A/N: Hey readers! This is my first Dramione story so please go easy on me. This idea came to me suddenly and I just decided to test it out and see how it went. Please read and review and let me know what you think! If you have time, please read my other story and let me know if I should continue or not or if it's total crap. Thanks guys!

Story not mine! All characters and places belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling! The only thing that is mine is the plot of the story!


Chapter 1

The war was over and Hogwarts lay in ruins. All participants in the war were in the Great Hall, either mourning the dead or being shipped off to the Ministry by Aurors. Many of the Death Eaters had pleaded guilty in order to lower their time sentence in Azkaban. Kingsley Shaklebolt, temporary Minister of Magic, had them all rounded up and taken in to be questioned, and from there they would have their trials set up to take place in a few weeks time. There was only one more Death Eater with whom Kingsley had yet to speak with.

Draco Malfoy sat off in a corner of the Hall, huddled in a small circle with his mother and father. Though his mother Narcissa was present during the war and in his house when Voldemort had taken refuge there months prior, she was in no way involved with the Death Eaters. His father Lucius on the other hand, well his story was entirely different. He was involved in the first war with Voldemort and played a very active part in the second war. He was present at every meeting and still carried out tasks set by the Dark Lord. Draco couldn't be more disgusted with his father, and his father couldn't be more disgusted with Draco. He had Potter right within his grasp in the Room of Hidden Things. He recalled the conversation they had once they had reunited with each other a half hour beforehand.


~Flashback~

"Oh, my Draco! Thank goodness you're still alive!" Narcissa exclaimed, running towards her son.

"Mother! You're all right! How did you- why are you- why is he still here?" He finally said, glaring at his father.

"It's nice to see you too, Draco. Tell me son, why did you not deliver the boy to our Lord when you had him?"

"Tell me Lucius, why did you not crawl your sorry arse back to Azkaban when you had the chance? You do know you're going back don't you? You know what you did to me and my mother now? " Draco yelled.

"Draco, sweetie, calm down." His mother exclaimed to him.

"No! I will not calm down! Do you realize what has become of us because of him? We will now have to go through life, scorned upon and looked at like scum all because of his mistakes!"

"My mistakes, Draco?" Lucius said, glaring right back at his son. "Do not forget what lays upon your arm, what you took to honor your family when this war started. Do not forget what side you fought on."

"I never wanted any of it. Not the mark, not the war, and most definitely not a father like you." Draco sneered, looking his father right in the eyes. Stone gray eyes staring back at each other. The glare was broken by a smack that resounded around the empty hallway.

"I will not tolerate that kind of behavior anymore, is that understood?" Draco didn't answer, holding his reddened cheek in one hand while his mother looked on in horror, her hand covering her mouth. "I said is that understood?"

Draco rubbed his cheek and straightened his back before he answered, his head held high, "No. That is not understood. I will testify against you when they bring you to court. Is that understood, Lucius?"

"You wouldn't. You don't have the balls to testify against your own father. You didn't even have the balls to bring Potter to the Dark Lord when he was within your reach!"

"Potter saved my life you bastard! Does is not bother you that I might not be standing here right now if it weren't for him?"

"You could've made the right decision by bringing him to the Dark Lord, on his knees where he belongs, Draco. We could have won!"

"Well, it's all over now. There's nothing we can do to change things." Draco said stalking off into the Hall, where everyone was gathered. Lucius and Narcissa joined him shortly afterwards.

~End Flashback~


The tension was thick around the Malfoy's as they sat there, waiting for something, anything to happen. Not long after they had sat down did Kingsley Shacklebolt appear, pulling Lucius Malfoy aside. He spoke with him quietly for a moment until Lucius' face began to turn red with rage.

"I will not go! I do not deserve to be held in a filthy cell in Azkaban! I fought for honor and that is what I deserve! The Dark Lord will rise again and he will claim me as his most loyal follower for my actions!" Lucius yelled, the entire Great Hall stopping their conversations to stare across the hall at the discussion. The place was so quiet that you could've heard a pin drop. Narcissa began to silently weep, whether it was because her husband was being taken away again, or whether it was because he was finally beginning to go mad, Draco did not know, but he tried to console her the best way he could. She was the only person he had ever hugged, besides his friend Blaise Zabini, who was like a brother to him. His father very rarely touched him, even when he was a child. If he had done something right, it was either a handshake or a pat on the back. His mother continued to cry silently as his father raged on. He couldn't take it anymore and he just wanted it to be over with. He unwrapped his arms from around his mother as gently as he could and stood up from his spot at the table, the anger and disgust he felt for his father finally taking over his body.

"Will you shut your fucking mouth already! You're a downright bastard and you played a bigger part in this war than even Lord Voldemort! You sat there and watched as hundreds of muggles and mudbloods died before you and you even helped cause a good handful of them. You have got to be one of the thickest people I have ever met and quite frankly I think you've gone insane if you think you don't belong in Azkaban!" Draco yelled, all eyes turning to him.

"Draco, son, please don't- people are staring." Narcissa whispered, tugging on his arm for him to sit back down.

"No mother, he needs to hear this. Everybody needs to hear this! Lucius Abraxas Malfoy deserves to rot in Hell for the things he has committed. He deserves to rot in a cell in Azkaban for life only to be consumed by all the horrible things he has done to haunt him for the rest of his sorry pathetic life here on this earth. After that, I hope Satan drags him down by chains into the deepest pits of what's below us to live for eternity, for Hell hath no fury. I hope you die Lucius. I may have failed you as a son and I will take whatever punishment I deserve for something I did not want, but you failed me as a father from the minute I was born."

"Draco," Lucius laughed, staring around the Hall nervously. "You do not mean that. I love you. I always have."

"No. You never loved me and you never loved my mother."

"What? Of course I did! We raised you to be the man you are today. We taught you how to be a true purebred Malfoy! Taught you that purebloods are superior and mudbloods-" He glanced over at Hermione Granger, who stood a few feet away, "-deserve to be put in the ground, covered with the dirt and filth that they are."

Draco did not miss the glance his father had thrown towards Hermione Granger and he also did not miss the flinch she had given as he spat the word "mudblood" and her and sneered. He did not know why but his blood began to boil with a hatred so pure that he was about to explode. What was happening to him? Of course he had hated Granger for years and had called her that word so many times before, but for once, he felt that is was not right. Something inside of him finally told him that enough was enough.

Before anyone could comprehend what had happened, Draco had whipped out his wand and bound his father in thick ropes as he fell to his knees. Draco rushed over in three long strides and crouched down so he was level with his father and pointed his wand directly above his father's heart.

"Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now? Give me one good reason." He asked. Lucius just stared at his son, eyes wide, darting over to the Minister who just stood there in shock, a bit of amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Draco, no." Said a female voice in his ear, tugging at his arm to lower his wand. "This isn't what you want." She whispered. Draco felt a warming in his chest as his heart rate began to calm and his hand began to lower. He turned around to see who had spoken to him, only to realize with shock, that it was Hermione Granger. She pulled on his arm to help him stand and to lead him away from his father and back towards his mother.

"Do not touch my son, you filthy, rotten, mudblood girl!" his father spat. He had only just started to rise as his father again decided to use that word towards Hermione. Draco spun back around so fast and backhanded his father across the face that if you had blinked you would've missed it.

"Don't call her that! Don't you ever call anyone else a mudblood again! That is all life is to you, a game of blood status. That's all that ever mattered to you! And I meant every word of what I said before, you deserve to die." And with that, Draco stood, ignoring those around him and strode out of the Great Hall and down the steps outside, but not without a glance back at Hermione Granger, who looked at him with confusion and shock, plain as day on her face.

The Aurors soon apparated his father to Azkaban to await his questioning and his trial date, as Draco stood by the lake, under the old beach tree that the Golden Trio used to frequent. He could now see why they had chose to sit here all those times. It had the perfect view of the lake and provided just enough shade and was fairly comfortable. He sat there for hours until he heard footsteps softly moving towards him from behind. He sat up abruptly, brandishing his wand incase it was a Death Eater who managed to escape, coming to kidnap him and trying to recruit him to join his ranks. Instead, he found the bushy haired, know-it-all Granger staring back at him, eyes on his wand. He looked down at his own wand and quickly stashed it away back into his pocket as he saw that she meant no harm.

"What is it, Granger?" He asked, rather harshly.

"Er, nothing…I just wanted to say, thank you. For what you said earlier, and for defending me I guess." She said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt which was dirty and torn in many places, caked with blood.

"I wasn't defending you. I was simply stating that my father was wrong." He spat back angrily.

"And in doing so you defended me. I just thought I'd say thank you, seeing as I was that filth that your father was talking about." She said quietly.

Draco looked away, he couldn't stand to see the pain in her eyes. When he looked back up, he was surprised to see that she was already gone. He didn't even hear her leave. He looked all around him but didn't see her anywhere. He silently cursed himself for not giving a comeback but realized that he didn't have one for once. He found that odd, but also found that he was touched by her thank you and unbeknownst to him, had issued a silent "Your welcome" to Granger before she hurried away, hearing those two words issued from his mouth for the first time.


A/N: I hope you guys liked it! *bites nails nervously* Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I'm already done with Chapter 2 and am working on the third!

The song that goes with this chapter is "Numb" by Linkin Park. If you have any questions on why I chose this song feel free to PM me or leave a review. I do love reviews and would love feedback! :)