"You told me you would not fail me Draco."

Draco Malfoy stared up at his mother from the lounge, a look of clear chagrin on her pale face. He flinched and turned away, unsure of how to respond. "It was not my fault."

"It never seems to be your fault Draco," Narcissa responded in cold frustration, "And yet here we are, no closer to our goals. The ministry are breathing down our necks, and you were given one simple instruction to turn this around… and once again you were unable to fulfil it."

"I wasn't unable!" He growled, before checking his tone in the presence of his mother. "I simply needed more time. It's not as if it's an easy task Mother."

"You have gone one step forward and three steps backwards Draco, frankly I'm disappointed."

He flinched at her comment but pushed on, "Gaining her trust was difficult enough, I was just getting ready to begin the plan.. and then there was a set-back."

An audible sigh came from the regal woman, who paced with a graceful dignity in front of the flames within her Manor's living quarters. "We don't have time for set-back's Draco. You know the instructions. Fix this before it's too late."

"I shall try my best Mother." He watched his mother pause her footsteps, and she turned to look at him. A calculating stare, he knew she was assessing his ability to complete this mission. He would not fail his family once more, this he knew for sure, but gaining his parent's trust back in regards to his worth was more difficult than he'd thought it would be, after his treachery to their cause over the past two years.

Draco had spent hours after the war, sitting with his mother in their private lounge discussing his reasons for not killing his headmaster in sixth year, the reason for him refusing to identify Harry Potter when he was first brought to the manor, his shock and horror at having to watch Hermione Granger writhe in pain on their manor's floor while his aunt had her fun, his inability to kill the Boy Who Lived in the room of requirement, and then his hesitation at joining the Death Eaters when his dead body was shown off to the crowd of miserable onlookers. His mother knew how hard it was for him to accept the side he was meant to be on, and she was well aware that he only stayed to defend her.

His loyalty was ruining his life, and had Narcissa Malfoy been raised differently, she would have long ago told Draco to follow his heart and leave her behind to fend for herself. She did not want to ruin his life, she loved her son as dearly as any mother could, but she knew she was not meant to show it. Lucius had always reminded her that wives were meant to be seen and not heard. To attend to his needs, and raise the children, but not put their foot out of place in regards to emotions and opinions, and this upbringing had been moulded into her mind enough for it to take full effect on her raising of Draco.

She knew that what she was asking of him was too much. She also knew that he would struggle, but it was the only thing that would save their family name.

"And Draco," she added after a second thought. Her son raised a quizzical eyebrow at her change in tone, before she continued. "You need to continue practicing Occlumency. If I'm able to invade your dreaming mind as easily as I have tonight, then the ministry will be able to as well. So don't get distracted, don't lose your head."

Draco nodded, and she stepped towards him to give him a hug. "I shall see you soon, my dragon."

A crack of thunder rolled in the distance, waking Draco suddenly. He sat up straight in his bed, his heart pounding in his chest over the dream he'd just had. He hadn't expected his mother to show up so abruptly, and the invasion of his mind left him feeling slightly violated.

A lightning strike lit up the room, casting light through his open window, and Draco shuddered at the cold burst of rain leaking through. He got up to close the window, noticing the time, deciding he may as well head down for breakfast. It had been days since he'd seen the Head Girl. He'd been crawling around the dorms, jumping at the slightest noise, hoping to avoid any confrontation until he could sort out a way to explain the situation without her crying again. He couldn't stand to see her cry.

She had not made an appearance however. He saw her during class times, she'd sit next to Pavarti and keep her head down, not acknowledging the questions being asked by the professors, choosing instead to sit silently and wait until the class finished. She was the last in the classroom and the first to leave. Draco did not see her in The Great Hall during meal times. He assumed she went to the kitchens to avoid the pointed stares from both himself and the Weasel, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't know what he should say to her. Everything seemed so cliche, "It's not what it looks like, I wasn't doing anything, she came on to me," blah blah blah.

He sighed in frustration and pushed his hair back, flattening it against his head. He had not been approached by the blonde again, in fact, she'd walked straight past him in the corridor and not even noticed him, and he was incredibly confused as to why she'd had so much attention for him for 3 minutes, and then just lost it straight afterwards.

In fact… it was rather suspicious.

Draco left the dorm rooms, winking at the giggling portrait as he did so. She absolutely adored him, and he had no problem with that. It was almost a reminder of how people saw him in his younger years… before the Death Eater reputation came around to haunt him.

As he wandered the seemingly abandoned hallways, he heard voices emerge from an empty Ancient Runes classroom to his left. He would have ignored them and moved on, had he not heard his name mentioned by a girl. Malfoy pressed his back up against the wall, hiding himself from sight, and listened.

"-don't know what he did, but he's obviously done something. She was so happy when Malfoy was around, and now she won't talk to anyone."

"I know Gin," Malfoy's eyebrows raised in surprise, realising it must be the youngest Weasley whose voice he'd heard. "She hasn't been showing up for meals either. It's been days. She doesn't even speak in class anymore. She'd miserable."

"Ron said he was going to do something Harry," Ah. So it was a couples gossip session that Draco had wandered in on, he thought in bitter amusement, "He stormed out after vowing to ruin it for them, and obviously something has happened. We need to tell Hermione, she needs to know whose fault it is."

"It won't just be Ron though, he said he would make Malfoy do something. So whatever Hermione saw or heard came straight from Malfoy. She won't believe us, in her mind, Malfoy's the one who's screwed this up Gin."

He heard a feminine sigh come from within the classroom, and something hit the wall with a loud thunk, as if she'd thrown a heavy object in anger over the situation. "He's such an immature little git, he couldn't let her be happy just this once."

"He doesn't think he's in the wrong love, he still thinks Malfoy is using her… seeing her be happy without him is probably hurting his ego a fair bit, but the thought of Malfoy using her probably validates whatever horrible thing he'd done, in his mind at least."

"It's not right Harry."

"I didn't say it was. I hate Malfoy, I still think he's a sodding git, but Hermione was happy. I'd give anything for her to be happy again."

"I'm going to talk to Ron." A creak came from near the door and Draco's heartbeat picked up in panic, realising they'd leave the room soon. He came out from his hiding space and ran down the corridor towards The Great Hall, his mind filled with the new information he'd heard.

Of course, it made so much sense. He knew the blonde had seemed familiar. She was the same slag he'd seen giggling in the library, dragging the cheater out by the hand and whispering things in his ear as they left. He smacked his head with his hand. Hermione had seen him being kissed by the same girl her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her with. The situation got worse as the realisation hit him.

Weasley must have put her up to it. Malfoy slumped down on the bench with a scowl, shovelling waffles onto his plate and ignoring the questioning stares from the few other students sitting nearby. The damn Weasel had put her up to it. That explained her lack of interest anytime she'd seen him after the harassment outside the library. Malfoy gritted his teeth, the red-head knew how to play the game well, but he was not one to go down easily. He was more determined than ever to fix things with Hermione now that he knew the source of their problems had been the jealous Gryffindor wizard.

He would hunt her down after class that afternoon. He would force her to talk to him, to listen to him. He would make sure she knew the truth, because there was no way in god damn hell that he was going to let that prat win.

He was going to get her back.