A MALFOY ALWAYS GETS WHAT A MALFOY WANTS

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

RATING M+ for explicit scenes. I hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 3

910 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes that's how long it was since the end of the war, he'd been 20 then and had done a lot of growing up during the course of the war. It had been brutal - many did things they thought not possible of themselves. There were still days he felt guilty for having let the Death Eaters into the school, she so could have been hurt but at the time like so often he felt like he had no choice, it wasn't like Voldemort had said to him "hey Draco do you want to do this job for me and kill that old coot Dumbledore?" Snape had told him not to feel so bad about it and that Dumbledore and him had organised everything, he knew Snape knew what Draco had to do and also knew that he didn't have it in him, he counselled him on what he could and maybe should do, at the time Draco couldn't believe he was being advised to join the light side and to follow his heart, only at the end of the war did he learn that his godfather was actually on the light side and that he had regretted not following his own heart in fact he died loving the same witch he had loved school – what shocked Draco more was that this witch was also a muggleborn namely Harry Potters mother – it was strange to think of Potter as a Snape. Draco had been torn about what to do but more out of fear than anything else. For part of the war he'd managed to keep pretty neutral, staying out of things and avoiding any missions that the Death Eaters were sent on by being absent but eventually got to a point where he had no choice so he discusses with Snape his options. When he went on the raid the order was there to meet them and Draco was conveniently caught and taken with them, this way his parents would not get blamed for him going, like they would have if he'd just done a runner turning to the order.

He had remained at Order headquarters and hardly seen the Golden Trio, he was given various tasks to keep him occupied but none of them sufficed where keeping his mind off Hermione was concerned, and he constantly worried about Hermione and found that it didn't go unnoticed by others within the household. He felt alone even with others around and was not being accepted many of those around them, gaining the trust of them and becoming friends was in itself a battle. On the few occasions that the trio was around he made a little progress towards becoming friends – though more so with Harry and Hermione than with Ron, he just couldn't seem to let bygones be bygones and let the past stay in the past, words were after all just that words he'd never been physical with him or any of them for that matter though he would have liked to be physical with Hermione but in a very different way. If anyone should not be so forgiving it was him since he was hit by Hermione and then there was the numerous times he was poked with Ron or Harry's wands. Ron had displayed obvious jealousy towards Draco but at the time no -one had any real inkling of Draco's true feelings for the witch. When Ron had returned from one of their missions without the other two Draco had panicked raising suspicions by Ron that in fact the other did have feelings for his girlfriend especially when Draco had exploded about leaving her out there where she was in constant danger and that no matter how much she said she could take care of herself, she still needed protection. If she had been Draco's girlfriend at the time he would have stayed with her no matter what, he knew how stubborn she could be, hell he was the same but still he could never leave her not when he knew she was also looking out for Potter as well. The more Draco had tried to deny any feelings for Hermione the more Ron believed that there were feelings. It widened the divide between the two, sent Ron back after her and made him more possessive of her as well. When at last the final battle took place Draco was there on the field to fight, he fought for so many different reasons but the main reason was her. Draco's heart broke when he had witnessed Hermione and Ron together embracing and kissing. They held hands heading out onto the grounds of Hogwarts where the final battle was to take place before parting and going separate ways to fight. Many on the light side who were not directly part of the main order had been surprised to see him fighting on their side. Draco let all his past anger and hatred flow through him as he said curse whether a killing curse or not. His remorse for his own past and his sadness at knowing the one witch he truly loved would never love him the same in return. He confronted those that had been friends on that battlefield whom he had a stand off with – some had asked him why and when he looked at Granger they knew expressing that they were not surprised. He almost got himself killed a couple of times when he looked to check on Hermione. The closest shave had been when he'd gone after her pushing her aside from a curse sent her way from behind – she'd been grateful and hugged him as a thank you – that was something he'd always cherished since. When he dreamed of her he knew what it was like to be held by her and hold her back so it made those dreams a little more vivid. When it was over however she returned to Ron, making Draco wish he'd died in battle that way he would never have had to endure the heartache of seeing her with someone else.

Life after the war for Draco was hard to adjust to, his father had lost favour with Voldemort and so hadn't fought in fact it wasn't until when various raids were conducted afterwards that both his parents were found locked in a dungeon in their own home. His father had faced charges and been sentenced to a few terms in Azkaban but luckily had not had to endure a Dementors Kiss. His mother had decided that with the horrid memories within the Manor that she would have it pulled down, destroyed – keeping only various pieces of furniture and portraits to put into a new home. When his parents had found out that he had in-fact defected being caught on purpose they were in shock, his father had at first wanted to disown him demanding to know why he had done such a thing, it had taken a lot but he finally admitted to the man that there were a variety of reasons – two of the main ones being that he didn't want a future that saw the family name as being associated with anything dark, wrongful or illegal especially since he cared deeply for a muggle-born witch and if he ever hoped to win her heart then he needed to be on the right side.

It was his mother whom had uttered her name he couldn't believe she knew how he knew not, when he affirmed she was right she only told him she thought as much and had suspected for a number of years she had hoped she was wrong at one point but knew deep inside that she wasn't. Draco didn't know how to respond to her admission she had furthermore told him she could accept this if he was friends with her but that it should go no further – he was a pureblood after all. His father told him only now the war was over could he accept his son's reason for changing sides but for the sake of their families name but his caring for a muggle born was not something he'd accept any-time soon, he had hated them most of his life and that's all there was to it. Draco told his father that he really didn't care if he accepted it or not and it he wanted cut him off from his inheritance then so be it, he'd get a job and work hard to prove himself worthy of her, because with their name as it currently stood he was the one who was not worthy.

So it was that Draco's father went to Azkaban, his mother had the Manor pulled down and another built in its place – it was less intimidating, Draco had wanted it reminiscent of Hogwarts only on a smaller scale, his mother of course had abided his wishes. It had taken many of the portraits time to get used to it – though there were still a couple who complained. Lucius had in fact cut Draco off but so far had not disowned him, since he was in Azkaban Draco had the luxury of still being able to live at home. In the new Manor Draco almost felt like a kid again, of those he had made friends with during the war he even invited over to see the new place, he wanted to have to have a Quidditch pitch like the Weasleys after all there was plenty of room for one. His father hadn't allowed one before but since he wasn't around he was taking the opportunity to put in what he wanted since one day the place would be his. Whenever Hermione came over she was accompanied by Ron the couple seemed as strong as ever, he was also working at the ministry in the sporting department, Draco wanting to make a difference and give his family's name a better reputation got a job working in the department of Law and Regulations it helped that those who decided if he could have a job had been part of the Order and had seen him work and knew at the time what he was like.

Draco had big plans though to become the head of the department – the department minister to be precise, he had a lot of hard work ahead of him. At least one thing in his life was on track and heading in a positive direction because Hermione seemed to be more in love with Weasley than ever before – it was obvious to Draco if he was to ever get her it would take drastic measures but he knew if he tried to make Weasley out to be bad she'd only end up resenting him – he had to come up with something different.