There they were, the three teenaged boys who were the best of friends, who would risk their lives for each other, because they truly cared for one another. They walked slowly down a dimly lit alley way in Hogsmeade, trying to avoid the photographers who were trying to catch a glimpse of the Ex-Death Eaters and their Dark Mark, to make a story out of them.
Draco Lucius Malfoy, tall, pale, wearing his black Wizards cloak with black pants and a black long sleeved button up shirt under it, a bandage wrapped tightly around his left forearm, walked alongside Blaise Acrisius Lola Zabini, tall, his dark skin shone against the light, wore the same, but a dark emerald green cloak, and a grey long sleeved shirt that read "Of course I talk to myself, I need expert advice", and a purple bandage around his left arm. Theodore Bellerophon Nott was walking in front of them, his body facing them so he walked backwards, hands in pockets, his dark black hair all over the place, tanned skin. He wore a white shirt that read "May I suggest the sausage" with a finger pointed downwards. He sported an emerald green cloak with black pants, he had a pink bandage wrapped tightly around both his left and right forearms. Draco rolled his eyes playfully at him.
"Honestly Theo, what on bloody earth are you wearing?" He said, trying to sound tired of the dark haired boy in front of him, but secretly found it funny.
"Come on Draco, do you need your eyes checked? His shirt is wicked! Honestly Theo, you had to have bought me one to wear, we could of matched!" Blaise said excitedly, waving his hands in front of him.
"But it's okay, my shirt is still funny." Blaise concluded, stroking his chin lightly.
"What on-" Draco tried but Blaise cut him off, he decided that he wasn't finished.
"And the bandages, honestly what a bloody fashion statement!" He said with a grin and thumbs up.
"I don't-" Draco tried but was interrupted by Theodore, making a certain blond irritated.
"I know! Mother tried to get me to wear something weird like Dray here, but I couldn't allow it! Honestly died of laughter in front of the workers looking at this shirt for the bloody first time. But Blay, your shirt is the bloody truth!" he said happily grinning.
Draco had his mouth slightly open, unable to form words.
"Honestly Drake, stop drooling," Blaise said laughing along with Theo and giving him a high-five.
Blaise continued chuckling "You 'ought to get me one mate, you know how I like to have a laugh from time to time,"
Theo grinned happily, taking his hands out of his pockets and waving them in the air happily, "Well once I saw this shirt, I bought a whole pile of different ones, I couldn't keep them all to myself, I had to share them with my best mates! Sharing is caring that's what I always- " BANG
Theo had fallen on someone while turning the corner backwards. He quickly recovered, as the person broke his fall, and got up to avoid hurting the person he fell on, he heard them grunt and felt extremely bad, he gave Draco and Blaise a quick worried smile and turned around to help the unknown person up. He looked down and saw a ginger haired boy, recovering on the ground, Ronald Weasley. A raven haired boy stood next to him, the famous Harry Potter who was looking towards his best friend on the floor who was out of breath.
Theo spoke hurriedly, this was his chance to set things right before they all met at school, he thought with hope.
Holding out his right hand, the pink bandage clear as day, towards the boy sprawled on the floor, "Sorry about that, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking, let me help you up-" but he was quickly interrupted by the Weasley, anger evident on his face. He smacked his arm away and got up, he wobbled slightly but Harry caught him and steadied him.
"How dare you think I'd want to ever touch your Death Eater arm, it could hold all sorts of diseases for all I know!" He sputtered angrily.
Theo looked down slightly, and cradled his right arm, "But it's my right arm-" he said in a slightly shaky voice, but he was interrupted again.
"I don't bloody care! Why on earth would you have two bandages anyway, you Death Eater scum!" He said in a booming voice, while giving him a disgusted look. Ron looked to Harry and smirked but it was not returned, for Harry was sick of his childish behaviour.
Draco and Blaise were stunned. Weren't they supposed to be nice? They hadn't even said anything to offend them.
Draco walked slowly to stand on Theo's right while Blaise went to his left. Draco peered at Theo, he could clearly see he was upset. Theo was a lovely boy at heart who was always happy, he was a strong young man who stood up for himself but the Death Eater topic was too much to handle, Draco knew this. He was forced into being a Death Eater, like himself and Blaise, and their mothers, but people would never listen to their side, it was out of the question, people were outraged in why they did not get sentenced to life in Azkaban. Draco snapped his head towards Weasley who looked smug.
"How dare you, Weasley! You know absolutely nothing, and you dare act like you know a thing about what we have been-" He said angrily, his voice was raised and Theo looked at him, with a smile forming on his lips, but Draco was interrupted for the third time today.
"Oh shut-up!" He said in a whiny voice, "Don't act like you lot actually know anything! You wankers are dumb! You were never smart, you bought your way through school, to get good marks, and bought yourselves into the Slytherin Quidditch Team. Everyone knew from the start that you,-" He pointed his slightly pink freckled finger to the 3 Slytherins "- were trouble from the very beginning!" He sputtered angrily, out of breath, which made Draco chuckle, earning a look from the silent Harry who stood behind Ronald, and a disgusted look from the Weasley.
"Think something's funny do you? It's all true, once we finish the seventh year, no one will want to take in Death Eaters!" He said with a smirk. "I mean, you guys look bloody stupid!" He said referring to Blaise and Theo's shirts.
"Hey!" Blaise said loudly, but was not offended. Earning a small laugh from Theo. Blaise smiled proudly at him.
"Here's the thing, Weasley," Draco said, interrupting Theo and Blaise's moment, taking a step forward, a smirk evident on his pale structured face. "Blaise, Theo and me are the smartest boys in our year, smarter than you and your friends combined, the only reason you lot made it through school was because of your little girlfriends, Mudblood and Weaslette." Ronald tried interrupting him but was stopped when Draco came closer, scarily.
Draco saw from the corner of his eye, Blaise gave him a disappointed look when he'd used the discriminatory word, but Draco kept going, for his friend who was upset and insulted. Ronald Weasley looked taken back.
"I got into the Quidditch team in my first year while you got in our fifth year, so don't act all high and mighty, and don't go around insulting us, especially my friends. We actually studied and didn't need any help, we actually understood the material!" He said, a bit loud, pointing his long finger to Ron. But to his friends he looked calm. Only they knew how mad he could really become.
He signalled for his friends to follow him, past the two Gryffindors, but was stopped by the following words.
"You'll always be a Death Eater, you and your family and your friends." Draco turned around slowly. He turned around and his eyes dangerously narrowed at the boy, waiting to hear his next words. "You'll never find a job, you'll never have a family, you'll die alone, without anyone by your side, no one'd marry a Death Eater!" He huffed.
Draco knew there was truth in what the Weasley was saying. He was right. How would he find a decent paying job, or even be accepted by society? His eyes shifted slightly but he recovered.
Harry wanted no part, he was silently watching, leaning against the brick wall, being sick of all the drama. He just wanted a peaceful year, was it to much to ask for? Why had Ron picked a fight? He assumed he felt superior, above them maybe, since he was the famous Ronald Weasley, who helped during the war to defeat Voldemort.
"We were forced," Draco spat.
Harry snapped his head from his shoes to Draco, then Theo, then Blaise. Slowly turning to Ron, expecting him to stop, but even that was a lot to ask for.
"We were forced to be this," Draco continued, angrily shoving off the bandage and rolling up his sleeve, covered in white slashes all over, one slash slightly red with dried blood. Theo and Harry gasped slightly, and Blaise pulled down his arm with care putting his fingers over Draco's wrist to avoid pain. He carefully took the bandage from Draco and wrapped it tightly, all while Draco had his eyes on Ron. Theo stood tall, looking at Ron and Harry, back and forth. Glaring only at Ronald.
Draco just wanted everyone to know the truth, no one would kill him for doing it.
Ron completely ignored Draco's confession, "You think you're so perfect, you and your family with all the money in the world, you and your so called Quidditch skills and perfect grades. You treated me and my family like dirt, your father treated my father like FILTH! Well let me tell you something, you're not all that, you're worthless, the gum under my shoe!" He said in a slow growl. "And you always will be."
Blaise had finished wrapping Draco's arm by then. Blaise had looked up to see Draco's face, a small smirk came to his face at the mention of Quidditch. Before Blaise could tell Draco to stop whatever he was thinking, Theo stepped forward, confusion on his face.
"Are you daft? He just told you he was forced- that WE were forced!" He said angrily, starting to go for his bandage but had Blaise stopped him, not wanting to see another wrist that held bad memories within them. Blaise brought his arm over Draco's body and gripped Theo's arm tightly until Theo stopped resisting. Theo slowly put his arm down, resisting the urge to rip his bandage off, it was annoying, itchy, and bothersome, he had enough of hiding it. It was a disease. Blaise knew.
Draco stepped forward his arm blocked Theo's body and pulled him back slightly. "You keep bringing up Quidditch, funny it is, it really is. You're jealous of how good I am." He said with a proud smirk.
Ron scoffed. "Jealous?" He whispered.
Draco nodded slowly, his smirk wider than before, he knew he had him.
"I am most certainly not jealous of you, and I never was!" He suddenly jumped for Draco's face, but Harry, having watched everything quickly reacted and yanked Ron back with the back of his cloak, now he was standing in front of Theo, beside Ron on his right. Harry gave a small smile to Theo, which was returned. Their small moment interrupted by Draco.
"Well I know you were obviously jealous of my money and how I was better than you at Quidditch AND Potions." He said, his smirk dying down a bit.
"Alright," Ron huffed. " Unbreakable Vow, right now." He said, eyes narrowed to Draco, challenging him to accept. Harry snapped his towards Ron.
Ron had been drinking before they bumped into the three Slytherins.
"Ron-" But Harry was interrupted by Ron's hand who blocked Harry's view, almost smacking his round glasses off of his face.
Draco was ecstatic. He only expected a measly bet, with maybe a few Galleons or to get Ron to do his bidding, but this was even better, whatever they betted on and whatever the prize was, he knew Ron was forced to keep his word, otherwise he would die painfully. How dumb could Weasley get, he thought happily to himself. He knew it wouldn't matter if it went wrong on Draco's end, for Draco didn't care much about his life, nothing made him happy anymore.
"Draco-" Theo tried interrupting hurriedly, knowing that Draco did not care about his own life and did not care if it was lost, but Draco cut him off, his voice louder, he was determined.
"How about a Quidditch Bet? The start of the year annual Quidditch tournament?" He said playfully.
"Deal." Ron said, fixing his posture to appear taller, but the three Slytherins were always slightly taller than he ever was.
"If the Slytherin Team win against the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, I get to have your Mudblood of a girlfriend for 5 months, if we lose to the Gryffindors, 50 galleons and the latest broom will be yours," He said quickly in determination, not wanting to be interrupted. He smirked at the thought of Granger's reaction.
Harry smirked slightly. No way on the big green earth would Ron actually agree to this.
"Deal." Ron smiled, slightly evilly to Draco. Ron knew he had this in the bag. Harry's jaw dropped.
Draco nodded, asking for a moment, and looked to Theo, motioning his head towards Ronald, asking if he wanted anything, Theo shook his head, then Draco turned to Blaise. Blaise smirked. Draco smirked back.
Who was Blaise to turn down some harmless fun? He thought quickly of what he wanted. Theo saw Blaise look at Ron and practically saw the light switch turn on in Blaise's eyes but Blaise quickly recovered.
Blaise stepped forward. "Just an addition, I know you'd never agree." He said smirking.
"Try me." Ronald huffed.
"Your sister, 5 months also." Blaise said, smirk in place. He knew this would annoy Weasley, and he'd have fun making the girl's life miserable. But deep down, he knew he could have friendship from this bet.
Ron looked taken back, like he was actually considering betting his sister away.
"Your blood traitor sister, Weasley. Are you scared? Afraid maybe?" Draco said, egging him on, but caught Blaise rolling his eyes on his blood traitor comment, slightly annoyed, but he gave no thought to it.
Harry's jaw dropped further down slightly and his lips quivered to try and form the words.
"Ron! They aren't yours to bet, Hermione isn't even your girlfrie-" Harry said hurriedly. Draco gave him a confused look. He had thought the Mudblood and Blood traitor had a happily ever after together.
Ron interrupted Harry, clearly annoyed at him that he was risking Ron 50 Galleons and the latest broom.
"Scared? Come off it. Take out your hands then." He said pulling out his hand from his side, it looked sweaty his fingers were slightly chubby. Draco placed his cold hand on his and Blaise placed his on top of Draco's. Harry and Theo watched on the side, they could not believe their eyes. They were betting girls! Teenage girls who didn't deserve any of this, but it was too late.
"Do you, Ronald Billius Weasley, promise to give me, Draco Lucius Malfoy, and to give, Blaise Acrisius Lola Zabini, Hermione Jean Granger, and Ginevra Molly Weasley, for 5 months, if we win against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, when competing in the annual start of the year Quidditch game?" Draco said slowly, so Ronald could understand.
Ron looked to Harry. Harry was angry, he was fuming. Ron didn't care the slightest, once he won the new broom and received the galleons, he'd buy Hermione the best jewellery he could find and ask her to be his girlfriend, hopefully to kiss her for the first time. He'd been dreaming of it since third year. He'd been close in the Chamber of Secrets, but the water that fell on them interrupted their moment and she quickly turned away.
Ron smiled.
"I promise."
A thin white glowing hand wrapped around the three hands.
"Do you Draco Lucius Malfoy promise to give me, Ronald Billius Weasley the latest broom and 50 Galleons, if we win against the Slytherin Quidditch Team, when competing in the annual start of the year Quidditch game?" He said proudly, he knew he was going to win, he was just too good. He was the light and Draco and his idiots were the dark side, no way Draco would win against him.
"I promise." Draco smiled, another thin line wrapped around, and it burst slightly, fading slowly away. The boys took their hands away from each other, wiping away the sweat from Ronald's hand.
"Did you get turned on or something during that Weasley? I didn't know you were dying to touch us!" Blaise said laughing. Draco and Theo laughed with him.
"Oh shut-up, Lola." Ron said trying to hide his smirk, at using the Slytherin's middle name.
Blaise shot a look at Draco who said his middle name in front of them. Draco and Theo snickered.
"Shove off! It's my mother's name," He said to the Weasley, clearly Blaise was not ashamed. He loved his mother dearly.
Draco looked to Ronald.
"Until the 29th of January." Draco said. His hands in his pockets.
"Until then" Blaise had repeated. Showing off his shirt dramatically, which made Theo laugh.
Ron scowled "Until then, filthy Death Eaters. You'll wish you never agreed to this. I mean, Harry's on our team after all." Ron spat. Harry rolled his eyes. Then Ron turned around with Harry angrily at his heel.
They turned the corner and Blaise suddenly sighed.
Theo and Draco looked to Blaise.
"Listen mate, I know you grew up learning that Muggle-born wizards were under our feet, but we have to change." Blaise turned his head from the wall to look Draco in the eyes. "What we just did, it could be the answer to our problems. Didn't you want to feel love a few weeks ago, Draco? Or at least friendship?" Draco tensed at the word "love" and "friendship" and he took a small step back. He was never used to friendship until he met Blaise and Theo.
"You're an idiot if you think we'd get love of all things out of this, Blaise. We've known them since we were children and bullied them from the moment we laid our eyes on them. You think that we'll even be given a slight chance?" He whispered angrily.
Before Blaise could disagree, Draco spoke again.
"You're lucky Blaise, you weren't rude to any of them, but you were still forced a Death Eater, you never wanted it. For me? I thought it was this honour, an achievement, I wanted to make my father proud, I treated muggle-borns as the dirt under my feet!" Draco yelled pointing to the floor. Theo took a step back to give him space.
"I don't deserve love, I deserve to suffer, and this,-" He said motioning to his Death Mark and scars under the bandage, "-is how I will make myself suffer." He said coldly. "I won't stop destroying my arm until it goes, you lot can't stop me, and love certainly won't stop me either." He spat at Blaise, shaking.
"Weasley was right-" Draco said, eyes red. He was interrupted by Blaise.
"No he was not right! Get it together, honestly, you daft idiot." He spat back to Draco. "You were forced! Who says you don't deserve what normal people deserve," He said the last bit in a lower voice.
Blaise motioned to his and Theo's arms. "We realised ages ago that we deserved better. We stopped giving ourselves pain because we realised that we ALREADY ENDURED ENOUGH!" Blaise yelled at Draco. "We finally realised we had something to live for, our family, our future, love, our children, life-"
"But I have nothing to live for!" Draco interrupted, a tear falling down his right cheek, his face scrunched up. He quickly wiped his face harshly.
"Live for all the reasons I listed." Blaise whispered quietly. Theo came to Draco and put both his hands on Draco's shoulders. "We all had it bad but I image you had it worse. Who had been given the Cruciatus Curse since you were 13, by the one man you looked up to." Theo whispered.
"You had it just as bad," Draco whispered looking down at his shoes, his eyes not blinking.
Theo gently took Draco into his arms and Blaise joined them. "I'm sorry." Draco stuttered, tears falling down every where. "I won't do it again I'm sorry, I can't help it. I deserve it."
But deep down, Draco knew he would be back to his normal routine, uncovering his bandage when everyone was asleep.
"Let it all out Drake," Blaise whispered.
Draco screamed as loud as he could and his friends hugged tighter. His scream had pain and suffering, it was eerie.
There they stood, the three friends who would never let anything get between them, they loved each other, they were brothers for life, and nothing would change it.
After some silence, Theo broke it.
"On that note, I'm sure you lot will have fun making the girls do your bidding, wont you?" Theo said.
Draco and Blaise laughed.
Silence.
Draco sniffed.
"So, Weaslette?" Draco whispered in the hug. Theo softly laughed. Blaise chuckled. "And what about you and Granger?" He whispered back, waiting for Draco to answer but he said nothing, earning laughs from Blaise and Theo.
"As if." Draco said, chuckling. He just chose Granger to shove it in Weasley's face and it worked. Weasley was going to lose her to Draco and he was happy. Draco had entered Weasley's drunken mind and had seen what he was planning to do after he'd won.
Draco wouldn't let him win.
Granger would be absolutely miserable with Draco, and the thought made him smile. He couldn't wait to annoy her to bits.