Author's Note: Hello all! This chapter we'll be seeing a bit of old Draco resurface. I've been toying with his after-war personality. Sorry if he seemed too good before, but I am trying something with his personality. Remember J.K. Rowling owns the characters and plot stuff you recognize. Happy Reading!
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"Hello, good morning, how you do?
What makes your risin' sun so new?
I could use a fresh beginning too
All of my regrets are nothing new
So this is a way, that I say I need You
This is a way
This is a way
That I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that you and you alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies"
"Learning to Breathe"-Switchfoot
Chapter Ten: Learning to Change
We had spent the rest of the holiday happy at Nicolette's place. Jordayna seemed to be doing better. She was even eating more than she had at her mother's. Not too long after I had given her the necklace, Nicolette noticed it. The two of them talked way too much when Nicolette wasn't at work. At some point, Jordayna's father sent me a letter. He told me he was appreciative of my efforts to contain her mother and stepfather. I was glad he was not holding previous actions against me. I was even more grateful that he was not punishing for events that were caused by my father.
Now we were preparing for our first lesson with the first years. She was fidgeting about the room. I smirked at her.
"What are you smirking at? We're going to be late if I don't find my book!"
I held the book in the air. I couldn't help it, instigating things with her was always my specialty, even before we were dating.
"You're such an infuriating jerk, you know that?" She asked. She looked wonderful now that she had gained some weight back. She had gained more than what she had loss due to the pregnancy. It was actually good looking on her.
"I know, but you love me. So really you love an infuriating jerk. What does that say about you?" I said handing her the book.
"It says that I really have no taste in men whatsoever." She answered with a smirk playing across her lips.
"I happen to think you have excellent taste."
"Hey, if you two don't get down here to go to breakfast, you're going to be late!" Hermione shouted from the bottom of the common room staircase.
"Granger waits. We should probably go before she loses her mind." I suggested. She put the book in her bag and walked towards the door. I followed her.
We walked to the dungeons. She was quivering a little.
"Don't worry. We'll teach well. Potions are what we're good at, we're Slytherins." I reassured her.
We entered the Potions classroom. The Ravenclaw first years took in a breath. I suspected that their surprise was at who they were getting as their second term professors.
"Hello class. We will be your professors for this term. I'm Professor Mallerd and this is Professor Malfoy." She introduced us.
"He'll be teaching us too? Isn't he a Death Eater?" A girl in the front row asked. And so my past begins to destroy my present.
"Professor Malfoy is reformed. If Professor McGonagall and I can trust him, then you can too." She answered. Her tone gave the girl very little room to argue.
"Are you really pregnant and not married?" A small boy in the middle row prodded.
"I've decided there will be no more questions about our personal lives. You are going to brew a potion because this is Potions class. If you are so concerned about our lives you can leave, and meet us for detention at eight o'clock this evening." I lectured. She mouthed a thank-you in my direction.
The rest of the class went smoothly after that. No one dared to oppose me. It almost felt like I was a Malfoy again.
The next class was the Hufflepuffs. They were a useless lot to teach potions to if you asked me, but she seemed to enjoy teaching them. Whenever someone had trouble she went to their table and showed them how to do it properly. At one point, she ruffled a boy's hair and it made me jealous. How come she could be playful with first years, but not with me?
"It seems you have this under control. I'll be back for the next class." I said coldly. I could see the confused look on her face. I didn't care. I knew we had a free period between this class and the double lesson of Gryffindors and Slytherins so I went to my room.
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Jordayna finished teaching the Hufflepuff class before retreating to her shared common room with the rest of the Slytherins who stayed the last term to teach first years. She was just grateful Pansy and Nott had been expelled. She couldn't bear to live with them after everything that happened. The only ones left this term of the Slytherins were her, Malfoy, Blaise, and Daphne. The four of them enjoyed their small dungeon common room with private dormitory bedrooms. It had made it easier for them to slip into their respective partner's room.
She got to a portrait of Snape and in his nasally drawl he asked for the password. "Slytherin Pride." She muttered to him. He swung open allowing her to enter the green, black, and silver room. Daphne was sprawled across a couch reading a book about Charms.
"He went straight upstairs. He's moody as hell today. You might want to be careful." She warned. Jordayna nodded.
Jordayna went up to her room anyways. She knew he'd be there and not his own room. She entered and he wasn't there much to her surprise.
She padded over to the bed where she sat down for a moment to gather herself. She only had an hour before she had to be back to the classroom with or without him. She didn't know why he was mad at her. It made her want to cry. She sniffled. She made a decision. She went over to his door and slammed on it.
"Malfoy! Open up!" She screamed.
"Go away Mallerd! I'll be at the next class."
"I'm coming in!" She warned. She furrowed her brow and his door flung open. She was pissed.
"Bloody hell Mallerd!"
"What the fuck is your problem Malfoy? You leave me in that dungeon to teach by myself. I don't get it!"
"I'm sorry. I just didn't think you needed me because you were fine ruffling and touching the boys' hair."
"Is that what this is about? YOU were jealous because I told a first year he did a good job?! That's rich! Why don't you come knock on my door when you've grown up!"
His rage took over. He was sick of being told to grow up by people. He had done enough growing up in the last three years. He had attempted murder, accepted the Dark Mark, been through the war, had to be saved by St. Potter, and returned to school with his head held high. Damnit he'd grown up! He stormed over to her and picked her up, setting her behind the threshold of his door, and slammed it in her face.
She went back to her room. Fine, if he was going to be a sullen prat, she wasn't going to worry about him. She grabbed her stuff to teach the next class and headed out. Not too long after, he had done the same.
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I had entered the classroom only seconds before he did. I don't know why we were so mad at each other, but we were.
"Hello class. She's Professor Mallerd, and I'm Professor Malfoy. We will not discuss our pasts, and you will brew a potion. There, introductions are over." He told them before I had the chance to say who we were.
All of the fighting was starting to get to me. I was feeling extremely tired by the end of the Slytherin-Gryffindor class. I hurriedly packed my stuff and ran out the door before he could. I left him to sort through the ingredient shelves and make sure they were in order. It served him right for leaving me alone there earlier in the day.
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Most of January went by and we hadn't spoken much. It was mainly plan the lessons, go to class and teach the lessons, come back to the common room plan the next lesson, and then go to bed. It was an endless cycle of not talking to each other. It finally irked me to confrontation. I threw open his door. He was lying on his bed reading a book. He didn't even bother looking up.
"We planned out the lesson for tomorrow, what do you want?" He asked as if I were a house elf.
"I want you to talk to me. One minute you're telling me you love me and the next you're back to the prick you used to be. I'm sorry I don't downshift that fast! Why are you so worked up over some Hufflepuff first year who I told they did a good job?" I demanded from him.
"I'm so damn jealous because I want that from you and I know I can't have it! You're pregnant with Nott's child and if I touch you I become the bad guy! So sorry if I can't handle being your boyfriend who only gets to lay with you at night if you feel like laying that close to me!" He answered.
I hadn't expected that. I hadn't thought about how hard it must be to be dating me. I mean I'm selfish, but I didn't know I had gotten to the point where I would forget someone like him.
I lowered my head and muttered, "I'm sorry." Tears were streaming down my cheeks.
"Don't cry! Damnit Mallerd!" He said getting up and walking over to me. He took my face in his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about this whole month. I'm used to being a Malfoy. I could hear Lucius's voice in my head telling me that I wasn't good enough because I hadn't managed to get as far as Nott. I forgot all rational thought." He said taking my face in his hands. "You're not to blame. I'm a bloody insufferable git." He said with that smirk. His blonde hair fell into his face, and I remembered how much he had done for me thus far.
"Okay. I'm sorry if I keep crying though. This pregnancy is really making me switch moods and cry way more than any person should."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I've been a wanker."
"It's okay. I think I forgot that we were more than friends. I'm just not good at these things. I mean I screwed up with Nott and now I'm screwing up with you."
"No you're not. You're fine, and don't blame yourself for Nott. He's a bloody wanker." He said as he dropped his lips to mine. They were soft and beckoned mine to part. I allowed his tongue access. My hands ran up through his hair. He held the back of my head by my ponytail. I knew I was going to freak out at any moment, but at the same time I felt something with him I had never felt all the times Nott had tried, before he raped me. After what seemed like half an hour, I broke apart from him and took in a breath. I could do this for hours. The thought scared me. I wanted to do things with him, but at the same time, I was afraid of how it would feel.
"It's okay. I'm not asking for more than that." He said almost reading my mind.
"I know. I just, I don't know."
"That is a contradiction in terms Mallerd."
"I know."
"Care to escort me to bed?" He asked me. I guess he must have noticed the look on my face because he added, "To sleep my dear. Get your mind out of that dirty place."
I giggled. I was just glad we were back to normal. I felt the chain he gave me at Christmas around my neck. I had hoped he didn't want it back, because he meant more to me than he'll ever know.
"Malfoy?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Thank you for understanding me."
"Pleasure's all mine."
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Draco was tossing in his sleep. It was the week before Valentine's Day and Jordayna and him had been on great terms since they talked it all out. He kept shifting.
(Dream)
"Theodore? It is your child. You have as much right to it as she." A voice Draco recognized in an instant drawled to Nott.
"I know Godfather, but no one else can see that." Nott answered the other man.
"I think the time has come for you to take back what is rightfully yours."
(End Dream)
Draco shot up in the bed. Jordayna woke up and asked him what was wrong. He just shook his head not wanting to worry her because it was clearly just a dream. At least he hoped it was. He would go talk to Professor McGonagall in the morning.
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Around seven, Draco woke up and crept out of bed. He had to talk to Professor McGonagall about what he was seeing. It reminded him of his vision of Jordayna with Nott. It worried him a little.
"Mr. Malfoy, you are up early." McGonagall said to him when she opened her office door.
"I'm sorry Professor, but I have something I need to ask you about."
"Okay." She hesitated seeing the look on his face. She knew if it weren't for Miss Mallerd, Draco would still be a hard boy to reach out to.
"You remember when I came to you about the dream I had with Nott and Jordayna?"
She nodded. It was the reason they had found the girl.
"Well I think I had another one of those." Draco explained. He told her of everything he saw in his dream.
"You're positive?"
"Yes."
"Well then we must be aware of her whereabouts and who she is with if you think someone is planning an attack on her. I know Mr. Nott is in Azkaban, but people have escaped before, I am sure they can again."
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At nine, Jordayna had woken him back up, he had crept back in around eight-thirty. She wanted to go to breakfast on this glorious Saturday morning. Everyone would be talking about their Hogsmeade trip. She wanted to get Draco something more special than a simple "I owe you," this time around. In the midst of their argument he had forgotten that she owed him one flight, until she had mentioned it to him. He told her he would take her in the spring or summer. He said the weather wasn't right for a three-month pregnant girl to be out flying.
At breakfast they still at their same table, everyone chattered anxiously over breakfast.
"Here's some juice." Draco handed her a goblet.
"Thank you. So how is everyone doing with classes?" She asked.
"Teaching the first years to fly is the best thing I've gotten to do in a long time." Harry answered.
"Well considering your year usually consisted of bringing down Voldemort in one way or another, I'm sure teaching first years to fly would be easier." Jordayna quipped.
"True." Harry said thoughtfully. He made a short nervous glance down to Ginny's left hand that Jordayna happened to notice. When she followed his eyes, she noticed a ring with a diamond sitting on her third finger.
"Merlin! Ginny is that an engagement ring?"
"You owe me a sickle Ron! I knew Jordayna would notice before Hermione did." Harry laughed.
"Thanks for letting me down 'Mione." Ron muttered as he gave Harry a sickle. "It's a good thing we get a little bit of pay for this teaching stuff."
"Well you shouldn't have gambled Ronald." Hermione scolded. Everyone figured she was probably just as angry she didn't notice first as Ron was.
"Wow Harry it's beautiful. Blaise, you should get me a ring like that." Daphne cooed.
Blaise gulped.
"I don't think he's ready to think about that yet Greengrass." Draco said giving a small smirk.
She pouted a little, but then started to talk about wedding plans with Ginny.
"What if I wanted a ring like that?" Jordayna whispered to Draco while the others were busy.
"You would want a puny thing like that? I can do better than Potter." He boasted.
"Leave it to you to be insulting while I'm trying to be romantic."
"Sorry Mallerd. It's in my nature."
"I know it's right after being a constant arrogant prick." She whispered back. She gave him her dungeon-worthy smirk as Blaise liked to call it.
"Slytherin."
"Only the best for a Malfoy."
"You know it."
"Hey you two! Are you coming? It's time to head out to Hogsmeade!" Ginny shouted from the middle of the Great Hall. Everyone had gotten up in the middle of their banter.
"Yes we are!" Jordayna called back and rushed over to her red-headed friend.
Draco watched her go with the girls as he headed over to Blaise and the others, a smirk evident on his face.
"What are you thinking about? The look on your face tells me, your best mate that something wicked is on your mind." Blaise asked.
"Nothing Blaise, nothing at all."
