It was Summer in the Malfoy Manor. Draco was just trying to concentrate on a spell in his beautifully and richly decorated room of silver and green. He thought these colours would not appeal to Hermione, the Gryffindor Princess. Funny he now referred to her as a "Princess", and funny how much he admired her now for her courage and intelligence, when before her involvement with his private life, he called her a "Mudblood". And it was truly amazing how his wrong perceptions about her have changed so much, in the span of a few months.
His Mother always knew when he was thinking about Hermione Granger, because he would not listen to her whenever she talked to him about anything. For example, he was just having dinner today with her and some House-Elves had brought over some magical liquors and set the table. And his Mother was asking about how he's been:
"Draco, dear, how have you been since my last owl to you?"
"Mother, everything is fine, I'm just trying to concentrate on things. But I can't."
"Care to tell me why?"
"Because I've been thinking about you."
"And why, my dearest Dragon?"
"Mother, don't call me that please. I'm almost a grown up man."
"It's my special nickname for you, because you've been my Dragon ever since you were born. So tell me about why you've been thinking about me?"
"Because Potter told me you'd be in grave and serious danger. He had seen Rodolphus Lestrange, talking to the Dark Lord, wanting you dead."
"Wanting me dead, why would he want that?"
"Because you've put his wife into Azkaban, all according to Potter. And I'm really scared for your life, Mother. I bet you've never thought about the consequences of putting your own sister into the Wizarding prison, yes?"
"No, I really haven't thought it through, I'll admit, Draco. And how did Potter know this?"
"Because he's had a dream about the Dark Lord and Uncle Rodolphus talking, like I said before."
"Did Potter say when he would?"
"No, he said he didn't know, Mother."
"Right, don't worry, my Dragon, I'll be ready when your Uncle Rodolphus's going to come for me. There are some other things you want to tell me, yes?"
Unknown to him, though, was that his Mother had already put some Charms and some Protection Wards around their home, forbidding Death-Eaters like Macnair, Dolohov, Nott and the rest to be in the Manor. She didn't want to use the Fidelius Charm yet, as she didn't know who to choose for a Secret-Keeper.
"Yes, I want the engagement to the Parkinsons cancelled too, you know I can't stand Pansy. And how she's annoying and all that, I've even in public rejected her and she wouldn't take the hint?"
"I'll see what I can do for you, my Dragon. And what do you feel now towards Miss Granger?" His Mother asked, rather directly.
"I feel different about her, but she says we're just friends, I think I want something more though, I am unsure about her feelings for me, she might have some for Weasley, with the way she looks at him sometimes!"
"My Dragon, so unsure about what you feel, that must new for you, and even frightening at times, am I right?" His mother hit the nail with it about his internal insecurities.
"Yes, I've always been so proud of myself, I've always known what to do, what to feel and even what to say… and I'm at loss now that everything's been turned upside down in my world of black and white, Muggles-borns against Pure-Bloods and everything, I'm just so afraid of these new things in general, Mother."
"And with your Father out of the picture, telling you what to do and even what to think, you've been more independent and more free, which is what I wished for you ever since you were born. But I think too much freedom is making you very uncomfortable and you've never felt this way about a girl before. I mean, she not only saved you, but had also given you a second chance at life."
"You've been taking a liking to her, yes, Mother? Do you mind she's a Muggle-born?"
"Yes, I am very, very, fond of her, and thankful for what she did for us. And no, not at all, you can be with whoever you like. I never cared about blood purity as much as your Father did. And I would never make any decisions for you, my son; you are you, not me."
"Thank you, Mother."
"But first, we need to do something about Pansy… you know, she's been in love with you since the cradle?"
"Yes, Mother, and I have never felt anything remotely romantic towards her, only disgusted by her infatuation with me and her putting me on a pedestal, and worshipping me like a sex god. With Hermione, it's different. She thinks of me, as a human being, firstly, and then as a friend and not a lying Slytherin or anything of the like!"
"And I see you value her friendship with you a lot?"
"Yes I do. And to be honest, she's my first real friend ever since I was born. People have been wanting to be my "friends' for my money, my blood status and my societal status, a bit like Potter. And I am really really pleased she accepted my friendship and as you said, gave me a second chance at life. And even once, we've even agreed on something: both Muggle-borns and Pure-bloods have a place in this world of ours after I've told her about my 'Mock Dark Mark'."
"You trust her enough to tell her about that? Did you show it to her? How did she react to it, if you did?"
"No, I didn't show her, I just mentioned it to her. And she reacted as I expected: she said she was going to free me from it entirely, and after I told her it was impossible to do so; she didn't believe me."
"That's how I imagined her to be: courageous, noble, kind-hearted and headstrong. Although I suspect she's going to risk her life to care so much about others." Narcissa said to her son. At last, she was free to have her opinions and was liking it. She hated it when Lucius was around, always so authoritative towards her and her young son, almost like a dictator in the House. She was a free woman now, free from her husband's control over her, free to say whatever she liked and however she wanted. She loved that she could show her son how much she cared about him, something she could not do with Lucius around. His presence in the Mansion overwhelmed her, she didn't know if her son felt the same about his father. He was never allowed to call him "dad", so he called him "Father", always.
"Yes, I've been having the same thoughts about Potter: he's going to die because of that, too."
"You do care about Potter too now? What about Weasley?"
"I don't technically 'care' about them, I just feel different about them, not as much hostility towards them as before. But Weasley, he is obviously still holding it against me, and terribly jealous of my closeness to Hermione." Draco kept his duelling with Ronald Weasley a secret, not wishing to worry her more. After a while of silence, he asked his Mother:
"Can we just stop talking about them? You're giving me a headache."
"Hold on, I'm not done with you yet, what are you going to do with your engagement to the Parkinsons?"
"Although I'm scared of Pansy's over-reaction to it, I'm still going to call it off by myself, like a grown man. I'm going to send her an owl now, Mother."
"Now? But you're tired, Draco."
"That's fine, Mother, I can handle it." And so Draco wrote an owl to Pansy Parkinson that night, after having had supper with his Mother:
"To: Pansy Parkinson
Pansy, I think there are things we should talk about. I want to invite you to dinner, this 15th of July 1997 over about something really important.
From: Draco Malfoy."
Pansy, in her parents' home, was overjoyed to get Draco's letter and replied to it as soon as she read it:
"To: Draco Malfoy:
I am happy to get your letter. What did you want to talk about?
Plenty of kisses.
From: Pansy Parkinson, your fiancee."
Meanwhile, at Grimmauld's Place, Snape, Harry, Ron, Hermione, the rest of Order of the Phoenix, were talking about a way to defeat Lord Voldemort. Hermione, without revealing every details to them, said:
"Dumbledore, Snape and I have been planning things for our side. But I can't tell you everything, dear valued Members of the Order, because it will put our carefully laid-out plan into jeopardy. But don't worry, we know certain ways to destroy Him."
"Don't worry? How can you tell us to trust you, when you have no plans in mind?" Tonks objected.
"We do have plans in mind, and well thought-out ones, might I add. And if plan A fails, we'll fall back on plan B: destroying You-know-who."
"How?" asked, Mrs. Weasley, doubtful.
"I can't tell you, but Dumbledore and I have devised something out, something fairly elaborated to defeat Him with minimum casualties on both sides since the beginning of this year."
"How?"
"It's between him, I and Professor Snape."
"What Snape! How can you trust him after all he's done to us. And if you're not telling us anything, how can we help you?"
"I don't want any help from any of you, it's my job and mine alone. I don't want to risk everyone's lives for this and Snape's a good man, on the Light side, I can vouch for him."
"Hermione, we've been trained as Aurors for this! We ought to know what's going on!"
"She's right, she can't tell you everything, you'll just have to trust in her." Dumbledore said for her.
"And I have something else to tell everyone, Rodolphus Lestrange is planning an attack on his sister in-law, in the Malfoy Manor. Before anyone asks: 'how do you know?' Because I saw it in one of my dreams about Lord Voldemort." added Harry.
After the meeting and after everyone else went to sleep, Mrs. Weasley was saying to her husband Arthur:
"I don't like it how Hermione's being so secretive about things. What if it's something too dangerous for someone her age? And Snape, for Merlin's sake, how can she trust him after everything he's put us through, has she gone mad?"
"You tend to over worry about things. I'm sure everything will be fine. And as for Snape, something must have been going on between these two for her to change her mind so radically about him." Arthur had more faith in the girl.
"EVERYTHING WOULD BE FINE! EVERYTIME SOMEONE SAID THAT TO ME, SOMEONE GOT HURT!" Molly Weasley exploded.
"Don't go over the edge, Molly, everything is going to be as Dumbledore planned!"
"Although we don't know what they've planned and I'm really concerned about Hermione, Harry and Ron's and everyone's safety!"
"Quiet down and try and sleep, Molly, you'll wake everyone else up with your shouting!"
"Fine, but mark my words, something's going to go terribly wrong, I can just feel it."
"How? You're not a Seer. Quit making a big deal out of nothing! I'm certain Dumbledore would have thought about her safety before making plans with her."
"What if—?"
"Nothing would go wrong, I promise, Molly, now go to sleep, will you?" Molly finally stopped arguing.
Some next few days, the Weasleys, Tonks, took Harry and Hermione to Diagon Alley to hang out as they had nothing to do that day. To their surprise, they met the two Malfoys in Honeydukes. Harry and Hermione nodded as they acknowledged their presence in the candy shop.
"If it isn't Harry, the Golden boy and Molly, how are you today? Why don't you all join us while we're paying for our sweets in Honeydukes." Taken aback by Mrs. Malfoy's pleasant tone and invitation, Harry and Ron didn't know what to say. She was being quite civil, even somewhat formal towards them and even saluted Mrs. Weasley. They didn't think she was capable of being polite. But there she was, being respectful to people her family disregarded previously as nothing but "blood traitors" and "poorer than dirt".
"Mrs. Malfoy.", greeted Mrs. Weasley, as equally politely as she, having read in the Prophet about her change of side, now regarded her highly and thought of her as a brave woman who's gone through some great ordeals in her life and really admired her for having the courage to expose her husband to the world, although she didn't know why she just didn't divorce Lucius. Maybe by some Pure-Blood law, she wasn't able to. But right this second, she was extremely courteous to her and she returned the same to her.
"I don't know if I should congratulate you or not on your successfully putting your husband—" Tonks began. There was an awkward silence between the two, since Nymphadora was Narcissa's maternal niece, but the Blacks all disowned her Mother, Andromeda, for marrying Ted Tonks, her Muggle-born father.
"Yes you should, Nymphadora, dear. Although the family had disowned your mother Dromeda and burnt her from the family tree, I always still saw you as my niece, my sister's daughter. So I am your aunt, Nymphadora, I hope there are no hard feelings between us!"
"No hard feelings? Why didn't you do anything for my mother Andromeda Tonks, then? If you weren't on their side!" Only seeing red, Nymphadora Tonks asked her with fury in her voice: "And how dare you speak about my mother as if you were a good sister to her!"
"I admit, I haven't been. But I couldn't do anything, as I was under your grandparents' Curse, and my husband's total control. I would have liked to do something for her if it were possible for me, but I couldn't, I had my hands tied and you have every right to be angry at me, child, for everything."
"Why don't we all go somewhere else while Tonks and her aunt talk about things?" suggested Mrs. Weasley. Harry, Ron and Hermione, the Weasleys, all went outside of the shop. The Weasleys all shopped around, but Harry and Hermione, in another shop, close to Honeydukes, were trying to eavesdrop on them, as they too, were curious about Tonks' family matters.
"And Draco dear, would you go along with them for now?"
"I want to know what my cousin thinks of me, Mother, let me stay!"
"Fine, you can stay since she's your family too."
"And plus" Mrs. Malfoy went on with Tonks, "I was always a little jealous of your mother, Dromeda, because she could marry the man she loved and not I. I didn't have enough courage to defy family and Pure-blood traditions. Please understand my situation at that time, I was basically sold to Lucius, like your aunt Bella was to Rodolphus Lestrange. Only Dromeda escaped that fate by marrying the one she loved: Ted Tonks. I was, I'll admit, very envious of her, so when the family disowned her for marrying a Muggle-born, I was passive about it, since I had to deal with my own personal struggling married life."
"So you were a coward then." concluded Nymphadora Tonks.
"Yes, a coward and more. But now, I am free to do whatever I want, and to be who I really am. And Draco, say hello to your cousin. Don't just stand there, you're making it very anti-climatic."
"Hello, cousin Nymphadora, I am Draco Malfoy, your maternal cousin." As he said this, he extended his hand towards her for her to take as a peace-making gesture. However, Tonks didn't take it in hers. Rather, she spat on it. Draco, wanted to retaliate against her, but his Mother laid a hand on his shoulder and told him:
"Don't, she has a right to be angry at us. Let's go."
The night after her meaningful meeting with Narcissa Malfoy in the candy store, Nymphadora Tonks was fuming. "Who does she think she is? My aunt? After having done nothing for my mother when her parents disowned her for marrying a Muggle! And she thinks she has a right call me 'my niece' after all that? She disdained and abandoned my mother as much as the rest of the 'family'!"
Molly Weasley said more sensibly:
"Think about her difficulties in life too. Didn't you hear about it? She was under the Imperius Curse, and couldn't do anything out of her own free will! She herself was going through such ordeals and couldn't stick up for your mother!" Tonks, more composed, after inhaling deeply, replied to Molly:
"Yes Molly, but she had no right to tell me she is my aunt, when she's denied being it for so long!" Tonks wasn't ready to forgive her maternal aunt as quickly as Hermione forgave her arch-nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
"But it's not worth it, don't you think it's time to move on! It's been what? A good 15 years?"
"Yes. But don't ask me to forgive her, I can't." Mrs. Weasley patted her on her shoulder.
"I'm not asking you to forgive her, just to be more understanding about her, she is your blooded relative, after all. Blood is thicker than water, dear, always remember that. And besides, didn't she try to reconcile with you today?"
"Yes. But I can't be as forgiving as Hermione Granger, I couldn't believe it when the 4 of them didn't call each other names and such!"
"They've matured, and became more responsible, sensible. They were young children when they did that and something big happened: Draco's denounced his father's crimes with his mother, making him our ally too. And she, your aunt, although you don't like to call her that, also helped us put Lucius Malfoy and other Death-Eaters in Azkaban, making her on our side."
"So everyone here trusts my aunt?"
"Yes, we're all on the same side now: the remaining two Malfoys and us, are all in this together."
Two weeks passed since Tonk's meaningful meeting with her maternal aunt, Mrs. Malfoy. It was almost mid-July. Now that she had more time without her studies and homework, Hermione had daily Legilicimeny/Occumency practices with Severus in a room specifically built for them. Dumbledore Concealed it from other Members of the Order and Harry and Ron, so they could practice in peace.
But her two male friends found it exceptional that she and Snape got along now. They didn't know this was due to her being able to see pass his icy, almost hostile exterior to them and the Order. Ever since she pried open his head and seen his memories about Lily Evans Potter, she felt sorry for him and some kind of complicity and grudging respect developed between him and her as pupil and private instructor.
For Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, though, this meant facing Pansy Parkinson in his own home, his soon-to-be ex-fiancee. He was really dreading the dinner, hoping she would not throw a temper tantrum or be in tears over it. But knowing her since childhood, she probably would. Or so he thought. His Mother attempted to reassure him she wouldn't, as she was a teenager now, almost an adult. But Pansy couldn't be an "adult", she was still a spoilt child in his eyes. The Parkinsons, like the Malfoys, had over indulged their only daughter.
Pansy came to the Manor, wearing pinkish evening robes because her favourite colour was pink. "She looks like a pig and even less attractive than usual, how could my father pick her as my fiancee! I just don't understand him sometimes!" Draco remarked on her looks silently and vainly.
"Hello, Drake, Mrs. Malfoy, how have you been since your husband's imprisonment?" Pansy was direct and straightforward and always blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, not considering others' feelings.
"We've been well, thank you. Please sit down. Dinner will be ready at 7." Mrs. Malfoy said. As they were waiting for dinner, Pansy was idly chatting with Draco's Mother. When dinner came, served by Kreacher, Mrs. Malfoy's loyal house-elf, Pansy just said:
"I know you got something very serious to tell me, Drake, so no point in sugar-coating it or beating around the bushes. I'm not a child anymore, I can take whatever you're going to throw at me."
"Pansy, err how should I start… I want... I want to call off our engagement." Draco was blunt, since she said there wasn't any point in tiptoeing around it.
"Yes about that, you know I've been in love with you ever since we were born, I think, but you've rejected me plenty of times. I know you don't love me back, Drake. But it doesn't matter to me now, I know I deserve someone better than you. You've always used my feelings for you anyway, to get whatever you wanted from my parents and my family, but I won't let that go on any longer. So you can cancel off the engagement. I don't really care. And I won't let you abuse or humiliate me ever again, like your Father did with your Mother because of my unrequited feelings for you. You uncaring bastard. I was too blinded by my love for you, to think clearly before. But now, after some pondering over it, it's better for both of us if the engagement was off. Because you simply don't deserve me."
After her speech, for a moment, he was at loss for words. But he recollected himself rapidly and responded back to her:
"Well, that's good, because I feared you wouldn't accept it, and even would vehemently oppose to it."
"Thing is, Draco, I have my own feminine pride. I won't be clinging to a man who doesn't even want me, because that just doesn't do me any justice and that's one the most degrading thing for me as a woman, so I've moved on with my life and I've decided to respect myself a little more. You've taken advantage of my unhealthy obsession for you long enough. Before today I couldn't see that, now I can, thanks to some clear thinking and analyzing the situation. So I Pansy Parkinson, am willing to break off my engagement to you, Draco Malfoy."
After that, she gave back her engagement ring to him, she was gone, and Draco said to his Mother:
"Well, you were right, Pansy is a mature woman now. She did take it better than I imagined."
"I told you so, my dear Dragon."
Something he didn't know about Pansy was that Hermione Granger had been messing with her thoughts and helped her mature. Otherwise, she would have reacted exactly the way Draco supposed she would. He was wondering this about his fellow female housemate: "Since when did she know anything about feminine pride and self-respect?" That bit sounded very Hermione Grangerish to him.
A/N: READ AND SAY SOMETHING ABOUT MY FIC! BORING? DULL? TOO MUCH DESCRIPTION, NOT ENOUGH? SAY IT, I CAN TAKE IT, LOTS OF KISSES FROM ME: THE FANFIC'S AUTHOR! AND I VIVIDLY ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION ABOUT MY FICS, AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND OF OPINIONS!