Love Conquers All

Chapter 1: Draco's Secret

Draco awoke to the sound of his alarm clock going off at 6 in the morning. He remembered he was, and had been for the last month, in the Leaky Cauldron. Today was September 1^st. It would be his 6^th year at Hogwarts. And in that one summer, his life had changed forever. His dad, Lucius, was murdered by Lord Voldermort, while in turn, had been defeated once and for all. Draco had been under the Imperius Curse by Lucius for most of his life. Draco's mother then abandoned Draco to live on his own after Lucius was murdered. Of course, the Daily Prophet had been all over the story, so the entire wizarding world knew about it. While Draco was in Diagon Alley, Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, offered to let him stay there the rest of the summer, free of charge.

Draco slowly got out of bed and walked over to the mirror. His golden-brown hair had grown down to his ears. His brilliant blue-green eyes lit up his face. Staring at his reflection, he remembered that this was what living was. No one telling you how to run your life; you were able to do what you please. He only saw himself in the mirror. No Lucius telling him what to do or think, just pure, Draco Malfoy.

"Well, staring at me all day isn't going to change anything, young man!" the mirror blurted out.

"Sorry." He turned to his desk where his Slytherin robes sat. He despised him. They reminded him of Lucius, and how his life had been nothing but a lie. He then remembered that he had to find a way to get to King's Cross Station. He decided to go downstairs and at least get some breakfast before he continue with anything else.

He went downstairs and ordered a butterbeer and eggs and sat down at an available booth. Tom soon came over and brought Draco his eggs, and bid him a good year at Hogwarts. Draco watched as various witches and wizards came and went, but no Hogwarts students. When someone he did know finally show up, it was the last person he wanted to see: Harry Potter, closely followed by Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They sat in a booth behind Draco, unaware of his presence.

"Oh, don't tell me you feel sorry for him, Hermione!" came Ron's voice.

"I have to agree with Ron on this one," Harry said, "I mean, we are talking about Malfoy, the one who's tried to sack Hagrid loads of times, made your teeth grow, and called you dirty blood."

"Yes, I know all of that, but after all that he went through . . . I mean, can you imagine being under the Imperius curse most of your life?"

"But Malfoy, Hermione!" Ron blurted.

"Oh, just drop it Ron," Harry piped in. "you and me still need to go get our robes lengthened. We'll meet you here in about ten minutes, ok?" Hermione bid them a goodbye as she ordered a butterbeer and took out a spell book. Draco straightened up in his booth and massaged his neck, but that turned out to be a mistake.

"Malfoy? Have you been there the whole time?" Draco turned to face Hermione.

"What's it to you, Mudblood?"

"We heard that, Malfoy!" Ron yelled. The next second, him and Harry were in front of him, wands drawn. "Now apologize!" Draco stood up, looked at Hermione, and then turned and walked upstairs to his room.

"That Malfoy, he's gonna get it one day!" Ron said, clutching his fists.

"It's alright Ron, I'm fine."

"I think you should just stick with us," Harry said, "We've got about an hour until we have to meet everyone at Flourish and Blotts.

"Okay." She said as they headed out the door to Diagon Alley. Draco remained on the stairwell, and watched as the three of them left. He sighed, and headed up into his room to pack..