Draco walked to Dumbledore's study the evening of his detention. He was slightly nervous. No, more like EXTREMELY nervous. He had never been Dumbledore's favorite student, Harry had always been in that position. And Dumbledore hadn't been on his favorite list of people either. He didn't know what to expect.

"Cockroach Cluster." The huge eagle spiraled upwards, and Draco followed it into Dumbledore's room.

He was waiting for him.

"Ah...Mr. Malfoy....come in, come in. Close the door behind you."

Draco did as he was told and stood by the door.

"No no no Draco, come in." He waved his wand, and a chair appeared in front of the desk. Draco sat down, rather stiffly. "Lighten up Draco, I don't bite."

"Yes Sir." But Draco found he couldn't.

"Draco, for your punishment, I want you to relieve all your pent-up anger and bad feelings towards me, Harry, and especially...your family. You will never be a true Gryffindor if you harbor all this hatred."

Draco sighed.

"I don't like talking about my home life." Dumbeldore smiled.

"I know, that's why we're going to talk about it. Now start talking. What was it like, growing up in the Malfoy Manor?"

"It wasn't bad when Father wasn't there. He was alway's coming and going, my mother wasn't too pleased when he came home. Because of all the Dark Arts things."

"I see...."

"No you don't. You can't possibly see....all those nights....waiting in dread for my Father to come home...sometimes, my mother slept on the floor of my room, because Father had come home in a bad mood....she was terrified of him, when he was like that."

"Did you ever have any happy times with him?"

"Not too many. Sometimes he would take me to muggle baseball games, I really enjoyed those. But most of the time, he was either out, or in the basement and catacombs of my house."

"What about your mother Draco? Does she-"

"Love me?" Draco gave a smile, "Next to Pavarti, she's the only person who ever cared for me. She would buy me everything I needed or wanted. She....was so good to me. She didn't deserve the punishments my Father gave her. She DIDN'T!"

Draco slammed his hand on the desk. Dumbledore didn't even flinch.

"Then I got accepted into school here. My father didn't want me here. He wanted me in Durmstrang. Do you know why?"

"I shall assume," Dumbledore spoke, "That the reason was you were too close to home here, and in Durmstrang, you would be far away enough that it wouldn't matter. You would live there all year round."

"You hit the nail on the head SIr. My Father hated me. Probably because I would hide myself and my mother, so he couldn't beat her, and I didn't have to watch."

Draco drew deep breaths, and bit his finger. Dumbledore placed a hand on his head. Draco cried at this movement of affection. Dumbledore urged him to continue.

"Wh-when I-I c-came to Ho-hogwarts, and saw Harry, I saw the same boy. No parents. I was not raised properly, and neither was he. His uncle hated him, my Father wanted me to fall off a cliff and die. But the thing that bugged me was: He was happy. That I couldn't understand. Why was this boy happy, while I was so miserable. I didn't like that.....I was jealous."

"So you took it out on Harry."

"Y-yea....that's why I treated him so badly. I wanted to see him suffer. What I saw was..."

"Yourself reflected in that boy. Your possible happiness in his face. Your same tortures being handled in a positive way, and that infuriated you."

"....yes...."

"Do you still feel that way?"

Draco hesitated for a long time. Dumbledore was patient. All the paintings were listening, leaning in. One would have almost certainly fallen out of the painting, had he not been holding on. Finally, Draco looked up at Dumbledore.

"No."

"Then you are a true Gryffindor. You have learned forgiveness. What about your family?"

"I don't think I can ever forgive my Father."

"You must try Draco. It's hard, I know.....but......you must try. Now I want you to come to me again.....when you have. there is no time limit."

"Thank you Sir."

Dumbledore looked at his odd watch, and chuckled.

"Well Draco, we've managed to kill three hours. Time really does fly when one's having fun."

Draco got up and moved towards the door. He turned.

"Thank you...Professor."

"You're welcome Draco."

He turned and left.

Katie