For the most part, the rest of Harry's summer was uneventful. He and the Weasley children played Quidditch and other games to pass the time, and when boredom really struck (which was surprisingly seldom) they would have throwing contests as they degnomed the garden for Mrs. Weasley. Mostly, Harry took the time to heal. He was thankful that the majority of his injuries would be completely gone before September 1st so that the rest of his dorm mates wouldn't ask too many questions.

The most dramatic thing that happened was when, the day before they were supposed to return to Hogwarts, Harry and Ron both received letters from Draco Malfoy. And if that wasn't odd enough in itself, they were apology letters. Ron had nearly burned them before Harry could open them, convinced that they were either cursed or just plain rude, but Harry had managed to grab them away and elected the twins to keep Ron from getting them back. He was extremely surprised at the contents and, though he was still very suspicious, Harry wasn't sure Malfoy could make this kind of stuff up. Whether or not the letters were real, it was obvious Malfoy had spent a lot of time on them. Harry read his aloud as Ron and his brothers scuffled in the background.

Potter,

I'm really not very good at this sort of thing, especially considering that as a Malfoy I've practically been taught to die before admitting that I'm wrong about anything, and 'Apologize' is a word that isn't even supposed to be in my vocabulary, but here goes. I was wrong. About pretty much everything. I apologise.

Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to forgive me, or for this to suddenly make things okay, but I felt the need to say it, so I am.

I want you to know that, before school, I was only ever around a certain type of people (Be assured that none of them were Gryffindors, and most of them weren't very good people at all.) All of these people were either friends of my parents or children of my parents' friends, and as such, they were bigoted purebloods.

Before I started school, I was taught by everyone I knew that muggles and muggle-borns were inferior to purebloods. That muggles were completely dim-witted because they had no magic. That muggle-borns were lesser and therefore had less magical talent because they were basically muggles with wands. That half-bloods were traitors because they had mixed with the inferior muggles. That squibs were caused by blood-mixing and were a way of weeding out the weak. That purebloods who socialized with half-bloods, muggle-borns, and muggles were traitors also, because they had a higher likelihood of mixing blood with them.

It wasn't until I came to school and actually met muggle-borns, half-bloods, and so-called blood-traitors that I ever questioned the validity of these so called 'truths.'

Once I got there and started realizing that things were actually a lot different than I was expecting, I think I began lashing out in a kind of denial. I wasn't sure how to react to the situation that I was in, so instead I just fell back on imitating my father. These things, coupled with the fact that I've admittedly always been sort of a spoiled prat, caused a lot of damage to the people around me. I've been reading a few muggle psychology texts, and they all say that these were all fairly normal, expected reactions, but that still doesn't justify the things that I did to you and to your friends.

Once I came home this summer, I said something to my father that made it known that I had some doubts about his viewpoints and after seeing his reaction, I realized it was time to stop living in denial. I decided that since my father was wilfully wrong about the magical communities, he was most likely wrong about muggles as well, so I slipped out of the house to see for myself.

At this point I recognise and admit that my father is a blatant, prejudiced liar. Muggles aren't stupid, and they really aren't too different from us. In fact I quite like muggle culture and I've visited the muggle town near my house quite a few times this summer. I even went to the cinema earlier today, and while Buffy the Vampire Slayer had some vast misinformation about vampires, and I didn't understand why a few of their jokes were supposed to be funny, I quite enjoyed the experience.

Relating specifically to how I treated you, I feel the need to explain that I was trained about you from a very young age. My father used to say, "Harry Potter has the potential to become a very powerful man, you don't want him as your enemy son." When I was unable to make friends with you (by using the exact line I had heard my father say to a few of his business associates before, might I add) my father was tremendously disappointed. He was very quick to let me know and, as I mentioned earlier, we Malfoys have a thing about pride. Also, it really upsets me when people laugh at my name (when you have a name that literally translates to dragon, it tends to happen a lot,) and I lashed out with much less tact than usual towards Weasley because of it. These factors definitely affected the way I interacted with you lot for the rest of the year.

Anyway, as I stated, I don't expect you to forgive me for how I've behaved, or for this to fix the things I've done or said, I just wanted to let you know that I am very sorry for how I have treated you and everyone else for the past year, and to assure you that from now on I'll be leaving you and everyone else alone.

Sincerely,

Draco Malfoy

When Harry had first begun reading, Ron and the twins had still been predominantly concentrating on their tussling, but as the letter went on he slowly gained their full attention. There were a few moments of shocked silence before Ron demanded, "Read mine too, mate."

Weasley,

Assuming that you've actually opened this letter and you've not just chucked it in the fire, I'd like to start by apologizing for the things I've said about your family. I was wrong to say those kinds of things and I wish that I could blame it all on my father's influence.

The truth is, although my father may have started my animosity towards your family, the real reason I was so harsh to you was due to jealousy. Partially because you had somehow managed to attain the loyalty of Harry Potter in the duration of one train ride, but mostly because, although I may be rich, you have something I can never buy: a loving family.

I look at you and your brothers and I am constantly reminded of how alone I am. You have 6 siblings and I have none. You have parents who love you and mine filled my head with nonsense and prejudices and then had the House Elves raise me. You have real friends and I have lackeys who follow me around simply because their parents are afraid of losing my father's good favour. Your clothes may be of a lesser quality than mine, but nothing can compare to the fact that your mother spent hours making family Christmas jumpers for all of her children whereas mine has never even made me a sandwich. The only way my parents have ever shown me anything close to affection was when they were buying me gifts (most of which I had to pick out for myself, because they don't like to bother themselves with remembering my interests.)

Sad though they are, I do understand that none of these facts make my constant berating of your family or your family's financial situation in any way excusable. I don't expect this letter to earn me your forgiveness, however I would like to constitute a truce. I understand that you likely won't believe that I'm truly sorry for the way that I've treated you and your siblings in the past, or that I won't be saying those types of things again in the future. Nevertheless, I still feel the need to apologize. (Also, I would like to point out that should I go back on my word in the future, all you should need to do to ensure my instant and lasting humiliation is to show or read this letter to someone; unless, that is, you actually did burn it, in which case, I'm sure you'll be able to find something disparaging to say about me besides.)

Forgiveness aside, I genuinely hope you'll except my call for a truce. (I feel I should tell you that I've also sent letters of apology to Potter and Granger and that the truce would extend to them as well, since I know how loyal you are.)

Sincerely,

Draco Malfoy

This time when Harry finished reading, Ron quickly jerked the letter out of Harry's hand in disbelief to read it himself. The twins were uncharacteristically silent. When Ron had read the letter over about three times, he finally looked up at Harry. "I… I don't… he's got to be up to something, right? I mean, first he was acting weird in Diagon Alley and now he sends us this… he has to be up to something."

Harry sighed as the twins shared a look of uncertainty, "I don't know Ron. Usually, I would agree with you, but these letters seemed pretty genuine. And they were absolutely filled with all sorts of ammunition. Like Malfoy said, all we would have to do to get one over on him, is to show someone these letters and he would instantly become a laughingstock…"

The twins nodded in agreement and George piped up, "He's right Ronikins. It would be pointless to put that many personal details into the letters if they were phony."

"Still, you should show them to Dad to make sure. Maybe Malfoy's been cursed or something." Fred suggested with a laugh.

"Show what to Dad?" Arthur Weasley asked jovially as he entered the room. All four boys froze momentarily. Fred cringed a bit, as he hadn't actually intended for his younger brother to show their father the letters at all. Lucius Malfoy was a bit of a sore spot for Arthur, and as such, there was no telling how he would react to the letters the younger Malfoy had sent. Alas, the damage was already done, and they ended up handing both letters over to Mr. Weasley very reluctantly.

Arthur read slowly and quietly, his face growing grave at the contents. When he had carefully studied both letters, he looked up at the boys. "Well. You were right to be suspicious boys. Malfoys rarely apologize and never in earnest. But… I guess he is pretty young and he's not his father, and there really is a first time for everything. If the letters were any less personal, I would definitely believe they were a trick, but they seem pretty legitimate to me." He sighed thoughtfully and shook his head. "Still, young Mr. Malfoy is right, just because he apologised doesn't mean you have to be friends with him now. I would wait and see if he actually sent a letter to Hermione and, if he did, exactly what that letter said. Even if the letter is as sincere as these two you should still wait and see if he actually changes his attitude before you decide if you should really forgive him or not. Until then maybe send a neutral letter and honour his proposed truce without letting go of all of your suspicion. Then he won't be able to pull the wool over your eyes if this is a trick and you won't be being unnecessarily antagonistic if it isn't."

Harry was a bit surprised at the well-reasoned advice Mr. Weasley had given them, as most of the time, especially when it had to do with muggle things, Ron's dad seemed a bit silly. Still, it did seem like pretty sound advice, so he and Ron decided to put the letters up and discuss them with Hermione on the train the next day.