Draco Malfoy felt a shiver go down his spine. He could have sworn he felt eyes following him.
He turned around.
Nothing. Nobody.
He was alone in a deserted corridor. Was he getting paranoid? His steps became quicker. For once in his life he couldn't wait to finally be in class.

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Hermione was sitting next to a beet red Neville, who had just miserably failed to perform a simple charm to turn his pencil into a worm.

"Poor Neville" she thought, "I wonder why he's not bad when it comes to spells we learned during our DA meetings but is doing so poorly when it comes to common spells like this."

But her mind didn't occupy itself with her friend for long; she was far too concerned about another matter.

"You didn't happen to come across Harry and Ron today, Nev?" Unable to speak yet, a soft shake of his still pretty pink head was the only response she got.

This was already their third period and Harry and his best friend seemed to have vanished since breakfast, which worried the brown haired star student a bit. She just hoped they weren't scheming anything.

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"Do you realize that this is second year all over again? Hiding behind a statue, wands ready, a broom closet nearby and waiting for our chance to interrogate Malfoy. This seriously feels like a déjà-vu."

"Now that you mention it…"

Ron Weasley and his best friend whispered under the invisibility cloak, while they more or less patiently observed a certain blond pupil's every step.

"Malfoy will have the surprise of his life! He won't see what's coming to him." The redhead exclaimed, grinning, to which the boy-who-lived replied gleefully: "Yeah, I can't wait to see the shocked look on Mister I-am-an-almighty-pureblood's face!

It was by far easier than expected to overwhelm Malfoy when you had the element of surprise on your side. And so, a few minutes, a "Petrificus Totalus" and a silent scream later, Harry and Ron were carrying a petrified Malfoy into a dirty broom closet.
Ron had to suppress his whimpers when he caught sight of the countless spiders were crawling among the inch-deep dust.
There weren't any candles so they had to use their wands to provide light.
They took their sweet time taking the blond one's wand away and tying him up before freeing him from the spell.

"Fucking sons of bitches! Have you gone insane? What has gotten into you? I swear you'll pay for this! I always knew you were complete retards …"

"You can yell all you want Malfoy, nobody's going to hear you in here. And nobody is going to miss you for the next couple of hours either so you might as well cooperate." Harry said in a cold but agitated voice.

"Cooperate? With you and Weasel? Never!"

"I think you don't have much of a choice." Ron signed.

"W-what do you mean? What the hell is even going on here?"

"We just want to have a nice little chat with you."

"But of course, since you are filthy lying ferret we could never trust what you tell us to be the truth and so, we prepared a little something for you." The black-haired teenager said while waving a small bottle filled with a clear substance in it in front of Draco's pale face.

"Veritaserum?" The Slytherin stuttered clearly panicked.

"Now, we can do this the easy or the hard way, whichever you like best."

For a few moments Draco was deep in thoughts with a blank expression on his face. If he struggled they would find one way or another to force him to drink it. He signed softly. They clearly had the upper hand, there was no use trying to fight them, it would only cause him unnecessary discomfort or even pain to try.

He wordlessly opened his mouth to signal that he didn't plan to put up any resistance. He tried not to think too much about what the consequences would be as he swallowed the potion. Watching the two other males he waited for his inquisition to begin.

"We'll start with a few standard questions." Harry started again, "What's your full name."

"Draco Lucius Malfoy."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Which House are you in?"

"Slytherin."

"Well I think that's enough, let's get serious."

The two best friends looked at each other, not knowing where to start.

"This whole ten-year-olds falling in love crap seems a bit farfetched." Harry stated, to which Ron nodded eagerly.

"Yeah, it's time to confess. You didn't really fall in love with Neville, did you?"

"So this is what it's all about!" Draco exclaimed, his expression turning grimmer.

"Don't try to avoid answering. Did you get together with Neville because of love or not?"

…

"I admit it! It wasn't love, at least not at the beginning. He was more like a … a … some sort of rescue ring, although I didn't quite realize it back then. In the middle of this sea of people who heard without listening, who talked without speaking, including my own father he was like … I don't recall clearly what he was to me back then, but I remember I liked comparing Neville to a candle in the darkness. He illuminated every room he entered with his weak but warm shine called personality. I wanted to be near him like a mot to the light simply because he was different. All the other kids kept their distances for the same reason I felt attracted to him, which made the whole situation all the more intriguing. He was frightened by all those distant and cold adults and never mind his shyness. I just loved the attention he gave me when I played his protector. There is no need denying that I'm a proud and arrogant person, Neville's admiration just fueled my ego even further.
In third year I really started to fall in love. And then this whole Sirius Black incident happened. I didn't felt safe anymore and that although I had believed Hogwarts to be the securest place in the world back then. For the first time in my life I was scared for somebody other than myself. Black obviously tried to get into the Gryffindor Tower and I was … I was …"

Anyone could see that he visibly didn't want to finish his sentence, but the Veritaserum in his system made the need to go on telling the truth unable to ignore.

"I was scared shitless by the mere thought of what could possibly happen to Neville. The idea that he could disappear and not be a part of my life any more frightened me to no end. And so I … one night when I felt relatively safe I … I asked him if he wanted to shear his life with me. God, we were so young, so incredibly young and inexperienced! Only since a few months do I start to comprehend what I got myself into. But I don't regret it, not at all. I tried imagining my life without Neville and although it wasn't even real I still felt this emptiness, as if I didn't have a purpose no more. Being with Neville just feels so right! I wonder why a caring person with so much warmth got married to somebody like me."

Ron and Harry couldn't fathom it either.

"So …" Ron said, swallowing, " I take it you love him now … and definitively don't mean him any harm?"

"Of course I don't want to hurt him! Except if being married to me is hurtful that is. Even if it would pain him to be with me, I don't think I would let him go, at least not easily.
And yes I do love him, more than my own flesh and blood."

Thinking about his father, the blond teen couldn't help but sign, a distant look upon his face.

"My father cursed me the last time he saw me, knowing that now that he was out of the picture, my wedding would soon take place. 'You'll see!' he had screamed. 'Your son will have a greater connection to the Dark Lord than any of us! I can already hear Longbottom's cries.'"

The Malfoy heir swallowed hard at the memory and took a few deep breaths before regaining his cool and starting to talk once more.

"Is there anything else you desire to know?"

"Yeah, just one last question then you are free to go.
Are you a deatheater or do you have any intention of becoming one in the future?" Harry asked, becoming a bit uncomfortable with this whole situation.

"No," Draco answered, of course truthfully. "They consider me a traitor and wouldn't want me in their ranks. Besides … how could I ever do that to him?"

A sudden silence fell upon the three young wizards. Without saying another word, but with what seemed to be guilt in their eyes, Harry and Ron untied the person who had been their arch nemesis for the past couple of years. They didn't manage to look at his face after the blond teenager had dusted himself off and looked at them with an empty expression.

"… We won't bother you again." The black haired boy finally broke the pregnant silence, still unable to meet the Slytherin's glaze. There was a huge "Sorry" that hung heavily in the air, but neither Harry nor Ron where ready to say it out loud yet and Draco sure as hell wasn't ready to accept it.

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A line of worry had formed on Neville Malfoy's forehead. It wasn't like his husband to simply disappear without telling him. The wrinkle between his brows didn't vanish when Draco showed up again all of a sudden. The blond seemed even paler than usual and he had a dark look on his face. He walked past Neville, anger noticeable in his every step.

"Don't even ask." he muttered gloomily.

And so Neville didn't. Instead he did his best to keep up with his fuming spouse and murmured a timid: "I missed you."

To the outside world it may have seemed as if the blond hadn't acknowledged the Gryffindore's words, but Neville took the fingers, which hesitantly laced together with his, as a sign that his husband had missed him also.

Sorry it took me so long to continue this story. I hope you still like it. Let me know ;)