ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

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"Yes. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Weasley," I held out my hand for her to shake. "Most of the student population knows you from your most recent Howler."

She laughed at this as she took my hand between both of her own. "The best punishment I could deal from home, but it must have done its job. Now though, I'm just happy that Ron and Harry are okay."

"We've heard a good earful about you from Ron and the twins," Mr. Weasley added with a broad grin. "We're forever indebted to you for all you've done for our family. Truly, we cannot thank you enough."

I shook my head quickly. "Oh no, I don't deserve all that, really. That's just what friends do." I sneaked a glance at Malfoy, who met my eyes. "We protect each other."

Mr. And Mrs. Weasley followed my gaze.

"And ah, you're Lucius' boy, are you?" Mr. Weasley asked. He seemed somewhat more reserved, but not any less kind. Malfoy stiffly nodded. Surely, Ron's parents had heard an earful about Malfoy too.

"I am," he said stonily. There was hardly a moments hesitation before Mr. Weasley reached out and clapped Malfoy proudly on the shoulder.

"Thank you too," he said with a smile. "For taking initiative. Dumbledore was telling me how you and Hermione worked together to figure out Slytherin's monster."

I whipped around to stare at him, jaw dropped. He'd worked with Hermione? Of course! That's why he'd known about the note, and about the basilisk and Harry speaking Parseltongue. I felt just as proud as I was surprised — Malfoy and Hermione conducting an investigation together warmed my heart.

Much to my amusement, he seemed just as shocked as I was. His face was red now, as his mouth formed around soundless syllables.

"I— I don't usually — it was really nothing—"

"Oh, but it was everything to us," Mrs. Weasley beamed. "Without it, we could have lost Ginny, and Hermione too. So thank you, dear, truly."

I watched Malfoy flounder for an answer. I couldn't help but smile at his helplessness — I'd never seen him struggle to accept gratitude before. I decided to spare him.

"Will you bring up food from the feast?" I asked. He looked at me curiously.

"You think there will be a feast?" He seemed grateful for the distraction.

"We just killed a basilisk." I smirked at him. "And the others will be waking up any second now. There's going to be a feast."

He stared at me for a few more seconds before responding. "Anything in particular?"

I shook my head. "Surprise me."

An hour or two later, after a shower to wash all the ink and sweat off my body, I was awoken by the sound of voices. I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep, but my ears picked up the sound of Hermione's startled squeal.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going—" she paused. "Oh. Malfoy, it's you."

"Granger." He greeted her. "I'm," he paused too, "happy to see you're awake."

"Well, I'm happy to be seeing at all now." She huffed, sounding amused. "Oh, there's Lila! Is she still—"

"No, she was just concussed. She's getting her rest." Malfoy said meaningfully. Hermione quickly lowered her voice.

"Oh, so that's what the foods for," she noted. Her stomach grumbled loudly. Malfoy snickered, and she promptly hissed at him to "shut up!"

"You should go see your friends again. They miss you." He told her. "I'll tell her you said hello."