Chapter 1
The loud clap of thunder woke him up in his dark room. The bed wet with sweat and the covers thrown off of him in an instant. He looks around the dark until he remembers his wand under his pillow. "Lumos maxima." He breathes in deeply when seeing the silver and green curtains next to him. He's at Hogwarts, he's safe. He's not in Azkaban. Once he catches his breath, he decides a nice walk would do him some good since sleeping isn't on the table anymore. "Turn off the damn light, we're trying to sleep here!" He jumps up at the sharp voice of one of the portraits and lowers his wand. Can't they just ever be nice? He breathes in deeply and turns a corner, where his next fright awaits. He runs into something, something invisible. He yelps in surprise and sudden fright, before composing himself. He can't see anything, though eh swears he ran into someone... "Potter?" "What- Dra- Malfoy?" Draco rolls back his shoulders, resetting his cool while looking straight into the invisible green eyes of his 'arch-rival' Harry. "That's none of your business, is it?" He snaps. Harry rolls his eyes before turning around and walking off. He clearly hadn't changed... Despite everything that Harry had hoped for. How could he still be the same, arrogant guy he was before the war? He'd thought about it over summer and came to the conlcusion that Draco was an asshole, because he was living with immense pressure. Clearly, that was not the case. Perhaps he was an actual rude person. "No need to walk off now." Draco adds, making Harry stop in his tracks. Or maybe not? Maybe he was just rude because he was not expecting to run into an invisible person. How would he react in a situation like this... probably shocked and slightly rude too. "How can you see me?" Draco shrugs. "I can't. I just know." Harry frowns. What was that supposed to mean? This man was full of mysteries... "How do you know?" Draco raises an eyebrow and stares straight ahead. "I just do." With that said, the tall blonde turns on his heels and continues his stroll down the halls. The invisibility cloak would be nice right now, it would at least shut up the portraits. Harry sighs deeply, why did he have to think about everyone else's point of view? He understood Draco, while he should hate him. Though the war had proven that hatred would not get you anywhere. Draco was looking healthier than some months ago, he looked good. Besides the obvious rude facial expressions. Harry stops in his tracks and shakes his head. Draco looked good? What the fuck did he just think? "Just go to bed Harry, it's late." he mumbles to himself, while dragging himself to bed. He might not wake up as a zombie tomorrow, if he could just get through the rest of the night without nightmares.
When he'd gotten his letter at the end of august, he didn't know if he was dreaming or hallucinating. Never had he thought that Hogwarts would be re-opening anytime soon. But there it was, on his suitcase with their family owl.
Mister Draco Malfoy
We are pleased to inform you that Hogwarts will be re-opening for the upcoming academic year. We would be happy if you would join your classmates to finish your education in your last year at our school for witchcraft and wizardry. Please note that everything was destroyed during the war so whatever you do not have, you should buy in diagonally.
We look forward to greeting you at the feast on september first.
Greetings
Headmistress McGonnogal.
Of course it had been part of an arrangement they'd made for him. He was spending the summer in Azkaban and if he could stay out of trouble all year at Hogwarts, and show that he'd changed at graduation, they'd let him off with 'abuse of puberty during a war'. Which comes down to him being used as a pon, as he wouldn't have understood what was happening because of mental issues related to puberty. Bullshit, if you asked him, he didn't even think that was a real charge, but it had gotten him out of hell after two months so he'd take it. Obviously, Hogwarts wasn't the same. The cold halls were even colder, somehow, and the number of returning seventh year students was cut in half this year. There were about fifty students from their year who'd gotten back on the Hogwarts Express to finish their education. None of them had to, none of them but Draco. Not that he was complaining. Anything, literally anything was better than Azkaban.
Everything was different, Luna and Neville were sort of dating, Harry and Ginny had broken up in July, Dean and Seamus weren't joking as much as they used to, George worked at the shop alone, Dumbledore and Snape were gone, McGonnogal was the new headmistress and, well the only normal thing now would probably be Granger and Weaselby, as they were still dating. Draco was alone, Pansy wasn't coming back to Hogwarts this year, Theo and Blaise were both starting a new life, away from this hellhole, somewhere in Romania so that's it, that's all he'd ever had. And of course Crabbe and Goyle but they were working for their family businesses now. As for his family, they were stuck in Azkaban. Lucius was sentenced to life imprisonment, Narcissa got a milder sentence as she has her son to care for. She can get out when, and only when he's lived up to their expectations. "A year of staying out of trouble and proving I've changed." He mumbles while walking back into his room. Since only half of them came back this year, every student has their own dorm, which may or may not be a good thing. The houses are still in use but not for the students in their year. They're all still in uniform but the dorms can be in a different part of the castle. Since so little students came back, they decided it was the best way to deal with trauma, if darkness and calmth was required Slytherin dorms were for you. If you prefered familiarity and noise Gryffindor dorms were your go to. Ravenclaw was calm but you were never alone and Hufflepuff was friendly and always together. As far as he's concerned it's a good idea but everyone deals with trauma in their own way. So shouldn't you be, not alone while doing that? He takes off his expensive robe and hangs it over his chair neatly before getting back into bed.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day, Draco has been getting all sorts of attention but lovely. He's been hexed, his food was poisoned and many more, McGonnogal tries her best to scold the person responsible for it, when she sees it but that doesn't stop anything. Whenever she's not looking, it all starts again and there's nothing he can do. His mother is one misstep away from thirty years in hell. One misstep of him... so he just takes it. As he should. The food isn't poisoned, they tried that once but he ended up in the hospital wing for a week, so they stopped doing that. They just make it taste like it's rotten, but it isn't and that's the worst part. Because the food looks delicious but it isn't. At least the food was better in Azkaban, rainwater and mouldy old bread. For those who've never had that before, it tastes like dry, dusty grass.
Anything they'll do to him this year, he'll take it. He needs to get Narcissa out of that hell. Even if it means having broken bones once in a while and eating rotten food every day. He'll make sure he lives up to their expectations, whatever the cost.