Draco and Zuko walked into the Slytherin common room in silence. Satisfied that no one was awake, they proceeded to walk into Draco's room in silence. When Draco had first arrived at Hogwarts several days ago, Draco discovered that none of the seventh year Slytherin boys had returned. Draco himself had begged his mother to let him skive off. What was the point in returning to this place? What was left for him to learn? It would seem that the only thing he had really learned, since his return to the accursed school, was what 'hate' really felt like. The entire school hated him. The Ravenclaws hated him, the Hufflepuffs hated him, the Gryffindors DESPISED him. The Slytherins avoided him...he couldn't blame them. Slytherin's were sorted into their house because they were clever and wanted to get ahead. Every Slytherin knew that association with Draco Malfoy would result in being socially ostracized, which could hinder their future endeavors. Draco understood, it wasn't personal, it was business.

There were other ramifications to his return to Hogwarts as well. For the first time in Draco's life, he was bullied. Draco had always been the bully. Money gives you that power. He bullied Potter, Longbottom, his own friends…. now he was getting a first hand taste of what it was like. Spells shot at him from the family members of those lost in the war. Pranks pulled on him by survivors. Even the house elves had managed to shrink all his robes, permanently, within the first couple of hours of his arrival, he had to owl mother immediately for new ones. It was degrading. He had only been at Hogwarts for about two days and he had already fled to the Room of Requirement five times in an effort to get some peace and quiet. And to mourn. His friend Crabbe had died in that room. Something he blamed himself for. Draco was never really an emotional person until the war. Until he saw Charity Babbage get murdered and eaten by a snake. Until he witnessed Voldemort torture his mother. Until Voldemort forced him to torture others. During that last year of the war he would sit in his room at night and fall apart, then appear the next day unaffected. He had to put on a brave face, had to appear pleased. Voldemort lived in his bloody house for merlin's sake. One wrong move and he could end up an orphan...or worse. Now? Now he was forced to accept a miserable existence...unless this thing with Potter worked, this existence would be his life.

When Zuko walked into the Slytherin common room he immediately felt alarmed. He looked out the window and saw…fish? Where was he? It was abnormally cold as well even with the large fire burning. When he walked into Draco's room, he felt kind of...empty. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the lack of any photos, or maybe the fact that there were 4 other beds with no one in them. He watched as Draco walked into the room, never saying a word, and walked straight into what Zuko assumed was a bathroom. He took the opportunity to explore the room a little more closely. There were several desks, all bare, as if no one had lived here in ages. Zuko walked over to another window and his eyes flew wide in shock. There was a woman out there….but she wasn't quite a woman. She looked to be…part fish. Zuko was used to seeing things like pigchickens, or horsebirds, but a human mixed with a…fish? He immediately jumped back when the woman seemed to notice him. Slowly, he inched towards the window and peered out again, she was gone. Zuko sighed. He must be seeing things, he started to turn away when the woman's face appeared again mere inches away from the window.

"AHHH!" Zuko exclaimed, stumbling backwards before tripping on his own feet and falling. He landed hard on the stone floor with a loud thud.

The door to the bathroom shot open, Draco stood in it, looking alarmed, almost terrified. "WHAT HAPPENED!" Draco yelled, immediately noticing Zuko sprawled out on the floor.

Zuko shot up from his position quickly, he hated looking like a fool. "Nothing!" Zuko answered back, his voice oddly loud. "I…er…was inspecting the room and…er…nothing! Zuko was babbling, he felt out of control. Quickly, he poised himself. Putting on his trademark disdain face. "Your room is acceptable."

Draco quirked an eyebrow. "Well, Im glad you find the accommodations to your liking but, in the future, if you could keep your voice down when your bumbling around I would appreciate it." Draco replied. Actually, he had not meant to sound so snippy. Since the war, he hated loud noises. Especially screams. He abhorred screaming.

Zuko scoffed at his words. Who did this guy think he was talking to? "Well, in the future, if you could keep your room in order so I don't have to feel like Im walking through a Sun Warrior death trap, I would appreciate it." Zuko lied. The room was bare, there was no way this guy would buy it. Quickly, Zuko changed the subject. "So…this is where you live?"

Sun warriors? Draco ignored it. "For now." Draco replied shortly.

It was like pulling teeth with this kid. Zuko tried to engage him again, how did people make small talk? He had spent the last three years of his life barking orders at people, he wasn't prepared for this. "So, your friends seem…nice?"

Draco laughed. "Friends? Did it seem like we were friends?"

"Well, no actually, but you seem to know them so…" Zuko trailed off. In his world, an enemy was someone you killed or captured as soon as you saw them. That's how he was raised by the Firelord…by his father. His years in exile had been a never-ending journey of capturing people, attacking villages, doing whatever it took to find the avatar, anyone who stood in his way was his enemy. He would never venture to think Draco and Harry were enemies…not as he understood enemies anyway.

Draco stood for a moment, not sure how to answer him. "We're not friends…"

"Well, your not enemies." Zuko replied shortly, crossing his arms.

Draco shoved his hands in his pockets, as if he was challenging Zuko's arm crossing. "We're not anything." That was the best Draco could do to describe his relationship with Potter and his wonder sidekicks. Now that the war was over, Draco really didn't know how he felt about Potter…or even Granger. Weasley... was a giant pain in the arse ginger nightmare from the poorhouse…but he didn't HATE him, per say. He hadn't really ever thought about it before now, to consumed in his own problems, and rightly so, he believed. Now it was his turn to change the subject… "So…what's with the scar?" He asked rather callously.

Zuko became agitated. "Why do you want to know?" He began shifting in place, avoiding Draco's gaze.

Draco smirked, did he find a sore spot? "Just asking, people are going to ask you eventually." He said rather matter of factly. "Might as well work out your story now since Potter has decided to make you his new best friend. You'll be getting a lot of attention walking around with Potter."

Zuko eyed Draco with confusion. Attention? Zuko knew all about attention, of course, being the crown prince and enemy turned friend of the Avatar, but why would this Harry kid bring attention on him? "Uh..well, when I was young I got burned on the face." Zuko finished lamely. An image of his father conjuring fire mere inches from his face caused Zuko to wince.

"Ah…so you lit yourself on fire or something?" Draco said in a nonchalant manner that even surprised him. Had he become that de-sensitized?

Zuko frowned, his eyes becoming slits. "I got this from my father actually." He finished shortly, before turning and walking over to one of the empty beds. "Why all the extra beds, nobody want to share a room with you?" Zuko had already deduced that this was a school of some kind when he walked into the Slytherin common room and noticed all the bookcases. He figured Draco must have lived here with several other people because why on Earth would one need so many beds. Hunting the avatar makes you keen on noticing the little things.

Draco loosened his tie…rather aggressively before awnsering. "Does it matter? You have a bed, don't you?" Draco started to remove his cloak when his curiosity overwhelmed him. He had to ask. "Why would your father do that to you?" Draco's family may have been cold, distant towards eachother. They may have communicated with money, but there was no doubt that they would protect eachother...by any means necessary. He couldn't really fathom a father actually HURTING his son.

Zuko slowly removed his boots and sat back on the bed, leaning against the headboard. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Images running through his head, his father burning him, banishing him, shooting lightening at him, telling him he was weak. He sighed. "I spoke out of turn. Spoke out against a plan my father's generals wanted to execute." His answer was short, he felt like he had relived this story a thousand times in a thousand nightmares.

Draco was pensive. His father's generals? That was when Draco remembered something Zuko had said… "I have a country to run." Draco mumbled.

"What?" Zuko replied.

"You said you had a country to run. Said you were a prince or something from wherever you came from." Draco replied.

Zuko frowned. Even though he had helped to fight and win a war, he still kept forgetting that he was no longer a prince. He was the Firelord. "Actually, I am Firelord Zuko. Ruler of the Fire Nation." Zuko finished impressively.

"They call you Firelord?" Draco smirked but immediately frowned when the words 'Dark Lord' kept playing over and over again in the back of his head. Quickly he continued, "So you inherited the throne from your father?" Draco couldn't believe he was even entertaining the idea that this bloke was really the king of something. He could barely stand up for longer than 10 seconds, if the bloke's earlier spill indicated anything.

"Actually, I overthrew him. Well, Aang overthrew him. I just took out Azula." Zuko answered quietly.

"Azula?" Drack queried.

"My sister…she was, well, she was insane. Power mad. Had this blood lust that could rival any monstrous, psychotic…" Zuko was babbling again. Quickly, he composed himself, "She tried to kill me so that she could eventually take the throne from my father. There was no way that we would be able to get the world back in balance if we didn't take her out first." Zuko stopped himself. Had they really defeated her? She had disappeared. No one had so much as heard a peep from her. They had scoured the earth searching for her. All four nations. He knew she would be back, it was partially the reason he was so desperate to get out of this world. If Azula found out that Zuko was missing, they might not have a home to return to.

Draco was confused. He had to fight his own sister? This guy's family was…messed up. "So, your father banished you, your sister tried to kill you…what about your mother? Didn't she have anything to say about this?"

Zuko was silent. His mother. He still had no idea where she was. His father wasn't talking and Zuko was at his wit's end trying to figure out what happened to her. Was she dead? The thought of this made Zuko's chest hurt. Burn. "My mother was banished by my father when I was young." Zuko finished shortly, it hurt too much to continue. She had been banished to save him, because of him his mother had to leave her entire life behind, because she loved him. Love…Zuko cursed the idea of it and yet worshiped it at the same time.

Draco could tell Zuko didn't want to elaborate so he didn't press it any further. "So….what? Your father banished you…so you went to join the bald kid to overthrow him?"

Zuko rubbed his eyes in frustration. His past shamed him. His choices. Again, he changed the subject. "So, how do you know the Potter kid?"

It was Draco's turn to rub his eyes in frustration. Normally, he would never go into this story…but there was something about the fact that Zuko didn't know anything about him that made him want to tell it…made it safe to tell. So he did. He told him about the war, about how his family had chosen the wrong side of history. How he had seen carnage, how he hadn't been able to bring himself to do anything about it. How he had tried and failed to capture Potter in the Room of Requirement in an effort to try and protect his family. When he was finished he flopped down on his bed. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of him…that is, until he saw Zuko staring at him, horrified. "Not everyone makes the right choices all the time…" Draco said defensively, "Potter and his band, well, their a bunch of bloody heros I guess, but I had to do what I could to protect my family."

Zuko knew what he had to do. What he had to say. "I…me and Aang…we weren't always friends." When Draco just looked at him in a confused manner, he continued, "When I was banished, my father decreed that the only way I could return home, return to my family, was if I caught the Avatar. Capturing Aang was the only chance I had of making everything normal again. So for the next two and a half years…that's what I did. I destroyed villages, I threatened innocent people, I tore the world apart trying to find him. When I did…I chased Aang around the world. There were so many times when I had tried to kill him. Kill him, his friends, his allies, and anyone who tried to stand in my way…I was…obsessed with capturing him." Zuko looked into the fireplace. The flames mocked him, a living testament to his treachery, his insecurity, his desperation...his loneliness.

Draco was...sympathetic? The things people do for love. To get love. "So how did you and Aang become friends?"

Zuko rested his head on the headboard, staring up at the ceiling. He almost wanted to laugh. How DID they become friends? "My uncle. My uncle had joined me in my banishment, the official story at the time was that he wanted to train me... for the day I faced off with the Avatar. But really...it was because he loved me. He was the one that made me see that the Avatar was not my enemy. My enemy was myself...my anger at my father, my grief over my mother, my need to be loved." Zuko was introspective, more talking to himself than Draco. "He made me see that love shouldn't be something that you have to beg for. Love should be just come to you. If someone loves you, they will come for you, they will be there when everything turns to ash...to nightmares, just to show you that some things will always be real, eternal." Zuko was caught up in his own words. His uncle had always been real to him. His mother was eternal. "Sometimes...the right thing isn't always cut and dry. It's subjective. Your friend...Er, Potter, he did what was right for him, for the people he loved. You did what was right for your family. Sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing of all."

Love should come to you, Draco thought. His mother had come for him. His father had. They ducked killing curses, betrayed the dark lord...all just to find him that horrible night at Hogwarts. "So then...why does the right thing feel so wrong?" He asked quietly, more to himself than to Zuko.

"Well, I suppose because what was right for you was wrong for others. That doesn't mean it wasn't still the right thing. Right and wrong...well I think people think that it's supposed to be obvious, universal. That's pigchicken shit if you ask me. Right and wrong are dimensional. If I hadn't made the wrong choice in chasing Aang, I never would have found out who I was. It would seem that being wrong...was the right thing for me. In the end, if you really feel bad about it, you should do what you can to rectify your choices. I've been doing it ever since the night I betrayed my father. Rebuilding our world." Zuko finished softly. He smiled. He sounded like Uncle.

Draco stared at this man. This man he had met hours ago. This man who claimed to be prince...Firelord of another world. He had to be the same age as Draco and yet...he seemed to have so much clarity, like he had really been through it. Draco sat up, rigid. What was he doing? Letting Scarface over here into his head? He quickly got up and crossed the room to his bureau, pulling out a pair of silk pajama, as he inspected them he noticed that, they too, were three sizes too small. He sighed. He walked into his bathroom closing the door behind him. Turning on the faucet, he splashed some cold water on his face. Get yourself together Draco, this is ridiculous. He scolded himself. In the end, Draco didn't know who this bloke was, didn't know if he could be trusted. No one could be trusted. He immediately scolded himself for telling this stranger about his past. From now on, he would keep his mouth shut. If Zuko...the stranger ever brought up what they talked about tonight, he would deny it. No... he had a job to do, use Potter to get back in good with Hogwarts and then society, and forget him just as quickly. He would play this game and THIS TIME, he would win.

Zuko watched as Draco returned from the bathroom. Silently, Draco crawled into his bed, closing the curtains. Zuko smirked as he did the same. "Nice pajamas." He said.

"Thanks Scarface." Draco replied. It would seem that Draco and Zuko were on the same wavelength. Apparently, sharing time was over for BOTH of them.

Author's note. Hey kids! So, it would seem that Zuko and Draco are two peas in a horrible, horrible pod. They started to build a relationship but it would seem they both came to their senses. This chapter was actually difficult for me to write. They're both so Alpha male, ya know? So, Im almost done with my revisions to my RW stuff I gotta do, so hopefully we can get this show on the road. So what did you think? Was it angsty enough for ya? And yes, in this story the Avatar gang curses. Because they are TEENAGERS, and teenagers curse. Next up, our gangs reconvenes to talk strategy and the Avatar gang makes their debut at Hogwarts. Should prove for some laughs I think. Shoutout to Hooahrtr for the review, good luck with College and ROTC. If you other readers out there in reader land want to drop me a review, have at it! Ok, Im goin to bed!