Invisible

"Move it, you pathetic waste of magic," Draco Malfoy sneered as he pushed past a group of first year Ravenclaws gathered outside the Great Hall. He took special care to bang into the smallest and weakest looking of the group.

"Hey!" the tiny girl exclaimed.

Draco laughed at the tears that formed in her eyes. "Stupid little Mudblood," he spat at her. Truth is known, he didn't even know if she was actually Muggle-born or not. She could have been of purer blood than him, but the fact that she wore the blue and bronze colors of Ravenclaw, that small detail mattered little to him.

The only purebloods worth knowing, in his opinion, wore only the green and silver robes of the great Salazar Slytherin.

"Well played, Draco," Vincent Crabbe said.

"Yeah," Gregory Goyle echoed.

Draco rolled his eyes at them. Those two were nothing more than incompetent prats. He really only kept them around because his father was friends with their fathers. That and they made him look good. Not that he needed any help in that department.

If Draco were honest with himself, he would admit that they were the closest he had ever had to friends. Good thing he was rarely honest with himself.

He pushed open the doors of the entrance hall and stepped outside. He had to squint his eyes against the glare of the sun. His common room was in the dungeons of Hogwarts, so he rarely saw sunlight except for when he had to go to the greenhouses for Herbology, and to that oaf Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures. The only other time he was outside was for Quidditch, which was where he was headed now.

Draco had joined the Slytherin Quidditch team in his second year. Well, joined was not exactly what happened. His father had secured a position on the team for Draco by buying all the members new brooms. At the time, the Nimbus 2001's was the fastest broomsticks that could be purchased anywhere.

The coach and head of Slytherin house, Professor Snape, had been practically begging Draco to join the team by the time Lucius Malfoy had been finished with his proposal.

Too bad Draco had yet to prove himself a worthy seeker against the Gryffindor team. They had Saint Potter on their team and did everything in their power to make sure he always looked good. It didn't matter that half the time Potter only won the games by fluke. All that mattered was that he won them.

Ten minutes later, Draco had mounted his broom and was ready to take to the air. Today the Slytherins were playing Hufflepuff, so there was a chance that Draco would be able to catch the snitch. The Hufflepuffs hadn't been doing well in Quidditch since the death of their original seeker, Cedric Diggory, the year before.

The game was soon under way and Slytherin was up by almost a hundred points when it happened; Draco was just about to catch the snitch when one of the Hufflepuff beaters hit the Bludger in Draco's direction. It was coming so fast, Draco didn't see it until it was too late. He didn't have time to move out of the way. All he could do was squeeze his eyes shut and hope for the best.

He felt the blinding pain in his shoulder, felt himself losing his grip on his broom. He felt himself free fall through the air, saw the ground coming at him at an alarmingly fast rate.

Everything went black.

***

When he woke, he could see nothing but a line of beds on either side of him. The only light was a few lamps that cast a warm glow over the entire room. He sat up in bed with great difficulty, trying to ignore the searing pain in his shoulder.

"What happened to me?" he asked aloud. He was shocked when he heard someone answer.

"You were hit by a Bludger when you were playing Quidditch today."

He turned to see a pale young girl with dark blond hair and blue eyes sitting on the bed next to his own. She smiled weakly at him.

"Who are you?" he demanded, pulling the thin blanket up and over his body. His chest was bare due to the injury on his shoulder, he supposed. "What are you doing in here?"

She smiled again. "This is the Hospital Wing, Draco. I have just as much right to be here as you," she said. She stood and made her way over to him. "I'm Kay, nice to meet you."

He gave her a puzzled look. "Same here," he said, shaking her extended hand. "But who's Draco?"

Kay laughed. "You must have hit your head pretty hard when you fell. You're Draco, silly."

"I'm..." Draco's voice trailed off. How could he not know his own name? He knew he was a wizard, he knew he went to Hogwarts; he knew he was a Slytherin, but that was it. After those basic facts, his mind drew a blank.

"You don't remember who you are, what you're like, do you?" Kay asked him, her voice filled with sympathy. "It's ok, Draco, I'll help you until your memory comes back. Starting with helping you get back to your dormitory. Madam Pomfrey says you can go back now."

She left the room so that he could dress in private. When he was finished, she came back in and led him down the stairs and into the dungeons.

"This is as far as I can go," she told him once they were outside the portrait to his common room. "I'm a Ravenclaw, so I can't go in. Your password is 'Snake Lover'."

She was gone before Draco could ask her how she knew the password to his common room. Students from other houses weren't supposed to know them.

He said the password, went inside his common room, and was immediately flanked on either side by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Draco, what took you so long?" Pansy Parkinson asked him, nudging her way under his arm and clinging to his side like a second skin. "I was so worried about you!" she gushed.

Draco wasn't sure why, but he instinctively knew that there was something insincere in her voice. He winched when she laid her head on his sore shoulder, and pushed her away.

"I was in the Hospital Wing, Pansy. I couldn't leave until Pomfrey told me I could." He made his way to the door to the bedroom he shared with the other fifth year Slytherin boys. "I'm tired. Good night."

"Oh, but Draco," he heard Pansy moan, "you just got here. Let's go to the Astronomy Tower and talk."

He ignored her, shutting the door behind him. In the room, he flopped onto his bed and groaned. He remembered everything except who he was, who he was supposed to be. How is that even possible? He wondered. How can I not know myself?

He spent most of the night pondering those questions. The next morning, he woke, dressed and left the Slytherin dorm before any of the others had even woke up.

Draco made his way up to the entrance hall, noting that there was no one around. Opening the huge front doors, he went outside into the early morning air. It was Saturday, so he didn't have to worry about classes. He could spend the day by himself, figuring out what was going on with him.

"Why can't I remember!" he shouted at nothing. "Why can't I remember who I am?" He made his way to the lake and sat on the banks, tossing rocks into the water.

"Good morning, Draco."

He turned at the voice behind him. It was her; the girl from the night before. Kay.

"What's good about it?" he snapped. He didn't even bother to ask her how she had known he was out here. Or why she had followed him. "Do you know what it's like to wake up in the morning and not have any idea who you are or what kind of person you are? Knowing everything else except the one thing that is important?"

Kay smiled sadly as she sat next to him, uninvited. "I don't have that problem," she said. "My problem is I know too much, and people don't know me. I'm practically invisible here."

Draco found that hard to believe. She was a pretty girl and even though she was in Ravenclaw, he would consider asking her out. The only thing was he didn't think he was the type of person who would ask out anyone, let alone a girl in a different house.

"Want me to help you get to know yourself again?" Kay asked putting her hand in his.

Draco nodded as he looked to where their hands touched. Her skin was so cold and pale, much like his own. Despite that, he liked the feeling.

For the next few hours, he and Kay wandered around the school and grounds. He said hello to some people who looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another head. He asked Kay about that.

Kay shook her head. "You were just pleasant to Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. You have been nothing but sour to them since you met. Of course they would give you weird looks. You don't like them, and they certainly don't like you."

Draco stared after the trio. "Why?" he asked.

Kay snorted, then covered her mouth to hide the laughter. "Why?" she repeated. "Draco, do you really want me to tell you the whole truth behind you and them?"

Draco paused before answering. Did he really want to know the truth about who he was? Finally, he decided that the answer was yes. "Tell me," he told Kay.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You asked for it. Let's start with Hermione Granger, shall we? Or as you like to call her 'The Filthy Little Mudblood'."

Draco winced when she said that. Even though he knew it was a horrible term to use, he never imagined that he would say something like that. But then, he knew nothing at what he would do or wouldn't.

"Why do I call her that?" Draco asked. He was so curious to know about himself that it scared him.

"She is Muggle-born," Kay replied. "And she is smarter than you could ever hope to be. She won't give you the time of day, so you do everything in your power to hurt her every chance you get."

"Do I like her or something?" Draco wondered.

Kay nodded. "Yeah, you do," her voice seemed sad when she said this. "You would never admit it though. Your parents have beaten into your head that anyone who is not a pureblood is not worth knowing."

"Are you pureblooded?" Draco asked.

She nodded again. "But we're not talking about me right now are we? Now, to Mr. Weasley. You don't like him because he's poor, and his family is the biggest bunch of Muggle Lovers you could ever hope to meet. There's something about him though, that makes him richer than you'll ever be."

"How is that?"

"His family may not have monetary riches, but there is love and laughter around his dinner table. They truly care about each other without the constant need to try to better themselves to have other people fear them. Unlike your family."

Draco wondered how she knew so much about him. Why did it seem like Kay had spent her life trying to figure out the inner workings that was his mind. He didn't get the chance to ask her though because she was now talking about Harry.

"Harry Potter is the 'Boy Who Lived'. You made an enemy of him your first day here, when you insulted Ron. You told him that your family was better than Ron's was. Your dad was so mad at you when that happened. He wanted you to be his friend."

"How do you know all this?" Draco demanded. For all he knew she was just making all this stuff up, trying to make him think that he was that bad.

Kay shook her head. "You would never believe me if I told you, Draco. Believe me on that one." She started walking back toward the lake. "Coming?" she asked, turning to look back at him.

Draco sighed. He had no idea why he was even with this girl right now. All she had managed to do all day was to depress him, and make him feel bad about himself. Still, he could not say no to her, so follow her to the lake he did. She fascinated him for some strange reason.

They sat on the banks of the lake staring out over the water, not talking much, strangely comfortable in each other's presence.

It was getting dark when Draco said quietly, "I would never talk to you before would I?"

Kay shook her head. "You would never even see me, Draco, much less talk to me. And it's not just because I'm a Ravenclaw either."

"Then why?" Draco wanted to know. Somehow, deep down he knew that once his memory of who he was came back, he would more than likely go back to being his old self and would not talk to Kay ever again.

"I'm not memorable."

Draco did not know what to say to that. Instead, he did the first thing he could think of.

He kissed her.

"I may not remember you tomorrow or the next day, Kay," he whispered against her lips. "But I see you now." He leaned in and kissed her again.

At that moment, he didn't care what tomorrow would bring.

***

He felt different when he awoke the next morning. He couldn't remember what had happened the night before, all he knew was there was a girl he had never seen telling him all sorts of things about himself that he thought to be preposterous!

Imagine her saying that he was jealous of Weasley, Potter and Granger.

Draco sat upright in his bed, feelings of elation washing over him. He could remember who he was! He was back!

Getting out of bed, he pulled on his dressing gown and went into the common room. Pansy was sitting on the sofa waiting for him.

"Are you feeling better today, Draco?" she asked in her sugary sweet voice.

Draco leaned down and kissed her fully on the lips. He didn't really want to date her or anything, she just made herself available to him, and he wasn't stupid enough to give up that opportunity.

"Much better, Pans. Let's not talk about yesterday, right now all I want to do is relax and think of how I'm going to get that stupid Hufflepuff beater back." He flopped onto the sofa and rested his head on her lap. "No one messes with Draco Malfoy and gets away with it."

Some time later, Draco made his way to the Great Hall for lunch, giving Potter and his friends evil stares as he passed. He went to his own table and heard Weasley mutter, "Yep, looks like Malfoy's back with a vengeance."

Draco smiled to himself. Weasel-be had no idea just how 'back' Draco actually was. He sat down and prepared to eat. As he did so, however, something pale grey caught his eye.

Over near the Hufflepuff table, two young ghosts stood against the wall, staring in his direction. One of them had long curly blond hair and was looking at him with tears glistening in her eyes.

Draco nearly choked on his pumpkin juice when he realized who the ghost was.

Kay.

The words she had said to him came flooding back.

"I'm practically invisible here."

"I'm not memorable."

Now he finally knew what she meant.

***

"I told you it wasn't going to work, Kay. Going into someone's dreams and telling them what they really are never works. Especially on someone like him," Anna, a Hufflepuff ghost said pointing directly at Draco.

Kay nodded sadly. "I know, Anna." She blinked hard. "I know that he would never have changed. It was worth it though."

Anna gave her a puzzled look. "How?"

"He saw me," Kay told her. "For one fleeting moment, I wasn't invisible to him. And now, he'll see me more clearly than ever. That was worth everything."

That was all Kay had ever wanted. To be seen by someone for who she was, and not as a ghost to ignore. Draco Malfoy had seen her, and that was all that mattered to her.

It was enough to last her lifetime.