Chapter Five:

They walked together in silence, once they reached the park they sat on a bench under a big oak tree. The shadow under the tree felt good on such a hot day, and the area was quiet deserted.

Hermione didn't put her wand down, she gripped it strongly just in case she would need it. At times like this one can never be too careful.

Malfoy was the one who broke the silence.

"Hermione, you must hear me out, please just listen to me. I was forced to follow my father's footsteps since the day I was born. I never wanted to become a death eater, or to betray Dumbledore. I was forced to. I was told that if I won't kill Dumbledore me and my mother will die. My father said it would be a good experience for me to join his death eaters, he forced me Hermione, I didn't want to"

he stopped talking and looked at her reaction. Disbelief showed bluntly on her pretty face.

"I don't know if I believe you" she said.

"Everyone can talk, words are nothing, I need proof." he looked in her eyes and continued his tale.

"I was never allowed to do as I wish, never allowed to be friends with whom ever I wish. I couldn't have feelings, or regrets.

I was forced to act superior, forced to hate everyone who were different.

Why can't you understand, I am not the person that you think I am. What you saw was not me, it was my father, constantly putting his morals upon me. I am different I swear. Yeah I took all his shit, but that was until I couldn't take it anymore.

When I was told to kill Dumbledore I decided that I must break out of those chains that were holding me down all this years.

Why do you think I never succeeded in it? Do you honestly think of me to be so stupid as to try killing him with a cursed necklace or a poisoned drink. I knew it wouldn't reach him.

I did it on purpose so Lord Voldemort will think I am trying. He probably thought that I will try something lame so I just went with the flow.

It was all Snape's fault, he did the unbreakable vow with my mother, he pushed his nose into my business, I was trying my hardest to get out of that mess, and he pulled me back into it, deeper than before."

Draco finished talking, remorse was written all over him, his eyes were drowned out of life, they looked empty of happiness, but filled with sorrow. When Hermione looked at him, she saw his sincere pain. She realized that after all, her feelings might have not fooled her.

"but why did you agree to join them in the first place, couldn't you just tell your father off" she asked, she still couldn't get it through her head.

"If I show you something, do you promise not to say a word about it to nobody?" he asked.

She nodded and waited for him to prove her wrong. He turned around, and took his t-shirt off. Besides his perfectly muscular back she saw scars.

Some scars were definitely old, some were pretty fresh. She was dumbstruck. She didn't know what else to say. She felt hot tears trying to escape her eyes.

She pictured the abuse he was going through. She thought about how cruel Lucius must have been towards Draco in order for him to join the death eaters.

She didn't want to start thinking about Draco's childhood.

Draco pulled his shirt back on and turned around to look at her teary eyes. Right than, he knew, she believed him. An unfamiliar feeling of relief took over.

Finally, he came clean, to the one person he wanted to all this years, she heard him out, and understood him. This felt better than he could have ever imagined. The hardest part was behind him.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked, that was all she could have said. She couldn't leave him to the faith of the cruel man who abused him.

"help me hide, please, I ran away from home after Dumbledore died because I couldn't take it anymore. Now I am sure he's looking for me. I'm here because I know he would never look for me in muggle towns, he thinks, that like him, I hate all muggles.

Please help me stay alive, until the war is finished. Than I promise I will clear out my name in our world."

Hermione didn't know why, but she nodded. She didn't care if she was making a mistake, she led him back to her house, to help him survive.