Draco’s Remorse

The buzz in the castle of Hermione and Draco being in love and that they had spent Saturday at Malfoy Manor stopped almost instantly after Draco seemed to ignore her all of Sunday. The new rumour was that someone had played a trick on Hermione and Draco by slipping them a love potion.

No one dared to ask Hermione if the rumour was true, but when Draco was asked after breakfast Monday morning, he had answered that it had to be. He added that when he found out who the guilty one was, he better run for it! It had reached his father’s ears and driven Lucius Malfoy mad, so mad that he tried to kill his son on Friday night. Draco’s body still clearly showed it wasn’t a lie.

When asked why Hermione had been with him at the manor and if they were dating, Draco looked enraged. “Like I would ever date a filthy Mudblood!” he had said in a revolted voice, so loud that all in the Great Hall heard it.

Hermione turned and looked heartbroken, but when she saw his eyes she knew it was all an act and just shook her head. “Like I would ever stoop so low, as to dating you Malfoy, I’ll rather kiss a Dementor than you!” All at Gryffindor table cheered and encouraged her to continue making Hermione’s lips curl. “From what I’ve heard, not even Pansy can stand your touch anymore. I heard she dumped you for Marcus the Troll Flint!” The Great Hall rang out with laughter and Draco looked furious. He pushed away from the table and hurried out of the hall, murmuring under his breath.

Hermione felt bad, but he had started it, and it would be what she would have normally done. That was what they had agreed to, act normal! The Gryffindor students continued laughing and joked about Pansy dumping Draco for a half troll. Flint wasn’t actually half troll, but had a few drops of troll blood running through his veins. He had gone on to become a stand-in Quidditch basher for a Welsh team, so he had done well for himself.

Pansy sat looking hurt that someone would make fun of her Flinty and sent Hermione the evil eye for bringing it up. Ron whispered to Hermione that she might have gotten herself another enemy and as Hermione turned around and looked at Pansy she had to agree that she might well have.


Draco burst into almost hysterical laughter when he had been far enough away to be sure that no one heard him. Oh, it had been hilarious to see Pansy’s face when Hermione had mentioned Flint’s heritage. It had always been so taboo, a fact Flint didn’t want discussed. Leave it to Hermione Granger to bring that up.

Draco took a couple of deep breaths and tried to wipe the smile off his face. He had to go back in as the Headmistress would announce which seventh years would be teamed up as study partners for the N.E.W.T’s midterm. Luckily, he had many years of training in looking livid with rage so he found a suitable mask and returned to the great hall.

When Draco returned he looked so malicious that no one dared to make fun of him and Hermione felt a knot in her stomach, worried if she had stepped over the line. But she didn’t have time to signal to him if everything was all right for McGonagall stood up and tapped her goblet four times to get their attention.


“May I have your attention please?!” McGonagall waited for the hall to be quiet. “Thank you, now to what you have waited for, the N.E.W.T’s study partners, for Medic-potions: Hermione Granger – Ron Weasley, Terry Boot - Ernie Macmillan. For General Potions: Michael Corner – Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini – Theodore Nott, Padma Patil - Kevin Entwhistle
and Harry Potter – Draco Malfoy.”

At this the room started buzzing and Draco smirked over to Harry, while Blaise whispered something into his ear, making them both laugh. To everyone it looked like Draco was planning to do something wicked so Harry failed his midterm. But they were totally wrong; Draco smirked, because his little talk with Slughorn had worked!

Harry looked a little worried. He didn’t like the fact that it would be Malfoy what would be witness to Harry’s lack of knowledge of the most advanced potions. If the relationship between ‘Mione and Malfoy didn’t work out, he was afraid that Draco would use that knowledge to nothing good.

“Silence, please!” McGonagall tapped her goblet again and the room quieted. “Now the Herbology partners… Ron Weasley – Harry Potter (a sigh of relieve escaped both boys), Wayne Hopkins – Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson – Lavender Brown, Ernie Macmillan – Padma Patil, Daphne Greengrass - Kevin Entwhistle (At this the hall again started buzzing for it only left…),Hermione Granger – Draco Malfoy.”

Harry started wondering if the Headmistress found it amusing to place former enemies together. Hermione looked at Draco and smiled, but he just turned his head away and whispered something to Zabini. She was slightly worried, the two Slytherins had spent the whole Sunday together and it was clear they enjoyed each other’s company. She hoped Zabini didn’t have a bad influence on Draco.

In Charms Harry and Hermione, Ron and Lavender and Blaise and Draco were paired up. When McGonagall announced that in Transfiguration Ron and Draco would team up, Ron knocked his head into the table making the room burst into laughter and Draco looking pissed. McGonagall looked over her spectacles and shook her head, in these 7th years classes so much rivalry and hate flow that it would be a miracle if someone wasn’t hurt!

She continued teaming pairs up for Astronomy, Divination and History of Magic, in which Hermione was teamed up with Megan Jones, a very smart girl from Hufflepuff. Megan smiled and waved at Hermione, pleased that she was teamed up with someone of her own intelligence.

“And finally the Defence against the Dark Arts teams… Harry Potter – Draco Malfoy,” she knew it would make the room go off and thought she might as well start with them. “SILENCE!” Hagrid’s voice made everyone jump. “Thank you,” Hagrid smiled from ear to ear and gestured to the Headmistress to continue. She coughed and carried on. “Ron Weasley - Ernie Macmillan, Daphne Greengrass - Michael Corner, Hermione Granger – Blaise Zabini...”

At this Draco’s eyes widened. This wasn’t good! He knew Blaise had more or less the same upbringing as he had and that his hate towards non-pure bloods almost exceeded Draco’s. “Ha! This is going to be fun!” Blaise looked excited about getting time alone with Hermione. A fire was building up inside Draco. ‘If that snake touched ‘Mi...’

“Headmistress, may I speak?” Daphne waved her small slender hand and McGonagall wondered what the girl wanted and asked her to come forth. The two whispered back and forth for a moment and then the Headmistress nodded. She cleared her throat and announced that in the light of what Miss Greengrass had told her Miss Granger and Mr. Corner were to team up instead. Blaise looked crossly at Daphne, but she just smirked back. Draco hid a smile and reminded himself to thank that jealous girl someday in the future.

“The schedule for seventh year students for the rest of school year will be as follows; Transfiguration on Mondays before lunch and History of Magic in the afternoon, on Tuesday mornings, Charms and Divination after lunch. On Wednesdays, Potions all day. Thursday will be Herbology and Astronomy after dinner. Finally, on Fridays after lunch will be Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

McGonagall continued, “A professor will be present in each class so you have an opportunity to get help with problems you find along the way. All periods without classes are free to study on your own. There will be no spell casting except in the DADA classroom and only when supervised by an adult.” She looked over the house tables before continuing.

“As you all know, the Halloween ball is coming up and this year all students have been invited to celebrate the feast along with The Weird Sisters, at their Halloween concert.” At this the roof lifted with cheerful screams making the Headmistress laugh. “The seventh years will have the Great Hall to themselves. I trust you will not to destroy it!” Giggles where heard around the room and McGonagall raised her hand to wave them off. “Please be dismissed.” She sat down and wondered if the professors had made the best teams or if it would explode in their hands.


The whole castle was vibrating with joyful voices as the students headed to their classes. Hermione, Ron and Harry talked animatedly if it was a bit unfair that the younger students were going to a live concert and they just had the Great Hall.


As they entered Transfiguration Ron sighed as he saw Malfoy sitting in the first row and patting the seat next to him, grinning at Ron. “This is going to be a long class!” Ron sighed. He walked up and sat down beside Draco who laughed quietly at the look of agony on Ron’s face. He whispered, “Hey, Weasley, you might actually learn something!” And shockingly, he did!

At Charms the next day Blaise and Draco were late, but Flitwick just shushed them as they made some racket sitting down. They sniggered and found their books, clearly something was very funny. The trio all worried that Draco enjoyed the dark arts too much and hanging with Blaise couldn’t really help. However, during class it became clear that the two Slytherin’s were a great team when it came to Charms.

Blaise struggled to get the Abscido Inflammo charm to work properly. He just couldn’t make the flame on the candle soar in midair as it was suppose to. “Here, try it this way…” Draco took his wand, raised it slowly while saying the incantation and sure enough the small flame cut away from the candle and hovered a foot higher than the candle. Smirking, he whispered so only Zabini heard. ‘Flamma Dilabor’ and the flame split into three and started to circle the candle. “Finite Incantatem.” Blaise said clearly jealous and the flame attached to the candle again.

“Bravo, Mr. Malfoy! Very few wizards are able to invent Charms. 50 points for Slytherin House for exceptional understanding of Charm magic!” Flitwick clapped his small hands in excitement and Blaise looked over at Draco and hissed, “Show off!” But he was clearly impressed by his friend.

“Damn, I hate him for being so bloody brainy.” Ron murmured and stared at his candle that had melted. He huffed when Lavender commented that Draco seemed to be a natural at Charms and Hermione said that she wondered if Ron wasn’t just jealous. “It just seems TOO easy for him!” Ron complained when class was over.

Draco and Blaise were just passing by so Draco stopped and smirked. “Well, Weasley, wanting some private lessons?” Zabini chuckled and looked at Ron as if he was filthy as he left the room. Draco cast a look around and whispered “I mean it; I’ll help if you want!” And then he left, Ron’s eyes on his back looking mystified. Looking over at Harry and Hermione Ron said he needed them to tell him what Malfoy just had said!

In the free period before dinner Draco sat reading in a quiet corner in the library. He heard a noise and as he looked up he saw Ron walking towards his table. He kept his face in natural and waited for Ron to speak. “Did you truly mean what you said in Charms?” Ron sounded uneasy so Draco just nodded. “Have your book?” Ron nodded. “Follow me!” Draco led Ron in to the DADA empty classroom.

“Show me.” Draco lit a candle and studied Ron’s moves and smiled. It was simple! Ron just didn’t believe that it would work so was sloppy with his wand motion. Draco went behind Ron and placed his hand over Ron’s on the wand. “Graceful moves, like you’re caressing your lover’s skin… Slowly.”

Ron didn’t like having Draco so close and tensed up. “Relax, Weasley. I don’t swing that way, even if the rumour refuses to die!” Draco was SO tired of that gossip; he was with Hermione for crying out loud! “Concentrate... slow and gentle… See! You got it!” and sure enough the flame soared over the candle. “Tha…. Thanks mate!” Ron beamed with pride and become more daring and asked how Draco had split the flame.

Draco smiled and shook his head and said that that was his secret, but he could teach Ron to change colour of the flame to blue or purple, if he wanted. And after four attempts Ron managed to change the bright orange flame to icy blue. “Ha! That’s cool!” The two boys looked at each other, nodded and Draco left without a word.

Ron kept their meeting a secret. The next day after dinner, Harry told Ron that Draco had shown him what he was doing wrong, Ron just smiled. “Guess Fer- Malfoy is all right after all… but don’t tell ‘Mione I said that!”


Friday came and it was time for DADA. Draco had spent a lot of time with Blaise to find out where he stood on the Pure Blood discussion and found that Blaise hadn’t moved and inch. Not even the fall of Voldemort had made him see it was their parents’ thoughts and that he had to look inside to see if he really believed the same.

“So, you’re sparring with Potter that could be fun to watch! Hope we get to fight each other!” Blaise’s’ eyes glowed with violence. But he was very disappointed, it turned out that the whole class had to write an essay on one of the three Unforgivable Curses and turn it in before leaving the classroom. “Bloody waste of time,” he murmured and grabbed a quill and began to describe the good and bad things about the curses.

Harry looked at Draco. “So, which one would you prefer to write about?” He thought he knew which one Draco would choose and wasn’t surprised when Draco picked the Cruciatus Curse. He knew Draco had firsthand knowledge of how it felt. Draco didn’t meet Harry’s eyes, but just began writing with a grim look on his face.

“The Cruciatus Curse…In my book the cruellest of the Unforgivable Curses. Yes, its tough luck being hit by the Killing Curse but the pain is over in a second. The Imperius Curse can make you do things that aren’t in your nature; make you kill yourself or worse. But to be hit time and time again by the Cruciatus Curse will drive you mad. It makes you beg to be killed. The pain of your blood boiling, your bones splitting and your guts being ripped apart and then as the caster lets you go, you fall from the sky and as the ground hits you, if you’re still conscious, you welcome the pain. It feels gentle in contrast to what you’ve just been through. Then it hits you, your bones aren’t broken or your guts torn, there are no bruises except from the fall, the curse just makes your mind think that’s what happened. The terror of the truth is that the pain you feel is in your mind and your mind is actually killing you, if the caster isn’t done with you. The next time the curse hits you know what’s coming! And knowing is crueller than being ignorant of the pain, trust me! You would prefer the next words you hear are “Avada Kedavra” than go though that pain again!”

The rule was that the study partners switch papers and look for grammar errors, but as Harry read the paper he got from Draco, he couldn’t concentrate on checking grammar. He felt sick remembering all too well the feelings Draco so perfectly described.

Draco picked up his things and made and excuse to leave as he left four sets of worried eyes followed him; Hermione, Harry, Ron and Zabini’s. Like the year before, he found refuge in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He let go and fell to his knees, tears falling like rain on the dirty floor. He hated feeling so weak but writing a detailed essay on the curse he knew so well, was a fair reason to weep.

“Oh, Blondie! Why do you cry?” Moaning Myrtle shot up through the floor just in front of where Draco was kneeling. “Leave me alone, Myrtle… Please… Just leave me alone!” Draco really didn’t want to talk to anyone, not even a ghost.

Myrtle soared up to the window and howled, “So, Myrtle isn’t good enough anymore! So, you don’t want to talk to me anymore! Fine, I’ll leave!” and with a huge splash she disappeared into the nearest loo. Draco got to his feet and walked over to the mirror and studied his face. He was quite ugly when he wept. As he looked over his shoulder he couldn’t help but laugh.

“We have to stop meeting this way, Potter!” Harry closed the door behind him as he entered. “No Sectumsempra this time… I’m hurting enough as it is.” Draco smiled a heartless smile. He wiped away his tears and turned around, sitting on the edge of the sink.

“Just checking that you were okay. Are you?” Harry looked at his long time nemesis, seeing that there was more to Malfoy than met the eyes. Draco shrugged and shook his head. He said he wasn’t sure, but Harry shouldn’t worry, it would look strange to others if they saw them being friendly. “Go… I’ll see you at dinner.” Draco hinted that he wanted to be alone and Harry accepted it. As he left, Draco drew a deep breath and was thankful it was almost the weekend.


After the last period most of the students left as it was a home weekend, so at dinner the remaining students sat at one table along with the professors that lived at the castle. Draco was the only seventh year Slytherin not going home and besides him only two second years from his house remained. Harry had asked Ron and Hermione to stay to keep him and Draco from killing each other. So, in all, four seventh years, a fourth year Hufflepuff, the two young Slytherins and the professors were the only ones there.

Draco sat at the far end of the table again just pushing his food around on his plate, trying not to let the two second years drive him mad with their questions.

“Did you REALLY take the mark?!”

“Why did you let the death eaters in?!”

“Is it true you are the best broom rider in the world?!”

Draco rolled his eyes and pushed his plate away and hissed that they better leave him alone or… he didn’t finish the sentence as it had more effect on people when they didn’t know. He asked permission to leave the table and it was granted. He had a killer headache and just wanted to be alone.

He caught Hermione’s eye and smiled then walked away from the table, wishing them all a pleasant night. As the door closed behind him and his fellow Slytherin’s ran after him the professors began asking the trio questions as the topic this evening was, “What the hell is up with Malfoy?”

Flitwick, McGonagall and Sprout had all seen some interesting changes in the young man and wondered if Harry, Ron and Hermione had noticed it too. Ron replied that Malfoy had helped both Harry and him with some N.E.W.T level problems and that he had apologized to all of them for being a brat for the past six years. Hermione just listened, not wanting to break the confidence between her and Draco.


“You got to see this!” The Hufflepuff girl came running up the Great Hall and said they wouldn’t believe their eyes! Intrigued, they followed her out of the Hall, out of the front door and she asked them to be quiet. “Music???” Ron whispered and the girl nodded and pointed to the boat bridge.

The outline of someone sitting on the bridge playing a guitar could barely be seen. Hermione smiled, knowing who it was. Narcissa had been right, he was a fine guitarist and if she wasn’t mistaken he was playing the lullaby.

“It’s Draco Malfoy!” the Hufflepuff whispered with BIG eyes. “Scary how he’s changed since he came back, don’t you think?” she asked. All agreed, but some wondered if it was the calm before the storm.

The next morning Draco was in a much better mood and quietly answered the same stupid questions from last night. “Did you really take the mark?” the one boy asked and right there at the breakfast table he pulled up his sleeve and showed the boys his scar. They grimaced at the contorted mark as did the rest of the table.

“Why does it look that way?” the other boy asked, disgusted and excited at the same time.

“I found out it was all a lie and blasted it off.” Draco said, smiling and began laughing when the boy’s jaws dropped. They asked if it hurt. Draco just nodded and took a bit of his toast. “Are you good now?” Draco raised his shoulder and answered that he was a Slytherin. He took another bite and winked at them and told them to scram. The two young Slytherins left, talking in excited voices and a loud “I told you so!” rung in the hall.

“Who are you? And what have you don’t to the real Draco Malfoy?” Ron asked. Draco just raised his eyes without moving his head and smirked. “I’m still here, don’t worry. It’s just a fine day!” he reached for an apple and they could see a letter in his chest pocket. “Guess you got some good news?” Hermione asked and looked curiously at Draco.

He smiled, took a huge bite of the apple and nodded. Then he passed the letter to Hermione saying, “If you can’t wait for the Daily Prophet,” and took another bite. The letter was from Narcissa it only had three words, “It is done.” Draco turned around and walked away humming. Hermione put the letter down and pushed away from the table to follow Draco.

As she reached him she took hold of his arm. He turned and looked into her golden brown eyes full of worry. Draco just smiled and brushed her hand away, and whispered, “Not now,” and headed out the door. Hermione was confused… was he hurting or happy? She shook her head and waved at her friends, they had to prepare for the tests tomorrow.


After lunch as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked by the DADA classroom they heard something smash inside, wondering what had made the sound they slowly opened the door and found Draco practising an unknown spell involving a small pumpkin and the words Amplio and Fulgeo. “Damn! Why doesn’t it work?!” Draco kicked the half smashed pumpkin.

“Need a sparing partner?” Ron and Harry asked together making Draco spin round in shock. He hadn’t heard them come in. He looked like he was about to explode and said that if either of them managed to enlarge the pumpkin and make it glow he would be delighted to know how the bloody hell they made it do that. He leaned up against the wall, head tilted back, swearing and calling himself stupid.

He had been acting strange since breakfast and now Hermione needed to know why. “Harry, Ron, will you excuse us for a brief moment?” she nodded at the door and her two friends withdrew to the corridor.

“Draco… Dray…?” She walked up to him and pulled his head down so their eyes meet. “I… my father…” he whispered and she could see he felt guilty. He trembled under her touch and pulled her into his arms. He just needed to be told everything would be all right, even if it was a lie. The door opened and a bewildered professor gazed at the two.

They let go of each other and Draco strode out of the room not looking the professor in the eye and hurried down the corridor and down the steps towards the dungeon. He didn’t need questions from the professor. Safely inside the common room he saw that Blaise had returned and went to him.

Blaise stood up and the two boys hugged. “So, I guess you REALLY are the Lord of the Manor now, eh?” Blaise studied his friend’s face closely. Draco looked as if it hurt to talk about. “Not a dignified way to become Lord Malfoy. They stripped him of all magic for crying out loud! He isn’t more than a muggle, hell he ranks as a squib! It’s pathetic.” Draco looked as he was about to be sick.

Blaise felt for the young Lord Malfoy, but enjoyed the fact that snobby Lucius was now marked as filth. “You’re better and safer with him as a squib!” He patted Draco on the shoulder and asked if he has ready for midterm exams in the morning. Draco nodded and sat down in a soft chair and complained about being hungry.


The two chitchatted until it was time for dinner and then walked up the stairs and into the Great Hall as if they owned the place. A genuine sneer was on Draco’s face. He had to be tough for the rest of the term or he would lose his status as Slytherin Prince within days. Technically he was no longer a pureblood with his father now a squib and therefore had no rights to the title.

He growled at another seventh year that had dared to take his place. He looked like he could explode and accidentally kill somebody. The boy quickly moved and Blaise and Draco sat down like they were royalty. No one dared to talk to them and when Hermione smiled at him, he looked away.

Hermione couldn’t help but feel hurt by the fact he still treated her as dirt, when it was so clear that he longed to be alone with her just as much as she did. But they had made the deal to not let anybody catch them being pleasant to each other. She began to hate that she had agreed to it. Ron and Harry could see she was hurting and tried to cheer her up.

“Mum sends her hallos through Ginny and asks when you will visit the Burrow again and told me to be sure to let you know that she still cares for you even if we’re not dating anymore!” Ron sighed after the long message and Hermione smiled and turned to look for Ginny and waved to her, grinning and feeling a little better.

After dinner Ginny came up and gave Hermione a hug and said that her mother missed Hermione and that she had to visit soon. Hermione grinned and promised to arrange it with her mother and father. Then Ginny grabbed Harry by the hand and dragged him away, Harry chuckling and shaking his head.

“Sister-shagging son of a pygmy puff,” Ron laughed and smiled to Hermione. “Come here,” he placed his arm protectively around her shoulders and Hermione felt great warmth for her long time friend. Ron made a joke and Hermione giggled like a silly second year girl. Hermione was laughing and enjoying herself, until she turned her head and looked into a pair of icy grey eyes.

Draco watched the sight of Ron and Hermione being happy and relaxed in each other’s company and he felt so jealous it hurt. He just sneered at them and hissed “Move, filthy blood-traitor, get your Mudblood whore out of the way.” And he pushed by leaving both Ron and Hermione staring dumbstruck after him.

Hermione cried herself to sleep that night, thinking that Draco was moving further and further away from her and into the darkness again! How could she get him back?