Despite being a good friend of mine since the beginning of his Hogwarts career, Draco's Slytherin prince attitude never evaporated. At least in public. When I entered his nearly empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express, he ordered Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaize Zabini to leave him so he could speak with me. I'm sure his cronies thought he was bullying me, but in truth we were catching up from the summer holiday.
"I like your hair like that, by the way," I complimented my friend as I ruffled his now gel-less hair.
"Thanks," he said ruefully as he attempted to undo the damage. "I decided it was time for a slight change."
"So how was your summer?" I asked in spite of myself.
"A mixed bag. At least my father wasn't there to beat me." I winced. However it appeared to the public, Lucius Malfoy despised his son.
I gave my friend a hug, and we lapsed into silence for a few minutes while we ate some of the food he'd purchased from the lunch trolley. I studied my friend. Other than the change in hairstyle, Draco had some more subtle differences from the Draco I knew last year. He held himself differently, and his posture seemed both self assured and terrified in equal measure.
"I know your secret!" I teased in a sing song way once I'd demolished my fourth cauldron cake. His eyes darkened to iron grey and his right hand went to his left forearm subconsciously. Oops.
"Draco has a cru-ush," I sang, making the last word into two syllables. He relaxed, and swung a hand at my head playfully.
"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow. "And who am I supposed to have a crush on?"
"Ron Weasley," I stated matter of factly. Draco spluttered, barely missing me as he sprayed pumpkin juice everywhere.
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked, red faced.
"I like to watch people, gauge their reactions to people. And the fact that not only did you not deny it, but are currently blushing deeper than the red of his quidditch robes, proves me to be correct."
Draco glared at me. I grinned back, waiting for his face to return to its normal pale complexion. It took several minutes, so I stole one of his chocolate frogs. I got an Albus Dumbledore card.
"Well I can hardly do anything about my crush now can I?" he asked gloomily. "He hates me."
"He hates the facade you portray to everyone but me," I countered. "If he saw the real you I'm sure he'd be head over heels in love."
"I doubt that, he's probably straight as an arrow."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Try being nicer, see where it gets you. Now I need to go rejoin my other friends before they come looking. Your henchmen are probably waiting for you as well." I left Draco to ponder my words.
When I finally found my other friends, about half of them were missing. Hermione explained that Harry, Neville, and Ginny were eating lunch with a new teacher. Ron looked sour, and Luna sat reading her newspaper dreamily. A few minutes later, two of the missing three appeared. Neville seemed frightened of what would happen to Harry, who followed Zabini into his compartment to spy on Draco.
When we'd exited the train, Harry was still nowhere to be found. I did see Tonks, though, and I gave her a heads up about my missing cousin. The poor woman seemed devoid of any color except her mousy brown hair, and I only recognized her because I knew what to look for.
My friends and I piled into a thestral-drawn carriage. Hermione cast a glance over the crowd in another desperate attempt to locate Harry, and then we set off along the trail to the castle.
The sorting seemed to take forever. Harry was nowhere to be seen, and I was the only one who knew when he'd arrive. Sure enough, a few minutes before dessert he showed up. He was still in muggle clothes, but at least he wasn't covered in blood. Maybe Draco was taking my advice and didn't break his nose because he wanted to be nicer to Ron's friends.
"Why were you late?" Hermione fussed over her friend.
"Malfoy. He noticed I was in the compartment and waited until we were alone to put me in a full body-bind curse so I couldn't get off the train. He kicked me in the side really hard, too." Well, a bruise on his side was slightly nicer than a broken nose, I guess.
I separated from most my friends at the large marble staircase, as they were Gryffindors and Luna and I were Ravenclaws. We headed to our common room together. People may have thought me odd for hanging out with "Loony" Lovegood, but I really didn't care. Luna was a loyal friend and she always gave me her opinions without sugar coating them. Another plus, she always knew the answers to the riddles required to get into our common room.
"I said be nice," I scolded Draco as we sat together at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It was the first Saturday of term, and the first time I'd been able to hang out with Draco since term began.
"I was nice!" he protested. "I was originally going to break his nose!"
"That's not what I meant. Cross out that last sentence, it's weak." I pointed to a sentence he'd just written on his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, which I was helping him write to keep his grades up. He scratched out the sentence with his quill.
"Well what would you have me do?"
"For starters, apologize. You don't have to make a big production of it, if you want I can hand them a note from you." Draco winced.
"They'll think I'm joking."
"That's a risk you have to take, Slytherin prince."
"What else should I do? To prove I'm not as terrible as I seem?" he looked genuinely worried. Weird as it sounds, that was a good look for him. Better than that self satisfied sneer he wore in public.
"You could try helping Ron in potions."
"Yes because he'll totally accept my help."
"Do it without him knowing. Tip something into his cauldron while he's not looking, or make it look like your usually malicious self and have him realize you actually helped him. Be creative."
"Well thank you for the advice Adeline. Here's the note for Harry," he handed me a slip of parchment and packed up his things. We walked up to the castle for lunch separately, because although my usual friend group knew about (and disapproved of) our friendship, his "friends" certainly didn't know anything.
I joined my friends at their house table, a habit the teachers had long since stopped yelling at me for, and gave Harry Draco's note. As he read it, his eyes got steadily wider. He silently handed it to Hermione, who showed it to Ron. I could tell from their expressions that they didn't believe their eyes. Finally, Hermione was the first to speak.
"Is this real? Did Draco Malfoy actually write this?" she questioned.
"Yeah. He is genuinely sorry," I replied. Three shocked faces turned my way. "What? He is! And underneath that facade he is actually a really nice person. But he can't go around showing it to people very often because of who his parents are. And he craves approval from his father, who hates his guts."
Hermione looked sympathetic. Perhaps she was thinking better of hating him so much all these years. Harry and Ron, however had expressions of incredulity. Obviously six years of bias couldn't be over ridden by a few words, even when spoken by a trusted individual such as myself.
I met Draco in a empty classroom after lunch to tutor him in Transfiguration. He seemed preoccupied, and couldn't focus on my lesson or his homework.
"Spill," I commanded.
"Did they believe my note?" his eyes widened in a need for approval.
"I think Hermione did. She usually believes the best of most people. The other two didn't seem convinced. I invited them to join us for some Transfiguration help."
"And they accepted?"
"Well, they don't exactly know you're here..." A knock came at the door. "That should be them now!" I sauntered over and let my friends in. The two boys raised their eyebrows when they caught sight of Draco.
"Why is he here?" Ron asked bluntly.
"Because you were invited to his tutoring session. And I thought if you could speak with him when he wasn't under the pressure of society you could see what I mean about him being a good person." I dragged them to the table where Draco sat. "Now all of you, be nice."
We picked up where I left off in explaining their last piece of homework. I caught Harry and Ron giving Draco sideways glances whenever he wasn't looking. I was not amused.
"Look, I want to erase my reputation of being this arrogant son of a bitch," Draco burst out when he caught one of their stares. "It's not easy, especially when I'm forced to still put up my walls in public. But can you at least give me a chance?"
The other two boys jumped in surprise. Their heads bent slightly, Ron's ears went pink. They silently admitted their guilt.
"Okay," I said. "Before we do any more schoolwork, let's get to know each other. Each of us has to say something the others might not know about our self. I'll start. At the foster home I lived at before Dad adopted me, I was bullied extensively." I nodded at Draco to go next.
"I wish I'd been born into a different family. I envy you guys. You don't understand how good you have it, no pressure to be anyone but yourselves," he said softly.
"I talk to my dad's portrait on the wall at home sometimes," Harry admitted. It was true, I caught him at it when he was fourteen. The portrait in question couldn't talk back.
"I accidentally gave a chocolate frog to a muggle kid once," Ron contributed.
"There, now we know something about each other. Get to work on your homework, and help each other if need be. There's an hour until dinner," I said. The boys nodded and began to write.