Title: Broken Chains
Summary: After being wrongly accused of his Mother's murder, Draco Malfoy is released back into the Wizarding world, but they are not as welcoming as he had hoped. Can one person, one girl, change the whole situation?
Disclaimer: All I own is half a packet of strepsils…and the odd Easter egg,
Chapter One:
He sat alone in his dingy Azkaban cell. The cell that had been his home for the past four years. After being wrongly accused for the murder of his mother, he had spent every waking moment desperately clinging to the very few happy memories he had.
Flashback
She was always with her friends. Why could he never get on her own, even just for two minutes? It didn't matter; she probably wouldn't talk to him anyway. She caught his eye and he smiled at her but she just looked away skeptically, took another bite of her dinner and continued her conversation with her friends.
End flashback
A noise to his left pulled him from his memories and he saw Cornelius Fudge standing in front of him. He stood up and looked quizzically at the older wizard.
"Master Malfoy," Fudge greeted the blonde haired wizard with a slightly bowed head. "I am afraid we have made a mistake. You are, in fact, an innocent man," The glint that had left Draco's eyes many years ago had returned with an unexplained force.
"I told you!" Draco screamed, pointing at Fudge. Fudge took a couple of steps backwards.
"I…well…Yes Master Malfoy, we are all very sorry for the mistake but if you would like to come with me?" Fudge stammered, beckoning him to follow. Draco took one last look around at all the people who were slumped against the walls, skeletal and fragile. He sighed, before following Fudge back to the Wizarding world.
A few minutes away, Ginny Potter was pacing around her living room.
"Ginny, calm down!" Hermione cried. "I'm sure everything's fine!" Ginny spun around on the spot, her face matching the color of her hair.
"No! It's not alright!" She cried, about to launch into her reasons when the sound of the door opening bought silence upon the room.
"I'm home!" Called the weary voice of Harry Potter. Ginny ran out of the room and threw herself onto her husband.
"I was so worried about you!" She sobbed into his chest. He soothed her and rubbed her back gently, the whole time whispering into her ear that he was okay, and he was going to explain everything.
He led her back into the lounge, where he greeted Hermione with a hug.
"She's been worried sick about you," Hermione gestured towards Ginny, who was still clinging helplessly to Harry, afraid that if she let go, he would disappear again.
"I'm sorry sweetie," Harry said, looking at Ginny's still panic stricken face.
"You were supposed to be home five hours ago!" She reprimanded, the odd tear still escaping her eyes.
"I know sweetie, I'm really sorry. But the Ministry found Lucius Malfoy and he confessed to everything, so Draco had to be released, which landed me in the middle of a lot of paperwork. I guess I just forgot to let you know,"
Ginny buried her face into Harry's shirt and mumbled.
"I better get home," Hermione decided. "You look after her!" She told Harry, before stepping into the fireplace and flooing home.
Meanwhile, Draco was familiarizing himself with the Malfoy Manor again, so grateful to be home. Part of him knew that he had Harry Potter to thank, since he was the only person all along to believe his innocence. Hermione had done a lot of work for him as well, but nobody saw that except Harry and himself, which meant that he would have to thank her as well.
He decided that the 'Thank You's' could wait until the morning. All he needed right now was to have a bath and go to bed.
Hermione arrived home to her cold, empty apartment in Somerset. She sighed as she put her coat back on the hook behind the front door and, without changing, climbed into her empty bed and settled on another night alone.
The next morning was a flurry of interviews, photographs and visits for Harry and Draco. Various magazine and newspaper journalists wanted to know the full story of how Draco Malfoy was spectacularly saved from a dreary Azkaban death by the famous Harry Potter and how he was the only person to believe Draco's innocence all along.
By early afternoon, Draco and Harry had satisfied all of the journalists so they had the rest of the day free from flashing cameras and quick quote quills scratching irritably at pieces of parchment.
Draco decided that this would be the right time to go and visit Hermione and say thank you to her for everything she had done for him. After checking her address with Harry, he stepped into the fireplace and flooed to Hermione's small apartment.
He came out to a small lounge that was littered with books, newspaper articles, quills and various pieces of parchment. After glancing over just a couple of them, Draco could see that Hermione had been working for him right up until the last few days until Lucius was found. Draco was astounded by the amount of work she had obviously put in for him. He walked around the room for a bit, waiting for Hermione to make an appearance. On the mantelpiece, he was a photo that had been taken at the very end of the seventh year at Hogwarts. It was of the golden trio, but in the background you could just spot Draco looking at Hermione, as if he was waiting to say something. But he stayed there, in the background.
A small noise behind him caused him to turn around. Hermione exited her bathroom into the lounge where Draco was stood, but she hadn't noticed him yet. She was wrapped in a short bath towel and she was using another towel to rub her long brown hair dry. Draco stood in awe as she strode into the room next to the bathroom, astounded that the girl that he had tried to ignore for seven whole years could be so beautiful. He snapped out of his daydream in time to see Hermione exit what Draco assumed to be her bedroom in a long white skirt that lapped around her thin legs every time she walked and a well-fitted purple strap sleeved top, her frizzy hair pulled straight down her back.
"Hello," she said, slightly unsure why Draco was in her lounge. Draco tried to take his mind off of her to stop himself blushing.
"Hi," was all he could say. Hermione looked at Draco and smiled slightly.
"Are you okay?" She asked, trying to work out why he was here. He nodded and turned away. "You look a lot better now you're home again," she commented, trying to make conversation. After saying this, she observed him, noticing how much he had changed since Hogwarts and, indeed, since leaving Azkaban a mere few hours ago.
"Thanks," he said, turning back to face her. "Listen, I just popped by to say thank you for everything you did for me when I was stuck in there. It really means a lot to me," Hermione smiled and took a step towards him.
"I knew you didn't do it," she replied, placing a hand on Draco's shoulder that sent shivers down his spine. "And I wasn't going to stand around and let you rot in there. Nobody deserves that if they're innocent,"
Draco looked at her in surprise. After everything he had ever done or ever said to her, she still put herself through all of that trouble to make sure that he was treated fairly. Draco was astounded.
"Anyway," he said, snapping himself out of his daydream, "How about you come round tonight for dinner. It's the least I could do,"
"Oh, you don't have to do that," Hermione said, not meeting his eyes. He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Yes I do. You did so much for me when I was in there, and I could never repay you for that. So please. Let me do this one thing for you?"
Eventually, Hermione finally gave in and agreed to be at Malfoy Manor for six o clock.