Chapter 6
Severus Snape was nervous and he hated it. Eversince he began his career as a professor, there was nothing he wanted more than to be Hogwarts Headmaster. He had a feeling that he didn't have what it took to take on that venerable role and task, but that did not keep him from hoping just the same. For most of his adult life, he believed that if his life and career would be capped by being granted the same title that Dumbledore, one of the two men that Severus had ever admired, had bourn excellently and graciously, it would more than make up for all his terrible experiences as a Death Eater and his constant humilation from people like James Potter and his ilk.
The implications of being granted the Deputy Headmaster position was not lost on Snape. He knew that it meant that the Wizarding World had finally forgiven him for his sins as a Death Eater. He knew that it meant that he had finally brought honour back to the Snape Clan and to the Slytherin House. He knew that it meant that finally, he, Severus Snape, was recognised as one of the most outstanding wizards in the history of their world by his peers.
Tonight, Severus was going to take the first major step to reaching that goal. Everyone knew that the Deputy Headmaster post was the perfect training ground for future Hogwarts Headmasters. If he manages to stay alive and perform his deputy duties until Minerva retires, the Hogwarts Headmaster position would be his and no one else's.
He had wanted very little in his life, but he wanted this.
Then why was Severus Snape, Potions Master, Terror of All Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the most famous betrayer of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, sweating bullets, quaking in his boots and on the verge of fainting from too much nerves?
Before Severus could think further, he spotted a familiar silver head in the throng of people entering the Great Hall, and all other thoughts and feelings had vanished for a few minutes, replaced by fatherly pride at the young man's courage, and gratitude at the thought of how highly regarded he must have been as a friend and mentor for the young man to have come out of hiding to stand by his side tonight.
Draco Malfoy had come.
~~~~
Minerva McGonagall was out of her seat and rushing to the Great Hall doorway as soon as she spotted the silver blond hair that towered over the small crowd waiting to get into the room. If he was here, then she was here. And while Minerva had developed a deep respect and high regard for Draco over the past few years, it did not compare to the genuine admiration and motherly love she felt for Hermione Granger. With that thought in mind, Minerva made her way through the crowd, which parted at the determined and excited look in her eye.
"You made it! You made it!" she exclaimed, ignoring the shocked expressions on her former students' faces at the sight of their haughty Transfiguration Professor losing her composure. She rushed to where Hermione and Draco were standing and immediately grabbed the younger woman in a hug. Minerva distractedly noted that Hermione looked absolutely beautiful in her deep blue, matte-silk formal robes with her curly hair artfully twisted and piled on the top of her head.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Professor McGonogall." Hermione whispered as she smiled at her favourite teacher and only mentor, sparing the older woman the fact that she almost did miss the event out of the paralysing fear that accompanied the thought of seeing her old friends and schoolmates.
"There are no words to describe just how happy I am that you are here, Hermione. I am quite aware of what it must have took for you show up tonight." Minerva smiled sincerely at Hermione. "Thank you."
Minerva turned to Draco to give him a warm hug in greeting as well, briefly admiring the young man's sedate and well-tailored black dress robes. "And Draco. So very glad to see you as well."
"Thank you and congratulations, Professor McGonogall." Draco said when she released him. "I trust that Professor Snape has yet to faint from nerves?" He tried to keep a big smile off his face at the thought of a nervous Severus Snape.
"Why don't you see for yourself, Draco?" Minerva said, smiling at him. She then took both Draco and Hermione's arms to lead them to the Head Table.
As they made their way to the front of the Great Hall, they became aware of the attention the had begun to get when people realised just who had shown up -- and together!
Hermione inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, tilting her chin forward, putting on what she hoped was a friendly smile, and trying to ignore the shocked looks and whispers that followed them as they walked. You knew this was going to happen. You braced yourself for it. Now grin and bear it.
Draco heard Hermione's deep breath and knew exactly what it meant. A quick glance at her confirmed that she had already put on what he called her Gryffindor Face: scared / nervous / confused / hurt as shit but still going to do it anyway. She'll be fine and if she's not, I'll be here for her.
For three days after they had received the invitations to the Gala, she and Draco worked on the list of pros and cons of attending tonight's event as well as the implications of finally leaving the safety of their perfect Half-Wizarding / Half-Muggle lives. They had quickly listed down how much it would mean for their respective mentors for the two of them to show up. That was the one thing that made them consider going at first. If the personal invitations they received from their former professors had not struck a chord in them, the invitation would probably have gone straight to the rubbish along with the marketting mail they got. Once they had opened their minds to the idea of attending, there was no stopping them from fully engaging the idea.
The decision was easier for Draco. All he needed to confront were his own fears about being a Malfoy and in the past six years, he had learned to come to terms with who he was and that while Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy may have sired him, he was not them. A part of him had begun looking forward to the event. He had taken Dumbledore's words to heart "It is time to come out of hiding and show our world what Draco Malfoy has become, don't you think?". Yes, was his answer. He welcomed the opportunity to prove to everyone, once and for all, that he was not a replica of Lucius Malfoy.
But then again, whenever he thought of Hermione, trepidation began growing in his heart. He was quite sure that her old friends would take her back with minimal explanation from her. Once she had her old friends back, once she had Harry Bloody Potter back, where would Draco Malfoy fit in?He highly doubted that they would accept his presence in her life with open arms, and while normally he wouldn't have cared about that, the thought of losing Hermione, of losing the lives they've carved out for themselves together, shook Draco to the core.
He was no fool. He knew that if Potter attempted to get Hermione back, she would welcome him with open arms. Although she had told him countless times that the girl who was in love with Harry Potter was long gone, he wasn't too sure about that. True, she had changed so much in the past six years, but how could her current life, her current self, the current Draco Malfoy, compare with the promise of happily ever after with Harry Potter?
But it was his fault anyway. He was the one who finally convinced her to come. On the second night of debate about this event, Hermione had listed down most of the pros and cons in two neat columns on a single piece of paper. One look at it and Draco knew she wasn't entirely being truthful to herself, to him and to list. So he took the pen and paper from her, and wrote HARRY POTTER in the middle of the line separating the columns. She spilled all her fears about meeting all her old friends again, pretty sure that they would never forgive her for her disappearance and that she had no guts to tell them, tell Harry Potter, the reasons why she left. Then she confessed that she had come to realise just how unfair she had been to her friends. Harry Potter's failure to be in love with her did not warrant her absence and her silence for the past seven years. He never deserved that. None of her friends did. So Draco, who was almost as good as she was at distilling complex thoughts into one sentence, said "Then isn't it high time for you to face your friends again, offer them an explanation, and ask for forgiveness?"
In response, she took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, tilted her chin and tried to smile as she looked him in the eye. "Malfoy, you are absolutely right."
~~~~
The whispers and the speculations travelled from the Great Hall entrance to the front tables in a relatively short amount of time.
"Hermione Granger is back? But where has she been? " "It is Hermione Granger, there's no mistaking that bushy hair!" "I heard she's been teaching at Durmstrang eversince she left Hogwarts." "Did you know that she wrote a book on new spells?" "She co-wrote that book with Malfoy. My brother has a copy of it." "Draco Malfoy is alive? I thought for sure that his fathers' friends murdered him for betraying You Know Who." "I heard he went off to live in some tropical island that the Malfoys own." "Wow, he looks really good. Whereever he's been, it's been good to him. He looks better now that when he did in school -- and he was beautiful even then." "Yeah, look at those shoulders! I wonder what he does for a living to get a body like that." "They arrived together? Together together? Or did they just happen to arrive at the same time?" "I heard they've been secretly in love since school and that they eloped after You Know Who was killed." "Oh please, how could a beautiful man like that be in love with her? She's so plain!" "Maybe Dumbledore forced them to come together." "I heard McGonogall threatened to turn Malfoy into a ferret again if he didn't agree to be Granger's date tonight." "Oh no, I heard she's under the Imperius Curse. That's why she's with him." "Are they married? Must be for his money." "Or his looks. I'd have him for that body alone." "Maybe for her brains." "Maybe she's a Death Eater hostage." "No way. A Death Eater hostage would not look that good. She's practically glowing!" "Maybe she used special charms. Remember the Yule Ball?" "Maybe she's using charms to get Malfoy."
The whispers and the speculations followed Hermione and Draco as they made their way to the front. The words "Hermione Granger is back with Draco Malfoy" reached Harry's ears at the same time he looked up from his dinner plate to see Hermione stepping up to the pavillon to be engulfed in a big hug by Dumbledore.
She's here.
~~~~
"Severus, that nervous twitch does not become you."
Everyone at the Head Table fell into a shocked silence at Draco's greeting words. They were quite sure that the Potions Master would hex the young man until kingdom come for daring to speak to him that way.
Severus Snape laughed out loud instead before standing up to shake Draco's hand.
That was enough to make Professor Flitwick fall down from his chair.
~~~~
"Hermione!" Neville Longbottom yelled when he saw her.
"Neville!" Hermione responded. "Oh, Neville, what you did to the Entrance Hall... amazing!" she said in greeting.
Neville blushed and looked down for a few seconds, "Thank you, Hermione. How have you been? Where have you been? Everyone's missed you, you know."
Hagrid grabbed her from behind to pull her into a bear hug that literally swept her off her feet before she could answer Neville's question.
"'Ermione! Tis so good to see yeh. Don' yeh dare go d'sappearing ag'n. I've missed yeh. Grawp, too. E's always going GRAWP WANT HERMY!"
Hermione laughed at out loud at the thought of Grawp. Then her smile faltered when she realised the feelings behind Hagrid's words. "Oh, Hagrid, I'm sorry. I just... well... I just thought it was for the best. I'm sorry" she whispered fervently to her old friend.
"Tis alrigh, 'Ermione. Tis alrigh. Jus' don' do it again, yeh hear?"
"I promise, Hagrid. I promise."
She meant it. She was never going to disappear from her friends' lives again, if they allowed her back in. She only hoped that they could forgive her as easily as Hagrid did.
When Hagrid finally released her and put her back on her feet, she turned and approached the couple who had remained seated and were looking at her unsurely: Arthur and Molly Weasley.
Let the grovelling begin, Hermione.
"Hello." Hermione said quietly and smiled shyly. That was enough to break the ice with Molly Weasely, who immediately got up, burst into tears and hugged the young woman who had meant and done so much for the Weasley family. She didn't say anything else, too relieved and happy to finally see Hermione again after all these years. Molly eventually calmed down and let go of Hermione, giving Arthur the chance to replace his wife's spot in Hermione's hands.
"It's so good to see you again, Hermione. We've missed you" he said.
"Thank you... and I'm sorry... I didn't mean to be gone for so long... I..." Words failed her.
Molly reached for Hermione's hand and squeezed. "It's ok, dear. It's ok. You don't owe us an explanation. And if you feel like you do, maybe this isn't the right moment just yet." And then her Mother Hen instincts kicked in. "No one will badger you for explanations in front of everyone tonight, Hermione. Take my word for it."
She let go of Hermione's hand and headed straight for where her children and Harry were.
"Don't worry, Hermione. You know how convincing she can be." Arthur smiled at her. His eyes glanced up behind Hermione and his smile faltered for a second before he extended his hand "Mr. Malfoy, so good you can make it."
Draco shook Arthur's hand and smiled "Thank you, Minister Weasley, and congratulations on getting the laws negating the unfair treatment of half- creatures passed. Hermione told me the good news last week."
Arthur seemed taken aback by the sincerity of Draco's words but he smiled just the same. "Thank you, Draco. It was a tedious effort getting those laws passed but it's well worth it, yes?
"Oh yes, definitely." Hermione chipped in. "Though I wonder how the implementation of those laws will go. I've always thought that the discrimination against non-wizards were more apparent culturally although hopefully the new ministry policies for their protection would aid in changing the culture of non-tolerance."
"I agree, Hermione. The laws might be in place now, but I don't doubt for a minute that the prejudice and fear regarding half-breeds would go away so easily. Like you said, it is largely cultural and change in that area doesn't happen overnight." Arthur said.
"Yes, but the laws the ministry has just passed would aid in speeding up that process, wouldn't it. While the effects perhaps won't be evident in a long time, I do believe those laws may just be the impetus that would lead to change in relations between the different creatures in the Wizarding World." Draco added.
As their discussion on the new ministry laws continued, Arthur couldn't help but be amazed at the younger wizard and witch he was conversing with. Seven years ago, he would never have imagined that he would find himself in the middle of a conversation with Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy without the two of them threatening to hex each other to oblivion. Funny how things change.
Severus Snape was nervous and he hated it. Eversince he began his career as a professor, there was nothing he wanted more than to be Hogwarts Headmaster. He had a feeling that he didn't have what it took to take on that venerable role and task, but that did not keep him from hoping just the same. For most of his adult life, he believed that if his life and career would be capped by being granted the same title that Dumbledore, one of the two men that Severus had ever admired, had bourn excellently and graciously, it would more than make up for all his terrible experiences as a Death Eater and his constant humilation from people like James Potter and his ilk.
The implications of being granted the Deputy Headmaster position was not lost on Snape. He knew that it meant that the Wizarding World had finally forgiven him for his sins as a Death Eater. He knew that it meant that he had finally brought honour back to the Snape Clan and to the Slytherin House. He knew that it meant that finally, he, Severus Snape, was recognised as one of the most outstanding wizards in the history of their world by his peers.
Tonight, Severus was going to take the first major step to reaching that goal. Everyone knew that the Deputy Headmaster post was the perfect training ground for future Hogwarts Headmasters. If he manages to stay alive and perform his deputy duties until Minerva retires, the Hogwarts Headmaster position would be his and no one else's.
He had wanted very little in his life, but he wanted this.
Then why was Severus Snape, Potions Master, Terror of All Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the most famous betrayer of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, sweating bullets, quaking in his boots and on the verge of fainting from too much nerves?
Before Severus could think further, he spotted a familiar silver head in the throng of people entering the Great Hall, and all other thoughts and feelings had vanished for a few minutes, replaced by fatherly pride at the young man's courage, and gratitude at the thought of how highly regarded he must have been as a friend and mentor for the young man to have come out of hiding to stand by his side tonight.
Draco Malfoy had come.
~~~~
Minerva McGonagall was out of her seat and rushing to the Great Hall doorway as soon as she spotted the silver blond hair that towered over the small crowd waiting to get into the room. If he was here, then she was here. And while Minerva had developed a deep respect and high regard for Draco over the past few years, it did not compare to the genuine admiration and motherly love she felt for Hermione Granger. With that thought in mind, Minerva made her way through the crowd, which parted at the determined and excited look in her eye.
"You made it! You made it!" she exclaimed, ignoring the shocked expressions on her former students' faces at the sight of their haughty Transfiguration Professor losing her composure. She rushed to where Hermione and Draco were standing and immediately grabbed the younger woman in a hug. Minerva distractedly noted that Hermione looked absolutely beautiful in her deep blue, matte-silk formal robes with her curly hair artfully twisted and piled on the top of her head.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Professor McGonogall." Hermione whispered as she smiled at her favourite teacher and only mentor, sparing the older woman the fact that she almost did miss the event out of the paralysing fear that accompanied the thought of seeing her old friends and schoolmates.
"There are no words to describe just how happy I am that you are here, Hermione. I am quite aware of what it must have took for you show up tonight." Minerva smiled sincerely at Hermione. "Thank you."
Minerva turned to Draco to give him a warm hug in greeting as well, briefly admiring the young man's sedate and well-tailored black dress robes. "And Draco. So very glad to see you as well."
"Thank you and congratulations, Professor McGonogall." Draco said when she released him. "I trust that Professor Snape has yet to faint from nerves?" He tried to keep a big smile off his face at the thought of a nervous Severus Snape.
"Why don't you see for yourself, Draco?" Minerva said, smiling at him. She then took both Draco and Hermione's arms to lead them to the Head Table.
As they made their way to the front of the Great Hall, they became aware of the attention the had begun to get when people realised just who had shown up -- and together!
Hermione inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, tilting her chin forward, putting on what she hoped was a friendly smile, and trying to ignore the shocked looks and whispers that followed them as they walked. You knew this was going to happen. You braced yourself for it. Now grin and bear it.
Draco heard Hermione's deep breath and knew exactly what it meant. A quick glance at her confirmed that she had already put on what he called her Gryffindor Face: scared / nervous / confused / hurt as shit but still going to do it anyway. She'll be fine and if she's not, I'll be here for her.
For three days after they had received the invitations to the Gala, she and Draco worked on the list of pros and cons of attending tonight's event as well as the implications of finally leaving the safety of their perfect Half-Wizarding / Half-Muggle lives. They had quickly listed down how much it would mean for their respective mentors for the two of them to show up. That was the one thing that made them consider going at first. If the personal invitations they received from their former professors had not struck a chord in them, the invitation would probably have gone straight to the rubbish along with the marketting mail they got. Once they had opened their minds to the idea of attending, there was no stopping them from fully engaging the idea.
The decision was easier for Draco. All he needed to confront were his own fears about being a Malfoy and in the past six years, he had learned to come to terms with who he was and that while Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy may have sired him, he was not them. A part of him had begun looking forward to the event. He had taken Dumbledore's words to heart "It is time to come out of hiding and show our world what Draco Malfoy has become, don't you think?". Yes, was his answer. He welcomed the opportunity to prove to everyone, once and for all, that he was not a replica of Lucius Malfoy.
But then again, whenever he thought of Hermione, trepidation began growing in his heart. He was quite sure that her old friends would take her back with minimal explanation from her. Once she had her old friends back, once she had Harry Bloody Potter back, where would Draco Malfoy fit in?He highly doubted that they would accept his presence in her life with open arms, and while normally he wouldn't have cared about that, the thought of losing Hermione, of losing the lives they've carved out for themselves together, shook Draco to the core.
He was no fool. He knew that if Potter attempted to get Hermione back, she would welcome him with open arms. Although she had told him countless times that the girl who was in love with Harry Potter was long gone, he wasn't too sure about that. True, she had changed so much in the past six years, but how could her current life, her current self, the current Draco Malfoy, compare with the promise of happily ever after with Harry Potter?
But it was his fault anyway. He was the one who finally convinced her to come. On the second night of debate about this event, Hermione had listed down most of the pros and cons in two neat columns on a single piece of paper. One look at it and Draco knew she wasn't entirely being truthful to herself, to him and to list. So he took the pen and paper from her, and wrote HARRY POTTER in the middle of the line separating the columns. She spilled all her fears about meeting all her old friends again, pretty sure that they would never forgive her for her disappearance and that she had no guts to tell them, tell Harry Potter, the reasons why she left. Then she confessed that she had come to realise just how unfair she had been to her friends. Harry Potter's failure to be in love with her did not warrant her absence and her silence for the past seven years. He never deserved that. None of her friends did. So Draco, who was almost as good as she was at distilling complex thoughts into one sentence, said "Then isn't it high time for you to face your friends again, offer them an explanation, and ask for forgiveness?"
In response, she took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, tilted her chin and tried to smile as she looked him in the eye. "Malfoy, you are absolutely right."
~~~~
The whispers and the speculations travelled from the Great Hall entrance to the front tables in a relatively short amount of time.
"Hermione Granger is back? But where has she been? " "It is Hermione Granger, there's no mistaking that bushy hair!" "I heard she's been teaching at Durmstrang eversince she left Hogwarts." "Did you know that she wrote a book on new spells?" "She co-wrote that book with Malfoy. My brother has a copy of it." "Draco Malfoy is alive? I thought for sure that his fathers' friends murdered him for betraying You Know Who." "I heard he went off to live in some tropical island that the Malfoys own." "Wow, he looks really good. Whereever he's been, it's been good to him. He looks better now that when he did in school -- and he was beautiful even then." "Yeah, look at those shoulders! I wonder what he does for a living to get a body like that." "They arrived together? Together together? Or did they just happen to arrive at the same time?" "I heard they've been secretly in love since school and that they eloped after You Know Who was killed." "Oh please, how could a beautiful man like that be in love with her? She's so plain!" "Maybe Dumbledore forced them to come together." "I heard McGonogall threatened to turn Malfoy into a ferret again if he didn't agree to be Granger's date tonight." "Oh no, I heard she's under the Imperius Curse. That's why she's with him." "Are they married? Must be for his money." "Or his looks. I'd have him for that body alone." "Maybe for her brains." "Maybe she's a Death Eater hostage." "No way. A Death Eater hostage would not look that good. She's practically glowing!" "Maybe she used special charms. Remember the Yule Ball?" "Maybe she's using charms to get Malfoy."
The whispers and the speculations followed Hermione and Draco as they made their way to the front. The words "Hermione Granger is back with Draco Malfoy" reached Harry's ears at the same time he looked up from his dinner plate to see Hermione stepping up to the pavillon to be engulfed in a big hug by Dumbledore.
She's here.
~~~~
"Severus, that nervous twitch does not become you."
Everyone at the Head Table fell into a shocked silence at Draco's greeting words. They were quite sure that the Potions Master would hex the young man until kingdom come for daring to speak to him that way.
Severus Snape laughed out loud instead before standing up to shake Draco's hand.
That was enough to make Professor Flitwick fall down from his chair.
~~~~
"Hermione!" Neville Longbottom yelled when he saw her.
"Neville!" Hermione responded. "Oh, Neville, what you did to the Entrance Hall... amazing!" she said in greeting.
Neville blushed and looked down for a few seconds, "Thank you, Hermione. How have you been? Where have you been? Everyone's missed you, you know."
Hagrid grabbed her from behind to pull her into a bear hug that literally swept her off her feet before she could answer Neville's question.
"'Ermione! Tis so good to see yeh. Don' yeh dare go d'sappearing ag'n. I've missed yeh. Grawp, too. E's always going GRAWP WANT HERMY!"
Hermione laughed at out loud at the thought of Grawp. Then her smile faltered when she realised the feelings behind Hagrid's words. "Oh, Hagrid, I'm sorry. I just... well... I just thought it was for the best. I'm sorry" she whispered fervently to her old friend.
"Tis alrigh, 'Ermione. Tis alrigh. Jus' don' do it again, yeh hear?"
"I promise, Hagrid. I promise."
She meant it. She was never going to disappear from her friends' lives again, if they allowed her back in. She only hoped that they could forgive her as easily as Hagrid did.
When Hagrid finally released her and put her back on her feet, she turned and approached the couple who had remained seated and were looking at her unsurely: Arthur and Molly Weasley.
Let the grovelling begin, Hermione.
"Hello." Hermione said quietly and smiled shyly. That was enough to break the ice with Molly Weasely, who immediately got up, burst into tears and hugged the young woman who had meant and done so much for the Weasley family. She didn't say anything else, too relieved and happy to finally see Hermione again after all these years. Molly eventually calmed down and let go of Hermione, giving Arthur the chance to replace his wife's spot in Hermione's hands.
"It's so good to see you again, Hermione. We've missed you" he said.
"Thank you... and I'm sorry... I didn't mean to be gone for so long... I..." Words failed her.
Molly reached for Hermione's hand and squeezed. "It's ok, dear. It's ok. You don't owe us an explanation. And if you feel like you do, maybe this isn't the right moment just yet." And then her Mother Hen instincts kicked in. "No one will badger you for explanations in front of everyone tonight, Hermione. Take my word for it."
She let go of Hermione's hand and headed straight for where her children and Harry were.
"Don't worry, Hermione. You know how convincing she can be." Arthur smiled at her. His eyes glanced up behind Hermione and his smile faltered for a second before he extended his hand "Mr. Malfoy, so good you can make it."
Draco shook Arthur's hand and smiled "Thank you, Minister Weasley, and congratulations on getting the laws negating the unfair treatment of half- creatures passed. Hermione told me the good news last week."
Arthur seemed taken aback by the sincerity of Draco's words but he smiled just the same. "Thank you, Draco. It was a tedious effort getting those laws passed but it's well worth it, yes?
"Oh yes, definitely." Hermione chipped in. "Though I wonder how the implementation of those laws will go. I've always thought that the discrimination against non-wizards were more apparent culturally although hopefully the new ministry policies for their protection would aid in changing the culture of non-tolerance."
"I agree, Hermione. The laws might be in place now, but I don't doubt for a minute that the prejudice and fear regarding half-breeds would go away so easily. Like you said, it is largely cultural and change in that area doesn't happen overnight." Arthur said.
"Yes, but the laws the ministry has just passed would aid in speeding up that process, wouldn't it. While the effects perhaps won't be evident in a long time, I do believe those laws may just be the impetus that would lead to change in relations between the different creatures in the Wizarding World." Draco added.
As their discussion on the new ministry laws continued, Arthur couldn't help but be amazed at the younger wizard and witch he was conversing with. Seven years ago, he would never have imagined that he would find himself in the middle of a conversation with Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy without the two of them threatening to hex each other to oblivion. Funny how things change.
