Draco Malfoy had never been more nervous in his life, and that was saying something. He had apparated to Ottery St. Catchpole, the village in which he knew the newly-wed Potter's lived from his temporary flat in London in the dead of the night.
Oh yes, of course, everybody heard about Harry Potter getting married.
Every magical place you went, you could hear people discussing Harry Potter and his new wife Ginny. It was by far the most popular topic of conversation. He could not leave the house without hearing-
"Did you hear she's his best friends little sister?!" From drunk warlocks at the Leaky Cauldron.
"She's not even pretty! He could do so much better!" From jealous teenage witches, and in some cases-wizards.
"Oh, what attractive children they'll have!" From old couples.
The list went on.
It was huge news, it made the front page of The Prophet and was the only topic of Witch Weekly since the wedding happened a month ago and would probably be for many more months. Not that Draco read Witch Weekly, it wasn't his fault that his girlfriend Astoria had all the newest copies laying around. Not to mention that their trash can was full of old ones. He smiled at the thought of Astoria, but it was short lived because his mind went back to what he was about to do.
Because of Astoria's copies of Witch Weekly, Draco also knew precisely what house the Potter's lived in in the massive village of Ottery St. Catchpole. The picture of the nice looking two story house had made the front page of the magazine, and Draco knew Harry had been extremely unhappy about it. For in the next issue, the front page was of a very angry Harry Potter and the article below it was his statement about how it was an "Extreme violation of privacy!" And that he was going to "Sue this magazine!"
Draco had finally gotten the nerve to do what he was about to do, even though it was about 2 in the morning and he didn't know if they would be awake and it was two years too late for this, but he was still going to do it. He knew he should've don't it a long time ago- but better late than never.
And then he could see the large house and he kept getting closer and closer to it, already feeling queasy.
Meanwhile...
The inside of the Potter's new house was just as nice as the outside. The countertops were shiny, everything was organized, the curtains and sofas were made of satin, and there was a beautiful portrait of Lily and James Potter in the middle of the sitting room. Upstairs there were 4 bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.
Kreacher was currently cooking a delicious meal for his masters and mistresses Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. The latter two were gossiping happily, although it was not a word they would've used to describe what they were doing as neither considered themselves to be gossips.
The two wizards were concentrating hard on a game of Chess, although it was obvious Ron was going to win.
Now, usually Ron and Hermione wouldn't be over at Harry and Ginny's at 2 in the morning but Harry and Ginny had just gotten back from their honeymoon and there was catching up to do.
"Did you hear about Lavender and Seamus?" Hermione asked Ginny.
*Yes I know that Lavender dies in the movie, but it doesn't specify if she does in the book and for the sake of the story, she survived.*
Harry's head snapped up from his and Ron's game of Chess at the mention of his two former classmates that he still saw every now and then while Ron smirked.
"No, what about them?" Ginny asked, interested. She knew Hermione and Lavender had suddenly been on good terms the minute Lavender started dating Seamus after the war.
"No, I suppose you wouldn't, you've been gone for a month. Well anyway, they eloped a week ago."
"They didn't!" Ginny said, her mouth hanging open.
"Yep." Hermione grinned a most un-Hermione-ish grin. "He took her to one of his families annual Irish parties and well, they got drunk and decided to elope in the middle of it! His mother didn't even object, she was drunk too!"
Then suddenly there was a knock on the door. Since Ginny was closest to it she went to answer it, Harry following close behind her with his wand out. Who would be visiting them in the dead of the night?
At the same time...
Draco was shivering, despite it being nearly 75 degrees. He raised his fist to the door and knocked twice. A very happy looking Ginny Potter answered the door and gasped when she saw him. Behind her, he saw a confused looking Harry Potter and as he looked further into the house, he saw a unsure-of-what-to-say Hermione Granger and a Ron Weasley, who looked like he had crapped his pants.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here?!" Ron erupted, taking his wand out and pointing it at Draco, the first to speak.
"Ron, stop." Hermione put a hand on Ron's chest. "Let him explain himself first."
Draco tried to offer her a weak smile, much to everyone's surprise. "I've come her to-to-"
"Well come in then," Harry said.
Draco stepped into the house and Harry closed the door behind him. Draco took a deep breath.
"I've come here to apologize for the way I treated you- all of you in our Hogwarts years. I was a- there is not a word bad enough to describe it."
Ron mumbled a few choice words for what Draco was under his breath, making sure everyone could here him.
"I was dumb, close-minded, ignorant, blood prejudiced and arrogant and I know that now, I don't want to be that type of person anymore and I wanted to apologize to all of you because you deserve it more than anyone. I also wanted to thank you for saving my life twice, I definitely didn't deserve that, but you're better people than I am and that's how it's always been. I know this apology is two years too late and I should've said this a long time ago, and I'm sorry for that too. I just thought you should know. I'm not asking to be friends or anything, but can we please put what a douche-bag I was behind us and start over?"
Harry wouldn't have believed that all of that had come out of Draco Malfoy's mouth if he hadn't seen his lips move. Everybody stared at Draco dumbfounded for a good minute.
Then Harry grinned. "Wow, I'm impressed." And shook Draco's hand. Hermione was beaming, Ginny looked skeptical but pleased, and Ron grudgingly followed Harry's suite.
"Merlin's pants, Malfoy, never thought I'd ever hear so much as a 'sorry' from you." Ron said, looking Draco up and down.