At this point, you might be wondering, 'where is the pompous prat Draco Malfoy we're used to?' Well I'm here to tell you that the Draco Malfoy you know and hate(love) is long gone. After and during he and his mother's trials he was forced to grow up even more than he had to under You-Know-Who. With Potter, Weasley, Granger, and even Loony Lovegood coming to testify at his hearings, he had stopped hating them, even though he vowed to never admit it, he was extremely grateful for them, especially Potter, who gave a moving speech about how he lowered his wand and wasn't going to kill Dumbledore.
This Draco Malfoy is a changed man. He no longer believes that one set of people are above another just because of their birth status. He no longer believes the Dark Lord is good. This Draco Malfoy is almost a good person.
With his father in Azkaban for the rest of his life, Draco's mother had recently been seriously distraught. Although, she too no longer believed in blood supremacy, she wanted her Draco to marry a 'nice, pure blood girl.' But even more than that, she wanted her son to be happy.
After another long uncomfortable silence in the Head Boy and Girl compartment of the Hogwarts Express, it was time for Draco and Hermione to check the other compartments and make sure everyone had changed into their robes. While Hermione got along just fine, Draco on the other hand, got nothing but the cold shoulder and silent treatment from everyone he checked, not that it bothered him.
As Draco was heading back to his shared compartment, he started to feel a sudden urge to find Hermione, to make sure she was ok, to possibly even kiss her. Assuming those feelings were just from seeing this new Hermione he wasn't used to, Draco tamed himself and sat quietly as far away from Hermione as possible, which was pretty much useless as the compartment was quite small.
Soon the the Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade Station and they started to unload first years to Hagrid, send second, third, and fourth years on their way to walk through Hogsmeade, and loaded the thestral carriages with fifth, sixth, and seventh years. The eight year students were allowed to apparate, as they all fought on the Order's side during the battle.
As the start of term feast carried on, Draco couldn't see a Slytherin either year student in sight, save Blaize and Theo, his two best friends, his only friends now a days.
Soon everyone was dismissed, and with the prefects taking the students to their common rooms, the only thing for Draco and Hermione to do was go to their quarters, set a password on the portrait, and unpack. As he and Hermione walked down the fourth floor corridor to get to their common room, Draco began to once again feel a very strong urge to shelter Hermione from any possible harm, which he almost did.
"So, what should the password be?" Draco asked, still struggling to contain himself.
"How about initium novum? Hermione suggested.
"That's fine with me." Said Draco turning to the portrait. "The Head Boy and Girl would like their password to be initium novum." Stated Draco clearly
"Very well," said the portraits of Salazar Slytherin and Goodrich Gryffindor in unison. And with a small click, the portrait swung open to reveal a common room decorated with silver and red embellishments all around the room.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it's was written at 2am. Please continue to review! Thanks
- E.K. Jane