For a split second Hermione hesitated and Draco pulled back. He could see the confusion in her eyes mirroring his own. What had he just done? He was still millimeters away from her face but before he could pull away she leaned in and kissed him. This time there was no hesitation. His mouth slanted across hers and their tongues tangled. Draco went to his knees and slid one hand in to her hair and the other around her lower back and pulled her flush against him. Hermione slid both arms around him, pulling him closer.

No one had told him about this, Draco thought as he struggled to get closer to Hermione, hands sliding up and down her back. He could feel her hands clutching the back of his robes, pulling him against her. Then suddenly he was pushing her away.

"No, no," he said. "This is wrong. I can't."

Without another word, he fled from the office, leaving Hermione stunned. She sat on the floor for several minutes, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal and her breathing to level. She got up off the floor and sat in her chair. They still had half the program left, she thought. How was she supposed to work with him after...that? The kiss she'd shared with Draco had been unlike any other, she hoped he'd felt it too. But the way he ran from her office suggested otherwise. It had been a mistake, she told herself. One she was afraid she desperately wanted to repeat.

Draco had made it to his room at the Manor before he lost control. He picked up anything and everything he could find and began to smash it. Glasses, candles, bottles of whiskey, nothing was safe from his rampage. He'd just flipped his desk when his mother walked in.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy you will stop this behavior immediately!" Narcissa commanded.

Apparently his mother hadn't lost her touch because, as he had when he was a child, the minute he heard his full name he stopped dead.

"What is the meaning of this?" She demanded. "You tell me this instant young man!"

"I'm angry, mother," Draco said, his fists clenched.

"That's no reason to act like an animal," Narcissa admonished. "Why are you angry?"

"Did you know Goyle is alive?" He asked her, clenching his fists. "Crabbe too. As well as a couple others. Did you know?"

"Yes," Narcissa said evenly.

Draco whirled and faced her, his magic sparking. "You knew?"

"Yes," she told him. "But not until after the war was over. I had no idea they were here, Draco. I believed what you did, that they'd been killed by the Order. I was told the same thing you were."

At his mother's words, Draco felt all of his anger leave his body. He collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Narcissa moved and, for the first time in Draco's memory, sat on the floor next to him.

"Is that what this is about?" Narcissa asked. "You're angry because no one told you they were alive?"

"I'm angry because I was told they were dead," he replied. "I was lied to, the things that I did was partially motivated by the idea that the Order had killed my friends but that wasn't true. It was a lie."

"Yes," Narcissa told him, evenly. "It was."

"And you lied to me," Draco said, feeling his anger return as he looked at his mother. "You and father both. You taught me to hate before I was ever old enough to know better." His breath hitched and he was disgusted to realize he had tears streaming down his face. "I never had a chance."

"We were wrong," Narcissa said quietly, reaching out and putting her hand on Draco's shoulder. "It's a difficult day when a child grows up and realizes that their parents are human too. We made mistakes, Draco, in our beliefs, in what we taught you. We were wrong. I know that now."

"Why could you figure that out sooner? I would have DIED for our side mother," Draco told her. "Given my life without a second thought for something that was wrong. I did give years of my life, three of them in Azkaban, because you and father were wrong."

"It's easy to see now," Narcissa said. "Now that the war is over, the dust has settled, and the Order won, it's so easy to see that we were on the wrong side. But it wasn't so easy before, wasn't so clear. I'm not saying this to justify what we've done but we were the victims of our upbringing, the same as you were. Draco, I know your father still holds on to the old beliefs, I don't think he'll ever change, but I have. And you can. I think you already have."

"So you couldn't do anything until you were, what, free from father?" Draco replied angrily. "Before "our side" lost the war, you couldn't have given me a chance?"

"You have a chance now," Narcissa told her son, sharply. "Just as I had a chance in the woods all those years ago. I chose you over the Dark Lord, put all of my trust in Mr. Potter and their side and I got my second chance but I also did it to secure yours. Being close to the Dark Lord changed everything for me, seeing what my husband and my sister became because of him changed everything. It took being in that deep for me to realize I wanted out."

When Draco didn't respond, Narcissa continued. "Do you want to know what I've been doing for the last three years?" She asked.

Draco found he couldn't speak so he nodded affirmatively.

"Doing everything I could to make the Malfoy name mean something again," she told him. "Something synonymous with good rather than evil and hatred."

"What have you done?" Draco asked, curiously.

"A great deal of Malfoy money has always gone to St. Mungo's," Narcissa began. "I saw that that continued. Also a great deal of money went to restoring Hogwarts as well as helping children from both sides who were orphaned during the war. I've had the opportunity to spend time with a number of members of the Order, allowing them to get to know me. It was incredibly...difficult at first but Mr. Potter was helpful. I did what I could but you can do more."

"More?" Draco asked. "What do you mean? How can I do more?"

"Because you have more than money to give. From what I understand you're a gifted potions master," Narcissa told him. "But you always excelled in so many of your subjects at Hogwarts. You're charismatic and now have a great deal of wealth at your disposal. There is so much you could do."

Narcissa then wrapped her arms around her son. "You have your chance," she said. "Working with Ms. Granger, think of the world of good you could do if you helped her come up with potions that remediate the seemingly long lasting effects of the Cruciatus curse. What if, together, you found a way to eliminate those effects all together? Individually you're both highly intelligent, think of what you're capable of together."

"I'm not so sure she needs my help," Draco said with a half laugh. "She seems to be well on her way all on her own."

"Perhaps with your help she can get there a bit faster," Narcissa said. She released Draco and stood. "Now, clean up your room and make yourself presentable. We're having dinner in an hour."

"Yes m'am," Draco replied, pulling himself up off the floor.

His mother gave him a kiss on the forehead and walked out of the room. Draco surveyed the damage he'd done, not just to the room but thinking about what he'd done with his life to this point. How the hell was he supposed to come back from this? The foundation he'd built his life on was gone. He had nothing. But it also meant he had nothing left to lose, he realized. Which meant he had everything to gain. That he could do. He was a Malfoy, Malfoy's didn't quit and they always rose to the top, hell it was why his family had ended up in Voldemort's inner circle. But that was something he couldn't find a belief in anymore. Now it was time to change, really change, and clean up his life. Starting by cleaning up his room. Realizing he didn't have magic, he called for Jake.

"Jake," he began, when the house elf appeared in front of him but then stopped. "Nevermind Jake, go away."

Jake disappeared and, bit by bit, Draco began to clean his room.

A/N: And the rebuilding of Draco Malfoy begins. Thank you for the awesome reviews. The last chapter was the one I was most nervous to post because if you hated it, I really don't know what I would have done!