Note: This is a private role-pay between myself and Sirius Baren.

Start: Beginning of Sixth Year, Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom

Draco Malfoy was lost.

It was difficult for him to admit it, as he was a proud pureblood and a Malfoy, but he was. He did not know what to do. The task that was given to him was for a wizard beyond Draco's sixteen years. When he was approached by the Dark Lord in the summer months, given the offer to be marked as a Death Eater, he was ecstatic. There was no reason for him not to be - it was his childhood dream to stand in the Dark Lord's ranks and with the current situation, he had the chance to repair his father's tarnished reputation.

When the Dark Lord told him of the task, of the one-year time limit on it, Draco thought that it would be easy. After weeks upon weeks of thinking about it, rummaging through the Family Library and after plan after plan was destroyed by the Hogwarts' defenses and by his own limited abilities, Draco realized that it was quite possibly a lost cause.

He did not have the ability to complete the task. He, Draco Malfoy, will fail the Dark Lord.

He clutched the edge of the porcelain sink, his knuckles going as white as snow. Why? Why couldn't he do it? He couldn't even ask anyone for help, it wasn't wise to trust anyone at that moment in time. Draco knew that after his father's capture, failure, every Death Eater expected the young Malfoy, wanted him to do so. It was the bitter truth.

Draco scrunched his eyes close, in an attempt to organize his thoughts. He was going to fail. He was weak. A shame to the family name.

No.

He couldn't do that. He can't give up. His life, and his mother's, was at stake. The Dark Lord does not accept failure. It was awful, it was not fair, but Draco knew it as the only truth. Kill or be killed, ran through his head, and he smiled grimly at how much truth was in that statement.

This year was not turning out how Emily imagined it would. The first thing was that she couldn't get Draco Malfoy out of her head. She knew she should ignore the pompous and pampered brat. He had done nothing but cause her agony since they were in first year. When she had been sorted into Gryffindor she was rather pleased as it seemed like the best house in the school. As things moved along through their years at the school she kept having dreams about a small blonde haired boy.

Draco was relentless in teasing her and picking on her. She was a "mudblood" and he scoffed every time she opened her mouth to speak. She hated him for it, but last year she remembered everything. She knew Draco must not remember when they were kids otherwise he would never treat her this way. He had been so sweet when they were kids. She felt bitter towards his parents as they pulled him away from her and even proceeded to try and wipe her memory. Emily figured the spell must have worn away with age as she remembered everything including the night Mr. Malfoy had come to her house in the dead of night and used a memory charm on her.

As if remembering was hard enouagh she received word that morning that her parents had been attacked and killed by Death Eaters. It had been hard to swallow and she had fled the Great Hall in search of a quiet place to cry her heart out. Her parents Maria and George Longfellow had suffered greatly at the hand of Death Eaters, and it was all because they were muggle with no magical blood.

After a while of wandering around with tears in her eyes she found herself walking down the hall and passed Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It should be quiet in there and she wouldn't be disturbed by anyone. She opened the door with the letter clutched in her hand only to see a distraught looking Draco grippng the edge of the sink and staring hard at his reflection.

"Draco?" her voice was soft as she stared at the blonde boy.

A much as she had learned to hate him over the years her mind flashed back to when they had been only children. She could see the same little boy staring out of Draco's eyes. He was frightened and he couldn't had that from her. Emily didn't want to pride herself in thinking she knew Draco best of all but she knew she had always been able to see past his mask.

In that moment she saw the frightened little boy staring out of Draco's eyes she decided she couldn't leave him alone any more. He had been her best friend when they were little kids when no one else would play with her. She couldn't ignore that friendship any longer even if he couldn't remember. She clutched the letter more tightly in her hand. Her parents were dead and she had no one left.

"Draco?"

He snapped away from his reflection towards the voice. It was Emily Longfellow, another one of those Gryffindor mudbloods. As quickly as he could, Draco turned his expression into a disgusted sneer, rather than an image of a broken boy.

It wasn't that he hated Longfellow. It was rather the fact that he had to at least act like he did. She was a Gryffindor and a mudblood. That was reason enough for any self-respecting Slytherin to despise someone. She also reminded him of someone from his childhood.

Someone he didn't have a clear image of, or a full memory of their time together. It was like with time, Draco's memory of that time worsened and eventually turned to blackness. He could only recall faint memories of a girl's laughter, of a kind smile, of happiness...

Draco didn't like that about Longfellow. She bought up memories that were probably best left forgotten, or else he would remember them clear as day - apart from those few blanks in his mind, he had a perfect memory.

He then saw something about Longfellow. She looked worries, sad, sincere. Like she cared. But why?

Draco shook his head mentally, it didn't matter. "What do you want, Longfellow?" He sneered at her.

Emily sighed softly as she saw him quickly change his expression into a sneer. She hated seeing that sneer on his face. It made him look ugly in her opinion. She wished he wouldn't keep that sneer on his face so much. It seemed that he had nothing to show anyone but a smirk or a sneer. He had a beautiful smile and she wished he would let it come back.

"I was looking for a quiet place and you just happened to be here." She said softly before shaking her head. "Why are you so upset?" she asked. He looked tired. He may be good at hiding from the rest of the school but she could see the ain't circles around his eyes and knew he wasn't getting good sleep. There was so much about him that he hid. Not very many people could see.

"I'm sorry for bothering you in here like this, but if you need someone to talk I am more than able to listen. I know you don't think highly of me simply because I have muggle parents..." she trailed off as reality shook her. Emily didn't have parents, she had them.

The pain that ripped through her was as though she just read the letter for the first time. "The point is you aren't alone Draco." She looked at him with a pained expression.