After the night of Voldemort's death, Draco ran away from Lord Voldemort. He knew that he was being a coward but he didn't care. He took his mother and escaped to the Order. Even though they were skeptical at first, Draco convinced them of his loyalty and was actually backed up by Harry, which was why he was sitting in one of the many rooms in the Headquarters with his old enemy. "Why did you stick up for me?" Draco asked confused "I should be killed for what I did…"
"Almost did" Harry corrected him. "You wanted to save Dumbledore. Even though you're a snob, Malfoy, you didn't want Dumbledore to die anymore than the rest of us did. Now, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself. I'd use it and know that you're under close watch." Draco nodded.
"I understand" Draco said. "My mother is who I am worried about. She is very devoted to my father."
"I think she'll listen to you" Harry said hard. "Draco, this doesn't mean that we're going to be best friends. It just means that I'm respecting how Dumbledore lived with my own life."
"I understand" Draco said again. "Harry…" Harry looked up. Draco struggled. "I am sorry. I don't expect you to understand why I'm such a prat but I am glad to have this chance." Harry nodded.
"You're mother and you will share this room. You'll be given food and shelter and you'll start working with Echo Gaston." Draco's head shot up in surprise.
"What? I thought that I'd be working alone!" Harry shook his head.
"I want to make sure that you're not lying to us, Draco. I think that Echo will be the best witch to check in with you. Sweet dreams, Malfoy" Harry said smirking at Draco's startled expression and left. Malfoy cursed under his breath. He didn't want to have a partner. He didn't even know this 'Echo Gaston'! He knew that she wasn't a pureblood like him which meant that she was either a mudblood like Granger or half blood like Potter. He sighed as he went down stairs to get his mother. This was going to be a long war.
Draco woke up the next morning to Ron Weasley hurtling pillows at him. "WEASEL, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Ron smirked.
"Malfoy, we have a meeting downstairs that requires your attendance as in now" Ron turned then turned back to Draco again. "You ought to know that I think of you as scum but I'll give you a chance because Harry's giving you one. But if you mess with this or Hermione or Harry, I'll beat the crap out of you" with that Ron left. Draco sighed and just sat in bed for a moment. He knew that this is what he was going to be dealing with for as long as it took the war to be over. His mother was still in bed and was whimpering, still asleep. His heart warmed at the sight of her pathetic form. Yes, his mother was the reason that he was here. He kissed her forehead and quickly dressed. He looked at the mirror for a minute and flicked the one strand out of his face then went down the stairs.
He went downstairs and leaned against the door jam where everyone else sat discussing the fight with Voldemort so far. Potter, Weasel and Granger were going to go find pieces of Voldemort's soul…blah blah blah. After awhile, he stopped listening to them going on about how wonderful the Golden Trio was. Suddenly, everyone was looking at him. He looked up confused.
"Draco Malfoy turned to our side last night. He never meant to have Dumbledore killed and he will now be working for our side as a spy with Echo Gaston" Remus Lupin said pointing to a girl in the corner. Draco's eyes widened in shock. In front of him, was the most beautiful girl Draco had ever seen. She was about a foot shorter than he was even though she was pretty tall all in all.
She was about his age with startling blue eyes. She had short brown hair that made her look a bit vulnerable. She wore a lilac robes that went well with her white button down and jeans. Echo looked at Draco with an amused expression. Draco suddenly realized that his mouth was open and quickly shut it nodding at the crowd. They turned their attention back to Lupin as Harry shot a frown at Malfoy when he caught where his glance was. Echo listened to Remus intently, her arms crossed over her chest. Draco watched Echo for the rest of the meeting until Tonks came over with Echo by her side. "Draco, this is Echo Gaston. Echo this is Draco Malfoy. You two are going to be working together." Echo smiled kindly at Draco. He nodded. "Echo, here's your info" Tonks said handing the packet to her.
"Thanks Tonks" Echo said, her voice soft. Tonks left and the two partners sized each other up awkwardly. "So, we're going to be working by Diagon Alley today. Our cover is that we're going to pose as a pair of wizarding sales people to catch one of our suspected Death Eaters, Thomas Gently. We are going to have to be extremely careful to make sure that he doesn't know who you are." She frowned. "We're going to have to dye your hair." Draco's hands flew to his perfectly blonde hair.
"No we aren't" Draco said coolly. Even though she was beautiful, she reminded him a lot of Granger.
"Well you're going to be recognized with your hair like that" Echo said patiently. She knew that dealing with Draco Malfoy was going to require a lot of patience. He was a spoiled brat with a trust fund. She looked at him intently. "Draco, if you don't dye your hair, then you'll be of no use to us. You might as well stay here and forget about bringing down Voldemort."
She could tell she hit a nerve. "Fine" he said grumpily. Echo handed him some black hair dye which he snatched quickly and ran off. Harry, Ron and Hermione went over to her. "If it gets too much, promise that you'll talk to Lupin?" Hermione asked. Echo grinned.
"Don't worry about me, guys. I can take care of myself." She said reassuringly.
"Hey, um…it's probably better if you don't tell Draco your race" Hermione suggested. Echo nodded.
"I'll miss you all." She said as they smiled at her. "I wish that I could come with you."
"Don't worry," Harry said "you'll have enough to deal with. You've got Draco" They all laughed quietly and said goodbyes.
Draco looked into the mirror at his newly jet black hair. He certainly didn't look like a Malfoy anymore. And in a way, he was kind of embracing the change. A quiet knock interrupted his inspection of himself. "Draco, we've got to go." Draco sighed and got ready to start his new life.