Thirty-seven. Hermione

I stood under a tree which stood perfectly still. It's a weird thing to say but for anyone who had been to Hogwarts in the last twenty odd years it would seem perfectly normal. Standing there I remembered a time when this tree would have attacked me, in fact, I remembered a time when this tree did attack me.

I looked up at the castle which usually gave me a warm welcoming feeling; now its remainders made me shudder. They towered high above me and made me feel intimidated. It cast its shadow over me in the early morning sun leaving a cold feeling to settle. A warm, clammy hand was place on my shoulder and I turned to look into the once warm green eyes of Harry. His mouth smiled but his eyes did not light up in their usual way.

"Ready?" He asked steadily. I nodded my head and swallowed back the sickly feeling which had settled in my stomach for the last couple of days. In four days I had been through more funerals than I could count; but this was going to be the worst.

I'd always had a fear of funerals; which was silly because I'd never been to one before. I actually considered not attending but then I remembered that final promise I had made to him.

I pulled his limp body up to me and screamed at him to open his eyes. "I love you Draco!" I shouted it over and over again. "Don't leave me please! You gave me my life how can I live without you?!" I felt selfish for saying it, how could I think of my self at a time like that? I sobbed into him and softly checked for a pulse as my screams became quieter and quieter.

A warm hand on my shoulder snapped my head up as I looked into Harry's hazel eyes but it just increased my crying and he dropped himself to my side crying to as he hugged me.

I laid Draco's body softly down on the ground and brought my lips to his. The electricity was gone and I pulled away sorrowfully. I looked down into his handsome face. He was so perfect. "How could they take you away?" I asked. "You said we die once we've done what we intended to do," I leant down and put my head softly against his as I whispered into his ear. "But you haven't finished what you intended to do." I watched as his body was levitated onto a stretcher and hovered over to the castle, "not yet," I whispered.

I glanced from the coffin, to the people around me, and back to the coffin again. Pale faces were turned my way as my eyes swept across the room. I fumbled with the white paper folded in my hands and I shakily opened it up. I cleared my throat harshly and allowed my eyes to take in the people around me once more. I bit my cheek and turned back towards the coffin as hot tears stung my eyes.

I gripped my hands onto the sides of the podium and exhaled slowly bringing my head up to meet the soft eyes of the crowd. It was a small crowd but I'd expected nothing other. Any members of his family fought against him and did not dare show their faces and anyone that fought with him was not particularly fond of him anyway. I took in a shaky breath, wondering whether I was strong enough to do it. I didn't want to break down in front of these people, no matter how much right Harry told me I had to do so.

I let my eyes hover on Harry for a second who gave me a reassuring smile. I nodded to let him know I was ok.

"Draco Malfoy," I began. I heard my voice echo around the hall from the micro-phone which sat in front of me. My eyes instantly stung with fresh tears and I put a hand to my chest as it rose and fell rhythmically. I opened my mouth and rubbed my tongue across my teeth as I fought back the tears. Pushing my lips together defiantly for a second I continued. "Draco," I began again purposely leaving out the last name which he hated so much. I looked towards his coffin again and a small sad laugh left my lips. "For those of you that had the pleasure of knowing Draco at school you will surely remember his relationship with anything muggle related." I took a moment to look around at the people listening and noticed a few nods and a couple of frowns. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Such as myself." I spoke more confidently. "For those of you who did not know Draco when he was at Hogwarts then count yourself lucky." Even I could hear the slight bitter tone in my voice which I did nothing to try and hide. I was here to speak the truth about him.

"I know that many of you stand here now, not because of your love for Draco, but because of either support for me, or wanting proof that he is actually gone. I see a few faces I expected," my eyes stopped on Pansy Parkinson who had fled when the war began then flickered to Blaise Zabini who I assumed did the same. "And I see a few I did not expect," I looked towards some fellow student who I knew had no liking of Draco and they bowed their heads guiltily. "But don't be ashamed for your reasons here because the Draco that all you knew would have done the same thing."

I took a deep breath and my eyes glazed over with tears. I glanced back at the coffin; it was platinum white and reminded me of his hair. I choked on a sob as I realised this and raised my head so that I looked up and noticed the beautiful stain glass window which opened up to the heavens. I was reminded of when I first set eyes on him as Damon, even then he was perfect.

I was speechless. For what must have been the first time in my life I was actually speechless. He was, not to sound corny, perfect. Not fit or bad as Lavender and Parvarti would refer to him, but perfect. His hair was black and very short; there wasn't enough of it to be styled in any particular way. His eyes were piecing blue/green like the colour azure. Flakes of snow twinkled in them as it fell around us. His jet black eyelashes curled in the way girls would dream to have them. He had on dark, faded jeans and a sky blue jumper which complimented his eyes.

I smiled reminiscently and focus back on what I was saying. "I liked Draco for a while before he," I swallowed quickly. "Before he planned the murder of Dumbledore." I bowed my head. "I knew things about Draco of which he told no one. I don't believe there is anyone in this room that can even imagine the horrors he had to go through as a child." My confidence rose as I stared around the room. "He grew up alone with no one to save him from the torture he experienced at home. His future was planned out for him before he was even born and I don't think I need to tell you what that was." I looked around and saw some understanding faces but some confused. "He was to become a powerful and feared wizard; a deatheater. And even though there was never any solid proof I still think that if he had a chance eventually, Voldermort would have made him the next dark lord." I heard a few gasps and was satisfied with the reaction it had gotten.

I took a gulp of the water to my right and lay my hands softly either side of my speech which I was reading from. I read what I was planning to say next and understood that I couldn't go on this way. "I have a speech," I said holding it up by the tips of my fingers away from me. Tears ran freely down my face now. "I stupidly thought that it was possible for me to write down all I wanted to say on this," I said as I dropped it to the floor. I watched as many eyes fell with it and then returned expectantly back to my face. I bit down on my bottom lip. "He's dead now," my voice broke. "But he so desperately wanted you all to know that he wasn't what you all thought he was; he wasn't a Malfoy." I shook my head and more tears fell.

I took deep breaths as I remembered one of the last conversations we had.

"Hermione, you're in Gryffindor, everybody knows that you will jump straight into this war to fight for the future of others. But I come from Slytherin which means not only do they expect me to be fighting for the other side, but they expect me to wimp out and run away."

"How many people in here were in Slytherin?" I did not expect an answer as I looked around and saw only two that I knew. A few faces contorted slightly and I laughed. "See how you look at the mention of Slytherin?" I shook my head at them and many faces turned away ashamedly. "Have you still not realised what that school has done to us? Do you not see the split which it formed? Even now, when the darkest wizard of all time is defeated. The wizard which fuelled this split because of his recruitment of the pureblood Slytherins. In first year we are all told by some idiotic person how all people placed in Slytherin are destined for evil. Is it not this myth which has pushed them that way?" My eyes darted between the faces. "Just because Salazar Slytherin was the way he was he cannot represent the rest of the Slytherin population. Take Draco for instance."

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you Hermione. I can't say that I have always loved you and that I've always hidden it because that's not the case. I was brought up to think that I was better than everyone else and that muggles and anyone that wasn't pureblood were beneath me."

"Growing up all he knew was that he was a pureblood, being a pureblood meant that he was above anyone else, and being above everyone else meant that he could treat them like shit." My bottom lip trembled and I couldn't hold back the sob that left my mouth. Harry rose in his chair but I shook my head to let him know I was fine; he sat down wearily. "When I met Draco last year the first thing he said to me before he revealed himself was that he cared for me. He cared for a girl who had been his enemy for 6 years. He cared for a girl who he had thought was beneath him. He cared for a … for a mudblood." No one disapproved of the word as I continued.

"'It's all I've ever known. It a big reason why I hated Dumbledore, because he was such a muggle lover, and he didn't hide the fact that he hated me to.'" I quoted Draco. "When telling me this he knew I would be against it but he always spoke so freely of things he knew upset people and it wasn't because he wanted to upset them, it was because he was Draco; he knew no different. He didn't act differently in front of me but he acted differently in front you," I said pointing to all the people below me. "He was afraid you would all see the soft side of him. He was scared, once he realised he was not above everyone, that his "friends" would turn against him. He didn't want to upset what they thought was the right thing. He knew it would upset the balance and thought it would be a bad thing. He thought of everyone else bar himself." I laughed, "And there we all were thinking Draco Malfoy thought of no one but himself.

He didn't want to upset the balance of the lack of house unity so he put on a mask and acted a jerk. Even though it meant that in doing so he had no real friends and so many enemies." I took a deep breath.

"Have you ever met somebody who did not suit the house they were place in at Hogwarts? That is the question which Draco asked me when he planned on entering the war, not to fight for what is right, but to fight to prove to all of you that he had changed. All he ever wanted was to not be alone," I didn't try to hold the sob in now as my voice freely cracked and tears freely fell. "When the end came," my voice rose, "he was prepared to put his life at risk just to prove to all you that he was not a Malfoy." I put my head in my hands. "Eventually I got through to him and what he told me touched me so much. His goodness truly shone through. He told me that he was going to enter the war as a sign of inter-house unity and a sign that change is coming. I just hope his death wasn't a waste." I looked around at the people who looked back at me quizzically. "Because if a Malfoy entering the war on our side did not show all of you how people are not defined by the way they are when they are an 11 year old child, or by the house they are placed in, then you are all just as bad as the man that made Draco the way he was. He was prejudice towards anything muggle related; you're prejudice to anything Slytherin related."

I raised my head proudly and stepped down from the podium slowly. I didn't bring my eyes to look into the faces of the people who surrounded me because I couldn't stand to see the look in their eyes. A warm hand on my shoulder averted my gaze from the huge doors and I looked into those green eyes.

"Well done," Harry whispered to me. I smiled looking around and suddenly applause sounded all around me. Tears fled from my cheeks as I beamed at everyone appreciatively. I headed back to the podium for my final words.

"Draco Malfoy. Draco," I corrected myself. "Was a beautiful person," I said clearly before my voice broke. "His death was a disaster." Applause echoed around me and the tears flowed again. I looked up towards the heavens and in all the noise and applause whispered for only him to here, "Be proud Draco, you did it."