A/N: this is my first fan fiction so please review and let me know what you think, but please no flames…no one is twisting your arm to read it so if you really don't like it then just don't read it. This story is set after HBP however, although it does contain certain "spoilers", it does not follow the storyline set up for book 7 (aka the Horcuxes etc.) and the kids are returning to Hogwarts for their last year. The first chapter/prologue contains specific quotes from HBP so if you have not completed the book yet, perhaps it might be wise to wait until after you do before continuing…thank you and I hope you all enjoy! (PS I have seven chapters already written so updating will go fairly quickly)

After running for what felt like hours after Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy stopped for a moment to think about what had just happened. Snape realized that the boy had stopped following and he turned and retreated back to where Malfoy stood.

"Move it Mr. Malfoy….The Dark Lord is not a patient man." Snape ordered him, but Draco did not move. He slumped to the ground, crouching like an infant. The words from the scene on the tower repeated themselves over and over in Draco's mind…

"Draco, you are not a killer."

"How do you know?" Malfoy said at once. "You don't know what I'm capable of! You don't know what I've done!"

"Oh yes I do. You almost killed Katie Bell and Ronald Weasley. You have been trying , with increasing desperation, to kill me all year. Forgive me, Draco, but they have been feeble attempts….So feeble, to be honest, that I wonder whether your heart has been really in it."

Draco wondered this too, from the moment the old wizard had spoken it.

"There is little time, one way or another. So let us discuss your options, Draco."

"My options? I'm standing here with a wand--I'm about to kill you--"

"My dear boy, let us have no more pretense about that. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it when you first disarmed me, you would not have stopped for this pleasant chat about ways and means."
"I haven't got any options! I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!"

Draco knew this was true. He knew that he could not have killed Professor Dumbledore. The old man was right, Draco wasn't a killer. Sure he was an arrogant jerk and an insufferable pain sometimes but he was a Malfoy! It was expected! But kill someone? Draco knew in his heart that he could never intentionally, in cold blood, commit murder.

"……I can help you, Draco…"

"No you cant! Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice."

"He cannot kill you if you are already dead. Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine…….

Come over to the right side, Draco….you are not a killer…."

Draco heard these words repeating themselves over and over and over inside his head.

"Malfoy! I said move it, " Snape shouted at the boy once again, grasping Draco's arm and pulling him up.

"No," said Draco. "No. I am not doing this. I don't want to be this way. Dumbledore was right, I am not my father. I am no murderer." Without another word, Draco Malfoy disapparated from the spot, leaving Severus Snape standing there looking at the spot the young man had just been standing, with a rather pleased look on his face.

Draco Malfoy apparated with a pop in front of a place that he'd never dream in a million years he'd be standing at this moment. Draco Malfoy was standing back in front of the gates to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he walked back through the wrought-iron gates, he looked around to see the effects of the night's battle. There was a burnt down building where Hagrid's hut once stood. The Dark Mark was still fixed upon the sky above the Astronomy Tower. On the front steps stood someone who he'd definitely never expected to see again, but really never cared about seeing anyway….Hermione Granger. He pulled his hood off his head and slowly made his way across the ground to the entrance doors. He wasn't sure if anyone would accept him back, nor was he sure if they wouldn't kill him on the spot. All he knew was that he could not go back to Voldemort. Dumbledore had offered him a chance and he was going to take it. No more terrorizing innocent people. No more throwing jinxes and hexes at unsuspecting Mudbloods….wait no Draco would have to leave that word behind too. He looked down at his forearm. The mark was still there. There was no way to remove it, at least not any way that he knew of. He knew that once Snape arrived without him, Voldemort would be calling and his mark would burn him but he didn't care.

He looked up towards the stairs again, seeing Hermione sitting there apparently crying. He looked around and (thankfully) did not see Weasley or Potter anywhere in sight. He stopped for a moment and watched her. He knew why she was crying. Professor Dumbledore was dead, Snape killed him, and it was all Draco's fault. He continued his walk, slowly, hoping not to startle her. Not paying attention to where what he was stepping on, he accidentally stepped on a twig. The sound startled her and she looked up. The two locked eyes for a moment and then she jumped to her feet and pulled her wand out, aiming it directly at him.

"Malfoy…," Hermione growled angrily. "How dare you show your face here after what you caused tonight. If I were you, I'd turn your fucking ass around and take yourself back to whatever hell-hole you came from before I personally make you regret you were ever born."

Draco had never in the six years he went to school with her heard her use such language. He knew that her words were not empty threats but he could not turn back. If he turned back, he would die. If he went back, Voldemort would kill him. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at her. He had to figure out a way to keep her from caring out her threats if he were ever going to get wherever it was that he was going, though he still wasn't exactly sure WHERE that was. This was no time to be arrogant, he was here to ask for help.

"Granger," Draco said. "I'm not here to hurt anyone."

"Oh that's rich, Malfoy. You're forgetting one tiny thing…you're a Death Eater! It's your job to hurt people, ESPECIALLY people like me, only you can kick that thought right out of your pathetic little mind because that is NOT going to happen. Try something that's NOT so unbelievable!" Hermione shouted at him.

It was time for a different strategy because obviously trying to talk to filthy little mud….wait no I cant think like that anymore. Malfoy thought angrily to himself. Think!

It was more of an impulse. Still not exactly sure WHY he did it but he found himself kneeling in front of Hermione Granger, putting his wand on the ground in front of him.

"Look, I'm not even armed. You are, you can take my wand if you really don't trust me. I'm here to ask for help, Granger." Malfoy said quietly, still looking up at Hermione, trying to catch her eyes.

Hermione stepped cautiously down the steps and quickly grabbed up his wand, shoving it in her pocket.

"Get up, Malfoy." Hermione ordered. This almost felt good, making him take her orders for once in the six years of torture. "I said get up you arrogant jerk!"

Draco climbed slowly to his feet. Hermione motioned with her wand for him to walk in front of her into the castle. He climbed the stairs and opened the door, stepping through into the Entrance Hall, Hermione following closely behind, never taking her eyes (or wand) off of him. Knowing that Harry and Ron and members of the Order were right there in the Great Hall, she hollered for someone to help.

"Harry! Ron! Professor Lupin! Someone get in here NOW!" Hermione hollered. "Don't even think about moving, Malfoy. Get down on your knees, I must say I rather liked you in that position." Hermione laughed stiffly. Draco obliged, trying not to roll his eyes at his predicament.

The Great Hall doors slammed open. Harry, Ron, and Professor Lupin, along with other members of the Order came darting out the door. They all stopped short when they saw Draco kneeling in the Entrance Hall, Hermione's wand pointed at him.

"What in the hell, "Harry yelled. " Don't just stand there, jinx him or something ! Why did you bring him in here, Hermione! He's a Death Eater! He tried to kill Dumbledore!" Harry rushed across the hall and stopped next to Hermione, his wand now pointing at Draco as well, ready to strike.

"Harry, I- I- I cant., " Hermione stuttered. "I don't know why. I hate him with a passion but I don't know.. Something tells me he's not here to hurt anyone. I mean he came alone after all."

"Well either way, he's still a Death Eater." Lupin said coming towards them. He magically binded Draco's hands and stood him back up. Hermione handed Lupin Draco's wand. "We'll just have to keep a watch on him till after the, um, the memorial. We would take him back to Headquarters, but I don't think that anyone wants to leave him in Sirius'…sorry…I mean Harry's house alone." He led Draco back into the Great Hall where the others were.