Chapter 1
"Hermione!" Hermione turned at the sound of her name. She saw her best friend Harry walking towards her. "The latest stats are in."
"Really? How're we doing?" She asked, hoping for good news.
"There are only seven known Death Eaters left in hiding. We've gotten almost all of them!" said Harry excitedly.
"Seven? That's amazing! That means we're only missing the Malfoy's, Yaxley, the Carrow's and who's the other?" asked Hermione.
"Stan Shunpike." Harry told her, his nose wrinkled in disgust. Stan had been kind to Harry when he was in year three, only to turn around and become a Death Eater. It was even worse that he had been the one to shoot Georges ear off.
"Make that five left! Neville and Luna just caught Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy." Said Ron, Hermione's fiancé. Hermione smiled at the sight of the man she loved so dearly, and the wonderful news that he had brought.
"Not Draco? I would have thought they'd stick together. Oh I hope they put me on his case. I want to be the one to stick him with the dementors." Hermione said darkly. If there was one person in the world that she hated more than the deceased Lord Voldemort, it was Draco Malfoy. He had stood by and done nothing while his horrid aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange, was torturing her. Not only that, but during the Battle of Hogwarts her, Ron and Harry had risked their lives saving his, only to have him return to the Death Eaters, even going so far as to hug his master. He was a manipulating, lying, evil person. There weren't enough horrible words in the dictionary to describe him- in Hermione's mind at least.
"I haven't heard anything about him. I just saw Narcissa and Lucius crossed out on the board, with Neville and Luna's names by them. I hope that he gets the kiss." Ron said. This was even darker than Hermione's thoughts. A kiss from a dementor was said to be worse than death, as it left you with no soul. Ron had such hatred for Draco Malfoy for the exact reasons that Hermione did. Mostly because Draco was the one person who could have saved Hermione from such horrible torture as the cruciatus curse. But he hadn't. Ron listened to Hermione scream for hours while Ron was locked up in the Malfoy's dungeon.
"What's Kingsley doing here? He usually just leaves us to do our own thing." Harry inquired when he saw the Minister of Magic come into the Auror's offices.
"More importantly, what is he doing with him?" Ron spat, suddenly sounding worried and angry. His arm went protectively around Hermione's, his other hand clutching his wand. Walking just behind the Minister, was Draco Malfoy himself. Within two seconds, the rest of the auror's had come out, their wands pointed at the Death Eater.
"Put your wands away everyone. Mr. Malfoy is here with me. He poses no threat to any of you." Kingsley Shacklebolt told them. The aurors reluctantly lowered their wands, but they most certainly did not put them away. "Mr. Malfoy here will be joining this office. I expect all of you to welcome and respect him, despite his past." There were murmurs of confusion and anger among everyone, but no one questioned the Minister outright. Hermione, Harry and Ron looked at each other in disbelief. They had spent half their lives hating Draco Malfoy, and now they were supposed to work with him? He was a bloody Death Eater! Before anyone could say anything, Hermione had marched right up to the Minister.
"Excuse me Minister, but could I talk to you for a second please? In private." She asked, glancing nervously at a smirking Malfoy.
"Yes of course Hermione. In your office?" He offered. She nodded tersely and led the way to her private office. Once they were both inside, she closed the door.
"Kingsley what the hell is going on?" She practically screamed. Although she was rather formal in front of everyone else, she had fought alongside Kingsley in the Order of the Phoenix, and was quite good friends with him.
"I know it must be quite a shock Hermione, but you know I would not place him in the Ministry without good reason."
"I'm baffled as to what reason there is for placing a Death Eater inside the Ministry. And in the Auror's office of all places!"
"Ex-Death Eater Hermione. Draco has agreed to help us track down the remaining few Death Eater's in return for his freedom and forgiveness. He deeply regrets his actions. In fact, it was his doing's that got his parents caught. He was unhappy with their continuation of the Death Eater way of life, so he purposefully left a trail for Neville and Luna to follow. If he had turned them in outright, his life would have been in grave danger."
"And you honestly believe all that? Kingsley, you saw what he did at the battle. And when I was being tortured!"
"He was young and scared and easily impressionable Hermione. I won't budge on this, he could be a huge help to us. I expect you to at least be civil with him." He said firmly. Hermione recognized this as the end of the discussion and sighed. Kingsley nodded to her and walked out of her office. Not long after he left, Ron and Harry barged in.
"What'd he say?" They demanded. Hermione related the conversation to them. Their reaction to the news was much the same as hers; angry and skeptical.
"Let's just leave. There's really nothing for us to do here right now." Hermione suggested.
"Let's go to Seamus's. I could use a drink." Harry suggested. Their friend Seamus from school had opened up a pub recently, which served great food and drinks. It was a great place to catch up, and they often ran into old friends from school. It was always interesting to see where people ended up, and who they ended up with.
"Well well, nice to see you three are still the best of friends." They heard an all too familiar voice sneer. They turned around to face a smirking Malfoy. Hermione's anger began to rise, getting stronger the more she looked at him.
"Fuck off Malfoy. You may have fooled Kingsley, but we're not so quick to forgive. Just you wait, I'm sure that pretty soon we'll get the pleasure of watching you receive a kiss from the dementors." Hermione half-yelled, trying to keep her anger in check.
"I'd much rather get a kiss from you." He said with a wink. Hermione's anger reached an all time high, and she was getting ready to hit him. But Ron beat her to it.
"Say another word to her, and I'll kill you." Ron snarled.
"I'd say Hermione throws a better punch." He said, referring to the time in third year when Hermione had punched Draco in the face. It had been a rather good punch, she had to admit. "It was obviously a joke Weasel. I wouldn't be caught dead kissing a mudblood."
Hermione froze. That word had haunted her since second year, when Malfoy had first called her that. She looked down at the scar on her arm that read mudblood, compliments of Bellatrix Lestrange. Malfoy had watched her get that scar. He had watched her experience unimaginable pain, and she was cursed over and over again. She looked down at Malfoy, who was wiping blood from his perfect nose, and stomped on it. She felt satisfied when she heard the crunching that came from under her heel.
"You filthy mudblood! I'll get you for this I swear to you I will." He vowed, rolling around on the floor holding what was left of his nose.
"You know, I think you should keep your nose that way. Then you'll resemble your master. It's what you've always wanted right- to be just like him? I've just made the process a little faster." She said, referring to Voldemort's lack of a nose.
"You have no idea what you're even talking about Granger." He said, his eyes dark with rage. If Hermione had looked a little closer, she might have seen the sadness and regret that came with it, but she was already heading out the door.
He hated her. He really did. He hated every ounce of that dirty blood. How could she possible say that he would ever want to be like Voldemort. He could never do those things- especially now that he finally saw clearly. When he was younger, he had done some horrible things. Things he didn't even want to think about. Although it was no excuse, he had gotten caught up in the excitement of it all. He was young and easily impressionable, but still very scared. After all he had seen and done, he knew that his ways had to change. However, despite his now reformed life style, old habits die hard. In Draco's mind, mudblood's were- and always would be, inferior. It was what he had grown up knowing. Hermione's dirty blood wasn't his only reason for hating her though. Of course it played a big factor in it, but there was also the fact that she was an insufferable know-it-all. She thought she was the smartest person ever, and she let you know it. She had this horrible tendency to always be right. Not only that, but she wasn't afraid of him. She would throw back whatever insults came to mind, and wasn't afraid of hurting him- emotionally or physically. He wasn't used to being talked back to- especially by anyone so inferior to him. There were just so many reasons to hate her; he couldn't even begin to list them all. Malfoy was still seething as he muttered the incantation to set his nose right and staunch the blood flow. He didn't want to be anything like Lord Voldemort- even in looks.
