Chapter 7

The Slytherins sat at the edge of the black lake, watching waves roll to shore as the sun ascended in the sky. In the distance, the giant squid was gliding its tentacles across the water, feeling the warmth of the day.

Nott and Pansy had reconciled after the truth or dare stunt and were now cuddling under a shared towel. All the students passed around a wide-eye potion to make up for the lack of sleep and used various incantations to remove the subtle headache beginning to form from the alcohol.

Chatting amongst themselves, Blaise asked Draco, "Do you think she'll be back?"

"I don't know Blaise. Pansy's little stunt might have scared her off."

There was clear disappointment in his voice. Hermione was so different than any girl Draco had previously been with, that he had no idea how she would respond to their public display of affection.

"I never thought I'd say it Malfoy, but I hope not. Granger might not actually be half bad, and she clearly has made you a little cheerier."

"I never thought I'd say it either, but I think there's something special about her."

"Merlin help us!" Blaise exclaimed, "it was one fucking kiss and you're already going soft on us," he began to laugh light-heartedly as he continued, "What's next? Going to go join the golden trio? Oh my, just wait until your parents find out their little Dracokins has been snogging a muggle-born!"

He hadn't thought about what his parents would say to him if they found out, but he was sure they would disapprove of Hermione given her blood status. If his father weren't in Azkaban, he would likely beat Draco until he promised to never speak to her again. But, given his father's life sentence, and his mother's inability to sever ties with Lucius, Draco didn't really care about their opinions at the moment.

"Oh, I'm sure they would die on the spot if they heard about it," Draco beamed, "come to think of it, maybe I should tell my father. It wouldn't be the worst thing if he suffered a heart attack from the news."

"Maybe I ought to tell my parents I'm going steady with a muggle-born too. Or, better yet, maybe I'll tell them I'm in love with a muggle!" Nott called to them, causing Pansy to look rather unimpressed.

Both the Malfoy and the Nott family were very strict and had strong pure-blood supremacy views. Draco and Theo both knew that they had unrealistic expectations placed upon them by their families, and that their fathers could be quite brutal when they came up short. Their resentment to their fathers resulted in an unspoken bond between them.

"I don't think my mother would even notice if I dated a muggle-born," Blaise added, "she's probably too busy searching for husband number eight."

The group broke out in laughter and then continued to banter about their ridiculous families for several minutes.

As the rest of the castle began to wake up, the Slytherins made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Draco picked nervously at his food, waiting for Hermione to enter. He couldn't ever remember feeling this way about a girl before. Normally in relationships, Draco had very little emotional investment. But for some reason, it was different with Hermione.

When Harry and the Weasley siblings arrived at the hall, a pit grew in Draco's stomach expecting her to be following shortly behind. Eventually, it became apparent that they had come without her and it was unlikely she would be at breakfast at all that morning.

His thoughts were full of unrealistic conclusions. He immediately began to assume something dreadful had happened. Recognizing the panic in Draco's eyes, Blaise suggested that Hermione was likely nursing a hangover alone in her room.

Draco faked a smile at the theory. Logically, he knew Blaise was probably right. Hermione did not seem like the type of student who would be used to staying up all night drinking on weekends. It was likely that she didn't even know the common magical remedies other students used frequently to decrease the severity of a hangover, and instead she was in her room sleeping it off like most muggles would.

However, logic wasn't enough for Draco today. He didn't want to logically determine what was happening to her. He wanted to know definitively that she was okay. And if she wasn't, he wanted to be able to do something to help her.

"Seriously Draco, she's fine," Blaise insisted. "You need to calm down and just eat your food."

Draco was looking over at Hermione's usual table.

"I just have a bad feeling."

Ron glanced towards Draco with pure hatred. His face was redder than normal, and his eyebrows were scrunched. Draco watched him clench his fist and mumble something to Harry before breaking eye contact.

"Weasley looks like he either wants to jinx me or punch me in the face. He's clearly pissed off."

"Draco… Weasley looks like he wants to jinx or punch you because he always does. It's nothing new. So, stop reading into everything and eat your bloody breakfast."

After sitting in the library doing homework for a solid hour, Draco couldn't remain still anymore. He wasn't able to focus on any of his work because his mind was entirely consumed with Hermione. He hadn't seen her in the castle at all and was becoming increasingly sure that something had gone wrong.

His thoughts continued to get away from him. He started to wonder if she simply was avoiding him because she never wanted to see him again.

"I'm going for a walk," Draco informed.

"We'll go with you," Blaise and Nott offered.

The three of them wandered the halls of the castle with no clear destination in mind. Draco was frustrated that he was being treated like a child who needed a babysitter. But in all fairness, they were the only thing preventing him from going straight to the Gryffindor common room and knocking on the entrance.

They made their way into the courtyard where many students were hanging out. In the middle of the crowd of Gryffindors, was Harry and Ron. At first, it appeared to look like they were arguing, but as Draco got closer, he realized they weren't fighting at all. Instead, they were both heatedly ranting to their friends about something horrible that had happened the night before.

"She's gone bloody bonkers," Draco heard Ron snap.

They were talking about Hermione…

"and that's not the worst part," Harry added, "she actually let him kiss her. Not only is she getting along with him, but I think she might like him."

"it's mad, innit?" Ron exclaimed.

Blaise and Nott attempted to get Draco to continue walking into a nearby corridor so that they could avoid being noticed by the crowd, but Draco was too invested in hearing what they had to say.

"You can't be serious," another Gryffindor said in response.

"Dead serious," Ron growled. "And she thinks I'm the one who doesn't care about what happened in the war! Had the bloody guts to go off on me about not caring about Fred back in September and yet she's the one snogging the death eaters!"

One of the younger Gryffindors in the back noticed Draco listening to the conversation.

"Umm Harry…" he whispered.

"Yeah Dennis?"

The younger boy pointed towards Draco, and the whole group shifted their eyes to see him. He wasn't sure what prompted him to say it, but Draco, making the situation even worse, jabbed, "You're sounding a little bit jealous Weasley?" in a classic, spoiled-kid type of way.

He had barely finished his sentence by the time Ron pulled out his wand and yelled, "Everte Statum!" attempting to send Draco flying across the courtyard.

Blaise and Nott were too fast for Ron. They cast protego before the spell could hit Draco.

"Wouldn't be so tough if you weren't hiding behind your minions," Harry dared.

"Shut it Potter," Draco shouted before casting levicorpus, which was deflected by Harry immediately.

Quickly the scene intensified, and sparks from various jinxs were shooting across the courtyard from both directions. Blaise cast a jelly-leg curse at Harry, who deflected it towards the wall. Harry rebutted, sending red sparks towards Blaise that knocked him to the ground.

Draco cast the body binding curse, Petrificus Totalus, at Ron. But the spell was deflected by Neville, and ended up hitting the small Gryffindor boy, Dennis, instead. Nott cast expelliarmus towards Ron seconds later, causing his wand to fly out of his hand into the nearby bushes.

Weaponless, Ron ran towards Draco and swung the hardest punch he could. When his fist met Draco's face, Draco flung onto his back and clutched his head in pain.

Professor McGonagall rushed into the courtyard and bellowed, "Arresto Momenum!"

Everyone involved in the fight instantly began to move in slow motion. With the help of Slughorn, the brawl was officially broken up, and all participants were brought to McGonagalls office for questioning.

Madame Pomfrey was called to the office to tend to all inflicted wounds, including Draco's right eye, which was becoming increasingly black as time went on.

"And what is the meaning of this!" McGonagall yelled at the boys, "I will not stand for fighting at my school!"

It wasn't rare for McGonagall to raise her voice at students, but this time she seemed absolutely enraged. No one was brave enough to speak up.

"Who started it?" She questioned.

Again, no one spoke.

"If you refuse to admit what happened, I'll have no choice but to throw the lot of you in a month's worth of detentions."

The room remained silent.

"If no one tells me anything I will ban you from school events for the entire month as well… and that means quidditch!"

Blaise looked infuriated. He had been playing chaser for the Slytherin team and clearly was not willing to lose his spot. When Draco glanced over to the other side of the room, he could tell Harry and Ron had also taken the threat to heart.

Ron finally spoke up, "Malfoy was being a right prat. It's his fault."

"So, you're saying Mr. Malfoy sent the first spell?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"That's a lie!" Blaise yelled before Ron could respond.

If that was what Ron was implying, it was a lie. Draco might have provoked the situation by asking Ron if he was jealous, but he wasn't the first to cast a spell.

"Mr. Zabini… who was it that cast the first spell then?"

"Weasley did. He cast everte statum at Draco, and Nott and I blocked it."

"Is this true Mr. Weasley?"

"Uhhh… yes." Ron said uncomfortably. "But Draco was mouthing off."

"I don't care what Mr. Malfoy said to you. You have no right to cast offensive spells at other students. A month worth of Thursday night detentions for you and 20 points taken from Gryffindor."

All the Gryffindors looked rather miserable.

"As for the rest of you… you all seemed rather eager to take part in the fight, and so you all will join Mr. Weasley for his first detention. Given your willingness to speak up, I won't ban you from school events. Now all of you, get to dinner."

The punishment could have been much worse, and so, Draco was grateful. As he turned to walk out with Zabini and Nott, McGonagall called, "Mr. Malfoy, a word before you leave please."

Nott gave Draco a "good luck" look before exiting the office. Draco turned back and took a seat in front of McGonagall's desk. The portrait of Dumbledore was hanging on the wall across from him. The old man's face was looking down at him with a gentle smile. It made Draco uncomfortable. The last time he had looked into those eyes, he had watched the man die.

McGonagall took her seat and began to speak, "I know things can't be easy for you after the events that took place last year. However, I'll advise you to watch what you say. Your reputation is not exactly pristine at the moment, and I think it would be in your best interest if you try and show the other students why you were welcome back to this school."

She took a deep breath before continuing, "the ministry didn't want to let you return. Instead, they thought you should be expelled and spend a year on house arrest with your mother. They thought you were a danger to the other students. However, I watched your memories from the trial, and I think it is clear that deep down, you have a good side. As the headmaster of this school, I was the one who fought to allow you to remain enrolled at Hogwarts. I believe it is essential for you to attain a good education in order to reintegrate into the wizarding community."

Draco was shocked to hear that McGonagall had stood up for him during his trial. He had no idea that she believed he could find redemption. As she told him this, the portrait of Dumbledore was nodding in agreeance.

"If the ministry gets word of altercations such as the one today, I have no doubt that they will try and place all blame on you, even if it is not fair. In that case, it is likely they will reconsider the decision they made in the spring and will force me to expel you from this school."

Her voice was calm and had an almost motherly tone to it. "I do not wish to do such a thing. I would get no pleasure from ruining a child's future. So, for your sake, and mine, I ask that you try your best not to provoke Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter again… You may go join your friends for dinner."

Draco didn't know how to respond. He never expected to receive kindness from Professor McGonagall after the war. It was more than he deserved. As he stood from the chair, he said the only thing he could think of, "Thank you. I'll try my best."

He truly meant it.