Hermione was almost surprised to see Draco in Transfiguration. He settled into the seat beside her and pulled the Muggle newspaper towards himself. He flipped idly through it, his wand resting on the table beside him, as Hermione continued working on the old boot. As she pushed it, now returned to its original form of an inkpot, away, she heard a small voice. She glanced at Draco and realized that he was talking to her.

"Do you have class after this?" he asked hesitantly.

Hermione shook her head. "No, this is my last of the day."

Draco's eyes glazed over as he turned to look at her. "Would you go somewhere with me? Somewhere quiet. You- you said we could talk."

Hermione fought to keep from smiling. "Of course. Its warm out, why don't we sit by the lake?"

Draco's eyes focused on her and he nodded. "That sounds nice."

And so it was that after class Hermione Granger found herself walking down to the lake with Draco Malfoy, her bag slung over her shoulders. Most of the Hogwarts students were still in class, but a group of Ravenclaws sat studying in the courtyard, and several Hufflepuffs were playing catch with an old Snitch nearby. Hermione and Draco walked along the shore to a secluded spot and settled down on the ground. Draco immediately hunched over and rested his chin on his knees.

"Hungry?" Hermione asked as she rooted through her bag. "I didn't see you at lunch." Or breakfast, she added silently as she found what she was looking for. She pulled two small packages from the bottom of her bag and handed one to Draco.

"What is it?" he asked as he surveyed the crinkly wrapper.

"It's called a granola bar," Hermione answered. "It's really good. These ones have chocolate inside. You open it like this." She demonstrated how to pull the wrapper apart.

Draco fumbled with the wrapper for a moment before he managed to open it. He examined it suspiciously before taking a miniscule bite. His eyes lit up as he tasted it, and he quickly devoured the rest. Chuckling, Hermione handed him a second one.

"Why do you carry these around in your bag?" he asked as he pulled apart the wrapper. He dropped the wrapper from the first one and it blew out onto the lake.

"It's a habit I took up after last year," Hermione said as she twirled her wand. The wrapper zoomed back to her hand and she stuffed it into her bag. "We spent a long time camping in the woods, and we didn't always have much food. Now I carry some with me everywhere. Just in case."

Draco silently stuffed his second wrapper into the pocket of his robe and lowered his chin back to his knees. He stared vacantly at the lake.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. His voice cut through the silence. "For everything I've done to you. All the times I called you-" his voice cracked. "I was wrong."

Hermione looked at him; huddled over, pale, defeated. She shifted a little closer and gently rested her hand on his shoulder. He shuddered at the touch. "I forgive you," she said gently. "For all of it. And I know- I know Harry does too. You have more in common with him than you realize."
Draco turned to look at her, his eyes red and puffy. "What could we possibly have in common?"

"Neither of you had a choice," Hermione replied. "You were both just kids, forced into a war that you didn't really understand. The rest of us joined because we wanted to. But you, and Harry, you never had the choice to stay out of it."

At this Draco broke. Tears started to fall from his eyes as he sobbed quietly. Hermione wrapped her arm around his shoulder and he leaned into her, his tears forming a wet spot on her robe. They sat like that for a long time, until Draco's sobs subsided and his tears dried up. Finally he pulled away and sat stiffly, staring straight ahead.

"You don't have to be ashamed of crying," Hermione said, correctly guessing the reason for his change in behaviour. "Sometimes it's the only way to feel better. I'll never tell anyone."

Draco relaxed and turned his face towards her. His eyes were even more red than before, but his vacant expression was gone. Hermione wondered if that had been the first time he had allowed himself to cry. He sighed.

"Malfoys don't cry." His eyes flicked out over the lake. "We've always been rich and powerful and better than everyone else. We have perfect blood, and it must stay that way, because we're Malfoys and we have to be perfect. I've never been much good at being a Malfoy." He turned his eyes back to Hermione. "It's been hell, these last two years. I finally got everything I always wanted. But it was awful. People got hurt, people died. Because of me. Because I was too stupid to see the truth."

"You can't blame it all on yourself. I think everyone did things they aren't proud of." Hermione looked at the ground. "Some more than others. But it wasn't your fault, any more than it was mine. Or Harry's. Or Ron's." She looked up to see Draco's grey eyes boring into her. "It was him, Voldemort. He twisted so many people. We all got caught up in the middle of it."

Draco scoffed. "You know I wanted to do all of that. I was excited, Granger. When he gave me this-" he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a Dark Mark, faded and scarred, but recognizable nonetheless, "-I was so happy. It was everything I always wanted. I couldn't wait to do my duty, to earn my place by his side."

"Do you still want that?"

Draco dropped his head back to his knees. "No."

"People can change. You can change."

Draco didn't lift his head as he spoke again. Hermione had to strain to hear his words. "But what does that make me? I had what I thought I wanted in life, and it was terrible. What do I do now?"

"You pick up the pieces and move on," Hermione said. "You surround yourself with people who can look beyond your past, people who want the same things as you. And you try to figure out what you really want. It's all any of us can do."

There was a long silence. Finally, Draco looked up, and his eyes met Hermione's.

"Will you help me?"