I've been toying with this one for a while. A plot bunny that I simply can't get out of my head. I'll admit I'm not used to writing things without a great deal of drama and angst so this is a new one for me. I love the idea of Draco learning about the muggle world. I think the only way we can truly rid ourselves of prejudice is to understand what the other persons life and culture is like, so I feel this would be a wonderful way for Draco Malfoy to stop being such a prat.
Thank you to everyone who read Lady Bluebell if that brought you here, and if not, check it out.
The court was polished and cleaned for this very well broadcasted event. Wizards and witches were packed into the room with the hope of seeing every Death Eater that had killed the people they loved being served with a kiss. Hermione was in the front row with Ron, Ginny and Harry. They had all agreed that they weren't there to satisfy a need but to know that it was happening.
"Draco Malfoy, you are being tried for murder, use of unforgivable curses, and the attempted murder of Al–"
"Sir." Harry's voice silenced everyone, every head including Draco Malfoy's turned to look. "I would like to testify on behalf of Mr. Malfoy." No one denied Harry of that right. The Minister of Magic motioned for Harry to come forward and he approached the bench.
"I was at the tower the night Dumbledore died, Draco couldn't do it. He lowered his wand. When we were captured by Snatchers he was asked to identify us and he didn't. He was forced to do what he had to do and at the end of the war he was able to break free from Voldemort's side."
"You are suggesting that we just let him go?" a magistrate member said with eyebrows raised.
"No, we personally think that a state of probation would be better suited." Arthur Weasley said with a tense look on his face.
"We will discuss this over a short recess. We will convene in 15 minutes." Half of the room cleared out and the murmur of the court members discussed matters. Hermione sat in the front still, catching Draco's eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking away. He looked horrible, not like the usual clean and controlled Malfoy.
"Do you want some hot chocolate, 'Mione?" Ron asked and she smiled, "Two please." He eyed her confused for a moment but complied bringing the hot cocoa back to her. She set hers on the bench and walked over to Malfoy, whose hands were magically bounded.
"Stay still." She told him pulling the headband from her hair and pulling his…gross hair back from his face. He grimaced and she could tell that he wasn't happy about her touching him. "Are you thirsty?"
"With all the drinks they give us at Wizagamot, how could I be?" he said sarcastically and she lifted the cup of hot cocoa to his lips. He took a sip carefully and Hermione pulled it away. "Didn't poison it did you, Granger?"
"I don't play dirty like you do." She said thinking back to when her ex-boyfriend Ron had been poisoned because of Malfoy slipping it into Dumbledore's wine. She lifted it to his mouth again and he took another sip.
"What are you doing, Hermione?" Ron said looking at her confused. "That bastard doesn't deserve your mercy."
"He is a human, Ronald, and I will choose who is worthy of my mercy." She lifted the cup up again and Draco turned his head away. He shouldn't have accepted anything from her. It left him with a acrid taste in his mouth that ruined the hot chocolate for him. "Alright then." She said walking back to her seat to drink her own. The court convened and some people snapped pictures of Draco Malfoy with his hair held back in a pink headband. That would be a humiliating picture.
She sat back down between Ron and Harry. Ron held up her hot chocolate for her and she smiled. They had been through a lot together, broke up, but nothing would tear apart their friendship. It happened fast, both losing so much in the war and when it was over, they wanted different things. Ron wanted to stay and rebuild the burrow with his family, go into business with George for a little while he tried out for Quidditch teams and Hermione wanted to study and learn and travel. She wanted to go to new places and test new theories. Harry had always been the buffer between them and with him finding his own way and Ginny, they realized they couldn't always rely on Harry being a medium for them. It was a good break up, if there ever was one.
"Order, order." The Minister said and everyone took their seats. "We have come to a decision. Hermione Granger, please stand."
Hermione was surprised to hear her name and stood up moving closer to the minister. "Miss Granger, you are traveling to America to teach at the Salem's Witch Academy correct?"
"Yes sir," she said confused as to why he asked when he was the one that picked her in the first place. Of course looking back at Draco and seeing the mirrored shock pieces started to fall into place. She wondered if giving him the hot chocolate may have been the ultimate downfall for her in the decision making.
"We would like you to bring along Mr. Malfoy and watch over him for the period of a year and six months. He will not be allowed a wand while under your care. If possible we would like Mr. Malfoy to work with muggles, so he can better understand their world." Draco's eyes widened. Hermione knew that at this point he was wishing for the dementor's kiss. "
"Consider it your first muggle studies class Mr. Malfoy. If you do anything we deem unacceptable you will be sent to Azkaban for the total of ten years." The magistrate said with a finality that felt like a heavy stone dropped unto him.
"You want me to live with her?" he thrashed about looking absolutely mad. He gnashed his teeth at the guard. "She'll kill me! Just what you all want, isn't it?"
He turned to stare at the crowd. "I never had a fucking chance. Ever."
Draco wrenched the pink headband out of his hair the second they unshackled him. He smashed the thing against the tiny rectangle mirror in the corner of the room, glaring extra hard when it landed in the metal toilet they had generously put in the cell for him to use. Of course he had a little privacy with the four walls of the cell and a sturdy door with only one window in it, but he was a Malfoy and he was treated like an animal in a cage.
His eyes caught his reflection in the mirror and he instantly felt sick. He ran the water in the sink and lowered his head into the cold water. Of course they had offered him access to a public shower, but he wasn't about to take a shower with a bunch of blood thirsty Death Eaters that were out for his life. His hair had properly soaked through when the door opened. He twisted, getting an earful of water as he did to see the intruder.
"They told me you haven't properly showered in months."
"Do you intend to know all my business, Granger?" he growled. Sticking his head further into the water.
"Only your every day itinerary, eating habits, allergies, and bowel movements." she said flatly, for a moment fooling him that she was serious. "When they were debriefing me about you I remembered that I still had some things that might come in handy."
"Sod off, Granger. I don't need your bloody help."
"Listen, Malfoy, you are about to walk out of here a free man, by most standards." she raised her eyebrows, removing the shampoo and the scissors from her bag. "I think you might want to show the world you're ready for a fresh start."
She didn't wait for his reply as she approached, rolling up her sleeves to scrub the grime out of his hair. He flinched when her fingers dug into the rat's nest on his head, but Draco couldn't admit to himself that human contact was solely missed. He turned his head to make it easier, his eyes focusing on the creamy skin of her forearm as her fingers massaged his scalp. The angry red scar stood out like a sore thumb, a terrible reminder of who she was so obvious on her skin. He had hoped that the scar would have become a jumble of lines, but no, the enchanted silver blade left it clear as the day it was carved.
She wasn't gentle with the towel as she dried his hair. She dropped it to the ground and gestured to the skinny cot he had been sleeping on. He didn't say a word, fearing she would take it as a thank you for everything she was doing. She cut his hair short. He winced every time a clump of the hair fell to his lap.
"I took the liberty of packing up some essentials from your home," she said as she dug out clean clothing from her bag. "We are on a tight schedule. You've become quite the target and coupled with me I'm sure that would make it a kill two birds with one stone for any Death Eaters still on the loose. We need to be out of here in twenty minutes."
"Are you going to stay in here while I change, or will you allow me that much privacy?"
"Trust me, Malfoy, you are no charity case to me. I'm being forced into this as much as you are, you disgust me. I can't honestly look at you without thinking about how much of a waste of space you truly are, but I'm not cruel. I won't make you feel less of a human like you've made me."
Hermione had a frown fixed on her face when they flooed into her childhood home. It was dark, but preserved since her parents had left. She was happy they didn't end up selling the house when they moved to Australia, hoping that was a sign that some seed of doubt was in their mind about leaving in the first place.
"Where are we?"
"My childhood home. It's warded, so we will stay here for the night and leave in the morning. I have flights booked for us."
"This is your house?" he said looking around the spacious empty parlor. In first year his father did do a little digging about the mudblood, finding that for muggles her parent's earned a fairly high amount and if he was correct lived in one of the highest earning suburbs in London. He remembered the beating he got for talking so much about a mudblood. He still had a scar on his back from the cane lashing he received.
"My parents moved during the war. I'll set up a bedroom for us for the night."
"A bedroom? As in one?" he looked around. "There is probably five other bedrooms here you could set me up in."
"Four, but I plan to ensure you don't escape during the night on my watch. Not that you would really have anywhere to run to."
She led him upstairs to her old bedroom, watching as he took in the surroundings.
"What is it your parent's do for a living?"
"Dentists...or they were, before the war."
"What does a dentist do?"
"They are healers for teeth." she said opening her bedroom door, freezing when she realized that it was exactly as she left it. She drew the purple curtains, letting the last of the day light stream into the light purple room. She was glad that her charm on the door had worked to keep them from going into the room.
"Of course you would have enough books to last you till the end of time." Draco noted looking at the book shelf next to her small twin bed. She ignored him however, instead letting her fingers drift over the soft blue comforter on the bed. She grabbed the throw pillow from her chest at the end of the bed, pulling it to her chest, hugging it tightly.
"Where am I sleeping?"
"On the floor." she gritted out, suddenly not feeling so charitable. It felt wrong that her room had been untouched even if it was her doing. She had secretly hoped that it would be empty like the rest of the house. She dropped the throw pillow on the floor and focused on making it into a mattress. It transfigured perfectly, making her sigh in relief. She busied herself on warding the doors and windows to warn her if he attempted to open them, adding a stinging hex to them for good measure.
"Our flight is at four am, we'll need to be there at least an hour early. I have muggle law enforcement meeting us there to get us through the security checkpoints faster." She reached into the trunk and pulled out a quilt her grandmother had sown up for her. She almost didn't give it to him, feeling sick as she looked at the images on the blanket, her grandmother's way of reminding her of all the good times they had in Paris. "Here. Don't ruin it."
He grunted pulling it over his shoulders and dropping on the transfigured mattress. If he was going to have to deal with her being an emotional child all year he would rather gag himself with the blanket before the morning comes. He faced away from her at first, unable to sleep he turned back to watch her slowly go through her things in the bedroom, a small ratty doll on the shelving had all of her attention before she stuffed it into the beaded bag. He was convinced that she had half of Hogwarts in there.
After an hour she finally stopped shuffling around. Draco watched her leave the room and then come back with night clothes on. She slipped into the bed without a word to him. Locking the door with her wand and tucking it under her pillow.
Hermione kicked the mattress he was on to wake him up, he didn't move an inch so she leaned down and shook his shoulder. He jolt upwards grabbing her leg and pulling her to the ground. She screamed out as he wrestled her to the ground, eyes in a daze, not quite awake. He held her down with a hand at her throat, focusing on her face in the dismal lighting.
"Malfoy!"
"Shit!" he yelled, releasing her throat and scrambling across the room. He was shaking from the sudden arousal from sleep. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he remembered where he was and why he was here.
"I'm ok." she said, rubbing her neck and gathering her things back up. She made a mental note to never wake him up with a physical touch again.
"Don't fucking touch me again, Granger." he picked himself off of the ground, brushing the imaginary dust off of himself.
"My mistake." She glared at him, pulling her grandmother's quilt from the floor and tucking it into the bag.
Draco was not amused with the cab ride to the airport. His eyes were as wide as saucers as the cars passed by and Hermione was convinced that he had never taken the Knight's bus. He tried to seem aloof with the things he was seeing but Hermione knew that look. She had the same one the first time she saw the Wizarding world.
I have more written and it will be published shortly.
tell me what you think! 3 much love, Rose.