Thursday, October 4, 2001
Draco had sent Minerva McGonagall a thank you note shortly after his parole hearing in September. She responded with well wishes and inquired to his health. He responded and followed up by asking about the condition of the building, which he had seen crumble around him. They continued correspondences until October when Minerva, as she insisted on being referred to, invited him to the school but wouldn't clarify why.
Harry offered to tag along if Draco was afraid of the old Transfiguration master but Draco declined. He and Harry Apparated to Hogsmeade together that morning, the latter insisting he was meeting with a friend for a late breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. Draco shrugged and trotted toward the castle, surprised when Neville Longbottom of all people met him at the gate.
"Well. Minerva said you were coming in today but I had to see it to believe it," he said, offering his hand. Draco shook it, regarding the blond Gryffindor hesitantly. He had bullied Neville far worse than anyone else but the man seemed perfectly content in his presence. He was about to ask about that when it hit him that the young professor must have been in the loop on what Harry and Hermione had been up to, in freeing and housing Draco during his parole.
"You can find your own way to the Headmistresses tower? I'm headed in to town to meet with Harry," Neville said, nodding to Draco when he said yes, and walking away without much ado. Perhaps six years of torment were not so easily forgotten.
Guess I'll probably have to apologize to him too at some point.
By 10:30 a.m, Draco was at the gargoyle statue and at a loss for the password.
"Yes?" the gargoyle inquired, his face slowly animating.
"Oh. Yes, well, I have an appointment with the Headmistress. Could you let her know that I'm here?" Draco inquired, watching as the gargoyles face went back to solid stone. He waited, counting slowly in his head, when at 20 seconds the face reanimated and the gargoyle moved to the side to let Draco climb the stairs to the headmistress's office.
"Good morning, Mr. Malfoy," welcomes Minerva as the blond wizard let himself in to the main room. He had seen it a handful of times throughout his school years but it was quite different now from how Dumbledore had kept it. There were less swirling, glittering trinkets of unknown origins or uses and somehow more books. Several globes could be seen of various ages, some he imagined hundreds of years old.
"Good morning ma'am," he replied, taking the seat in front of her desk hesitantly, uncertain for her motives for summoning him but interested in finding out. After his well-publicized sixth year, he never expected to be allowed to see the inside of Hogwarts again.
"Now, I imagine you're curious why I've asked you to come in today. I wanted to talk about your N.E.W.T schedule. I was going over your transcripts and reviewing your O. —"
Draco raised a hand and interrupted with a sharp "My what sorry?" that silenced McGonagall, who gave a scathing look at being so rudely interrupted. Draco didn't care though. He had to work thirty hours a week already, give or take, as well as do community service.
Hermione had found him a muggle community to get some work in, which the Prophet had had a field day with. They called him a baby killer and a racist alongside photos of him serving food to the homeless and painting an old school building with other volunteers.
There was no way he could disappear for a year, no community service hours completes and no public humiliation at the Ministry, to study for his N.E. .
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy, your N.E. . I should think that you were coming today with hopes of persuading me to allow you to take them," she said crisply, watching as the wheels turned in Draco's head. He hadn't been explicitly barred from taking the exams – just from entering the school, but even that had been overturned – but he was pretty sure the Ministry would have an issue with his being properly educated.
"They'll never allow it," he answered, not needing to clarify whom. McGonagall snorted, an undignified sound that made Draco smirk and his brow snap up, and picked up the quill at the right of her desk. "They have no authority here and no power to stop me from allowing you to study from home and come in for necessary assignments and exams."
Draco fell back into his seat, not having noticed how far up he had lurched forward throughout the conversation, and began thinking through the possibilities. McGonagall watched, very pleased to see the idea taking root in his mind, as she began making notes on the margins of his transcripts.
"Given your work with Ms. Granger and Mr. Potter, I would recommend taking some if not all of the relevant coursework for those careers, if only for your own safety and success. However, if you have ideas for what you will pursue in two years' time, I recommend factoring those requirements in as well."
Draco nodded, his mind elsewhere. He wanted to get into politics and as long as the current government was in power, he had no chance of that. Still, nothing to say he couldn't go abroad or work within the diplomatic community, which has proven itself to be rather influential and partial towards him.
"Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defence and History to start with then," he muttered, noting the pleased hum McGonagall made as she wrote those down. "And if I were interested in taking a course I had not done my OWL in, say Ancient Runes, what would be the protocol?"
McGonagall was borderline beaming now, having at best imagined that she could trick and coerce the Slytherin into resuming studies in at least Potions and Charms, but six courses? She was going to be very rich thanks to the faculty pool on today's meeting.
"In theory, you would get a tutor and do the first three years study while doing N.E.W.T prep for the other courses, and then do the final exam for it a year after your first round of N.E. . Of course, given your situation, I propose tackle this schedule a bit differently."
Together, the two discussed the work he was doing through the Auror department and how much he contributed to Hermione's curse breaking. They worked out a schedule that put his exams for Charms, Transfiguration and Defence for the spring, counting much of his work through the Auror department as the practical assignments, then shift the focus to History and Potions for the summer sitting. Runes would be a constant lesson plan, and they would judge his progress by the summer in determining his O.W.L and N.E.W.T exams.
"Professor, thank you. I really can't begin to–"
"Then don't, Mr. Malfoy. We're not done here yet."
Draco's brow furrowed as he watched the old witch stand and gesture for him to as well. They left her office together, her saying nothing and Draco just following because she'd said to.
"I saw the article in the Daily Prophet about your community service. It was very clever to go to a muggle community," McGonagall began, leading Draco towards the main staircase.
"Hermione was the one who thought of it. I swear, when it comes to winning an inch over the Ministry, she has a list of antics at the ready," Draco muttered, noting the proud smile McGonagall couldn't seem to hide. Of course she would have a soft spot for Hermione.
"Indeed. I wonder whether having you work at Hogwarts will top that?"
Draco stopped walking mid staircase and looked at the headmistress, flummoxed. He had never been one of her darlings and while she was never unfair towards him, this scheming on her behalf was starting to unsettle him. Worse, that he couldn't have predicted any of this made him quite uncomfortable.
"Working at Hogwarts?" He echoed for clarification. McGonagall nodded and continued to lead the way to what Draco now figured out were the dungeons. They entered the potions lab and found Horace Slughorn chortling to himself as he wrote what was likely a personal letter. McGonagall cleared her throat and suddenly all eyes were on her.
"Ah, Draco my boy!" erupted the potions master, setting his quill down and standing to greet his visitors. Draco followed McGonagall in and shook the old man's hand, waiting for an answer to his earlier question.
"My proposition for you, Mr. Malfoy, would work two-fold. I would like to employ you, as a means of completing your community service hours, as a special aide to Professor Slughorn. One of his duties has long been brewing many of the common potions Madam Pomfrey uses most in the hospital wing. You would see to those responsibilities, perhaps four hours a week. It would also count towards your N.E.W.T," Minerva explained, a small smile on her face as Draco's usually impassive face betrayed his interest in the idea.
"You'll be doing your N.E.W.T then? Bravo!" Slughorn exclaimed, clapping Draco on the back. Minerva nodded, and told the two men that unless there were any problems with the arrangement, she would leave them to work out the details and get them from Slughorn in the evening.
Once she left, Slughorn indicated Draco should take his seat.
"I'm very happy that you've come to see me, my boy, very happy indeed," Slughorn began, oblivious to the look of distaste that flashed across Draco's face and then quickly disappeared. "Of course, things were a bit touch and go there with all that Death Eater business but with that behind us, there's just so much potential on the horizon. You'll have a chance to rebuild the Malfoy empire," said Slughorn.
Draco remembered the sting of embarrassment at being ignored when Slughorn returned to Hogwarts, denied from the infamous Slug club because of the mark on his arm, barred from parties and for the first time not being one of the elite few despite the illustrious Malfoy name that Slughorn was suddenly so interested in. Slughorn, however, seemed happy to pretend that snub had never happened.
"Of course you're already working on that, though, aren't you my boy? Oh yes, alliances with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger can do a lot for a man these days. I have of course kept in touch with them both over the years. Oh yes, Ms. Granger always sends me a note when she intends to publish something in Potions Monthly, always interested in my take on the matter..."
Despite having wanted to be coveted by Slughorn as a young man, hearing the old coot talk now set something off in Draco that made him uneasy. He resolved not to let the potions master 'collect' him, and as he left the dungeon after a half an hour of the old windbag go on and on, wondered at what point he became uncomfortable with the idea of Harry or Hermione as simply allies.