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'Sorry! Sorry professor I-I couldn't wake up,' Lily said with a sharp voice as she burst into the green house, already equipped for the lesson.

It seemed that the whole class turned to look at her, even Professor Sprout.

'You may take a seat, Miss Potter and 5 points from Gryffindor, but next time I won't be so soft,' she said and pointed to the seat next to Draco Malfoy himself.

'There will be no next time Professor, I promise,' Lily muttered and, to her internal protest, she went to sit next to Draco, who was already making progress with the Bouncing Bulb.

'Hey there, redhead. Was it hard to wake up sober or what happened?' he asked, amusement in his tone.

Lily frowned. 'Y-you know I was drunk?'

'I was the one to carry you to your dorm, or what? Did you think you floated there by yourself? Excuse me, Potter, but even if you are a witch I don't think that is possible,' Draco said and his amused grin grew bigger.

The girl stared at him with wide eyes for a few moments. 'Er-did we or uh, what happened? I certainly don't remember last night.'

'Don't worry it was nothing bad, you just wanted to dance and a Potter doesn't want to dance with a Malfoy unless they are drunk so the puzzle was easy to put together. And I just saved you from mistakes you could have made that night.'

'Thank you, I guess,' Lily replied and scratched her neck.

Just then Draco checked her up. Her red hair was pulled into a rather messy ponytail and Draco noticed two new piercings at the top of her right ear. He decided not to question that, but he couldn't help himself when it came to her wand that was balanced on her left ear.

'Um, Potter, your wand—' Draco started and Lily giggled slightly.

'I can find it quicker this way. Um, M-Draco?'

'Hm?' he tried not to sound so shocked that she used his first name.

'Can I have your Herbology notes, I don't think it's safe to ask Hermione for them, she would skin me alive for getting drunk in the first place,' the girl muttered and looked at him with puppy eyes.

'Yeah whatever, Potter, but you know you'll have to pay me back two times now,' the blonde smirked and winked at the redhead.

'I see the Malfoy ego is still there, but thanks' she chuckled and took the text book from his hand, opened hers and muttered a quick gemino charm over his notes. Draco was surprised to see that Lily's cursive writing was on her textbook, not his.

'How'd you do that, change the writing?' Draco raised an eyebrow, watching her actions with interest as she handed him the textbook back.

'Concentration is the key to brilliance,' the redhead muttered and Draco's face broke into a smile.

'As amazed as I am because of your words, Potter, you have to help me now with this bouncing thing,' he pointed to the bulb and Lily jumped to his rescue.

'What's the deal with Malfoy?' Ron asked as they walked up the stairs of the castle to their charms class.

'I guess he changed, and it's not a very bad thing because not having an annoying Malfoy is honestly amazing, I'm having the time of my life here,' Lily chuckled and ignored Ron's disapproving look.

'Don't you need the herbology notes?' she heard Hermione from behind her and turned to look at the bushy haired girl.

Her gaze flicked to her hand holding Ron's and then she sighed. 'Nope, I'm good Mione, Malfoy gave me his.'

'Wait what, why?' the girl seemed shocked.

'Because I know you would of started lecturing me about getting up late and being drunk last night.'

'Well Lily I wanted to talk to you about that too, getting drunk on a school night is not the best decision. But why would you even get drunk in the first place?' Hermione asked with concern in her tone.

'Alcohol helps you take your mind off things...' she muttered softly.

'Lils you know that you don't have to get drunk and dance with Draco bloody Malfoy to get your mind off things, you can always talk to us,' Ron said and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

'But where were you when I needed to take my mind off things?' the girl asked quietly and the couple glanced at each other, saying nothing. 'Right, you were eating each other's faces, forgetting about your best friend and her demons...'

'If you would just talk to us-' Hermione muttered softly.

'You know that is far more complicated than this, Mione! You wouldn't understand...' the redheaded girl snapped and burst into the charms classroom, almost knocking Professor Flitwick off his feet.

'Then help us to!' she heard Hermione's faint voice, but she let herself fall on the seat next to Neville.

'All right, Lils?'

'You have no idea, Neville.'

And for the first time in her life, Lily found herself staring at the back of Draco's head while she was scribbling away some notes.

But why would she be staring at Draco bloody Malfoy, the boy that proved to her every second that he hated her purely. Even if she did notice the change in him. The snarky comments were not there anymore, his eyes weren't cold and he laughed maybe more than she did. And the strange attitude towards her; was he warming up?

They weren't even two days in their 8th year and he acted more decent than usual, but that good reality wouldn't last long for sure, as tomorrow she was sure the whole school would know that she passed out in Draco Malfoy's hands.

'Miss Potter, are you with us?' Professor Flitwick's voice snapped her out of her daze and she almost fell of her chair, followed by chuckles and giggles.

'Yes professor, I'm sorry,' Lily muttered and as she turned her attention back onto the blonde, she now saw him staring at her.

'You okay?' he mouthed and Lily raised her eyebrows in shock.

'I don't think so,' she mouthed back and turned her attention on little professor Flitwick.

And as the day passed, Lily shut herself away from her best friends, seeking peace in the library.

As she was buried in some herbology books for her essay, she didn't notice the blonde boy that seated himself in front of her.

'Since when are you here, Potter, I don't recall seeing you this much in the library ever since that tournament,' Draco said and Lily jumped, startled.

'Oh Malfoy, are you really going to give me a heart attack?' she whispered dramatically, putting a hand over her heart.

'Maybe,' he smirked. 'Why weren't you at dinner?'

'I wasn't hungry,' the girl muttered.

'Why weren't you at lunch?'

'Are you stalking me, Malfoy?' Lily said playfully.

'Just what you said the other night...'

'Wait what did I say the other night??'

'That you have nightmares, is that true?'

'Yes,' Lily responded, looking down at her half completed essay.

'You're not the only one,' his voice sounded childish, a bit afraid and she looked up just to see a broken person, someone just like her.

'You h-have nightmares?'

'All the horrible things he made me do are just replaying in my head over and over again...'

'And there is no escape,' both muttered at the same time.

Lily stared at Draco for a few moments. His blonde hair was not gelled back, but messy, falling in his eyes that were a smoky grey, filled by the same shock hers were. He had a sharp jawline that made him attractive, and he was not as pale as he used to be.

Lily Potter found Draco Malfoy handsome. Everything was surely going to shit.

'Did you talk to your friends about them?' he raised two brows and studied her expression.

'I can't bring myself to do it, after all I see Ron's twin brother dying almost all the time...' she muttered absently.

'You know you will have to move on past that, don't you? You can't live your whole life blaming yourself for what happened. You didn't kill those people after all, men like me...did,' Draco's voice cracked as soon as he spoke the last words.

'We were just children that were stuck into a war, it's not your fault.'

'Neither it is yours.'

'I know...' Lily's voice was sorrowful and childish, full of regret.

And Draco did something he couldn't explain and never did in his life; he put a reassuring hand over Lily's tiny and soft one.

'The past is the past, all I know is that this is the present and we should do well to live the most of it,' those words were so comforting and still Lily couldn't believe they came from the mouth of Draco Malfoy.

'Since when are you so sentimental, Malfoy?' she teased, shoving some books in her bag.

'Sincerely, I'm as surprised as you are,' he said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. 'Back to the common room so soon?'

'Well I must finish this and have a good night of sleep,' she replied, showing her unfinished herbology essay before putting it into her bag.

'May I walk with you?' Lily almost gasped in surprise and Draco frowned, surprised of his own words.

'Well sure, why not,' the redhead smiled and joined the blonde's side on their journey to their common room.

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