SUMMARY: Draco knows when his life was ruined, when the selection hat shouted Gryffindor over his head instead of Slytherin.
Pairing: slight Draco Malfoy x OcÂ
A/N:Â This idea had been going around in my mind for quite some time and, only now, I managed to pass it on to the keyboard.
I hope you like it, as I like to write it.
This idea quickly covers the original books, but perhaps if they like it, it will cover a little more of their adult life or some particular time. This story might actually be a long story in some future, but it is still in meditation.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
 Draco Malfoy has a perfect life, is a pure blood and is at the top of the wizarding society. His life was always surrounded by perfection, even if his father was sometimes too strict, it was the best for him. The supremacy of blood, his father insisted every day, as if he had to engrave it in his memory. His mother, although she did not seem to support him in everything, not that she complained, was the perfect wife who obeyed her husband. So, he grows up tough, he can't play all the time and he has to be perfect like his family.
She remembers her father commenting one day in Diagon Alley, pointing to the family of red hair. His father is the man he admires, so when he sees him despise others, he does the same.
But his life does not go as planned.
Draco can define the exact moment and the word that ruins his life from an early age. Where his whole perfect world falls apart in a single moment, where the nightmare seems to begin and where his life gives an unexpected change from what it should have been.
âGryffindorâ is the cry of the hat, after a long period of deliberation in his head.
The room is completely silent.
Draco had been completely sure that he would go to Slytherin, his parents were in that house, that was his destiny. Almost as a joke he remembers his father wanting to send him to Durmstrang, but his mother changing her mind because she wanted to keep him close to home. How much he would have wished not to be in this house, how much he would have missed being at another school.
His parents were going to kill him.
He walks almost like a dead man, to that bright red table where nobody applauds and they look confused when he sits as far away as possible. He thinks of his suitcase full of green clothes, he thinks of his father who had practically demanded that he be in the snake house. He doesn't look up all night, almost clenching his fists in annoyance.
His usual arrogance, which he always imitates from his parents, doesn't show.
He doesn't have it at that moment.
He ignores that the first-year students follow their superiors, he runs following the teachers, almost skating when he sees the director talking to his godfather Snape. He had a frightened face when he was left in the lions' house. He practically begs, ignoring that his father would be ashamed, he begs to be moved from the house where he should be.
âI'm sorry, my boy, your home is now Gryffindor," Albus admits with some regret in his eyes.
Draco turns his face to Snape in a last attempt to help, but he just looks away and his hopes are dashed. There's still one left, his father would never let it end that way, he would find a way for it to go to the house it was meant to be.
But as Draco learns at a young age.
Things don't happen the way he wants them to.
Ignoring that he has to spend a week in the tower of Gryffindor, with a bunch of useless people who hate him almost as much as he hates them, ignoring above all Harry Potter (who is the last of his problems at the moment with the redheaded boy) and practically behind everything in his classes. He doesn't go out to eat if he can avoid people and just waits for the moment when his father fixes all this misunderstanding.
When Snape quotes him after his potions class in the principal's room, a genuine smile appears on his face as he enters and sees his father standing in front of Dumbledore. A boastful smile appears on his face when he feels that he will finally get out of the hell he has lived through in a week.
But at that moment, it was where all start.
The slap comes so quickly, that even the pain, seems not to appear and he feels that he is still in the middle of a nightmare. An ironic part inside him thinks that all this is a dream, that at any moment his mother would enter his room scolding him because they would be late. That he would be in Slytherin in a few hours.
âA complete disappointment, you can't even enter a house, what a shame to have a useless person sharing my bloodâ every word from his father, makes his smile fade from his face.
It makes him incredulous.
Your father sees him with hatred, as he always sees those of dirty blood, as he sees those inferior to them.
Draco turns to see everyone in the room, thinking that all this was a bad joke, that this is a nightmare, he almost begs someone to wake him up. But when he sees his mother in the distance of the room, lowering her gaze, when he sees the uncomfortable look of Snape or the pity look of the director.
Something inside him breaks.
It is his thought, before turning around and running away, that he does not stop when he leaves the castle or when he enters the forbidden forest. In the middle of the forest he lets out his tears, as he kneels down embracing himself, feeling the perfect dream where he had lived this time.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Draco wonders why he still attends classes, his father had practically given up on him in an alarming way and his mother, following his father, does not send him letters or other things. It's as if he never had any parents and they never had a child, which sucked. He finds himself lost in the castle, not feeling part of the lion's house, but nowhere either. Snape sometimes seems to want to help him, but he couldn't care less. Even his housemates who hate him seem to leave him behind when they see him so depressed.
It assumes when he starts eating monotonously when everyone else does, only the farthest thing from everyone else.
As pathetic as that can be.
Sometimes his gaze falls on the house of the snakes, seeing them with envy and wishing he were there, everything would be easier. His parents wouldn't hate him or reject him as it happened, he would probably be the best of his generation, the popular type because of his blood. But no, he was at the bottom of the food chain, he was pathetic, with no friends, no family, no status.
He sighed, waving his boring fork at the food.
His life was ruined and he didn't know what else to do.
He always thought that the people who came to Gryffindor, were the people who were sad to see, he was indeed right. Now he was a pathetic person who was embarrassed to see that.
A person takes a seat in front of him, ignores him as best he can until he hears him clear his throat. He gives his worst death stare to Harry Potter who appears in front of him. They have been in school for a little over a month and honestly, it was not someone he wanted to see. His father always told him stories about the boy who lived, as if it was his duty to be friends with someone so popular. Who turned out to be a very simple and annoying boy.
Now he didn't care about that.
âWhat do you want?â he grumbled before shoving a potato into his mouth with a bit of rudeness.
This one seemed a little uncomfortable in front of him.
âI'm sorry, Ron was being a bit of an asshole, telling me not to go near you because you're a pain in the ass, but you really look...badâ the last word comes out of his mouth with hesitation as he grimaces as he speaks.
A humorless laugh comes out of his mouth.
No one knows your misfortune.
The memory of his father's cold eyes, make him angry for no apparent reason.
âYou should have listened to that blood traitorâ he mumbles weakly.
Was he a blood traitor too?
His father treated him worse than one.
He notices a grimace on Harry's face.
âYou're making Ron's point.â
âLook Potter, not that I'm interested, but what do you want from me?â he asks boringly this time.
Most of his Gryffindor âcompanionsâ had clearly mocked him in the last month, about how someone of pure blood has to be with mere mortals. Like this how a Slytherin's mocked him as he passed by, saying that it was a shame that a pure-blooded person with his lineage ended up in that house. He clearly didn't fit in anywhere and was beginning to get tired of people looking for something of his own.
He didn't meet the standard they set for him.
âWell, you look lonely, I thought we could be friendsâ says the boy with ease, who doesn't seem to be the same boy who almost rejected his friendship in the stair.
When everything was perfect and I wasn't in this horrible house.
He saw him confused, before getting up upset.
âI'm not looking for your fucking pity Potter and I'm not looking for your fucking friendship eitherâ he grunt in anger before turning around and leaving the room.
He ended up in the library, feeling like a horrible book rat like the Ravenclaws, but it was the only place he felt he was calm. The only good thing was that he had taken advantage of this time to improve in all his classes, being alone and without friends, he would be a competent wizard, hoping that that way his father would not be disappointed in him.
He would be the best in his house.
Although Granger's bitch was making it difficult for him.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Childishly and still hopefully, he thought that the Christmas holidays were what he occupied, a few days away from all those Gryffindor (ignoring that he was one) and return to his home, where everything would be as it always should be. Of course, nothing goes as he hopes and the icy look on his father's face confirms that he still hates him. He tries uselessly to approach him every day, with the flame of hope, light but existing. But the only words I pronounced for him, was refusing to attend the party they used to do for Christmas.
That 24th of December, he spends in his room looking at nothing.
He felt that his family had abandoned him.
Going back to Hogwarts was stupidly better than being at home.
At least there he would just get away from everyone.
Following his plan to study as much as possible to be the best in his class and to prove to his father that he was worthy, even though he never had to work hard at anything in his life, it doesn't seem to be working. The letters he sends to his mother are mostly ignored, his father seems uninterested in acknowledging him and everything seems worse when Granger mercilessly sweeps away every damn exam.
Sometimes Potter takes a seat with him at meals, his friends seem to see him badly, but sometimes the Granger girl seems to follow him, to the grimaces of the Wesley boy, who never comes close.
âI hope you have a good day Dracoâ greets kindly Hermione, who seems encouraged that they are some kind of rivals in her house.
Both of them were the ones who contributed the most points.
âYou should come and see me play sometime,â says Harry sometimes, almost rubbing him the wrong way round, as he could get into the quidditch even though he's a year younger.
But he who wants to move house, the laws cannot be flexible for him.
He ignores everyone in his first year, although when the time comes to return home, even though Harry Potter and company had to fight against, he really doesn't care what with, it ceases to be important when he is alone in a train carriage. When he arrives at the station, he can see how most children are welcomed by their family, but he feels the cold in his body when Dobby appears shyly in front of him.
His parents are busy, he says.
                              âŚâŚâŚ
Being at home is more boring than being at Hogwarts, which is saying a lot. He eats at times when his father is away, his mother does not speak to him and he feels more alone than ever. He decides to go for a walk, with nothing to lose and almost wishing lightning would strike him to end that misery. He wants to get lost in the middle of the forest, never appear and stay there forever. His father had always tried to show him the pride of being a pure blood, but a part of him doesn't make sense.
His father loves prestige.
As he was no longer someone in his image, someone to be presumed, he was discarded.
He was not good enough for his father.
His only comment when he arrived home was that he was so useless, that a dirty blood it had beaten him on his grades.
He kicked a tree hard, not feeling the pain in his foot.
He hadn't asked for that, he hadn't asked to be in a family like that, he wanted his life before what was happening now.
âKicking a tree is not very usefulâ a somewhat shrill voice speaks next to him.
He turns his face confused, not understanding where he was, he didn't know how long he had been walking and where he was, shit. The one who speaks is a girl, younger than him with red hair and brown eyes, who has clothes that do not look new and can identify as a member of the Weasley family.
As if that thought attracted them, two red hairs of identical face appear moments later.
âLook who Ginny has found.â
âSomething quite curious in the forest.â
The Weasley twins speak in a somewhat scary coordination, he grimaces uncomfortably. The twins hadn't bothered him as much as others in the lion's house, but they were known as potential troublemakers.
The girl tilts her face in confusion.
His father would probably say something like "blood traitors" inciting him to walk away or make fun of them, but if he was sincere, his father treated him almost the same way at this point.
His stomach seems to ring at the wrong omentum and he blushes with shame.
The twins laugh in a not so discreet way. The girl gives them a reprimand before putting her hands on their hips and looking somewhat threatening.
âNever show weaknessâ
âAre you hungry?â asked the girl with something like mercy.
He wants to treat her badly, he wants to run and tell everyone that he hates them, he wants the life he should have had, he doesn't want to be there.
He wants to be Draco Malfoy, the powerful Slytherin he was meant to be.
But it doesn't happen, even in a world full of magic like this one, where nothing seems impossible, his wish is never fulfilled no matter how much he seems to ask for it.
âNoâ it is cursed that his voice comes out so hollow.
The girl's smile seems to be intact.
He feels a chill on his back.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
No one says âNoâ to Ginny Weasley, learns Draco sooner rather than later. He feels uncomfortable and in a parallel world when he enters the house of the "Weasley" family which the three children present as the burrow. He shouldn't be there, he thinks when the mother of the children sees him with big bulging eyes when they force him through the door, but a dog face to die from Ginny and commenting that he hasn't eaten anything, makes the matriarch even with doubts in her eyes, make him pass.
âThis must be a joke," says Ron when he comes down to eat and sees him sitting at the table.
âI wishâ Draco thinks ironically, thinking that this is the first time that they both agree on something.
Dinner (it's later than he thinks) is both a rumble and a twist, with the twins playing pranks on him, Ginny sitting next to him, excited and asking about Hogwarts, Ron giving him murderous looks, Percy looking confused and ignoring him for a book, even the father of the children watching him cautiously.
The dinner is quite good.
His father would probably kill him for eating something low class, along with blood traitors, but for the first time, he doesn't care. Because for the first time in a long time, the overwhelming silence of his home and the feeling of disappointing everyone is overshadowed by a meal that is too noisy.
âWhy don't you stay over?â Â Ginny asks innocently.
Everyone turns to see her as if she had gone mad, including him, it's not something anyone wants.
But as he learns and reaffirms.
Nobody can say no to the girl.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
His parents ignore his letter where he says that he is sleeping at a friend's house, they do not ask, they do not look for him and that makes him feel worse. He could come back through the Flu network, but honestly, in this house where he does not feel comfortable, they seem to treat him better than his parents, which leaves a lot to be said. He begins to doubt Mrs. Weasley's mentality, which not only lets him stay without many explanations but also puts him in the same room as Ron.
He practically vomits the way he has, so he is not surprised to sleep on the floor. What he is surprised about is how little he cares. He had never gone to sleep in someone else's house, always in his comfortable bed, surrounded by people he thought loved him. At least in that place people don't seem to ignore him completely.
Anyway, the floor is uncomfortable.
Draco does not know if Ron commented on something or started a conversation, he does not know if it was that he was too upset by his words or if he seemed resentful, what he do know is that he started the first blow. But in his defense, Ron also threw the next punch and they were both on the floor fighting like people without magic.
âFor a brat in a golden cradle, you fight like a girl," he grunted before receiving a punch from him.
To get out the anger and the rage he've accumulated for a year.
Fighting like a person without magic, his father would reproach him for falling so low, but he doesn't care when he throws himself on Ron and leaves him motionless on the ground. His cheek is hot and his eye is swollen, but he has never felt more alive than when Ron gave him a header to knock him down.
The sound seemed to alert the rest of the family, for I soon heard footsteps.
âYou don't know how much I wish a family like yoursâ he grunts when Ron has punched him, he stops short, looking frozen by his sad look, even his body's pain from the struggle doesn't seem to matter âat least they don't ignore or despise me for being on Gryffindorâ he adds before leaving his body flabby.
He does not want to keep fighting, he already took out the anger and his thoughts, that he never imagined having.
Wanting to be part of a family of traitors, he had fallen so low, his father would probably despise him as much or more than he does now.
There is a chaos at the door that seems to have been opened long ago, before Mrs. Weasley starts to scold her son and he is pushed aside. He walks without much emotion behind the patriarch of the family, who sits him in the room and starts using magic to heal his wounds. He doesn't ask when he sees a scar on his arm, which definitely wasn't made by Ron, that it was his father's fault for throwing him a cup of hot tea that has cut him and nobody in his house wants to heal.
But this man that his father despises, treats him better than his father.
He assumes, a little late and a year after being ignored by his parents, that it is time to see people on their own and not by them.
âLife takes many unexpected turns Draco, but one thing I can tell you, is that it always gives us choicesâ says Arthur with a friendly smile.
He turns his uncomfortable face.
âThis life has put you in Gryffindor, like a butterfly effect as the Muggles say, the little flutter of a butterfly can create a storm.â
âThat sounds stupid.â
âYou may be right, but what I mean is that a small change can bring about very big changes in life. I know you didn't plan to be on Gryffindor, but now you are, it's your destiny that's at stake and you can choose what decision you're going to make nowâ
He doesn't know if it's because he's the first adult or male figure who seems to recognize his existence or someone who seems to be able to help him. He ignores his father's mental voice, rebuking him for talking to him, he swallows all his bad thoughts, which seem to have his father's voice and not his own.
âI don't think I should have been at Gryffindorâ he admits in an uncomfortable voice.
The only time he admitted that, both Snape and Dumbledore practically left him to his own devices.
A hand on his shoulder, it makes his eyes freeze in Arthur's kind.
âIt's just a house, Draco, even though all my children are at Gryffindor, if my daughter Ginny went to another house, it doesn't matter, it's just a house, you're the one who decides your fateâ he admits with a smile full of kindness, that he wants to make him cry.
It couldn't be more pathetic.
Someone clears his throat and blushes, it seems that Mrs. Weasley has been listening for a while, because her distrustful look seems to have faded and she sees him with kindness, also some pity, but he ignores that because of her poor mental health.
âI think it's time to sleep, the twins accepted you in their roomâ she says with a pitiful look.
He nods before going to the twins' room, who smile politely, he thinks it's not so bad.
The next day he wakes up with purple hair.
He hates them, but laughs just as much when Ginny scolds them for being so childish, and for the first time in many days, he feels at peace.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
When his father finds out where he's been, the slap comes so quickly that he can't help it, but even on the floor or that his mother seems upset for the first time, they don't compare when he's out of it, throws a cruciatus at him and something inside him, which is not the unimaginable pain, breaks. His mother screams in agitation and jumps to stop Lucius, who seems somewhat horrified at the sight of his wand, as if he doesn't believe that she did that to his son, but Draco couldn't care less. On the ground, he sees his father with a blank stare, while his mother tries to hug and comfort him.
That day he cuts off all relations with his father in a sentimental way.
His mother, on the other hand, seems to stop seeming important, because she doesn't say anything to her father and doesn't seem to do anything to stop him from ignoring him, calling him a blood traitor.
Returning to Hogwarts was a breath of fresh air.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Something changes that year, not only that Ginny was admitted to Gryffindor and greeted him kindly, but the twins who also seem to recognize him, pull some pranks on him, which he tries not to be a part of, but ends up in the middle. Harry and Hermione still sit down next to him to eat, but now Ron does too, he also gives him a look that looks like an apology and he shrugs his shoulders. It's not like they need to say anything out loud, what they said, or didn't say, was enough.
Harry seems happy when he starts answering his usual questions, which he didn't answer before.
Hermione seems excited when she arrives at the library and they study together.
Ron massacres him at chess and seems to help his self-esteem.
Ginny, who sometimes seems a little distant, smiles vaguely at him and he feels that something is wrong.
âYour sister acts strangelyâ he muses in a distracted way one day when Harry is at quidditch practice.
âWhat are you talking about?â Ron asks selflessly.
He doesn't know how to explain it, the memory of the kind and smiling girl who drags him all over the place, it's hard to connect with the girl who seems far away from every one, with big circles under her eyes and who acts paranoid.
âI'm not sureâ he muses more to himself.
He stops when Hermione drags him to study and includes Ron, who complains loudly about it. At one point they both start to fight furiously, which he sighs for, preferring when Harry is around, so he can at least entertain himself with someone else.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
âI'm not going to play quidditch, I only know the position of seeker and that one is occupiedâ he comments one day that he is reading his book, while Harry makes an angry gesture.
Last week they played quidditch in the playground for fun, the children were surprised that he wasn't bad, which he explains, it's a sport he plays as a child. Ron is not good and Hermione, well she is in a category of her own. Harry whines about having a capable partner in the middle of the team who is a friend of his or who is in the same year.
He ignores him and continues to study.
âYou're a book eater like Hermioneâ says Harry, bored.
He throws a pillow at he mercilessly that hits he face.
âYou could be good chasersâ
 âI'm ashamed of you for being our seeker.â
The twins laugh at his comment, he laughs before dodging Harry's spell without much thought.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
The year was not so bad, supposes Draco when he sees that this time he has many more people in his car back at the station. Ignoring that he and Harry ended up fighting a basilisk and that Ginny was possessed by a newspaper, it wasn't so bad. He has friends, he guesses, he never had any friends before and now he has them. Hermione seems delighted with her third year, Ron seems a little uncomfortable with the whole situation with his sister, who seems to be a little withdrawn at his side, he and Harry had rescued her for a very short time, but clearly she would have been traumatised.
When they get off the station, he sees everyone saying goodbye to him nicely.
âI think you'll be all right, if you survived that poem to Potter it can't be that badâ he jokes with Ginny, who for the first time since it happened.
Draco is surprised to see her father at the train station, but this time he is not happy, that man is no longer someone he respects and his presence is intimidating. He swallows his saliva before it grabs him roughly by the hand and drags him out of the place.
His father slaps him saying that he is a fool, that he has interfered again with the return of the dark lord, while slapping him non-stop. This time his mother is not present before the next cruciatus he receives, or the three others that follow. Lucius now shouts that he is an idiot and that he is ruining his plans, before ordering Dobby to take him to his room, without remembering that his own stupidity set him free a few weeks ago with Harry.
He remembers it with pleasure.
A new Cruciatus is what he feels before he becomes unconscious.
                          *****
The next time he is conscious, he is in St. Mungo's hospital all alone, he sighs before going back to sleep, he raises one hand, the right one, which now has a horrible scar from his wrist to his elbow, his eyes are glazed over, the memory of the cruciatus is strong in his mind. Two days later he leaves the magic hospital, his mother picks him up, but he says nothing on the way home, which makes him feel sick, he won't say anything about the man who tortured him and cursed him until he lost consciousness.
He wants to laugh when they enter the house, which no longer feels like home.
âAndromeda, my sister, she could take care of youâ she suddenly muses when they enter the place.
He looks at her with disbelief, before laughing bitterly.
âThat man doesn't want me here anymore," he muses underneath, but her mother doesn't deny it.
You mum soon places a key in he hand, which makes him look confused, his eyes seem alarmed and he makes his lips in a thin line. He doesn't want to think about her eyes that look worried, when for two years she has practically left him at the mercy of mistreatment and her father.
âIt's in my golden room at Gringotts, you can take anything you want, it's part of my Black heritage" she says quickly and he looks at her angrily.
âYou can't do anything either," he muses with sarcasm and a murderous look.
His mother's eyes seem to apologize and he takes the key with hatred.
But he is not an idiot either.
He runs to his room, taking some things he knows he will need, before going to the Flu net without seeing his mother and shouts the only place he can think of.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Mrs. Weasley seems to be incredulous when shyly asking for accommodation in her home, but it is quickly Arthur who accepts it with a friendly smile. He explains that he will pay for his maintenance, but they practically ignore him before going to Ron to tell him that he will be his new roommate. He doesn't seem happy, but doesn't ask much when he sees his gaunt face or the scar on his hand. "I had to get out of there" is all he says and this one doesn't press him, Ginny is the one who quickly makes him feel at home.
Her eyes, which do not look like those of a child, smile warmly when she sees her scar.
It is as if she can tell him something.
The twins also soon seem to be playing their tricks on him and Percy seems pleased with his notes. But it's not until one night, when Mrs. Weasley scolds him for not being warm and gives him a gray knit jumper with a "D" on it, that he feels like he's going to cry. The twins joke that she will probably give him another one at Christmas, but he ignores it.
Harry seems surprised when he shows up days later and he shrugs his shoulders.
âWe have a disgusting family", says his friend with a laugh and he can't help but laugh with understanding.
They both have that in common.
Actually, they have a lot in common.
They high-five when it's their turn to play quidditch with the twins and still win.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
Draco looks on with pity on the first day of school when Harry seems destined to die, it's as if every year he's in the middle of bad and very bad luck. Although in his defence, it was as if all the bad things happened to him. For his part, ignoring the fact that he had practically abandoned his home, everything seemed to get better somehow. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were not in the habit of sending him things, but at Christmas they had given him a jumper and food. His mother had sent him a letter, which seemed to be hidden from his father, so he ignored it as much as possible.
âBut she just appeared out of nowhereâ Ron grunted one morning about Hermione that he ignored.
Lately Ron and Hermione had been arguing more.
âThey like each other," whispered Ginny to her funny side, which he agreed with her.
Although the friendship was mainly between Harry, Ron and Hermione, after they adopted him, somehow Ginny started to spend more time with them (a way of compensating for last year), also the twins and that boy called Neville who at first seemed to be afraid of him, but after seeing him and doing nothing to him, he spent time with him.
Not that Gryffindor had changed, of course, they didn't bother him like in his first year (for having friends he supposed) but everything seemed a little better.
This was his path, not one he would have chosen willingly, but it was the one he had and he would work at it.
"Like your obsession with Potter" taunts back to Ginny, who mercilessly tries to cast a spell on him and he knows it is better to run away.
When he passes through the corridor, the Slytherins look at him and make fun of him, he ignores them, but sometimes he thinks about what would have happened if he had been in that house.
Would things be different?
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Luna was a strange girl, but she was a friend of Ginny's. Probably, he thought ironically and sarcastically, his father would not approve of the strange girl's friendship, one more reason to let her study with both of them in the middle of the library. He seemed to space himself out a bit and ask her clearly indiscreet questions but tried to ignore him and not be so arrogant. Sometimes his natural side, the arrogance and pride that he had for so many years, would come out unintentionally, Harry would reprimand him, Hermione kindly pointed him out and with Ron they would hit each other sometimes, but it was okay, they taught him.
He wouldn't mess with her if he could help it, a wise lesson he and the twins used as their mantra.
âI can sit with you; you seem smart and I need helpâ spoke a voice beside him.
I turn his face with boredom.
A girl with short dark brown hair and light brown eyes was standing next to him with a somewhat silly smile. He recognized her as a Hufflepuff student who sometimes stood next to the girl Hannah, who sometimes stood by Neville and he unknowingly ignored her.
"I am Camileâ she introduced herself when she sat down without waiting for a statement from him.
Just like the destructive Ginny.
This girl did not seem normal, too smiling and expert in spells, she seemed to know nothing about Runes and almost begged him to help her. He wants to refuse, but Ginny's gaze makes him sigh and accept her in the impromptu Wednesday study group.
She's about her age, but it seems a miracle that she made it this far.
âI'm good at the duels clubâ she says this one in a funny way before walking away at the end of the study.
He ignores her, not that he cares.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
âHow come we always end up on the brink of death," says Draco boringly in the middle of the infirmary.
After Harry's godfather, who turns out not to be bad and who is somehow (very distantly) related to him, ran away with a hippocriph that tried to attack him at the beginning of the year (but which he didn't do by chance). It also turns out that Professor Lupin was a werewolf and that Snape almost died trying to rescue them. Although he had some cuts on his hands, he ignores everything that Harry and Hermione did with the time-turns.
âIn my defence I'm not looking for thisâ grunted Harry with his arms crossed somewhat annoyingly.
Out of the corner of his eye they both watch Ron and Hermione continue to argue.
They look at each other out of the corner of their eye before sighing.
âI think I'll bet they'll notice until the last yearâ he mumbles under Harry about the bet between the Weasley family and them both.
âI'm telling you Potter, Ron's going to propose, he's stupid, but it's my money on the line," he says with a slight yawn.
He sees how Hermione seems to be about to kill him, which makes him hesitate a little.
Harry laughs as he bets on Hermione.
He may be on a stretcher, two broken ribs, wounds all over his body, but he can't help but feel happy surrounded by friends.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Draco had a dream, one where he stayed at Slytherin's house, where he had everything he ever wanted in his first year. Also in the middle of the dream, he treated Harry and the rest of his friends badly, humiliated them, tried many bad things against them and at night in his bed, he didn't seem to feel good about it. Then he woke up, seeing all the red around him and realized that everything that happened, had been a silly dream, probably of his childish desires.
He did not like that dream.
Although he had the life he once wanted, he did not feel happy.
âI hate my lifeâ snarled Harry across the dining room the next day.
Although they were all friends, Harry and Ron were the best of friends, but when the former was selected for the Triwizard Tournament which now had four participants, Ron seemed to walk away angry from his friend. He and Hermione were juggling each other to try and bring them together as friends again.
âYou're unlucky and, I'll say this, it leaves a lot to be desiredâ he mumbles with amusement reading a book about potions.
Last year it didn't go so well and Snape, who was his godfather, seemed about to send him off for yet another failure.
With that kind of godfather.
âI didn't put my name on it.â
âWhy doesn't Ron do it?â
Clearly the lack of his best friend affected him, he grimaced at the idea of admitting that Ron was clearly jealous. He was always jealous even of himself, until he explained about his family and they hit it off, Ron saw him as an equal, but with Harry.
They occupied something that would make them friends again.
If only Ron knew what he had and when he and Harry were jealous.
Things would be different.
âGive him timeâ he mumbles boringly.
Harry keeps ranting for several minutes, exchanging boring looks with Neville who shrugs his shoulders, there's not much to do.
                           âŚâŚâŚ
âHey blonde headâ says one afternoon Camile appearing from nowhere.
He sighs bored and a little annoyed.
He is still studying with Ginny and Luna, many times Hermione joins them, but Camile was occasional, sometimes she spent weeks in a row with them and other times she almost didn't show up at all. The laughing girl was part of the dueling club and studied with Professor Mcgonagall because she wanted to be an animagus.
He loved it when she didn't show up.
âWhat?â she says with more annoyance than she feels.
But the girl keeps smiling.
âI need help with a class," he says, still smiling and with both hands together as if she were asking for help.
He sees her with annoyance.
âLook how low Draco has fallen, he's not only with the dirty blood and the traitor, now he surrounds himself with mestizos â says Pansy Parkinson passing by with a group of Slytherin.
He looks at her with annoyance, but this disappears when, out of nowhere, Camile passes by and punches Pansy who leaves her on the floor crying. She grimaces at the sight of her bloody, swollen nose, Camile's wand moves faster and the other two girls are turned into little Chihuahuas with alarming ease.
I didn't know she was so good.
He sees her impressed, this one seems bored.
âYou know not all Hufflepuffs are so patientâ she admits with a shrug.
He goes to say something, but a teacher comes over to scold Camile, which seems not to be the first time he has done something like that.
They end up at the address.
He wasn't to blame, but he's still an eyewitness.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
He can't help but be curious, Snape is kind and explains what he knows. Camile Marsell is a half Spanish and half French witch. It seems that her mother was from a fairly powerful lineage in the French country from one of the highest pure-blooded families, but she fell in love with a Muggle. She gave up everything she had to follow a Spanish man (who loved music) and Camile was born out of that relationship. The laughing girl had great potential for magic, but seemed a little confused like Harry at first.
The word collides in her mind.
Something that her father abhorred, over his pure-blooded supremacy.
Wizarding like Harry or Camile were not entirely unpleasant, Hermione was certainly a genius at magic.
There was nothing wrong with them.
âYou don't have to defend me," he snarls at Camile when Dumbledore gives him a scolding.
She smiles, ignoring his words.
âFriends help each other," she says, smiling.
He wants to ask her how long they've been friends, but he's tired and prefers to go to bed early.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
He applauds Harry when he manages to survive a fight with the dragon, which finally manages to calm the friendship between Harry and Ron, to the relief of him and Hermione. But soon the idea of a ball of the chosen ones, comes to stay in his group of friends and the whole school actually. He is about to say that he does not intend to go, but his friends end up dragging him along before he can refuse. He watches with amusement as Hermione accepts that someone has invited her and Ron seems incredulous as if he is indignant. He doesn't say anything about seeing Victor, a professional player, invite Hermione the other day.
Laughs when Ginny admits defeat in accepting Neville's invitation, almost dying of not being able to help Harry.
Harry who is rejected by Cho.
His friends are involved in many romantic dramas.
âWho will you go with?â asks Ron one day with suspicion in the middle of the great hall.
A memory of the last week comes to his mind, not that he thought about looking for a partner, but since he is going to the ball, he thinks that going alone would be pathetic, for a moment he thinks about inviting Luna, but he regrets it immediately. She may be Ginny's best friend, but she doesn't think she can be with her, without the intervention of the redhead for a long time. Hermione is clearly not available, so he thinks of the only girl besides them with whom he has contact.
One of those afternoons he walks to the library, where he sees Camile concentrating, or rather, not concentrating on the study but on making magical circles in the air.
He wants to run, but reluctantly walks to her.
âDo you want to go to the ball with me?â she asks when he takes a seat next to her.
He does not know if he has read her mind or she is really looking for a pair.
He doesn't tell Ron what really happened.
âI'm going with Camile, she's a Hufflepuff we studied withâ he admits without telling the truth.
Draco has a pride to bear.
He sees Ron's completely betrayed face; Harry seems to laugh vaguely at the misfortune.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
The ball is not as bad as he thinks, Ron and Harry seem completely unhappy at some point, but Hermione really looks like fun, he has run into Ginny who greets him cheerfully several times, giving him funny looks every time Camile forces him to dance. Camile is strange, in a way he doesn't understand, she always seems to smile and has a lot of energy. Her father would be horrified that he considers her a friend and inwardly rejoices and hopes that he will ever find out, only to see her face horrified.
The memories of the cruciatus make him shiver, making Camile curious.
âYou look like a boy with secretsâ she says amusingly when they finish a dance and have a drink.
He ignores her by shrugging his shoulders.
Out of the corner of her eye, he sees Ron lose his dance partner for giving Hermione a dirty look, Draco feels the family's bet in her pocket.
âI like boys with secrets," adds Camile, making him spit out a little of his drink and look incredulous.
She lets out a loud laugh before forcing him to dance to a song, which he doesn't know like the others, making him look, probably, ridiculous.
But she smiles so big that she forces herself to be there.
When the dance is over, Ginny catches him from behind before whispering to him to accompany Camile to her door. He thinks it's ridiculous, but as long as the girl doesn't see him with big eyes, he accepts. Camile doesn't seem to mind when they walk together in comfortable silence.
She is finally tired of talking, he thinks briefly funny.
Everything in his mind seems to die when a pressure on his lips makes him freeze, it lasts a few seconds, but when he separates, he sees Camile as a fish out of water. He has never kissed a girl, he is ashamed to admit it, especially because in his first kiss, he was not initiated by him. Male pride on the floor. He sees the spark of fun in the girl's eyes.
Who has a beautiful green dress, his long hair in a hairstyle that only a girl could do and light makeup.
Admits reluctantly, not bad for a first kiss.
He takes her behind the head and now it is him who kisses her, to recover a little of his pride, he would never admit in a million years that it is because he has liked the first one.
When Draco lies down on her bed, a satisfied smile fills her face.
                           âŚâŚâŚ
Everything seems to be in chaos when Credic dies, he feels fear and terror for what it means. Even when no one seems to want to believe Harry, he believes him, because his father for years talked about the awakening of the dark lord and now, they are living it. He is afraid, he is horrified and in his fifth year, he understands that nothing good can come of this. The holiday in the burrow seems like a distant dream, which he now wishes to recover. Harry's visions clearly do not help at all and everything seems to be a whirlpool of desolation.
âSo much for a quiet yearâ confesses Ginny one afternoon that they are together in the corridors.
Above all, with Dolores Umbridge hovering around.
Touching his hand briefly with bandages, having supported Harry was not such a good idea when they both shared the punishment, but he was her friend.
âWell at least someone is doing well with the plan to outdo Harry Potterâ- he comments amusingly before pushing her playfully.
This one sees him incredulous, before wanting to put a spell on him.
âYou haven't told me more about Camile after I saw them kissingâ says Ginny in a funny way.
She had caught them that Yule ball, but had the decency not to say it out loud and only to harass him when he was alone.
âWe didn't talk muchâ he admitted something uncomfortable.
They have greeted each other in the corridors, studied with everyone, but nothing has happened between them. It's as if the ball was just a fleeting dream one night and it bothers him to admit that it irritates him more than he wants to admit.
âWho would say, both suffering from unrequited love.â
âAt least I kissed her.â
Ginny's bat mucus appears so quickly and painfully, that he can only shake his hands feeling that he is drowning.
But the satisfaction remains within he of winning a verbal fight.
                           âŚâŚâŚ
Draco looks uncomfortably, as clearly the students of the house Slytherin have a clear preferential treatment for the toad face. He sees them as annoying when they keep making fun of him, but more than annoying, inside he feels uncomfortable. He has dreams where he sees himself in the house of the snakes and that makes him sleep uneasy, he does not like what he sees, that Draco that bothers others (as they do with his person) and that intimidates his current friends. He is afraid to say that to them, since he is a person that he does not like.
It is like hating a part of himself.
Because he knows, if he had stayed at Slytherin's house, he would have done it.
He was so fooled by the man who is his father, so full of resentment towards those who are not pure blood.
Most of the wizarding society is not pure blood.
âDraco?â calls Harry when they go to their private of forbidden classes on defence against the dark arts.
All because of his current teacher.
âI was thinkingâ he muses quietly, making Harry raise an eyebrow to see him confused, but he doesn't dare say his thoughts, maybe he shouldn't have been a Gryffindor as he was a coward âdon't look at me like that, at least my date didn't cry all afternoonâ he adds in a mocking tone.
Harry groans clearly ashamed and feels a little satisfaction at seeing him suffer for normal things.
Draco stops uncomfortably when in the middle of the room when he sees how Camile seems to have convinced Hannah to join "Dumbledore's army", all thanks to Ginny, he doesn't know whether to kill his pseudo little sister or thank her.
Harry sees him confused, Draco is grateful that he is an idiot in those matters, he had enough tragedy with Hermione and Ginny, besides Neville.
âPotterâ starts Camile by his side humming funny and giving him a curious look, which he ignores as best he can.
âCamile, I'm glad you and Hannah could come, the more people the betterâ Harry spoke shyly, but glad to see her.
He whimpered when he admitted that, although they were not friends, Camile used to have casual conversations with the boy, especially about Quidditch.
The girl smiled too much, for his taste.
âThere are cute boys to see around here, of course I'd come," she says honestly and without any apparent shame.
Harry is shocked, she turns to him and gives him a flirty wink before leaving. It's thanks to that that Harry turns to see he with an incredulous mouth, he prefers to leave quickly next to someone else, trying not to let the red of his cheeks be so noticeable.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
He looks incredulously at Hermione and Ginny sitting in front of him, both ranting about men, almost ignoring him at the time. He sighs thinking about how he agreed to study with them, turns his face to the window, almost wishing he could be out with Harry and Ron, but he had made a decision, he regretted it, clearly, but he is not one to go back on his word. In his suitcase in his room, a letter from his mother asking him to stay away from any trouble indicated that, soon, there would be trouble.
Not just the attempt on Arthur's life.
He felt uncomfortable, like a bad feeling.
A blow to the forehead made him his before he saw Ginny badly who let out a funny laugh.
âIn the Malfoy clouds?â her asked amusingly, moving his eyebrows amusingly.
âMind your own business Weasley," he grunts back equally amused.
Hermione rolls her eyes, exchanges a funny look with Ginny, both knowing the girl's problem with Ron.
He admits, only to himself and probably to Ginny (who in some way he doesn't understand is his best friend) that he might, in some younger way, have had feelings for Hermione. Not only were they competing all the time, the girl was growing up and she was cute, of course adding that would have bothered his father, made everything very attractive. But when he became friends with them, it only took a second to see the interaction between Ron and Hermione to know that he didn't want to get into anything romantic between them.
The image of a long-haired, funny-smiling Hufflepuff girl momentarily surrounded his head.
âHermione what you occupy is giving my brother a kiss (which is disgusting) and touching his buttock to make you happyâ says Ginny shamelessly.
It takes no more than that comment for Draco to grab her by the neck and start running around the common room, with a red Hermione of shame as well as anger.
They end up on the floor laughing and their task forgotten.
Amidst the laughter, Draco cannot help but think that both of them and the rest of his friends they were a family that occupied.
                           âŚâŚâŚ
Draco loves his friends, although he must admit that being friends with Harry Potter has put him on the brink of death, many more times than he likes to admit. The idea of going to the magic ministry is stupid, he tries to convince him before doing such a stupid thing, but, although he doesn't succeed, he ends up accompanying them. It is when everything seems to be in chaos, when they find out that Sirus is alive, that the order is safe (secret that they trust him for being a kind of honorary Weasley) and the crazy Bellatrix who is somehow distant relative, pursues them both to Sirus and to him to kill them.
All the people with whom he shares blood are crazy, they decide in the end.
Sirus at first had this uncertainty about himself too, until he told he that he was in Gryffindor and seemed happy that he was not the only black sheep in the Black family.
Everything was confusing.
Although he admitted to being a fairly competent duelist, Bellatrix was crazy (there was nothing positive to say in that situation) and as little as he avoided that dark spell. Whimpered when her hand began to bleed, proving that it was not by chance.
âLucius no doubt raised a uselessâ he snarled that woman with a dismissive tone.
He saw her rolling her eyes.
âYou're crazy, demented and no doubt I'd rather spend my life with blood traitors than a lady who's a whore behind Voldemortâ he shouted the first offensive words he came up with.
The Cruciatus was not long in coming.
How many times can a person endure so much pain?
From his blood family, for worse.
Whimpering when he fell backwards, before Sirus started a battle against her, but they were walking too close to the veil. Sirus, like Harry, had a strange suicidal tendency, he decided when even trembling, he should throw himself with Sirus to avoid a curse from Bellatrix so that he wouldn't fall in the middle of the veil.
He feels every bone in his body ache.
But he's alive, she surmises with irony.
âThat bitch is crazyâ murmurs before Sirus brings him by the neck so that both of them manage to dodge another attack.
âBoy!â calls Sirus over him, but his vision begins to blur, before he bites his lips and stands up shaking.
Stupid Potter thinks with irony, before following Sirus and Bellatrix's duel with barely open eyes, with a nimble spell he makes Bellatrix fall backwards, before feeling an attack from his back. Bites her teeth as she feels pain all over her body again.
This time he is knocked unconscious.
                           âŚâŚâŚ
When he opens his eyes again, a room he detects from St. Mungoâs receives him, and he is measured to get into his bed, feeling pain all over his body. He looks at his bandaged hands and feels pain in his back, but he is alive. Memories of the battle in the ministry haunt his mind and he cannot help but feel terrified. A war, they had not been many and he hardly thinks if they survive, but that only seemed a prelude, a prelude to imminent war. A sound distracts him and he is paralyzed when the curtain that separates his bed is opened and Molly Weasley appears on the other side, this incredulous whimpering wakes him up and wraps him in a hug.
He can't help but wonder when his real mother hugged him for the last time.
He also can't believe how stupid Ron is, to be jealous of Harry or him, when he has a family like this one.
âI'm glad you're awake, honey," she says with sincerity and tears in her eyes.
He doesn't move, not believing that anyone else is crying for him.
He smiles slightly, before everything turns to chaos in his room.
Ignoring the visit of all the Weasleys, including Sirus (he doesn't quite understand what has happened to set him free), Harry and Hermione, Ginny is the one who tells him the story. He had received several unforgivable curses, a cruciatus and another that has left a scar on her back, which like her hand, cannot be healed. He was unconscious for two weeks.
Ginny seems worried about himself, just as her mother cries when she sees him, Hermione hugs him in a protective way and cannot help feeling at home.
âYOU ARE ALIVE!â both twins shout with emotion, before shaking their hair.
He feels pain all over his body.
His head does not stop hammering.
But he wouldn't change for anyone in the world.
                              âŚâŚâŚ
Snape never treats him badly, even though since he left his father they have hardly had any cordial contact, but that does not mean that he is any less concerned when he obtains the role of professor of defence against the dark arts in his sixth year. Harry, who has always hated his godfather, doesn't seem too thrilled about the affair either, because although Sirus is declared innocent, he doesn't have the power to uphold it or something stupid said Dumbledore. He tries to remind him that he will soon come of age, but Harry can be stubborn and prefers to ignore him.
The fact that Ginny spends all her time with her boyfriend also seems to put him in a bad mood.
Her four best friends are in love, but not together.
He and Neville seem to jump between the two of them, trying to keep the issues from getting too sensitive.
âDean is a pain in the ass, he's cute, but I can do things on my ownâ complains Ginny in the common room with an annoyed grimace.
He ignores her for reading his book.
Dean's subject is a sensitive one for both of them, not only does the boy seem to hate him since his first year, they also share the same room and he seems to hate him because Ginny declared that he is her best friend. Although he repeats a thousand times that he has no romantic feelings for the girl, her boyfriend always seems to see him out of the corner of his eye as a potential enemy.
âYou're only with him because you're with someone," he says before turning the page in the book on oclumacy.
Even though Snape doesn't treat him like he used to, he has given him that book in his fourth year, so he tries to study it. Sometimes after school in his fifth year, he would instruct him, he almost had the trick of doing it without difficulty.
He worried about why her godfather gave her that.
âDean is cute and kisses well, but I like my space, yesterday I reproach myself because I spend a lot of time with youâ she grumpy is carelessly settling in his lap.
âBecause of things like this he is upset," he says without taking his eyes off the book or making her feel uncomfortable.
He's used to it, as a child Ginny was very loving and he was clearly a carrion for his family. Like a sister she never had, Ginny began to follow him when her brothers ignored her, laughing and telling her things, which he did not ignore for a fact.
She was the first one to speak to him.
The one who took him to the Weasley house.
Besides, her lively and cheerful personality, helped him when he was not feeling well. Because he had the fake family of now, sometimes he remembered that his parents had given up on him, that they were on the side of the dark lord and the scars on his body were witness to the fact that both had taken different paths.
âIt's stupid, Harry and Ron found me last night making out with Dean and took on the role of big brother, they should be like you.â
âYou know I'd protect your dignity too, but you'd throw a bat booger at me and not take my help.â
âExactly, thank you for noticing.â
He sees her thinking it was no joke and she with her head in her lap puts on an innocent smile, making both of them laugh slightly. Distracted he puts a hand on Ginny's head and starts to massage her hair, she makes a sound that reminds him of a cat and thinks she is a brat.
âI feel offended that that book is more important than your best friend.â
âThis book would beat you at anything.â
A whimper comes out of his mouth when it punches him in the face, with force the lance of his lap and this wheel on the ground. Both of them burst out laughing when she throws herself at him, in his lap, and seems to want to hang him, but he hardly resists.
A sound of annoyance distracts them, causing them to turn to their right where Ron and Harry are standing.
Draco reacts a second later, with Ginny on his legs too close to his body and face.
His forehead is shaded in blue.
âNow you're going out with Draco too," says Ron in an accusatory tone.
Faster than a flash, Ginny casts a spell on him that throws him on his back. She seems to want to go and kill him, but not in play as with him, so he holds her by the waist preventing her from committing a murder.
âDraco is my best friend asshole, now I'll kill youâ she says this in a sadistic tone.
He decides he prefers to be on the girl's good side, so he lets her go and it's Hermione who finally manages to stop her from committing murder. The worst thing decides Draco, is the look of complete hatred of Harry, who does not know when or how, it seems that finally he has feelings for Ginny.
He snorts underneath when Hermione yells at Ron that he is a fool and drags him into the library.
Now Ron sees him angry too.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
He decides for his own mental (and physical) sake to stay away from his friends, until they solve their love problems with each other, he doesn't want to get caught in the crossfire. Therefore, in his free time, he prefers to be out reading some book, sometimes thinking that he could have stayed in Ravenclaw, although he still doesn't manage to beat Hermione in notes. New Year's resolution decides. It is an afternoon in the middle of a bench, when a shadow appears in front of him. He tries not to look surprised when he sees Camile in front of him with her usual friendly smile.
He's ignoring him as usual; she takes a seat next to him and starts to move his feet.
He forgets that not only his friends have these romantic problems. The girl next to him kisses him in his fourth year at the yule ball, but after that she ignores him, sometimes she talks to him as if nothing happened and he is clearly confused.
Not only are Harry and Ron bad with girls.
He would never admit it out loud.
âYou look at me with bulging eyes, it's funnyâ she says she's pointing at him shamelessly; she blushes and this one laughs âI'm not going to do anything to you that you don't want toâ she adds with a flirty wink.
That bothers him too, those shameless flirtations, make him feel uncomfortable.
He looks at her out of the corner of his eye, noticing that her long hair is now a little more controlled and longer than before, that her face is starting to stop looking like a girl's and her body is becoming very beautiful. He hates the hormones inside him and that this girl is by his side.
Just like Ginny and Hermione this one seems to be at ease next to her.
Is different and he doesn't understand how.
âOf course,â he says in a boring way trying to control himself, this one sees him as a bit annoying.
âYou know for a guy, you're not very good with girls," she says, as if reading her thoughts.
Draco blushes before seeing her with disbelief, curiously this seems to be serious as she almost never shows it because she is smiling.
âThat's rudeâ grunts before returning to her book.
âRude is kissing a girl and never bringing it upâ she points out with clear annoyance.
His blushing increases and he sees her angry, as she seems to take it easy and he is a sea of nerves at this moment.
âYou kissed me first.â
âYou acted as if nothing had happened.â
âI'm a Draco girl, we like to see an interest in a boy and not do all the work.â
Both are upset and look angry, he does not understand what she wants and she seems to want to claim something from him. The girls are annoying, he decides in the middle of something that he does not understand, only it seems that she expected him to look for it and it is ridiculous because he.
He looks away, ready to get up.
âYou are a nuisanceâ mumble without knowing what else to say.
He had enough family problems to add this girl to his life, his friends are now in danger and he doesn't know how long before everything goes to shit. It takes studying, it takes being a better wizard to help them when the time comes.
But when he sees the girl sideways, still sitting, almost looking downcast and with sore eyes, he curses himself internally.
He says to himself when he sits down again. Camile opens her eyes in disbelief when now it's him who initiates the kiss, because just like Ginny's eyes, but in another way, he doesn't understand, and doesn't care, he can't see his sad eyes.
They separate and he is embarrassed but internally happy to feel his pride back for initiating the kiss. She smiles in a way he has never seen before, softer and more sincere, which also reaches his brown eyes, which he now notices have flashes of other colours.
âYou're annoying too," says this one with a slightly broken but funny voice.
Then, ignoring his previous thought, he kisses her again.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
âDraco has a girlfriend and won't die a virginâ celebrates Ginny in the common room, making him snarl in annoyance and Hermione laughing by his side.
Neville has a funny smile at his side, which he wants to smash with one punch.
But he wasn't going to make that clear out loud.
Ginny continues to hug him excited, saying that Camile was a sun for putting up with him, that he should not ruin him. Hermione commented on everything he had to do to be a good boyfriend, Neville seemed just as tortured as he was.
âAt least now Harry and Ron will no longer see me as competitionâ he muses, making Neville nod in agreement.
Hermione and Ginny look confused.
Who would have thought that, of the group of friends, he is the first to get a steady girlfriend.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
Many things are happening before his eyes, war seems closer and closer and Dumbledore's death is the trigger. When the great wizard dies, he feels that, within him, the world is lost, when a powerful wizard could not help it, they definitely could not do anything. At the funeral he is sitting there with a lost look in his eyes, he wants to think that he has nothing to do with this place, but he knows what happens to his father and mother, the bad guys of history and how this war was getting closer and closer to breaking out.
He sees the sky in confusion.
When the hat chose him at Gryffindor.
âEverything will change," muses Neville sitting next to him and he nods his head.
He sees his hand for a few seconds, feeling a little pain in the scar on it as in his back. He grinds his teeth knowing that somehow that hat decided his fate.
On the way to where Harry was with Ron and Hermione, the three of them had made a choice and given him the opportunity to choose. When he arrived at them, his three friends saw him with big eyes with questions, they had given him a choice because they knew the situation of his biological family,
âI'm inâ admits in a serious voice.
Harry looks at him with gratitude.
While they go off, the rest go to look after Hogwarts. He looks sideways at where Ginny is next to Neville, Luna, Hannah and Camile. Her best friend smiled slightly, knowing that this would also be a battleground next year.
Camile gives him a slight smile.
A part of him, decided, was an idiot for not talking to her before and taking advantage of the time a little more. By her side, he had been very warm and different, a different good in his life that he thought he wouldn't have. But now is not the time to back out.
                             âŚâŚâŚ
The search took a long time, both good and bad experiences passed. Since Ron left them, he felt lost at the thought of his parents behind all this, struggles and losses. When they arrive at the castle after a whole year away in the middle of death (which he jokes about all the time with Harry telling him that he is unlucky) and ready to start a war, he feels confused. In the middle of the fight where he attacks and protects, he wonders what would have happened if his life had been different, as in his dreams.
Maybe he would be on the other side of the battle and that destroys him.
Why the other side is wrong.
That is why when the Selector Hat appears, almost at the same time as Voldemort's snake, when Harry's body appears. For the first time he understands why he is in Gryffindor, when the sword of his creator is held in his hand to kill the snake.
Ignoring his number of wounds.
Ignoring that his parents behind Voldemort see him in disbelief.
He makes his choice at that moment, it is not like before that he only accepts the fate that others chose for him, no, he decides his path and the sword shines in his hands. Voldemort seems angry with himself, but he couldn't care less.
Not after all he's been through.
And then Harry seems to come back from the dead.
Before he knows it the battle is over, but he doesn't feel well, he is tired, a heart-rending cry from someone, is also the sign of a series of dead to be picked up.
                            âŚâŚâŚ
That night he walks to his old bedroom, which is somewhat destroyed but stable. He throws himself on his bed, followed by Ron and Harry on theirs. Hermione ignores that it's not the girls' bed and remembers one that must have been Neville's, the four of them are exhausted, the battle has been over for a few hours, but there are many dead, much pain and much blood. He feels too tired to talk or say anything, he just wants to sleep all night, but he feels that he will have nightmares.
âI'm exhaustedâ says Hermione with her arms stretched out.
The thought of her bewitching her parents and sending them to Australia runs through her mind, they will have to go and get them soon, they had decided in the middle of their journey in moments of stress.
Where they were thinking about the end of the war.
Where they were optimistic.
âI'm hungryâ mumbles Ron against the pillow.
Everyone laughs slightly.
âBy the way, Potter, technically Ron made Hermione kiss him, so you owe me money," he says, sitting on his bed.
Harry laughs when Ron and Hermione turn red.
"Hermione kissed him so you owe me moneyâ counter this scathing, but funny-looking one.
âYou made me lose money Weasley, you owe meâ he grunts at he with feigned annoyance and this one throws a pillow at he face.
The four of them laugh like kids and he throws himself back on the bed with a peaceful smile. But his smile fades slightly as he remembers the number of dead, especially that of one of the twins who hurts him to the core. A selfish part of her inner self has been happy to see Camile among the survivors, she herself had a terrible wound on her leg from a werewolf, but she only laughed saying that it was not that serious.
They would have to wait until the next new moon.
âHey Draco", says Harry out of the blue, turns to see him confused and he smiles at him âI'm glad you're my friendâ he talks a bit corny, but he understands.
It reminds him of how Sirus talks about his friendship with Harry's father and with Lupin.
âDon't get cheesy Potter, I have a girlfriend unlike a guy who got brave and left herâ he comments funny and this one whines indignantly.
A move at his side, makes him see Hermione sitting next to him.
âI'm also glad you're my friend Draco, if I had a brother I'd be like you and Harry.â
âYes, because if I were Ron I'd be incest.â
A pillow from Ron makes him laugh when he just pats his head, but he high-fives himself.
The four of them laugh, before the four of them end up in their bed, in a knot of hands and legs, sleeping together. Draco at that moment thinks about what his life could have been different, if he had been selected in another house, but when he feels Harry's elbow, when Ron snores or when Hermione babbles by his side.
He wouldn't trade it for anything, this feeling of being filled.
And he hoped that, in a few years, everything would be just like this moment, the four friends.