Chapter 22

Draco listened hard to Professor Muldoon's lecture on resisting the Imperius curse. It was fourth period and usually by now he found his concentration waning, but today his mind was sharp and focused. Whether it was down to the dreamless sleep potion affording him the most restful night he had gotten since he came back to school, or the quasi-reconciliation he had had with Granger the previous evening, he didn't know, but he was determined to make the most of it.

"So, remember," Professor Muldoon barked, his gimlet eyes roving across the room. "The best way to defend against this curse is to not get hit by it! Some basic protection spells can give you fair warning that you are under attack…"

Draco rubbed his thumb over the signet ring on his right hand that he had imbued with a shield charm. Maybe he could experiment with adding different charms of protection to it?

"Homework is revise! There are four weeks until your exams and there is no reason that every single one of you cannot pass this class!" Professor Muldoon gave them all a stern look. "And for those of you who aren't worried about grades, at least take your own protection seriously and put the work in! It may save your life one day! Class dismissed!"

Draco started packing his books away, purposefully not looking at Granger. He had been staring at her half the class as she sat up at the front, listening intently as always. Was he imagining it or did she seem a little happier? Something less strained in her expression? Had their brief reconciliation last night had anything to do with it? It had certainly made him feel more optimistic about a future relationship with her.

He hung back, letting most of the class file out in front of him, returning Hermione's small smile as she passed. He was heading towards the door when he was joined by Potter, of all people, who had also been taking an inordinate amount of time to pack his books.

"Malfoy," he said gruffly, nodding for him to stand aside of the corridor with him.

Draco couldn't help himself; "What do you want, Saint Potter?"

Harry's eyebrows shot up at the epithet but he didn't acknowledge it.

"I wanted to say, I think that whatever you said to Hermione is working. She seems less upset, she has also mentioned you several times in passing, so you're obviously on her mind."

Draco was absurdly pleased to hear this, but kept his expression impassive. "That's good to know. Thanks Potty." He was about to turn away, but Potter didn't seem ready to end their discussion.

"I don't know if Hermione told you, but I'm planning on having an end of year party at my house. If you are her are going to be together then it seems only fair to invite you, provided that you drop the attitude of course…"

Draco laughed at the absurdity of this situation; how had they gotten to party invites when just a year ago they were mortal enemies?

"Shit, Potter! You really are going for sainthood, aren't you? How is that going to work when the Weasel clan all despise me? You are going to have blue balls for weeks if you ignore your girlfriend's feelings about it and invite me to your house!"

"Well, Ginny and I have had a talk about it, and Ron hasn't been spending much time with us anyway since he got back with Lavender. His behaviour of late isn't endearing me to him, if you get what I mean…" Harry looked slightly pained at this admission, although Draco actually felt his respect for Potter grow a little.

"Potter," he started, deciding maybe he should be a little more gracious to him. "It's very nice of you to invite me, but why don't we wait to see how things pan out with Granger first? She may not want me there anyway." He was hedging a little here; he wasn't sure if he wanted to go and hang out with Potter and his cronies. Being on good terms with the Potter-ites was nice in theory, but did he want to actually spend time with them?

"I think that is the most diplomatic thing you have ever said to me." Said Potter with a grin. "Have it your way Malfoy; come if you want to, you know where I live." He started to saunter away, before calling back over his shoulder. "And Saint Potter has a nice ring to it, by the way!"

"Piss off Potter!" Draco called good-naturedly, smiling when he got a middle finger salute in return. Potter might be a smug, sanctimonious git but he was alright really, thought Draco, shocking himself a little. Holy crap, were he and Potter actually becoming friends?!

The rest of week was a blur of classes and revision. All of the teachers were putting on the pressure now, talking about what was likely to come up on the exam and stressing the importance of learning both the theory and practical sides of each subject.

He and Granger had been in the library together every night, but had had no other romantic interludes. They were now frequently joined by Potter or Longbottom, and there was a slight undercurrent of panic that seemed to have spread across the entire year group that stymied any thoughts of his pursuing Hermione further.

He was using the dreamless sleep potion every night, and as far as he knew, Theo was getting on better as well. Theo had so far not joined their group in the library of an evening, despite Draco inviting him to come along a couple of times. Instead he was often found in the dormitory poring through the textbooks spread out on his bed.

There was only three weeks to go now, and Draco was feeling nervous, but fairly confident in his knowledge base for most subjects. Unless something went really wrong, he should be able to get reasonable grades in all his subjects. The exams were going to be set over two weeks, the same format as the O.W.L.s had been in their fifth year, one subject a day.

All was going well, each day blurring into the next with classes during the day and revising at night, when he finally received a letter from his mother. He had been expecting to hear from her before this; either to tell him he was being utterly unreasonable and she refused to talk to the Greengrass patriarch to call off the engagement or to tell him what a disappointment he was and how ungrateful he was to turn down a suitable match. He hadn't been expecting this though…

He read through the letter twice before he could actually take in what she was saying.

Draco,

I shan't begin with the usual pleasantries when we both know that they are meaningless. I cannot express how disappointed I am and how ungrateful you are for rejecting the match that I made for you with Astoria Greengrass.

The Greengrass family are an old and respected lineage, and it would have given you some good advantages to have attached yourself to them. Regretfully, they were not willing to renegotiate the bride-price that I had arranged, due to the insult and inconvenience that you offered them.

Therefore, the house that I used to secure the match is no longer in my possession, so I am currently staying with Andromeda until another solution presents itself. Sadly, this means that there is nowhere for you to stay when you leave school.

As you are determined to make your own way in the world without my influence then I trust this won't be a problem, and that you are prepared to support yourself and whatever future prospect you decide to pursue.

I hope your exams go well,

Mother.

Draco was incredulous; had she really objected to Hermione so much that she bartered their home? This was ludicrous! He sat at the breakfast table in shock, ignoring the students surrounding him stuffing their faces with toast.

"What is it?" said Theo, trying to peer over his shoulder at the letter clutched in his hand. "You look like you have been trampled by a herd of erumpent!"

"It feels a bit like that too," said Draco, retaining enough of his sense of humour to reply flippantly. "Looks like you and I have something in common."

"What?" asked Theo, giving up on his attempt to see the words on the parchment clutched in Draco's hand, instead reaching for another slice of toast.

"Looks like I have nowhere to go after school finishes now either. Mother has traded our house for Astoria Greengrass." Draco continued using his matter of fact tone, determined not to let the underlying panic get a foothold in his psyche. If he allowed himself to contemplate what he was going to do in the future then he would be unable to focus on anything else. Best to tamp it down, to deal with later, after he had sat the NEWT's.

"Are you serious?" asked Theo, suddenly shocked. "Your mother traded your house?!"

"Yes. She obviously felt that me having a pureblood wife was more important than having somewhere to live." Draco couldn't fathom what his mother had been thinking to give up their only security. He realised that she would blame him entirely for what had happened, but he had to think about what he needed to build himself a life that was going to work in the new society that had been forged during the war. Holding on to the pureblood ideology and expecting to be able to coast by on his name and contacts was no longer feasible and, he was coming to realise, not something he wanted.

"Shit Draco. What are you going to do?" Theo asked him, seeming far more worried that Draco himself.

"I am going to get the best NEWT results that I can." He answered calmly. "Then I will worry about where I'm going to go. Maybe I could get a job in the muggle world or something to tide me over until I get my results?"

This wasn't all that unrealistic, he realised. He could use the muggle money that he replicated to live on, live in a muggle house for a while. After all, Granger and Potter both lived in muggle houses all the time, didn't they?

"You are going to live as a muggle?" Theo was goggling at him bemusedly. "What do you know about muggles?!"

"I've been living in muggle London for a year." Said Draco with a shrug. "I've been in a muggle house and around muggles regularly." He had almost forgotten that some wizards never venture out into the muggle world; some families (like his) considered it a point of pride to have never met a muggle!

"You've gone mad." Theo said, looking bewildered. "I get that you are into Granger, but you can't be serious about masquerading as a muggle. No wonder your mum was freaking out!"

Draco looked at Theo in shock. He knew that his friend had been brought up with the pureblood ideology just like he had, but he hadn't realised how deeply ingrained it was. He had never noticed his friend talking derisively about mudbloods, or avoiding the muggleborns, but now he thought about it, he hadn't heard him speak out against the idea of muggles being lesser either.

"It's not like I have been left with a huge amount of choice here Theo." He said, quickly getting over his shock and heading towards annoyance. "And what do you know about muggles anyway?"

"I know enough to not want to be surrounded by them! They are hostile imbeciles, destroying anything they don't understand." Theo could have been channelling his father's spirit; the words were so familiar!

"You're wrong." Draco told him quietly. He wasn't going to argue with him, but he was disappointed in Theo, and possibly disappointed with himself as well. He shouldn't have been naïve enough to think that just because he had seen the truth of the pureblood ideology that others would too.

"Of course," said Theo, suddenly hostile. "I couldn't possibly know more that the great Draco Malfoy! You've decided that we should all get along and forget all we have ever known because Granger's got a thousand-galleon pussy…"

"What the fuck, Theo?!" snarled Draco. He had no idea what had made Theo attack him like that, but he wasn't going to sit there and let him speak about Hermione in such a derogatory fashion. "Why are you going off on one about this?"

Theo fell silent, face still suffused with hatred, but Draco wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"Come on!" He prompted. "Why are you so pissed off at me?"

"You always seem to land on your feet don't you?" said Theo finally. "You get let off by the ministry, you land the hottest witch in the year, chumming up with Potter, you're going to ace your NEWT's and even when you are disowned and homeless you're going to slip into muggle society and be just fucking fine!"

"You are pissed off that I'm going to be fine?" Draco could recognise scalding jealously when he saw it. Hell, he had felt that way about Potter enough times and covered it up with anger just like Nott was doing now.

"You don't get it," snarled Theo, struggling out of his seat and flouncing away, leaving Draco to stare after him.

Great, yet another thing to worry about! Draco tossed down the letter from his mother and quickly finished his breakfast. He didn't have the space in his head for all this crap, the NEWT subjects needed every inch of it.