CHAPTER 1~ The Beginning of an Unbreakable Friendship
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy looked down at their newborn son. He had beautiful silver-blonde hair, just like his father, and the most vivid grey eyes. He hadn't cried at all when he was born or when the doctors cleaned him, just stared around at everybody.
"Look at the little dragon," Narcissa cooed. "He is already so strong. What do you think we should name him, Lucius?"
Lucius looked down at the beautiful baby boy in his wife's arms. "How about Draco? You said yourself that he's a dragon, and the name will suit him well. Why don't you choose the middle name?"
Narcissa's eyes clouded over as she thought about her previous boyfriend. James Potter. He had broken up with her for Lily Evans, but she felt that a part of her heart was still with him even though she truly loved Lucius. "James. It has a good ring to it, don't you think? Draco James Malfoy."
Lucius smiled a genuine smile. It was a very rare occurrence. "I like it. Draco James Malfoy it is then."
The young couple smiled happily at each other and the small child that was being held between them.
"Lucius, dear," Narcissa said softly. "I don't know if I want Draco to grow up around all of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. You can continue to go to the meetings of course, but I don't want him to witness all of the torture that goes on at such a young age, and so much happens at out house. I think that we should move into a Muggle community until he is ready to deal with that kind of thing."
Lucius looked down caringly at his wife, whom he loved dearly. "We will do whatever you think is best for the well-being of our child."
Narcissa smile and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Thank you, Lucius."
~
Three weeks later, the Malfoys moved into a Muggle community right outside of London. The houses were all very large. It was evident that only the wealthy lived in that part of town. It didn't take them long to move everything into their new house. Magic was truly a wonderful thing.
About two hours after they were settled, the doorbell rang. Since Narcissa was busy feeding Draco, Lucius got up to answer the door. A young couple with a young baby girl was standing outside.
"How may I help you?" Lucius asked politely even though he had the urge to whip out his wand and put the family out of their misery right then and there.
"Hello, we're the Grangers," said the husband. "We live next door. I'm Greg, and this is my wife Annabelle and my daughter Hermione. We saw you move in and thought we'd come over to welcome you and to see if you need help with anything."
Lucius shook both of their hands. "It's nice to meet you. I am Lucius Malfoy. My wife Narcissa and my son Draco are inside. Please come in."
The Grangers stepped over the threshold into the house that was almost identical to theirs save for the furniture arrangement.
"Narcissa dear, this is Greg and Annabelle Granger and their daughter Hermione. They are our new neighbors," Lucius informed his wife, who had finished feeding Draco.
"Hello," she said happily shaking their hands. "How old is your daughter? She appears to be about Draco's age."
"Almost two weeks," Annabelle answered as she peered at the small child that was cradled in Narcissa's arms.
"Draco is three weeks."
"He's very beautiful."
"As is your daughter," Narcissa replied kindly.
~
As the years passed by, Draco and Hermione became the best of friends. They were inseparable. At school, even at the age of five, Draco would beat up the other boys if they dared to make fun of Hermione. Anyone who wanted to tease her about her teeth or her hair had to go through him first. It worked the other way as well. If anyone would mouth off to Draco, Hermione would quickly jump in and put that person in his place.
The two made a wonderful pair. Many of their classmates were afraid of them and were kind to them out of fear of what might happen.
Home was a different story. Whenever Hermione wasn't around, Lucius would teach Draco magic; simple spells when he was young, but Draco was a very fast learner and a very skilled wizard. As Lucius learned this, he began to teach Draco more complicated spells-dark spells that were only taught to Death Eaters.
He was also taught that because he was a pureblooded wizard he was superior to any Muggle, even Hermione. Draco didn't like that in the slightest, and didn't believe a word of it for a moment, but would never tell that to his father.
~
The summer before he turned eleven, Draco received his letter of acceptation to Hogwarts. He hadn't been surprised and was actually depressed when the owl delivered him the letter. Hermione wouldn't be going with him to Hogwarts. She was a Muggle. Muggles couldn't go to wizarding schools. For the first time in his life he would have to lie to her. He would tell her that he would be going off to boarding school because his father wanted him to get a better education.
When his door burst he didn't even look up. He was accustomed to Hermione bounding him.
"Draco! Draco! Look at this! Look at what I got in the mail! Your mother said that you got one too! Look! Look! Look!" She shoved the piece of parchment under his nose.
He recognized the handwriting right away and his face brightened considerably. "Oh, Hermione this is so great! We still get to go to school together!"
"Yeah, it'll be just like always! We'll be just like we are around here." Draco's face dropped again and his heart plummeted. "Right, Draco?" she said hesitantly seeing the look on his face.
He looked up at her with a sad look in his eyes. "No, Hermione, I'm afraid that things will not be like always once we start there. You see I am a pureblooded wizard, which means that I come from a family of all witches and wizards. There has never been a Muggle, or a common person in my bloodline.
"I know that this may be hard for you to understand, but you are very smart. My father takes pride in being a pureblood and he doesn't think that I should associate with Muggles. He makes an exception for you. He likes you, he really does, but we won't be able to be friends at Hogwarts. We will be sorted into separate houses. We will have to fight with each other. It will be nothing like we are here."
Hermione looked sadly at her best friend of almost eleven years. "But will we still be able to talk in private? You're my best friend in the whole world, Draco. I don't want things to be any different at our new school."
"Of course. We'll find somewhere where we can talk without having to act in front of everybody else."
They smiled at each other. Both clearly understood that going to Hogwarts would be difficult on their unbreakable friendship, but they would do whatever they could to stay friends forever.
~
The Malfoys took both Draco and Hermione to Diagon Alley that year. Narcissa took Hermione around while Lucius mainly stayed with Draco. That was the day he met Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, the sons of two of his father's friends.
Lucius told Draco that they were to be his friends while at Hogwarts. He also said that he wanted to stay away from Hermione around large groups of people. If he did happen to get near her though, he would have to make fun of her and put her down.
~
The train ride that first year was very long. Draco felt utterly empty without Hermione by his side. He couldn't hold a conversation with the oafs his father wanted him to befriend. Instead of friends, he decided that he would use them as bodyguards, even though he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
As the year passed, he insulted Hermione and her friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, but would apologize when they were alone. Many times Hermione lied to her new friends so she could meet with Draco. When she had said she was going to the library, it was usually to meet him and search the castle for a secret room that they didn't think anyone would find.
They eventually found the perfect room that they were sure nobody knew about. It was in the corner of the large library. There were hardly any books at all on the bookshelf. It appeared as if nobody had been back there in at least two decades. They were talking back in that corner because they figured that no one would see them. Draco leaned against the shelf casually and fell through. Hermione was about to scream, but Draco put his hand over her mouth and pulled her through as well.
The room was large, and painted a dark shade of grey. There was a large bed, a desk, many bookshelves, and a few chairs and couches.
They had found their secret room and would go there whenever they needed to be alone. Whenever one was there the other could almost always be found sitting silently either reading or doing homework or just thinking.
~
Over the summer they were once again inseparable.until Hermione was invited to stay at the Weasley's that is. Of course she accepted, but almost reluctantly because she didn't really want to leave Draco.
Draco was hurt when she left, but he didn't show it. He was stronger than that. He was a dragon. There was a fire inside of him that no one else in the world possessed. No one but him, Draco Malfoy.
That was a hard year for both Hermione and Draco. It was the first time he ever used the name Mudblood when talking to her. He deeply regretted it afterwards.
When he found her, she was in their room. She was sitting with her back against the headboard of the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, head on her knees, arms wrapped tightly around herself. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes. She was sobbing loudly.
Draco sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her back to try to comfort her. She wrenched herself away from him. "I definitely deserve that," he said. "Hermione, I am really sorry. I didn't mean that, but you know how my father is and everything."
"No, Draco, I don't. Maybe you should explain again," she retorted angrily. "Maybe I don't understand why you have to be such an asshole to me. Do you know how much that hurts? You are my best friend in the whole world. I put you before Harry and Ron. How could you say that to me?"
"I do know how much it hurts, Hermione. What do you think I felt like when you ditched me for Weasel and Scar-head this summer? I was torn! The summer is supposed to be our time, but that obviously does not matter to you." The anger he was feeling was apparent in his eyes and in his voice.
"You know that is not true, Draco Malfoy! You know damn well that I would much rather spend my summer with you than with them, but they begged me to go. They said I had to! I wrote you every day!" More tears flowed from her eyes and down her already stained cheeks.
"You could've said 'no,'" he said defiantly crossing his arms over his chest.
"I wish I could've, Draco. I wish I were as strong as you. I wish that I wasn't able to cry."
Draco shook his head. "I don't want to ever hear you say that again. Understand me? I wish I could cry, believe me I do. I'm like a damn stone! No one knows what I feel. It's like a disease in which there is no cure."
Hermione wrapped her arms around her friend's neck. "I'm so sorry, Draco," she managed to say through a sob.
He returned the hug. "There's no need to be. Look, we still go Christmas, right? We'll have fun."
Hermione laughed a little and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. "Yeah we will."
"And I guess you can spend the summer with those two dolts you call friends if you have to, and I really can't do anything to stop you."
"And if you have to call me Mudblood or some horrible name, I guess you don't have much of a choice either."
Later on that year when Hermione was petrified, Draco was distraught. Every night before he went to his dorm he would accidentally on purpose wander into the hospital wing and sit by Hermione's bedside for a while. Madame Pomfrey didn't mind. Dumbledore, along with the rest of the staff knew about their friendship, although they would never let Draco or Hermione know that.
~
The next summer, Hermione spent most of her time with Draco until the last few days. They made every minute they spent together memorable. They felt like they were six again- young and innocent. Those were the days.
When they returned to Hogwarts, they once again transformed into their alter-selves to please all of the wizarding population. The only time Hermione almost blew their cover was when Draco was bitten by Buckbeak. She was the first to run to open the gate of the paddock so that Hagrid could run straight up to the castle.
Draco was glad that she had helped him and told her so when they met in their room. He had also told her that he'd be milking his injury for all it was worth, and she promised not to tell anybody.
She made up for her little slip up though when she slapped him for insulting her, Harry, and Ron. She apologized numerous times even though he insisted that he was fine, just a little shocked.
Draco never told her, but he always worried when she went off on adventures with Harry and Ron. He was afraid of the danger she put herself in. If she were ever caught by Voldemort, there would be nothing he could do.
~
The next summer was the Quidditch World Cup. Of course Hermione went with the Weasleys, leaving Draco to go with his parents. The Malfoys, of course, pretended that she was the filthiest thing they had ever seen although they did send an apology note after the match. Both Lucius and Narcissa thought that she was a truly wonderful young lady.
Draco, of course, warned her to keep away from the Death Eaters when they made their unwanted appearance, although he did so in a cruel and demeaning way so that Harry and Ron wouldn't get suspicious.
That was also the year of the Triwizard Tournament and the Rita Skeeter articles. It was also the year that Hermione and Draco had come up with a brilliant plan to fix her teeth and make it look like an accident.
Draco provoked Harry in the hall. He had promise to hit Hermione with the curse so she could go to Madame Pomfrey and get them shrunk to a normal size. Draco was skeptical at first, but it turned out all right, and he was happy afterwards because she was happy.
Draco invited Pansy Parkinson to the Yule Ball that year because he couldn't ask Hermione. He would have if it weren't for the fact that he was a pureblood and she was a Muggle.
Draco had liked Viktor Krum before he had asked Hermione to the Yule Ball. There was nothing he wanted more than to strangle Krum that night. It was a jealousy thing really. Krum was able to have her whereas Draco couldn't even get close.
~
The summer of fifth year, Hermione spent hardly any time at all with Draco, even though she wrote him as often as possible, which wasn't very often. All he knew is that it was something that had to do with a lot of secrets and Dumbledore.
He became, if anything, more of a bastard that year with the whole Professor Umbridge situation and all. Hermione told him that she wasn't very fond of his new attitude, but he had to since the Dark Lord had made his return.
At the end of the year, she had to face Lucius Malfoy in Death Eater mode, which landed him a term in Azkaban.
~
Now that some key events from their first five years in Hogwarts have been re-played, Draco and Hermione can be found in Draco's room.
Hermione was crying on Draco's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Draco," she sobbed. "I never meant to get your father into any kind of trouble. I didn't mean to get him landed in Azkaban."
"Shh. It's all right. There are no dementors there anymore. He'll be out by next week. Let's talk about something else." He stroked her hair. He had never liked to see her cry. "How are things going with Krum?" Just the thought of Viktor Krum being with Hermione made him want to hurl, but he was supportive of her decisions.
"H-h-he's an asshole!" she wailed sobbing harder. "He broke up with me! Said I wasn't what he needed. Someone older and more experience.some bullshit like that."
Draco didn't say anything, but it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his chest. She was now free for him to make his move. After almost sixteen years it was long enough.
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy looked down at their newborn son. He had beautiful silver-blonde hair, just like his father, and the most vivid grey eyes. He hadn't cried at all when he was born or when the doctors cleaned him, just stared around at everybody.
"Look at the little dragon," Narcissa cooed. "He is already so strong. What do you think we should name him, Lucius?"
Lucius looked down at the beautiful baby boy in his wife's arms. "How about Draco? You said yourself that he's a dragon, and the name will suit him well. Why don't you choose the middle name?"
Narcissa's eyes clouded over as she thought about her previous boyfriend. James Potter. He had broken up with her for Lily Evans, but she felt that a part of her heart was still with him even though she truly loved Lucius. "James. It has a good ring to it, don't you think? Draco James Malfoy."
Lucius smiled a genuine smile. It was a very rare occurrence. "I like it. Draco James Malfoy it is then."
The young couple smiled happily at each other and the small child that was being held between them.
"Lucius, dear," Narcissa said softly. "I don't know if I want Draco to grow up around all of the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. You can continue to go to the meetings of course, but I don't want him to witness all of the torture that goes on at such a young age, and so much happens at out house. I think that we should move into a Muggle community until he is ready to deal with that kind of thing."
Lucius looked down caringly at his wife, whom he loved dearly. "We will do whatever you think is best for the well-being of our child."
Narcissa smile and kissed her husband on the cheek. "Thank you, Lucius."
~
Three weeks later, the Malfoys moved into a Muggle community right outside of London. The houses were all very large. It was evident that only the wealthy lived in that part of town. It didn't take them long to move everything into their new house. Magic was truly a wonderful thing.
About two hours after they were settled, the doorbell rang. Since Narcissa was busy feeding Draco, Lucius got up to answer the door. A young couple with a young baby girl was standing outside.
"How may I help you?" Lucius asked politely even though he had the urge to whip out his wand and put the family out of their misery right then and there.
"Hello, we're the Grangers," said the husband. "We live next door. I'm Greg, and this is my wife Annabelle and my daughter Hermione. We saw you move in and thought we'd come over to welcome you and to see if you need help with anything."
Lucius shook both of their hands. "It's nice to meet you. I am Lucius Malfoy. My wife Narcissa and my son Draco are inside. Please come in."
The Grangers stepped over the threshold into the house that was almost identical to theirs save for the furniture arrangement.
"Narcissa dear, this is Greg and Annabelle Granger and their daughter Hermione. They are our new neighbors," Lucius informed his wife, who had finished feeding Draco.
"Hello," she said happily shaking their hands. "How old is your daughter? She appears to be about Draco's age."
"Almost two weeks," Annabelle answered as she peered at the small child that was cradled in Narcissa's arms.
"Draco is three weeks."
"He's very beautiful."
"As is your daughter," Narcissa replied kindly.
~
As the years passed by, Draco and Hermione became the best of friends. They were inseparable. At school, even at the age of five, Draco would beat up the other boys if they dared to make fun of Hermione. Anyone who wanted to tease her about her teeth or her hair had to go through him first. It worked the other way as well. If anyone would mouth off to Draco, Hermione would quickly jump in and put that person in his place.
The two made a wonderful pair. Many of their classmates were afraid of them and were kind to them out of fear of what might happen.
Home was a different story. Whenever Hermione wasn't around, Lucius would teach Draco magic; simple spells when he was young, but Draco was a very fast learner and a very skilled wizard. As Lucius learned this, he began to teach Draco more complicated spells-dark spells that were only taught to Death Eaters.
He was also taught that because he was a pureblooded wizard he was superior to any Muggle, even Hermione. Draco didn't like that in the slightest, and didn't believe a word of it for a moment, but would never tell that to his father.
~
The summer before he turned eleven, Draco received his letter of acceptation to Hogwarts. He hadn't been surprised and was actually depressed when the owl delivered him the letter. Hermione wouldn't be going with him to Hogwarts. She was a Muggle. Muggles couldn't go to wizarding schools. For the first time in his life he would have to lie to her. He would tell her that he would be going off to boarding school because his father wanted him to get a better education.
When his door burst he didn't even look up. He was accustomed to Hermione bounding him.
"Draco! Draco! Look at this! Look at what I got in the mail! Your mother said that you got one too! Look! Look! Look!" She shoved the piece of parchment under his nose.
He recognized the handwriting right away and his face brightened considerably. "Oh, Hermione this is so great! We still get to go to school together!"
"Yeah, it'll be just like always! We'll be just like we are around here." Draco's face dropped again and his heart plummeted. "Right, Draco?" she said hesitantly seeing the look on his face.
He looked up at her with a sad look in his eyes. "No, Hermione, I'm afraid that things will not be like always once we start there. You see I am a pureblooded wizard, which means that I come from a family of all witches and wizards. There has never been a Muggle, or a common person in my bloodline.
"I know that this may be hard for you to understand, but you are very smart. My father takes pride in being a pureblood and he doesn't think that I should associate with Muggles. He makes an exception for you. He likes you, he really does, but we won't be able to be friends at Hogwarts. We will be sorted into separate houses. We will have to fight with each other. It will be nothing like we are here."
Hermione looked sadly at her best friend of almost eleven years. "But will we still be able to talk in private? You're my best friend in the whole world, Draco. I don't want things to be any different at our new school."
"Of course. We'll find somewhere where we can talk without having to act in front of everybody else."
They smiled at each other. Both clearly understood that going to Hogwarts would be difficult on their unbreakable friendship, but they would do whatever they could to stay friends forever.
~
The Malfoys took both Draco and Hermione to Diagon Alley that year. Narcissa took Hermione around while Lucius mainly stayed with Draco. That was the day he met Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, the sons of two of his father's friends.
Lucius told Draco that they were to be his friends while at Hogwarts. He also said that he wanted to stay away from Hermione around large groups of people. If he did happen to get near her though, he would have to make fun of her and put her down.
~
The train ride that first year was very long. Draco felt utterly empty without Hermione by his side. He couldn't hold a conversation with the oafs his father wanted him to befriend. Instead of friends, he decided that he would use them as bodyguards, even though he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.
As the year passed, he insulted Hermione and her friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, but would apologize when they were alone. Many times Hermione lied to her new friends so she could meet with Draco. When she had said she was going to the library, it was usually to meet him and search the castle for a secret room that they didn't think anyone would find.
They eventually found the perfect room that they were sure nobody knew about. It was in the corner of the large library. There were hardly any books at all on the bookshelf. It appeared as if nobody had been back there in at least two decades. They were talking back in that corner because they figured that no one would see them. Draco leaned against the shelf casually and fell through. Hermione was about to scream, but Draco put his hand over her mouth and pulled her through as well.
The room was large, and painted a dark shade of grey. There was a large bed, a desk, many bookshelves, and a few chairs and couches.
They had found their secret room and would go there whenever they needed to be alone. Whenever one was there the other could almost always be found sitting silently either reading or doing homework or just thinking.
~
Over the summer they were once again inseparable.until Hermione was invited to stay at the Weasley's that is. Of course she accepted, but almost reluctantly because she didn't really want to leave Draco.
Draco was hurt when she left, but he didn't show it. He was stronger than that. He was a dragon. There was a fire inside of him that no one else in the world possessed. No one but him, Draco Malfoy.
That was a hard year for both Hermione and Draco. It was the first time he ever used the name Mudblood when talking to her. He deeply regretted it afterwards.
When he found her, she was in their room. She was sitting with her back against the headboard of the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, head on her knees, arms wrapped tightly around herself. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes. She was sobbing loudly.
Draco sat down next to her on the bed and put his arm around her back to try to comfort her. She wrenched herself away from him. "I definitely deserve that," he said. "Hermione, I am really sorry. I didn't mean that, but you know how my father is and everything."
"No, Draco, I don't. Maybe you should explain again," she retorted angrily. "Maybe I don't understand why you have to be such an asshole to me. Do you know how much that hurts? You are my best friend in the whole world. I put you before Harry and Ron. How could you say that to me?"
"I do know how much it hurts, Hermione. What do you think I felt like when you ditched me for Weasel and Scar-head this summer? I was torn! The summer is supposed to be our time, but that obviously does not matter to you." The anger he was feeling was apparent in his eyes and in his voice.
"You know that is not true, Draco Malfoy! You know damn well that I would much rather spend my summer with you than with them, but they begged me to go. They said I had to! I wrote you every day!" More tears flowed from her eyes and down her already stained cheeks.
"You could've said 'no,'" he said defiantly crossing his arms over his chest.
"I wish I could've, Draco. I wish I were as strong as you. I wish that I wasn't able to cry."
Draco shook his head. "I don't want to ever hear you say that again. Understand me? I wish I could cry, believe me I do. I'm like a damn stone! No one knows what I feel. It's like a disease in which there is no cure."
Hermione wrapped her arms around her friend's neck. "I'm so sorry, Draco," she managed to say through a sob.
He returned the hug. "There's no need to be. Look, we still go Christmas, right? We'll have fun."
Hermione laughed a little and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. "Yeah we will."
"And I guess you can spend the summer with those two dolts you call friends if you have to, and I really can't do anything to stop you."
"And if you have to call me Mudblood or some horrible name, I guess you don't have much of a choice either."
Later on that year when Hermione was petrified, Draco was distraught. Every night before he went to his dorm he would accidentally on purpose wander into the hospital wing and sit by Hermione's bedside for a while. Madame Pomfrey didn't mind. Dumbledore, along with the rest of the staff knew about their friendship, although they would never let Draco or Hermione know that.
~
The next summer, Hermione spent most of her time with Draco until the last few days. They made every minute they spent together memorable. They felt like they were six again- young and innocent. Those were the days.
When they returned to Hogwarts, they once again transformed into their alter-selves to please all of the wizarding population. The only time Hermione almost blew their cover was when Draco was bitten by Buckbeak. She was the first to run to open the gate of the paddock so that Hagrid could run straight up to the castle.
Draco was glad that she had helped him and told her so when they met in their room. He had also told her that he'd be milking his injury for all it was worth, and she promised not to tell anybody.
She made up for her little slip up though when she slapped him for insulting her, Harry, and Ron. She apologized numerous times even though he insisted that he was fine, just a little shocked.
Draco never told her, but he always worried when she went off on adventures with Harry and Ron. He was afraid of the danger she put herself in. If she were ever caught by Voldemort, there would be nothing he could do.
~
The next summer was the Quidditch World Cup. Of course Hermione went with the Weasleys, leaving Draco to go with his parents. The Malfoys, of course, pretended that she was the filthiest thing they had ever seen although they did send an apology note after the match. Both Lucius and Narcissa thought that she was a truly wonderful young lady.
Draco, of course, warned her to keep away from the Death Eaters when they made their unwanted appearance, although he did so in a cruel and demeaning way so that Harry and Ron wouldn't get suspicious.
That was also the year of the Triwizard Tournament and the Rita Skeeter articles. It was also the year that Hermione and Draco had come up with a brilliant plan to fix her teeth and make it look like an accident.
Draco provoked Harry in the hall. He had promise to hit Hermione with the curse so she could go to Madame Pomfrey and get them shrunk to a normal size. Draco was skeptical at first, but it turned out all right, and he was happy afterwards because she was happy.
Draco invited Pansy Parkinson to the Yule Ball that year because he couldn't ask Hermione. He would have if it weren't for the fact that he was a pureblood and she was a Muggle.
Draco had liked Viktor Krum before he had asked Hermione to the Yule Ball. There was nothing he wanted more than to strangle Krum that night. It was a jealousy thing really. Krum was able to have her whereas Draco couldn't even get close.
~
The summer of fifth year, Hermione spent hardly any time at all with Draco, even though she wrote him as often as possible, which wasn't very often. All he knew is that it was something that had to do with a lot of secrets and Dumbledore.
He became, if anything, more of a bastard that year with the whole Professor Umbridge situation and all. Hermione told him that she wasn't very fond of his new attitude, but he had to since the Dark Lord had made his return.
At the end of the year, she had to face Lucius Malfoy in Death Eater mode, which landed him a term in Azkaban.
~
Now that some key events from their first five years in Hogwarts have been re-played, Draco and Hermione can be found in Draco's room.
Hermione was crying on Draco's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Draco," she sobbed. "I never meant to get your father into any kind of trouble. I didn't mean to get him landed in Azkaban."
"Shh. It's all right. There are no dementors there anymore. He'll be out by next week. Let's talk about something else." He stroked her hair. He had never liked to see her cry. "How are things going with Krum?" Just the thought of Viktor Krum being with Hermione made him want to hurl, but he was supportive of her decisions.
"H-h-he's an asshole!" she wailed sobbing harder. "He broke up with me! Said I wasn't what he needed. Someone older and more experience.some bullshit like that."
Draco didn't say anything, but it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his chest. She was now free for him to make his move. After almost sixteen years it was long enough.