"But I know one thing-last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time…I hope it's Granger." (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets p. 223)
Standing on Platform 9 and 3/4 with his wife and Scorpius, Draco couldn't help but think back to his own days at Hogwarts. He hadn't shown his happy anticipation, but rather kept it hidden for fear of a squelching look from his father at the indignity of a Malfoy brimming with excitement as if he hadn't known about Hogwarts since his birth, hadn't been one of the few who deserved to board the train. With a glance at Scorpius, he realized that his own son looked as disinterested as he had, but he suspected that wonder brewed underneath his facade as his eyes scanned the crowd, the train, and the general hubbub with an acute alertness.
At Hogwarts he started off as naively haughty, a Malfoy, he remembered knowing, is destined for greatness and superiority, but he soon realized that while a particular student was present he would always be second best. Hermione Granger.
He disliked her initially for being Muggleborn, Mudblood he'd said back then, and when she became friends with Harry Potter it made it impossible for him to ever think of her as anything besides the brains of the Golden Trio. He watched as she saved Potter and Weasley in lessons, with their homework, and on their adventures. As they got older, his hatred of her increased because she beat him in everything, a fact that his father relished in reminding him of in letters and during family dinners over holidays.
At twelve years old, he was still too young to understand the possibility that another life, a life separate from the Dark Arts and a sense of superiority determined by prolongating Purebloods, could exist for him. In truth, he didn't consider such a life because he was happy with his own. He believed everything his father taught him without doubt, and as a result he was secure in his knowledge that he was better than others and that the wizarding world should be purged of Mudbloods. That is why when the Chamber of Secrets was reopened at Hogwarts he went to his father for information about the last time the Chamber had been opened. He shook his head while remembering what he had told Crabbe and Goyle about the events, but at the time the atmosphere at Hogwarts had excited him, secure in his Pureblood status he wasn't scared. "But I know one thing," he had told them. "Last time the Chamber of Secrets was opened, a Mudblood died. So I bet it's a matter of time before one of them's killed this time…I hope it's Granger." What twelve year old wishes a classmate to die? He was disgusted with the person he was then.
His hatred of Hermione Granger continued, but soon after becoming a Death Eater, once his pride and arrogance at the selection had been replaced with fear, his mind was preoccupied with things a lot more important than someone from a Muggle household beating him at tests. His family was going to be killed if he failed his mission. Killed. This was the man he had revered? The boss his parents and aunt served unfailingly? Remembering Dumbledore's offer atop the Astronomy Tower he wondered what would have happened if he had been brave enough to completely lower his wand, if he hadn't fixed the Vanishing Cabinet, if he hadn't been a coward.
It was this idea of his lack of bravery that next made him recall when Granger, Potter, and Weasley had saved his and Goyle's lives after they had tried to turn them over to the Dark Lord during the battle at Hogwarts. One minute he had been choking and crying out for help and the next he was holding onto the back of Potter screaming for him to get to the exit. Afterwards, he had sat paralyzed against the wall pondering what had happened until a part of it had blown up and he fled. They saved him one more time that night and he couldn't help wonder, why? Now he realized that they had learned the difference between right and wrong long before he had even considered that it actually existed. They had been brave and loving and forgiving when he had been scared and cowardly.
He felt eyes upon him as he was remembering and turning his head he saw them-Harry with Ginny Weasley, Ron, Hermione, and their children. He tilted his head to acknowledge them and in that small action they were unified on the Platform once again, not as students from different pasts this time, but as parents and adults who had learned a lifetime of lessons while at Hogwarts. They accepted him and the feeling was reciprocated.
He looked back at the group one more time as the whistle sounded and the children gathered at the windows for their final goodbyes. Ron appeared to have said something amusing and as Hermione shook her head with a smirk playing on her lips Draco realized how dull Hogwarts would have been without the competition she had afforded him and how her successes were what first made him question what he had been taught early in life. As he looked up at Scorpius he smiled and told him to have fun and as his son waved back with a promise that he would Draco realized that he had Hermione to thank for breaking through his naive sense of self.