Chapter 3

Draco was allowed to leave the infirmary in the morning. Despite being "all healed up" according to Madame Pomfrey, he still felt broken. When he got the great hall for breakfast, many of his classmates questioned where he had been. Zabini and Nott were particularly disappointed he had missed the Slytherin start-of-term party.

As the owls soared throughout the hall to deliver the daily mail, a letter floated down to Draco. He opened the brown envelope, sealed with wax imprinted to display the letter M.

My dearest Draco,

I've been informed by a house elf that you've already been injured. I'm worried for you. People will not forget the part we played in the war and will likely target any students with ties to the death eaters. Please be careful son.

There isn't much to do in this house all alone, so it is likely you will receive plenty of letters from me. I'm going crazy without your father. I've written to the ministry to request a visitation but have heard nothing back yet. If they do approve it, I would love for you to join me.

Please be careful and remember to study hard for your classes.

Love,

Your Mother.

There was no chance Draco would ever visit his father in Azkaban. He hated even the thought of his mother going there.

As the days went on, Draco's anger grew. He was angry he had the dark mark on his arm as a constant reminder, he was angry the other students treated him like vermin, and he was angry no one in the castle understood his pain.

In an attempt to find solace, Draco returned to a place where he used to feel comforted. Back in sixth year, when he had been ordered to kill Dumbledore in order to restore his family name, the second-floor girl's lavatory provided a safe space from his torment. There, he had befriended a peculiar ghost, Myrtle, who listened to his hardship. It was the oddest of friendships, and yet, it was the only person Draco could turn to.

"Hello Draco," Myrtle said as he walked into the bathroom.

"Hello."

"How lovely you've come back to visit me. You're the only one who ever visits ugly, miserable, moping, Moaning Myrtle."

Draco gave her a smile. He never did know how to respond to her depressing comments.

"So, tell me, what brings you back to the girl's lavatory? Something wrong?"

Draco pulled up his sleeve to show the ghost the mark on his arm.

"It won't fucking go away. I hate looking at it. I hate being reminded I'm anything like him. I tried cutting it out but its cursed or something. Nothing works. But what's worse, is the way they all look at me, like I'm the one who fucking murdered everyone. Like it's all my fucking fault this happened. I get I did some shitty things but it's not like I enjoyed it… I just didn't feel like being fucking murdered," he said.

Mid-sentence, Myrtle cut Draco off to say, "I don't think we're alone."

Draco was embarrassed he was in the girl's lavatory and thus attempted to leave immediately, but instead ended up standing face-to-face with Hermione.

Angry it was always her, he said, "the fuck Granger, didn't mommy and daddy teach you not to eavesdrop?"

Hermione rebutted, "didn't mommy and daddy teach you not to go into the girls' bathrooms?"

He didn't know what else to say. And so, he stayed silent, staring into her eyes. He had never noticed before how piercing her eyes could be.

She broke the silence by saying, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping. It's just…"

Before she finished her sentence, Draco ran out of the room. He couldn't manage to look into her eyes anymore. It was too harsh of a reminder that he was a bad person.

In potions class, Slughorn had them brewing draught of peace. Periodically, he would ask a question such as, "If I were to add too much powdered unicorn horn to the brew, what would a possible outcome be?"

Draco was surprised to see that Hermione was not even remotely interested in the class. Normally, she would be acting like a complete know-it-all by answering questions the professors had not even asked yet. But today, she seemed to be zoned out.

When no one resolved his question, Slughorn provided the answer himself by stating, "adding too much can result in an irreversible slumber. Write that down class, it might be on your N.E.W.T.s!"

Draco thought to himself that it might be beneficial to add too much powdered unicorn horn to his brew. But then he remembered his nightmares, and decided an endless sleep was not the best option.

Whenever Slughorn wasn't looking, another student would begin to terrorize the Slytherin table. At first, Ernie Macmillan walked by and purposely knocked over their vial of Helleborne syrup. And then, Michael Corner charmed a paper airplane to fly directly into Blaise's cauldron. By the end of the class, Draco was so pissed off at his fellow students that he wanted to dump his potion on their heads. He decided, to prevent himself from breaking down and jinxing them in the hall, he would wait in the classroom for a bit. His plan however was flawed, because Hermione Granger also seemed to linger in the room.

Annoyed, he said, "stalking me or something Granger?"

"No, just needed something from Professor Slughorn," she replied.

"Oh, is there a potion even the mudblood can't manage to make properly? What is it? Hoping for some liquid luck or a euphoria elixir? Or maybe you'd rather borrow some essence of insanity or draught of living death to slip in the Slytherin pumpkin juice tomorrow morning," he quipped, recalling all the nasty things fellow students had done to the Slytherins thus far.

"If you must know, I was actually going to ask for a sleeping aid," she responded weakly.

He was surprised she too was having such a hard time. Shouldn't she be happy? She did win the war and was now constantly referred to as "the golden-girl". It became evident to Draco, that just like him, the war left scars on her that would never heal. He decided to change his tone to something kinder when he asked, "trouble sleeping?"

She didn't respond but her face said it all. She was close to tears. Swiftly, she turned away from him and started to walk out of the room

He didn't know why, but something compelled him to extend a hand to let her know she wasn't alone in her pain. And so, he said, "me too…"

His words caused her to turn back to him. Struggling to look at her glossy brown eyes, he looked down at his feet. Eventually, he gained enough courage to look up. When their eyes met, he said, "fucking night terrors."

No more words were needed. The previous enemies were now connected by a common struggle. They walked from the potions room side-by-side until their paths diverged.

Not long after, Draco realized Hermione never did asked Slughorn for the sleeping potions. He knew nothing could ever make up for his previous actions, but maybe helping Hermione find some peace would be the first step in a new beginning. And so, Draco snuck back to the potions classroom before dinner, and snagged a handful of sleeping potions.

At first, he was going to walk right up to the Gryffindor table and hand it to her… but that seemed to forward. Although they shared a brief moment of intimacy in the potions classroom, they weren't exactly close enough to hang out in the Great Hall.

And so, Draco took a seat beside Zabini and Nott. They were talking about some quidditch match Nott had attended in the summer. Draco attempted to seem social, making small comments ever so often.

When he saw Hermione stand up to leave dinner, he knew he had to get her attention. As she passed his table, he caught her eye and tossed the vial of sleeping aid towards her. Part of him worried that she wouldn't catch it, and the glass would shatter on the floor. But luckily for him, Hermione's reflexes were quick.

Draco didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and so, he quickly returned to his conversation with Zabini and Nott. He didn't even manage to see her reaction, but deep down, he hoped she would view this as an apology.

That night, Draco shot back a sleeping potion he had stolen for himself and wondered if Hermione was doing the same.