I don\'t need them.

Getting away from that Hell hole as fast as possible, Draco escapes to the dungeons until the owl for detention came knocking at his curtains. Opening up the bed curtains, he gives the owl a small treat and watches it flit off.

Mr. Malfoy.

You are expected to be in the Transfiguration Classroom at 9 PM sharp. Tardiness will earn you another detention.

Minerva McGonagall.

That was it.

Tossing the parchment off to the side he checks his watch. Three more hours until he had to be there.

Walking in at five till nine, he sets down at his desk. \"Wait for Potter to come.\" the Professor says sharply, scrambling a few words down on a peice of parchment.

Potter? Why is Potter going to be here?

Once Harry finally come, they were given their assignment. They were to scrub every single desk in the classroom, muggle style. Their wands being confiscated from them as she hadns them buckets of soapy water, rags, and sponges. \"Get to it. I\'ll be back in two hours. These desks had better be spotless.\"

Harry sighed, picking up a sponge, all too used to detentions and cleaning at his relatives to complain. Not surprisingly, Malfoy didn\'t make a move towards the cleaning products.

\"Malfoy, I know this isn\'t the most glamorous of things, but you could help, you know. It\'ll make this go faster, and the sooner it\'s done, the sooner we can be rid of eachother\'s presence. Besides,\" he added, \"if it\'s not done by the time she gets back we\'ll only have to do it again, double.\"


His eyes widen and he takes off his robes so that the sleeves won\'t get wet and sets them on the back of a chair, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt before dunking his hand in the water and grabbing a rag.

\"I cannot believe I\'m doing House Elf work... my father\'s going to be-\" He stopped, a hurt look filling his pointed features and he simply starts scrubbing the leg of a desk, not finishing his sentance.

\"... This is so wrong...\" He murmers, staying quiet after that and merely focusing on scrubbing the desk.

Watching Malfoy, Harry was momentarily distracted. He shook his head of thoughts and de-robed as well. He scrubbed the desks one by one, chancing a glance at the blonde whenever he thought the other wasn\'t looking. There was something almost angelic about his pale features and blonde hair...

Wait, this was Malfoy, spawn of Satan. Right?


Draco sighed, finishing one desk and moving onto another. He seemed deep in thought as he finished off three more, and within an hour, the two had only three desks left. \"We\'ve got time. Lets take a rest, my hands are all soggy.\" Draco says, tossing his rag into a bucket with a rather obnoxious, Plunk.

Sitting down in one of the chairs that still needed cleaning, he rests his head on his forearms. \"Can Iask you something, Potter? Something that can never leave this room, and something that no one but us can ever know about?\"

He raises his head to look at the raven haired male.


Startled, Harry plops his own rag into the bucket of water. \"Uh, sure Malfoy,\" he replied, wiping some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and looking curiously at the pale blonde.


\"How do you do it?\" He asks suddenly.

\"How do you deal with it all? Like, the Daily Prophet slandeirng your name so often. People constantly staring at you lke your going to explode. You act so cool through it all. I know I\'d break down with the stress of it all. How do you do it?\"

His brows come together and he diverts his gaze, finding a stain on the ground very interesting for some stranger reason.


A little taken back, Harry doesn\'t really know how to reply. \"Er, I don\'t know. I guess... I don\'t know. I try to ignore it. It gets to me, believe me. But there isn\'t really much I can do, is there? Until Voldemort is finally gone, people are just going to continue it.\" He looked over at the blonde Slytherin, before adding, \"Why do you ask, Malfoy?\" What was he playing at? Was this just some sick way of getting Harry to spill his guts about something?


Thin silver brows come together and he nods.

\"I... I\'m not sure myself. I just... I get to ticked about how us Malfoys are made out to be horrible. And we really aren\'t that bad. I emean, sure we\'ve got our pride, and yeah, we get way out of context. But... I just hate the way our name is slandered.\"

With a sigh, he leans back and tilts his head back, staring at the ceiling.

\"It really sucks. We\'re practically in the same boat. Ever since you sent my Dad to Azkaban, I\'ve had everyone on my tail, thinking I\'m just like he is. I can\'t be my own person anymore.\"

Biting down on his lower lip, he glances over at Harry.

\"I really don\'t know why I\'m telling you this. You better not tell anyone else, Potter.\"


Harry blinked in surprise. Was this really Draco Malfoy talking here?

\"I won\'t tell anyone, Malfoy. I\'m a Gryffindor, remember?\" He looked at the distressed looking teen. \"I didn\'t know it was that bad. But you don\'t exactly make it easy for people to see otherwise, do you? And for you information, I didn\'t send your father to Azkaban. He was caught at the Ministry, and that\'s not something I can really help. Besides, had he had the chance he would have killed me.\" He didn\'t sound bitter, he just thought that Malfoy should know.

For some strange reason, seeing Malfoy there like that, he wanted to give him a hug. But Harry shook his head of such silly nonsense.


Draco hoisted his long legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his calves, resting his chin on his Knees.

\"Yeah... but think about it. People who aren\'t even followers of You-Know-who want you dead. And I\'m sure that a lot of them would jump at the chance to kill you too.\" He sighs and closes his eyes.

\"But you\'ve got most of he wizarding world on your side. And I\'ve got most of it against me.\" Smiling ruefully, he stares ahead of him. \"We\'d better finish, incase she comes back early.\"

With a gentle sigh, he stands up and grabs his rag and bucket, carrying it over to the next desk and beginning washing it.


Staring at the boy for a moment, Harry gets back to work as well. Never in his wildest dreams did he think Malfoy would say anything like this. As he finished his desk early, he went to go on the extra one before the Slytherin was finished his. Once done, he put the rag back in the bucket and sat on one of the desks, watching Malfoy work for a moment.

\"I didn\'t know you felt like that; I\'ve never even thought about it that way. True most of the wizarding world may be pro Light, but then again the Dark side isn\'t all that nice. Voldemort and his cronies want to get rid of anything and everything that isn\'t pureblooded wizards. And the Malfoys are pretty clear on their thoughts on mixed blood and muggles. That doesn\'t exactly make people want to run around and hug the lot of you, you know?\" Well, maybe Harry had wanted to hug Malfoy a few moments before, butthat was different. He was seeing a whole new and vulnerable side of the blonde.

\"Yeah, I understand what your saying.\" Draco says, finishing off the last bit of dirt and checking it over before tossing his rag in the bucket and walking over to a dry desk to lean against. \"I\'m not a follower of his. Sure, I do think that the wizarding world would be better if it was all pureblood. But think about it. When muggle blood is mixed with pure blood, the wizarding side gets thinned. Soon, we\'ll only have wizards like the ones on Muggle tele.\"

He sighs softly and shakes his head. \"The entire Wizarding world would be stronger without mudbloods.\"

Raising a hand, he picks at something beneath his nail and gazed off into the wall ahead of him in silence, waiting for McGonagall\'s return.


Harry sighed. Malfoy will always be Malfoy. \"You know, I don\'t think that\'s true. Just look at Hermione. Or my mum. They both were of Muggle families and they were both just about the cleverest witches of their age. Then there is Crabbe and Goyle, purebloods, and thicker than.. who knows. The point is, blood doesn\'t matter.\"


\"No Potter. Blood does matter. Do you think that in the medieval ages, royal blood was mixing with slave? No. I think the entire world would be best if Wizards and muggles would just stay away from each other. Save everyone a heart attack.\" He snaps just as McGonagall returns. Taking one look at the desks she nods appreciatively.

\"You may go.\" She says, sititng down at her desk.

Draco made sure to not waste any time in grabbing his robes and slipping them over his shoulders, grabbing his wand, and getting as far from that room, and Harry, as humanly possible.


Sitting there for a moment, Harry finally moves when he hears McGonagall give a cough. He moved forward qickly to retrieve his wand, grabbing his robe before he walked out of the room, heading up towards the tower.

___________

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