Chapter 4

Chapter 4 -

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione was sitting at a table talking with Ginny and Luna. Across from her Neville was enthusiastically telling Parvati, Padma and Lavender all about his new ‘Mimbulus mimbletonia’. Suddenly it seemed as if everyone at the table had gone quiet. Neville was staring at something behind Hermione with his mouth gaping open. She turned to see what had brought silence to such an exciting meal and her eyes met the cold grey eyes of Malfoy.

“A word, Granger,” Malfoy sneered.

Hermione looked over at Ginny who had the same dumbfounded look that Ron would have on occasion. Suppressing a giggle, she looked back at Malfoy.

“What do you want?” she said with a rather snotty tone in her voice.

“I need to speak with you, outside,” he said softly, as though he was slightly embarrassed.

Hermione turned to look at Ginny again. Her expression had still not changed. Luna sat with a slightly strange smile on her face. She looked at Hermione and shrugged. She glanced at Neville and Parvati, and neither of them said a word.

Before she could turn back to look at him again, she heard his voice soften further, “Please.”

“Er… sure,” was all she could manage to get out.

Her brain was whirling. Had Malfoy just said please? No, not possible. She must be hearing things. All the excitement of being back at Hogwarts and classes made her imagine it. Yes, she convinced herself that was it. Because everyone knows that Malfoy could never be that polite to her. After all, he saw her as just a Mudblood, not worthy of pleasant exchanges.

Out in the entrance hall, Hermione followed Malfoy to the second floor, where their new dormitory was. Once inside the common room, he turned to look at her. He didn’t say anything; he just stood there, half staring at the floor and the wall behind her.

Hermione waited for him to say something… anything. This strange, silent Malfoy was beginning to unnerve her. Finally, when she could stand it no longer, she broke the silence.

“Out with it, Malfoy. What is so important that you had to interrupt my breakfast?”

Nothing. Not even some biting response from him. She looked at him more closely and then turned on her heel and headed towards her dormitory.

“McGonagall said we should ask the other students to help us review,” he said quietly to her back.

Hermione turned to face him as he began to speak.

“I thought that since we both missed last year, we could help each other learn what we missed.”

“And just why would I want to help you? I thought I was nothing but a useless Mudblood to you,” she sneered.

He flinched at her remarks. She saw the flinch, and a triumphant grin crossed her face.

“No snappy comeback, Malfoy?”

He knew he'd been awful to her in the past. He knew that he had hurt her and her friends on numerous occasions. He also knew that he was giving her no reason to help him.

What she didn’t know was that he had honestly changed since they last saw each other. He had spent most of last year being held hostage with his parents, in his home, by the most feared wizard in the world, made to do everything that Voldemort had commanded. He was informed on several occasions of what would happen if he disobeyed. They would kill him and his parents. As it was, Voldemort had spent several days torturing him, in front of his parents, for his failure to kill Professor Dumbledore the year before.

In the end, Voldemort succeeded in murdering his parents. Though they did not die by his hand directly, he was the reason behind their demise. His mother had died just two months ago, right after the final battle. Injuries she had sustained from months and months of Voldemort’s curses had ravaged her body. In the end, there was nothing the Healers could do to repair the damages. Her strength and will finally gave out.

His one small consolation in her death was that he finally got to hear his mother say, ‘I love you’ to him. It was during the months that had led to the final battle that his parents had realized what they had to lose. That the maniac they’d followed would be willing to destroy everything for his own needs, including their family.

His father, overcome with grief and guilt at his fall from grace in the eyes of the entire Wizarding world, took his own life the day they buried his mother.

Draco understood his father’s feelings. How could anyone trust the Malfoys? The world had known that they were all Death Eaters and had been buying their way out of trouble all these years.

The day after he found his father's body in the study, Draco decided that he would not venture out into the world again. He could live in the manor alone and send for anything he needed. He felt this was the best way to live, so as not to burden the rest of the Wizarding world with his traitorous presence.

He was sitting in his dinning room, pondering this when the fireplace glowed green and Minerva McGonagall stepped through. She sat with him all day and well into the night. She offered to let him come back and get a fresh start. She listened to him as he told her about his fears of not being wanted. She watched the tears fall down his face when he told her that he was completely alone in the world, and unable to face a new beginning. She counseled him on what to expect and reassured him that she would be there to help. At midnight, she stood and looked at him. He was defeated and afraid.

“I will be expecting you on September 1st at noon for lunch. You will be grateful someday that I am forcing you to do this. Do not let me down.”

And she was gone. So, because of that conversation, he was here and asking Hermione for help, even though she didn’t really understand just how much help he needed. He needed her for more than just his studies. He needed her so he could start a new life. He had been working on this plan since McGonagall had come to see him. He knew she was the key. This is the real reason he came back to Hogwarts.

“Hermione, I…” He what? How could he make her understand that he had changed? He wasn’t the spoiled brat she had known for the last seven years.

He took a deep breath and decided that if he truly wanted a new start, he had better start by being honest.

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A/N: All my thanks to my Betas for putting up with my punctuation errors, lilywillow, coley21 and sempra.