Ghost of My Former Self

Semi-awake, Harry stretched his arms out, letting out a yawn. His emerald green eyes were heavy and head throbbed, and it was clear to Harry that his scar must have hurt much more than he thought. Propping himself up, Harry saw the rumbled empty beds of his comrades. Slowly and holding the wall to steady himself, Harry stumbled to the bathroom and looked at his reflection. A quick glance later and Harry got ready for the and headed down to the Gryffindor common room.

Ron was sitting in the same place he was the previous night. Hermione must have insisted that he stay up all night. There's no way she would have let him go to bed if he has an essay due to Snape today. Quickly waving to his best friend, Harry headed down to the Great Hall. As the Fat Lady's portrait swung closed, Harry saw Draco Malfoy leaning up against the wall. That bloody git! Harry thought. What's he doing here?. He groaned. "What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry sneered.

"Really, Harry, is that really how you're going to treat your best friend?" Malfoy asked.

"Best friend?" Harry asked. "Sorry, Malfoy; you're delusional. My best friend is Ron Weasley. Always will be." Harry could still remember that day in Madam Malkin's when he first ran into Draco Malfoy. There was a certain air of wonderment Harry had about the Wizarding World he grew up away from that was dashed the moment Harry met Draco Malfoy. After living with the Dursleys for eleven years, anything would have seemed a better alternative. Meeting Malfoy changed that. There was no way in hell that Harry would ever become friends with Malfoy after that.

Malfoy's seemingly permanent smirk disappeared, a look of confusion replacing it instead. A pale hand clamped down on Harry's shoulder. "Sorry, mate. I'm afraid you're the delusional one. Ronald Weasley has no friends. His nose is always stuck in a book." He eyed Harry. "You know that, of course. What's with you, Harry? We've been friends for years; our houses may be different, but we are friends. How could you forget something as big as that?"

Harry racked his brain, searching for any memory of what Malfoy claimed. There was none. All of this had to some elaborate joke Malfoy planned to get back at Harry. For whatever reason, Ron went along with this scheme. Maybe Malfoy offered to stop calling him Weasel, or making fun of his family if he went along with this. Anything was really possible when it came to Draco Malfoy. But, since Harry had no way of proving Malfoy erroneous, aside from his own word which seemed dubious at the moment, he went along with it; he would see how deep and elaborate this joke went. "Okay?" Harry stated questionably. "Now what?"

"Uh, breakfast?" Malfoy stated obviously.

"Whatever Malfoy!" Harry said disdainfully.

"Would you stop that?" he yelled.

"Stop what?" Harry asked.

"Calling me Malfoy. You know better than that. Call me Draco, as you have since we were kids,"Malfoy Draco stated.

Harry nodded and followed Mal-Draco down to the Great Hall. Things were silent as Harry was still confused by what was going on, and the boys soon parted ways. Harry seated himself next to Dean Thomas and dug into the food laying out before them. "Hello, Harry," Dean said brightly.

"Morning, Dean," Harry said with a mouthful of food.

While Harry was busy shoveling food into his mouth, Seamus came over, a Daily Prophet in his hand. Seamus thrust the paper in front of Harry and Dean. "Did you hear? Fudge decided that he would be coming here to speak with some of the students about the Ministry's policies."

Fudge? Harry wondered as he stopped shoveling food in his mouth. But, I thought Scrimgeour became Ministry of Magic. Why would Fudge be coming?

"Brilliant!" Dean proclaimed. "The school really does need a few changes."

"Agreed," Seamus said.

Malfoy really must want to mess with my head. His father may be in Azkaban, but the Malfoys still have friends in the Ministry. Draco must have used his connections to get Fudge back Harry realized. Suddenly, Harry realized something: he had seen all his friends but Neville and Hermione. "Dean, Seamus, where are Hermione and Neville?"

"Who?" Dean inquired.

"Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom," Harry stated like it was obvious.

Dean still looked confused, but Seamus seemed to know what Harry was talking about. "That Hufflepuff boy and the Ravenclaw girl? Why would you want to know about them?" he implored.

Harry sat there dumbfounded. "Because they're my friends. They're our friends!" Harry shouted.

With Harry's outburst, everyone in the Great Hall turned to look at him. Everyone was pointing and laughing at him. Hermione and Neville looked over from their tables at Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff respectively. Both seemed somewhat freaked by what was going on. What kind of sick joke is Malfoy trying to play on me? he wondered.