Draco.

He still couldn't believe that his father was gone. The man who had raised him, stood by him and believed in him his whole life had vanished. He wasn't always a good man, but Draco just hoped that he wasn't only doing these things because he was scared. Lucius Malfoy had made bad decisions. But so had he. Draco couldn't forget that he had followed in his father's footsteps; he had become a death eater too. Sometimes he had blamed his father, hated him in fact. But now he was gone, Draco felt lost.

They all gathered in the living room, everyone who had been outside when his father was murdered. Even Astoria had managed to get up and come to listen, intrigued by what his mother was going to say. But no one was more eager than Draco. He had so many questions flashing through his mind. Why had his own mother killed his father? Wasn't there any other way of stopping his cruel behaviour?

Draco sat down closest to Hermione as she would be there to comfort him. His mother was opposite them with a solemn look on her face. She was paler than he had ever seen her.

Potter, Weasley and Astoria rested to his right looking extremely uncomfortable, they didn't want to be there but his mother had insisted.

They all waited for her to speak. It took a while but finally she began to talk in a very quiet voice.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry Draco" She stuttered, choking on the tears that began pouring that her face. She was gazing directly into his eyes sorrowfully. He had only ever seen his mother cry once before, so this was very strange for him.

Draco hated watching women cry. He remembered his first encounter with Hermione in that awful Muggle pub, when she had started crying pathetically and he was completely bewildered. But now he was simply petrified.

No one spoke as his mother began wiping her eyes in order to regain some control. They were too shocked by her display of raw emotion, that none of them had ever seen before.

"I h-had no other c-choice…" She whispered her tone still shaky. Draco could see the pain in his eyes; he knew his mother would never have wanted to kill his father willingly which was why he was so concerned. She had had no other option.

"I understand." He replied plainly, shifting awkwardly in his seat. Hermione wrapped a gentle arm around his own to reassure him. But for some reason this did nothing, he couldn't get over the image of his distraught mother.

"But why was he acting like that?" Weasley piped up. Draco found this very insensitive of him; his mother was obviously very disturbed and did not want to be rushed. However he remembered that this was Weasley he was talking about, he was never kind or understanding. He knew that from the way he had treated Hermione in the past.

Nevertheless, his mother merely glanced over to him and gave him a puzzled look.

"I was getting to that…" She said a hint of bitterness in her voice. Now that was the mum he remembered.

Weasley turned red quickly and glowered down at the floor embarrassed.

"I d-didn't mean to…" his mother breathed. Her eyes were wide and tears began to swell within them. Draco didn't understand. Didn't mean to do what? He begged for her not to start with her incessant weeping again. He was simply desperate to know why his father had been acting so deranged.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked hesitantly, trying not to sound too callous.

His mother shot her head up swiftly and stared at each one of them. A silent tear fell down her worryingly pale cheek but she made no noise. She looked so lost, so broken. Draco didn't know what to do.

"Mother?" He questioned, hoping she would return from her trance-like state. Her dark eyes met his own and she released a harsh sigh.

"It was all my fault…"

Hermione.

Hermione was uneasy due to Narcissa Malfoy odd behaviour. All she had done was weep constantly, which was understandable. But Hermione had never seen a woman like her show any kind of emotion. She was so solemn and hard-shelled; she assumed that she was unbreakable. But obviously that wasn't the case.

Hermione could feel Draco tensing as he sat next to her and no matter how much she tried to comfort him, he just became more discomforted.

But when she heard what Narcissa had announced, she was completely shocked. It was her fault? She had caused Lucius to act like that? But why?

"Mrs Malfoy, what did you do to him?" Harry asked sympathetically, waiting patiently as she composed herself. Hermione had expected her to burst into tears or perhaps a fit of rage but instead her shoulders sagged and she looked completely defeated.

"He cheated on me…" She sighed, shaking her head slowly as though holding back the tears.

Hermione watched from the corner of her eyes as everyone in the room looked shocked. Draco looked absolutely heart-broken. She knew how much he had admired his father, so to hear something like this must be upsetting.

"We had this huge argument" Narcissa continued, her sadness changing to a slight hint of anger, "And it got rather violent…"

Hermione knew what was coming. She could instantly picture Lucius and Narcissa duelling ferociously, spells flying everywhere, screaming crazily.

Draco's eyebrow rose in surprise, it was obvious that he thought of his parents as calm and happy people and this was a big blow to him. Hermione resisted the urge to scoff, how could Draco not expect his parents to fight? They weren't exactly pleasant people; it was only a matter of time until they turned on each other.

"I was just so angry and… and…" Narcissa stopped; she seemed very reluctant to tell that what happened next. Evidently, it couldn't be good.

"I hit him with a spell… one that I had never used before" Her voice was gradually decreasing in volume. All of them had to lean in to try and understand what she was saying.

"I read about it in a book… I thought it would be the perfect revenge… I didn't realise it would be so strong… and permanent…" She whispered and then she broke into a convulsion of large tears and groaning. Her shoulders shook harshly and she threw her head into her hands.

Draco cracked and rushed over to his very distressed mother. He wrapped his arms around her softly and hugged her warmly. The scene was very sweet, but Hermione could help feeling very awkward, watching such an intimate moment between mother and son.

Harry glanced over to her and gave her a saddened look; he was obviously very upset at the scene as well. It was a scene that he would never be able to have. Harry would never be able to comfort his own mother, protect her, care for her.

Hermione returned a sympathetic look and smiled weakly at him.

Draco and Narcissa finally broke apart, looking somewhat happier.

"It's okay mother." He smiled, before strolling back towards Hermione and slumping down.

"So…" He said, sucking in a huge breath preparing himself for his mother's answer which he knew wouldn't be a nice one.

"What did the spell do exactly? Why did he specifically target Hermione?"

Narcissa didn't reply immediately. She pursed her lips, thinking the best way she could describe the effects of the spell.

Obviously they knew it turned Lucius into a crazed psycho. But why had Narcissa thought this would be the best revenge?

"Well… because he cheated on me, I wanted him to suffer. I wanted him to become obsessed with something he hated" she explained, giving Hermione an uneasy look.

Although being very smart, she didn't understand. However by Draco's reaction, he most certainly did.

She turned to him with a confused look and waited for him to enlighten her on what his mother had meant.

Her answer came in one word. One harsh, eye-opening word.

"Mudbloods."

A/N: Wow, didn't expect that did you? Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Thank you for all your reviews! Herm