Rather than use the main entrance, Draco dragged his trunk around the side of the castle to the door used by the first years coming from the boats. It was mostly hidden and had provided a discreet outlet for his meetings with Snape in the boat house during his first seven years. Snape had created a secret passage halfway up the staircase that came out behind the Slytherin tapestry, allowing he or Draco to enter the Great Hall unnoticed. Draco slid from behind the fabric and onto the end of the Slytherin bench without a single look in his direction. Instinctively, he shot a glance to the Gryffindor table. She was there of course, laughing with her friends as always. He quickly looked away, and although he wasn't hungry, began eating the food in front of him, as to not stand out amidst the other students who were stuffing their faces.
The food disappeared, and Professor McGonagall announced the prefects from each house. Draco wasn't really paying attention, but two names did catch his ear. Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood. Good for them, he thought. After their bravery displayed during the battle, they deserve the recognition and can definitely handle the responsibility. He lifted his eyes to the front of the Great Hall where the prefects were standing. To his surprise, Luna was looking straight at him. When his eyes met hers, she flashed him a bright smile. He was so caught off guard that he returned the smile before remembering who we was supposed to be within these walls and dropping his eyes back to his lap.
Professor McGonagall dismissed the houses separately, instructing the first years to remain close to their house prefects so they didn't end up with the wrong house or completely lost somewhere in the castle. He mused to himself how small the first years were, their eyes so full of excitement and wonder. If only he'd been afforded that kind of frivolity.
From the moment he stepped inside Hogwarts, he had expectations. Most of them in place before he was even born. The Malfoy heir was expected to remain loyal to his pure blood roots, and be an unquestioning servant of the Dark Lord. When Voldemort fell, the lifestyle Lucius had become accustomed to, was suddenly ripped from him. He was able to keep himself out of Azkaban, but he was never able to reclaim his full status in the wizarding world. Sure, they still had money, but he'd lost the power, the prestige. Lucius knew Voldemort had made at least one horcrux and therefore could not be completely dead. The elder Malfoy made it his mission to help the Dark Lord return to power. He expected Draco to do the same.
Draco, however, had Snape to teach him the truth... that the only thing Voldemort cared for was power. The death eaters were not his friends, they were his slaves, bought and paid for with the one thing only he could give... a false sense of security. Voldemort led by fear, because he believed fear was the strongest human emotion. Severus taught Draco that fear was only effective on the weak, those willing to accept any sort of deplorable acts as long those acts were not being perpetrated upon themselves or the ones they loved.
Throughout their years together, Snape shared his story with Draco. The story of Lily. How he had loved her from childhood, but lost himself in the dark arts when she chose James, and how he became one of the weak. He told Draco of finding her lying next to Harry's crib and holding her lifeless body in his arms. How in that moment, a power was awakened in him, far greater than any the Dark Lord could ever hope to possess. The power of a love so deep, it transcended death. It was a power Voldemort could not understand, nor anticipate, which made it the only power that could succeed against him.
Draco absorbed what Severus taught him, he embraced it and believed it, but he never understood it until a family moved in next door to the muggle home in which he and Snape spent much time during their summers of "tutoring". The first time he saw the girl with the wild hair running across her lawn, a hard bound copy of "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" clutched to her chest, Draco knew what his godfather had meant when he said:
"Contrary to what your father has said, muggles are not less than those with pure magic blood. In fact, in my experience, they can actually be much more."
This girl was more than anything he had seen or known. Her smile was wide and full of joy as she darted from her back patio, barely able to contain her elation of having new places to explore. She examined every inch of her new back yard, eventually coming to a stop next to the massive oak tree that straddled the property line. She looked it up and down, and walked completely around it before slightly nodding her head, and settling herself in the same small crook Draco liked to use when doing his "homework". She pulled her knees to her chest and propped the open book upon them, while wiggling her shoulders into the bark's grooves.
A feeling of warmth spread through Draco's insides, the likes of which he'd never before experienced. He found himself smiling at the girl through his bedroom window. "Father is wrong." Draco thought to himself. "This girl is a muggle, and she is beautiful." It was the first time he wanted to deny his heritage, but it certainly wouldn't be the last.
"Are you going to be joining us?" Professor McGonagall's voice startled him out of his thoughts. "Or do you want to spend the next week wondering how to get into the 8th years' dormitory?"
He looked up to see her, along with Ron, Harry and Hermione standing less that five feet from where he still sat at the Slytherin table.
"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah. I'm coming." He was careful to make eye contact with the Head Mistress only. It was not his intention to get into it with any of the Golden Trio. "Wait, 8th years' dormitory?"
"That is correct, Mr. Malfoy. Seeing as how you four are the only students returning to complete your 7th year of schooling, and how you all have more than enough real life experience...," she paused and tilted her head to look over her glasses at them with an almost amused expression, "you will not be attending classes with the current 7th years. Instead, you will be receiving instruction better suited to your abilities. You will attend classes and live as a group - Yes, all of you, together, Mr. Weasley -" she cut across herself before Ron could protest. "As I was saying... You will attend classes and live as a group. The past is the past, and I would not have made these arrangements had I not believed you all capable of conducting yourselves accordingly. A special dormitory was built during reconstruction to accommodate your unique situation. Now, please follow me."
Draco followed directly behind Professor McGonagall. The others fell back several paces, distancing themselves as if he had dragon pox. He could feel Potter and Weasley angrily glaring holes through the back of his head. He hadn't expected anything more from them, but it still hurt... even after all these years. He stared straight ahead as they made their way through the empty corridors. His pace measured and precise. Self-control was a skill Snape emphasized above all others. He could still hear Severus' words clearly:
"If you can control your body, you can control your mind. Focus, Draco. At some point in the near future, your life and her life will depend on it. You can't let any of them see even a hint of sympathy or remorse in your eyes. You must portray the death eater he and his followers expect you to be. If any of them so much as suspect where your loyalties truly lie, you will be dead before you can blink, and then who will protect her?"
By the time he came to Hogwarts, Draco had learned to play that role to perfection. He made everyone believe he shared his father's beliefs. He called her that foul name with hatred in his eyes. What she would probably never know is that the hatred burning in them was toward himself for doing that to her. He hated that the only way he could keep her alive all those years was to be her enemy. And now the war was over. He didn't have to wear that mask, but would they, would she, accept who he truly was.
Once again, his mind's wanderings were interrupted by Professor McGonagall. "I can see by your perplexed expressions that you are wondering why I've brought you here." She motioned with her left arm, and Draco realized he must have been deep into his thoughts because he hadn't noticed they were in the library. "I wanted to give you a dormitory no one would happen upon by accident, therefore, the entrance is located in the restricted section."
Her robes flowed behind her as she spun on her heel and strode between the racks of the oldest, most dangerous books known to Hogwarts. She stopped in front of a case labelled: OCHOANO and spoke the word: TREGUA. The case melted away to reveal a large wooden door, through which she motioned the still silent group.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, Draco knew the door was a portal. He felt the uncomfortable tingle momentarily shoot through his body, like each of his nerves had backfired at the same time, causing his eyes to snap shut. When he opened them, the spasm was over and he was standing in the middle of a small cottage kitchen. Harry and Hermione came immediately after, but he could hear Ron protesting loudly about walking through a door that made people disappear.
"For Merlin's sake, Mr. Weasley, its simply a portal. They have not disappeared. Now, either you walk through that door of your own volition or I will float you through." McGonagall had reached her limit.
Moments later, he charged in, narrowly missing a collision with Draco, but unable to avoid a bar stool, which he sent flying. Hermione and Harry chuckled at Ron's display, but Draco hid his amusement knowing it would enrage the already embarrassed red-head. Professor McGonagall joined them promptly and cast a disapproving look in the stool's direction.
"I trust you will be more careful with the furnishings from now on, Mr. Weasley. This cottage is brand new."
"Yes, ma'am. I just didn't know what to expect." Ron mumbled, replacing the stool to its original position.
"As you noticed, or may have heard, the entrance to your living quarters is a portal. As such, when you enter, you simply need to think of which room you'd like to enter, and you will be taken there. If you think of nothing or have no preference, you will be brought here, the kitchen and dining area. There is also a study, a sitting room and of course your bedrooms. Bathrooms are off limits for the portal, as to avoid popping into one that is already occupied. The portal also works in reverse. When you have classes or wish to leave, think where on the grounds you'd like to go, and you will exit into that location. I do not believe you will require me to give you a tour, but I would like to point out one other item." She made her way into the kitchen and held up a worn piece of parchment. "This will connect you directly with the house elves in the kitchen. You are, of course, welcome to join the rest of the students eating in the Great Hall, but if you'd prefer to have your meals here, or prepare your own, just write what you desire on this parchment and it will be provided to you. I have enchanted this item to remain here on the counter to prevent it from somehow growing legs and finding its way into someone's bedroom." She aimed the last part directly to Ron.
"Wha-? Ok, yeah. Good call on that." Ron feigned offense before admitting it was something he would have definitely tried.
The aged witch smiled at her four students, hoping she wasn't making a mistake. She knew Draco was strong enough to handle whatever they could throw at him, but she prayed that he wouldn't have to. Prior to Dumbledore's death, he'd revealed the truth about Draco to her. It broke her heart to see the boy forced to be someone he despised in order to protect the girl he loved, a girl who had every reason to believe he hated her.
She turned to go, but stopped to add, "Things have happened in this castle that we'd all rather forget. It is my intention as headmistress to move past those things and begin anew. I am looking to you, ALL of you, to take the first steps toward that goal. The rest of the students will take their cues from your examples, and I expect you will not disappoint me. That being said, I know tensions between the four of you are especially unstable. Therefore, I have asked Professor Snape," she motioned to a portrait of their former Potions' Master hanging next to the fireplace, "to keep an eye on things and inform me of any problems that arise within confines of this cottage."
When they'd turned back from the portrait, she was gone. It was just the four of them.
