Chapter 28: Why We Are, What We Are
"I told them exactly what they needed to know..."
-1999-
"April last year, myself Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley had been searching for the Horucruxes, or the living souls of Lord Voldemort, we were captured by a group of Snatchers and we were taken to Malfoy Manor, Draco was asked by his father to identify us, but he told them he couldn't be sure... Draco gave us time, we could have been killed, Voldemort could have been called had he not stalled them." Hermione paused looking around the room again, "You all know about when they thought Harry was dead, and it was Mrs Malfoy who told them he was indeed dead- though she knew he was not. Are either actions that of a family that should be destined to be condemned to a life in Azkhaban?" Hermione shook her head. "Over the last few months myself and Draco have been head boy and head girl at Hogwarts, we've spoke about various things, and he's been a true friend to me, who just like myself was a young boy surrounded by a war he was unable to get out of. He's helped me overcome some personal issues" she pulled back the sleeve of her jumper, "I have constant reminder of what this war has done to people, how I've been branded, the scars of war- and every single time I've slipped into a near depression that boy, no that man sat right there has been with me!" she shouted the final part pointing to Draco, who looked suddenly sad.
"It's my belief that they did what they did, because they saw no other way out, except may be through death. Lucius while he may have believed in the ideals, I don't feel he is all a Death Eater stands for. While I was captured Fenrir tried to bite me, mark me, claim him as his mate- but Mr Malfoy stopped him. May be not directly, but I thank him none the less, many things could have happened to me, worse things than what did during my capture. Both Mr and Mrs Malfoy from my experience this past few months care only about one thing- their family, I don't think they should be condemned for that." Unsure of herself Hermione looked around, "Minister, that's all I have to say" she shrugged her shoulders plucking of some of the cotton balls on her school jumper.
"You can sit down then Miss Granger"
-Present Day-
"The rest of the trial went by without so much of a hiccup"
"What did he have to say about you going?"
"He wasn't too impressed really" Hermione smiled at the memory
-1999-
Hermione was walking back through the Ministry side by side with the Hogwarts Headmistress on their way to the hearths located in the atrium. Just ahead leaning against one was Draco himself, "Mr Malfoy, will you be accompanying us back to Hogwarts?"
Draco nodded, causing his lengthening hair to fall into his eyes, "Kingsley says I'm under strict instructions to remain at Hogwarts until the verdict- they want to hear from Potter himself before they make their decision."McGonagall's reply was to nod her head once before taking a sharp turn into one of the hearth's shouting her destination as she threw the powder onto the ground. Knowing the head boy and girl would follow soon after.
When the trio were back in the Headmistress' office in the Hogwarts grounds, the elder spoke, "Miss Granger, Mr Malfoy feel free to take the rest of the day off classes- get some rest, and be ready to get back into it tomorrow" she turned to look at the Phoenix on the perch next to her desk, as the two students made their way to the door.
"Mr Malfoy, do you mind if we have a quick chat?" an gruff voice sounded from behind the headmistress' desk, and Draco turned to see the portrait of both Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore waiting patiently in their frames. Hermione left the ex-headmasters to their business as she exited the spiral staircase making her way swiftly across to the head dormitories.
When Draco had finally made it back to their common room it was to find Hermione sat on the couch waiting for him, a book sitting in her lap, wearing a pair of loose fitting joggers, and a vest. Her eyes stopped scanning the book when he entered, but she waited patiently for him to say something, not lifting her eyes to look him directly in his as she had done at the trial.
After a few awkward moments of him being stood just in from the now closed portrait door he sighed, running a hand through his hair, as he began moving his outer robe, hanging it up on a coat rack she had conjured in their first week of living in the heads dorm. "You didn't have to do that" he finally said as he stepped closer to her.
"I know" was her quick reply as her gaze flickered from the book, to him, to the dancing flame of the hearth.
"I didn't expect you to" he sighed, breathing heavily through his nose, "That's not what I'd been getting at for the last few months"
"I know" again she just gave a short reply.
"Thank you" he finally acknowledged, "It means a lot" as she went to speak again, he cut her off, "But by Merlin if you say 'I know' one more time..." he left the empty threat hanging in the air.
"What more do you want me to say Malfoy? It's pretty obvious that you didn't trust me enough to tell me about the trial." She snapped the book closed at the end of her sentence, making to stand shortly after.
Draco reached forward grabbing her hand before she could go anywhere, "It wasn't about trusting you, I just didn't want to involve you."
"It didn't feel like that" she whispered slowly, glancing from his hand that had a hold of her wrist to follow the appendage up to his face.
"I didn't want you to have to say what you did in there- I was ready to get whatever was coming my way" he admitted, letting go of her hand. "But I really appreciated the fact that you turned up, as did my family"
"No one deserves to go to Azkaban, we've all been through a lot, I just want to put the past behind us, none of this blood supremacy bullshit"
Draco slowly nodded his head, stepping into her bubble of personal space, running his right hand from her left hand, up her arm to cup her jaw, before he slowly leant forward pressing a chaste kiss to her lips, shocking Hermione in the process. And just as she was going to reciprocate he pulled back rested his forehead against hers, whispering three little words "So do I" before he was walking away to his bedroom.
-Present day-
"How come you didn't end up together?"
"I wouldn't have had you had we been together," Hermione pointed out to which Rose nodded.
For someone so young Rose seemed to have a much higher degree of understanding than anyone her age, or even some adults, she knew that had her mother been with Draco she wouldn't have been born, but perhaps, "You'd have been a lot happier"
Hermione shook her head, "I don't regret anything Rosie, especially you, everything happens for a reason, Malfoy did what he needed to do, he did his family duty, I couldn't stand in the way of that, and he never knew any of my feelings, and I didn't know his. We were a big taboo- had our past been different who knows what could have happened? After all our past are why we are, who we are"
"Should my ears be burning?" The Malfoy man in question took that moment to appear behind the two Granger women- after all in his mind Hermione had never been a Weasley and after meeting her daughter he believed she didn't really suit the family name either.
A/N: There we have it, a sneaky look at the past, hopefully you all enjoyed, feel free to leave me your thoughts in a review. I'm sorry to say my updates will be a bit slower it's back to University time for me now, but I'll try and update. Scorpio219 -x-