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The next day, Draco got up early, his body still adhering to his school schedule. He trudged into the dining room, where his mother and father were eating breakfast.
"Good morning, Draco," his mother said. She was eating a scone and had one of her books lying next to her plate.
His father had his face buried in the Daily Prophet, absentmindedly sipping his tea.
"Morning." Draco plunged down in the chair next to his mother and grabbed a scone and put some strawberry jam and clotted cream on it.
"Any progress?" Draco asked his mother, pointing at the book next to her.
His mother nodded her head. "Quite. I am sure Sirius will win his trial," she said self confidently. "Finding this Pettigrew would have helped, of course, but he has plenty of influential witnesses testifying on his account."
"Dumbledore and Potter?" Draco asked, biting into his scone.
His mother wrinkled her nose but nodded. "Yes. But also the Greengrass sisters and Severus."
Draco nodded, although he was rather surprised that Snape was willing to testify in favor of Sirius' innocence. "And me?" he added carefully.
"No!" his father forcefully put his cup down on the table and Draco was surprised it didn't break. He looked up from his paper and glared at Narcissa.
"Lucius-" Narcissa started but was interrupted by her husband.
"No, we have talked about this. Draco will not testify."
"What?" Draco huffed. "Don't I get a say in this?" Being a grown up, Draco hated being treated like a child.
"No," his father said, and it sounded final.
"But what if he is found guilty because I don't-" Draco began but his father wasn't in the mood for an argument.
"He won't. As your mother said, he will most likely be freed of all charges and I will not have our family be any more associated with these blood traitors than we already are," he glowered at Draco and Narcissa and it was the first time he openly showed that he didn't like what they had been doing. "There will be a day when you will thank me for this."
Draco doubted it, but didn't dare contradict his father.
"How about we visit Diagon Alley this afternoon?" Narcissa asked, trying to defuse the tension and change the subject.
Lucius nodded, then brought his attention back to his paper.
Draco soon figured out that his parents had just come to the silent agreement that they wouldn't talk about the issue again. Ever. It was how most pureblooded families operated. They just ignored the elephant in the room instead of doing anything about it. Well, unless the problem grew too big, in which case family tapestries took the brunt of it and it wasn't just the problem that was ignored any longer, but the whole person. If that was how his parents wanted to play it, that was fine by Draco. It saved him from having to either lie to his parents or say things he knew his parents wouldn't like to hear.
They really went to Diagon Alley that afternoon and Draco had a good time shopping and eating ice cream with his parents. His mother bought him a lot of new clothes and his father new Quidditch equipment. He told his parents about his school year, leaving out a few more or less important details, like that he had kept Sirius in his room during the holidays, and he told them about his friends, leaving out Neville's name of course. His parents also told him about their lives. But they never talked about Sirius again.
Other than a few trips with his parents, Draco spent a lot of time reading. He even found a few books that might help Neville and he decided to bring them to Hogwarts with him.
He was sitting in the huge armchair a few weeks into the summer holidays, reading, when the fireplace suddenly became alive.
"Draco?" the fireplace asked. The voice was a bit hesitant.
"Blaise?" Draco queried. "Is that you in there?"
The grinning face of Blaise Zabini appeared in the flames.
"Got it in one, my fellow conspirator," he said. "Mind if I come through?"
Draco gave his assent, and suddenly the library had another occupant.
"Hello, Blaise," Draco greeted.
"And good afternoon to you as well," he finally said.
"Keeping busy this summer?" Draco asked.
"Actually," the tall boy started, "a few of the Slytherins, Astoria and Longbottom are currently at my place."
"Your place?" Draco asked. Blaise wasn't usually the most sociable person.
"Well, we didn't think your parents would be happy to host a blood traitor Gryffindor. Neither would have Nott's father."
Draco nodded his head. Theodore had never been a Death Eater, but his father was a different story.
"Draco?" Lucius voice was heard from the other side of the door. "Is there someone in there? I've heard you talking to someone." He opened the door. "Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Zabini."
"Good afternoon, Mr. Malfoy. I was wondering whether Draco could spend the afternoon at my place?" he asked sweetly.
Lucius looked at his son, smiling. "Of course. Have fun, Draco."
Draco smiled at his father and followed Blaise through the Floo.
Coming out on the other side, Draco was greeted by the friendly faces of his friends. The Greengrass sisters, Pansy, Neville, Theodore and Tracey. Draco noted that Crabbe, Goyle and Millicent were absent. Draco wondered why but didn't dwell on it.
"Hi, Draco," piped Astoria.
"Draco, how generous of you to pay us a visit," teased Pansy.
"Hey, guys."
"We thought we could play a small Quidditch match," Zabini grinned. "You up for it, Mr. Slytherin Quidditch star?"
"Always," Draco laughed. "So you all on one team and me on another? We want to keep it fair, right?"
"Hmm, I don't know," Nott mused. "What if you fall off your broom again?" he smirked. "Don't you need someone on your team to save you?"
"Oh, you are so on," Draco laughed.
The day passed beautifully, and Draco wondered, not for the first time, why he'd never bothered to make friends the first time around.
TBC
A pretty short chapter, only had time to write a bit during an incredibly boring seminar today... Hope you enjoyed it :)