Disclaimer: This chapter uses several lines from the HBP, those lines are the work of the brilliantly talented J.K. Rowling, and not myself. However, the story line for the most part, is mine.
Chapter 19
Draco lay on a bed in the infirmary room. The Hospital Wing was filled up with members of the Order and of Dumbledore's army who had been injured somehow a few hours earlier in the battle. So far, no one had talked about what had happened in the Tower. Hell, Draco didn't blame them. It was so hard to comprehend that his Godfather had murdered Dumbledore in cold blood. There were times were Draco really didn't think that Snape was still loyal to Voldemort, but after the events of the night, Draco knew that no one would ever be able to doubt it again.
"You!" Draco heard an enraged voice cry out from the entrance of the wing. He craned his neck over to see Weasley marching his way over to the bed that Draco was currently residing in. "You did this, didn't you? You're the reason that Dumbledore is dead. I bed that you planned this out didn't you? You gained all of our trust and then went behind our back to murder the greatest wizard to ever live!"
Draco swore under his breath. He knew that Weasley was speaking out of anger, but there was a good chance that he would do a great deal of damage to Draco unless he acted quickly. Searching for his wand, he rolled over to the table beside his bed. Unfortunately for him, before he could reach for it, a wand was already at his throat.
"I'll kill you, you bastard. I'll make it the most painful thing that you've ever experienced!" Weasley screeched.
"Ron, stop! What are you doing?!" A feminine voice called out from behind the two of them. Thankfully, Draco saw Hermione making her way over to the two of them.
"He as good as killed Dumbledore, so now I'm going to kill him!" Ron parroted to her.
"Ron, that's ridiculous. How could he have any idea what would have happened tonight, you weren't there!" Hermione tried reasoning.
"For Merlin's sake, stop taking his side all the bloody time. You weren't there either."
"But I was," a third voice said.
Draco groaned. Great, now Potter would give Weasley a reason to hex him. Draco was doomed.
"Believe it or not Ron, but Malfoy had nothing to do with it," Potter said, surprising everyone.
"But Harry, that's not possible! Why else would he have gone to Dumbledore then? Dumbledore was supposed to prevent all of this from happening, not get himself killed while trying! No, Malfoy must have betrayed us," Weasley said, spitting out his words with disgust.
"So something went wrong! You can only plan out so much, but nothing is ever perfect. Dumbledore was weak to begin with. When we got the Horcrux he took a potion that weakened him. And on top of that, Snape was supposed to be on our side. No one could have known he would turn against us, not even Dumbledore."
Hermione let out a quiet sob, "I just can't believe that he's gone. It's Dumbledore! How are we supposed to carry on without him?"
Draco felt the urge to grab her hand and give it a comforting squeeze but unfortunately for him, he was cut off by his professor.
"Miss. Granger, Hermione, we continue on as usual. Now that Albus is gone it's definitely not going to be easy, but we still have a war to fight."
The four students remained absolutely silent. It seemed useless to even bother trying to fight anymore, despite what they knew they had to do.
A few beds over, the plump maternal Weasley was sobbing over the body of her son. The boy in question did not appear to be dead, but was definitely severely injured. Draco felt a sinking feeling as he recognized the work of Fenrir Greyback. Things were bad enough between him and Weasley, and now the boy probably would blame him for this. It didn't bother him to have someone else hate him, but it definitely would make his current situation harder than it already was.
McGonagall seemed to have more to say, "Now Potter, I know you told me what had happened earlier, but I need you to recount the events once more. We need all the facts about this."
As Potter recounted the events of the night, Hermione took a seat next to Draco on the bed. For the first time since he had talked to her forever ago, he had a chance to observe her up close. She had a few cuts on her face scattered amongst her face and her hair was a mess. Her robes were slightly torn, and were covered in blood. But she was okay, and to him, that was all that mattered. She weaved her fingers gracefully through his as she listened to the story once more.
"Potter, I simply cannot believe that Severus would have killed Dumbledore. Maybe you misunderstood what was happening," she tried to say.
Draco interrupted her, "With all due respect Professor, I was there as well, and I saw the exact same thing as Potter. Snape is loyal to the Death Eaters."
For the first time in the six years that he had known the Gryffindor head, he saw something other the cold strict exterior that her face usually held. Draco saw a sadness to her, and could almost swear that it looked as if her eyes were filled with tears. But then again, it could have just been the lighting to the room.
Draco heard a bickering pair by the bed beside him.
"-and he was going to be married!" Mrs. Weasley bawled loudly.
"And what do you mean by zat?" Fleur Delacour asked shrewdly.
Merlin, what was that veela from the Triwizarding Tournament doing here? And more importantly, why did she care what happened to a Weasley?
"Well-only that-"
Fleur seemed to turn that ugly shade of veela just then as she retorted, "You theenk, becase of these bites, he will not love me?"
Mrs Weasley tried to get in a word, but Draco could not make it out. By now everyone in the room was listening in with full interest.
"Because 'e will! It would take more than a werewolf to stop Bill loving me!" Fleur yelled, naming the Weasley on the bed.
Mrs. Weasley stuttered out something about how Fleur being too shallow to care about him now he was scarred.
Fleur began to get even more furious and yelled about how she 'loves him' and how she is 'good looking enough for the both of' them.
In front of his eyes, something changed between the two women. Mrs. Weasley and Fleur Delacour bonded over the injured boy whom they both very much loved. Gag him.
Hermione exchanged a stunned look with Ginny (who in the midst of the fight had made her way over to Harry's side). She had in no way suspected that the two women would find some sort of common ground.
Hermione had to say that she was impressed. So there was a lot more to Fleur than she let on. Sure, she had been a school representative two years ago, but it didn't have a lot to do with her ability to love. But then, a women like Fleur could easily have picked some sort of good looking rich bloke and settled down with him if she had liked. She would have been a perfect Trophy Wife.
"You see! She still wants to marry him, even though he's been bitten. She doesn't care!" Tonks said enraged.
"It's different. Bill will not be a full werewolf, the cases are completely - " Remus said feebly.
"But I don't care either. I don't care!" she said as she took a tight grasp of his worn out shirt. "I've told you a million times …"
Of course Hermione had begun to piece together everything that Harry had told her about Tonks over the last couple months, and what was currently happening now. She watched to see what would happen next. Draco seemed to be watching keenly as well, while slowly squeezing her hand in his.
"I am not being ridiculous. Tonks deserves somebody young and whole."
Mr. Weasley begged to differ as he used his son as a reference, even though it pained him. Fleur had taken residence in a chair beside his bed, and was currently stroking her fiancé's bandaged face.
"This is … not the moment to discuss it," Lupin said, attempting to avoid the conversation. It was abovious that he loved her, so why couldn't he just say so? Dumbledore is dead."
McGonagall began to point out how Dumbledore would want more love in the world.
There was nothing Lupin could say that could convince anyone otherwise.
Hermione looked over at Ron and Harry who looked absolutely baffled by the entire situation. Men.
Harry sat in Dumbledore's office with Hermione, Ron, and Malfoy. The night before had been a rough one and none of them had slept very well. He had just found out that the Horcrux was a fake and had been taken already by an R.A.B.
That fact infuriated Harry beyond anything else. If they hadn't gone to the cave and Dumbledore hadn't taken the potion, then maybe he would still be here right now. Instead, his life was wasted over a false bauble.
He knew that his anger was for the most part, a result of little sleep the night before. But he couldn't help but feel so lost. Dumbledore had left him with no instruction of how to proceed. More importantly, Dumbledore had left him.
It was the first time that he had stepped foot into the office now that his Headmaster had died. The room once mysterious room now held a deep sadness to it. The usually obnoxious portraits on the wall were somber with the news of the death.
The chair that Dumbledore always sat on was now occupied by McGonagall. She had just spent the last several moments attempting to coax out the instructions that Dumbledore had left with him. Of course he had blatantly refused. The only people who could ever know what needed to happen, were currently sitting on the opposing side of her, and that was how it needed to remain.
"What will happen to me?" Malfoy blurted out suddenly. "Do I go on the run now? Or do I go back to the Death Eaters and continue to spy for you?"
McGonagall looked taken aback by his outburst. "Mr. Malfoy, as we speak the news of your 'death' is being leaked back to the Death Eaters. They will try to search for you for a while, but they will eventually have to give up."
Malfoy didn't reply to this. Harry personally didn't blame him though. While the boy couldn't have had many friends amongst Voldemort's ranks, it probably would kill his mother to hear the news about his death.
"And where do I go? I trust that it means that I cannot finish my schooling here then?" Malfoy said after a moment longer of silence.
"No, you cannot. For the meantime, your Aunt Andromeda has agreed to take you in. It didn't take much convincing on my part, Mr. Malfoy. She genuinely wants to build a relationship with you. I trust that you will not sabotage her good nature in any way," she said sternly.
Malfoy nodded, comprehending his current situation. While Harry had never met Andromeda Tonks or her husband, he suspected that they must have been great people for Tonks to have turned out the way she did.
"Very well, now that it has all been settled, the four of you may leave. I'm sure that you all have things to discuss. Draco, your aunt will be here in a few hours, please try and remain out of sight until then," McGonagall said, dismissing them.
Draco stood in the Astronomy Tower with Potter. He had no idea what it was that he was doing there, but for some reason the 'Chosen One' decided that he wanted to talk to him.
"Malfoy, I want to put everything past us," Potter said suddenly. He was currently standing over the railing and looking over the school grounds.
Draco didn't expect for the two of them to be back in the tower so quickly after Dumbledore's death.
While he had never had the same connection with Dumbledore as Potter had, he still felt odd being in the room so soon. He could bet that it was even worse for Potter.
"What do you mean by 'everything'?" Draco asked, using air quotations over the word.
"I mean our entire past, from the moment we met. I want the two of us to start over and begin from new," Potter said while taking in a deep breath.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Potter?" Draco asked uncertainly. Potter wasn't exactly known for his forgiving nature.
Potter laughed dryly. "I'm serious, Malfoy. I know that it's a weird concept, but it's the truth."
"Why?" Draco asked, extremely startled. It wasn't that he didn't want to move past everything, but he was stunned that the boy would even consider it.
"Because I need to. Only four people know about what I have to do. Only four people. And on top of that, it helps that you haven't been the same person over the last few months that you have been over the last several years," Potter said calmly. "And on top of that, you are now a member of the Order of Phoenix. It's impossible working with people that you don't like and can't get along with. So because of that, I want to put everything past us. However, if you don't want to, then I'm fine with that as well."
Draco shook his head. "Don't get me wrong Potter. It's just that I haven't been the greatest person. And on top of that, we have a long and complicated history. If you're fine putting all of that past us, then I am fine moving on. But in spite of that, I also will understand if you want nothing else to do with me one I go off to my Aunt's house." He leaned against a pillar and crossed his arms.
"I want us to put all of this behind us. It's going to be a long road to bringing down Voldemort down, then I need as many people on my side as possible. And if that includes someone who I haven't always gotten along with, then I guess that's what I need to do."
Draco almost laughed at that. "I think that not getting along is an understatement Potter. The both of us hated each other. Hell, we've cursed each other more times that I can count. But if putting all of this past us is what we need to do, then I will."
Potter nodded and struck out his hand. "If we are going to do this then I want us to start over completely. So I'll call you Draco if you call me Harry."
"Okay then…Harry," Draco said uncertainly. It felt extremely weird using his first name.
"Oh and Malfoy, one more thing," Harry said with an odd smile.
"Yes?" Draco asked him, sounding unsure of what more the boy could want.
"Hermione likes you. I'm pretty sure that at this point that you probably know that, so I'm just going to cut to the chase. If you end up hurting her in any way at all, then I will kill you," Harry said threateningly.
Draco looked at him, shocked. In all honesty while he had suspected it, he really had no idea that Hermione returned his feelings.
"Are you actually encouraging this?" Draco asked him. "Why would you want me to date your best friend? Aren't you worried that I would be bad for her?"
Harry just smiled again. "No. While I don't want her to get hurt, I have a feeling that you wouldn't hurt her by choice." Potter then proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving Draco to be left with his mouth hanging open.
Andromeda waited patiently in the Headmaster's office. She had been extremely sceptical when Minerva first approached her with the idea of letting her nephew Draco stay with her. Minerva had used the argument that Draco had very few family left and that it might do him some good. So she had agreed to let him stay with her.
She had never met the boy once in her life but if Draco was anything like her two sisters then she was unsure what good she would be able to do. But Minerva had assured her that his ideals had changed drastically over the last several months.
So here she was, waiting for her nephew.
At precisely 6 p.m. Draco walked into the room. He looked exactly like Lucius had at his age, but at the same time his features had the same softness of Narcissa.
"Hello Draco," she greeted her nephew warmly.
He smiled at her as he outstretched his hand, "Hello Aunt Andromeda, it's wonderful to finally meet you," he said charismatically.
She pushed away her hand and brought him into a tight embrace. "It's wonderful to meet you to, Draco." She felt his arms rise to her back. He seemed unsure of the hug, and Andromeda took that mean that he never received much love growing up. With a father like Lucius, she certainly wouldn't doubt that.
As she pulled away, Minerva smiled at the two of them. "Well, it's good to see that you guys are getting along already. Draco, I'm sure that I will no doubt see you soon enough."
Draco nodded at her. "Until then, I guess this is goodbye."
Andromeda handed him a pot of floo powder and gave him the address of her house. She watched as he disappeared through the emerald flames. At least a little bit of good was still there in such harsh times.