Broken, But in Love.

Revived Friendship

Harry had to deal with the continuous stares at him, whisperings about him and students asking him how he got into Dumbledore's age line. He had quite enough of it all and life, it was misery to him. Thankfully, he had Hermione, Fred, George, Dean, Neville, and Seamus on his side as they believed him. Harry still hadn't told Ron about the truce yet; he made a mental note that he would do it as soon as he could.

The next morning as Harry was trying to eat his breakfast, the school owl swooped down and gave Harry a few letters. With a sigh he placed it in his bag, knowing it'd probably be some more hate mail he's been getting since the Daily Prophet article on him.

Hermione noticed the familiar numb look on her best friends face and she knew it was from the hate mail he had been getting from the article Rita Skeeter had written. That witch! "Are you going to read those, Harry?" she asked as she was eating a nice bowl of warm porridge with almonds and maple syrup in it.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's probably hate-mail again," he said a little miserably with a frown. Honestly, he liked reading the hate mail for some reason because it made him feel worse. Was it okay to do what he was doing? Was it healthy? He didn't really care though.

Hermione frowned at the negative hate-mail and wished there were something she could do to help him in some way. "Don't think that, Harry," she said with a sad shake of her head and a disbelieving tone. "Who knows who it could be from. Possibly Padfoot?"

Harry didn't know what to think. The letters could have been from Sirius, and they could be hate-mail. "I don't think it can be from Padfoot as it is a school owl that sent it, Hermione," he told her flatly. A voice in his head was telling him it could be from Draco, but Harry was afraid to open the letter in front of Hermione in case it wasn't.

"Well, you should read it," Hermione said earnestly and watched him eyeing the letters while she ate her porridge. It kind of worried her. She knew how sick and rude the comments in the letters could be as she's read a few right when Harry was given them. "Could be somewhat important."

Harry opened a letter easily and found it had familiar beautiful cursive writing. It was from Draco. He knew Draco's handwriting from miles away.

Meet back at the Willow tree? We'll spend lunch back in the secret library room. I'll bring some Potion equipment so you can practice. Afterwards, I'll show you another secret spot.

Harry gave a smile at that note and looked back up at Draco which he nodded, and Draco nodded back with a smile. That charming smile, the one Harry loved so much but was never able to kiss. He quickly slipped the note into his robe pocket so if he'd forget anything he can just peek at the note.

Draco noticed a few things that many could not. It was Harry's smile. It never quite reached his eyes like it should do if he was really smiling happily. It worried him. What was Harry Potter keeping from the world that made his state look so... numb and dull?

Harry then began opening the other letters. His frown deepened as he opened another letter from 'a fan'. It was a horrendous letter, so full of bias, lies and hurtful words. It made him feel terrible and he needed to get away right now. Merlin's Beard... He's been clean from cutting for a couple of days now, though there's still new cuts on his wrists.

Hermione saw Harry's frown and placed a hand on his shoulder for reassurance. "Incendio," she muttered, pointing her wand at the letter and watched the hate-mail disintegrate. Goodbye mail. To hell it goes where it belongs.

"Thanks," Harry replied sadly and placed his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his hand and looked down at the other letters that could hold hate-mail. He'll save the others for when he's alone so he can wallow in self-pity and keep them to he can review them later on in the day.