As bombastic as Friday had been, the next two days were relatively quiet. The only mention of the whole kerfuffle in the newspapers had been that Umbridge was suspended, pending further investigation. No other details at all.

There was also something I realized on Saturday morning, and that was that with Umbridge gone, Fudge will have lost his foothold in Hogwarts, meaning he was bound to retaliate. Send someone he trusted even more…

That worrying prospect admittedly made the rest of my weekend a bit less enjoyable as the feeling of dread slowly boiled up in my gut. I kept reassuring myself, that Fudge could only appoint a High Inquisitor. Appointing a DADA teacher would be up to the headmaster. Fudge could only appoint a teacher if he was unable to, and Dumbledore wouldn't let that happen a second time. He could pick someone from the Order maybe.

But then again, Fudge could just force through another decree giving himself complete control over staffing…

On Sunday night, after a somewhat anxiety-filled weekend with zero news regarding any decrees or Umbridge's replacement, I headed to dinner. There wasn't any food on the tables yet, which only happened when the Headmaster had an announcement to make.

I took my seat between Daphne and Nott, who, like pretty much everyone else, were looking up at the High Table.

Once the last few students had entered. Dumbledore stood up, cleared his throat, and spoke.

"Good evening, students," he said, his voice ringing throughout the Hall. "As you are all aware, Professor Umbridge is no longer employed at Hogwarts-"

At that alone a quick round of applause rose up.

"- so please join me in welcoming her replacement, as both High Inquisitor and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Kingsley Shacklebolt!"

[…]

(Later that night, in the Gryffindor common room)

"Kingsley! Kingsley is our new teacher!" Harry said jubilantly. "Who could have guessed?"

It was late, the other Gryffindors had all gone to bed but Harry, Ron and Hermione were still up, talking to Sirius via the fire.

"Fudge thought he was sending in someone even more loyal to him than Umbridge," Sirius said, smirking mischievously. "Shot himself in the foot there."

"How'd he end up as Defense teacher, though?" Hermione said. "I thought Fudge could only appoint the High inquisitor?"

"Well Dumbledore had a candidate for Defense in mind," Sirius explained. "But when he found out about Kingsley becoming High Inquisitor, he pretended he didn't have a replacement, and let Fudge appoint Kingsley for that as well."

"Who was the other candidate?" Hermione asked.

"Remus."

"Remus?" the others said.

"Yep," Sirius said. "He was considering hiring him again, but wanted my two cents before he reached out."

"And what'd you say?" Harry asked.

"Well, I knew for a fact Remus didn't want it. And I mentioned it to him later and he said so himself."

"Aw, what?" Ron threw his hands in the air. "He was the-"

"The best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher you ever had? Yeah, I know," Sirius said. "But let's face the facts here. He did forget to drink the Wolfsbane potion that night. That was irresponsible of him, on an unacceptable level. And Remus acknowledges this."

"Yeah… I s'pose you're right," Ron said, deflated.

Sirius's smirked again. "Well, that was what we told Dumbledore, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Harry said.

"There was another reason why Remus didn't want it," Sirius said. "That's because he has another job now, as the steward of House Black."

"What?" the trio said in unison.

"I know!" Sirius said excitedly. "He's working for me now! Helping me reorganize. Because let's face it, if… when, my name is cleared, I'll have to be Lord Black whether I like it or not. And that's gonna come with a nasty reorganization process, so I figured better to get a head start."

Harry and Ron were pretty happy with the news, and with Sirius's new, upbeat, optimistic attitude. Hermione on the other hand…

"Sirius, what exactly does 'reorganizing' refer to?" she said.

"Oh for the most part it's just arranging the house. Properly. Digging up files, records, contacts, things like that. Then there's gonna be the financial stuff, the estate, so on and so forth. Remus is helping me handle it. Well, actually, he's doing most of the work."

"Wouldn't that draw attention, though?" Hermione said. "The House of Black has been silent for years, all this activity might raise eyebrows."

"Don't worry, Hermione," Sirius told her. "We know this. Right now we're only doing what can be done with a degree of anonymity. Small scale stuff. Heck, most of the things we've done so far don't even go outside the house. Plus, in case we do raise eyebrows, we've got a perfect cover. This sort of thing was a part of my Advanced Auror Training."

"If this is something they teach Aurors, isn't that concerning?" Hermione asked.

"Nope," Sirius said, popping the 'p'. "Our cover is airtight, the Ministry would have no reason to suspect anything in the first place, so there's no risk of investigation to begin with. In case they do decide to poke around though, they aren't gonna send Aurors, it's not their job. Plus, most Aurors only have Basic Training. I'd reckon one in maybe twenty have taken the Advanced course. Trust me, Hermione, Remus and I know what we're doing."

[…]

(Elsewhere in the castle)

Holy shit, Kingsley, Kinglsey is our new DADA teacher! And High Inquisitor!

Who could have guessed!

Honestly if Fudge was gonna send fucking Kingsley all along then I dunno why I waited so long to get rid of Umbridge.

Well, I knew why but… whatever.

I took a look at my watch, my patrol was about to end, so I began to head back to the common room.

These past couple of days had been incredible. With Umbridge replaced by a close Dumbledore ally, the last few months of the school year might not actually be that bad!

When I got to the dormitory, I quickly changed into my pajamas and hit the sheets. I was tired, so my eyes started getting heavy pretty quickly, and I fell into a comfortable sleep.

[…]

The next month or so went by quickly. Classes went on like always but without the dread of DADA and Umbridge, things were finally going back to normal.

Well, as normal as you can get at Hogwarts.

As a teacher, Kingsley still had to stick to the Ministry-approved curriculum, but he gave us so many 'additional pointers' we ended up learning a fair bit more. His first act as High Inquisitor was to abolish the Inquisitorial Squad. That was just fine by me, because I had enough on my plate as it was.

Ever since Montague had gotten out of the hospital wing, he had really stepped up Quidditch practices. Our next match was against Ravenclaw, who were a pretty solid team even if they had lost their first match to Hufflepuff (250-90). And after our loss to Gryffindor, we really needed to make a comeback.

Soon, February was upon us, and the day of the match had arrived. It was cold, windy, and the skies were steel gray. Come to think of it, I don't think we'd seen proper sunshine in almost three months.

I was nervous, but not nearly as much as I had been against Gryffindor. Astoria was holding up way better this time as well.

Most of the school was siding with Ravenclaw, but they can all go suck it, because the next hour or so was Slytherin dragging Ravenclaw's sorry ass all over the pitch. When I finally spotted the golden snitch, floating near the bleachers on the Slytherin side, Cho Chang happened to be on the opposite end of the stadium. I sped towards the Snitch, and she gave chase but the distance combined with my faster broom rendered her attempt pointless.

"Aaaand… HE'S CAUGHT IT! DRACO MALFOY HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Lee Jordan's voice rang out through the stadium. "SLYTHERIN BEAT RAVENCLAW 400-120!"

As we found out later that evening, this was Slytherin's biggest win of the 90s so far which was… actually pretty insane. Naturally, this meant festivities were in order. When me and Daphne had snuck out last month to get stuff from Hogsmeade, we had bought so much we ended up with a surplus, which was immediately reserved for party-purposes only. That, and people also had their own smaller personal stashes from Hogsmeade trips. None of it could go bad either (Preservation Charms were an industry standard) so that was good.

During the celebrations, I saw Rachel Rosier, Daphne's very pretty friend, sitting by herself in the corner. I had had a few conversations with her in the past couple of weeks. I figured, with Valentine's Day just a couple days away, and with the next Hogsmeade trip being on the same day, now was as good a time as any to shoot my shot. It was only a matter of time before someone else asked her out.

I finished my butterbeer, and walked over to her.

"Hi, Rachel," I said.

"Oh, hey," she said with a polite smile. "Congratulations on the win, you flew really, really well today."

"Thanks, you too… dammit."

She giggled a bit.

"Okay, I had a whole… thing planned out in my head but I'm pretty sure I just ruined it right there. So, I'll just get to the point," I said, resisting the urge to slam my head into a wall. "Rachel, would you like to go out on Valentine's Day? Withme?"

She tilted her head slightly, as if considering the thought. After what felt like an hour, yet probably wasn't more than few seconds, she said, "Yes, I'd like that very much."

"Awesome!" I said excitedly. "Alright, you won't regret this, I promise!"

Granted, my execution hadn't been the smoothest, but hey, if it works, it works, right?

I gazed across the crowded common room, looking for Daphne to share the good news with. I couldn't spot her, but I did see Zabini nearby so I decided to ask him.

"Hey, Blaise," I said. "Have you seen Daphne around? I wanna talk to her about something."

"Daphne? Nope," he said. "Oh, by the way, Pansy was looking for you. She said it was important. Didn't say what, though."

"Right, thanks," I said. I had a bad feeling about the Pansy news to be honest, but I figured I might as well get it over with. If it was what I suspected, and she wanted to talk about Valentine's Day, then I suppose this was my chance to let her know I didn't feel the same way about her.

Pansy wasn't too far away so when she saw me, she came over to us, at which point Zabini gave us some space.

"Hey, Draco," she said brightly. "Great game today. You were amazing!"

"Hey, thanks a lot, Pansy," I said. "So uh, Zabini said you were looking for me. What's up?"

"Right, uh… listen, you know how there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up on Valentine's Day, right?"

"I'm aware, yes," I said, my worst fears confirmed.

"Well, I was wondering… if you'd…"

Oh god, okay, this is it. Just be gentle, be nice, be straightforward… and get this over with. Here goes nothing…

"…Oh. Oh, right, Pansy, listen… about that," I said, carefully assessing my words. "Look, I just don't feel that way about you. Don't get me wrong, I like you, but just not in that way, y'know? I hope you understand…"

Pansy was silent for a few moments. But when she spoke, it was… not the reaction I expected.

"Oh… okay," she said, a slight hoarseness in her voice. "It's fine, I get it."

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

"Well, see you around then," she said.

"Right, see you."

Honestly? Between winning the match, asking out Rachel and Pansy handling my rejection pretty well, I think today might just be my lucky day!

[…]

Generally, Hogsmeade trips took place early in the day, but this one was supposed to be in the evening. I met up with Rachel at the Entrance Hall when the time of the trip finally rolled around.

"Hi," she waved at me.

"Hi," I greeted back. "You look really nice."

"Thank, you too."

Once everyone had showed up at the Entrance Hall, the doors swung open and we began walking towards the village, past the snowy grounds.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Rachel asked.

"Fire away."

"Do you know what happened to Pansy?" she said. "She's been really upset the past couple of days. I found her crying in the girls' bathroom yesterday."

Ah god dang it. So I guess Pansy didn't really take it all that well after all. Maybe it had been a bit naïve of me to think she did, but at the end, it was for the best right? Now that she knew I didn't feel the same way about her, she could eventually move on?

I dunno man. Maybe I could have done a better job with the rejection? In my defense though, I'd never really been in a position like that before. Usually it was the opposite.

"Ugh… I dunno, I'll talk to her, I guess," I said, though I had no intention of doing so, because I might end up making things worse. "Let's talk about something else, shall we?"

"Okay," she said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, uh do you like Quidditch?" I asked.

"Eh, I don't actively follow it, but I don't mind it either," she said. "If I had to pick a favorite team, it'd probably be the Holyhead Harpies."

"Not a bad choice, though personally I prefer Puddlemere United."

"Mmhmm? Alright, my turn," she said. "Do you like The Knockturn Alley Project? Y'know, the band?"

"Hmm…" I said. "Some of their early work was a little uh, new wave for my taste. But then An Evening At The Opera came out in 93', I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism, that I think really gives the songs a big boost."

"Wow… that's quite the review," Rachel said. "Personally, I think that album was garbage. The earlier ones were better."

"You're crazy."

We kept chatting all the way to the village.

"Ooh, look at Madam Puddifoot's tea shop!" Rachel said as we walked down the High Lane. "Shall we go there?"

I had never really paid much attention to the tea shop before, since it was generally a haunt for couples. Tonight it was decorated for Valentine's day as well, adding several extra layers of pink to an already pink shop.

"Sure," I said.

There were already a few couples inside. We sat down at a table near the window that had a really nice view. The tea shop was built on a small hill which looked over the village, so we had a really nice view of the rest of Hogsmeade.

"So, uh, Rachel," I said. "Where were you from again?"

"Oh, my family's from Manchester," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, just your last name sounded a bit familiar, that's all," I said.

"Your dad may have known my father," she said. "Anyways, he died when I like three so…"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," I said gently.

"No, it's okay," she said casually. "I don't even remember him all that well. But I've got Mum, and a few older siblings so it's alright."

The loss of a parent didn't seem like a very good topic to discuss on a date, so I was about to change the subject when the door of the shop opened and another couple walked in. I recognized them as fellow fifth years, the guy was a Hufflepuff and the girl was a Ravenclaw, but I didn't know their names. It seemed to irk Rachel for some reason.

"Ugh," she said softly, glancing over at the two.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's just…" Rachel said. "Y'know my mum says this place used to not allow them back when she was in school? It changed in her second year, though."

"Not allow who?"

"Mudbloods," she muttered.

"But… it's good that they allow them now, right?" I said. "Right?"

"Eh… debatable," she said.

O…kay.

"Well, muggle-borns are people too right?" I said. "Look, can we not-"

"They're impure," she cut me off. "And you know, I'm surprised that this is coming from you. Weren't you always saying-"

"Okay, look," I cut her off, starting to get angry but keeping my voice down so as not to create a scene. "This is so fucking dumb, can we just drop this conversation right now?"

She sighed. "Yeah sure. Sorry."

The whole conversation had made things pretty awkward. It didn't help that the couple on the next table, a pair of seventh year Gryffindors, started making out. After a few long minutes of silence and avoiding each other's eye contact, I finally said, "Listen, d'you wanna just… call this off?"

I figured it probably was for the best, because although our argument had been pretty short, it had made things too uncomfortable for the date to be salvaged. And after what she had said, I didn't like her nearly as much, and I had really liked her before.

Rachel sighed and said, "Fine."

She got up and left without another word. I left afterwards. I made my way over to the Three Broomsticks, but upon seeing that it too was decorated for Valentine's Day, I decided not to go inside. Plus, I didn't feel like being in a crowd, so I began walking in another direction without any real destination in mind. In a quieter part of the village, I sat down on a bench some distance from the pub and threw back my head, gazing up at the night sky. Well, that date had been a real shitshow. I was pissed off. I mean, what was her problem? Who the fuck brings up stuff like that on a date?

Then it clicked. There was a specific type of people who would do something like that… Rachel's last name had sounded familiar. She had also said that our fathers probably knew each other, and that her dad had died when she was a toddler. She was Evan Rosier's daughter! Evan Rosier, the death eater!

That explains a lot, I suppose. The Rosiers were all about that pure-blood mania. They still held the 'old beliefs'.

After a while, I came to the realization that sitting on a bench in the cold was not an ideal way to spend an evening, so I was just considering heading back to the castle when a voice said, "What happened to you?"

I sat up straight and saw Harry standing in front of me.

"Girl problems," I grunted.

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around tonight," he said.

"Well, I doubt your date was a crazy bigot," I said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's why you ditched her?"

"Well, it was kind of mutual," I said. "She started talking about blood status and all that, I asked her to stop and it ended up making things pretty awkward."

"Since when has that kind of thing bothered you?" Harry asked.

"I mean no one really wants to listen to that on a date, right?" I said.

"Yeah…" he said. "Listen, I want to talk to you about something."

I said, "Uh, what, exactly?"

I'll admit this was certainly unexpected. I mean, Harry Potter, the guy who supposedly hates me just walked up to me and said he wanted to talk. Most likely it had something to do with my changed behavior.

"About you. The way you've been acting all year," Harry said. "I mean, years one through four you were a total prick but now you're suddenly nice?"

Called it.

"Let me guess… you probably think there's some kind of an ulterior motive?" I asked.

"It crossed my mind, yeah," he said.

"Well, would it help to say that there isn't an ulterior motive?" I asked. "Look, I dunno how to convince you, but I have changed for real. I swear. I can understand why you'd be skeptical, given how I've behaved these past few years, but… I guess I just got tired of that shit. I grew up. I mean what's the point? It's so petty, and unnecessary. Especially now that the Dark Lord is back and the Ministry is denying it-"

"But you support that, don't you?" Harry said coldly. "Remember what you said at the end of last year? You'll be the first to go now that the Dark Lord is back?"

I winced, then said, "Okay, I'll admit, till then I did support it. I mean… all my life I'd been taught that muggle-borns were beneath us. That they were a parasite upon wizarding society, the pure-bloods who supported them were traitors to their own kind… and that the Dark Lord had the right idea. That he'd fix it all. For a long time… I believed it. I thought it was true. Then the Dark Lord actually came back. And people started disappearing left and right. People who had families. Families that were torn apart, obliterated because of something that they ultimately couldn't control - something that I realized didn't even matter. I mean, what does your blood status have to do with who you are as a person?

"And my parents… you know what they're like. They're all about that pureblood mania, but ever since the Dark lord came back, they've been… different. Tired, worried all the time. It was a bit of a wakeup call for me. Made me realize… this whole worldview is just wrong."

For the record, I didn't just regurgitate a bunch of lies. A lot of what I said, especially the part about my parents, was stuff that Draco had noticed over the summer before the soul-swapping. Draco himself had started having some second thoughts about his worldview. Very minor ones, but had he been given enough time he may, just may have changed his mind eventually.

Harry looked at me for a few moments, unsure what to make of what I said.

"Listen man," I said. "I'm not asking you to be my friend or anything okay? But I'd really appreciate it if we could leave everything behind us. All that shitty stuff I did, all the bad blood between us, I don't want it anymore. I tried apologizing to Granger but I don't think I convinced her either. Could you maybe… talk to your friends?"

"I'll… see," he said.

We sat in an awkward silence for a bit, then Harry said, "Erm… you flew pretty well against Ravenclaw. The way you dodged the double Bludgers was pretty good."

"Hey, thanks, man," I said. "Means a lot coming from you, you're pretty good yourself."

"Thanks."

"But… let's be real though. We totally would've beaten you if I hadn't been hit by the Bludger."

"Nah," Harry said. "I had almost caught up with you. I think I would've gotten the snitch before you did."

"Oh, my arse, you were way behind me. No way you would have caught up. It was the Bludger that ruined everything," I said.

"The way I see it," Harry said. "You not dodging the Bludger is just a slip-up on your part. A seeker should be able to outmaneuver them."

"Yeah, fair enough I suppose," I conceded.

"Well, I gotta run," Harry said, as he got up and left.

"Right. See you."

I sat around for a few minutes after he left, then decided to go to the Three Broomsticks as well. Sitting out in the cold for a while made me want a butterbeer.

The pub was as crowded as ever, but the warm interior was definitely welcome. Sure enough, most of the people inside were couples but I was just here to get a drink then leave, so I didn't mind it too much.

"I'll have a butterbeer, please," I said to Madam Rosmerta.

She took out a bottle from beneath the counter and placed it in front of me. I paid for the drink and left the pub. I walked down the High Lane towards the exit of the village, sipping my butterbeer as I passed several more couples outside. On the outskirts of town, I noticed another person walking ahead of me, someone I recognized.

"Hey, Daphne!" I called out.

She turned around.

"Oh, hi," she said as I jogged up to her. "I was just heading back to the castle."

"Me too," I said.

"Oh, I see. Um… where's Rachel?"

"Don't ask," I sighed as we walked out of the village together. "How was your evening?"

"Horrible," she said.

"What, did you go out with Nott or something?" I asked jokingly. "Wait, did you actually-"

"No, I didn't go out with Nott!" she said hotly.

"Who did you go out with, then?"

"…No one. That's why I was leaving."

"Did no one ask you out?" I said, then winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay," she said. "A few people did ask me out, but I turned them down."

"May I ask why?"

"I was… waiting for someone in particular," she said with a sigh. "But I found out at the last minute he was already going with someone else."

"Oh, well, better luck next time, I guess," I said.

After a few moments of walking in silence, Daphne said, "It's awfully cold, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Want some butterbeer?" I said. "It might warm you up a bit."

She stared at me for a moment, then said, "No thanks."

We walked all the way back to the castle in silence after that. Daphne went to bed as soon as we got back to the deserted common room, even though it was only nine on a Saturday night.

With nothing better to do, I headed up to my dormitory as well. As I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, I thought about the encounter with Harry. I didn't know if I'd entirely convinced Harry just yet, but I was hoping I had at least made some progress. As for what had prompted him to approach me in the first place? Most probably, it was because of the things I had done this year, like helping out Hagrid or tipping off Daphne about the Squad.

I turned on my side, and my thoughts drifted to what Daphne had said on the way back. And the whole she had been behaving…

Then it clicked.

Fuck…

OH FUCK!

Had she been talking… about me?!

No… no way. That was stupid… or was it?

I tried to put it out of my mind and go to sleep, but couldn't.

I got up out of bed, and left the dormitory. I climbed the staircase to the girl's dormitories, but on the fifth or sixth step, the staircase turned into a slide and I fell back down, crashing into the table.

"OW!" I yelled.

A moment later I heard a door open, and Daphne came down in her nightgown.

"Did you try to get up the stairs?" she asked, slightly amused.

"Yes," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "Listen, the person you were talking about, the one you wanted to go out with… was that me?"

She stared at me for a moment. A moment that seemed to stretch forever, filling me with dread at the possibility that I may be wrong.

After seemingly an eternity, she exclaimed, "YES!"

"You- you did?" I croaked.

She grabbed me by the hands and helped me up. "Yes, I did," she said. "You know, you're smart in your own way, but you can be remarkably thick sometimes."

"Hey, that sounds familiar," I said, smiling a bit.

"Yes, I believe that was the first time you ever tried to hit on me," she said, smiling as well. "It was so bad I wouldn't be surprised if it was the first time you ever hit on anyone. And trust me, you haven't gotten any better."

I didn't retort, just chuckled softly. Daphne drew closer to me. My heart started racing, as if I was playing an intense game of quidditch.

She leaned closer still. Enough for me to see her dilated pupils. Feel the warmth of her skin, and the soft tickle of her breath against my nose. Her lips were soft, almost silken as they kissed mine. I kissed her back, savoring her sweetness. She pushed me onto the sofa, never breaking the kiss. I could feel how much Daphne had wanted this, and realized how much I had wanted this as well, deep down. I ran a hand through her hair as our gentle kiss started getting more passionate, then ran it down her back – causing her to shiver a bit – then a bit further down. She pulled away.

"Ugh, sorry, was that too far?" I asked.

"What? No, nothing like that," she smirked briefly. "It's just… I think I heard the front gates open."

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost ten, meaning the rest of the school was definitely back.

"Shit," I said.

We shared another, quicker kiss before she got off me and headed back upstairs.

"See you tomorrow," she said.

"Yeah, see you," I said, admiring her rear as she jogged up the stairs. I got up and headed back to bed as well.

As I lay in bed once again, all I could think of now was how stupid I had been to not ask Daphne out today. She was just as hot as Rachel, and infinitely more likeable as a person. Plus, I actually knew her well.

With a brand-new reason to look forward to the morning, I fell asleep quickly.

[…]

(Later, in Gryffindor Tower)

The common room was empty save for Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them were discussing the interview Harry had given that evening, presenting his side of the story regarding Voldemort's return. The trio had agreed that Harry shouldn't talk about the Umbridge situation in the interview, since it was too soon and it would be better to consult Sirius or someone else before doing that.

"Anyway, Luna was saying it'll be in next week's issue," Hermione said.

"Right," Harry said. "By the way, I uh… talked with Malfoy tonight in Hogsmeade."

"Why?" Ron said.

"Well… I mean we can't keep ignoring it, can we?" Harry said. "He's been different all year. I mean at first we thought there may have been some kind of hidden motive to it… but look at all the things he's done. How can he be benefiting from any of this? Warning Hagrid about Umbridge, feeding intel to Greengrass and by extension the DA."

"Well he didn't know about the DA," Ron argued. "He probably thought he was telling her only."

"Still though, remember what Daphne told us?" Harry said. "That Malfoy knew it was the twins who pranked Umbridge, and he didn't tell her. He did the opposite, he set the Inquisitorial Squad on a wild goose chase."

"What're you even trying to say, Harry?" Ron said.

"I'm saying… maybe, just maybe, Malfoy may have changed," Harry said.

"Changed? Harry this is the same Malfoy who's been a colossal prick to you, me, and Hermione for the past four years!"

"Well, he did apologize for all that, remember?" Hermione said. "He seemed earnest when he said it, and he hasn't done anything bad since. Not that we know of anyway."

"He could have been faking the apology," Ron said.

"Ron, we all know how terrible of an actor Malfoy is," Hermione said. "Remember the Buckbeak incident?"

"Okay, I have a theory why Malfoy is being nice all of a sudden, alright?" Ron said. "What if, he's only pretending to be good, so that he can get close to you and stab you in the back. Let's not forget he comes from a family of Death Eaters after all!"

"About that," Harry said, and he explained everything Malfoy had told him earlier that night.

"Again, this is all stuff that he said," Ron said. "It may well be rubbish, all of it!"

"Okay, listen," Harry said. "I'm not saying for sure that Malfoy has changed. All I'm saying is that we should at least consider the possibility."

"I agree with Harry," Hermione said. "We'll be careful. We'll see how he behaves, but we shouldn't rule out either possibility just yet, okay?"

"Whatever," Ron said, rubbing his eyes. "I'm too tired for this. I'm going to bed."

Harry looked at the time. It was nearing midnight. It had been a long evening. He decided sleep sounded good too.