4thMay 1998
The unusual group living in Nott Hall settled down together over the next few days. Each day started with Miffie, who had commandeered the running of the household, serving them breakfast in the smaller of the two dining rooms. During breakfast Moffat – who in contrast to his friend was silent, deferential, and very proper – would provide the Daily Prophet, laying it on the table equidistant from his master and their host. Theo, who seemed to care little for the minutiae of the news, generally then conceded it to Draco, whose job it was to read the headlines, summarise them and report back to the rest of the room.
Two days after the battle, Draco groaned as he skimmed the front page.
"What is it?" Katie asked.
"'Lord Voldemort Appointed Minister of Magic'," Draco read flatly. "'In a dramatic reshuffle following the death of Piers Thicknesse, Lord Voldemort has been offered the position of Minister of Magic by majority vote of the Wizengamot. He has thanked the Wizarding Community for the honour and accepted the position with the hope that he can help the people through the difficult time following the death of Minister Thicknesse. ' He's then gone on to appoint Rabastan Lestrange as Senior Undersecretary and Weasley keeps his post as Junior Undersecretary. With the disappearance of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Rodolphus Lestrange takes over as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. The esteemed Madam Umbridge retains control of the Muggleborn Registration Committee."
"And so it begins," Theo said grimly. "Fancy a government position Draco?"
"More your area of expertise than mine, isn't it?"
"You've got the family name and the heritage. The Noble house of Nott is… well, not, if you'll pardon the pun." Draco snorted.
"They can forget it. I'll tell them I have ambitions to travel before settling down in government. If we fake enough deaths by then, he'll smile indulgently and tell me to trot along and have fun."
"Better get on with it then."
After breakfast Hermione, Katie and a frighteningly calm Ginny sat in the library making lists of all the members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army that they could think of, and noting what they knew about their current whereabouts. Ginny worked like a demon, her only show of emotion when Katie leaned over and drew her quill through the entries for 'Bill Weasley' and 'Fleur Weasley'. At another table, Draco and Theo worked on a list of possible defectors, and then retired to the potions lab in the cellar to begin a large cauldron of polyjuice potion. By evening, they were all exhausted from the repressed emotion and fell into beds almost immediately after consuming the meal that Miffie provided.
Ginny woke up several hours later, annoyingly wide awake. A brief inspection of her surroundings indicated that it was shortly after two in the morning and that Hannah had cried herself to sleep again and was unlikely to wake up. Ginny climbed out of bed, habit making her pick up her wand, and set off downstairs.
She was approaching the library, which was fast becoming their main place for socialising, when she became aware of footsteps behind her and instinctively spun, her wand held out in front of her. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"Morning," he said calmly. "Couldn't sleep?"
"No," she agreed.
"Drink?"
"I'm underage," she replied, and then immediately felt stupid as he merely raised an eyebrow at her again and led the way into the library.
"Let me ask you again – drink?" She gave in.
"Please." He poured the firewhiskey into two tumblers and handed her one before dropping into a chair.
"You don't trust me," he stated. She began to protest, but he held up a hand. "No, it's fine. In your place I wouldn't trust me either. We've spent the last three years on opposite sides. I'm a marked Death Eater, and you're the deputy leader of Dumbledore's Army, a shining angel of the fucking light. I fucking tortured you on command last year. You can't trust me."
"Why are you doing this?" Ginny asked. "I mean, I'm grateful to Theo for not killing me, but I get the feeling that everything he did, he did on impulse and he had no idea what he was going to do with us. You seem to have a plan, you think we can overthrow Riddle – and I want to know why you've suddenly switched sides." Draco considered this question for a long moment.
"I don't really know," he said thoughtfully. "When I was chasing Granger through Hogwarts, I suddenly realised that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in service to a lunatic who might decide to kill me at any given moment. I could have made the inner circle, but I've seen the state of the people who manage that – they're either pathetic or insane and in both cases they spend far too much time on their knees for my liking. I'm not so sure I've switched sides as much as formed a new one."
"You want to rule the Wizarding World?" Ginny asked, confused. Draco laughed.
"No. No one in their right mind would accept that of a Malfoy. No, what I really want is to be able to live my life in peace, without having to bow down to anyone. I want to teach my kids to fly, I want to wave them off to Hogwarts, I want to be able to walk down the street without anyone loathing me… I just want to be normal. What about you?"
"Well, until two days ago I wanted to marry Harry, play professional quidditch and, like you, live a normal life. Now… well, I can't marry Harry, quidditch seems like the least of my worries and I'm not sure we'll even get back to a normal life again. My parents are dead, Bill and Fleur are dead, Charlie and the twins might be, and Ron would probably be better off dead. The only one I know is safe is Percy, and he's a Death Eater!" Draco topped up both their glasses.
"Well, you're not alone," he said awkwardly. "It's not the same, I know, but… I watched one of my friends burn to death yesterday. We've all lost people." Ginny gasped.
"I forgot," she confessed. "I think we all did except you and I suppose Theo… Crabbe, wasn't it?" Draco nodded, suddenly unable to speak. Ginny reached out and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry," she said. "We forget that just because you won, technically, doesn't mean that you didn't lose people too." Draco pulled himself together.
"Don't get me wrong, some of them were no loss. You trying to take down my Aunt Bella was inspired, and we should all be forever in your debt for it – if you hadn't missed."
"She killed Mum," Ginny whispered. "Next time, I won't miss." Draco squeezed her fingers, and raised his glass.
"To your Mum, and the rest of your family," he said firmly. Ginny raised hers as well.
"And Crabbe," she added. Draco nodded, and they drank.
"Maybe tomorrow we can do something about Quidditch," he said, making an obvious effort to change the subject and lighten the atmosphere. "Theo has grounds, after all. We'll need to see how far the fidelious charm goes."
"That would be fun," Ginny said, yawning. "I think I'll go back to bed now. Thanks for the company, Malfoy."
"Draco," he corrected. "Granger – Hermione – said that if we were going to work together she had to pretend I was someone different, and I had to help by calling her Hermione. Please call me Draco." Ginny hesitated.
"Ginny," she eventually said, before allowing him to pull her to her feet. She released his hand, realising she'd been holding it for a while, and turned towards the stairs.
"Goodnight, Draco."
"Goodnight," he replied hesitantly, "Ginny."