry hadn't come to me for advice. I'm not saying this to sound full of myself, but he usually does. I originally also assumed that you had cast some spell on him."

"That's funny."

"What is?"

"I thought he had charmed me." A small smile appeared on his lips.

"Ah! Here it is." I expected to see something that was like a whole bunch of twisted, disgusting-looking roots, so I was rather surprised when it only turned out to be chocolate. "Most people generally use it after a Dementor attack, but I feel it is fitting for you as well." Taking a brief, uneasy look at it and back at him, I was shocked to hear him laughing.

"What?"

"You had the same exact response Harry did when I told him to have some in third year after the first Dementor attack. I laughed, but then winced at the memory of constantly teasing him.

"I wish I hadn't had said everything I did."

"We all have our regrets." He laughed again, and added, "I wonder what Sirius will say when I tell him I had a civil conversation with a Malfoy."

"Sirius Black? You know him?"

"He, James, Peter, and I were best mates back when we were at Hogwarts. We all saw how Wormtail turned out."

"Wormatil…I've heard of him before. But he's a Death Eater! I've met him."

"It's thanks to him Lily and James are dead." That jogged my memory. I remembered reading something about it in the Daily Prophet.

"And Sirius got blamed for it, didn't he?" I shouted somewhat excitedly the moment I recalled. "But he was in Azkaban for ten years, wasn't he?" I found this conversation to be bizarre, yet fascinating.

"Thirteen. I'm surprised you know so much. I don't suppose you knew that Sirius also happens to be Harry's godfather as well, do you?" My jaw dropped. "I'll take that as a no."

"He must be really angry at me, not that I blame him." Obviously uncertain how to approach the topic, Lupin changed subjects.

"Your mother didn't treat you like your father, did she?" Guilt flooded me as I thought of her. I had forgotten her and had somehow managed to be happy. It almost seemed like a betrayal to her to be cheerful. It wasn't right to feel like this less than an hour after I had found out that she was dead. "I don't mean to broach a sensitive subject," he hurriedly added as I threw the chocolate on the desk and closed my eyes to avoid tears. It seemed like I was crying enough recently to make up for the times I hadn't before. It disgusted me; I seemed so weak.

"It's alright. She tried to protect me."

"Protect me? You mean he hurt you before?" The right answer would have been a simple and bold yes. He had taught me "lesson" after "lesson" on the proper Pureblood behaviour. On ridding the world of vermin. On getting better grades than Granger for once and for all. But I was reluctant to even admit some of it to Harry, whom I trusted more than anyone in the world. So, instead, I made up something on the spot.

"No. She wanted to protect me from becoming like him." At least it was partially true. Still, Lupin didn't seem to notice anything unusual in what I had said. He just nodded gravely. I almost felt bad for lying to him, but part of me wanted to preserve any dignity I had left.

"I'm terribly sorry that he killed her. She sounded like a wonderful person." I nodded; he had no idea. "Well, you probably should be getting back to your House. I don't want to hold you here too long." I nodded once more, and got up.

"Thank you."

"No problem." He shot me another smile, and I left the room.

XxXxXxXxX

Harry was just out of reach. Every time I would take a step forward, so would he. At first, I thought it was a game, and I chased after him, an eager smile on my lips. But soon I tired of it, and I called his name. He ignored me, continuing to take steady step after step. Sighing angrily, I followed him, decided to play along a while longer. When he didn't relent, and his pace increased, I broke into a run. So did he. No matter how many times I called after him, he ignored me, only sprinting faster and faster. With a final spurt of energy, however, I managed to reach him. My fingers closed around his robes, and as suddenly as he had begun to run away, he stopped.

But the moment he turned around, I knew something was dreadfully wrong. His eyes were vacant, and the smile slowly slid off of his face like a drop of rain would fall down a window. "Harry," I mumbled, but he made no attempt to respond at first. Finally, his eyes settled on me, with what seemed like great effort, and he managed to say my name. There was such a heavy sadness in his voice, that I knew something horrible was about to happen. Still, I gasped and pulled back, when blood started to flow from his face and through his robes and his eyes fluttered shut. He crumpled into a mess, and I shouted his name fearfully.

I woke up with Harry's name still on my lips. The curtains were closed, but when I went to pull them back, I found the entire room to be empty. Part of me had hoped that Blaise would still be here, but another part of my mind had told me that was wishful thinking, so I wasn't too surprised. With a final sigh, I got up and began to get dressed.

XxXxXxXxX

The entire week, I had attempted to sit with the Gryffindor table. A small part of me feared for my life when I sat with the Slytherins, so I decided to take my chances with Weasley. He was bitter about it, but eventually we both settled for the silent treatment. Occasionally, he'd throw an insult my way, and I'd sneer back at him, but other than mutual hatred, we held nothing in common. At first Granger had truly attempted to make it work between us, but after she had seen it was useless, she had given up.

My spare time was also spent doing any homework I had in the library with the Gryffindors. Usually it consisted of Thomas, Longbottom, and Granger, but occasionally, Luna Lovegood, the Ravenclaw girl a year younger than us, would join in. She was prone to making strange comments about nonexistent creatures, but I decided not to fuss or correct her. Granger had warned me beforehand that I was better off just going along with what she said, no matter how bizarre it was.

When we finally had a weekend to go to Hogsmeade, I was overjoyed. This meant freedom from everything else going on around me. Somehow it seemed like a temporary escape from everything; Hogsmeade always had that effect over me. It had always taken away any stress caused by my father or school, so I figured now was the perfect time for some sort of a getaway.

I sat down with Granger and Longbottom in the pub. Thomas was supposed to join us later. He was currently spending some time with Finnegan, who had initially been mad at him for trusting me. Sighing, I took a swig of my butterbeer, and stared at the table. There was something soothing about the constant buzz of noise. It made it impossible to think. But my pleasant stream of non-thoughts was interrupted as someone bumped into me. An irritating laugh drew my attention, and I saw as Pansy walked away, giggling and throwing a glance behind. She sat down with Blaise and Millicent, and upon seeing my, what must have been, angered expression, burst out into renewed laughter.

I took another sip of butterbeer, and sighed as Granger patted me on the back. "You've gotten rather good at ignoring them." I nodded tensely.

"They're not worth my anger. Still, I wouldn't mind sending a nice hex there way…" She gave me a disapproving look, and I lifted my hands innocently in the air. "Just joking!" The strangest feeling suddenly came over me. I set down the mug and glanced around as if expecting to find everyone staring at me as if some profound change had occurred that was visible to the world. But no one seemed to have noticed. It was odd; I felt unfulfilled, and needed something…something… I just couldn't place my finger on it.

"You okay, Malfoy?" Granger gave me an odd look, but before I could reply, Thomas walked into the Three Broomsticks.

"Ah, Dean's here!" And suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do. Hurriedly, I attempted to stand up, so quickly, in fact, that the chair was knocked down behind me. I didn't pay any attention to that, however. Instead, I rushed over to Dean, ignoring remarks people made as I bumped into them. Weasley and Finnegan stood beside him looking rather unhappy, but I ignored them. "Dean!"

"Err, Malfoy?" Never had I been so happy to see him. Pulling him close to me, I kissed him full on the lips, savouring the taste of his sweet, sweet skin, the feel of him underneath my fingers as I trailed them overtop him. I thought he would enjoy it, too, but apparently, I was wrong. With a forceful shove, he pushed me off, and before I knew it, another wand was jammed in my neck.

"Dean," I whined, hoping that my incredibly irresistible pout would make him relent and kiss me once more.

"Get your hands off of him, you slimy bastard. He's mine" another voice whispered in my ear. I turned around to see Blaise threateningly pointing his wand at me. Pansy's shocked voice came from across the room, but I ignored her, as did Blaise.

"But I don't want to," I stubbornly said, stomping my foot down and glaring at the ground. "I just want Dean."

"I told you he wasn't to be trusted," Weasley screamed, running out of the pub. I chuckled and pointed after him. Granger rushed out of the pub after Ron, throwing me a dirty look. All I did in response was stick out my tongue.

"Blaise, what the fuck are you doing?" Pansy's shrill voice cried above the rest. I rolled my eyes and attempted to shy closer to Dean, even wrapping my arm around him, but he pulled away, giving me a horrified expression. "You're ruining your plan!" Blaise gave her a confused look.

"Plan? What in the world are you talking about?"

"Plan! As in I spiked his butterbeer with love potion." What was that supposed to mean? Whose butterbeer? "And what were you doing? What was that you said – 'he's mine?' What's that supposed to mean?" He looked over at Dean, but the lovely Gryffindor provided no response. Blaise's shoulders hunched forward in defeat, and his voice was almost in a monotone.

"We've been going out. And I would have been able to hide it if you hadn't come along and ruined it all." He jabbed his finger at my chest, and I grimaced. It didn't hurt, per say, but it was unpleasant.

"I need to go find Hermione. Oh, gods, this is a mess. This is why you don't interfere with other people's lives." Dean gave a meaningful glare at Pansy, and ran out. I made way to chase after him, but two strong arms wrapped around me, holding me back. My body twisted and turned as my feet kicked around, but Blaise continued to hold me back.

"No, no, Draco. We're taking you to Professor Snape."

"But I don't want to go to Professor Snape! I want Dean!" I didn't see why he wouldn't let me go after him.

"No, you don't. You want Potter. You just think you want Thomas because Pansy was an idiot and had to spike your butterbeer with love potion."

"She did not! You're just jealous because I know how to love someone and you don't."

"Watch it, I'm trying to help you," he hissed, his voice suddenly angrier. "If you don't stop taunting me I'll just let Pansy have at you."

"Let go of me!" I shoved him, and this time I successfully managed to throw him off of me. My feet were pounding the ground as quickly as they possibly could, and I soon was out in the daylight, attempting to find Dean. Of course, he was nowhere in sight, and I started to panic. I didn't have much time to contemplate this, however, as Blaise soon was running after me, and I had to continue as fast as I could. He was being rather bothersome right now, and I didn't particularly feel like dealing with him.

"Stop! Draco, I promise I'll help you, just come back!" As if I would trust him! I just needed to get to my lovely, wonderful Dean. Dean with that skin so smooth and lips so full. "Professor McGonagall, help me!" Stopping and turning around to see what the problem was, I found myself yet again in Blaise's grasp. He firmly grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me over to the Gryffindor head.

"Whatever is the matter?" She seemed completely confused, and I hung my head down and pouted once more.

"He's not letting me go to see Dean," I whined.

"Pansy spiked his drink with a love potion, and now he can't stop thinking about Dean."

"Ms. Parkinson is pushing her limits. Mr. Malfoy, come with me."

"I don't want to."

"Just come along, and I promise you'll get to see Mr. Thomas, alright?" Pausing, I pretended to mull it over.

"Oh, alright." I skipped beside her, and Blaise trailed along behind like a puppy dog.

It wasn't until we were back at Hogwarts and descending the steps to the Dungeon that I began to become sceptical. As far as I knew, Dean wouldn't be with the Slytherins. So, I couldn't fathom where we were possibly going. "But wouldn't he be in the Gryffindor tower?"

"No, he had some Potions homework to finish," Professor McGonagall replied, and I was relieved. Somehow this had seemed like a trap, but I was reassured. She wouldn't lie after all, would she? We entered the classroom, and I craned my head around, wandering off as McGonagall went to fetch Professor Snape. I couldn't see him anywhere, but soon a hooked nose was in my face, and something was being thrust in my hands.

"Drink this," Professor Snape commanded. I nodded and obliged. And the bubbles wore down. Suddenly I didn't feel so much like seeing Dean. In fact, I began to realize what I'd done.

"Well, shit."

"Glad to have you back, Draco," Blaise muttered.

A/N: ~cough~Reviewplease?~cough~ I hope you liked it. Some of you guess correctly as to what happened, but for those of you who thought I killed Harry, do you forgive me?

Babbles: There's no placeeee like Londonnn! (Sorry, I'm in a Sweeny Todd sort of mood.) So, that's where I'd go. Most likely with airbornlove. :P In any case, who is your favourite actor/actress? Any particular film you love him/her in?