Reformed

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Goldensnitch18

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Rated M for Scenes of a Sexual Nature, Language, and Violence.

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Summary: Draco Malfoy is released from Azkaban and sent to Hogwarts for his eighth year where he has a year to show that he can be reformed. Hermione Granger, and her friends, are struggling to come to terms with what has happened to them and move on, but she has agreed to be Malfoy's Muggle Studies tutor anyway.

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Disclaimer: I am not profiting from this story.

Anything you recognize belongs to the great and mighty JKR.

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Chapter Twenty-Nine

Sunday, February 14th, 1999

"Mate, we need to talk," Theo told Draco, leaning towards his friend. They were sitting at a table in the Library, just one of many occupied by seventh year students beginning to realize that the most important exam of their lives was just four months away.

"What?" Draco looked up from the pile of books in front of him, his eyes bloodshot. Hermione had gone to walk the stacks, a habit that she had when she needed to think, and they were irritating her by breathing or thinking too loudly.

"Your mother-" Theo grimaced as he stopped talking.

"What? Is she okay?" Draco asked concerned, wondering how Theo could have information about his mother.

"She sent me a Howler." Theo glanced off in the direction Hermione had vanished in as Draco's concern shifted to confusion.

"A Howler?" Draco asked, his mind trying to determine why his mother would have any reason to send his friend a howler.

Theo slid his chair closer to Draco and dropped his voice. "She is concerned that I have allowed you to have this inappropriate dalliance with someone so far beneath you-" Draco's face began to pink, flushing quickly towards red as his brows furrowed in anger. "And that I have also allowed you to take this sham of a relationship public without speaking with her, implying to the Wizarding World at large that Malfoy's would ever stoop to such a level."

"That Howler wasn't for you." Draco said, his lips barely parting as his hands began to shake in rage.

"No, I don't believe that it was," Theo agreed.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"She had tea with her." Theo shrugged. "I thought, maybe …"

"Yeah. Me too," Draco whispered, his heart pounding in his chest. He had hoped that her silence thus far would continue, no matter her view on the matter. It had honestly been a relief to not be able to explain anything to her. He couldn't imagine what he would even say to her.

"What are you going to do?"

"Nothing." Draco shook his head and started to drum his knuckles softly against the table. "I'm not going to have a conversation with my mother about Hermione through you, and I'm not going to stop being with her."

"Have you even thought about after Hogwarts? How does this play out?" Theo asked.

"Assuming, of course, I'm not back in Azkaban … I don't know. I was hoping she would … well, I didn't really expect much, but I was just putting it off until I had to see her again."

"Well, now she has four months to think about how pissed off she is," Theo told him.

"Great," Draco sighed. "Drop it," he said quietly, looking towards Hermione as she made her way back to them.

Sunday, February 14th, 1999

Everyone seemed to have someone at Valentine's day. Harry and Ginny, George and Angelina, Hermione and Draco. Even his parents were going out for the evening. It was the first time Ron really felt bothered about being alone since the night Lavender had left him alone in his room at Grimmauld Place. That was shit to think, and never would the words pass his lips, but most days, he didn't miss it. He liked being able to work as much as he wanted. He liked that no one was relying on him to be their partner. It was freeing to have his own timetable and come and go at home and the Burrow as he pleased. But tonight, he missed it.

He found the pub as he walked aimlessly down the street in Muggle London. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't really care who he was with, but he wanted to be around other people, so he headed in from the rain, sat down, and ordered a whiskey. It was damn good. Not quite the Firewhisky he was used to, but it did the job. As he was starting in on his second, a pretty woman sat down next to him and ordered a glass of wine. She turned on the barstool, her skirt riding up as one bare leg slid over the other. Her knee touched his as she reached over to ask what his name was. She listened as he talked about opening his own shop. He lied to her about what they carried, of course, but she didn't seem to care exactly what it was that he did. She told him next to nothing about herself before she suggested they take a trip to the back of the bar.

Ron honestly hadn't really understood what she meant until the hand on his leg had moved further down his thigh, softly massaging him in a way that left absolutely no room for miscommunication. She stood then, giving him a devilish grin, and he downed his whiskey in one last drink before following the same path she had taken. He found her waiting in the hallway. She grabbed his hand, pulling open the doors until she found a closet filled with cleaning supplies.

"In here?" Ron asked, and she giggled again, pulling him in after her before shutting the door. She pushed him back against the solid wood frame, and he felt her fingers pull at his zipper as her lips met his, kissing him hard. Ron was a bit taken back by the whole situation, but he didn't take much encouragement to snake one hand up her shirt to pull aside her bra and massage her breast. She grabbed his free hand in hers and moved it under her skirt. Merlin's tit, he thought, moving the fabric up enough to allow him to push her knickers down. His hand moved between her legs and his fingers buried in her heat. She moaned against his lips, and Ron grew harder at the sound.

This wasn't at all like sex with Lavender. That had been about their feelings, about the two of them sharing something special. Each moment had felt important and profound. This was about a shag that both parties clearly needed and wanted without consideration for emotion or how it would affect their future. The girl had his cock in her hand in another moment, and he let out a soft sound of satisfaction as she stroked him. "Do you have a condom?" she asked, and Ron didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but he wasn't going to tell her that.

"No," he said shortly, not trusting his response to be more in depth.

"Irresponsible," she chided him, but she pulled something from the small bag still hanging at her side, ripping the wrapping as she moved it to his cock. He felt her slide something rubbery onto him, and he figured this was some sort of Muggle pregnancy prevention. Lavender had started taking a potion when they were together, and he hadn't had any other partners, so he had never really worried about other methods.

His cock went a bit soft as she rolled the condom into place, but she had him hard again with a few motions. Ron lifted her into his arms as he turned them and shoved her back against the door. She wrapped one arm around his neck, and guided him inside of her with the other. Her head tilted back, eyes closing as she sighed at the sensation. Ron kissed her bared neck, sucking and biting as he began to fuck her against the door, their hips rocking together.

The condom wasn't his favorite thing in the world, but it did feel good to be buried inside of her, their bodies working together to bring them closer and closer to the release they both desperately needed. He hadn't been looking for this when he wandered into the pub, but it was exactly what he had needed, something completely separate from his life in the Wizarding World. This girl had no idea who he was or what his life was like, which he supposed was exactly what she had been looking for in return. He realized as she came, biting down on his shoulder, that he had forgotten her name. Maybe it was better that way.

Tuesday, February 16th, 1999

"Mr. Malfoy, thank you for joining me," Professor McGonagall told him, smiling as he made his way towards her in the Entrance Hall. He should be in class, but she had excused him, saying that she needed him for an urgent matter.

"Of course, Headmistress. What can I do for you?" he asked, trying not to blatantly stare at Potter standing next to her. The raven haired savior of the world was watching him closely, no doubt trying to understand what Hermione saw in him.

"I would like to show you both something. If you will follow me." McGonagall started walking, and Harry and Draco looked at each other for a long moment before Draco realized they were being left behind and hurried to follow after her. Their footsteps echoed throughout the quiet halls until they reached the library. Madam Pince stood nearby as they entered, her hooked nose pointed in their direction as her mouth became very small.

"I don't like this, Headmistress," the vulturelike woman told McGonagall, not turning her eyes from Harry and Draco. "I can't possibly watch them and mind the library."

"They won't need babysat," McGonagall told her. "They are here on my bequest."

Madam Pince made a disapproving noise and turned her back to them, clearly giving up on trying to convince the Headmistress not to have them in her library for whatever it was that McGonagall was leading them to. Something that she intended them to be looking at or doing for a considerable amount of time unattended if Madam Pince was concerned they needed to be watched.

Harry and Draco exchanged another look as they began to move again, going deeper into the library. Their Transfiguration teacher moved with determined steps, leading them through the maze of shelves with a mastery that few people held in the Hogwarts library. It was uncanny how similar Hermione moved through these same spaces. Draco physically shook his head, not loving the idea of Hermione being compared to anything to do with the physicality of the older witch.

Finally, after several minutes, McGonagall stopped, standing before a portrait. "This is Rubens Winikus. He was the founder of a potions company," she told them. Rubens stared down at them all disapprovingly, and Draco imagined he and Madam Pince probably got on fairly well. "Rubens, these are the gentleman I told you about. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy." She gestured to Harry and then Draco.

"They look young, Minerva. Not at all what I expected. They can hardly-"

"Rubens," Professor McGonagall said shortly, cutting off the portrait. "Skele-Gro."

The aging, white haired wizard huffed in response and swung open to reveal a large opening. McGonagall led the way once more through the opening and into a room the size of a small classroom. Draco examined it quickly, looking at the shelves which lined the walls to the ceiling, each filled to the brim with books. Some of the shelves seemed to be two or three rows deep. There were a few carts filled with tombs as well, some looking nearly new and others ancient. At the center of the room, a large wooden conference table sat with six chairs surrounding it. One lonely book sat on its surface.

Harry pushed passed Draco quickly, moving directly to the table and standing before the book there. It looked like one of their old Advanced Potions books. He held his fingers over it almost reverently before he touched his fingertips to it. "How?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Professor McGonagall said. "It was in … my office."

"So, he got it out? He knew where it was?" Harry asked her.

"Who did? What is it?" Draco asked, walking up behind them.

"It's my - Snape's copy." Harry handed him the book. "Look inside."

Draco opened the book, flipping through the pages, briefly taking in the tidy scribbled notes along nearly every page. "And why is it important that it's here?" Draco asked, setting it back down on the table.

"It was in the Room of Requirement when Crabbe…" Harry trailed off, his face pained. Draco nodded curtly, trying not to think about his former friend and the road that led them to that room.

"These are all Professor Snape's," McGonagall said, motioning to include all of the books in the room. Draco and Harry looked around in awe, taking in the huge magnitude of that statement. "He left all of it to the school to be used as research. Everything I could gather from his home and the school has been brought here to one location." She moved towards the shelves, touching the bindings of several books as she passed them. "He wrote in nearly every one of them."

"This extensively?" Draco asked, looking at her with awe. Just this one book would take days for him to read through.

"Many of them, yes, and more. Some less so, and I'm sure some none at all, but I had everything brought just in case we missed an enchantment protecting his notes from being read." She smiled at the thought, as if it was funny that Snape may have tried to hide his thoughts from her.

"Why bring us here?" Potter asked.

"I can't do this myself. The school needs me right now. Professor Snape and I … may not have always seen eye to eye, but his mind was always brilliant. Always. We lost so many brilliant minds far too soon." She shook her head and clasped her hands together. "I need people I trust with powerful defensive spells, dark magic, and potions to go through this and make sense of it. If I'm not mistaken, we have many additions to make to the curriculum in this room." McGonagall told them.

Draco looked around the room. His feelings of excitement at her words turning sour as he remembered that he already had a massive amount of work to be getting on with. "I'm studying for my N.E.W.T.s, and I'm not sure the Wizengamot would love the idea of me dealing with dark magic"

"I understand. For now, if you chose to come into this room, your normal rules with your wand would apply. You wouldn't be able to help practice any of the magic you find until after your hearing, but I expect this project to take several years." she said "The texts must be read. The spells and modifications must be tested in safe, controlled environments. The curriculum must be examined and adjusted."

"Years?" Potter said, his mouth agape. "Headmistress-"

"I don't need an answer today, from either of you." She added the last as she looked at Draco. "If you wish to return to the Aurors, Mr. Potter, than I would recommend that you turn down the project. I expect the people who complete this work to be the foremost experts on our curriculum and these subjects when they are done. I expect these people to be considerably high on the list of successors for the current temporary staff members I have in place in two key positions here at Hogwarts. I expect them to be the list." She looked at them hard, her mouth a straight line.

"Are you ... offering us jobs?" Draco asked, staring at her in shock.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy. I wouldn't be able to hire you until your graduation, but you could start as a research assistant here in the castle in June. Mr. Potter, you could begin whenever you are ready."

"And teaching. After this?" Harry asked, waving his hands at the room.

"Yes. I'm going to need to replace most of my staff within the next five years. I believe that you would be wonderful choices for Defense Against the Dark Arts," she motioned to Harry, "and Potions," and Draco. "I truly believe that with the research you will find in this room as well as working with the current staff, you would both be remarkably well suited." She stood before them quiet for a long moment. "I'm going to leave the two of you to discuss this. I won't expect your responses anytime soon. I want you to really think about what you want your future to be and know that this is an option."

They both nodded, mumbling thanks as they watched her leave the room. The two of them stood there in her absence, looking around the room at the countless pages waiting to be discovered.

Harry fell into one of the chairs at the table first, and Draco followed his lead, moving into the chair across the table from the Boy Who Lived. He put the potions book between them.

"I'm not sure how to tell Hermione about this room without losing her to it," Draco said finally.

Harry laughed. "Can you imagine?" he asked. "What could they have accomplished together if he hadn't been bent on treating her the way he did?"

"It would be easier to determine what they couldn't have. Better for us all probably that they never got along," Draco said, imagining Hermione and his old Potions Master pouring over his books, deliberating for hours on end about one simple annotation.

"He was an arse," Harry said. "And I hate research."

"So you don't want it?" Draco asked him, surprised.

"I don't know yet. I think I want to know what is in these books, but it's also a little terrifying." He flipped through the Potions book again, reading a few of the annotations. "This book … it changed so much. I …" Harry looked up quickly, eyes on Draco's chest. "I learned that spell in this book."

"The one you nearly killed me with?" Draco said sharply, looking down at the text with a new measure of respect and fear.

"Sectumsempra," Harry whispered. Draco was sure he imagined it, but a shiver ran across his scar. "He created it and some others. Who knows how many we'll find in here."

"Do you want to teach?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged. "I liked teaching the DA." He stared down at the book again, and then up at Draco, eyeing him carefully. "Do you love her?" he asked, his eyes unwavering.

"Yes," Draco said clearly, keeping his own gaze steady.

"Ron has his family. We love him, but Hermione and I, we have had no one else. Her parents don't understand any of this. They don't love that she's back here, but she is, so it's us, me and her. We are our own family. Do you understand that?" Harry asked, and Draco nodded. "She is smart enough to know whether or not you are full of shit, so I'm not going to insult her by wondering what sort of game your playing, but I will tell you that she is my family, and if I had to, I would kill for her without blinking first." Draco wanted to believe that Harry was grandstanding, the threat empty of any real meaning or promise, but as he looked into the eyes of the man who had killed Lord Voldemort, he saw only conviction.

"I'm not going to hurt her, not on my own at least." Draco sighed, remembering Theo's words that weekend about his mother's Howler. Draco couldn't make any promises about how the rest of the world was going to treat Hermione because of him.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what kind of life we'll be able to have together, and I've told her that. This," Draco eyed the books, "the promise of a job where our relationship is already accepted, it's tempting."

"She picked you. She's ready for whatever they might throw at her," Harry told him confidently.

"You saw my mother with her, right?" Draco asked, sneering. "What did you think of their interaction? Do you expect her to be inviting Hermione to tea again soon?"

"No. I wouldn't expect your mother took the news well," Harry conceded.

"I can trace our lineage back over a thousand years without breaking a sweat, Potter. Not a single Muggleborn has graced our tree. We aren't like the other Pureblood families where a bit of mixing may have happened a few generations ago but no one talks about it." Draco shook his head. "I genuinely worry about Hermione's safety once we leave here. I didn't want to go public, but she is … "

"Hermione." Harry finished. "Yeah, I understand. But, are you worried about your mother hurting her?"

"Not exactly." Draco frowned. "I don't know what to expect, and I don't want to worry her when nothing may happen, but what the two of us intent to do is catastrophic in my world. The worst possible thing you could imagine happening in a family."

"And you think … someone may try to harm her?"

"If we continue to be together, if we marry, if we attempt to have children, I will worry about my ability to keep them safe." Draco rubbed at his face before continuing. "She thinks it's fine because there hasn't been a huge backlash to the article, but there are so many reasons for that. The article could be fake, I could just be trying to get her out of my system, I could be using her for status, it could just be sex, we are more protected here. Any number of things. Once they know that it's serious, I don't know. I want to believe that what you've accomplished is enough, that maybe this time it's real, lasting change, but Potter, Voldemort gained power because other wizards in this world liked what he had to say."

"I know that," Harry agreed.

"I'm not saying she's in mortal peril this moment. I'm just saying, she may not, in fact, be ready for whatever they, the people outside of this castle, can throw at her," he finished, repeating Harry's own words. "But, I love her."

"Okay." Harry nodded. "Then, we know it's a possibility, and we take it day by day. You have to get your mother on board."

"She's decidedly not on board. She sent Nott a howler."

"Theodore Nott?" Harry asked, confused. "Why?"

"Yes. It was really meant for me, but we aren't allowed to communicate. She's very not on board with my dalliance with Hermione or that our relationship has gone public, especially without her knowing about it first."

"I can try to go see her, talk some sense into her," Harry offered.

"Why in the world would my mother listen to you?" Draco asked, laughing.

"I'm the reason you both aren't in Azkaban right now," Harry told him with a shrug of his shoulders. "She answers the door when I show up at least."

"You can try, Potter. I'm not sure you could make it worse than it already is, but don't be surprised if she doesn't answer the door this time." Draco told him.

"I know we both need to think about this some more, but do you want to meet back here this weekend? Look through some of it and see just what we might be looking at?" Harry asked.

"That sounds good. Come up on Sunday?" Draco suggested. Despite Potter's threat, which had not been entirely unexpected, their conversation had been rather cordial, if a little depressing. He found himself hoping against all odds that Potter was right, and his mother would at least open the door and listen to some of what he had to say. Nothing about the next few months, or even years, was likely going to be easy, but he knew that he couldn't give up on Hermione, not after he'd just found her.

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for continuing to read and travel along this journey with me.

XOXO

Meg