Finding Purpose

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters or the song 'Happiness is Overrated'

Summary: It has been two months since the Battle of Hogwarts and Draco Malfoy feels lost and is being haunted by his past. Can someone help him move on and give him a purpose again? Slight Dramione. One-shot. Part of 'Beeabeeon49's songfic challenge.

Inspired by these lyrics from the song 'Happiness is Overrated' by 'The Airborne Toxic Event':

"I don't do anything anymore"

"ceiling tiles"

"I'm sorry"

"those words that you said/ They get stuck here in my head"

Finding Purpose:

Draco Malfoy was lost. It was two months since the Battle of Hogwarts and the Dark Lord's death, and during these two months Draco had barely done anything. He would get up, get dressed, eat, drink and sleep but he had no direction now, no purpose. After the battle Draco had finally realised that his father's strict pureblood views were narrow-minded and stereotypical. This enlightenmenthad not made Draco feel liberated, rather he felt as though someone had punched his soul out. He felt hollow, he no longer knew who he was. The things that his father had told him as he grew up had shaped him and defined him. Now that his views had changed he felt that he could not go on as he was, but he didn't know what to do, so he just functioned, merely going through the motions of a normal life. His own mind confused him. Often he would just lie on his bed staring at the ceiling tiles, feeling blank and empty.

Today, however, as he sat in his room at Malfoy Manor his mind was not blank, in fact there were a tumult of thoughts rushing through his head: "Mudblood", he heard his twelve year old self say. "Mudblood", he heard it a bit louder this time. Images started flashing through his head; he saw the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters all assembled around a table in the drawing room of the Manor, the vanishing cabinet he mended in his sixth year at Hogwarts. "Mudblood", he heard again as he saw more images; Cedric's lifeless body after the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, Umbridge congratulating him for joining the Inquisitorial Squad, Harry Potter and the Dark Lord facing each other in the Great Hall. "MUDBLOOD", the voice inside his head screamed. The silence in his room was deafening, he wanted to shout out but his head was spinning and he felt too disorientated. He heard the voice of Hermione telling him what she had told him after the battle: "You can change Draco", she said. "You don't have to go back to your old ways". He felt himself falling, falling... then he fainted.

Draco woke up a few minutes later and he knew what he had to do. He stood up and Apparated to The Burrow where he knew Hermione was staying. He appeared in the driveway and he immediately saw Hermione in the garden. She looked up as she heard him arrive and he noticed that she looked wary. He slowly walked up to her. He looked into her eyes and wondered why he had ever believed his father's lies about purebloods being superior to half-bloods and muggleborns. He knew that he had been young and impressionable but he also knew that he had been cruel and that this was the time to make amends. He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze to the ground. "I'm sorry", was all he managed to choke out before his emotions hit him with full force and he fell to his knees. He felt angry at himself for being mean for so many years, he felt relieved that he had finally managed to apologise and he felt vulnerable because he knew that his fate now rested with the young woman standing before him.

Hermione knelt down in front of Draco, pulled his chin up with her hand so that she was looking him in the eye, and said "I forgive you". She then leant forward, kissed Draco softly on the cheek, stood up and offered him her hand. Draco took it and as he got up and followed her inside he knew that as well as now having a friend, hope, and a promise for the future, he had a purpose again.

A/N: Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this story please leave a review, but no flames or rude comments please. Thanks!