The End Of Innocence


Summary:

DM/HA

"You really believe that good will conquer evil, that love will conquer death and that we'll all live happily ever after, don't you?!" his voice was full of sarcasm, his face twisted in a bitter sneer.

"Somebody has to," she replied, coldly, "I for one am not ready to see the end of innocence"


Disclaimer:
I do not own anything you recognize.
Chapter One
Who I Am
Draco Malfoy slid into the only near empty carriage he could find on the Hogwarts express. After six years of having to spend the five hour train journey with his fellow Slytherin's, he'd cracked. He was all for taunting Potter and his friends, firing harmless curses at first years who should know better and competing with Blaise Zabini on who was more popular; intelligent; handsome. However, when the subject of the Dark Lord came up, Draco was out. The memory of last summer was too fresh in his mind, the pain still too real for him to chatter away about how excited he was to be under Voldemort's control. People like Blaise and Crabbe might have been proud of the permanent reminder on their forearms that told people exactly where their loyalty lay, but Draco felt sick every time he saw it. The thought of showering, changing for bed or back into his school clothes made him feel ill, as he would have to look at the marking on his once untainted skin.

He flopped down on the empty seat in the compartment and then glanced up to see which unfortunate loner's day he was going to ruin.

"Get out" he commanded, as his gaze settled on a girl with long blonde curls and very wide blue eyes. She gave him a reproachful, crossing her bare legs over each other.

"No," she replied serenely, returning to the magazine she'd previously been reading. Draco stared at her.

"I am asking, no, make that, demanding you to leave this carriage and let me be," he spoke clearly and slowly, although not without menace, "and if you knew who I was you'd know to do as I say"

The girl gave him a long cool look, before setting her magazine aside and crossing her arms.

"But the trouble is you see," she replied politely, with a sugar sweet smile, that infuriated Draco, "I don't actually know who you are"

Draco felt his jaw drop and he slammed it shut quickly, as his stare turned to a dark glower.

"You really don't know who I am?" he said coldly and the girl shrugged.

"Not a clue," she confirmed, "are you famous like Harry potter?"

Draco snapped.

"No I'm bloody not!!" he cried, "I'm nothing like the damn Harry potter!"

"Shame," she smiled again, "I think he's rather nice. I mean he did save us from that evil guy"

Draco stared outright at her now, his jaw slack. "That evil guy"? What planet was this girl from?

"You must be a Hufflepuff," he declared abruptly, "only a Hufflepuff could be so downright stupid"

A flash of slight annoyance flitted across the girls face and she leaned forward in her seat.

"I have O's in every O.W.L I've taken and I'm the highest scoring witch in my house since Hogwarts was founded," she informed him, her sugary voice never wavering, "do you think I'm stupid now?"

She stood up, crammed her magazine into her school bag and slung it over her shoulders.

"You're right about one thing though," she called back to him as she pushed open the compartment door, "I am a Hufflepuff and it's a damn sight better then being a Slytherin. Enjoy your peace and quiet Draco Malfoy…"

Draco stared after her as the door shuddered to a close. In all his six years at Hogwarts he'd never been challenged in that way before, especially not by a girl.


"Draco, who the hell are you looking for?" Blaise Zabini complained as Draco craned his neck in order to get a glimpse of the students piling into the great hall.

"No one really," he replied, "just a girl"

"Shocking," Pansy commented witheringly, turning to glare at every girl in sight.

"So which one is it this week?" Blaise probed, but received a dark look from Draco, "Not a mudblood? You know better then that!"

"Actually I don't know if she is or not," he frowned, "I don't know anything about her"

"Not even her name?"

Draco shook his head.

"Nice one!" Blaise slapped him on the back, "Draco Malfoy - still the resident heartbreaker"

Draco rolled his eyes at his friends train of thought and turned to face the teachers table, where a line of nervous looking first years were gathered, quivering with fear at the sight of the rest of the student body.

Professor McGonagall began to call out names and one by one the tiny students tripped up to the stool and pulled the black sorting hat over their ears.

"Slytherin!"

Draco clapped disinterestedly as a pale boy with dark hair fled the stool and slid into a spare seat at the Slytherin table.

"Hufflepuff!" yelled the hat as a girl with red plaits scuttled over to the table in the centre of the hall. A couple of students stood up to give a standing ovation and Draco's eyes were suddenly drawn to a figure, clapping wildly as they welcomed the new first year. The girl from the carriage.

He elbowed Pansy in the ribs, knowing that out of her and Blaise, she'd be more the more discreet one, and the more observant.

"Who's that irritating looking girl with the blonde hair?" he asked, turning his look of curiosity into a look of disdain as not to give himself away. Pansy followed his line of sight and smirked.

"That's Hannah Abbott," she replied, "She's a complete bimbo on the outside, but as sharp as knives underneath"

Draco contemplated his encounter with the Hannah girl earlier that day and had to agree with what Pansy had said.

"She probably would have made it into Slytherin, if it hadn't been for that annoying nice streak," Pansy added, "she's a pureblood too, if you're interested…" she said finally, sending Draco a sly look. Draco sneered.

"Not very pretty is she," he commented which seemed to satisfy Pansy, who smiled and turned back to watch the sorting. Draco however kept his gaze fixed on the blonde Hufflepuff girl. Maybe there was more to her then met the eye, he mused. Suddenly she looked up and caught his eye, holding his gaze. Just as he was about to break the eye contact and look away, she smiled at him. Not the fake sugary smile that he'd witnessed in the carriage, but a genuine smile. And Draco felt his stomach somersault.

"Excuse me," he muttered to his house mates, then got to his feet and stalked out of the great hall.


Hannah Abbott lay on her bed in the Hufflepuff girls' dormitory, reading her new potions text as her house mates discussed who was cute this year. It wasn't a subject Hannah really cared about, but she knew that her opinion would be expected.

Over the past six years she'd carefully cultivated an image for herself. One that would mean she caused no offence or was a target. Everyone knew her as the bubbly, fun but slightly dim one in Hufflepuff. No one knew about her perfect scores because she chose not to tell them. She knew intelligence wasn't something to be ashamed of, but she was also realistic. You needed something else if you were going to flaunt your intellect. Something to defend you. Hermione Granger for instance had two best friends, one of which happened to be Harry Potter. No one cared that she got top grades because she was popular by association. Nobody wanted to pick a fight with Harry Potter's best friend. Well except Draco Malfoy of course.

When Hannah had been confronted by him on the train, she'd lied about not knowing him. Of course she'd known exactly who she'd been talking too, everyone knew who Draco was. He was a legend in his own right. He'd been a menace in her first year, staking out his territory as leader of Slytherin, claiming a tie to Salazar Slytherin in their second when the chamber of secrets had been opened and then there was that incident with Hagrid's hippogriff in their third year. Fourth and fifth year hadn't passed without Draco continuing to make a name for himself either.

Hannah sighed and pushed her potions book aside, turning so she had a clear view out of the dormitory window over the grounds. The trees were still clinging to their yellowing leaves in one last vain hope that summer might not leave, and the sun was setting on the horizon, casting a deep, dark red colour, like blood, over the grass.

Her interest in Draco Malfoy had grown last year, when she'd stumbled across something she shouldn't have. A heated conversation between him and his father: Lucius Malfoy. There had been such a tone of contempt for the subject they were talking about, that let Hannah see how the teenage wizard felt about his impending fate. Draco Malfoy didn't want the dark mark. And surely that had to count for something? If he was rejecting the sign of the dark lord, then surely he was rejecting the dark lord himself? And that would leave him no option but to fight on the side of the order. Harry Potter's side. Her side.

"Hey Hans, what do you think?" her friend, Susan Bones called, from her bed across the dormitory, "Harry Potter or Ron Weasley?"

Susan had a thing for red heads and the object o her affection had been the youngest Weasley brother for quite some time. She twisted her long plait between her fingers as she awaited her friends answer.

"Harry of course, he's got that while good guy survivor thing going on," Hannah replied, giggling as Susan rolled her eyes, "What's Ron got?"

"Only the most perfect eyes and nicest smile I've ever seen!" Susan said dreamily, sighing deeply. Hannah and Marilyn, another girl who shared their dorm laughed, before continuing the conversation.

"What do you think of Slytherin's?" asked Marilyn softly, which caused Hannah to sit upright and Susan to stop daydreaming about a certain Gryffindor.

"Slytherin's?" Susan repeated, giving Hannah a dark look, "not interested" she added firmly.

"I don't know," Marilyn continued, "what about Blaise Zabini? He's good looking…"

Hannah slid off her bed and reached for her glass of pumpkin juice, taking a long drink.

"Or Draco Malfoy? He's easily the best looking guy in the school!" Hannah choked on her juice, spluttering the orange liquid everywhere. Susan watched in amusement as the blonde girl coughed, blushing deeply.

"Were Hufflepuff's Marilyn," Susan reminded the other girl, "a Slytherin dating a Hufflepuff is more unlikely then them dating a Gryffindor!" she shot Hannah a look, which the blonde girl pretended not to notice.

Marilyn nodded glumly.

"I know, but their so cute in all that green and silver!" she wailed. Susan laughed and then pulled out her timetable, changing the subject.

"I'm going to get some hot chocolate," Hannah announced, "back in a bit" she promised as she slipped out the dorm.


Draco Malfoy couldn't sleep. The scaring on his left forearm was itching, keeping him awake, and dragging his mind back to the summer, back to his sixteenth birthday and the initiation ceremony. At sixteen Draco was already a murderer.

"Father, I cant, I wont" Draco protested, as he faced Lucius Malfoy in his study.

It was half an hour until the dark lord would arrive, his loyal servants in tow. The initiation was to take place tonight, the eve of Draco's sixteenth birthday. He'd dreaded this day, since that morning in June, when his father had arrived at Hogwarts to tell him the plan. He'd protested then as he was now.

"You will do as your told, Draco" Lucius's voice was harsh and cold, "it is an honour to join the dark lord, and you will not bring shame on the Malfoy name in this way"

"It's too soon, I'm still at school," Draco tried to argue any point, except the truthful one. He didn't want to be a death eater. He'd seen what it could do to you, he watched his father grow greedy for power and respect. His mother had withered away to a shell of her former self, abused by neglect. And Draco had seen the haunted look in the eyes of the innocents they killed for fun. And now, this man who claimed to be his father, who claimed to love him, was asking Draco to be the cause of that haunted look.

"You will do your duty," his father said dangerously, raising his wand. The only thing Draco could do after the pain, which ricocheted through his body, was nod.

Draco bolted upright as the image of the man's face drifted across his eyelids. The haunted face, the dead eyes, the mouth still screaming, even though he was dead. All because of him. He'd done as his father had asked, commanded, and he'd killed.

It was moments like this that Draco took one of two paths. He'd either pretend the man had no family, that he was unemployed, unloved and that no one else would suffer because of his death. Then he was able to fall asleep. Or he'd lie awake, piecing together the missing life of the man. Did he have a wife, daughters, a son? What was his house like? What did he do for work? The questions would torment him, until he had to get up and busy himself in order to keep his mind off the image of the lifeless body on the ground at his feet. He remembered that he'd excused himself after he'd muttered the killing curse. He'd run straight to a bathroom and thrown up. And every time he let the questions overwhelm him, he was sick.

He slid out of bed, feeling the cold floor beneath his feet, and wished desperately that the dungeons would be carpeted. He pulled on his Slytherin sweater over his bare torso and pulled on his black pyjama pants, before crossing the dormitory and heading out into the common room and through the disused fireplace that served as the hidden entrance to the common room.

The corridors of the castle were dark, but Draco was so used to wandering them, that he did not pull out his wand to light his passage. He wondered what he would do from now until the morning, when he would attend class. The library would be closed and he wasn't sure if Madam Pince had discovered the secret entrance way over the summer. No, best to find that out in the light and during the noisy bustle of the first day back. Quidditch? No, he'd have to go back and get his broom. The thought of a portrait crossed his mind. It was of a large green pear. The kitchens…

"What are you doing here?"

Hannah jumped, emitting a little shriek as a voice materialised from behind her. She spun round on the bench, hot chocolate slopping over the edge of her mug and burning her hand.

"Ouch! Oh bugger, that hurt!" she cried as she dropped the mug back onto the table and dabbed t hr hand with a napkin. Something like concern passed across Draco's face for a second, before he ignored her cursing and ordered a coffee from a passing house elf.

He walked across the kitchen to the table where Hannah sat and slid into a seat opposite her.

"So, to repeat my earlier question, what are you doing here?" he asked coolly, holding her gaze as she glared at him angrily, her hand still red from the hot liquid. He pulled his wand from his pocket and touched it to her skin, muttering a cooling charm under his breath. Hannah felt the burning sensation subside and her eyes widened in incredulity.

"Better?" he asked and she nodded silently.

"I couldn't sleep," she blurted out her answer t his question, "well I wasn't tired at least. I thought ho chocolate would help" she gabbled. Draco nodded once, and then took a sip of his coffee as it arrived.

"That's not going to help you to sleep you know," Hannah noted, eyeing the huge mug of coffee.

"Well, maybe that's a good thing," Draco replied, "I might not want to sleep"

Hannah shrugged.

"Your call," she said, taking a long gulp from her own mug, "why don't you want to sleep?" she asked after a minute of silence.

Draco scrutinized the girl in front of him carefully.

"You're very pretty you know," he said calmly, expecting her to blush. She didn't.

"You're very good at changing the subject," she threw back at him. Draco eyed her for a second then smiled briefly.

"I'm Draco Malfoy, by the way," he proffered her his hand across the wooden table top. She took it warmly, and shook it.

"Hannah Abbott," she replied, returning his smile.


A/N: so what do you think? The pairing is kinda odd. I don't think I've read a Hannah/Draco story before but I'm enjoying writing it so…?

Tell me your thoughts and any ideas you might have. I want this to be an epic story ok! 

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