No one ever cared about me, poor little Max Potter. I was the girl that was beaten and shunned in her own home. I was the one girl that was always put on the back burner. I was the one girl that you would love to ignore, just pass by in the hallway.

Until someone didn’t just pass by in the hallway.

“Max?” he said my name with such care.

I looked up at him through tear rimmed eyes. Draco Malfoy, the one who always ignored me, was definitely not ignoring me. I always thought that he hated me. He never looked at me. He never talked to me. He never even talked about me. I just seemed like I never existed to him, despite the fact that I was his servant.

“Where are you going?” he asked, seeming kind of hurt at the sight of me climbing out a window.

I looked back out the window and pulled my leg back in. “What do you care anyway?”

He shrugged. “Where are you going?”

“You’ll just tell your dad,” I said, shaking my head.

He shrugged again. “You don’t know that.”

“Whatever,” I said, trying to climb out the window, but I was grabbed by the arm. “What the bloody hell?”

“Shhh,” Draco covered my mouth with his hand. “You don’t want to wake the whole bloody house up do you?”

I roughly pulled away. “Well, I wouldn’t have to if you would just let me go. It’s not like you care about me anyway. So, why even stop me if I’m trying to leave?”

He just shrugged.

I shook my head. I wasn’t waiting around for an answer. I knew what the answer was anyway. He was just trying to stop his servant from leaving. He was going to have to go through the trouble of having to hire someone new. He was going to have to go through the trouble of me being out in the world knowing what I know about his family. It would be easier if I just stayed, but that wasn’t about to happen.

“I do care about you.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. Did he really just say that to me? Was I imagining it? I slowly turned around to look at a blushing Draco, which made me blush. I had never seen him like this. In fact, I had never heard him say those words to anyone in my whole life.

“What, Draco?” I stammered over the words.

He looked up at me. “I care about you, Max.”

I took a deep breath. The one person I expected of not caring at all, in anyway, was telling me that he did care. I didn’t know what to do or say. I was in shock. It was just so unexpected. I felt dumb just standing there, not doing anything or saying anything, so I looked down.

“Why are you leaving?”

I looked up at him from my feet. “You’re honestly asking me that question after seeing first-hand what goes on in this house? I’m surprised you haven’t thought about it.”

“I have, quite a few times actually.”

“Then why haven’t you acted on it?”

He shrugged.

I was tired of the shrugging, but I didn’t know what else to do or say. I started backing to the window again. I was supposed to be leaving. I wasn’t supposed to have any ties to the house that I was so unhappy in for so long.

“I do care about you, Max,” he said when he saw me moving away from him. “I know it doesn’t seem like I do, but I acted like you didn’t exist because it hurt me that my dad would so something like that to you.”

I nodded. “Well, he did. He’s treated me like this my whole life. There was nothing you could do about it, Draco.”

“Yes, there was. I could’ve said something to him, but I didn’t,” he reached out and touched my arm. “I couldn’t talk to you if I could let my dad do all those horrible things to you.”

“It’s not your faul-“

“Yes, it is, Max! I have watched him and watched him. I could’ve stopped this,” he then abruptly pulled his hand away from me. “I failed you.”

I shook my head. “No, Draco.”

“Instead, I made you think that I hated you,” he then grabbed my hand and pulled me close. “I don’t hate you. I never hated you.”

“I never hated you either.”

“Well, you should have.”

I shook my head. “You never did anything wrong to me.”

“I just ignored you,” he said, and then kissed me.

It took me a second to realize what was going on, but I started to kiss him back. Kissing him was a nice feeling. I finally felt that someone truly cared for me, that someone actually cared for poor little Max.

“I can’t live without you, Max,” he whispered into my ear. “But you have to go.”

I shook my head. “I can’t go now.”

“You have to. It’s the only way for you to get out of this bad situation, and if it’s the best I can do for you after years of letting shit happen to you, then I’m going to make you leave.”

“But you just told me-“

“I know what I said, Max, but if you are safe and alive without anyone harming you like my dad has, then I can live without you,” he pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I nodded. “Bye, Draco.”

“Just remember that no one will care for you like me.”

I smiled at him before pushing myself down to the small roof just below me. I looked back up to see him blowing a kiss down to me. I had to go to my brother. I knew that Harry was a good person and would help me. Now that someone cared for me, I had the will to push on.