Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it is the property of the brilliant J.K Rowling. This story is the product of her marvellous characters and world and my imagination.

Any constructive criticism or reviews are extremely welcome, I adore feedback of any kind. Enjoy the chapter.


Interlude: Draco

If someone had told him two years ago that he would be working for the light, against his father and all his previous beliefs and in the company of Potty, Weasel and Granger, he would have called them barmy. But that was exactly where he was now and for some warped, strange reason he liked being there and wouldn't go back to his 'I'm superior to you but I kneel before a half-blood' father and the psychopathic Dark Lord for anything. His father had proved to Draco just how backward Voldemort's thinking was - Draco had always been taught that purebloods were superior and that Malfoys bowed to no one. Yet his father knelt kissing the robes of a half-blood maniac and expecting Draco to do the same and be happy about it.

Draco's homelife had rarely been a happy one. The first few years of his life had seen his father suffer a temporary fall from grace after his involvement with Voldemort, despite the fact that he'd pleaded forced service under the Imperious Curse. His life was as happy as it could be with Lucius as a father from aged six until Draco left for Hogwarts. His father was proud of him when he achieved little things like riding a broom properly, but he was often beaten if he failed. His mother was always there to try and comfort, but she could only do so much under his father's watch.

The beatings had increased exponentially when Draco had gone off to Hogwarts, mainly due to the fact that he was second, not first in the year. It was a huge achievement to be above all the Ravenclaws of his year, but that didn't matter to the father who wanted Draco to be top. He supposed that was why he was able to hate Hermione Granger so much. He'd truthfully never had much issue with different bloods, though he always acted like he did, but his constant besting by Granger gave him the little resentment he needed to make his hateful act work well. He guessed he could thank her for that at least, though if she hadn't been around he would have likely been top. However, now he knew her at least marginally well, he would not begrudge her a place in the magical world, especially considering how much help she was to the effort to destroy the Dark Lord.

Draco had hated Weasley on principle - he was everything a pureblood was not supposed to be; poor, no regard for blood purity and with a warm, loving family life. The strange thing was that Draco had kind of envied him for the last thing, his family life tended to be cold, especially with his father involved. Of course, he never let a hint of that escape him, he didn't want to think what his father would have done if it had been known that Draco was envious of a Weasley of all people. Despite the envy, Draco didn't find it hard to hate Weasley, he was annoying as hell during the small amount of time they had to spend together, not to mention how completely uncouth he could be. Weasley seemed to have been brought up hating the Malfoy name and never missed an opportunity to annoy Draco, so it wasn't difficult to constantly insult him.

Then there was Potter - the bane of his existence for the first six years of his school life at Hogwarts. His father had been very particular in his instructions regarding Harry Potter - Draco was to try and befriend him so he could be a powerful ally when the Dark Lord inevitably returned. If this failed then he was to be treated with the same contempt as mudbloods. Since Potter had refused his handshake and taken up with Weasley and Granger, Draco had gone with the latter action and Potter was henceforth the equivalent of a leper to Slytherin house. Draco might only have been a first year, but the Malfoy name carried a lot of weight and he pretty much ruled the dungeons from the moment he set forth there, with higher authority only given to Professor Snape. Draco had occasionally felt a little bad for Potter, considering his lack of parents and the huge burden of bringing down the Dark Lord, but there was no room in his façade for doubt and he pushed those worries quickly away.

He'd discovered during his first six years of Hogwarts that the only one of his Slytherin housemates he could truly trust was Blaise. This wasn't particularly surprising - Slytherins were notorious for looking out only for their own interests and in making partnerships or relationships of convenience (never a true friendship) in order to accomplish their own goals. Draco had followed this trend - it was expected of him - and the only time he had broken from it was in regards to Blaise, who was probably one of the few Slytherins who could be genuine. They'd never broadcast their friendship, always making sure it seemed as though it was a convenient business arrangement, but they both knew each others secrets and that showed real trust between them.

It had been Blaise who had suggested taking their mothers and going to the Order of the Phoenix for sanctuary. It was a rather brave suggestion on Blaise's part - Draco had still been unsure of his allegiances at the time and could have easily passed the information of Blaise's desire for defection to Lucius or the Dark Lord. Draco had taken two days to think over what Blaise had told him, before telling his best friend resolutely that he wanted to get away from Voldemort. The small worries and disagreements he'd had with the Dark Lord's policies over the years had culminated in his thoughts and he had made a significant switch in his beliefs. Blaise's mother was easily persuaded, wanting nothing to do with the Dark Lord. Draco's own mother had been a little harder to persuade, worrying about what her husband might do, not to mention the retribution she could find heaped upon her by her insane sister, Draco's aunt Bellatrix. However, she had never really loved Lucius, it had been a marriage arranged for the benefits both families would gain, and she knew the Order were capable of hiding them incredibly well. Therefore she agreed and the four had packed and left the next morning.


They'd known it would be difficult to get the Order to believe them, despite the fact that Dumbledore was a remarkably forgiving man. Draco had therefore been infinitely surprised when the next person to believe their story after Dumbledore and Severus had been Hermione Granger. Yes, it had been because she knew of the truth serum they later discovered had been placed in their tea - but for people like Potter and Weasley, even that might not have been enough. She had so many reasons to hate him and she did not - that was a shock to him. He was very grateful to her, especially because she kept Potter and Weasley's insults and barbs to a minimum until they and Draco learnt to be civil to each other.

In the end it was Draco who was the focus of most suspicion, though Moody maintained for weeks that none of them were to be trusted. However, since Moody still didn't trust Severus, who had proved himself time and time again, no one really took his paranoia seriously. Draco and Blaise's mothers were not really disliked, they had never done too much to cause such a feeling and were found to be perfectly nice women. Blaise too, had kept himself to himself during the years at Hogwarts, never openly declaring himself either way or getting involved in any conflicts. Luna Lovegood had taken to him instantly and since most of the Order respected her as a brilliant judge of character, he was accepted without much hesitation.

That left Draco, who, in the end, received a lot less condemnation than he had expected and fully believed he deserved. There was six years of pretty disgraceful behaviour from him that the teenage Order members in particular had to try and get over. The girls; Hermione, Ginny and Luna, were best at acting normally, while Neville and Harry tended towards cordiality most of the time. The Weasley twins pranked him a few times for what he had done over the years, but after a month or two they became better. It was Ron Weasley who was the biggest problem, his temper making it difficult for him to get along with Draco. Even now, almost a year later, he would still occasionally blow up at Draco, though he tried to be civil most of the time.

Draco did enjoy getting to know the relatives he'd always been told were disgraces. He didn't see his aunt Andromeda much, she wasn't living at the castle and only came up occasionally. However, there was Andromeda's daughter - Draco's cousin - Nymphadora Tonks, who had informed Draco during their first meeting that he was to call her by her surname only or find out just why she was a successful auror. While he thought she was a little strange to begin with, Draco soon discovered that Tonks was a lot of fun, bringing no end of amusement with both her metamorphous abilities and her inability to walk a few steps without tripping over. Then there was Sirius, who was his mother's cousin and therefore Draco's second cousin. He'd been a little distant to begin with, probably due to Draco's actions in school - Harry was his godson after all, not to mention how protective he got over Hermione. Soon though, Sirius saw that Draco wasn't about to follow in the footsteps of his crazy aunt Bellatrix and warmed to him, seemingly glad that there was another two decent people in his family in Draco and Narcissa.


Draco and Blaise had both become immersed in Order life at Hogwarts rather quickly, not even complaining too much about having to live in Gryffindor Tower - at least they got a separate room to Potter, Weasley, Longbottom and the twins. The Order had explained the policy of dropping unnecessary subjects and Draco had consented quickly. His NEWT subjects had been Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Herbology and Ancient Runes, but he dropped the latter two as they weren't needed. He considered keeping potions, but dropped that as well in the end because his aspirations didn't involve it and there was already Severus, Blaise and Hermione working on potions for the Infirmary.

He found himself mostly enjoying the intense training they all went through most days, gaining more respect for every teenager at Hogwarts after seeing how impressive they were - Hermione and Potter especially. It also helped that the training was incredibly useful and at the rate they were progressing, Draco knew they would be a match for plenty of the death eaters when it came down to the final battle. He only hoped they had the strength to take down the stronger death eaters and Voldemort when they needed to. Before switching sides, his father had always given him the impression that the light side were badly organised and incompetent, with Harry Potter triumphing only through sheer luck and death eater mistakes. Now he'd seen the Order in action, he knew that to be completely untrue, while Harry had obviously had help from his friends and the Order, he was incredibly powerful in his own right.

When it came down to it, Draco knew he'd made the right decision in switching his allegiances from a Dark Lord who cared nothing for his well being to a group seeking to make an equal society and vanquish a menace who was destroying bloodlines left, right and centre. He only had to look at his mother, surrounded by the nice members of her family, or his best friend, wrapped up in the love of his life, to know that he was happy at Hogwarts, with a few true friends for once in his life and free from his father's poisonous influence. The light would triumph and when the war was over Draco would be helping rebuild many lives, his own included and he'd prefer that any day over death or rotting in Azkaban for ideals he didn't believe in. Despite being in the middle of a war Draco was happier than he'd ever been - and he fully intended to stay that way.


Thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter, it was very much appreciated; Jim Red Hawk, SweetSweetRevenge, Readerforlife, ladygoddess8 and TsukiyoTenshi.

Next chapter, in which Hermione, Sirius, Remus and Ginny run into Bellatrix, will be up in a few days.