All right here is the next update for this story.
Sorry that it has been so long but i have had a bad case of writers block, i knew what i wanted to happen in this chapter, but i couldn't seen to get it down.
I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Five: Appreciation and Awkwardness
Draco sat in his bed in the hospital wing as he listened to his parents tell him all about the happenings in the last twenty four hours,
"Wait, hold on, you said that Granger created a spell that translates ancient runes" Draco interrupted,
"Yes Draco dear, indeed she did, and it worked too" Narcissa replied to her son,
"She is a very talented witch" Lucius added,
"Yes Dad, I know, but it still confuses me as to why she would save my life" Draco admitted,
"You could always ask her" Lucius suggested dryly,
"I couldn't! she probably won't even let me speak to her" Draco replied,
"And why not? She speaks to your mother and I" Lucius intoned,
"But that's different" Draco insisted,
"How so? Speaking from experience, I have done far worse things in this life than you have, and yet the Potters, and the Weasleys all speak to me" Lucius retorted,
"Dad, you don't know what I've done to her"
"You insulted her on a regular basis, called her mudblood more times than you or she could count, ridiculed her, hexed her, belittled her and generally made her life hell. Is there anything else? Did you lay a hand on her? Abuse her physically?" Lucius asked candidly,
"NO! No, I would never lay a hand in anger on a woman, she's the one who punched me" Draco cried, insulted that they had thought that he would ever hit a woman,
"Ah yes, in your third year I believe it was. Draco you will find that there quite a few people in this world who are willing to forgive others for mistakes, Hermione is one of them" Lucius answered,
"Hermione? You call her Hermione?" Draco asked stunned,
"Yes, she asked us to" Narcissa replied,
"Draco, why do you pick on her so much? It can't just be because she is a muggleborn, there are hundreds in Hogwarts, and yet you pick on her, why?" Lucius asked curiously,
"Well at first it was because she was friends with Potter, then it became somewhat of a game really, I'd insult her, she would insult me back and it would go on from there. Its hard to explain, but, everytime she and I would fight, I would feel like I was alive, not just this emotionless shell, that's why I would go out of my way to annoy her and pick fights with her, it was invigorating, and for the few brief moments when we were clashing wits, I didn't feel the loneliness that haunted me, I felt like I was whole, instead of being empty. I was jealous of her, everyone loves her, and for good reason, and yet she's not conceited, she never once believed that she was better than me because she was the top student of our year and I was second, she always saw me as an equal, regardless of how I treated her, when she punched me in third year I wasn't even angry, I felt respect for her, but I couldn't show it. Blaise is the only one who knows all this, he is really the only person I class as a true friend" Draco confessed, Narcissa stared at her son sadly,
"Draco, the way you felt was our fault, we knew that you wanted a loving home and family, but we couldn't give it to you"
"I know mum, and I don't blame you or feel angry at you for it, you did what you did to keep me safe" Draco replied,
"Draco you said that Blaise was the only true friend that you have, yet you are one of the most popular boys in this school, every girl wants you and every guy wants to be you in some way" Lucius stated confused, Draco sighed,
"Dad, the girls want me because of my looks and because of the Malfoy fortune, even the ones who hate me, still want to try their luck with me, all except Granger of course, and the guys? Well they only want to be me so that they could have the girls that throw themselves at me, I hate it, and yet I let everyone think that I love being that way, I'm not the playboy prince of Slytherin that everyone makes me out to be, I live with the reputation, and encourage it, and yet its totally false, the stories everyone hears about me? Its not me, it's the other guys" Draco blushed a bit as he finished his statement, "I've never gone that far with a girl, Pansy scared them all away, and I wasn't going to do anything like that with her, so I just didn't" Lucius nodded in understanding,
"Draco, while I will state that I didn't need quite that much information on your love life, I will admit that I am somewhat pleased that you don't sleep around. Let me give you some advice, if you find a girl who makes you feel like your heart is going to explode from your chest everytime you see her, and who stimulates not only your body but also your mind, then forget about all the pureblood is superior talk and go for it. If you catch her, then hold on as if your life depended on it and don't let her go, women like that are rarer than invisibility cloaks. I found one in your mother, if you ever find one, then regardless of bloodlines, go after her, you will forever regret it if you don't" Lucius advised gently, with a loving look at his wife,
"Even if it turns out that she's a muggleborn?" Draco asked, testing his father's words from the previous conversation,
"Draco if she loves you for the person you are on the inside, and you love her for the same reason, then I will accept her into your life and the family if it is truly what you want. Life and Love is more important than blood, that is one lesson that I have learned and taken to heart in the last few days. So if you find a woman, and truly love her, and she truly loves you, not for your looks or money, but for the person you are inside, then even if she is a muggleborn, I will welcome her into our family with open arms" Lucius replied, Draco smiled at his father,
"Thanks Dad"
"Now we have to leave, get some rest, you get out of here tomorrow morning and resume your classes" Lucius stated as he rose to his feet,
"Are you and mum heading back to the manor?"
"No, not yet, we have a few things that we need to discuss with Dumbledore, we go back to the manor in a week or so" Lucius replied,
"Your dinner should be here shortly, we'll come back and say goodnight later" Narcissa added as she bent and placed a gentle kiss on Draco's forehead, then they both left the hospital wing, leaving Draco to his thoughts.
Lucius turned to Narcissa as they walked down the hallway towards the Great Hall,
"Do you think he will take the bait?"
"I think that he already has" Narcissa replied with a sly smile,
"How so?"
"Well if you noticed, everything he said kept leading either to Hermione or muggleborns, I honestly don't think that we will have to do to much matchmaking at all"
"I wasn't planning on full out matchmaking, I was just planning on dropping a few hints and nudging him in the direction of the one girl that I think is his equal both mentally and magically"
"It doesn't appear that we need to do that, he seems to be well on his way"
"Cissa, you know that if he hadn't shown any interest in Hermione at all that I wouldn't have even thought about meddling"
"I know Lucius, and I feel the same, regardless of how much I would love to have her in the family, if Draco wasn't interested then I wouldn't try, but, just the way he spoke about her today, even though he was talking about the way they fight, there was an undertone of affection in his voice, and even though she is supposedly his mortal enemy, there was no malice or hate in his tone"
"I noticed that as well, hence the reason that I said what I said, if there was to be any chance for them, then he needed to know that we would accept it. But do you think that he has a chance with her? Its all well and good for him to be interested in her, but she also has to be interested in him"
"I believe she is, their relationship is nearly identical to yours and mine, I was never interested in you at the beginning, and yet now look at us. I just want Draco to have the same kind of loving relationship that you and I have" Narcissa replied. Lucius smiled and pulled his wife close, dropping a quick but loving kiss on her lips.
Draco exited the hospital wing and walked down the hall towards the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning, he could feel his nerves strung tight, wondering what awaited him at the Slytherin table. He was also feeling slightly wary about the upcoming confrontation with the golden trio. He knew that Potter had saved his life from the Manticore, and that Weasley in return had saved Harry's life, then there was the whole situation between him and Granger, What would he say to her when he saw her? Should he say thanks for saving his life? But then again that seemed almost pitiful in the wake of what she had done for him and his family. Confused and disorientated Draco reached the huge double doors, and with no small amount of trepidation he opened them and walked inside. The chatter inside the hall came to a halt as he entered and started heading towards the Slytherin table, he could hear the snippets of the whispers that followed his progress, they ranged from him setting the Manticore loose to kill Harry Potter, to the fact that he and Granger had been secretly dating and that was why she gave him some of her blood. None of the whispers he heard even came close to the truth, keeping his head high he strode to where Blaise was sitting at the Slytherin table with a huge welcoming grin on his face.
"Man, Draco you still look like crap" Blaise commented as Draco took his seat next to him,
"Thankyou captain obvious, that just made me feel oh so much better" Draco retorted in sarcastic amusement as he filled his plate,
"Hey, that's what friends are for" Blaise grinned,
"So where is everyone?" Draco asked, finally noticing that Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle were not at the Slytherin table,
"Pansy is crying in her room, which is where she has been for the last couple of days"
"Ever since Dad and I told her that there was no chance of ever becoming a Malfoy" Draco surmised,
"That's it"
"And what about Crabbe and Goyle"
"They were expelled the day after you were attacked" Blaise replied,
"Expelled? Why?"
"They were taking orders off McNair and set the Manticore loose to kill Potter"
"Where the hell did those two idiots get a Manticore?"
"McNair shrank it and sent it to them through owl post, all they had to do was free it, then enlarge it again"
"How do you know all this?"
"Nott and I overheard them, they were worried because the Manticore got you as well, we stunned them and took them to Snape"
"Nott?"
"Yeah, strange, but who would have guessed that the darkest of us all, was actually on the light side and a spy for Dumbledore in the Slytherin house" Blaise replied,
"A spy?" Draco hissed, "What was he spying on in Slytherin?"
"You"
"Me?"
"Yep, Lucius and Dumbledore had him watching you in Slytherin to make sure that you were never harmed"
"How did you know?" Draco asked softly,
"Lucius and Cissa explained it all to me"
"So you know everything?"
"Yeah, I know about everything, including Potter's parents" Blaise answered with a nod in the direction of the head table. Draco followed his gaze and saw his parents seated next to Snape, there was a beautiful red haired woman seated next to his mother and a handsome man that looked enough like Potter to be his twin was sitting next to her, there was another handsome black haired man seated next to him with Professor Lupin on his other side.
"I'm assuming that the red head and the man seated beside her are Potter's parents" Draco commented,
"Yeah, that's them. Lily and James Potter"
"Who is the other black haired guy sitting next to Lupin?" Draco asked,
"That's Sirius Black, your mothers cousin and Potter's godfather" Blaise then laughed as Sirius pulled a prank on Lupin, "Man, Sirius is just like a Gryffindor version of me" Draco groaned and returned to his breakfast,
"What class do we have first?"
"Defense against the dark arts with the Gryffindors"
"Dammit, I was hoping to put it off for at least a few hours" Draco mumbled to himself,
"Put what off?" Blaise asked, having heard what Draco had said,
"Talking to Granger"
"You know, Hermione's not that bad once you get past her defenses" Blaise commented offhandedly as he snatched a piece of bacon and popped it into his mouth,
"What?" Draco asked, the shock on his face easily recognizable,
"After Lucius and Cissa explained everything to me I went and had a talk to the Golden Trio, they really are quite good people, not at all what we thought they were. Even Nott called a truce with them" Blaise explained,
"I don't believe this"
"Draco, just talk to them, even your parents have made peace with them"
"Yeah I know, Dad told me"
"Well, perhaps you should follow their example"
"I was planning to, but doing it seems to be a lot harder than planning it" Draco admitted,
"Just don't insult them and perhaps they will do the rest, that's what they did with me" Blaise advised. Draco nodded but didn't say anything else.
"GRANGER!" Hermione stopped and turned at the sound of her name being called. Draco jogged up to her and panted slightly, still weak from his injuries, "Granger, can I talk to you for a moment?" Draco asked awkwardly. Hermione nodded, then turned to Harry and Ron who had stopped with her,
"You two go ahead, I'll meet you in the classroom" Harry and Ron nodded, then after sparing a curious glance at Draco they continued on their way to the DADA classroom. Draco stood there awkwardly for a moment before he finally blurted out the question that had been bugging him since he found out that it had been her that had saved his life,
"Why did you do it?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him, Draco flushed a little, "Don't think I'm not grateful or anything, I am! Its just that I don't understand why you would do that for me of all people" he finally added,
"I did it for many reasons" she finally answered gently,
"I'd like to know what they are"
"Why is it so important to you why I did it?" Hermione asked curiously, as she cocked her head sideways t look at him,
"Look Granger, this is really awkward for me, a lot has happened to me in the last few days, its thrown my world totally off kilter. I'm still coming to terms with it all and its really bugging me that I don't know the reason why you would donate your blood to save my life"
"It bugs you that a muggleborn was the only one who was able to save you?" Hermione asked, though it was gently said, Draco still winced at the implication in her tone,
"No, its not that. This has nothing to do with you being a muggleborn. Its all about blood, your blood, which you donated to save an enemy" Draco replied,
"Yes, you're right, it is about blood, blood that I had and you needed to survive, I couldn't let you die knowing that I could save you" Hermione answered,
"But I'm your enemy, why would you save me?" Draco persisted,
"Because I could Malfoy" Hermione responded,
"Granger, I realize that you probably don't want to hear this, but I know that there must be a reason why you would do what you did, I really want to know what it is, but, if you're not willing to tell me then I'll just have to find out some other way"
"Malfoy, the reasons are vast and extensive, they would take a hell of a lot more time than we have now to fully explain them, maybe one day I will tell you, but right now I really don't feel up to it"
"Ok, I can understand that, something else that I really wanted to say was Thankyou, Thankyou for saving my life" Draco stated softly,
"You're welcome, now come on, lets get to class before we lose points for being late" Hermione smiled, then turned and headed towards the classroom. Draco took a few seconds to gather his wits before he followed her.
ok well its a little shorter than the other chapters, but there you go. I'm not sure how long it will be until the next chapter but i hope it won't be too long before i get it out.
PLease read and review, no flames though.