"What did he want?" 

"Just wanted to talk to me about my grades." 

"You're passing everything," said Pansy suspiciously. "Why would he want to see you about that?"

"I'm struggling in, uh, Transfiguration," Draco lied. He wasn't ready to tell her about how he was a werewolf. Not yet. 

"Draco, you know you can tell me anything right? I'm your best friend."

"I'm telling the truth, Pansy," said Draco irritably. 

"Alright. If you ever want to tell me what's really going on, let me know. I'm always here to listen."

Draco watched as she walked away and sighed.

Not ever.

***

Dumbledore wanted him to use the Shrieking Shack like their werewolf peasant of a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in third year did when he went to Hogwarts? No, he wasn't going to let himself scratch himself up every full moon. Fuck that. If that ridiculous man could get Wolfsbane Potion from his godfather, he definitely could. 

He opened the door to Snape's dungeon to see the greasy-haired man sitting at his desk.

"Sir?"

Snape looked up. "Have you never heard of knocking?"

"Do you have any Wolfsbane Potion?"

Snape shook his head. "Draco, do you know what the Dark Lord would do if he found out you were using Wolfsbane Potion? No, this is your father's punishment. You must carry it out."

"You gave it to that pathetic excuse of a teacher three years ago!" Draco yelled.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"But-"

"No."

Draco scowled. "Fine." He turned around and slammed the door behind him. He knew he wouldn't be punished for it. Snape would never do anything to his precious Slytherins, and even if he would, he didn't care. All he cared about is that the full moon was next week, and while the rest of the sixth and seventh year Slytherins were gonna be downing Firewhiskey, he was going to be spending the night clawing himself apart in a crumbling shack.  He shoved his hands into his robe pockets and headed back towards his dormitory before being ran into and knocked onto his ass.

"I'm so sorry!" Draco looked up to see none other than the boy who lived, standing there with his hand outstretched. Scowling, Draco took it and Harry Potter pulled him to his feet. 

"I didn't expect anybody to be here. I mean, there's no classes today, and I was just-"

"It's fine."

They stood there in silence for a few moments. 

"Are you going to be there tomorrow?"

"What?" 

"You know," Potter said, "The broom closet by the Defense Against the Dark Arts room at 8 PM."

"Oh," said Draco. He had just realized that he was still holding Potter's hand. "Uh, yeah."

"Great," he said, smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow then." He squeezed his hand slightly before letting go and walking up to the Gryffindor tower.

***

"Expelliarmus!" 

"Very amusing," said Draco sarcastically, picking his wand back up from the ground. "Just like I did to you. Absolutely hilarious."

"It's my signature spell, you know. You should be honoured to get your wand yanked out of your hand by the boy who lived," said Potter humourously. "Lumos!"

"Uh, Ha-Potter," said Draco, pointing to a rattling cabinet. "What's in there?"

"A boggart," said Potter. "I figured I'd teach you the Patronus charm."

"Who says I don't already know it?"

"Yeah? Produce one for me then."

"Uh..."

Potter smiled. "Right. As  you probably already know, the Patronus charm is used to ward off dementors, which feed off of misery. So, in order to produce a Patronus, you need to think of your happiest memory, and use the incantation, 'Expecto Patronum!' Like this-" Potter paused and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!" and a beautiful stag pranced around the tiny closet for a few moments before fading away. "You're probably not going to get it the first time," he continued on. "Producing a Patronus is not easy. It's well past N.E.W.T. level."

Draco nodded and began thinking. What was his happiest memory? The only things he could think of were his lycanthropy and The Dark Lord, and neither of those thoughts gave him any happy feelings. 

"Got it?"

"Hold on." Draco racked his brain for a few moments more and finally decided on the time his father bought the entire Slytherin quidditch team Nimbus 2001s. "Okay. I have it now."

"Excellent." The Gryffindor walked towards the shaking cabinet and took hold of the handle. "You ready?"

Draco took a deep breath, thinking of the broomsticks. "Yes."

The cabinet opened, and an exact replica of a dementor swooped out. 

"Expecto Patronum!" He cried out, but the dementor wasn't fazedThink of broomsticks. Dammit Draco! "Expecto Patronum!" His voice was weaker and his knees were wobbling.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Potter cried out, releasing a silvery-blue stag from his wand and warding the boggart away. He ran towards Draco, who was now leaning against the wall to keep himself from falling to the ground. "Are you alright? Here, have this." He pulled a chocolate frog out of his robes and snapped off its head. "Eat this. It'll make you feel better."

Draco took the chocolate weakly, muttering, "Thank you." 

"I went into it too fast," said Potter, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright. You're right; the chocolate is making me feel much better. I'm up for round two."

"Are you sure? We can do this again tomorrow."

"Absolutely sure. Let me think of another happy memory." Draco dug through his brain, pushing all the thoughts of war away and reliving the moments that made him happiest. When he beat Granger on a Potions test? That just reminded him of his father constantly reminding him about how he was second best to a mudblood. When Crabbe and Goyle finally left him the fuck alone? That was good, but not good enough. When he met Pansy and Blaise? Blaise... He finally settled on when he caught the snitch in the match against Ravenclaw in his third year, and the Slytherins threw him a party in their common room. 

"You ready?" 

Draco nodded, gripping his wand in his hand. 

Potter opened the cabinet again, and the dementor flew out. 

"Expecto Patronum!" Draco yelled, focused on when Marcus Flint gave him his first shot of firewhiskey. "Expecto Patronum!" To both his surprise and delight, a silvery-blue light emitted from his wand. He heard the Gryffindor boy gasp, and couldn't help but smile. Much more confident now, he said the incantation one last time.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" The light grew bigger and stronger, and Draco, while full of energy, felt fatigued, and the light began to fade as he slumped to the ground.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Potter yelled, and Draco felt the coldness evaporate as the stag danced around the room for the third time that night. "Come on," he said, "Let's get you back to your dorm."

A/N-So here it finally is! I'm so sorry it took so long to update. The week after my last update I had band camp, and I had a writer's block the week after, and this week was the first week of school for me, so it took me a while to finish this chapter, but here it is, and I'm actually pretty proud of it. I'll be trying my best to be updating as much as I can during the school year, but no promises. I'm not giving up on this story though, as I love it too much.

Also, I don't know if this is happening to anybody else, but I can't reply to any comments on my own stories from my phone??? Like it won't load up when I click on a notification from someone commenting or voting on my works or even when I click "View as Reader." I'm so sorry about that. I want to reply to your comments, but I didn't feel like pulling Wattpad up on my laptop and yeah I don't know if it's my phone or not but either way I'm sorrylakdsjf