A/N: Is this even real? I wrote this at 1:30 AM the day before a test that would determine my grade for the year (basically). Rest assured, I passed.
Rating: K+
Words: 1038
THE WAR IS OVER
It had been two years (and four months) since that day the school had smoldered and the man had toppled, a quite human death for someone who had gone so long as something more. But even then, the wizarding world had known that war wasn't over yet, and that there were still much work to do.
Stories like this always started out big, and when it ended you still weren't sure it had, for the aftershocks would strike long after.
Although of course there are those few that would say that Lucius Malfoy's third and final arrest was not big at all, most were like Head Auror Harry Potter, who the Daily Prophet quoted as saying "This is huge, you know? Now that we've gotten the last bugger I can finally go home and ask my wife for another kid."
Needless to say esteemed writer Rita Skeeter was outed as an unregistered Animagus two days later.
But what made bigger news happened next month, at Lucius Malfoy's trial, where upon hearing that he was solely survived by his son, he said "I have no son".
This quote would be repeated again and again, with the Prophet publishing an article with a comparison of Lucius Malfoy in front of the Wizengamot with his son, Draco Malfoy, redeemed Death Eater, and Auror-in-Training.
Draco Malfoy already showed up several times in the Daily Prophet, as story such as his always guaranteed that the newspaper would sell a few extra copies. After suffering for five months with a death threat over his mother, Draco had finally went to the man he'd been assigned to assassinate himself. Albus Dumbledore, notorious for his causes, took him on, and by his seventeenth birthday he was initiated into the Order of the Phoenix, the secret society now held up as the cause of Voldemort's downfall.
But just where was this Draco Malfoy now, the day following his father's announcement that he was basically disowned him?
Hermione Granger, Deputy Head of Magical Law Enforcement (the MLE in short), was about to find out, organizing her files in the lift as she was. The locking up of Lucius Malfoy, as Auror Potter had not so clearly hinted at, signifyed the end of the MLE's search for former followers of Lord Voldemort. So although there was plenty of celebration, there was a lot of paperwork involved, most of which had appeared on Hermione's desk promptly this morning.
Her (entirely useless in her opinion) Head of Department, Gowad Robards, had called a meeting for two hours after Hermione arrived at the office to the pile of files on her desk. Categorized by threat level, the Death Eaters in the files had been filled out perfectly by Ms. Granger herself. However, Robards now wanted them listed by time of capture, where they were and why they were there and what their mother's name was and Merlin! Hermione wanted to cry, for not only was this a huge waste of time, she only had two hours to do it!
All of the above weighing on her mind, coupled with the fact that she couldn't find Rowle's folder (which meant she'd have to go all the way back down to the Archives again), made for quite a distraction, and so she had a defense for why she bumped into him right then.
"Oof!" Hermione said at first, but then grabbed ahold of herself. "Oh I'm sorry sir I wasn't-oh, Malfoy." She then looked to see just who she'd been apologizing to.
The man, who despite having just been thrown unceremoniously to the ground and showered with papers, looked as effortlessly attractive as ever, to Hermione's irritation. Irritation soon turned to surprise however, as she saw his face didn't immediately morph to a sneer, but rather seemed to have a tilt at the mouth.
Draco Malfoy let out a harsh laugh. "Suppose it's not Malfoy anymore is it?" He brushed off his trousers, and sat on his toes.
Hermione didn't know what to make of this self-deprecating Draco Malfoy, so different was he from years past, where the best she'd gotten from him was a nod for offering him a coffee after an Order mission. The war had numbed him then, so who was he after? She supposed she'd just roll with it.
'Rolling with it' came in the form of a snort. "As if. I think you'll always be Malfoy to me." She pointed towards one of her papers on the ground, curious if this man would still consider helping her to be offensive, even after all these years.
He took it and handed it to her without a thought, and she put it in it's proper folder. He shrugged delicately. "I dunno, I might just ditch it altogether, maybe go under something different. Any suggestions?"
She exaggerated thinking for a second. "How about taking Narcissa's name?" She suggested, and then after checking his response to her bringing up his late mother and the woman who she herself had been close with, joked in an accent, "Presenting the Prat Extraordinaire Award to, Draco Black."
He laughed at that, as pitiful as it was, and Hermione felt a whooshing feeling at the sight. She felt a little giddy then, and as he stood up and extended a hand to help her up as well, she made a guess that it was because of the shock of Draco Malfoy being almost amiable.
But no, it was little more than that, and this second hypothesis gained more proof when he didn't let go of her hand right away, but leaned in that smidgen closer to say, "I guess you'll just have to make do with calling me Draco then, Hermione."
Hermione decided that the tone in which he said her voice did it for her. "Well in that case it's good that I've got some suggestions, Draco."
She was definitely going to be late for her meeting with the rest of the department, but sod it all. The world was now completely safe from Voldemort, and there were babies to be convinced to have and suggestions to be made. Things were going to be completely different, and she was more than ready to kick it off.
FIN
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