It was ever since that day in the hospital wing that the two became friends and it didn't take long for their bond to become more solid compared to others. Sure, they still were on opposite sides of the war, but they knew that from the get go and honestly they didn't care. They were both just happy to have a true friend in their own house. It made them both much more pleasant to be around, Heather happy seeing the two of them getting along despite everything going on outside of the castle. After all, outside of the castle the war waged on and it could soon be tearing friends from friends if her brother succeeded in his mission. The two would spend every meal talking to each other when they weren't busy, spending more time together in the evening when the other students had gone to bed and Denver wasn't busy with more work for her favors. This led to them getting to know each other much faster than most would and, by the time the week before winter break came around, they were already sharing bottles of wine or whisky and enjoying each other's company as if they had known each other for years. This brings us to now; the two of them sat in the Slytherin Common Room, sharing a bottle of Fire Whisky with a smile on their lips. They were playing a game of Veritaserum or Imperio, the game being very similar to truth or dare which Denver had heard of once or twice. She never really played it before, but this wizarding world version was much more favorable to her compared to the boring muggle version. Draco had just finished drawing out a possible tattoo design which she had transfixed to his body with some ink and a muggle tattoo machine. It was hidden on his back, the two giggling and smiling at each as it was his turn now to ask her the tentative question.
"Alright Potter! Veritaserum or Imperio?" He asked the other, looking at her as he buttoned his shirt back up. He held up the small potion bottle for her to drink from if the other chose that option and his wand in the other hand. She mauled it over for a moment or two, holding her on the rocks glass with one hand while the other ran her finger tips around the edge of the glass. After a moment or two, she nodded her head in decision before she spoke.
"Veritaserum Malfoy. Hand it over." She murmured out with a smile, holding her hand out to the other as she waited for the potion to be put in her hand. As soon as the glass was in her hand she placed her lips to it like she and Draco had done sometimes before and took a small swig of it. She flinched at the taste of it on her tongue before she looked at the other, waiting for him to ask her the question. He on the other hand was stroking his chin in thought, trying to figure out what to ask the girl in front of him. They weren't still dressed in their uniforms, having taken the time to change into a pair of pajamas each to be more comfortable as they played. Denver was in a black long sleeve shirt which wrapped around her fingers, the white script on the front saying normal people scare me on her chest. She had a pair of black and white houndstooth pants on, plain black socks hiding her feet to keep them warm in the coolest of all four common rooms. Draco on the other hand looked much more traditional in his sleep wear, a pair of silky emerald green pajama pants with a matching button up long sleeve shirt. He also had black socks on his feet though, doing his best to stay warm in the cold common room as well. When he did come up with an answer, he nodded his head with a smirk. She was sipping on her Fire Whiskey, her eyes watching him with a hum as she did so.
"I have the perfect one Potter." He hummed out, looking at her with real confidence on his features as he did so. She nods her head once more, setting down the glass as she readied herself to speak.
"Well then Malfoy, let's hear it." She hums out, smirking at him with a wide smile on her lips as she did so. They both had no clue that this next question would be the end of a fun night for the two of them. They both sat up a bit straight, looking each other in the eye as Draco readied his question. With a clearing of his throat, he looked her dead in the eye and asked her the life changing question.
"When you conjure a patronus, what is the happy memory you think of to make it corporeal?" He asked her and she had to admit, it was a solid question to ask. She thought it over for a moment or two before the answer hit her and she began to speak.
"The day I met Professor Snape. He showed me such kindness despite everything my father had done to him and at that point in my life I really needed it." She murmured out, looking at the other with a soft smile. Small tears began to prick at her eyes as she realized she couldn't stop herself from saying more, knowing she was about to go into detail about her awful home life away from Hogwarts.
"See, no one in my family cared for me too much. In fact I would say they all hate me if I had to put a label on it. Especially Harry and my aunt Petunia." She continued, biting her lip hard as she played with some of the copper colored locks she called her hair. She was mad she couldn't stop herself from talking, but the words were spilling out faster and faster thanks to that damn Veritaserum.
"I was given very little to eat to keep me weak and I hardly had a room of my own, having a small empty spot in the attic for my bed. Auntie Petunia would always cut my hair, but since it grew back at the same rate she would pull it into tight braids and buns." She explained, biting her bottom lip to keep it from quivering as she looked to her hands. She had linked them together in her lap, twiddling her thumbs now as she did her best not to cry.
"Even if I did want to eat a lot though, I really couldn't afford to all that much. My aunt, as soon as I hit puberty, stuffed me into a corset and drew it as tight as she could. I could barely breath half of the time, making it all the easier for her or any other family member to chase me down and beat me if they felt the need to. Especially Dudley, the nasty little cockroach." She murmured out, doing her best to hold back the venom and vitriol that was forming in her mouth with every word. With every memory and recollection of the past she was growing more angry, biting her lip as she did her best to stop the tears. They wouldn't stop though, rolling down her cheeks as she growled slightly in anger at the mere memories of what she was talking about.
"Not to mention Harry constantly blaming me for the deaths of our parents. He was just as bad as the rest of them, only he always hurt most somehow without even hitting me. He would constantly blame me for our parents death, but even when he did find out he got more angry at me for hiding like our father instructed me to do. We've fought so many times about it and every time we do he still tells me he wishes I was dead, just like our parents, so I wouldn't have been such a coward." She murmurs out, biting her lips more as they begin to tremble from the rage building up in her body. She scoffed at the mere memories though, rolling her eyes as more tears streamed from her eyes. This all hurt to think back on, but it pissed her off more than anything else in this world to think about.
"Unbenounced to him though, Dudley would've gotten after him ten times worse if not for me surviving too. After all, then there only would have been one Potter for him to abuse and such instead of two." Denver explained with a sigh, looking at the green fire with a slurry of emotions in her eyes. There was pain, fear, sadness, anger, but also an abundance of some kind of acceptance. She had come to grips with this treatment for so long, she didn't fear her family anymore and it was clear. But it was also clear that, in the past at least, she was terrified for her life.
"It didn't help that I knew I was odd, that I was different from the rest of them. Ever since the day that Dudley's friend tried to…to…" She bit her lip, trying to stop the words yet she couldn't as they soon blurted out of her mouth despite herself.
"Tried to cave my skull in with a croquet mallet." She murmured out, fear at the memory shining in her eyes as she remembered the day in vivid detail. How Pierce Pulkens had gotten mad at her for beating them in croquet. How he had picked up the orange striped mallet and tripped her, causing her to fall and giving Dudley the perfect opportunity to sit on her. This ended up breaking a few of her ribs on its own, but the sight that scared her the most was what came next. Pierce swung the mallet up over his head after having lined it up with her head and was about to swing it, but she stopped it somehow.
"That's when my laten magic came forward, shouting at him to stop and before I knew it I was in their heads. I didn't know it then, but I know now I had unknowingly casted impero on them. From then on, I knew something was wrong with me. So I practiced every night in my room, hiding it and practicing it for years to try and protect myself." She murmurs out, biting her lip with a small whimper as the tears slip by. This reliving of the past wasn't the best for her, she knew that yet she couldn't stop herself thanks to that damn Veritaserum she had taken. She cleared her throat, trying to stop the tears as best as she could as she wiped at her face. She continued to speak, letting out a sigh.
"The next thing I know, the day of my 11th birthday had come around and I was greeted with the strangest sight. There's this pure black owl at my attic opening, 2 letters in its feet which confused me. I let it in as quietly as I could and my suspicions were confirmed. I was told by my god-father, Snape, that I was a witch and I had been accepted into Hogwarts. It instructed me to meet him the next night via knight bus to go pick up my supplies for the upcoming school. The other letter was my Hogwarts acceptance letter and I was overjoyed to write back. I snuck out the next night and onto the bus with the funds I got with the letter and that's where I met him." She explained more with a small sigh, looking at the fire as she started to spin her wand in between her fingers. Thinking back on this part, she was proud of herself for doing what she did. She had to survive somehow and, being given the opportunity to reach her true potential and protect herself, she took the chance by the throat and clawed her way out of suffocating flames and into the waves of freedom.
"There he stood and, for the first time in what memory I do have of my life, I felt safe. I felt protected and free to be myself, my true self. I remember how we both sobbed, how we embraced each other, and how he told me about what truly happened that night. How he found me hidden in the closet and how he begged Dumbledor to be allowed to raise me. It felt like so many weights were being lifted off of me that I felt like I could breathe again." She explained and, for the briefest of moments, there was a smile on her lips as she thought back to that day. But as soon as that smile came it was snapped away, dashed away by that angry hiss and a scowl gripping her lips. She gripped her wand tight in her fist, hissing to herself before she was forced to continue to speak. Draco flinched back slightly at the sight, having been listening to her quietly till now and hoping she was okay before he heard her continue.
"But that crazy old bat Dumbledor wouldn't let him, saying it would be bad for both of us if I was to be raised by him. Not to mention that Harry needed his "precious" big sister around to help him be a better person than he would be alone. Even when our squibb neighbor Mrs. Figg reported the abuse back to that crazy bastard that I was suffering the whole of my family, he still wouldn't let MY god-father take me in. He begged and pleaded, doing no less than holding that old mad man at wand point, to try and get Dumbledor to let him bring me home. It didn't work though and I was raised by the Dursley for eleven horrible years for it. All thanks to my damn brother." She murmured out, pulling her knees up to her chest and squeezing them tight to her. She was trying to calm down, but she couldn't as she looked at the green fire that was dancing around in the hearth in front of them.
"We spent the whole night going to Gringots to get money for supplies before going out to get everything then returning to MY vault to put everything in it till the night before I had to go to Hogwarts. When I picked up my wand, the whole shop was filled with this green water that wrapped around me like that embrace of freedom I felt when I hugged my god-father. When the day to leave came, it didn't take much work for us to temporarily lock away the memory of me from my family which were promptly returned to them the following summer when Harry started at Hogwarts. I spent the night with Snape just enjoying quality bonding time and telling him everything I did in secret to practice. In return, he told me stories about my mom and my dad alongside the rest of the Marauders. I never felt more at home there until I was sorted into his house, having met your sister that same morning and seeing her get sorted into Gryffindor." Denver hummed, a small smile appearing again for a brief moment before it fell to a remorseful look as she remembered the beating Heather had gotten over winter break for being in the red and gold house. Not to mention the bullying from the other students, including those in her own house, for being a Malfoy in the house of Gryffindor. Draco flinched back at the memory as well, remembering how badly she was hurt and how hard Dobby had to work to heal her before she returned back to school after break.
"As soon as I was sorted into Slytherin though I was greeted with a warmth and respect I had never received before, even if it was at the price that everyone feared me as a traitor to the precious Potter name or as a sort of double agent toward the Death Eaters. I spent most of that year at Hogwarts, but when summer holiday came I moved into Snape's childhood home until it was time to go back to school. He taught me more advanced work there upon my request when he wasn't busy, letting me read any book I saw fit and schooling me on it as best as he could." She hums, a wide smile soon taking over her lips as she thought back to those days with a small hum as she did. She let out a little chuckle as she looked at Draco, pointing her wand at him playfully before she was forced to continue speaking.
"I even learned a fair bit of the dark arts while I was with him for the summer, not to mention how to protect my mind and sharpened my skills to become a proper leginemence and oclamence with his help." She hummed out with a smile, earning an impressed nod from Draco before she decided to show off for him a bit. Of course; she still had to finish answering his question, but she could do so with some flare and damn right she was going to.
"Harry's hated me even more ever since he saw you sit down at the same table as me, but that didn't stop me from associating meeting my god-father as being my happiest memory. Especially when I rep his house colors with such skill." She hums out, soon muttering 'expecto patronum' and casting the corporeal version of the spell in Draco's lap. There, forming in his lap, was a bright silver-blue see through patronus and its shape honestly shocked Draco a little bit. It was a full grown lioness looking down at him, making the blonde male straighten up a bit as he swallowed hard in fear as he did so. This earned a happy chuckle from Denver who looked at Draco, the male locking eyes with her as best as he could while still watching the patronus worriedly.
"Don't worry Malfoy, she doesn't bite. Not unless I tell her too." Denver hummed, leaning up and whispering something in the big cat's ear. This made the cat nod before it climbed off the couch, strutting off to some unknown location as soon as it was safely on the ground. Draco took a deep breath once the creature was gone, soon chuckling along with Denver for a short moment before he looked at her with soft yet worried eyes.
"You…You really are a survivor, aren't you Potter?" He asked the other girl, earning a small eye roll from Denver. That didn't stop her from nodding her head in agreement though, setting her wand down and picking up her glass of Fire Whisky once more. She took a long drink from the on the rocks glass before she spoke again, feeling the Veritaserum finally whereoff on her before she looked to him once more.
"Yeah well, don't go telling anyone. No one else here needs to know my sob story and to be completely frank with you, I prefer it that way. If they want to make me the bad guy because I'm a Slytherin, or because I'm a Potter, or because I know the Dark Arts, or any other reason they can think of I don't care. I'll be the bad guy in someone else's story somehow, but that doesn't change that I know I'm not." She hummed out, looking at him with a blank look on her features. Her eyes showed how tired she was, being emotionally worn out by the whole series of memories she had to just remember yet she clearly didn't care. She wanted to just relax for the rest of the night and Draco could understand why now. She was a survivor, she was someone who went through her own personal hell and came out on the other side. He never knew these things about her before, but now that he did he wanted to have a 'discussion' with her little brother and Dumbledor. If he was to be completely honest with her, he wanted to pick a fight with Harry and do everything he could to get Dumbledor disbarred from the school and ever teach again. He knew it was dangerous to think such things around her, now knowing she was a leginmence and that meant she could read his mind if she wanted to. He honestly didn't care though, doing his best to calm down and simply drink his drink with a small sigh. On top of everything else he learned that night, something else happened that shocked the life out of Draco Malfoy when it happened. She, the Denver Potter, leaned herself against him after having set down her empty drink glass with a sigh.
"Please, for the love of all that is magical Malfoy, don't go picking a fight with my brother about this. I really don't care what he thinks and I've worked very hard to distinguish myself from him. If you pick a fight with him, that ruins five years of solid work and I don't feel like dealing with it again." She hums out with a small sigh, looking at the other as she does her best to rest against him. She knew this was a bit of a big deal for her, especially since she was so closed off for the most part, but she also didn't give a single care in this moment as she curled up with him. She was too tired to move really and, if Draco just wanted to leave her laid here on the couch, she wouldn't mind any as long as she got some sleep. She didn't care from there, she just wanted to get some sleep. Draco had other plans, watching the other with soft eyes as she leaned against him and he let her as he put away the Veritaserum with a sigh.
"Don't worry Potter. Your secret is safe with me. I won't pick a fight with him about this, but I do have one condition to this statement." He murmured out, earning a small hum of acknowledgement from the other. Her eyes were growing heavy, earning a small chuckle from Draco as he watched the green fire light up her pale skin with a small smile. It fell after a moment as he spoke once more, looking at her with gentle eyes as he did so.
"If your brother picks a fight, an actual hand to hand fight with me or a duel with me, I can use this as fuel to fight." He murmured, earning a tired nod from the girl who was clearly getting close to falling asleep. This earned a small chuckle from Draco who sighed with a smile, carefully standing up with her in his arms as he did so. She was completely out of it, so out of it she was asleep as she listened to him talk. It was obvious to him yet he still voiced his stipulation anyway as he wanted the right to reserve judgment. He didn't entirely understand why he was so mad at her family for this mistreatment of her, but he knew one thing for a fact and that it pissed him off she was being treated like that by her own flesh and blood. Sure; his family wasn't much better with how they treated his sister, Heather, but he hated that as well as it made no sense for the two girls to be treated this way. He laid her down on the plush green couch, making sure her head rested softly on the silver colored throw pillow as he did so.
"Poor Denver. Life has not been too kind to you, has it?" He thought to himself, accioing a blanket to his hands as he did so before he very carefully laid it over her. He made sure it was wrapped nicely around her, brushing some of her loose hair away before he gently reached for her braid. He gently undid the hair tie, carefully undoing the braid as best as he could so she would sleep better.
"Your family doesn't deserve a woman like you." He murmured to her quietly, watching as she slept and her hair framed her sleeping face. She looked so at peace in this moment, like everything she had just divulged to him hadn't truly happened yet it had. It pissed him off that she, such a powerful and skilled witch, had been treated this way by her family. He didn't entirely know why he was so mad, but he just knew she deserved to be treated better.
"Sleep well Denver. Pleasant dreams." He murmured to the other girl before he walked away, heading back into dorm rooms that they all had. He made his way into the sixth year dormitory, biting his lip as he quietly climbed into bed with a solemn look on his features. He then rolled up his sleeve, looking at the painful dark mark on his arm as he did so. They might be on opposite sides of the war, but that didn't mean he couldn't help her with a little help from his side as she helped him from her's. He would keep his word, not picking a fight with her brother about this. That didn't mean he wouldn't remember this and, if push came to shove, that he wouldn't let this slight go unpunished. He would defend her honor, as any good gentleman should and he would not let anything sway him from this. He soon followed in her footsteps though, drifting off into a deep sleep as he rolled his sleeve back down and slept on his side like this. His back was still a bit sore from the new tattoo he was sporting on his back, feeling the pain there yet not entirely caring. It was of that of thestral with that of white roses around it, but tangled up in those white roses, hiding within them, was a serpent ready to strike those who dared to come too close. And, if one paid close enough attention to the inked skin, it was as if the serpent and the thestral were breathing as the ink sat there safely on his back.