Draco stood in shock, his hand on his cheek as he stared after the wrathful form of the Gryffindor Goddess, Hermione Granger as she stormed away from him. He couldn't believe she had done it again and his cheek smarted brutally. He shook his head, his hair flying around him and settled into his eyes as he looked up at the smug expression on Pansy's face. She proceeded to flounce after Hermione and left him there at the end of a deserted corridor. He couldn't believe what had happened, what almost happened…

"I know everything, all your dirty little secrets and how you couldn't go back to the Dark Lord after Dumbledore's death," Pansy had hissed, a grin on her pug face after she had cornered him in the dark corridor. He had stared into her cold, sinister blue eyes.

"So what, Parkinson? You can't prove anything," Draco sneered.

"For one, the other Slytherins…oh and Blaise most especially! How devastated your best friend will be to learn that you've failed," her voice a triumphant squeal, pointing her finger menacingly in the air.

"Shut up," Draco grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall. "You won't do anything."

"I will, you know I will," Pansy's grin was turning maniacal and almost desperate, he pulled back his hand to hit her, suddenly someone grabbed his arm and twirled him around then slapped him, hard.

"You pig," Hermione growled, her eyes glaring into his before turning and walking off.

Draco casts a melancholy look around before walking off back to class. He was deemed head boy simply by grades, second only to Hermione and by right it was his. He knew McGonagall had been privy to the information that he hadn't returned to Voldemort, he also knew that she was watching him very closely.

He had wandered in that dark Forbidden Forest of his nightmares for the longest time. Stumbled around, tears streaking his dirty face before he finally wizened up, he hadn't gone far into the forest, just stayed on the edges, far enough away from the castle until morning then turned and walked off in an aimless direction. He still had money, still had a way of supporting himself until school started. He had taken up a room in the Leaky Cauldron, hiding out from everyone and everything, not knowing exactly what to do until he got McGonagall's letter. He had made the decision to return to Hogwarts.

He searched the enchanted roof of the great hall that night at dinner. He ate with the Slytherins but nobody spoke to him, mostly out of fear. That was the first time Pansy had spoken to him and it was crazy to think he was getting lonely. He found himself looking over at the Ravenclaw table then to the Hufflepuffs, no one paid him any attention, not anymore and for a while he actually enjoyed the anonymous feeling. He could walk down the halls, pass right by the Golden Trio and not even get a dirty look from them. It was like he was invisible; it was amazing that nobody had attacked him.

Finally he returned to his rooms and collapsed onto the couch of the main common room he shared with Hermione. She spoke to him when she was forced to. Other than that she would disappear from the common room as soon as he walked in or left when he came out of his rooms for classes.

When they were in classes together, she sat with her friends while he sat alone, in the corner, away from everyone.

He never spoke and they obviously didn't speak to him. It was a weird feeling, to look around the room and see the same people he had grown up with, yet they were all different. Dumbledore's death had changed everyone and you could physically see it, smell it and feel it as you sat there.

Draco cracked opened his eyes slightly as Hermione walked into the common room, she stopped behind the couch, hesitating for a moment before moving on to her room.

"You pig," whispered through his mind as he looked over at the merry fire in the huge fireplace. He wanted to tell her that she was right, he was just a pig, a scared ghost, a whisper of the person he once was. But he'd rather be a ghost pig than the monster he was before.