Fresh from the shower, Draco stood in front of the large floor length mirror on his bedroom, magically drying his hair and styling it perfectly. Behind him, Hermione was lying on his bed and through the mirror he could see her scowling at something. Since the day's edition of The Daily Prophet was also lying on his bed, he suspected she was scowling at whatever lies were being printed in the paper that particular day.
Since the original story had broken in the papers, which had been a few weeks since, not a day had passed without a fresh story appearing in The Daily Prophet. Some stories focused on Voldemort's return, something that Ministry were no longer denying and instead had issued warnings that the entire country was in danger. Other stories focused on Severus, and the fact that he'd vanished before he could be arrested and he was now a wanted criminal. However, most of the stories focused on Hermione, which Draco was convinced was Dumbledore's doing.
The Weasleys has spoken out more than once about Hermione, and just recently Ron had given a tearful interview alongside his parents, expressing his heartache at how Hermione had betrayed them all. Harry hadn't issued any sort of statement, or given any sort of interview, but there were still constant references to him being too distraught to talk to anyone about the situation with Hermione. All in all, Dumbledore was doing a superb job of making Hermione look like a truly evil and despicable person.
Knowing that not even the truth would help matters, and Dumbledore would likely only use it against them, the dark side had stayed silent. However, Draco knew that his father was passing the truth onto his trusted friends, and before long there would be an underground rumour that Hermione was Voldemort's daughter and the story everyone was being told was all lies. Of course most people still wouldn't believe it, but a few people might, and at the end of the day their belief might make the difference in the war that was still going to come to the wizarding world sooner or later.
"You're only making things harder on yourself reading that trash. Why do you care what lies Dumbledore is spreading today? The truth will come out eventually and bite him on his scrawny arse," Draco remarked, finally happy his hair was perfect and turning away from the mirror. However, once he got closer to the bed, he could see that Hermione wasn't scowling at the paper, it was a letter she had resting on top of the paper. "And re-reading that won't change things either," he added. "It's not like the letters were unexpected."
That morning both he and Hermione had received owls from Hogwarts, only instead of the letters listing the things they would need for a new term, they were expulsion letters. Dumbledore had very publically stated that he didn't want any charges brought against Hermione and Draco for practising the Dark Arts, although they all knew it was to keep them away from the Ministry in case they said enough to get people wondering about the real story. However, it wasn't a big surprise that he'd ensured that they could no longer go back to Hogwarts.
"I know, but I'm still so furious," Hermione snarled looking up at Draco, who could see the fire in her deep brown eyes. "Dumbledore has taken everything from me. First he took me away from my family and caused so much pain that my mother died. Now, thanks to him, I'll never get the chance to know the witch who gave birth to me. Then he brought me back into this world, and instead of keeping quiet about who I was, he told the one person who was petty enough to hate me for who my father is. Now because of that, I was forced to run from the life I did have, and I've lost all my friends. Now he's taken Hogwarts away from me as well. It was the only place I've ever felt as though I fit in," she ended with a whisper.
"You fit in here, with us," Draco said softly.
Over the course of the summer he'd seen several sides of Hermione, and while on a whole she was strong and fierce, there was a sensitive underbelly to her and she brought out his protective side. Although that wasn't to say he wasn't still slightly wary of her as he strongly suspected that if she allowed herself then she truly could become a dangerous, formidable witch who would make her father very proud.
"I have to admit, I feel more at home here than I ever thought I would," Hermione conceded. Running to the manor had originally been a necessity to keep her safe, but the large house had quickly begun to feel like home. "But that doesn't change what Dumbledore did."
"Nothing can ever change that," Draco replied softly. "He will always be the reason your mother is dead, and why you never knew your father growing up. What he did was unforgivable, but one day he will pay for it."
"He will," Hermione agreed with a firm nod of her head. "I'll make sure of it."
"I'm sure you will," Draco smirked, wondering if Hermione was aware of just how much of her darker nature she was allowing to show just lately. "I better be getting downstairs before people start arriving. Are you sure I don't want to join us?"
"No, they're your friends, Draco," Hermione said as she hopped off the large bed. "You deserve a chance to say goodbye without me making things awkward. Besides, I've got a book I want to finish."
Letting Hermione go off to her reading, Draco headed down to the ground floor of the manor. He already knew one of the large garden tables was set up outside so he could spend one final afternoon with his friends, before they went their separate ways for an unknown amount of time. Even if he hadn't been expelled, it wasn't like he would have been returning to Hogwarts as plans were under way for everyone to move to the other side of the world until he and Hermione had finished their education and Voldemort was ready to take out Dumbledore once and for all.
Draco reached the floo room just in time to witness the fire light up twice in quick succession and his two oldest friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, enter the house. Draco had known both Vince and Greg forever, and the thought of not seeing them for such an unknown period of time made him sad. He was sure that to people outside of their friendship it looked as though he merely treated his two friends as minions, and maybe to a certain degree he was guilty of sometimes doing that, but there was also a deep bond between the trio and Draco knew he would never have two more loyal and trustworthy friends than Vince and Greg.
"Are the rumours true, Draco?" Greg asked after greetings has been exchanged. "Father said you were being expelled from Hogwarts."
"I got my expulsion letter this morning," Draco replied.
"Damn, what will you do now?" Vince asked.
"All will be explained," Draco answered mysteriously. "I've invited the others, so why don't you two go and get the elves to rustle up some pumpkin juice and some snacks while I wait for the others. I thought we could spend the afternoon in the garden."
Obediently Vince and Greg headed off to sort the snacks, while Draco awaited the rest of their friends. Next to arrive was Pansy Parkinson, who greeted Draco with a bone crushing hug. Pansy was also one of his oldest friends, and even though there were times she could be downright annoying and Draco could happily throttle her, he knew he would miss her unwavering support. Not to mention her wicked tongue as she was the queen of nasty put downs and often at school she'd made Draco laugh with her opinions on their Professors and school mates.
"What is all this nonsense in the papers, Draco?" Pansy demanded. "Because I know that you haven't been sneaking around with Granger."
"I'll explain everything this afternoon," Draco promised. "Vince and Greg are already outside, you go and join them while I wait for the others."
"The others?" Pansy frowned. "Is everyone coming?"
"Yep," Draco replied with a nod.
"There's something going on, isn't there?" Pansy asked. "Why else would you summon us all here?"
"You make me sound like some sort of king, summoning my courtiers," Draco laughed.
"You're a prince at best," Pansy sniffed haughtily.
"The Slytherin Prince, I like it," Draco grinned as Pansy gave him an unimpressed look and strolled out of the room.
After Pansy's arrival the other Slytherins girls put in appearances. Daphne Greengrass was another person Draco had known since before Hogwarts, but it had only been in the last four years that they're really gotten close. Millicent Bullstrode was someone Draco had sort of known before Hogwarts, but like Daphne, their friendship hadn't really began until Hogwarts. And finally there was Tracey Davis, a witch Draco had never met before Hogwarts, but as with the other Slytherins, she was now a firm friend.
After the girls, it was the turn of Theo Nott to arrive. Draco had known Theo almost as long as he'd know Vince and Greg, but before Hogwarts the pair had never really gotten along. Draco had always thought Theo was up himself and boring, but once they were sharing dorms he realised that Theo had just been shy and when you got to know him, he was a really good guy. Not that Theo was half as shy these days, and Draco liked to think that he'd played a role in his friend's developing confidence.
"What a mess you're in Draco," Theo remarked with an arched eyebrow. "Expelled before taking your O.W.L.S."
"I'm bad to the bone, Theo," Draco remarked with a smirk.
"More like a pawn in Dumbledore's games," Theo snorted. "Your father was at ours last week and I overheard him talking to father. I take it he was telling the truth about Granger."
"If he was saying that she's The Dark Lord's daughter, then yes, it's the truth," Draco replied. "But don't tell the others. I don't think they know yet and I want to be the one to tell them."
"Your secret is safe with me," Theo promised. "Where are the others?"
"Outside. Once Blaise arrives, we'll join you."
"Trust Blaise to be the last one to arrive," Theo chuckled.
"You know Blaise, always got to make an entrance," Draco returned as Theo headed off to join their other friends.
The last member of their group was Blaise Zabini. Blaise had been a bit of an enigma when he'd been sorted in Slytherin in first year. No-one knew him, and no-one had heard of his family. Blaise had been completely upfront and admitted that even though his mother reckoned he was a pureblood, he couldn't be entirely sure of his blood status as he had no idea who his father was. Even so, his cheeky personality and charm had won them all over and he was soon at the very heart of the group. In fact, Draco would bet that without him at Hogwarts, Blaise would become the undisputed leader of the Slytherins.
"Sorry I'm late," Blaise called as he stumbled from the floo nearly ten minutes later. "My mother is on the lookout for a new husband and waylaid me with pictures of her latest options."
"What does she do, pick them out of catalogues?" Draco asked with a bemused laugh. Blaise's mother was something of a black widow and in the four years they'd known Blaise his mother had gone through several husbands and partners.
"She scours magazines looking for single, rich, good-looking wizards," Blaise replied.
"Do they have to be all three?" Draco asked.
"Yes," Blaise answered with a nod. "She doesn't do anything other than rich. After all, you need to have a fortune to keep her in the lifestyle she's accustomed to. She prefers them single as it's easier than tearing them away from wives or partners, and they have to be good looking or she struggles to feign interest in their lives. At least if they're handsome she can pretend to be listening and just distract herself with their looks."
"Your mother is the shallowest person I've ever met," Draco remarked.
"Me too," Blaise snorted. "But I doubt you asked me over to talk about my horror of a mother."
"You're right, I didn't," Draco agreed. "Let's go outside and join the others."
"Ah, so you've summoned everyone. Must be serious," Blaise remarked as they headed off to join the others.
"You're the second person to say I summoned people," Draco said with a frown. "Is that really what I do? Expect people to be at my beck and call?"
"You know you do, Draco," Blaise laughed. "But that's part of who you are and what makes you top dog."
"My days as top dog are gone," Draco remarked.
"Why?" Blaise asked. "Because of the rubbish the Prophet's been printing?"
"How do you know it's rubbish?" Draco questioned.
"Because I know you, and I know Professor Snape. Granted, I've never been able to quite work out where the guys loyalties lie, but I do know he wouldn't teach dark magic to under-age students. Not to mention, I would have noticed if you were sneaking around with Granger."
"Not if we were careful."
"Even sneaking around carefully, someone would have seen something or gotten suspicious over something," Blaise argued with a shake of his head. "Besides, you've never been missing long enough to be learning dark magic. Unless Snape was teaching one spell in a matter of minutes. It doesn't add up, Draco."
"That's because you're right and it's all lies," Draco replied as they emerged from the manor and into the back garden.
Joining the others, Draco and Blaise grabbed some food and a drink, before Draco breached himself to break the news to his friends that he was leaving. However, before he could do that, he first had to tell them the truth. Even though Hermione had given him permission to tell his friends everything, he still felt as though he was betraying her by telling his friends all her secrets and everything that had happened over the holidays.
"Well that was unexpected," Blaise remarked once Draco had told his story, and everyone else but Theo were just gaping at Draco, unsure of what to say.
"That's a bit of an understatement, Blaise," Draco laughed as the others continued to digest the news.
"Is she here?" Daphne asked quietly.
"Yes, she's here," Draco confirmed. "I wanted her to come and meet you all, but she wanted me to have this time alone with you since you're my friends."
"That's big of her," Pansy remarked cattily.
"Pansy, none of this is Hermione's fault," Draco warned his friend. "She's the victim in all this. She didn't ask to be kidnapped as a baby, and she didn't ask to find herself at the centre of a murder plot either."
"I know that," Pansy muttered. "And I do feel sorry for her. But she's still the girl we've all hated for the last four years."
"I'm not sure she was ever that girl," Draco admitted. "I've gotten to know her over the summer, and her know-it-all act is just a façade. Using her intelligence to seemingly show off is just her way of coping with being in a world she didn't grow up in. It makes her feel safe knowing that she's smart enough to learn magic so easily. When she came to Hogwarts she was terrified that there had been a mistake and she would be kicked out for not having enough magic."
"She told you all this?" Theo asked, raising a curious eyebrow.
"Some of it, and some of it I worked out for myself," Draco answered. "The point is, there's more to her than we saw at school."
"I'm sure we'll get to find that out for ourselves," Daphne remarked. "I take it we will be getting to know her. Even if neither of you are coming back to school."
"Not coming back to school?" Blaise gasped, having been somewhat out of the loop as his mother wasn't part of the same pureblood circles as his friend's parents. "What am I missing?"
"Use your brain, Blaise," Pansy scolded. "Surely you've read the papers and seen what they're saying about Draco and Granger. Do you really think Dumbledore would just allow them to return to school when he's accusing them of using dark magic?"
"You've been expelled?" Blaise questioned, turning to his closest friend in the group, silently begging Draco to tell him it wasn't true.
"As of this morning," Draco confirmed. "Not that it mattered, as we weren't returning anyway. In fact, this meeting is a goodbye. We're leaving the country next week, and we're not sure when we'll be back."
"Leaving?" Pansy cried, tears starting to pool in her dark eyes. "How can you be leaving?"
"The Dark Lord wants to protect his daughter," Draco explained. "Plus we're harbouring Professor Snape, and sooner or later the Ministry will find a way to search the manor."
"But why do you have to leave?" Pansy demanded with a sullen pout. "The Dark Lord could take Granger and leave, and Snape could go with them. It's not fair that they're dragging you along as well."
"It's not safe for us either, Pans," Draco said softly. "Dumbledore knows where Hermione is. He already decided she was a danger as a baby, so one day soon he's going to consider her a danger again. And when he comes for her, we don't want to be here. If he could take a baby from her parents, do you really think he would think twice about snatching me and forcing me to talk? We're all leaving, and it's already been decided."
"When will you be back?" Greg asked sadly, feeling slightly lost at the thought of losing Draco.
"Definitely not until Hermione and I have finished our schooling."
"But that's three years," Daphne gasped.
"I know, and it might even be longer," Draco admitted. "But I'll write to you, even though I can't tell you where we're going. And you can write to me and keep me up to date with what's going on. But I will be back."
"Promise?" Pansy asked quietly.
Reaching across the table for his friend's hand, Draco took hold of it and gave it a squeeze. "I promise, Pans. It's going to take more than Albus sodding Dumbledore to bring down the Malfoys. Plus, I don't think The Dark Lord is going to come with us full time. I get the impression he's still got plenty to do here. The fight isn't over, it's only the beginning."
