Chapter 7: Onwards
It was quite likely that Christmas had become rather a bleak event for many wizarding families across Britain, but the Malfoys behaved just as predicted - uncaring. On Christmas day, the entire family had dressed to the nines and paraded themselves down Diagon Alley to reach an impossibly expensive, difficult to book restaurant for dinner. The headlines the next day had called for people to distance themselves from the ethically questionable establishment. In the days leading up to New Year's Eve, Lucius and Narcissa had decided to frequent various stores in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, resulting in several more articles discussing just what they were purchasing and why the stores they were purchasing from were no longer reputable. By the time New Year's day had come around, Minerva McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt had received so many owls (with some of the more enthusiastic followers of the Prophet sending multiple letters and/or Howlers per day) that they had decided (after meeting and discussing the problem) to issue an official statement.
Dearest Prophet Readers,
We broke our story to you on Christmas Eve in the hopes that we as a Wizarding community could put forth changes to those in powerful positions. Unfortunately, it seems even after several days of questioning shopkeepers, restaurateurs, the education providers and even the Ministry, we have yielded no favourable outcomes. We understand that those who own businesses may be too scared of the Malfoy family, or may be partial to their funding, however we expected better from Hogwarts and from our own Ministry. Please read below for the statement the two parties have jointly issued.
'One Draco Malfoy and his family were cleared of all charges put towards them following the Second Wizarding War. Lucius in particular was especially helpful in the years following the war and we should be reminded that Narcissa had saved Harry Potter. We as a Ministry, and those at Hogwarts, have not forgotten about the war and we have most certainly not forgotten about those affected by it. However, we also acknowledge that it is unhealthy to not move forward. As such, we respect that Draco Malfoy was the most suitable candidate in regards to the teaching position and we believe that he should be given an opportunity to prove it. '
Could it be that those in power have already been poisoned by the Malfoys? We at the Prophet are unsure, but one thing can be concluded, they are making a very regrettable mistake. To those thinking of removing their children from school, please hire a private tutor so that their education is not lost due to the addition of such a dangerous member of society. To those thinking of sending their children back to Hogwarts on the 5th of January, we urge you to reconsider.
Shortly after the official statement was released, Harry, Ron, Neville, Blaise and Draco gathered at one of the London townhouses owned by the Zabinis. Whilst Harry and Ron had spent Christmas more or less together, alongside the Weasley clan, they hadn't seen much of their friends over the past few months. The same could be said for Draco and Blaise or for Draco and Neville. As such, their current drinking session in the well-lit, ornately decorated dining room was rather necessary.
"Trust you Malfoys to be as ostentatious as possible when people start attacking." Ron remarked before taking a drink of the firewhisky he was holding.
"Well that's disappointing, Weasley. I always thought we were naturally ostentatious," Draco retorted, taking a swig of his shortly after.
"You are naturally ostentatious." Blaise chimed in happily.
"Sod off, Blaise." Draco shot back just as quickly.
"Andromeda and Teddy spent Christmas with us," Harry spoke after some time. "He'll be eleven next year."
"Let me guess, she wants to send him to Beauxbatons?"
"Actually, she didn't really get the chance to say anything," Ron answered Draco's question for Harry. "Everyone else was too busy arguing for and against sending him to Hogwarts."
"You mean to tell me Weasleys argued over me?" Draco joked.
"Don't be such a prick, Malfoy. Of course we didn't. We were arguing over Minerva and Kingsley's decisions." Ron replied quickly, his face beginning to flush.
"Still sounds like you were arguing over me," Draco remarked with a shrug of his shoulders.
"For the most part actually, we stayed quiet." Harry interjected, causing Draco to raise an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'for the most part'?"
"Well, we stayed pretty quiet until we were asked." Harry responded to the question simply.
"You should've seen the looks that Percy and George gave us - it was like Harry, Hermione and I grew extra heads or something." Ron explained further.
"What did you two say?"
"Stop worrying, Malfoy, we just said that we trusted Minerva," Ron was the first to answer again. "Lav almost broke my ears with her shouting when we got home, though. Said that I should've said something about what really went on."
Draco couldn't help but snicker at that and what Harry said next didn't help matters at all. "Ginny was pretty mad too. She thinks that we should've at least told the family."
"Dream on, Potter, maybe in another 20 years," Draco suggested after he stopped taking pleasure in Harry and Ron's misfortunes.
"No, I absolutely refuse. I won't have you three arguing like an old married couple at our long-awaited drinks night." Blaise interrupted before the back and forth between Harry, Ron and Draco could really begin. "Neville, what's been going on with you lately?"
As it happened, many parents did reconsider sending their children back to Hogwarts, resulting in the withdrawal of a few students. None of the staff were particularly happy about it, but there was also no real remedy to the problem. Draco expected some of the professors who disliked him to suggest that he quit or that McGonagall fire him but surprisingly, they stayed silent on the matter.
"Bloody hell Malfoy, you'd think that we'd be given a reprieve from seeing your face so often." Neville had jokingly commented one day during their lunch break in the staff room.
"Don't pretend that you don't get the Prophet sent to you just to see my beautiful face, Longbottom."
"You're such a conceited git, you know that?"
"See, that's where I think you're wrong. I think you meant to say that I'm the most wonderful conceited git you know."
"Fine. You're the biggest conceited git I know. Now to quote you, some of us still have classes to teach."
"What, Granger, not going to say anything?" Draco turned to the other professor once Neville left the room.
"There wasn't any need," She replied simply, with the corners of her mouth curling up ever so slightly. "Actually, I do suppose I should take that back. As a friend of a friend, I'm obliged to call you out on your bull, so no, you're not the most wonderful, conceited git anybody could ever have the pleasure of knowing. You're just a git."
Draco raised an eyebrow to that. "Just a git? Why, Granger, I'm mortally wounded. That was so insulting that I don't think my poor soul could bear it - I mean, how could I be just a git? I'm clearly the best there is so if anything, I should be git royalty. Are you sure you're not just jealous because the Prophet isn't running as many stories of your love life?"
"Trust you to be dramatic and to suggest you're king," Hermione answered, scrunching her face in displeasure. "Oh and yes, I'm quite sure that I'm not jealous that your name is publicised more often."
"Well I never suggested where I was on the royal hierarchy but I think that I'll take that suggestion of yours, Granger - why not be a king?"
With the passing of the months, the Malfoy name was mentioned less frequently. Perhaps Lucius had finally decided to throw around some of his hidden influence or perhaps the name just wasn't generating as much profit as the newspaper would have liked. Whatever the reason, Draco was glad. Quite unfortunately, it meant that content was slowly beginning to revert to Golden Trio gossip.
"This is exhausting." Hermione remarked sarcastically in the staff room during lunch a few days after a Valentine's edition of the Daily Prophet was published. "I mean, how can I possibly get any work done if I'm constantly trying to steal the hearts of the world's Quidditch players?"
"The Hermione Granger? Unable to multi-task?" Draco couldn't help but respond, causing Neville to cover his laughter with coughs.
"Very funny Malfoy, but you're not the one receiving Howlers from crazy fans demanding you stop going after a certain Chaser or Keeper," she retorted with a more annoyed tone.
"Don't open the letters then," came the simple response accompanied with a mere shrug of the shoulders. "Why bother if they're just going to be of the same stupid thing?"
"Well what if an important letter comes through from someone I've never heard from before? Or someone I hadn't heard of in a long time? It wouldn't make sense to throw out all the letters just to spare myself a few Howlers."
"Sounds to me like you're just developing some hoarding tendencies, Granger - better get that sorted or your office will be so stuffed that we'll have to wonder if you've taken everything in Hogwarts and moved it there instead."
"There's nothing wrong with being thorough, Malfoy," she quipped, readying herself to leave the room to head to class. "Besides, I'm obliged, as a friend of a friend, to tell you that we as professors should be accomplished in the art of applying shrinking charms to certain objects."
"They're complaining about homework again." Hermione stated with a frown as she sat down in the staff room, which had become somewhat of a gathering place for her, Neville and Malfoy over time.
"They're students, what do you expect them to do? Jump for joy?" Draco asked, a smirk plastered firmly on his face as he took a bite of his apple.
"They're students; they should be expected to do homework."
"No student likes homework," he exclaimed before holding a hand up so that she didn't interrupt. "Before you call bull on me Granger, let me amend that - no student aside from you likes homework."
"That's still bull, Malfoy. I know for a fact that Percy Weasley was as much a fan of it as I was," she responded smugly, giving him a smirk of her own.
"He probably didn't have professors who tried to get their students to go on some deranged version of a treasure hunt just to complete an essay."
"For your information, it isn't deranged - it's meant to be fun!"
"Granger, I'm fairly certain that only you and possibly Madam Pince might think that's fun. It's a wonder your students haven't set up some copying system yet."
"Don't be silly, Malfoy, copying homework doesn't help the individual at all...and it's against the rules."
"Trust you to think of the rules, Granger."
Shortly after Valentine's Day, Hermione was able to visit Ginny and her children at Grimmauld Place. Over the years, Ginny had steadily worked on redecorating the home and the result of that was a significant increase in brightness in each of the rooms, courtesy of off-white walls and colourful drapery, although some of the original furniture had been removed. Of course, Harry helped as much as he could, but on some of the lengthier missions, it just wasn't possible. Hermione would have offered to help more often but as it were, only some of those missions occurred during the school holidays.
"How are you and Harry coping with Lily's teething?" Hermione asked as she and Ginny sat down on the well-loved leather sofa in the family room with a mug of cocoa each.
"Not badly I suppose, it does get easier with the third child," Ginny responded with a yawn. "She's got puffy gums and has been quite fussy at night (so don't be surprised if I run off when her screams beckon) but other than that, it hasn't been too bad. She's also been eating more solids, which I suppose is different given both her brothers wanted nothing more than to be fed from their bottles."
"Have you tried giving her a wet washcloth when she fusses?" Hermione asked before taking a sip of her drink.
"We did but she didn't seem like much of a fan." There was another yawn before Ginny spoke again. "Enough of the baby talk, Hermione, tell me how you're doing at Hogwarts? Is working with the Ferret King unbearable?"
Hermione couldn't help but snicker before putting on her best serious voice. "Ginerva Potter, I shall have you know that the Ferret King is merely a ferret and...I suppose he isn't horrible to work with."
"Sounds just like how Harry described his first year working with Ferret."
"It hasn't been a year."
"Doesn't matter. I just expect you to tell me when you start becoming friends with him instead of hiding it from me for seven years."
"Ginny, you know that he did that for a good reason." Hermione responded, shooting Ginny a look to which the redhead merely rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I know. I'm just saying, 'Mione, that if you become friends with him, you have to tell me about it."
"I doubt we'll become friends, Ginny, but we have become friends of friends."
"Which means what?"
"It means that I get to call him out on his tendency to sprout untruths."
"Right. So what it really means is that you've found a way to justifiably nag him without being his friend or having it look bad."
This time, it was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes. "I don't nag him. I just correct him."
"You mean like 'It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long.'" Ginny mocked, resulting in Hermione picking up one of the cushions she had been resting on and flinging it at her friend, who had luckily finished all of her cocoa earlier in the conversation.
