Draco Malfoy sat up in bed, clutching his head and feeling dizzy. Why had his counterpart decided to leave Hogwarts? Ever since he had disappeared into the Forbidden Forest, his memories had been oddly fuzzy, as if he had been using occlumency against him.
In the recent weeks, life had been rather overwhelming for the boy. He hadn't had this much company in... Draco struggled to think of when; his father hated to give him any more opportunities than necessary to discredit his heritage. Draco felt exhausted, despite never leaving the hospital - although he was now allowed to go on walks outside of his ward.
The amount of people who had wanted to talk to him had been disorientating: Dumbledore; ministry officials; his father's lawyer; the Healers. It was quite an extensive list and for someone who had never seen that many people all at once, it had Draco crouching in a corner. This weakness was irrational, Draco knew that, but after being held in relative isolation for so many years crowds seemed so very threatening.
After the Healers had figured out why Draco would hide whenever someone new entered the ward, they had restricted visitors to three people at once. Currently, his only regular visitors however were from the Healers, Dumbledore and Augusta Longbottom who would often visit the ward opposite.
When Draco had told Dumbledore all about the other Draco using occulemency against him, the ancient wizard had gone very still, then bombarded him with questions about their link. Personally, Draco thought they should be worrying about how his impersonator had learnt occlumency and was using it successfully, but that was before he learnt that his situation was distinctly unusual - if not unique - so Draco decided to give the Headmaster some slack.
In other news, his father had been questioned using veritaserum, meaning that he had admitted to hiding Draco away and having him replaced because he was such a disappointment. Dumbledore still wanted to question him again about how the imposter had gained the original Draco's memories, but the ministry had wanted to keep the case as quiet as possible and Draco's father was currently enjoying a cell inside Azkaban.
However, the best new by far was when Dumbledore had told Draco that he would be allowed to attend Hogwarts next term, something Draco had dreamed about for a long time. He wouldn't even be behind the other students, for he would had memories of all the lessons from the last three years. Some days, Draco wondered if he was dreaming, as how could he, Draco, possibly allowed to go to Hogwarts and make friends?