Disclaimer: All Characters belong to JK Rowling.

Thank you svirelka for beta'ing

The boy he didn't know
Chapter I

27 September

I don't know why I still bother. Why do I care? I'm not supposed to.
I'm supposed to be a cold, heartless bastard. Well you can't say that I have failed totally.
Any person who met me would get that impression. A cold- hearted bastard.
I can't blame them.

As long as a can remember I've been trained never to show my real self.
And as the eager little child, I had learned quickly. And at the age of eleven I had formed myself a mask to hide my emotions. Only to please father of course.

From that day, almost seven years ago, my mask had become a part of me.
It had never failed me, not even once.
That is until the beginning of this school year.

Since my parents had died in the war, nobody was waving me off at King's Cross station. So when it was time for the train to leave, I quickly stepped inside and started to search for Crabbe and Goyle.

But after having searched almost the whole train without any luck, I collapsed in a compartment which seemed empty.

However it wasn't. A person in a black hooded robe sat in the corner of the small compartment almost not visible because of the shadow of the wall.

My first thought was to leave, but I decided against it since I didn't know if I could find an emptier place to sit in. So I sat down carefully on the seat opposite the hooded figure.
He didn't seem to notice me at first, so I took my time to examine him.

Judging by the size, it was probably a guy, but I wasn't really sure since he/she was hugging his/her knees. But I decided that it was a guy.
We sat there in silence for a while, until I heard a little sob coming from him.
Surprised I looked back at him; because I had been looking out of the window, and once again heard a small sob.

I didn't know what to do. He still didn't notice me, and now he was sitting here crying.
Then I did something extremely un-Malfoyish.

"Are you alright?" I asked in a concerned voice.
He almost lifted from his seat in surprise, and choked on his own spit. I'd probably laugh if the circumstances were different.

But if I thought I was going get some sort of explanation to why he was crying, I was disappointed.

He only seemed to draw his legs tighter to his body and pressed himself even more into the corner.

This was not the reaction I expected.
So I tenderly reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder – all thoughts of the Malfoy rules gone.

He instantly raised his head and stared at me, watery emerald eyes met silver.
"Potter?" I almost screamed as I jumped away from him.

But the only response was a little whisper:
"Please".

Please? What was that supposed to mean? Here was I standing in a compartment with a sobbing Harry Potter. And with an empty mind I carefully asked:"Why are you crying?"

He only shook his head.

I don't know why I did it, but for some reason I sat down beside him and carefully draped my arm around him. First he seemed to tense, but then he slowly raised his head and once again our eyes met. He studied me for several seconds. Then he closed his eyes as he slowly put his head on my shoulder.

If I had been thinking clearly I would have probably never allowed him to put his head on my shoulder. Hell, if I had been thinking clearly I'd have never been in this position from the beginning. But I hadn't been thinking clearly.

So there I was, my arm around Harry Potter, who was now crying on my shoulder.
I couldn't think clearly, I couldn't think at all. So when I was sitting there beside him, absolutely no thoughts running through my head, I slowly started running my hand through his hair in a soothing manner.

I don't know how long we sat like that, all I know is that suddenly the train started to slow down and I still hadn't changed to my Hogwarts robes.
Potter seemed to notice it, too.

"You should probably change to your robes," he said in a whisper.
"Yeah," I whispered back. But I didn't get up.

We continued just sitting there, my arm around him, his head on my shoulder, though he was no longer crying.

Then the train stopped, and everybody started to move to the exits.
Slowly he lifted his head from my shoulder and I removed my arm from around him just as slowly. Then we both rose from our seats and as he carefully took his things, I started to look for my robe.

He moved to the compartment door, but instead of opening it, he turned around:
"Draco…"

Startled, I turned around. He used my first name. He had never done that before.
A small smile was on his lips. The first smile he'd ever directed towards me. And then…
"Thank you".

And with that he opened the door and started to head to the exit.
I didn't move. I just kept staring at the place where Harry had just stood.
Still not thinking clearly I started to collect my things and then walked out of the compartment and towards the exit.

There were scarcely any people left in the train so I didn't need to elbow myself through the crowd.
As soon as I got off the train I started to look for a carriage, and when my gaze swept over the carriages I suddenly saw Potter, Granger and Weasley.

As if he could feel my gaze on him he turned around and our eyes locked once again.
Then to my utter surprise he raised his hand and motioned for me to come over.
So I started heading towards him with a confused expression on my face.

"What Potter?" I asked, but without my usual drawl. No, I had a normal tone. A tone I barely ever used.

Granger and Weasley turned around at the sound of my voice. Granger looked suspicious at my tone, while Weasley only looked angry.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" the little Weasel spat.

I ignored him and turned my attention back to Potter. Who asked:
"Have you found a carriage to sit in yet?"
Granger was now looking wide-eyed at Potter while Weasley only looked confused.

"No, I haven't," I answered. "It seems like most of them are full".
He only nodded. Then…
"Would you like to join us?"

Again I just stared at him.
Weasley and Granger were also looking at him. Only they were looking at him as if he just told them he'd join You-Know-Who.

Potter was looking expectantly at me, obviously waiting for an answer.
Then something unbelievable happened.

I smiled. A genuine smile, the one that actually reached my eyes.

"I'd love to… Harry."
And with that he smiled back at me, reached out his hand, took my hand and led me into the carriage.

Leaving his two friends to stand outside.
Granger with her mouth hanging open.
And Weasley lying on the ground. Out cold.

DM

Author:
This is my first fan fiction please say what you think of it.