A/N I'm dead serious when I say, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read this. It means so much to me. My plan is to update twice a week, most likely Sunday and Thursday (even though that is not what happened this week at all). Hopefully, I'll be able to actually follow that schedule. Hope you enjoy.

"Oi, you! We need one more for the game."

Draco's back stiffened against the wall as he shook his head.

"C'mon mate. Just one game," the wizard asked him.

Draco just shook his head again. The man shrugged and hollered at another young wizard who was reading a magazine upside down. Draco allowed his body to relax again.

He had been sitting in his own corner for the past few hours. It was secluded enough to shield him from any of the other patients, unless they were directly looking at him. No one hardly ever bothered him, and even if someone did speak to him, they soon left him alone. A few patients still possessed the ability to recognize him as a Malfoy. They tended to avoid him, and he was perfectly content to be left alone.

The day after his talk with Healer Derwent, Draco found that the door to his room was magically locked after he left for breakfast. He had tried to get back in, but without his wand, it was impossible. He had wandered around the hallways in the hours between breakfast and lunch and had scouted out a few good hiding spots. He would bury himself behind curtains and in closets to remain unnoticed. Draco still ate very little at his meals. He would pick at the food given to him, but he never was able to eat as much as he was supposed to. After lunch, he would go hide again, or retreat into the common room and shrink himself into the corner.

The common room in the ward reminded him of Hogwarts. There was a fireplace and various squishy armchairs throughout the room. There were game tables for wizard's chess, Gobstones, Exploding Snap, and a few Muggle games Draco was unfamiliar with. In another corner was a large table meant for art. Only a few patients spent their time there. A few bookshelves were lined up against one wall, along with a small collection of records and tapes that were occasionally played. There was a large radio tuned into the Wizarding Wireless Network, and a number of devoted listeners often sat around it. The daily reports were often centered around the rebuilding of Hogwarts, improvements in the Ministry of Magic, and efforts to apprehend the remaining Death Eaters. Draco's left arm always tingled when he heard those reports.

The wireless was silent today, and a number of patients were having a Gobstones tournament. Draco had been asked a few times if he would like to participate, and each invitation had been met with a curt decline.

Today he felt worse than he did on other days. He hadn't touched breakfast, only picked at lunch, and had angrily almost managed to break the doorknob off the door to his room. A group of Mediwizards had given him a potion and a few pills before leading him to the common room. There was a snag in the skin on his thumb, and he had been pulling and picking at it for the past ten minutes. It was starting to hurt, but he needed the pain.

He watched the tournament going on the center of the room and noticed how different each patient looked. On the outside, they seemed perfectly happy and normal. There was something about their eyes that gave it away. Things weren't fine. This section of the Janus Thickey ward had been opened for a reason.

The girl with the green eyes was looking at him. She looked at him sometimes, and he would pretend he didn't notice her. The second she glanced away, his eyes would shift, and he'd continue his newly formed habit of watching her. He didn't mean to do it all. It was just a reflex. She sat with a small group of people at meals, but during free time, she often sat by herself at the table in the corner. He noticed she didn't speak hardly at all, but she had a very lovely smile. He supposed at one point she was probably rather beautiful. However, her face had been reduced to a jagged patchwork of scars and burns, which only seemed to detract from her. He felt a little sad because of it.

Draco continued to watch her until he saw her looking back. He cast his eyes down to his hands and hoped she hadn't noticed. After waiting a few seconds, he peeked up to see her standing above him.

"Shite," he whispered under his breath.

"May I sit?" she asked.

Her voice was very soft and calm. He didn't move or breath a word.

"If you want to be alone, that's okay. But I'd like to sit next to you."

He jerked his head once and watched as she settled comfortably on the floor. She was dressed in Muggle jeans and a simple blue shirt. Her long brown hair was pushed up in a ponytail, and up close, Draco could see the thin lines of scars that ran down her arms. She couldn't be more than sixteen or seventeen, and she was very thin. She pushed her back against the wall and directed her attention to the Gobstones tournament.

He tried to be interested in the games, but something about her kept poking a spot in his mind. He felt like he should know her from somewhere, but he couldn't place her.

"You've got a bit of blood on your finger," she said, breaking the silence.

"It's nothing," he replied as he placed his hands beneath his knees.

"I wouldn't want you to bleed to death."

"You don't even know me."

"Doesn't mean I want you to bleed to death. Here, put this on."

She pulled a thin strip of material from her pocket and removed the two tabs on it. She took his hand from his legs and wrapped the material around his bloodied finger.

"What is this?"

"A Muggle invention they use to stop blood flow. Healers took my wand, so I suppose this is the only way to do it."

He looked at the bandage. A part of him wanted to rip it off, but another part reasoned with him to keep it. The girl smiled at him before leaning back to resume her spectatorship of the tournament.

Draco studied her from the corner of his eye, and he couldn't help but feel more drawn to her. They sat for a while until he found his voice.

"Why d'you have those scars?" he asked her.

She turned her head towards him. Her eyes were unlike anything he'd ever seen. Up close, he could see the small flecks of gold hidden in the bright emerald ovals. They were so alive, so full, so enchanting.

She didn't say anything, but Draco could tell he'd hit a sore spot. Her eyes held a sadness that he knew she wasn't going to explain. The corners of her lips were set in a firm line, and he felt his breathing fall short. She didn't look away from him, and he was locked into place by her gaze.

He wasn't sure how long he spent looking at her, but the bell for dinner snapped him out of his reverie. She stood quickly and offered him a hand. He took it hesitantly, but allowed her to help him to his feet. She gave him a small smile before disappearing amongst the dinner crowd. He watched her go, his mind racing with the image of her. After losing sight of the girl, he slipped into his corner table for dinner. For a quarter of an hour, he picked at his food, unable to shake the image of the girl's face. He had to know her from somewhere...

Around eight o'clock, the door to his room unlocked, and he could finally slip back in. Normally he would make straight for the wardrobe, but this evening, he stretched on top of his bed, his eyes heavy. The sleeping potions that he'd been prescribed were only helpful in putting him to sleep. He still awoke every few hours screaming. He kicked off his shoes and socks and unbuttoned his shirt before sleep overcame him.

Draco.

They'd summoned him to the dungeons again. They always needed him in the dungeons. Crabbe stood beside him, an eager grin on his face. Five students were lined up against the wall, each with a mixture of terror and defiance in their stance. Draco swallowed the lump in his throat as he gripped his wand.

"Teach them a lesson Draco," Alecto taunted behind him. "Make them pay for what they did."

One student with a Gryffindor tie stepped forward.

"You do not frighten us. You cannot stop us. Dumbledore's Army!"

"Punish him Draco!"

"Crucio!"

The young boy fell as he was hit by the curse, his screams echoing in the dungeons.

He watched as the boy writhed and clawed the ground, biting his lip and fighting the emotions raging inside of him.

"You take the next one Crabbe," Alecto cooed. "Show little Draco here how it's done."

Crabbe eagerly raised his wand to the next student, a girl with a Ravenclaw tie.

"Crucio!"

Before the girl fell, he looked into her face. Her eyes were a vivid emerald green.

When Draco woke up, his breathing was heavy, and his hands shook. He could still see her face, twisted with agony. He finally remembered.

January 21st of 1999 marked the date of Draco Malfoy's first conversation with Astoria Greengrass. It would be the first of many.