I had very little contact with Draco Malfoy when he first arrived at Hogwarts. I had heard about him, that he was in the year below me, and in Slytherin. I no longer went to the Slytherin common rooms as I had the year before. He seemed to really like my uncle but only because he was the head of Slytherin. My uncle seemed to like him a little less simply because he was a little too arrogant.

My attitude towards him was non-graced. I knew his family were pure-bloods. This actually made me like him a little bit more. However, they were also very rich. He made it known how rich, how well he could ride a broom and mad fun of my friends for being poor. This made me react very badly. In fact, he made many people react badly. My mother’s side were poor. My father lived in an orphanage when he was young and I don’t know how much money he had but I always assumed us to be poor in money yet strong in magic.

By his second year he had bought his way onto the Slytherin quidditch team which didn’t sit well with any of us. I just remember him desperately wanting to be the heir of Slytherin and yet… he was nothing. To say this boosted my moral would be an understatement. I hated what he represented. Everything I didn’t have. This unfortunately was made even worse when I found out that his father was none other than Lucius Malfoy. Governor of the school, Ministry of Mysteries, Ex-death eater, and killer of Severina Snape. This was a card that I was to keep closely to my chest at all times.

Draco’s attitude did not improve over the years. Due to future incidents, I reckon that his parents had my uncle rapped around their little finger and he was made to be kind to him and such but I don’t link that he really wanted to. All Draco was ever interested in was getting other people in trouble and as long as he wasn’t me my uncle was fine with it. He didn’t have a huge number of friends and was never one of the popular kids. He only had two idiot side-kicks. This always surprised me because he was actually quite smart. He just always went about making friends in the wrong way. It’s as though you could see him trying to do it but failing each time. I suppose us Gryffindors just find it that much easier to make friends.

The bully that people always saw within Draco is the person that was bullied by his parents, especially his father. When my father regained a body and rose to some sort of power, he was bullied into becoming a death eater. I saw it. He was made to watch things, made to become something that in truth, I don’t think he was. We rebuilt the vanishing cabinet together. In the process of doing that we became friends. We understood each other. Neither of us felt comfortable. Neither of us wanted to be singled out and yet we were. Sometimes you look to your enemies and find that you have similar goals. Draco was to kill Dumbledore and myself and my uncle were to prolong his life until the end. Eventually, the inevitable happens but we made sure that the young stay innocent. That the burdens never lay with them.

I heard that Draco was bullied again. I wasn’t there but my father called for “followers” people to join him and Draco was bullied once more by both his father and my father. He didn’t want to. But he did. He became the loyal follower that his family wanted him to be, for the honour of the Malfoy name. I also heard that they left. That they walked away, ashamed. I don’t know how true it is. Again, I wasn’t there.

Draco Malfoy has become one of my best friends and I wouldn’t have it any other way. He has seen me through some very rough times, and some wonderful times, I hope he can say the same for me. When I returned from “time away” in 1998 he was one of the few people to get very angry with me. Perhaps you underestimate the greatness of your friendship when they get angry with you. The thing is it is because you are such good friends that they get angry with you in the first place.

Draco is a loving person. He never gave up. There were plenty of times that he could have done but he didn’t. I know that he cared for his wife Astoria before she died and I know that she was able to bring out the best in him. I know this because she was my friend. A fellow in the transfiguration community. I promised her that I would do my best for him. He cares for his son Scorpius too, which you can never underestimate.

Thank you, Draco. I love you; you are one of the best.

Always Lou.