I could tell that Harry was still thinking about what he saw back there. On the way to the train the next day, he was trying to tell me what was on his mind, but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

"Have a great school year, sweethearts!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, beaming at us.

"Like that's gonna happen," I muttered, making Harry chuckle slightly.

She gave all of us a hug and let us go through the wall. I stayed with Ginny to talk to her a bit before heading up on the train with my brother. She said goodbye and ran off with her boyfriend, Dean Thomas.

I found Harry, Ron, and Hermione already in a compartment, waiting for me. I sat down on the empty seat between the window and Harry and waited for someone to speak.

To no one's surprise, it was Harry. "So what was Malfoy doing with that weird-looking cabinet? And who were all those people? Didn't you guys see what it was? It was a ceremony, an initiation."

"Stop it, Harry. I know where you're going with this," Hermione snapped.

"It's happened. He's one of them."

"One of what?" Ron and I asked at the same time.

"Harry is under the impression Draco Malfoy is now a Death Eater," Hermione said.

"You're barking," Ron told Harry.

"Same here," I added, looking at him. "Why would Voldemort need someone like Draco? He's not cut out for the shit that they do."

"Why were they at Borgin and Burkes, then? Browsing for furniture?" Harry retorted.

"Maybe!" I replied.

"It's a creepy shop, he's a creepy bloke," Ron commented.

"Look, his father is a Death Eater. It only makes sense. Hermione saw it with her own eyes."

"I told you. I don't know what I saw," she reminded him.

Harry sighed and said he needed air, grabbing the cloak on the way out of the compartment.

I just shook my head at him and looked out the window. "He never listens," I said.

"Do you agree with him?" Ron asked.

"Of course not," I replied. "After living with him for sixteen years, I pick up on things. Draco could never be a Death Eater. He's got a soft spot, you know."

"I'm sure it's covered up by that big ego of his," Ron commented.

"It's not that big," I mumbled under my breath.

Even though they weren't exactly fond of Draco, it would mean a lot if they understood what our relationship was like. It wasn't like we were dating or anything. We did have sex, though. Hell, I lost my virginity to him, and he lost his virginity to me. We wanted to say it was a mistake, but we would be lying if we said that. Still, it was complicated.

Ron, Hermione, and I waited for Harry to come back. But once we finally arrived at Hogwarts, he never showed back up.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked.

"He's probably waiting for us at the platform. Let's go," Ron replied, walking away, followed by Hermione.

"You coming, Max?" Hermione turned back around, facing me.

"Yeah, I'll catch up," I replied, walking in the other direction.

I went looking for Harry all over the train, but he was nowhere to be found. I turned around and no longer saw Ron and Hermione. So I decided to catch up with them. As I walked out of the train, I didn't spot the two anywhere outside. Damn, those two were fast walkers.

I heard laughing come from behind me. I turned around to see Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, and Theodore Nott behind me, smirking. I rolled my eyes and kept on walking.

"Where do you think you're going, Potterette?" Parkinson called out.

"Away from you," I snapped.

Nott caught up with me and grabbed my arm, turning me around so that I was facing him. "Don't talk to Pansy like that."

"Then leave me alone," I retorted, snatching my hand away.

"What if we don't want to?" Daphne smirked.

"Guys, let's go. She's not worth it," Blaise stepped in.

"Why ruin the fun, Blaise? She is The Chosen One, after all."

"Theo--"

All of a sudden, I felt my feet trip over Nott's leg, falling to the ground face first, causing me to clutch onto my stomach in pain from the impact. The Slytherin buddies just laughed and ran off while I was still on the ground, too weak to get up. All of a sudden, I felt someone help me up.

"You alright?" It was Draco.

I nodded as he helped me up. "I'm fine. My stomach hurts, though."

The blond's eyes went wide. "What?"

"My stomach. It hurts. Theodore Nott tripped me," I whimpered, panting as the pain from my stomach went away.

Draco led me to the side and pulled my hands away from my stomach. He lifted my shirt up and sighed, then looked up at me. "It looks okay to me. But I need to ask, due to our affair over the summer, is there a baby that I should know about?"

My eyes went wide. "Baby?" I repeated. "Draco, I'm not pregnant."

"You're not?"

"No. I think I'd know by now if I was."

He sighed in relief. "Merlin, you scared me for a minute there, Max. I didn't mean to assume..."

"No, it's fine," I said quickly, letting out a nervous laugh after that.

Draco noticed the nervous in my laugh and brushed the strand of hair that was in my face. "You want to walk with me?"

I smiled weakly and nodded. "I'd like that."

He smiled back as we made our way to the castle. "Sorry about what Pansy and all of them did back there. I'm going to talk to them about it."

"But won't they suspect something?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

I thought about what I was going to say next, but then I sighed and shook my head. "Nothing. It's stupid."

"No, it's not, Max." Draco got in front of me and looked at me with a serious expression on his face. "You're just making it seem like it's stupid. What is it?"

I took a deep breath before replying. "Friends. They might think that we're friends, Draco."

He started laughing. "Is that all? You really like to scare me, don't you? Sure, Pansy, Daphne, and Theo might care about me being friends with you, but Blaise doesn't. He knows what we did, remember?"

"Right," I said, walking past him. "I was trying to forget that."

"Oh, please, Max. You know you liked it." He winked at me.

I laughed. "You already know I did."

"Well, I wanted you to say it again."

I started blushing. "Just shut up, Draco."

We both began to laugh and couldn't stop. It was when we finally arrived at the gates that we decided it was best to part ways. "Well, I guess we should go in at different times."

I nodded in agreement. "Okay. Bye, Draco." I turned around and started walking away.

"Max!" I turned back around. "I know what I said about us not being able to see each other once we got here, but...I don't think I can do that." He paused. "I'd like to be your friend."

I smiled and nodded back. "Sure. I like the sound of that."

"Me, too." He smiled back.

I walked away again without him calling out to me again.

Friends. That sounded perfect. Maybe.

Once I got into Hogwarts, I quickly changed into my robes and headed for the Great Hall to join the others. Ron was eating like there was no tomorrow, Hermione was sitting beside him with a worried look on her face, and Harry was nowhere to be found. I sat beside Ginny while Hermione let out a sigh of relief when I sat down.

"Where have you been?!" she hissed across the table. "And where's Harry?!"

"I was about to ask you that!" I retorted.

"Oi! Turn around, you two!" We turned around and saw Harry with a bloody nose.

"What happened to your face?!" Hermione asked.

"Later," he replied. "What did I miss?"

"Not much," Hermione replied.

"Here, let me help." I took the bloody napkin from him and dabbed at his nose gently. Then, I let Ginny do the same as Dumbledore started to talk and I got some food in my stomach.

"Very best of evenings to you all. First off, let me introduce the newest member of our staff: Horace Slughorn." We all applauded as he stood up and waved at everyone. "Professor Slughorn, I'm happy to say, has agreed to resume his old post as Potions Master. The post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be taken by Professor Snape."

The Slytherins applauded while everyone else just looked at each other, murmuring.

"Lovely, isn't it?" I muttered.

"Yeah. So lovely," Harry added.

"Now, as you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight, and you have the right to know why. Once, there was a young man, like you, sat in this very hall, walked this castle's corridors, slept under its roof. He seemed to all the world a student like any other. His name? Tom Riddle.

"Today, of course, he's known all over the world by another name. Which is why, as I stand here, looking out upon you all tonight, I'm reminded of a sobering fact. Every day, every hour, this very minute, dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls. But in the end, their greatest weapon is you."

I looked over at Draco and saw that he didn't have his famous smirk on his face. He seemed bored. Draco Malfoy was bored. I wondered what was running through his head right now. Thoughts of me, maybe. That would be weird, though. I looked back at Dumbledore, who grinned at us. He told us to go to bed, and so we did.

"That was cheerful," Ron said sarcastically, standing up from his seat.

"I wonder why he said that," I told the others.

"Well, there's a war coming, Max. What else is there to say?" Hermione inquired.

"True," I agreed. The four of us started walking back to the Gryffindor Tower until I spotted Draco.

"What are you looking at, Max?" Ron asked.

"Nothing," I replied, looking back at Draco. "Actually, I'll be right back. I'll see you guys later." I walked away from the trio and went to go look for Draco.

hear me and come see me. Because I really wanted to see him, despite being with him moments ago and no matter how wrong it was.

"Max?" I heard someone say. "Is that you?"

I turned around and saw Draco. "Hey."

"What are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I came to see if you were alright. You seemed distraught after we parted ways."

"Well, maybe I like being around you." He smirked.

I laughed. "Seriously, what's bothering you?"

He sighed and started fidgeting with his hands. "It's nothing."

I took his hands and looked at him. "Hey, we're friends now."

He nodded. "I know, but there are some things that I just can't tell you."

"But--"

"Just drop it, Max." Draco let go of my hands and walked away from me.

I sighed in defeat and walked back to the Gryffindor Tower. I entered through the portrait and went upstairs to find my stuff already there. I changed into a baggy t-shirt and some shorts and headed back down to the Gryffindor Common Room. I sat on the couch and looked into the fire, thinking about what Draco just told me.

Why would he say that after I told him he could tell me anything? Was there something bothering him? If so, how bad could it be?

"Hey," I turned around and saw Harry sitting beside me on the couch.

"We really need to sleep in our own beds," I said.

He chuckled. "I don't think that will ever happen."

"Not unless we start tonight," I retorted.

Harry sighed and looked into the fire. "I know you went to go see Malfoy."

"It's Draco," I corrected him.

"No matter what I call him, he's still up to something. I just know it."

"You don't know that, Harry. You don't know him like I do. If he was up to something, he would've told me already."

"Max, he's in Slytherin!"

"He's my friend!"

Harry gave me a serious look and sighed again. He didn't understand. He didn't understand how much Draco had changed in between years over the summer. It bothered me that Harry wouldn't accept the fact that he was not who he used to be.

"You know, on the train, he stepped on my face. Luna fixed my nose."

"You probably upset him by eavesdropping on him and his friends."

"Oh, so you're going to take his side now?"

"Like you can be talking. Remember last year? Taking Cho's side over mine?" I retorted.

Harry looked into the fireplace. "I was stupid and childish."

"Yeah, and you still are," I said. "Besides, I'm not taking Draco's side. I'm just saying that you shouldn't have eavesdropped on their conversation."

"How do you even know I was eavesdropping on him?"

"I'm your twin, you idiot."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Forgot about that little detail."

"Sure you did." I smirked.

"You're right. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping. But I just have this feeling that he's up to something. Something bad. I don't want either of us getting caught in the middle of it. Especially you, Max. I care about you."

"I know you do. But maybe you care too much. So much that you're not thinking about yourself and what might happen to you. I've already lost so much. I can't lose you, too." I placed my hand on his and looked up at him. "You won't lose me. I promise."

He smiled weakly and nodded. "You're my best friend, you know that? Not even Ron or Hermione could replace you."

"And there's no way the famous Draco Malfoy could replace you." I smiled back.

"Even if you two manage to...you know, date?" Harry inquired in a shaky voice.

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Even if we manage to date."

He nodded, then looked at me. "I love you, sis."

I shot him a small smile in response. "I love you, too, bro. I'm going to see if I can get some sleep in my own bed. Classes start tomorrow, you know."

"I know. Good night, Max."

"Good night, Harry." I headed upstairs and back into my own bed.

That was when the thought about me and Draco together came up. It was not the first time that I dreamt about him and I was completely content with myself. It finally made me realize how much I wanted those dreams to happen. And if they did happen, then maybe they would prove to Harry that Draco wasn't a bad person.

For once in my life, after Cedric's death, I found someone who actually cared about me.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Another chapterrrr!

Sorry it took so long. Final exams are out of the way and I have no school until Thursday! But I'm going skiing either Monday or Tuesday so no updating...and I also get on Netflix now so blame TVD and Gossip Girl for that...

So, do you think Harry will accept Draco and Max's new relationship/friendship/whatever you want to call it? How do you think he will react when he finds out they...you know, "did it?" What about Ron and Hermione? Comment below and tell me.

COMMENT, vote, and love meeeeee. Bye! <3

-A