Why are you so lonely?

Draco Malfoy has changed. He is anything but arrogant and rude any more. Will this new Malfoy be accepted and loved?

Prologue

The war has ended, and most of the students are coming back to Hogwarts to complete their final year, which they missed because of the war. Hermione Granger is made the Head Girl of Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy is made the head boy. (Now, some unheard parts of the war : When Lucious and Narcissa Malfoy were running away from the war, Draco stepped back looked directly at Lucious in his eyes, without a hint of fear and said I will stay and fight. Lucious questioningly asked him, " But there are lot of death eaters, they don't need us." "No, I am fighting against them" Saying this he turned back towards the war, with every advancing steps he knew there was no return. "Never come back, never show us your filthy face again, forget that you are a Malfoy." shouted his father with rage filled eyes. Draco never looked back, a tear escaping his eyes.)
Back to reality, no one other than Professor McGonaggal knows this, so everyone has their own reasons to hate him, Gryfindor Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff because they know he was a death eater and tried to kill Dumbledore. And Slytherin because most of them are sons and daughters of death eaters and for them he is a traitor.
So one month has passed and he has no friends, everyone looks at him with either hate filled eyes or are scared of him. The head boy and girl has a common room for discussions of which only he and Hermione had access to. As Draco has shifted his trunk in that room, Hermione very rarely goes there, but despite others she did not fail to notice the difference in him and she is the only one who is civil to him.

The Masquerade Ball
Recently we have become real good friends, I don't know how I have come to trust him so much, when no one did, when all my friends have always been against him. When he has insulted me all my life, when he has the dark mark up his forearm, but today all of that feels like a distant memory. Like I have discovered a new guy, and all of the 17 years have become a blur, all of it is forgotten. It feels like i have never known him, in all these years whatever I saw was a facade, I saw what he wanted me to see. Every time I saw his eyes, it felt like the those cold grey orbs were mocking me, but now as they look at me with so much emotion that I can't help staring at the beauty of his eyes. They aren't grey but the color of the most excellently polished silver. His eyes were warm like the ashes of the burning fire. They were filled with pride yet the hint of vulnerability which he was desperately trying to hide. His eyes had the power to hold me still, to make me feel like the most beautiful lady ever. The music ended and everyone cheered and clapped, the head boy head girl dance had ended, everyone crowded around me cheering my name, no one gave him a second glance, his lips smiled at me but that smile never reached his eyes. His arms left me, as my friends had already reached there and were glaring at him. He whispered *Enjoy* and walked out of the crowd, who was already shooting daggers with their eyes at him. The moment he left me, I felt cold inside, felt lonely in this huge crowd, felt hollow within, as if those crystal eyes took a part of me with them. I don't understand, why me out of all could not bring myself to hate him anymore, may be because I have seen him sitting alone near the fireplace every day, may be because I have never seen him go to his Slytherin common room, from the day we got our own rooms as school heads,may be because I have seen his eyes glisten seeing everyone happy with their friends sitting at a far corner, may be because I have seen him failing miserably at hiding his vulnerability, may be because I am slowly falling in love with this notorious blonde guy. I excused myself from my friends, and walked to the corner of the bar where I had previously seen him, but he wasn't there anymore. I scanned the whole party, because even in this masquerade ball his platinum blonde hair and striking silver eyes were unmistakable. Somewhere inside I knew that he must have left the party, so I directly went to our common room. Though I have never stayed in our common room, but he most certainly made it his new home. As I was the only one other than him to know the password of that room, and being me I very rarely went there and that too never without a solid cause. But today when I unlocked the door, I saw him there, he was sitting on the couch, few drops of tears threatening to fall, staring blankly at the fire place. He did not even register my presence till I put my hand on his bare shoulder. His muscles got tensed at the mere contact, I came in front of him and his eyes locked into mine. The way he looked at me, I realised that he has broken all his walls down and I was looking straight into his soul. I have never seen him so vulnerable before. I sat down beside him, and that was the first time I saw a huge gash on his dark mark. It wasn't bleeding anymore, so may be it had healed but the cut mark was too big to get unnoticed. I couldn't help a silent drop of tear that rolled down my cheeks. He slowly came close to me and placed his soft lips on my lone drop of tear. He inched away our faces barely touching and placed his hand on my face , looking at me expectantly, but did not close the gap making it completely my choice. His eyes had now become a shade darker than usual, like a storm filled with desire and passion, despite of myself I placed my one hand on his neatly placed platinum hair, and one hand on his chest, closing my eyes I leaned into him stopping just centimeters away, "Draco" I whispered, my lips barely touching his. I breathed in his scent of vanilla and peppermint, which calmed my every nerve. That moment I could feel his breath on my lips, he was so close that I could see a faint scar on the edge of his lip, may be because he bites his lip whenever he is unsure or scared, like he is doing now, a light smile touched my lips and suddenly all my hesitation evaporated and I pressed my lips into his. The moment our lips touched, I could feel light goosebumps on my body,he gently caressed my face and neck . His other hand unconsciously moved to my waist pulling me closer, my hand moved through his perfect hair, messing them up. His lips felt so soft against mine, that it felt like a dream. He licked my lower lip and the sensation alone made me tremble with desire. He moaned my name before deepening the kiss, I could feel his heart beating against mine, He had somehow poured all his emotions in this kiss, and I felt them all every bit of them and slowly letting myself drown in his love. When we pulled apart, we were barely inches apart, catching our breaths, he looked into my eyes, for any signs of regret or withdrawal, like anything that could break this fragile moment beyond repair, I could see fear in his eyes, fear of loneliness, fear of me leaving him. A smile escaped my lips, and I could see him visibly relaxing, he pulled me closer and I rested my head on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around him and he cuddled me in. We sat in silence, breathing each others scent and taking in the warmth of the other till our eyes drifted off to sleep.