DISCLAIMER: THE BOOK BELONGS TO J. I HAVE ONLY BORROWED BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTLINE.

CHAPTER 8

Coming to the great hall in the morning for breakfast, Harry notices a crowd of people standing close the Gryffindor table. They were whispering to one another when, they suddenly fell silent. From amidst the throng of people Harry saw a white faced Draco emerge, pushing them aside roughly as he made his way out of the great hall.

Harry bewildered turned to Susan a girl from his house and asked what happened, she just smiled reassuringly" A fight between Slytherins and Gryffindors. I know he's your brother Harry, but don't get involved, It's a messy affair. "

Harry stood on his toes trying to peer over everyone's head he saw Darren patting Ron on his arm soothingly. Knowing that they would look out for each other harry went in search of Draco. It had been pretty early in the morning so none of his friends were there, so they weren't there to help him. He was alone right now and had looked like he needed help.

Exiting the hall Harry scanned the grounds carefully but couldn't find him anywhere, going out further he saw a lone figure standing beside the lake, walking closer he recognized Draco and heaving a sigh of relief Harry walked over to the still figure.

Draco had been standing beside the lake staring seemingly at nothing. Harry knew Draco was a very private person and interference of any kind would not be acceptable, so he sat and waited for nearly an hour on the grass patiently without saying a word. He'd missed the first period, which was potions, great! Snape would have the pleasure of torturing yet another person. But Harry knew that he would never have acted differently. He was quite willing to face a yearlong detention with the vengeful bat.

Finally Draco moved and came to sit beside Harry still not saying anything. "Want to talk or just sit here?" asked Harry softly.

"I was coming down for breakfast when I saw Darren, I just told him that I'd seen him flying yesterday and had seen the attempted wronski feint , when Ron started sniggering and whining again. Sorry harry I know you guys are close but…"

Harry just waved it aside "I know Ron can be the biggest prat on the planet, but what I don't understand is that Ron has repeatedly baited you, why fall for it now?"

Draco sighed and put his head in hands, "he called me a traitor, and a death eater."

"What! How could he! Doesn't he know that its taboo to say it and that wrongly accusing a person is enough to land him at the ministry, not to mention that that is the worst insult?"

Draco smiled at Harry's chagrin, "I know right, so I got so furious I lost it, and started to reach out for my wand when Darren disarmed me. Oh great I think he still has my wand," he groaned.

"Don't worry I'll get it back." harry said softly "If is any consolation I don't blame for you acting the way you did, but Dray there's something I've been meaning to ask you for a long time now, why is it that you're trying so hard to get my brothers approval I mean he barely notices you and as far as I know you, you don't really treat people well after they've pissed you off so why is he so special I mean knowing you, by now Ron should have had his face rearranged."

Draco looked at Harry stunned " How did you know?" he asked, " How do you seem to see through everything?I… I did it for my father. My father wanted me to make friends with him so that it would lessen the stigma of my being a death eaters son somewhat. I know people see my father as a cold hearted monster but to me he is a good man Harry,"Draco said in an almost pleading voice "He would die before anything happened to me and mother, whatever other say, I love him and want to help him."

" I asked him some time ago why he did it you know, join the Dark Lord I mean, you see I was being shunned at primary school no matter how powerful father is you can't stop people talking, so a lot of parents would sneer at mother and me until it became unbearable and I had to be homeschooled. My father explained it very simply Harry there is always two sides in a war, in the last war it was evenly divided as 'you know who's' side and Dumbledore's side, each of them fighting for their own cause in the battle. in the beginning You Know Who spoke about revolution he spoke of empowering the wizarding world in a way that would benefit all. He never spoke of muggles and had not yet involved them there were not so many deaths, what he spoke rang with truth and a offered a different and better world than Dumbledore offered, so Snape, my dad and a couple of others joined. Before long they found themselves in the thick of things. Dad with the family backing rose high in his ranks but then about halfway through the war things started to go wrong, the Dark Lord started to lose it, the cause that everyone was fighting for dissipated what was left was bloodshed and loss. Hence the name death eaters, my father had realized what was happening and he knew it was too late to back out especially when You Know Who brought in mum and me into the picture. He saw no escape Harry but he did what he could to save our lives. I do not admire the choices made by my father they destroyed so many lives and our own but what people fail to understand is that I'm not my father and more importantly Slytherin is not the house of evil. Yeah, we're not cut and cuddly like the puffs, or like the white pure Gryffindors, but that does not make us all the spawn of evil. We put ourselves first, we think long before we act and when we do, we do it for self-preservation, plus I personally believe that we have powerful wizards and that scares people a bit, also we're filthy rich and can bring the ministry to its knees if we withdrew our support, I'm not kidding harry don't look so skeptic. " So saying he back on his back and closed his eyes.

Harry stared at the lake some more and then joined him, "Well for what it's worth Draco I trust you, I know about the grey in people and it's not just Slytherin everyone has it in them Dray I'll stand with you even though I'm pretty sure nobody will care, but just know I'm there yeah?"

Draco turned to look at Harry a single tear rolling down his face "Yeah Harry, I know you will and I do appreciate it thanks."

Standing outside the Gryffindor portrait Harry squeezed his eyes shut, he hated confrontation that brought him in the limelight of things and he was never comfortable there. Leaning against the wall he slid down to the floor and waited for someone to come around. An hour later, for which harry was actually grateful for, the portrait slid open and Hermione came out of the entrance "Harry!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Um hey, could you get Darren out for me?"

" Yeah sure, hold on a minute" she clambered back in and about two minutes later Darren came out and stood smiling at him "You okay from the morning?" Harry asked tentatively.

" Why what happened asked?" Darren looked genuinely surprised.

"Um the altercation with Draco at breakfast…"

"Oh yeah, it's not a problem. I guess it was the usual stuff."

Harry stood flabbergasted the fight in the morning had no meaning to Darren or Ron, they had dismissed the whole thing off as entertainment, while back in the library where he knew Dray was waiting for his wand, the boy was angry, hurt and miserable.

"Darren, Dray was in a bad way this entire morning after that, come on surely you guys should patch up?"

"But Harry, I honestly don't care, the guy's is so weird he knows Slytherin and Gryffindor don't get along and yet he's always hanging around, I think he's trying to get me into trouble"

The full truth of Draco's prediction came to light nothing He said now would alter Darren's mind. There was no way to destroy rivalry as old as Hogwarts itself. Harry felt real sadness because he knew Draco and he knew Darren and he knew they were both good people and that they could have been the best of friends, they were both so outgoing ,so brutally honest ,so attractive to other people and yet they would never find out, not now not ever. He cursed Ron's simplemindedness at aggravating the situation but knew that he was acting as he had been taught to.

At least Draco was learning to question himself. But now Harry knew that it was a lost cause to bring them together as friends so he smiled sadly and asked for Dray's wand .

"Why didn't the coward come to me himself." Darren asked.

"Don't! Darren, don't say that. He didn't come because of Ron. Who had really insulted him wrongly, he didn't want to see you again either today. It would start a war Darren. "

Darren kept silent for a minute nodded and then went back inside to get it. Coming out minutes later holding the wand he turned to Harry and asked curiously "Do you really trust him Harry?"

" I do," Harry said lightly "not everyone is their father, and Draco is good. So yeah, I believe in him." taking the wand he wished Darren a goodnight and walked away.