It wasn’t until lunch that he got a chance to even look at the journal and by that time his head was spinning for the Wizarding Politics class. Malfoy invited them to sit at their table, along with a cautious Neville. Harry was still distrustful of Draco’s new, kinder attitude. For this reason, he sat with Pansy between them while they ate and he tentatively opened the journal.

For the most part, the first few pages were boring passages about her first days at Spencer Academy and who she met there. He supposed that in was a average journal for a young witch. Indeed, Amelia did come from a Muggle family and Harry found himself wondering if it was someone who was related to his mom.

"Draco? Did Spencer ever admit Muggleborns?" He asked, glancing around Pansy at the other boy.

Taking his time to sip his pumpkin juice, reveling in his small audience he finally replied, "Yes. In fact, they even accepted Vineficus students as well as Muggleborns and then something went wrong. I’m not sure about the specifics." He shrugged his shoulders and then eyed the dark-haired boy shrewdly, "Why?"

"Just wondering." Harry insisted, glancing back at the book on the table before him and feeling a glimmer of hope. Did he have some family left? This Amelia Evans?

Later that night, he and Neville wrapped themselves in the invisibility cloak and cautiously made their way down the spiral staircase. Harry winced when he opened the front door and it groaned in protest. Quickly, he pulled Neville along the lawn and into the trees and finally up the rocky path to the cave. It was dark so Harry did a quick ‘lumos’ spell to light the way up the path.

A familar drawl came from behind him, sounding slightly amused, "Potter, an invisibility cloak isn’t quite as useful when you cast a lumos spell."

He spun around, surprised that the two blonde Slytherins had managed to sneak up on them. Draco seemed unmoved by the rare item the two Gryffindors were wearing but Pansy seemed quite impressed. Unfortunately, when he had jerked around it had dragged Neville with him and the boy had tumbled the ground. Draco rolled his grey eyes and the two Slytherins moved to help him to his feet. They descended into the cave and each found a spot to sit. Pansy and Draco laid down on their stomachs on a slightly raised platform. Harry and Neville sat with their backs pressed against a large rock.

Reaching into his robe, the blonde boy pulled out a bottle of Fire Whiskey. Neville gasped and hissed, "Where did you get that?"

"Professor Schlone’s office." Said Draco with a smirk.

"Draco!" All but shouted Harry, not wanting to incur the wrath of the Potion’s Master or his wife.

"Calm down, Severus is like an uncle to me. We’re not going to get in trouble." There was an odd look in the boy’s eyes and Harry got the sudden feeling that Draco had chosen tonight to test his limits with his Godfather. Draco tilted his head back and took a long, deep drink. Then he handed it to Pansy who drank greedily from the bottle and then handed it to Neville with a challenging look on her face. Harry intervened and grabbed the bottle from him and drank hesitantly. He certainly understood the meaning behind the name as the heat from the drink spread through him rather pleasantly despite the foul taste. Draco nodded and gently took it and gave it to Neville.

"You guys...this is against the rules!" He complained, turning the bottle over in his hands.

"Just do it, Longbottom." Snapped the Slytherin and Pansy’s eyes agreed with him. Slowly the boy took a drink and ended up choking on the liquid fire.

"This must be what the Guild was like back then, huh? Hiding in the caves, stowed away from the rest of the world where no one else could get to them?" Draco said with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"I don’t think it’s quite the same thing," commented Harry.

"That must have been great though, right? To be part of something bigger then yourself. The only thing I’ve ever been a part of was Slytherin and after we graduate..." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

"Yeah, what an honor." Harry said sarcastically.

"You wouldn’t know, Potter." Snapped Draco, sounding furious, "You’re in Gryffindor, what would you know of house solidarity? I owe the Slytherin house my life..." The boy tapered off and took another drink from the bottle. Pansy was rubbing a comforting circle on his upper back until he shrugged his shoulders violently to get her to let it go.

"Hey! I have an idea!" Neville said, blushing as they all turned to him. Little did he know that they were all grateful for a distraction from Draco’s loose-lipped comment. " Um, W-well w-we."

"Spit it out," Pansy said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"We could form our own Guild." Neville said with a little bit more confidence. Pansy looked ready to make a snide comment but Draco seemed excited by the idea.

"Lets do it." He said excitedly, "One rule, no secrets. Pansy, let’s treat them like Slytherins, at least when we’re here at Spencer."

She sighed but nodded, resting her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes, "And it shouldn’t leave the cave."

"Agreed." Draco said, running his fingers through her long blonde locks.

"Wait, how do we know that everyone will keep their word?" Harry asked, still not stupid enough to trust the blonde. He and Pansy exchanged a look, obviously thinking that he was right.

"W-well, how about a blood oath?" Neville suggested.

"Good idea!" Draco said, he searched the cave until he found a small round rock and removed a small knife from his bag. He cut the fleshy part of his thumb and rubbed against the rock saying, "I hereby swear that all words spoken in the Guild are to remain a secret."

Harry hesitated and then repeated the action until everyone in the small group had done the oath. "So what happens if you break the oath?"

"Don’t break it and you won’t have to worry about that." Draco said with a smirk. Then he took control of the small meeting and Harry found that against his will he was relaxing in their prescence. After all, if they were up to something they wouldn’t have taken the oath, right? "Let’s go around, and everyone can tell what their deepest fear is. Be honest."

No one said anything at first so he glanced at his best friend to start them off. Quietly she said, "My deepest fear is...that no one is ever going to see me as a person. That I’m always going to be the pretty Slytherin girl and an asset to her pureblood family." At this show of openness, Harry tried to come up with his deepest fear.

Neville was next, obviously nervous and at the same time excited to share his deep thoughts with someone. Cheeks slightly pink he mumbled, "My deepest fear is that I’m utterly useless and a shame to my family."

Harry wished he hadn’t been so open, and expected the Slytherins to say something or sneer. However, Pansy’s face was blank and Draco looked almost sympathetic. Now it was his turn, he took a deep breath and decided to be honest, "My worst fear is that I’m not what the Wizarding World wants me to be, that I’m just a little boy in a time that desperately needs a hero."

Finally, the circle returned to Draco and he looked hesitantly at his blonde friend before focusing on the floor in front of him. Quietly he said, "My worst fear is other people having power over me, being at the mercy of others."

Suddenly, Harry got a rather Slytherin idea, "Draco, you’re a Malfoy, what could you possibly know about not having power."

Taking another drink the other boy said, "More than you know. Sometimes being a Malfoy means more to sacrifice than to receive."

"Can I ask you a question? Knowing that you have to answer honestly?"

Draco looked guarded for a moment and then shrugged, looking very young and tired. "What were you talking about with Snape that you wouldn’t tell him?"

Eyes widening, he looked desperately at Pansy and she put a hand gently on his shoulder and whispered, "They can’t tell anyone, Dragon. The oath."

He closed his eyes and briefly incased her hands in his own and sighed. When he looked at them, Harry was distressed to see tears running down the other boy’s cheeks. Quickly he said, "You don’t have to talk about it."

"No, it’s fine. My father...has been different since he came back from Azkaban." Draco grabbed the bottle and pressed it to his lips. "And this summer before I came here he started coming into me room and...touching me." The last part came out in gasped sobs and the boy tried to wipe away the tears with a disgusted gesture.

Harry was overcome by a protective feeling deep in his gut and a great hatred for Lucius. All his barriers had fallen and the boy looked so innocent and sad laying there on the cave floor. Quietly, he stood and made his way over to him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder, causing the boy to flinch away. However, Harry gently ran his hands through the boy’s hair which only drew more violent sobs from him.

Upon touching him Harry got a flood of emotions; hatred, fear, disgust, self-hatred, dirty, the desire to be free from a body that was no longer completely his. It was too much for him and he jerked away, feeling a desperate need to protect the boy with a black mark on his soul.

"Um..." He wanted to say something to make him feel better, "My family used to lock me in a cupboard."

Draco let out a snotty laugh and pretty soon everyone in the cave was letting out chuckles at the absurb statement. Even Harry grinned and soon he found himself wrapping the larger boy into a tight embrace. After many reminders about the oath and a promise to meet again they all made their way to their own dorms. He and Neville did not speak of what they had heard and they both slept uneasily that night. Although, Harry found he could no longer hate the blonde and for the first time, felt at home during the summer.