A Man Can Change - A Draco/Hermione Story

Questions

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS: J.K.ROWLING OWNS THEM. This is just a fanfic by a huge HP fan.

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Healing Draco took up her entire night. She didn’t get one ounce of sleep that night thanks to the brutal beatings of Blaise and Goyle, but she was happy when she succeeded in healing all of Draco’s injuries, leaving him with slight bruising to his stomach and right thigh, where the deepest of cuts had been.

      They had talked all night long, neither one shutting up at any point. They also, as she noticed, moved from last name to first name basis which took a little bit of getting used to for both of them.

      Hermione kept forgetting that this was once the boy who bullied her through her teenage years at Hogwarts, as he was so different from his former self. But obviously he still had some of his former traits in him, something he probably wouldn’t ever be able to kick, like a muggles bad smoking or drinking habit.

      Draco seemed, to her surprise quite interested in what it was like growing up with muggles, and not knowing that you were a witch or wizard. She told him the story of when she and her parents first found out, the day Dumbledore visited her at her muggle home and told her of a world one could only dream of.

      He seemed interested in her parents as well, and what their professions were in the muggle world. Draco had only ever heard of Dentists, and thought perhaps that this was only a myth. He couldn’t grasp the idea of people fixing teeth without magic, getting right in there and extracting teeth, or filling in holes created from years of decay.

      They spent a lot of time talking about herself, and hardly any about Draco. She thought perhaps, that shutting away his past was his way of coping and trying to bring out the new person within himself.

      One of the only times they did talk about him was when she was healing a cut on his arm, and she spotted the Dark Mark, tattooed and silent on his arm. He noticed her stare and let out a sigh. He looked like he wanted to explain himself, but Hermione already knew he was a former Death Eater, so why did he feel that way?

      She lifted his arm and pulled it towards her, examining the mark she had never seen this close before. It was the ghost of Draco’s past, but very much a contributor to his future today. She stroked her fingers over the dark skull and traced the snake down to the end, as it sprang from the skulls mouth.

      He didn’t pull away, a clear sign that he wasn’t angry at Hermione for getting to close to it, examining it. “Draco...Did it hurt?” She asked quietly. She shivered at the reminder of what someone with one of these once did to her, what Draco’s own Aunt did to her. Bellatrix sure had fun torturing her with the Cruciatus curse.

      “It was...painful. But at the time I ignored the pain, thinking that if I showed weakness in front of the Dark Lord, he would punish me and my family. I didn’t want to let down my Father either, the devoted Death Eater he was. Well, I should say ‘is’.” His brought his right hand up, the one with the snake ring on it, and traced it just as Hermione just had.

      “Are you scared for him?”

      “My father? No. His choices and actions led him down the wrong paths and he deserves to be where he is today. The Dementor’s will set him right.” He choked up a little at his last words, but didn’t cry. She knew he meant his words, but she also knew it would be hard to say something like that to a man who influenced you most of your life.

      They were silent for a little while, Draco looked like he was thinking and Hermione continued fixing that large wound. Eventually his eyes went to hers, “Have your parents ever done anything bad?”