✭

A lot of boys could agree that Lily Potter was one of the hottest girls in the school; but Draco didn't find her hot, he found her beautiful.

As he laid eyes on the girl that was slowly walking alongside her friends to the Potions classroom, Draco leaned against the wall, ready to let all of those foreign thoughts in.

Her piercing emerald-green eyes were doing things to him that he never experienced from someone, they were lighting his whole world up. Her hair was falling in messy curls on her back, looking like she just woke up from a nap. Her lightning bold shaped scar was hidden under simple makeup that wasn't even needed as her beauty came naturally. The way her tie was lose and the robes flew behind her, made Draco feel his heart doing a set of impressive gymnastics inside of him. But what was that foreign feeling that he felt for his arch enemy, the one he fought with, laughed at and was jealous of for 7 years of his life. Maybe it was just gratitude for saving his family from Azkaban, yes that was it.

'Have you heard about the welcome back party that will take place tonight?' Ernie Macmillan's voice beamed in his ears and he turned from his chattering friends to study the group of 3 Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff.

'Of course they did, I'm organizing it,' Ron Weasley smirked and put an arm around Hermione Granger's waist, making the girl blush crimson.

'Are you coming, Lils?' Ernie asked and the redhead nodded slightly.

'It will be a welcome distraction, I have to take my mind off s-some things,' Lily replied and Draco surely hallucinated the short look she threw at him.

'It's going to be epic, you just see!' Ernie and Ron began to chatter away while Lily hugged her Advanced Potions book and rested her chin on top of it.

'You okay, Draco?' Pansy asked from beside him and he jumped a bit, nodding quickly.

'He's just trying to get someone's attention,' Blaise smirked and Draco looked at him with wide grey eyes.

'You've had too much chocolate yesterday at the feast, Zabini?' he asked in a mocking tone and the brunette rolled his eyes.

'Alright come in you lot!' Professor Slughorn's voice echoed through the corridor as the door opened and he greeted them with a big smile.

'Lily, dear girl, how are you doing?' the professor asked her as Draco walked into the classroom, his attention falling on the redhead.

'I'm fine professor, thank you. What about you?' her bright smile was almost killing him with happiness.

'Oh very good, very good, you may take a seat next to Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley.'

The girl nodded and seated at the back of the class next to her friends, under the watchful eyes of Draco Malfoy.

'Today we will prepare an Elixir to induce Euphoria! You will open your books at chapter 1, page 7 and find all the needed ingredients in the supply cabinet, you may begin.'

Lily walked to take her ingredients almost boringly and ran her eyes through all the steps. She always like potions and as Professor Slughorn liked to remind the class, she got her talent from her mother.

While the talent from transfiguration was received from her father, McGonagall sent her a cheerful smile when her whole appearance was changed.

The first day of classes was over quickly and after dinner, Draco found himself in the library, trying to complete his transfiguration essay. Most of the time he watched a bushy haired girl and a redheaded one studying at a table not that far from him, occasionally floating books from the shelves or to the shelves.

Not that very far from 9 pm, Ron Weasley walked into the library, looking around for his girlfriend and his best friend.

'You are coming to help me,' he said, making the girls pack their stuff and dragging them out of the library.

The welcome back party. Yes, Draco didn't forget and he decided with a yawn that it was time for him to prepare for it.

There weren't a lot of people in the common room, just the ones that helped the Weasley to come up with the party.

The desks were full of variety of foods, snacks and drinks that Draco was sure the trio took from the kitchens.

'Is there where you wanted it to be, Ron?' Draco heard her voice before he could disappear on the corridor that lead to his dorm.

'Yes, Lils, thanks,' Ron answered and by the giggles that followed Draco was sure the redheaded boy launched himself at the girl for a hug.

Draco felt himself rolling his eyes, what has become of him?

'Hey man,' Blaise greeted when he walked into their dorm.

'What is that smell?' Draco asked, frowning.

'Nott's new cologne,' Blaise replied simply and tied his tie.

'New cologne, he wants to attract girls or to send them to the closest bathroom to puke?' the blonde said in a mocking tone, just when Nott walked out of the bathroom.

'Speak for yourself, Malfoy,' the black haired boy scoffed and the blonde raised an eyebrow.

'I can get girls at any hour of the day, thank you very much.'

'And yet your only girlfriend was Pans,' Blaise joined the conversation.

'Oh wow, oh no. You two are pathetic,' he laughed and the other ones grinned. 'Now leave me to change for Salazar's sake, there's a party two seconds from us.'

Draco decided to wear a plain white shirt with silver buttons and black jeans.

'What's up with the messy hair, lately?' Nott asked while he was taming his own messy hair.

'Do you have a problem with my messy hair or?' the blonde asked with his gaze resting dangerously on Nott.

'No, mate, is just that it is unusual to see you changed,' the boy muttered in reply.

'Maybe it's for the better,' Blaise pointed out and buttoned the last button of his shirt. 'You ready for some alcohol and mistakes, boys?'

The other two grinned and nodded, following after Blaise.

Draco inspected the decorated common room with wide eyes. In the half hour he didn't see the place, it looked like it was completely changed.

Blue and red lights were the ones that lit it up, not the candles. Even the fire in the fireplace was a bright blue yellow. Balloons that were the four different colors of the houses were floating above them, hiding the ceiling. Stacks of mostly plastic green glasses full with butterbeer were put on a table not too far from them.

Music that Draco never heard before was played, but was nice and made him move along with its rhythm.

'Boys!' Pansy greeted, dragging Daphne Greengrass along with her.

'Hello, Pans,' Blaise said, already holding a glass of fire whiskey.

Pansy noticed how Draco eyed Blaise's glass and gave the blonde one for himself.

'Thanks,' he replied, sipping the fire liquid gratefully.

'This music Potter came up with is actually decent,' Daphne concluded and reached for a glass of wine.

'Potter?' Draco's tone was full with curiosity.

'Heard her talking to some of her friends, said she repaired some muggle machine named a walkman over the summer to work into magical places, there's a variety of wizard songs and muggle songs on the tape she came up with,' Pansy was the one to reply and her tone wasn't full of disgust like all the times she talked about muggle things.

'They're actually not that bad,' Nott remarked and the others, even Draco nodded.

'Come with us,' Pansy said suddenly and grabbed one of Draco's arms, dragging him along the room, the others following.

They arrived in the corner where most of the Slytherins were and some of the other students and Draco was surprised that they were civil to each other, not fighting. Well a war does that to people.

They played some rounds of truth or dare, and Draco almost exploded when the others dared him to kiss Pansy again. The girl couldn't stop giggling and at some point she burst so hard into laughter that Draco was sure she had too much alcohol.

So he let himself drown into the crowd, putting some of his old dance moves at work. He didn't notice the redheaded girl that was approaching and they bumped right into each other.

'Sorry,' Lily muttered, a bright smile playing at her lips.

Draco needed some moments to take his eyes off her. Her hair was the always mess of curls he saw most of the times, her green-emerald eyes were even more visible now that a layer of eyeliner was carefully applied. Her cheeks were rosy, probably from all the dancing she had done. She was dressed simply with a scarlet T-shirt that left her arms uncovered and Draco noticed every tiny scar that covered them, proving just how much the girl had been through. The T-shirt was carefully tucked in her dark-grey jeans and held with a plain black belt.

'Oh Malfoooy, isn't this a beautiful night??' she asked, giggling madly.

'Indeed it is, for what do I owe the pleasure?' the boy was wearing an amused expression at the sudden change in the girl's attitude.

'Well you looked like you could use a buddy to have fun with, kissing Parkinson is not the most entertaining way to spend a night, is it?'

'Well you do have a point, what's your excuse?'

'I also need a fun buddy,' she replied softly, giving him one of her dazzling smiles.

'Are you drunk, Potter?' the blonde raised a brow, still slightly amused.

'I wouldn't say drunk,' the girl began, her tone bold and confident. 'I had a few glasses of h-hm wine and a couple of fire whiskey ones.'

This one was really drunk, Draco told himself. He was surprised when Lily grabbed one of his arms and made Draco spin.

'What are you doing, Potter?' the blonde asked as he tried to stop the girl from dancing with him.

'Having fun, no nightmares tonight will make me not have fun and no ghosts will haunt me,' she muttered with a dreamy voice, spinning herself, making her hair fly around her. It was a beautiful and sad sight at the same time.

'You h-have nightmares?' he said quietly, his voice shaky.

'When you've lived through a war and a lot of people died on you, believe me, you would have nightmares too.'

So she blamed herself for the death of people that were certainly killed by Death Eaters, people he joined because he didn't have a choice. He scratched furiously his left forearm where his Dark Mark was hidden by the sleeve of his shirt.

The pain that he felt when that horrendous tattoo was forced onto his skin could never compare with the pain Lily Potter was trying to hide, but alcohol really gets the honest part out of people.

'Where are Ron and Hermione?' Draco found himself saying and Lily grinned, clearly amused.

'Oh hey, you know their first names, I'm proud. Well they clearly invaded our dorm or his, probably eating their faces out,' the girl giggled and in a brief moment he saw the sorrow that was hidden behind her eyes.

'Third wheel eh?'

'Sadly yes, I just hope they wouldn't do that when I'm trying to study, it would be really hard to pass my NEWTs with them kissing in front of me, but hey they are happy, I am happy,' Lily said and grabbed Draco's shoulders and he instinctively lifted her up, making the girl giggle.

'Alcohol and Lily Potter don't work too well,' he muttered under his breath as he carried the girl to her dorm.

She continued smiling at him and her big green eyes studied his face.

'You are handsome,' she said softly before her eyes closed and she fell asleep in Draco's arms.

The boy blushed scarlet and looked at the redheaded girl that was asleep in his arms.

'You're going to kill me one day, Potter,' he muttered as he opened the door on which was written with golden words 'Artemis Boot, Hermione Jean Granger, Amy Johnson, Parvati Patil and Lily-Marie Potter'

'Hm so her middle name is Marie, cute,' he thought for himself and smiled slightly.

'Oh Merlin!' two voices said at once and Draco watched as Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley fell off, he thought, Hermione's bed.

'What are you doing here, Malfoy, a-and Lily?' Ron asked in alarm, watching Draco as he put Lily on her bed. He guessed it was hers by the photographs that were on her nightstand; the photo of a redheaded woman and a black haired man, holding a giggling baby was the one that caught his eye first.

'Leaving your Potter here, Weasley. She got pretty drunk y'know and actually tried to dance with me and as the good person I am, I decided to get her back to her dorm safely. It's not a great idea to let a drunk girl into a crowd of hormonal 18 year old boys,' Draco said, giving them a sharp look because they didn't take care of their friend.

'T-thank you,' Hermione muttered and rushed to Lily's bed, pulling her shoes off.

'Yes, anytime. And you two don't have sex next to your asleep best friend,' the boy shouted as he left and closed the door.

'Who is he and what has he done with Draco bloody Malfoy?'

_________