Chapter 6

All characters belong to JK Rowling

"Until when are you going to stay in your room? Drinking firewhiskey like as if it was water?" Narcissa announced her presence as she unlocked all the spells he put. His mother had left him alone for the most part and he was content enough to live as a hermit in his room. The last time he made an effort to leave the house, he mucked things up with Granger. He made their relationship worse with his temper.

He wished he could talk to her, tell her that the anger was not because of her, not about a mudblood, speaking about his father. But his mother had made him promise Lucius' incarceration would be a secret until he was released, if that. She considered asking him to take an Unbreakable Vow until he told her that having a father in Azkaban was not exactly something he would want to tell the world. Merlin, amongst his Slytherin friends, Theo probably the only one who would sympathize with him. Although, unlike Lucius, Nott Sr was openly sentenced to Azkaban. Draco chuckled deprecatingly, Nott Sr might even be his father's prison mate right now.

Draco stayed silent, choosing to remain at his position, lying down at the sofa. He would let his mother made all the noise for the hour and when she was done, his room would be back to silence again. This time though, his mother had a different idea. She flicked her wand and Draco felt a few light stings on his back. He jolted up from the sofa.

"Mother! What was that for!" hissed Draco.

"I have given you enough time to wallow, Draco. It is time you do something with your life, restore the Malfoy name for Merlin's sake. Do you think you can do that while you are here, in this room?" asked Narcissa, sounding exasperated. She did not sacrifice her husband, the father of her child, just so her son would throw away his future.

"Yeah, Mother, just like your social calendar, there are not many people who want to meet me. Other than my Slytherin friends, people don't welcome me either. Besides, you said nobody wants Malfoy money, just what do you expect me to do then? Not as if I can totter to the Ministry and schmooze with those old gits like Father used to do." Draco received another wave of light stings. He could see the pain in his mother's eyes at the mention of her empty social life. He felt the twinge of guilt seeing the pain. He really knew how to hurt people nowadays.

"Well, I am glad you brought that up, Draco," Narcissa smiled after she put aside her wand. Draco stared at her, looking confused.

"The Ministry sent you an invite for an upcoming event. They are throwing a fundraising event on Harry Potter's birthday. I expect you to be there and donate at least one thousand galleons to whatever cause Potter is raising awareness on." Narcissa took out an envelope, addressed to himself. He took it from her and start reading the details. It was dinner on 31st July, he was invited as he was a Hogwarts alumnus from Harry's year.

"Do you really think it is wise for me to attend? The cause that he has selected for his birthday is war orphans. Look at this, Neville Longbottom is also a co-host for the dinner. I am sure I will be welcomed by the two of them," Draco rolled his eyes. Truth be told, he was not sure about how Harry's feelings towards him. Sure, at some point, Hermione had accepted him as her friend but she never brought up her two best friends.

Narcissa threw another stinging hex. Draco was starting to get annoyed, "Mother! Enough with the stings!"

"I will stop when you agree to attend this dinner. Draco, this is our chance to slowly be accepted into the society again! You just need to be there, sit with your Slytherin friends, or even with that Granger girl and donate some money. Best if Rita Skeeter takes some pictures so that everyone can see that we are changing!"

"You did not greet her." Narcissa was thrown off balance by the random change of conversation.

"Who?"

"Granger. At King's Cross, you greeted Potter and even nodded at Weasley but you ignored Granger. Are you really changing?" He saw his mother's eyes widened in shock. She did not think that he noticed or even planning to confront her on the issue.

"Draco, trust me, the fact I ignored her shows I am changing. In the past, you will probably hear me saying unsavoury things towards that girl," said Narcissa haughtily.

Draco kept quiet, still looking at the invitation. He should attend the dinner. He was given another chance to meet Hermione again and he would ensure himself to not do stupid things again. He would keep his anger and temper in check.

"Fine, I will attend the dinner but don't expect me to schmooze with the old bats from the Ministry, at least not this dinner."

Narcissa gave her son the biggest smile, "Of course not. That will just make our motive too obvious. Just make sure you get your pictures taken with those Gryffindors for now." With that, she left her son alone again, taking the courtesy to put back all the locking spells.

A Ministry owl was knocking on her room's window. Hermione sighed. Her "Golden Girl" schedule was out. Ever since she completed her A-Level, the Ministry had been doubling down her appearance. Anytime Harry or Ron was not available, they would ask her to attend on their behalf. She scanned through the parchment, a Ministry luncheon with Kingsley this Friday, a photoshoot and an interview with the Daily Prophet on "Life After Hogwarts" (without the A-Level story) and Harry's birthday fundraising next Saturday.

Hermione sighed again. The Ministry wanted to commemorate the Golden Trio so they agreed to plan a fundraising event on their birthdays annually starting this year. This plan was suggested last year when the war ended and it finally came to fruition. The three of them would choose a cause they wanted to fundraise for the event. For Harry, it was easy, war orphans since he was made one due to the war. Ron was planning to raise a cause for impoverished wizard families through quidditch since he knew how hard growing up poor was. Hermione was still unsure which cause she wanted to raise awareness on. And the parchment clearly stated she had until next Sunday to submit so they could start organizing for her birthday.

She considered raising for house-elves however she also thought of werewolves in memory of Lupin. But she knew, Harry would want to take on werewolf next year since he had a strong bond with Lupin and his godson. Feeling restless, she threw the parchment away and went down to the kitchen. She was always feeling restless so easily nowadays, probably because other than her Ministry functions, she did not have much to do. Harry and Ron were only available at night, sometimes they would be missing for a few days for missions. Ginny was a Harpies reserve now so she spent most of her days training. She considered looking for a part-time job just to ensure she had something else to do other than becoming a Ministry spokesperson.

"Does Miss want any afternoon tea? Or a snack? Kreacher can make kidney pies for Miss," Hermione's thought was brought back to the kitchen upon hearing Kreacher's voice. Merlin, now she knew what Harry meant in keeping the house-elf busy. When Kreacher saw that there would be another person in the house, he was very excited. He made snacks when she was studying. He cleaned her room obsessively, saying Master Regulus concentrate better with a clean environment. At some point, Hermione had to give Kreacher fake tasks just so she could be left alone.

"Tea will be nice. Maybe a blueberry muffin as a companion?" Kreacher nodded his head and immediately started to work. Meanwhile, she walked towards the study and threw herself on the couch, summoning a muggle book about Politics in History. She had read this book about three times however, with so much time to kill, she decided she would read it again as part of her preparation to enter Cambridge. It was presumptuous, but Hermione was fairly confident she would be accepted. Academic was always her forte, even before she found out she was a witch.

Her reading time was disrupted when the fireplace came alive. Hermione took her wand, as a reflex, and pointed it at the figure appearing at the fireplace.

"Merlin's beard, it's me, Hermione!" greeted Daphne, shocked when she saw a wand was pointing to her heart. Hermione sighed relief and put away her wand. Daphne would never understand it, that one year of horcrux hunt made her alert all the time.

"What are you doing here? Did we have plans today?" asked Hermione. Since her schedule was mainly filled with Ministry appearance, sometimes Hermione feared that she might miss her personal appointments. After all, the Ministry schedule trumped her own.

"No, no, I am just here because I received an invitation to Harry Potter's birthday next week. I was wondering if you or Ginny are the ones who send the invitation? It is weird because I do not know him at all," Daphne was holding an envelope, with her name on it.

"Miss has a guest! Kreacher will make both of you pastries!" Daphne was stunned seeing the excited house-elf. She smiled politely and said tea will be enough since she had eaten already. Kreacher ignored her words and skipped towards the kitchen.

"House-elf? I did not see that coming from you," said Daphne, cocking her eyebrow.

"Kreacher is not mine. Harry inherited him from Sirius, who inherited him from the Black family," answered Hermione while rolling her eyes. Daphne looked puzzled, "Black? As in Narcissa and Bellatrix Black? As in Draco's maternal family?" Hermione sighed, probably her tenth sighs in the past hour alone, sometimes she forgot how out of touch Daphne was from the war.

"Yes, Sirius Black was Harry's godfather. He was also Narcissa's cousin. Their parents were siblings," Hermione chose to offer the most basic explanation, feeling it was not her place to tell her friend about Harry's extended family. Daphne's jaw dropped hearing the explanation. Hermione wanted to ask if Draco never mentioned it and then she mentally laughed to herself. Why would Draco acknowledge the blood traitors in his family?

"Anyway, you were saying about the invitation? Well, I can assure you neither me nor Ginny invited you. Probably the Ministry invites anyone who has enough galleons in their vault. It is a fundraising event after all."

"I wish I could attend it but Blaise's mother will be here that weekend," said Daphne, sounding slightly disappointed that she would miss an event to officially meet Hermione's other friends. Hermione patted her back and said there would be other times whereby they could meet. Hermione then thought to herself, if the Ministry invited Daphne, would they invite other Slytherins? Surely, they would not invite Draco Malfoy to the dinner?

"I don't know who is on the guestlist actually. Mafalda volunteered to sort out the invitation and I am just glad that someone is taking that off my hands. I asked her to invite our school friends mainly since Neville and I are hosting it. Why did you ask anyway?" asked Harry as they ate their dinner.

"Well, Daphne received an invitation and she was surprised since both of you have never talked before. She asked if it was Ginny or me who invited her but we are not part of the planning committee either," explained Hermione.

"Daphne? Well, I guess it is fine to invite her. It's about time I met your decent Slytherin friend."

"She won't be there though. Blaise's mother is coming next week. Although, I should arrange a get-together for all of you to officially meet before I go!" Harry laughed and said he welcomed the idea. Even Ginny wanted him to meet Daphne.

"Malfoy will not be invited right?" asked Hermione, once their discussion about the get-together ended. She did not think she would have it in her to act civil with him if he was at the dinner, especially after their last meeting. Harry thought for a while before finally saying, "I don't think so. Don't worry even if he came, I am sure the Ministry will not put him at the same table as us." Suddenly, Hermione had a bad feeling about the birthday dinner.

A/N: Lol, of course Malfoy is going to be there.