AN Thanks y'all for for favoriting, following, reviewing or just reading my story.

I'm terribly sorry for not updating in a while. I've had six exams last week and one this week. I'll also have to write 6 papers over the summer but I'll still try to update regularly.

English is not my native language and I do not own Harry Potter.

Read, enjoy and review ;)

ooOOoo

When they arrived in the Great Hall, Headm- no, Professor McGonagall called Draco, Harry and Hermione to her office.

In her office, Prof. Snape had already been waiting for them. He had a worried look on his face.

Seeing his godfather again sent Draco's emotions on another roller coaster. Relief, happiness, guilt.

He had missed Severus Snape a lot after he had died and still felt guilty for treating him badly when he was only trying to help during his 6th year. Maybe Draco should have felt betrayed, when he found out that they hadn't been on the same side. But Snape had healed his wounds when Potter had nearly killed him. He had saved his life when he took the unbreakable vow with his mother. He had taken over the task set by the Dark Lord when Draco couldn't. He had protected him, even though they were not on the same side. There was no way that he could feel anything for the man but gratitude. He had looked up to the man when he was really just a kid but now he really respected and admired the man before him.

Professor McGonagall motioned the three students to take a seat.

"Professor Lupin sent an owl ahead to say that you two were taken ill on the train," Snape began.

He was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.

"I'm fine," Potter said, "I don't need anything-"

"Oh it's you, is it?" said Madam Pomfrey, ignoring the other students in the room. She checked his temperature. "I suppose you've been doing something dangerous again?" she muttered.

Draco chuckled. Potter must have spent a lot of his time in the infirmary.

"It was a dementor, Poppy," said Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy's reactions were especially worrying."

The adults exchanged a dark look, and Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly.

"Setting dementors around a school," she muttered, pushing back Draco's hair and feeling his forehead. "They won't be the last ones who collapse. Yes, they are all clammy. Terrible things, they are, and the effect they have on people who are already delicate-"

"I'm not delicate!" Draco and Harry interrupted at the same time. The glanced at each other.

"Potter has seen his parents die when he was a baby and he has faced the Dark Lord twice! I'd like to see anyone else experience that and then not have a bad reaction to one of those blasted things!" Draco argued. He had found Potter's fainting pathetic the first time around, but now he knew how the Dementors affected people who had experienced traumatic events, as he now too was such a person. And he felt like he owed Potter. He had found it in his heart to forgive Draco for everything that had happened, he had saved his life in the Room of Hidden Things and he had kept him and his family out of Azkaban.

Everyone was staring at him now. Had Draco Malfoy really just defended Harry Potter?

Draco sunk deeper into his chair, making himself as small as possible.

"What do they need?" Snape finally broke the awkward silence, seemingly ignoring Draco's little outburst. His gaze, however, lingered on Draco.

"Some chocolate will do," Madam Pomfrey answered.

"Prof. Lupin already gave us some," Harry muttered.

"Did he, now?" Madam Pomfrey said approvingly. "So, we've finally got a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who knows his remedies?"

Snape harrumphed. McGonagall glared at him disapprovingly.

"Are you sure you two feel alright?" she asked Draco and Harry.

They both nodded their heads.

"Very well. Prof. Snape will go down to the feast with you, while I have a quick word with Miss Granger here."

Out in the corridor Harry muttered a quick "Thanks," into the direction of Draco.

Weird, Draco thought. He hadn't expected Potter to show gratitude. He had always thought that Potter hated him and was arrogant, or at least he had as a thirteen year old. But apparently, his vision of the past had been a little distorted by his own feelings.

"Don't mention it, Potter."

Together with Prof. Snape they made their way to the Great Hall in silence. Potter went to his table while Snape motioned Draco to have a quick word with him.

Draco expected a scolding for helping Potter or him demanding an explanation, but when his head of house turned towards him with a worried look on his face, he got neither.

"Is everything alright, Draco?"

He had the same look on his face that he had when he tried to talk to him in his sixth year. How foolish he was to turn down the help.

"I'm fine," Draco said. It felt good to know that someone worried and cared about him.

"You were right in your assumption that Mr. Potter has good reasons to react in the way he did. You, however, have no such reasons," he pressed on.

"I... I know… I don't know why I reacted that way," he lied.

"When you need to talk to someone, you know my door is always open," he said, obviously not believing Draco's story.

"I know. Thank you for caring," Draco said and flashed his godfather a smile.

Snape smiled too and let his godson leave.

In the Great Hall he noticed that he had just missed the Sorting. He would have loved to see his Astoria being sorted. Unlike her older sister, Daphne, who was a Slytherin, Astoria had been a Ravenclaw. Fitting, Draco thought, she had been one of the smartest witches he had ever known.

Draco sat down at Slytherin table. He did not listen to the headmaster, but instead watched Astoria the whole time. He did not hear the warning about the Dementors and the introduction of the two new professors. He did not notice, that this time, Prof. Lupin was greeted with a thundering applause from both the Gryffindor and the Slytherin table. He did not notice Prof. Snape watching him instead of glaring at Lupin, either. She was alive. And that was all that mattered to him right now. After the horrible day he had had so far, he finally felt at ease. Everything would be alright.

TBC

Let me know what you think guys :)