Authors note: This is an AU story involving mostly a Harry/Draco ship, and possibly others. Rated MA for Mature Adults only! :)

It was Draco's seventh year at Hogwarts. He idly leaned against the wall, watching the students pour into the dining hall. The first years outfits were pressed, their shoes polished, they looked like model students, but their anxious worries radiated from them like the heat from asphalt in summer. He unfolded his arms across his chest and bit into the apple he had been holding and let his eyes wander across the array of heads finding their seats. The summer had changed Draco, involuntarily. Because of his parents inability to leave the side of Voldemort, Draco had been assisted by Snape to leave and come live in an abandoned small brick home near Glasgow. Snape visited him weekly, but for the most part Draco had been alone (well, mostly) and unable to travel, not even daring to go into the city or use his magic for fear he may be discovered. He learned to fish on his own, to grow a garden, to live like a muggle. And it had changed him. But now the school year began anew and it was once again safe for him to venture out, with the same protection Harry had been under at Hogwarts, the headmaster Professor Dumbledore. However, Draco found himself in a very peculiar position. A small, and maybe un-noticeable part of him had drastically changed yet here he was plunged back into the environment where a certain part of him was expected to continue existing. No one had heard from him all summer, for obvious reasons, but they now had no reason to believe that anything bad had happened. That he had run away with his tail between his legs in fear of being trapped like his parents. Although he was unaware himself, Snape had in fact created a wonderful cover for him, telling his friends that he was on a very extended vacation on a remote island with an imaginary girlfriend. Draco wondered how many Slytherins would even come back this year, which ones would have already been imprisoned by the dark lord. He selfishly hoped that his friends would not return, in fear that they would either rat him out or worse, expect him to have remained quintessentially the same. No matter how much he missed them, or really, how much he missed his old self, he couldn't deny that he had changed.

He threw the apple into the air, catching it and throwing it back up, over and over again. His eyes glazed over as he found himself lost in thought, worry, and sadness. Snape informed him as often as he could on the whereabouts and condition of his parents, who apparently knew that he had ran off. According to Snape, it had been their idea, but Draco doubted it, knowing full well how important pride was to the family. Although, he also knew that self-preservation was by far and away one of the most defining characteristics of any Slytherin. Perhaps they would have wanted him to survive, to keep the Malfoy blood alive. But what would they say if they saw him now? He wore a simple black sweater with black jeans bought at the local shop where he had been staying, perhaps it was second hand, he didn't care. His hair, rather than swept back proper and orderly, was loose and roughly cut. Strands covered one side of his forehead, but as he swept his hand back through his hair, it managed to fall into a state of even dire disarray. They would scoff.

He caught the apple again and stared at it intently, whispered something and caused the apple to burst into dust which Draco blew off his hand. As the room calmed down into a low roar, Draco took a seat at the end of the Slytherin table, much to his surprise and his dismay, no one was missing. He hadn't decided how he should behave at this point, so he made a point to look no one in the eye. The headmaster took his place front and center, addressing the students with his concern over the recent attacks on muggle cities, warning everyone to stay cautious and be safe, catching Draco's gaze for a mere moment, long enough that Draco now knew that he knew. Instead of a feeling a sense of relief, he felt cold to the bone, exposed, and as he finally let his gaze wander amongst his past companions, even more so. This was going to be a long year, he thought to himself.

He wondered what would happen if he were to lift the sleeve up on any one of his friends, what would he find?