Prologue

July 2, 1998

"It's enough, Lucius! I'm leaving you!" Narcissa screamed across the dining room, to her agitated husband. She was fed up. After the battle of Hogwarts, their family had been put under investigation by the Ministry of Magic. How could they not? They had all followed Voldemort willingly. Of course Lucius made the case that they were simply doing it out of fear of being murdered, which cleared them of all charges. Her husband had always been a good liar. But Narcissa had seen too much death and pain to stay with him, even if they were granted a clean slate. She thought of Draco, who came very close to being murdered by the Dark Lord.

"What will the wizard community say if you do?" Lucius spat back, pacing back and forth with his hands clasped together behind his back.

Narcissa averted her gaze, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent Lucius from seeing her upcoming tears. That was it, that was what he cared about. What the wizard community would say. Not that he would lose her.

"I don't care." She retorted, rather plain. "I just….don't care. I am leaving. I am no longer submitting Draco to your backwards beliefs. We are going to absorb the muggle culture as much as we can."

Lucius scoffed. "As if you truly feel different about those damn mudbloods! You are just doing this so the Ministry will get off your back!"

"I am doing this for our son! Which you almost got killed!" The woman shrieked as she threw a glass vase in Lucius's direction. It missed him by a few inches.

"Then get out, you crazy bitch!" Lucius yelled at her, his anger stirring now that Narcissa almost harmed him during their many, many fights. Once they had come back home after the battle, it had been nothing but stress and arguments. Draco locked himself in his room and refused to come out. Plus they were denied a new house elf, after the whole Dobby incident, so Lucius had to search for a competent new staff, consisting of humans. Which turned out to be harder than he thought.

Draco shuffled into the room, his hair messy and his face wet with tears. "Mom..dad..stop.." He begged them, his voice hoarse from crying. Narcissa rushed to his side and hugged him tightly, patting his head as she glared at Lucius.

"Draco, pack your things, we are leaving. I've had enough. Go on, pack up." She said soothingly and kissed his cheek before letting him go. The boy stared at her, then at his father, before going back upstairs to get a suitcase. When he came back downstairs with a packed suitcase, Lucius put a hand on his shoulder.

"Son, please stay on contact? Send me an owl so I can…" But Draco shrugged off his hand and followed his mother without saying a word to Lucius. The door slammed closed behind them and finally the man realized that his complete life just walked out on him.

Chapter 1

"Miss Harper…" An annoyed, lazy voice resonated through the dungeon. A dark-haired girl sat straight in her seat and bowed her head.

"Yes, professor Snape?"

"Tell me, do you consider your work in this class to be of such a high level that you no longer need to pay attention?"

A few Slytherin students snickered, loving the fact that Mina was getting reprimanded by their teacher.

"N-No, sir." The girl whispered and she felt the upcoming tears. Don't cry, don't cry, don't give him that satisfaction, she thought.

"And tell me, have you ever learned a thing called 'manners' in your household?"

Now the girl did look up and there were obvious tears in her eyes. Why did he have to do this? Why did he have to talk about her home? It was a well-known fact that Mina's father left her and her mother when she was young, after a messy divorce. Many Slytherin students teased her for being of lower class. Her mother wasn't rich and it wasn't even sure if Mina would be allowed to stay at Hogwarts, since her and her mother could not make the tuition. Let alone books and supplies. Books and supplies were things the school could supply, but the tuition still formed a problem. After the battle of Hogwarts, things changed for the school, financially. Students had to pay tuition now. They had to rebuild big parts of the school and asking for tuition helped the school do that.

"10 points from Ravenclaw, do not let me catch you speaking to your classmates again." The wizard stated but averted his eyes with a frown.

"Yes, sir." Mina replied as a tear rolled down her cheek. Her friend Carla, a blonde blue-eyed girl with large eyes, was unable to sit and watch this injustice go by.

"Professor, I don't think it's fair to…"

Snape narrowed his eyes at her.

"Miss Candlewick, I do not remember asking you for your take on the matter, now be quiet before I deduct even more points from your house. Miss Harper will stay after class and that will be that."

Carla sent a sympathetic look Mina's way, as if she was trying to say that she was sorry to have gotten her in more trouble, but Mina gave her a reassuring one back. It wasn't her friends fault that their teacher was so cruel.

The rest of the hour Mina pretended to listen and make notes, but it wasn't more than scribbling what she did. Potions had never been her favourite subject, Snape's need to humiliate her only made that worse. As told, the girl stayed after class and once her classmates left, her potion teacher beckoned to the chair in front of his desk, meaning for her to sit there.

"Miss Harper," Her professor started but turned silent once he saw the girl look at him. There was sadness in them, a disappointment, a silent judgment for the break of trust. He sighed.

"I assume you are aware what transpired here during the battle of Hogwarts?"

Mina nodded and tilted her head, wondering what his professor was going on about.

"Y-Yes, sir, Harry Potter fought Voldemort and won. It made the school safer for students like me, with muggle parents."

Snape nodded. "Correct. And I assume you know how I survived?"

Mina swallowed hard, this was turning to a very private conversation. Yes, she knew. Neville Longbottom, her herbology teacher. He reached their potion teacher in time and used rather difficult magic to save him from his wounds. It humbled Snape greatly, that he was saved by the person he picked on all these years. At least that was the story, Mina didn't believe it humbled him at all. Instead of telling the truth, the girl just nodded to tell her teacher that she knew what was told of that day.

"Very good. It is not my place to judge. It is my place to teach. One would think past mistakes would prevent history from repeating itself. But an old fool is an old fool."

"Sir?" Mina had no idea what he was talking about. She had a hunch, but she felt like he owed her a real apology and not a riddle.

"I know you have manners. What you lack is motivation. You are a bright young lady, miss Harper. If you'd put in the effort."

"You make me nervous, professor. And then I mess up." Mina was amazed at herself, she wasn't often as open, especially not with someone that made her that uncomfortable.

Snape laughed. At first Mina didn't recognize the sound, seeing as she never heard it before, but she saw a small smile on the face of her potion teacher and his normally stern eyes turned a tad softer.

"You remind me of a young boy, that made a very good career for himself. A bright young woman must not let her struggles stand in her way, she must overcome them, yes?"

Mina smiled at him, knowing what he meant. So what if he was being an obstacle for her? She had dealt with bigger things in her life and would deal with bigger things yet. Perhaps giving Potions a bit more of her attention would be good, it couldn't hurt.

"Off with you, we don't want you late for your appointment with the headmaster, don't we? I trust he found a fitting solution for you, miss Harper."

The girl stood up and nodded, packing her things.

"Thank you, professor. I will try harder. I promise."

Outside of the dungeon, Carla Candlewick was waiting for her friend, expecting her to come back in tears. When she saw that Mina was perfectly fine, she tilted her head in curiosity.

"I'm taking he didn't yell at you?"

"No, he was alright, told me to just….well, no he never yells, does he? But it was unpleasant either way! Did you write down the homework by any chance?"

Mina didn't want to tell Carla about what was discussed between her and professor Snape. She loved Carla, but knowing her the story would be told all over the dormitory. And she could imagine he wouldn't want the other students to know that he was human.

Luckily this distracted Carla enough to start complaining about the amount of homework their potion teacher had given them. She focused on what the girl said and scribbled it all on a piece of parchment, once they were back in their dormitory.

Later that day, she entered the office of her headmaster, professor Dumbledore. The old man smiled with a twinkle in his eyes.

"There you are, my dear, right on time." He said gleefully and gestured at a chair in front of his desk. As the girl turned to sit there after greeting the headmaster, she saw that they were not alone.

A man with long blonde hair and grey piercing eyes was sitting on a small sofa near the desk, clutching a cane in his two hands as he watched them. He wrinkled his nose a tad, as if he was smelling something unpleasant. The man stood up and his long black robe fell to the ground. Mina could see his was rich, arrogant and incredibly attractive. She instantly hated him.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Lucius Malfoy, your new sponsor. If you live up to my conditions, that is." He said in a hushed, but rather demanding tone.

A bit awkwardly, Mina shook his extended hand, swallowing hard as she felt his leather gloved hand on her own.

"Nice to meet you, sir." The girl replied and gave her headmaster a look of confusion. Dumbledore smiled at her.

"Mister Malfoy heard about your conundrum with your funds, my dear, and he is willing to help you out. He is offering you a job on the weekends."

"Quite so," Lucius agreed. "You will work as a servant in my manor, help the rest of the staff where you are needed. On top of that I wish a demonstration of your schoolwork once a week. I expect you to keep your results high while under my care and should I see any outspoken talent for a certain subject then I shall tutor you myself once a week."

Mina got tears in her eyes as she fumbled with her hands.

"T-That's awfully generous of you, sir." She whispered and Malfoy snorted. Dumbledore's eyes started to twinkle again.

"Well, my dear, this is not a one way street. You see, mister Malfoy is very grateful that he can prove to the board and to this school that he has a whole new look on the muggle community." Dumbledore told her with a wink and a smile.

Mina had to do her best not to let out a giggle, cause by the look on Malfoy's he was rather displeased with this bit of information being shared.

"Right, well, cannot dilly-dally here all day, some of us have actual work to do, I will see her Saturday in my manor, Dumbledore, seven o'clock on the dot. You have my floo."

And with those words, the wizard stepped into the fireplace and disappeared into a sea of green flames with a final discontent nod.

Mina let out a little sigh of relief and finally let out the chuckle she was holding in. Dumbledore gave her a wink again and made a gesture towards his door.

"There, no more worrying about your tuition, my dear, now go and join your fellow-classmates in an afternoon of frivolity." He said kindly.

"Thank you, headmaster, I am so happy with this chance. I will make you proud."

Once she was back in her dormitory, Mina allowed herself to fall back on her bed with a yelp of joy. This was a golden chance and she was so happy that it was handed to her. She would make them all proud, even that moody mister Malfoy. She pointed her wand at a corner of the room and concentrated.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A silver red panda jumped out of her wand and skipped about the room as Mina's smile got even wider.