I never would've thought that I would miss the days back when Malfoy had been cruel and vicious to me. I never would've thought that I would miss the days back when Malfoy had called me a Mudblood. But more than two months passed and Malfoy barely talked to me. Whenever he was forced to he replied in one-syllable words, for example in Potions. And it was killing me. I didn't understand his reasons for his silence, but it scared me more than any threat of his ever could have. I was only sure of one thing – that the reason for his behavior was not what Viktor said it was. I had seen Viktor a couple times over the months, almost every weekend, and I was sad to admit that I even called him my best friend right now. Ginny, that slut, I would have forgiven if she had showed me that our friendship meant something to her and that she didn't want to fight anymore, but no – none of that happened. She remained cold and acted like she didn't care. Or maybe she really didn't care. I had asked myself why she was still all over Malfoy if she liked Dean now, but it was time for me to awaken from my naivety. She was just using the poor Dean. Ron on the other hand was just being stupid. He seemed to be mad at me for bringing Viktor back in my life and I didn't understand why. Sure, Ron and I had had our moments during the battle, and we had eventually kissed once, but I thought we both had agreed that it had been a mistake and we wouldn't repeat it again. So why did he act like that then? And Harry just spent a lot of time with Ginny and Ron and not with me. So as the months went on I didn't have anything to look forward to in my life, except for the weekends when I would see Viktor and could talk to him.

It was the beginning of December when we had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Lupin and he announced "Today, we are going to repeat something that all of you already know. I know that you know, because I taught you."

The whole class just looked at him confused, eying the closet in front of them suspiciously, and Lupin smiled widely.

"Do you remember when we learned how to defeat Boggarts with the help of the Riddikulus charm?" The class let out all kinds of excited noises.

"Well I figured since it's becoming colder and colder outside we could all need some cheering up. And that is why we will do exactly that again."
The whole class cheered, remembering what fun they had had the last time, but I remained silent. I knew that my biggest fear had changed. Then it had been Professor McGonnagal telling me I had failed, but now it was something different. The truth was that I didn't know what exactly it was.

"I'm guessing that some of your fears have changed." Lupin continued and glanced at Neville. "For example I really hope that you have mastered your fear of Professor Snape by now, Neville." The class laughed and Neville blushed.

All of the tables were set aside and we all formed one long line, Neville being the first of them all. With a loud BANG Lupin opened the closet and out came the weirdest creature I had ever seen. It was a mixture of some kind of pig and a... snake. I had no idea what it was.

"Riddikulus!" Neville yelled and the creature squeaked as wings grew to it that were not strong enough to hold it. I didn't really get what was so funny about it, but I laughed anyway.

"What was that?" Lupin asked Neville before the next student had his turn.

"A crumple-horned Snorkack!" Neville replied simply and then stepped out of the way. He definitely spent too much time with Luna. The fears of most other people hadn't really changed, Harry's was still a Dementor, and Ron's still a giant spider. Then it was Malfoy's turn. This should be interesting. What did Malfoy fear the most? It turned out to be something that none of us expected. He stepped forward and the Boggart changed into a man – Lucius Malfoy. He was standing in front of us as if he actually was still alive, even though we knew that he had been mysteriously killed after the battle. But there he was, looking completely alive. I could see that all the color had faded from Malfoy's face and he just stared at his father in complete terror for a minute. It seemed like he had forgotten where he was, he only saw the man in front of him. None of us mattered to him anymore, just the terror when he saw the man he had thought dead. He definitely had not expected this.

"You're dead." He whispered. "I was there, you were murdered. You're dead." It sounded like he tried with all of his power to convince himself of those words.

The boggart opened his mouth and the voice coming out sounded exactly as cold as Lucius Malfoy's. I hadn't known before then that Boggarts could also resemble a person's voice, but it made sense. "You will never get rid of me, son. Because I am in your head. I made sure of that over all of those years. You always were weak and always will be. Exactly like your mother was. I could hear you whining in your sleep, "Mommy don't leave me with him". Pathetic! But I am the only one you have, son! And you thank me by killing me ?"

The whole class was silent as a lamb. Everybody seemed to hold their breaths, me included. Did this mean that... surely it couldn't mean that... Malfoy had killed his own father? Malfoy shook his head, closed his eyes and held his ears shut with his hands as if that would make the boggart go away. He just stood like that for a couple of seconds, then his eyes flew back open. It was then that he looked around and saw everybody staring at him open-mouthed. I could see the terror in his face when the realization hit him that every single person in this room had heard the boggart. Every single person in this room now knew his secret. His secret that he had killed his own father. It had been everywhere on the news that Lucius Malfoy had been found dead in his house during the summer. Nobody knew how he had gotten killed. Some said other former Death-eaters had executed him, others said he had killed himself, having become insane over the death of his wife. She again, had been found dead a couple of weeks before that. Did that mean that he... had taken care of her too? I couldn't even imagine how terrible Malfoy's summer must have been. With a loud wooden sound his wand fell out of his hand and on the floor. He looked at it for a split-second, then he turned on his heel and ran out of the classroom. I looked after him helplessly. There had to be something I could do. He needed to talk to someone, I needed to be there for him. Then the realization hit me that this must have been the secret Tonks had been talking about. But how did she know? Then Lissa, a Gryffindor girl, gasped and pointed at a point behind me. I turned around again and wished I hadn't. In front of me was a pale body lying on the floor, drained of all blood. His lips were blue and his grey eyes were wide open and in shock, staring at me. Even in his death he was still beautiful. Even with blood streaming down in a river from his heart. He was dead. The corpse of Draco Malfoy was lying in front of me and I screamed as loud as I could.

A/N: Hey guys,

I know that this was a pretty short chapter, but it was pretty important to the story. So what are your thoughts about this all? Malfoy killing his daddy? yay or nay? Also I'll try to at least get Harry more involved in the story, but I'm not promising anything. Just tell me what you think and review, it doesn't take long and makes me happy! :)

Love,

ShayleeRae