~ Draco and Hermione ~
"The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters.
We've all got both light and dark inside us.
What matters is the part we choose to act on.
That's who we really are."
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters and settings belong to J.K Rowling.
Enjoy!
Chapter 26
As Snape exited the Wizengamot so that Hermione could replace him, he moved over to her swiftly.
"Don't be afraid to speak up, Fudge can talk over Draco but he cannot talk over witnesses," was all he murmured, before Hermione was being shuffled inside.
His words rang in her ears as Hermione walked into the enormous room. She was rather shocked at how many people were present and watching her. She had to remind herself that Death Eater trials were obviously a big deal, so she ignored all of the watching eyes and instead looked only at Draco. He appeared more pale than usual, slightly anxious, but also frustrated. She guessed that he was frustrated because of Cornelius Fudge. She remembered when Harry explained how his trial had gone, during their fifth year when he'd done underage magic. He'd been constantly interrupted and bombarded with questions, and it was clear that Fudge wanted him in deep trouble too. Harry was lucky that he had Dumbledore though... Draco had no genius defender, only her and Snape. Hermione finally reached the seat beside Draco, sat down, and took a deep breath.
"Okay, let us continue. You are Hermione Granger?" asked Fudge.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed.
"Good. So, at Malfoy Manor, how many prisoners were kept there?" he continued, this time talking to Draco.
"Five, in total," answered Draco.
"What were their names? When were each of them imprisoned?"
"Ollivander was the first, he had been locked in the cellar while I was at Hogwarts during my sixth year. Luna Lovegood was locked in the cellar after the sixth year of Hogwarts was over. Dean Thomas and a goblin named Griphook were locked in the cellar about five weeks ago, and Hermione Granger was just over four weeks ago," finished Draco, glancing across at Hermione nervously.
"So miss Granger, what were the conditions in which you suffered in the cellar?" asked Fudge, looking at her this time.
"Not very good. It was cold, there were no lights, and not much food. But Ollivander had been there for over two years, so the conditions weren't bad enough to kill anyone," Hermione answered honestly.
"Were you starved?"
"No."
"Were you tortured?"
"Yes, Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort tortured me. Otherwise, no."
"Did you suffer any discomfort at the hands of Draco Malfoy?"
"No."
"Are you sure? That is why you're here, to be a reliable witness," said Fudge in annoyance.
"Yes, I'm sure. On the contrary, he healed wounds inflicted on me by Bellatrix, he gave me extra food, he even lit a fire for us at one point. He helped me escape and that's why we're both alive," said Hermione firmly. After hearing this Fudge seemed incredibly disappointed and somewhat confused, as if he'd been expecting her to say something bad about Draco.
"Did Draco Malfoy attempt to kill you?"
"He was ordered to kill me by You-Know-Who. He refused to do it, though, obviously," said Hermione. She indicated to herself to emphasise the fact that she was still alive.
"So you didn't suffer any cruel treatment from..."
"I suffered no cruel treatment from Malfoy. We, the prisoners, suffered cruel treatment from Fenrir Greyback, Peter Pettigrew, Bellatrix Lestrange and You-Know-Who," Hermione stated clearly. After she'd given them those names, the entire Wizengamot seemed satisfied as they burst into a long discussion. Even Fudge smiled a bit, as he looked across at Percy Weasley, who was still writing everything down, and nodded towards him. Percy hurriedly wrote names down, looking equally satisfied. She must have given them names of people who'd otherwise not been charged enough, perhaps Greyback and Pettigrew, so her witness statement would at least be helpful in those cases. Bellatrix was already in Azkaban for life, after all the murders she'd been accused of. Hermione heard the Slytherin beside her take a deep sigh of relief, as he let his head fall back and relax.
"You alright?" Hermione asked.
"Feeling better now," he murmured.
"The sentencing is probably coming up soon, so don't relax yet," Hermione went on quietly. As she said that, they noticed that Kingsley, Elphias Doge and Fudge were all speaking quietly amongst themselves. They seemed to be arguing over something as well, which was possibly the sentence. After a few minutes of this, Kingsley raised his hands to get everyone's attention.
"Those in favour of one year in Azkaban?" came Kingsley's booming voice. Hermione's eyes widened in shock, as Draco felt his heart suddenly drop.
"You can't do that!" began Hermione, but Kingsley glanced at her in warning. She remained silent, and looked around at the Wizengamot as nobody raised their hands, not even Fudge. Maybe one or two old witches in the far corners of the rooms raised their hands, but they were completely ignored by the other forty-eight members. Draco sighed in relief a second time, but his heart was still thudding painfully.
"Those in favour of five years of magically enforced probation, after which all charges will be cleared?" came the next vote. A few more hands were raised this time, but still not enough to make that the decided sentence.
"Those in favour of forced attendance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and three years of magically enforced probation, after which all charges will be cleared?" said Elphias Doge this time. At this, almost every hand in the room was raised. That then became the final verdict, and the trial ended abruptly as Percy finished writing the last few words. Then Kingsley, Doge and Fudge all got out of their seats and escorted Draco and Hermione out of the room. The rest of the Wizengamot remained seated, as they were probably staying all morning to continue doing trials and interrogations. Once they'd left the room they met with Snape and continued down the hallway for more privacy.
"I told you Hermione, nothing to worry about," said Kingsley with a smile.
"Well you scared me when you said one year in Azkaban," Hermione retorted.
"That was the harshest sentence, it had to be voted on, it's just protocol," said the Minister casually as though he did this every day. Which, they realised, he probably had been doing it every day since he became Minister for Magic.
"I probably could have brought it down to one year of magical probation, however I think three years is for the best. That way the Auror's are watching you and it keeps the escaped Death Eaters off your back," explained old Doge, almost apologetically, as if Draco would have preferred one year rather than three.
"Thank you, sir, it went absolutely fine," said Draco as respectfully as he could. He felt like he was in a daze. He didn't care how long the probation was, and Doge was probably right. Hermione had mentioned that escaped Death Eaters wouldn't approach someone who was on probation, given that it meant Auror's were would be watching them. After three years, most of the other Death Eaters would hopefully be locked up anyway. His whole family would be free too... it was the best outcome he could've hoped for.
"You're lucky the Minister has given you a chance, mister Malfoy. Lets just hope you don't turn out like your old man," said Fudge sternly. Draco was about to open his mouth to snap back when Kingsley interrupted.
"Come Cornelius, we've got another trial to do," said Kingsley, making it sound more like an order than conversation. Fudge glared at both Draco and Snape, before turning on his heel and striding down the hallway towards the trial room.
"Don't worry about him. He's not the nicest fellow, he cares more about putting people behind bars than evidence," Kingsley said with a shake of his head.
"But without Barty Crouch, he's one of the only good interrogators we have left," said Doge grimly.
"And he's agreed to help us lock up all the Death Eaters, for as long as possible... but anyway, don't you two worry," said Kingsley as he turned to Hermione and Draco. "That's settled now. However you may be required to return here over the summer to discuss your attendance to Hogwarts, being an ex-Death Eater and all. For now, your mother is staying at the Leaky Cauldron, she's been there waiting for your trial to end for days. You can see her and return home now. Your father is... in Azkaban, so you'll have to visit him there, perhaps another time."
"Thank you, Kingsley. For everything," said Draco gratefully. Kingsley nodded to him with a smile, and then said goodbye to Snape, before returning to the trial room to join the Wizengamot. Snape, Draco and Hermione left the hallway and headed back to the main entrance hall of the Ministry of Magic, where the golden statue was. Once there, they stood amongst the sea of Ministry workers who were arriving for work early in the morning, and turned to each other.
"I have to go to Diagon Alley to see Professor McGonagall, for Hogwarts business. You can come with me Draco, and go home with Narcissa. Granger, I'll take you back to The Burrow now," Snape began. It felt rather odd hearing Snape talk to them outside of school, since he'd been their professor and he'd taught them since their first year. However, Hermione realised that Draco was perfectly comfortable around Snape, since they were so alike and Snape had been his mentor the entire time at Hogwarts. Likewise she was much more comfortable around McGonagall.
"No, I want to come to Diagon Alley for a while," said Hermione quickly as she glanced at Draco, who nodded.
"We have some 'Hogwarts business' too," said Draco sarcastically.
"How lovely. You'll have to apparate to The Burrow yourself then, miss Granger? Because once we arrive at Diagon Alley I won't be seeing either of you again until Hogwarts, unfortunately," said Snape with equal sarcasm. Hermione rolled her eyes at both of them, as they all held hands and prepared to apparate.
A few moments later and they'd apparated directly into the main street of Diagon Alley. They were immediately engulfed in a scene of construction and rebuilding. During the war most of the shops had been broken into, stolen from and destroyed. Most of the shop owners had been kidnapped and even killed, Ollivander being just one example. Of course at the end of the main street they could see Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, a bright explosion of colour and noise that attracted most of the shoppers. Since Fred's death, nobody had been able to help comfort George, not even his other brothers, Molly or even Ginny. He'd been utterly broken, and a few days after the war had ended he left The Burrow without telling anyone and had been staying at the joke shop by himself ever since. Hermione decided to stop by and say hello, before returning to The Burrow. Every other shop along the street was being fixed up and re-opened, however, and some had new owners.
"Well, I've got to go. See you in two months, and see you... soon," said Snape, nodding towards Hermione for two months, and Draco for soon. Draco nodded in understanding and said goodbye, as Hermione struggled to figure out what he meant by it. Snape left them standing in the middle of the street, and headed over to Flourish and Blotts, he bookshop where Hogwarts students buy their school books from. They assumed that was where he was meeting McGonagall. Maybe they were organising next years new list of books, which excited Hermione more than ever. Books, subjects, classes, exams, corridors, the castle, the lake, the Gryffindor common room, Hagrid! Even Peeves and Moaning Mertle brought back fond memories. She couldn't believe that she was going to return to the castle again.
"Bet you'd love to be in there," smirked Draco when he saw her staring over at the bookshop.
"No! I'm just excited about Hogwarts, that's all," said Hermione as she blushed.
"I'm just glad that everything's over," Draco said in relief.
"In a way, everything's just beginning though. What did Snape mean by 'soon'?" asked Hermione curiously as they began walking down the street.
"Oh, he's going to be visiting over the summer, since... my father's in Azkaban. Snape said he'd help me and my mother out," explained Draco uncomfortably. Hermione nodded, as she guessed she kind of understood that. She supposed that Draco was right. Slytherin was a close-knit house, and it made sense for Snape to be a mentor and father-figure to Draco at times. After all, it was Snape who'd been there for him during his sixth year, and it'd been Snape who'd taught him Potions, favoured him in class all those years, and even protected him from Voldemort behind the scenes.
"What did Kingsley mean by me having to return to the Ministry about attending Hogwarts?" asked Draco next, in confusion.
"I'm not sure. Maybe you'll be under special circumstances or something, since you're an ex-Death Eater? It wouldn't have mattered anyway though, because McGonagall said she might be repeating the entire school. Seventh year is compulsory, so you would have been forced to attend anyway," said Hermione with a shrug.
"True. It's still going to suck either way," muttered Draco as he thought about it.
"Oh, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour is open again!" Hermione exclaimed, as she pointed at the pleasant looking ice cream shop. She hurried over to it and Draco rolled his eyes as he followed her.
"What's so special about this place?" he asked when he sat down beside Hermione at one of the tables.
"Well, the owner was killed by Death Eaters, but someone must have bought his shop and re-opened it. And me and Harry just really like the ice cream here," said Hermione cheerfully. They ordered ice creams, despite the fact that it was still very early in the morning. Draco couldn't help but smile when he realised how bizarre the entire situation was. He was having ice creams for breakfast with a muggle-born girl who he was supposed to hate, whom he'd kissed the night before. For Slytherin's and purebloods this sort of behaviour was unheard of. Ice creams were considered childish, lower-class even, and someone like Pansy would never have suggested, "let's go have ice creams!". Instead most girls would want to go to Madam Puddifoot's stupid pink tea shop at Hogsmeade, which he absolutely loathed. Plus he couldn't help but let his mind continuously dwell on the kiss the night before. Every time he looked at Hermione, he unconsciously pictured himself kissing her again. It was incredibly distracting.
"What are you thinking about?" asked Hermione when she caught him glancing at her. She licked her strawberry ice cream and smiled slightly.
"You. I mean, I can't believe I kissed you," said Draco awkwardly.
"I can't believe I let you. Me and Ron were kind of going out last year, but he never even got close to kissing me. And even if he did, I wouldn't have let him because he's like a brother to me. But with you, it was..." Hermione trailed off shyly, as she glanced at his lips and then to his eyes as she tried to find the words to describe it.
"'Unexpected'?" quoted Draco with a smile, as that was exactly what she'd said the night before. Hermione laughed as she nodded.
"And... nicer than what I expected? Sorry, that probably sounded stupid," said Hermione.
"No, that's what I thought too," Draco agreed.
"What else did you think?" asked Hermione curiously this time. To be completely honest, she had only ever kissed one other guy in the past, and that was Victor Krum. To be completely honest again, Draco was a much better kisser than him. But that was because he'd apparently kissed almost every Slytherin girl in their grade and Ginny's grade too, if any of the gossip was even true.
"Kissing you again has been the only thought going through my head since last night, now more than ever," admitted Draco, as he glanced down at her lips which were now coated in strawberry ice cream. She licked them and blushed, completely forgetting about her melting ice cream and everything else around them. Then she suddenly shook her head, and leaned back when she realised how close they'd been getting.
"We'd better not do it again, or else I won't be able to stop thinking about it for the next two months," said Hermione hurriedly. Draco felt a twinge of disappointment but he knew that she was right. His entire plan had been to forget that this had ever happened, so that he could go back to Hogwarts as an ordinary Slytherin seventh year. Kissing her again would only make everything harder. But deep down he found himself not caring about anyone or anything else but her. She was almost like an addiction, and the first kiss had him hooked. Or maybe it was the first hug. Or the first genuine conversation.
"Okay, important stuff," said Hermione aloud, as if to snap them out of whatever trance they were in. "This is kind of goodbye, since we won't see each other again until Hogwarts, and when we're at Hogwarts anything could happen, so..."
"So I'll owl you. I'll need the address to The Burrow though, my owl has never been there," said Draco, taking the hint and deciding to talk about the things that mattered most.
"And I'll need the Manor's exact address too. I haven't got an owl, Harry's died, and Ron's is a bit... you'll know what I mean when you see it," said Hermione with a laugh. She imagined the miniature owl called Pig flying all the way to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, wherever that was, and then collapsing inside Draco's room with a letter from her. That's what it usually did on long-distance flights between her house and The Burrow. Draco smirked slightly as he wondered what he'd be able to do to Ron's owl, perhaps as revenge for all the arguments and disagreements they'd had whilst hunting horcruxes.
"I know what you're thinking, but he's my owl too, and he's adorable," said Hermione sharply as she looked up from the piece of paper that she was writing on.
"How do you do that? I'm beginning to wonder whether you're secretly studying Legilimency now," said Draco in amusement.
"Or you're just predictable sometimes," smiled Hermione as she finished writing the address. Then she tore the piece of paper in half and handed him the blank piece and a pen, so that he could write down Malfoy Manor's address. He stared at the pen and paper blankly.
"What kind of parchment is this? And you haven't got an ink bottle," he began in confusion.
"Oh! It's muggle paper, and a pen. The pen has the ink in it already, so you don't need a quill and ink bottle," explained Hermione, amused at his confusion. Draco's eyes widened slightly as he inspected the inside of the blue ballpoint pen.
"Of course, muggles, always coming up with strange stuff," he said as he tried to appear unimpressed.
"Yeah right, you have to admit that pens are much easier to use than quills and ink bottles," argued Hermione.
"The cheap plastic is uncomfortable. I think I prefer my phoenix-feathered quill," said Draco indifferently as he wrote down his address in fancy hand-writing. Hermione rolled her eyes at his obvious, 'I'm-better-than-everyone' attitude, but found herself smiling anyway. When he handed her the piece of paper with Malfoy Manor's address on it, she handed him the paper with The Burrow's address.
"If you don't like pens, you could always go to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. They've got self-inking quills, so you still won't need an ink bottle," Hermione went on casually. Draco blinked in surprise, as he realised how convenient that actually would be. Everyone hated ink bottles, especially if you spilt them or knocked them over. And it was really slow in class, and you constantly ran out and had to go buy more. With Hogwarts coming up and everyone hating him, using an ink bottle in class probably wouldn't be the smartest idea. He could almost guarantee that people will knock it over on purpose. He knew because he'd done it to other people in the past, including Hermione, actually.
"Those would be useful, but I don't think I'll be strolling into Weasley's shop anytime soon," said Draco, as he glanced down the street at it. Hermione nodded in understanding.
"I think I'll visit and see George before I go back to The Burrow. I feel so sorry for him," Hermione sighed. Draco didn't reply, and she realised that he wouldn't know what to say at that point, because he didn't even have any siblings at all. Either did she for that matter, but at least she'd had the Weasley's, and they were all like brothers and sister to her. Draco had never had that sort of relationship with anyone, except for perhaps Crabbe and Goyle, who could be labelled either his bodyguards, cronies or brothers. They all fit quite well. Hermione noticed that Draco had glanced down the other side of the street towards the Leaky Cauldron, where his mother had been waiting for days. She could see the anxious, longing and almost protective gaze he had in his eyes. She'd never seen him be protective of anyone. It was yet another surprise that made her realise that there was still so much she didn't know about him.
"Do you miss her?" asked Hermione quietly.
"More than you know. If I find out that anyone touched her since we escaped..." Draco trailed off angrily, as if he'd been thinking about this.
"I miss my mum and dad too. It feels like an eternity since I saw them last, and I can't wait to restore their memories. And now I'm going to miss you too," said Hermione, as she looked at him sadly. They could both feel that the time had come for them to say their final goodbyes, and they'd both been secretly dreading it.
"You'll see your parents again though, and you'll see me again. I guarantee it," said Draco with a smile.
"I know. Well... I'll see you in two months, Malfoy," said Hermione, after taking a deep breath. She stood up and put his address in her pocket, before hugging him tightly.
"See you at Hogwarts, Granger," Draco said as he held her. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before they parted ways.
Thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, please feel free to review and add to alerts/favourites! :)
Check out my other stories!
Draco and Hermione - s/5661111/1/Draco-and-Hermione
The Soul Connection - s/9868543/1/The-Soul-Connection
The Time-Turner Division - s/12337018/1/The-Time-Turner-Division