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“This is absolutely ridiculous, I can’t believe I thought for a second that I believed you.” Draco sneered, hoping to hide the disappointment creeping into his heart. He glared down at his wand, which had only spurted out weak tendrils of magic every time he cast the Patronus Charm. Vile thoughts threatened to crawl to the front of his conscious as he grew desperate. He had to prove himself, to Potter, to his father, to the vile creature that ruined his life.
The empty Potions grew more and more distant as the world caved in on him and swallowed him whole. He felt alone.
Time slipped through his fingers as he gripped his wand. The same wand that had killed and tortured all of those Muggle-borns, those innocent people at the Mansion, his own teacher, his headmaster, his--
His flooding intrusive thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. His initial reaction was to recoil back from the touch until he saw those emerald green eyes. Potter. Potter with the disheveled mop of curls on his hair that he called hair. Potter with that soft, sad smile of his, how he looked at him now. Like he was someone worth loving.
“You can do this Draco,” Harry started, as he reached out to hold Draco’s hand that had a bruising grip on his wand. This action alone causes him to loosen his grip and let out a sigh. “You’re the only one who has had a real chance of beating Hermione at top of the class.” He joked with an encouraging grin. At this, Draco let out an exasperated laugh. As if anyone could have been Granger.
“One step at a time, yeah?”
Draco nodded tightly, his throat thick with all of the feelings and words that threatened to spill from his lips. In the vast sea that submerged him and threatened to snuff out his dying hope, Harry had become a lighthouse, that always guided him back home.
Draco lifted his wand and this time, he knew he wouldn’t fail.