The Only Friend You Have
It was six months since the end of the wizard war. The accused man sat in the center of the Wizengamot, which was completely dark, except for the spotlight that shone down on the prisoner.
He did not look at the judges. He kept his jaw clenched and stared at a spot on the floor in front of his feet.
The head judge spoke. "The prisoner has been accused of committing many serious crimes against the wizard world during the war. These are very serious charges. Does the accused have anything to say before this Wizengamot pronounces sentence on you?"
The man in the chair shuffled his feet slightly, reset his jaw and remained defiantly silent.
"Very well then" the head judge said.
From behind him, the prisoner heard a voice speak up from the gallery.
"Excuse me sir" she said.
"Yes" replied the head judge "who's there?"
"Hermione Granger" came the reply.
The man in the chair felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a strange flush came over his face. So, she came here to make sure they lock me up forever he thought. After all he'd done to her and her friends, she's here to have the last laugh. Hope she enjoys it, he thought sarcastically.
"Yes Miss Granger? You have something to add to this proceeding?"
He was magically bound to his chair, so he couldn't turn and look her in the face. He thought that was only fair, to be able to face his accuser.
He heard her take a deep breath and began "I have come here today to ask for leniency for Draco Malfoy."
At these words, he tried to whip his head around to face her, but the magical restraints held him facing forward.
"Leniency? After all he has been accused of? Especially what he has done to you and your closest friends Miss Granger?" the head judge inquired.
"Yes sir. Draco Malfoy was under the influence of the Dark Lord when he committed these crimes." His first name sounded so strange coming from her voice. He had never heard her say it before.
"The Dark Lord threatened his family if he did not comply. The Dark Lord was welcomed and sheltered by his parents in their home. They had a choice of sides during the war. Draco Malfoy had no choice. Any other wizard would have done the same, given the same circumstances. I ask the court to consider this in his sentencing today".
He heard her chair creak slightly. She must have finished her speech and sat down.
"Thank you for your input Miss Granger. We will take it under advisement" the head judge said.
The head judge cast a silencing charm so the other people present in the court could not hear the judges deliberation. Not that there was really anyone to hear anything. Draco had no one to speak on his behalf. His parents were already gone. There was only Hermione and a couple security wizards present for his final sentencing.
The judges seemed to take forever to deliberate. Although he couldn't hear them, he could vaguely see them and the deliberations seemed to get rather heated at one point. Finally the head judge rescinded his silencing charm and spoke.
"Draco Malfoy. Your crimes are serious. You have no one to speak on your behalf but an enemy. However, the testimony of Miss Granger on your behalf was most impressive to this court. She was one of the primary targets of your plans and yet she came here today on her own accord to speak for you. This has held a lot of sway with this court. Therefore your sentence will be"
Draco held his breath. He almost heard the head judge say "Azkaban" even though that wasn't what he said.
"Time served" was what he actually said. "Draco Malfoy, you are free to go. The security wizard will return your wand and escort you from the premises." The head judge flicked his wand and he was released from the chair. He stood quickly and spun around to see Granger, but she had already left. All he saw was a door to the gallery closing slowly in her wake.
After he left the ministry he immediately disapperate to Malfoy Manor. As soon as he arrived, he knew he couldn't stay. The place was colder and darker than ever. Every room still felt filled with the Dark Lord's presence. Every breath brought another terrible memory.
His father – sentenced to life in Azkaban right after the war. Later sentenced to the dememtor's kiss for conspiring with other Death Eaters while in prison.
His mother – sentenced to Azkaban as well, although not for life. However, before her final incarceration, the news arrived about his father's new sentence. That combined with Draco's arrest and impending trial had broken her mind. She now resided in St. Mungos, in the ward for the hopelessly insane.
He stayed at the manor for four days. He packed up the few things that he still cared about and moved to London.
Two years later
Hermione was enjoying her time at the Ministry. She had been granted a sort of internship program. She spent a few months working in different departments, trying them out to find a career. It was a bit of an unusual situation, but because of who she was, the Ministry had given her this special opportunity.
She had recently finished her internship in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It had been interesting, but not her favorite. Even with all she had learned from Hagrid (or maybe because of it), Magical Creatures would always scare her. She had moved on to the new department, Magical History. This was it – she had found her niche. It had not yet been a week, but she intended to stay on here.
"Come on Hermione, it'll be fun" Angelina Smithers said. "It's kind of a tradition". Angelina was a clerk who also worked in the Magical History department and she seemed to consider Hermione her new best friend.
She was trying to convince Hermione to join her and some other younger witches and wizards for a few Friday night drinks at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione was reluctant, but decided that one or two drinks couldn't hurt.
Draco was a regular at the Leaky Cauldron, and not in a good way. Often drunk and sullen, he continually tried to drown his thoughts with firewhiskey. It never really worked, but he never stopped trying. Hannah Abbott, the Cauldron's proprietor didn't like Draco and didn't want him in her pub so much. But, he never caused any trouble and his money never seemed to run out, so she continued to serve him. Today he'd come in early, ordered a small meal and firewhiskey. He sat at his usual small table in the darkest corner of the pub. He continued to drink steadily as the night went on.
Hermione finished the report she was working on, closed up her office and left the Ministry. It was a nice night, so she decided to walk to the Cauldron to meet Angelina and her friends. When she arrived, the pub was packed. She stood near the door looking for a familiar face. She found one, but not the one she expected. Malfoy was huddled in a dark corner, hunched over a glass of something amber colored. She guessed from his demeanor that it wasn't butterbeer.
Angelina had spotted her and called her name over the din of the pub. At the sound of her name. Malfoy jerked his head up and scowled at her. Hermione ignored him and joined her friends.
She genuinely enjoyed her time with the young witches and wizards from the ministry that Angelina introduced her to. There were jokes and laughing about friends and their jobs, and no talk about the war. After two drinks though, Hermione was beginning to get tired and said her goodbyes and set out of the Cauldron to go home.
Malfoy continued to drink as he watched Granger laughing with the other ministry workers. Just another Ministry toadie now, he thought. "Hero Hermione" he had begun to call her. It still burned him that she had been the one to speak for him at his trial. He should be grateful, but his freedom felt heavy and sour, coming to him through her. He watched her say her goodnights to her friends and move towards the door. Draco slunk out the door before she did. He wanted to talk to her, but he didn't know why or what he wanted to say.
Hermione paused outside the door, breathing in the night air, trying to decide if she wanted to walk home or apperate.
"Hey, Granger" a voice growled at her from beside the pub's door. She spun around and found herself facing Malfoy for the first time in two years.
"Malfoy" she said with absolutely no inflection. He had no power over her anymore. She felt nothing for the blond man. No hate, no disgust, no fear, not even pity. She had not spared one moment's thought on Malfoy since that day in the Wizengamot.
He stumbled towards her, obviously very drunk. "I wanted to say" he began, but didn't finish. Instead his body heaved and he vomited. On her. Wonderful, she thought. Then he passed out. She barely caught him before he cracked his face on the sidewalk. Well, she thought. This is a lovely situation. Here I stand, on the street, covered in sick, holding Malfoy. She had no idea what to do now.
She couldn't leave him in the street like this. She didn't know where he lived. Her best plan was to apperate them both to the Ministry and hope his house was connected to the Floo network. Securing her grip on him tightly to make sure he didn't splinch, more problems to deal with there, and apperated to the ministry. She dragged Malfoy to the nearest fireplace, threw a fistful of Floo powder into the fire, yelled "Draco Malfoy's house" and jumped into the green flames as best she could with the unconscious Malfoy.
They tumbled from the fireplace on to a hard floor. Malfoy had landed on top of her and he was heavy. She cast a Levicorpus charm on him and carried him through the apartment looking for the bedroom. It was a small place, and sparsely furnished. The bedroom was the second door she tried. It was a blank white room, with only one dresser and a large bed occupying the space. She put Malfoy on the bed, took off his shoes and shirt, and covered him with a blanket.
Although she could have Scourgified the mess from her clothes, she still didn't want to spend another moment in the sick covered things. She rummaged through the drawers of the dresser looking for something to wear. She found a tee shirt and a pair of drawstring sweats in the second drawer. She went to the bathroom and quickly changed. She put the smelly clothes in the bathtub, and took her purse and her wand with her. Then she didn't know what to do. She had never been around anyone that had gotten that sick from drink. Was it safe to leave him like this? She thought she'd better sleep on the couch, just in case.
She pulled a blanket from underneath Malfoy. He didn't so much as grunt. She settled on the couch for the night, her wand tucked under her pillow and pondered the absurdity of this situation.
One year ago, she had been seriously considering marrying Ron Weasley. He had proposed, but instead of jumping into his arms and yelling "Yes!" she had asked for some time to think. That in itself was not a good sign. After a couple days of back and forth in her head, she realized that she loved him as a brother, not a husband. The feelings had been so intense during and after the war, it had been easy to mistake them for passion, but once everything had started returning to normal, the passion had waned.
So she turned down his proposal. He was sad, but seemed to accept her decision well. She thought that in his heart, he probably realized that she was right. She had even been back to the Burrow a couple times for family dinners and was a bridesmaid at Harry and Ginny's wedding.
Still pondering the strange circumstances that had put her on Malfoy's couch, she drifted off to sleep.
Draco had always been plagued with nightmares, since his sixth year at Hogwarts. Not one single night had gone by without them. Now, there were always the same few dreams – the Dark Lord lurking around every corner of the Manor or Hogwarts, ready to kill him or his parents at the slightest provocation; Professor Burbage's death and the Dark Lord's damnable snake, Nagini consuming her body, only it became Draco the snake was eating and he was still alive, feeling the snake's jaws tighten around his body; Crabbe's fire curse going terribly wrong in the Room of Requirement, only this time, Harry and Ron didn't save him, he felt the fire burning him to death. And the worst one – his Aunt Bellatrix torturing Granger right in front of his eyes, and he was powerless to do anything about it.
He always woke from these nightmares burning hot yet also covered in cold sweat. Any ideas of sleep from then on were a sweet memory. Since he had one of these nightmares every night, his sleep had been severely limited the last four years.
Hermione woke in the middle of the night and was disoriented. It took a minute for her to remember where she was and why she was here. Then she heard the sound that had woken her. Malfoy was loudly calling her name. Had he woken enough earlier to know she was the one that brought him home? She went to his bedroom, opened the door slightly and looked in. Malfoy looked as if he were still asleep, but he was beginning to thrash around and was still calling her name. A nightmare, she thought. She went to the side of his bed and tried to shake him awake, but he didn't respond. What he did was clutch her hand like a drowning man and wouldn't let go. He began to calm down and sink back into a deep slumber. His grip on Hermione's hand loosened. She started to leave to return to the couch, but he started to moan again. She sat down beside him on the bed and put her hand in his again. Only for a few minutes, she thought. Just until he calms down. I'll never be able to sleep with him yelling all night anyway. She yawned and closed her eyes.
The morning sun pierced Draco's closed eyes like daggers. Matching knives of pain stabbed at his head. Hung over again, he cursed himself. He cracked one eye open to see where he had ended up last night. His own apartment, that was a good start. Then he heard and felt someone moving beside him in the bed. Got lucky too by the looks of it, he thought. It might not have been that bad a night after all. He also felt surprisingly rested, for being as hung over as he was. He had not woken once covered in that horrible cold sweat. Maybe it was finally getting to be over. He turned on his side and rose up on his elbow to see who the lucky lady was this time. She turned from her side to her back and Draco almost yelped in horror. Fucking Granger? In his clothes? What the hell happened last night? He jumped from the bed and almost yelled at her, but he wanted to collect his thoughts first. He bolted for the living room and the kitchen beyond.
As he started coffee, he realized he was still wearing the pants he had on last night, so he knew that he probably hadn't actually slept with Granger. That realization came as a tremendous relief. But what was she doing here, and in his bed? He collected coffee mugs and cream and sugar, put everything on a tray and took it to his bedroom.
Hermione smelled coffee and started to wake up. But she realized that this was wrong, she lived alone, who was making coffee? She bolted straight up in bed and took in her surroundings. Merlin's ghost, she was in Draco Malfoy's bed! She must have fallen asleep after his nightmares subsided. Malfoy must be the one making the coffee. She wanted to disapperate at that second, before he came back, but her wand was still in the living room. And Draco was standing in the doorway with a tray in his hands.
He set the tray down beside her on the bed. "Morning Granger." he said as if this was the most normal situation in the world.
"Good morning Malfoy" she replied.
"Coffee?" he asked.
"Uh, please" she stammered. He poured her a cup and she added cream and sugar. As she was stirring, the surreal scene became too much for her. She banged the cup back down on the coffee tray and ran for the living room. All she wanted was her wand so she could get out of here.
Malfoy followed her and caught her wrist. "Wait" he said. "Just wait one minute. Why are you here?" he asked.
Hermione told him about the meeting outside the Cauldron, him getting sick and passing out and how she had gotten him back to his apartment. She told him why she was wearing his clothes. "Don't worry" she said "I didn't rummage through all your drawers. I grabbed the first thing I thought I could wear".
"Ok" Malfoy drawled, "But, then how did you come to be in my bed?" he asked.
She told him about his calling her name and how she checked on him. She told him that he had calmed down, but started to yell again as she was leaving his room. "So I was going to sit beside you on the bed until I was sure you were back asleep, and I must have fallen asleep too" she told him.
"Wait a second" he said "I grabbed your hand and calmed down?" he asked
"Yes" she replied, "You must have been having a bad dream. I figured that at one point you had woken up enough to know that I was the one who brought you home and you wanted my help."
His head was spinning slightly and it wasn't from the hangover. He hadn't called her name because he knew she was there. He was having that nightmare again. The one about her and Bellatrix. He had been kicked out of enough beds for yelling another woman's name in his sleep to know that when he had that particular dream, he called Granger's name. The part that baffled him was that he had calmed down and gone back to sleep. He had plenty of company in many different beds in the last few years, and not once had the nightmares ever stopped before the completion, waking to his own yelling, burning hot and covered in cold sweat. To Malfoy this was even more confusing and unsettling than if his first thoughts upon waking had been the truth.
Hermione watched him stare at her for a few moments before she got too uncomfortable with the whole situation. She grabbed her purse and her wand from under the pillow on the couch and was going to disapperate post haste.
"WAIT" Draco yelled. She paused. "I'll have your clothes cleaned and returned to you. Send me a bill for the shoes"
She gaped at him for exactly one half a second and immediately disapperated to her apartment.