"I'll WHAT!?" Draco shouted, as he shot out of his seat. "Blaise, what the hell?"
"Shut up," Blaise replied. "And sit down."
Fuming, Draco returned to his seat. "I will NOT fund her research."
"Yes, you will," Blaise told him. "It will do the Malfoy name good, which would please your mother, and judging by the look on Ms. Granger's face right now it's the only thing that you have to offer that she'd actually consider to take you on."
"Malfoy money would NEVER fund anything like this," Draco said seething. "My father will hear about this."
Before Blaise could answer, Hermione did.
"Grow the hell up, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "Your father is in Azkaban, for the rest of his life, the only thing he's going to hear are the screams of his fellow inmates."
"Don't you dare talk about my father you filthy little Mudblood slut," Draco shouted angrily.
"Don't call her that!" Ron shouted jumping from his chair, practically on top of the table.
"ENOUGH!" Kingsley shouted, raising his voice for the first time the entire meeting. "Everyone sits down, NOW."
With wide eyes, Hermione, Blaise, and Ron sat down and Malfoy dropped into his chair with a huff.
"Mr. Zabini, was your offer serious?" Kingsley asked, looking curiously at Blaise. "Will Mr. Malfoy fund Ms. Granger's research for the time that he would be working with her?"
"I most certainly will no-"
"Silencio," Blaise said, cutting off the rest of Malfoy's words.
"Yes," Blaise said, ignoring Draco as he shook his head, silently shouting no, and slapping at Blaise. "As Draco is the head of the Malfoy family, he has control of the Malfoy vaults but given that he is still technically a prisoner, as his advocate, per wizarding law I have control of him and his assets, which includes the Malfoy funds. Draco will give Ms. Granger 20,000 galleons a month for the six months it will take for him to complete the last step of his rehabilitation."
At the mention of 20,000 galleons Draco looked stunned before he resumed trying to speak and flailing his arms, attempting to indicate that he wouldn't consent.
"Ms. Granger," Kingsley asked, turning his attention to Hermione. "If Mr. Malfoy agrees to treat you respectfully and gives you 20,000 galleons a month while he works with you, will you agree to let him work with you on your research?"
Hermione bit her lip and sighed.
"You've done good work, Hermione," Kingsley continued, dropping the formality. "And as much as we would like to, neither the Ministry nor St. Mungo's can give you the funding that you need. Think of the progress you could make with that much money in addition to Mr. Malfoy's knowledge."
"Hermione, don't do this," Ron said, looking at her pleadingly. "He's evil."
Hermione sat, biting her lip, staring at her left arm, when shudders began to wrack her body. Ron jumped up and ran around the table and stroked her back as she gripped the table and waited for it to pass. The room was completely silent for several minutes with all eyes on Hermione.
"I'll do it," Hermione said quietly, so quietly that only Ron heard her reply.
"Hermione, no," Ron shouted turning her chair so it faced him. "You can't do this, he can't help you!"
"I'll do it," Hermione said, loud enough for Kingsley, Blaise, and Draco to hear. "I accept your conditions, Blaise, but I have one of my own."
"Very well," Blaise said. "What is it?"
"Malfoy gets one chance," she said. "One chance and if he blows it, I will personally deem him no longer rehabilitated and I will send him back to Azkaban faster than a hippogriff can fly. I started the program and Luna is one of my closest friends, you know I can."
"Draco agrees," Blaise said, earning a glare from Malfoy.
"I want to hear it from him," Hermione said. "Take off the spell. I want to hear him say, in his voice and in his words, that he agrees."
Blaise looked hesitantly at Hermione then at Draco. He leaned in and whispered in Draco's ear. Draco shook his head. Blaise whispered something else and Draco looked at him, horrified. Blaise gave him a questioning look and Draco nodded. Hermione watched the exchange with fascination. Blaise removed the spell but Draco didn't speak.
Hermione looked at Draco expectantly. "Well?"
"I agree to the terms discussed by Granger and Blaise," he said through gritted teeth.
"And what are those terms, Malfoy?" Hermione asked staring at him.
"I, Draco Malfoy, hereby swear to be nice to Granger, not piss her off, give her bloody 20,000 galleons for her stupid research, for the next six bloody months," he said with a snarl. "If I piss off Granger, I go back to Azkaban."
"It's as good as you're going to get," Blaise said with a half smile.
"That's shit, he-," Ron started to say but Hermione gave him a look, stopping him.
"It's good enough," Hermione said. "Minister, is that everything?"
"Yes," Kingsley replied wearily. "That's everything."
"Then I'll get back to work, I was due to start my rounds at 5:00pm." Hermione said. She rose, hugged Ron and shook Blaise's hand.
"Malfoy," she said, addressing him directly. "I'll see you tomorrow at 1:00pm. I always do my research in the afternoon. Don't be late."
"Yes, Ms. Granger," Malfoy replied in a mocking tone.
Without another word she turned her heel and walked out of the room.
"Mr. Zabini, I trust that you will see Mr. Malfoy back to the Manor," Kingsley said.
"Yes, Minister, Mr. Malfoy will be returned directly to the Manor from here," Blaise replied.
"Very well," Kingsley replied. "Mr. Zabini, you know your way out."
Kingsley rose from his chair and walked around the table and stopped in front of Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, listen to me very carefully," he told him. "Throughout this meeting there were a number of times you used a certain word and showed certain behaviors that would suggest that you are anything but a reformed man."
Draco simply stared at him, resisting the urge to roll his eyes in response.
"Let me make myself quite clear," Kingsley continued. "You are ONLY here because Ms. Lovegood cleared you, swore that you were a different man than who you were when you went in to Azkaban. This is your one and only chance to prove Ms. Lovegood was right. I suggest you do a better job of it in the future or you will find yourself back there very, very quickly and you will never be released."
With that, Kingsley turned his heel and walked out of the room. Ron shot Draco and Blaise a glare before following his boss out.
As soon as the door closed, Blaise looked at Draco and braced himself for the storm that he knew was about to be unleashed.
"What the hell mate?" Draco screamed. "You sold me out, to Granger none the less. When you said we had a meeting with someone I could do research with you didn't say it was Potter's Mudblood."
"Don't use that word," Blaise said wearily. "And I didn't tell you, because I knew you wouldn't come if you knew. This is your chance Draco, to get back into the wizarding world. You managed to get through three years in Azkaban, you can get through six months with Granger."
"I'd rather three more years in Azkaban than six months with that filth," he said disgusted. "As if anything a Mudblood is doing is worth my time."
"Stop," Blaise said, raising his voice. "Just stop. You're supposed to be rehabilitated. You can't say those things anymore. You're going to have to do a hell of a better job of faking it working with Granger because she'll send you back to Azkaban, Draco, she wasn't joking."
"She won't send me back," Draco snorted. "She's a bleeding heart Gryffindor."
"That's what you don't get mate," Blaise said shaking his head. "She is a Gryffindor but we aren't at Hogwarts anymore and the war changed her; it changed everyone. She went through a lot and she won't hesitate to send you back."
"How do you know so much about her?" Draco asked suspiciously.
"I asked," Blaise replied simply.
Before Draco could say anything more Blaise looked at his pocket watch and sighed. "Come on, we need to get you back to the Manor before curfew."
Blaise walked out of the room. Draco stood for a moment by himself and stared at the seat that Hermione had occupied. "It's going to be a long six months," he said to himself and walked out of the room.