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Draco marched towards his dorm room, ignoring everyone else in the common room. And he almost reached his safe haven, but something stopped him right before he actually did. A hand grabbed him by the arm, forcing him to spin around.

"Draco!" the angry voice belonging to the arm growled.

Draco gulped. "D-Daphne... H-Hey."

Her eyes were livid. "You prick!"

Draco took a step back, breath caught in his throat, but Daphne grabbed him by the hem of his robes, pulling him closer to her face. "Why didn't you tell me?" she hissed. "Why didn't anyone freakin' tell me?"

Draco's eyes darted away from her, searching the room for help. Naturally, all eyes were on them, but most eyes did not belong to people who were willing to help him. Then he spotted Theodore Nott behind Daphne. When Draco sent a desperate glance in his direction, he only shrugged his shoulders.

Draco's eyes wandered back to Daphne, whose lower lip was trembling. But before Draco could get out a word in his defense, she had pulled him even closer and slung her arms around him. "You are such an idiot! But I'm glad you are back and in one piece and we worried about you so much."

Now more confused than ever, Draco looked back at Theo. "How much do you two know?"

"I don't know how much of it is actually true but... a lot," Theo admitted. "But... It would have been nice, you know, if we had heard it from you or Neville first."

"I am his girlfriend," Daphne said indignantly, releasing Draco, "I should have been the first to know. Not the last. Most certainly not through the Daily Prophet and a freakin' letter!"

"Ehm- maybe we should discuss this somewhere... more private?" Draco asked, nervously glancing around.

Daphne's gaze followed Draco's, scanning their surroundings, glowering at everyone who could not avert their gazes quickly enough. "Fine," she huffed, turning her eyes back on Draco. "Ten minutes. The Room of Requirement." With that she turned around on her heels, storming out of the common room.

Draco and Theo looked at each other for a few seconds. "Let's go," Theo finally said, sounding rather detached, following Daphne's example and leaving the common room behind.

Draco had thought that Daphne and Theo would be on his side - had he miscalculated? Confused and anxious, he followed Theo to the Room of Requirement. On their way there, neither of them said anything. Not a word. It made Draco's gut churn.

Once there, the room offering two big couches standing in front of a fireplace, Draco was surprised that Daphne was nowhere to be seen. She arrived soon after them, however.

She stood by the door, studying Draco, her expression now guarded. At least she had calmed down, Draco thought.

The next moment, Daphne was pushed aside, and Draco was delighted to see Astoria appear. She took one look at him, before her face lit up and she sprinted towards him, throwing her arms around him.

Draco slung his own arms around her, burying his face in her soft hair. All the tension left him. She was there. Had they been alone, Draco would have fallen apart in her arms.

"I missed you so much," Astoria whispered.

"Missed you, too," he mumbled back, his voice muffled through her hair.

After a rather long time, which didn't feel long at all for Draco, Daphne cleared her throat, and Astoria took a step back.

"How are you?" she asked, her hazel eyes full of worry.

"I-" Draco began, but he really didn't know what to say. He sank down on one of the couches, Astoria sitting down right next to him and the other two opposite of him. "I'll survive," he finally said, because it was the only thing he could think of that was somewhat close to the truth.

The others looked worried, which was better than them being angry, he thought.

"How about you start at the beginning?" Daphne said, etching forward on the couch.

Draco looked at them. They were his friends and there really wasn't any reason to lie to them any longer. At least, not about this. "I guess by now you all know about Neville's parents?" he began.

The others nodded their heads.

"They've been very sick, for a very long time. Neville and I found a solution and we worked on it for quite some time-"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Daphne interrupted. "He told me about his parents - why not about your plan to do something about it?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Draco said defensively. "And I guess Neville... I guess he was scared it wouldn't work."

"Poor Neville," said Astoria.

Draco sent her a grateful smile. She had always been more worried about other's feelings than her own. And she was right, Neville had been a nervous wreck before the Easter holidays, worrying it would not work, worrying his hopes would be crushed. Draco had not been much better, although for different reasons. He had of course wanted it to work for Neville's sake, but he had also seen it as another test, which results would show him if history could truly be altered.

"But I am his girlfriend. I would have been there for him," Daphne continued on, pulling Draco out of his thoughts and back into the real world.

"You really should talk to Neville about this," Draco replied.

"So, you came up with a solution for something the healers at St. Mungo's couldn't figure out all on your own?" Theo asked skeptically.

"Well, we had some... let's call it help. I knew of a potion the Death Eaters used and was able to get my hands on the recipe. Neville drank some of his Felix, and Dumbledore supported us as well," Draco explained, deciding that it was probably for the best if he kept Severus' involvement to himself for the time being.

"He drank the Felix specifically for this?" Daphne asked.

"Uhm- not really. It is rather hard to use the Felix for a specific purpose," he tried to avoid answering the question.

"Cedric," Astoria suddenly said. "You used it- or wanted to use it- to stop him from entering the tournament. Why would you do that?"

Smart, Draco thought proudly. Too smart, sometimes. "I- I'm sorry, but I can't really tell you. We had our reasons."

Astoria leaned back where she was sitting, crossing her arms. She wasn't happy with his non-answer.

"We had the solution," Draco went on, "we made a potion, came up with a suitable spell. Prof. Spleen, who we met at Slughorn's party, he helped us as well. We flood to St. Mungo's on the first day of Easter break and... it worked." Draco's face almost split in two by the radiant smile he had on his face when recalling that particular memory. "It worked."

The others smiled as well.

"I wish you had told us," Daphne said, "but I am incredibly glad this worked."

"That sounds like a great beginning of the holidays," Theo said carefully, "when and how did everything turn... less fantastic?"

Less fantastic, Draco mused, what a euphemism. "We were still at St. Mungo's when Death Eaters came knocking at our door. There was a fight. We had to flee."

"That's how your parents found out?" Theo asked. "So, it is true what the others are saying? That they..."

"Kicked me out?" Draco asked bluntly. No euphemism this time. "Unfortunately. I guess, by now, it's quite obvious to anyone who cares to look that we don't share certain views and..." his voice wavered.

Astoria reached for his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Draco smiled at her. "They disowned me."

"What did you do?" Daphne asked worriedly. "Where did you stay? Why didn't you contact us?"

Draco laughed bitterly. "I would have, if I had known how. No money, no broom, no owls... What was I supposed to do?"

"What did you do?" Theo asked.

"A friend of Dumbledore helped me," Draco said carefully. "I can't tell you the name."

"Draco," Astoria said, pulling her hand back, but Draco caught it and held on to it.

"It's not because I don't trust you," he began to explain and Astoria relaxed somewhat again. "This is information that the Death Eaters would love to have and that they would torture for. I don't want to put you in any kind of danger." It was part of the real reason, at least.

"Oh, Draco," Astoria said, leaning in to him, and Draco slung his arm around her shoulders.

"That's messed up," Theo finally said. "It's really messed up. I'm sorry, mate."

"Things are getting real, huh?" Daphne asked with a frown.

Draco nodded his head.

"He's coming back and we are going to be right in the middle," she continued.

We? Draco perked up. "No," he forced out, "I am in the middle of this, and I doubt I'll be able to not get involved in any more of this, but I don't want to put you guys in any kind of danger."

"That's sweet," Astoria said, "but you don't have a choice in this, because I, for one, am not going to stand back and watch you risk your life. I'll be standing right beside you."

"A-" Draco began, but got interrupted by Daphne's "Me, too."

Theo nodded in agreement. "And don't start thinking you're anything special. The whole defying-your-Death-Eater-parents-thing? I did that first."

Draco actually had to laugh at that. "Alright." He would of course continue to do everything to keep them from coming to harm, but damn was it nice to know someone was on his side.

Theo studied Draco for a moment. "I hope, for the future, you know that you can tell us such things. Maybe not the names of certain people, but you know... the rest. That's what friends are there for."

Daphne nodded enthusiastically.

"I'll try to keep the secrets to the necessary minimum," Draco said, grinning. Then, more somberly, "so, you guys are not mad?"

"Oh," Daphne sat up straight, "I am mad. But I also understand why you guys did what you did. I'll still have a word with Neville. Telling your girlfriend about all of this in a letter? Completely unacceptable." She shook her head.

"How is Neville?" Astoria asked.

"I think you know more about that than I do. I haven't seen him since that day at St. Mungo's," he replied, then turned to Daphne. "He sent you a letter?"

"Yeah," Daphne nodded and looked somewhere in between happy and annoyed. "He sounded really happy."

Draco smiled. "Do you know when he'll return?"

Daphne shrugged. "Not really. He said he would like to spend a few more days with them. Honestly, he'd probably not go back to school at all, right now, if he had the choice." She sounded rather bitter.

"Understandable," Theo said. "But he will be back, right?"

Daphne shrugged her shoulders again.

"I'm sure he will," Draco said reassuringly. But he wasn't all that sure, either. He had said he would return, but that was before. Now he had his parents back and knew a war was on the horizon.

After being accepted by his friends, stepping back into the common room was almost harder than the first time. The hostility was palpable and the looks his housemates sent his way burnt. Draco was acutely aware that he had not been doing Slytherin any favors ever since he returned. He might have gained them house points and convinced many others that their house wasn't all that bad, but he had never before seen his house so divided and the rift seemed to be growing steadily.

Once those who had spent the holidays at home had returned, it grew even worse. Pointed looks, accidentally knocking into him or throwing his stuff to the ground, veiled threats - that was his new reality.

He tried to avoid ever being on his own, surrounded himself with others wherever and whenever he could, and tried to stay within the sight of his teachers. But it was unavoidable that he would sooner or later be caught on his own. Even though they were all in Slytherin, Theo and Daphne couldn't be around him nonstop.

It was sooner than he had expected, they cornered him in the common room, saying that they wanted to "talk." Rather bold, Draco thought. The other people in the common room either pretended not to notice or observed in open curiosity, but none of them seemed eager to intervene, either because they were not on Draco's side or because they were scared of a confrontation where the odds were so clearly stacked against Draco.

"No, thanks." Draco tried to flee to his dorm room.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from us!" yelled one of them. They were about 6 or 7, Draco too concentrated on getting out of this unharmed to count, all from years above him.

A large hand grabbed a tuft of his robe, swinging Draco around. Draco's eyes darted between his house mates - he was cornered.

"What do you want?" he hissed, weighing his options. He could, of course, strike them all down - no amount of even older students could be any real threat to a grown up who had thought in a war - but should he? In the long run, it would only lead to problems and unwanted attention and surely no one would like him any better if he did.

The hand that had grabbed his robe wandered to his shoulder. "Just talk," it said sweetly, but his fingers were boring into his flesh painfully.

"I'm not interested," Draco replied, hoping that they would just leave him be.

"You will listen to us," barked another one of them. "You cannot threaten us with your father any longer."

Draco bristled. He had not done that in - well, less time than was normal probably, but, still, not since he had returned. "Is that how you recruit? Not that I'm complaining, but it doesn't strike me as very effective," Draco mocked. He did not see a point in dancing around the topic.

The reaction was instant - the hand holding him pushed him roughly into the wall behind him so hard, Draco's vision swam for a second. Another punched him in the stomach and Draco could feel the bile rising.

"Watch your mouth, Malfoy."

"Your days are numbered. Once the Dark Lord returns-"

"If roughhousing like a muggle," Draco interrupted, ignoring the pain, "is your reaction to not getting your way, you'll be more than just useless to any lord willing to take you." He had a evil smirk on his lips, completely ignoring that he was vastly outnumbered and that his opponents were several feet taller than him.

Draco found himself slammed into the wall behind him so hard, he briefly saw stars as the pain shot through his back and knocked the wind out of him, and he was sure the grip on his shoulder would leave bruises.

"We don't know what's gotten into you lately, but we won't tolerate it," hissed the boy who was holding on to him.

"Watch yourself," spat another, "I suggest you don't tick us off again. Remember your place. Or your little Ravenclaw might have to pay for your mistakes."

Draco felt anger surge through his body. But he had the mind of a grown up and was a Slytherin, so he would not lose control. "I wonder," he said instead, "if your fixation on hierarchy isn't a symptom of your fear that your time at the top is over. The number of people listening to you is dwindling. The Dark Lord might return, but he is weak and his followers are fewer than ever. And you must realize that someone who barely passes his NEWTS is of very little use to him. I also wonder," he pushed the boy holding him away, taking a step towards them, "who of us is the better wizard? I wonder what would happen if I were to... step out of line?"

Five spells were shot at him simultaneously, but he had cast a wordless Protego before any of them hit him. The spells bounced off his shield and into the boy that had been holding him, knocking him out instantly.

"Pathetic," snorted Draco.

Another round of hexes and jinxes came his way, but he again deflected them with ease.

"You could at least try to make this difficult for me," Draco said. "Expelliarmus!"

All wands flew in his direction and his opponents were all knocked off their feet. Draco kneeled down next to the one who had threatened Astoria. "I would advice you to leave my friends out of this," he whispered, holding his wand at the boy's throat, "because no matter what you do, my revenge will be worse than anything your tiny brain could possibly imagine."

Draco threw the wands at them and stalked away, aware that half of Slytherin had been watching their encounter.

He put a few wards on his bed before he went to sleep. Nothing too complicated, but also nothing a student could overcome.

It took him a long time to fall asleep that night, the anger simmering inside of him. To show the older boys up had done nothing to sooth his temper. He hated how they had threatened Astoria, he hated himself for endangering her in the first place. He hated how he had to demonstrate his magical abilities in front of so many witnesses, but perhaps it was for the best. Staying under people's radar had become next to impossible and perhaps this way they would think twice about attacking him or one of his friends again.

TBC

Draco's friends are really getting annoyed by all his secrets, but they are still there for him. Neville is at home with his parents because one week of Easter holidays just isn't enough to make up for all the years they missed. Slytherin is divided and it is kind of Draco's fault. We'll see where this goes.

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Thank you for reading :)