Chapter 7

A couple weeks later, Pansy Parkinson was sitting at the table in the corner of the cozy kitchen in the home she shared with her adopted grandfather. She was enjoying her morning coffee and perusing the pages of the Prophet, when a beautiful, tawny owl landed outside the window, pecking politely for entry. "My, you are a pretty one," she murmured as she opened the window to let the bird in, "Who do you belong to?"

She took the piece of parchment from the owl's leg and gave it a treat from the jar that Garrett kept by the window. The bird didn't fly away immediately, so Pansy knew a reply was necessary. She opened the parchment, scanned the contents and gasped. The handwriting, though she hadn't seen it for quite some time, was unmistakable:

Pansy,

I saw the photos and the announcement in the Prophet, I guess congratulations are in order. But seriously, Weasley, of all people?

I'm kidding, sort of. But you deserve to be happy, Pansy, and if he ever hurts you I will take care of him for you! As in, leaving no evidence behind!

I would really like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss someone else I saw in those photos. I'm hoping you can answer some very pressing questions that I have regarding this person and his circumstances. I just got back to London, and I am staying for a few days above the Leaky Cauldron. Please reply with a time and place to meet, (hopefully today or tomorrow) whatever time or place you choose will be fine. I will trust you to be discreet enough not to inform anyone of my presence here.

Sincerely,

Draco

Pansy read the letter over a couple of times, trying to decide whether it would be a good idea to let Hermione know about this. She decided to wait until after she had met with Draco herself first, no sense in letting Hermione get worked up about it yet.

She grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to scribble a hasty reply. Ron was working with George at the shop for a few hours, and Grandfather, as she called Garrett now, was at the wand shop until later, so she would meet Draco as soon as possible. She sent the owl off to Draco and trotted upstairs to get ready.

A short time later, Pansy was stepping out of the floo into the dim light of the Leaky Cauldron. She blinked and looked around as her eyes adjusted to the dark interior of the room. She spotted a flash of blond hair in the far corner booth and headed towards her old classmate.

She pasted a smile on her face as she stepped to the table, ready to do whatever she could to make everything work out as smoothly as possible for both Draco and Hermione. She arrived at the table and her smile quickly faded. Draco was sitting there, his hand wrapped around a glass of firewhiskey, just staring off into nowhere. He seemed to take no notice of the woman standing in front of him.

Pansy took this opportunity to study his features. He looked much thinner, his features more angular than they had been before. His eyes looked slightly sunken, with a haunted look about them. All in all, his appearance looked haggard and unkempt. She had never in her life seen Draco in such a state. Even as bad as things got during the time old Voldie was at Malfoy Manor, Draco was always well groomed and dressed nicely. What had this young man been through the last couple of years?

"Draco?" Pansy softly spoke his name and he seemed to break out of his reverie.

"Pansy, it's so good to see you. Please, sit down." Draco stood politely and took her hand to assist her to the seat across from his

She slid into the booth, and looked up to see a server waiting to take her drink order. She ordered a drink and waited until they were alone again. "Alright, Malfoy, where have you been? Are you alright, because you look horrible!"

She got more upset as she spoke and laid it on him in no uncertain terms. "I'm so mad at you, I've been worried sick! No one knew how to find you! I knew you were going through hell and I couldn't be there to help you! And I needed someone too, Draco! I lost my family just as you did! You were the one person who had some understanding of what I was going through, and you were gone!" she finally took a breath, and Draco saw the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I know, Pansy," came the quiet reply, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, so just 'I'm sorry' is supposed to fix everything? I want to know what happened to you! Where did you go?" She reached across the table and clasped her hand around his, the soft grasp of her slim fingers a marked contradiction to the almost harsh tones of her voice.

"No, I don't expect one 'I'm sorry' to fix things, but I really am." He returned the clasp of her hand with a little squeeze of his own. "After I saw my mother killed, something snapped inside me. I killed that Death Eater with all the rage I felt at everything that had ever happened to me my whole life!"

"My father was always horrible to mother and myself, but he would turn around and fawn all over that snake-faced megalomaniac like he was some sort of god! He forced me to do whatever that snake wanted me to do by threatening to kill my mother. His own wife! He betrayed his family for a bunch of insane losers!"

"Death Eaters, bah, what kind of stupid name is that for a group of vigilante morons anyway! He even forced me to take that stupid mark! I'm lucky that the thing faded away after snake-face was destroyed." He let go of Pansy's hand and absently rubbed his left forearm. "From what I've read recently, the mark only faded from the people who were forced to take it against their will. So I guess I can at least prove that it wasn't something I wanted to do."

Draco stopped talking for a moment and slumped down slightly into his seat. "Pansy, what happened to my mother's body?" his voice started to waver, "I was so out of it for such a long time. I never even thought of burying her or anything. They probably just dumped her dumped her somewhere! She wasn't even one of them, and I didn't take care of her!"

"Oh Draco," Pansy took both of his hands in hers this time, "Your mother had a nice funeral. Even the Minister of Magic was there to pay his respects. Harry took care of everything. She's buried in the Black family plot next to her parents. Harry made sure she was given a hero's funeral. If it wasn't for her, Harry wouldn't have killed old Voldie."

Draco absorbed what Pansy was saying with his mouth agape, "What! Hero? What are you talking about?"

Pansy told Draco the whole story as she had heard it from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Draco didn't even try to hide the fact that he was crying, as he heard how his mother lied to Voldemort. She told them all that Harry Potter was dead, and the only thing on her mind when she was so close to Harry was to ask him if her son was alive in the castle.

"Draco, would you like to go to see her right now? We can apparate there from outside." He nodded his head without speaking, and Pansy stood and reached out to him. "Come with me."

He threw some coins on the table and took her hand. They walked outside and apparated to the Black family burial plot in one of the oldest wizarding cemeteries in England. Draco stood in front of the black marble headstone and read "Here lies Narcissa Black Malfoy, much loved mother of Draco Malfoy, and hero to all of wizarding Britain." Draco dropped to his knees, "Who wrote that inscription, Pansy?"

"Harry did, Draco." She reached out and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. "He wanted to make sure everyone knew what she did. Even though you two never did get along, he knew you loved your mother; especially after seeing you in the tower the night Dumbledore died. He heard you tell the Professor that they would kill your mother if you didn't follow through with your task."

"Potter was there? Why didn't he try to save Dumbledore? He could have stopped the whole thing?" Draco was more confused by the moment.

"He was petrified by Dumbledore and hidden under an invisibility cloak, Draco, he couldn't make a sound or move, but he used what he heard then, and what you did for him, Ron and Hermione when they were held at the manor to get you a full pardon by the Wizengamot."

"What do you mean, 'what I did for them at the manor,' I just stood there like a stupid moron and watched my insane aunt torture Granger!" He was almost yelling now, "And what do you mean a full pardon? I'm not going to Azkaban for attempted murder or anything?"

"No Draco, it was decided that you were forced to do these things under duress. Harry, Ron and Hermione all testified on your behalf. They even used the memories of several Death Eaters who were there when you were forced to take the mark and threatened with your mother's death if you didn't complete the task given to you.

"In fact, it was revealed that Dumbledore was dying anyway from a curse he sustained earlier in the year, and he had planned for Snape to kill him instead of you in order to save you from being a murderer. Also, your mother had made an unbreakable vow with Snape for him to complete your task if you could not."

"Pansy, stop, I can't hear any more right now. My head is spinning!" He hadn't stood up the whole time Pansy was imparting all this shocking information to him. He was pretty sure that he could not stand even if he wanted to right now. "All the pain and anguish I went through that whole year, and Dumbledore was dying anyway? Unbelievable!"

They remained at the grave for a while to give Draco time to calm down. "Pansy, this grave looks nice,uh, I mean it is being kept up nicely."

"Harry has given his house elf orders to keep her grave nice." said Pansy.

"I really do owe him a lot, don't I?" Draco looked over to Pansy.

"Yes, Draco, you do. You're just lucky I'm in the good graces of my future brother in law. I can get the two of you together to talk about all this, and I'll make sure you don't get hexed." She smirked, "you know you don't have to hide anymore, you're a free man."

"Free," Draco let out a hollow chuckle, "Pansy, my head is so messed up, I don't know if I'll ever really be free. I spent the first six months after snake-face was erased just moving from place to place while drinking. Really, I was drunk the entire time! I couldn't tell you to this day what I did, who I was with or where I was.

"I finally came around in an alley outside of a Muggle pub in Ireland somewhere. The only reason I quit drinking was someone stole my money while I was out cold. I ended up going into the pub and getting a job as a bartender while living in a room upstairs.

"There I was, the heir to one of the largest fortunes in wizarding Britain, working as a bartender in a little Irish Muggle pub. The people were kind to me.

"I had no idea what any of those people were talking about most of the time, and I know they thought me strange, but they seemed to accept me just as I was."

"Draco, I wrote you so many times, why didn't you at least write back?" Pansy sniffed, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry, Pansy." He ran a hand through his hair. "The minute an owl dropped off a letter, I would incendio the blasted thing. I didn't know if there was a tracking spell on them, or who they were from. I just wanted to disappear for a while."

"Well, that explains why you didn't know about Aquila," muttered Pansy.

"What did you say, Pansy. Why I didn't know about what?"

"Draco, what was it you wanted to ask me about when you sent that owl this morning?" She decided she might as well get right to it now and answer his questions.

He hesitated, then quietly asked, "Pansy, I saw someone in those pictures from your engagement party. A child, listed in the photos as Hermione Granger's son. Why does he look just like me? "