Dangerous Journeys

Author's Introduction: Welcome to "Dangerous Journeys".

You should think of this as the "dust cover" for this book.

I was totally unhappy with the ending of the Harry Potter series, as were many other people. I felt there were too many loose ends to tie up, and that there had to be a story covering the "missing" 19 years between "The Flaw In The Plan" and the "Epilogue". In fact, of course, there have been many written, and I would like to think this is one of the more probable versions.

I started writing "Dangerous Journeys" on December 10, 2007. I am writing this author's note on July 15, 2008,shortly after the story achieved 10,550 reads on two other sites

My main reason for posting this note before Chapter One, "Sunrise", is that this is a VERY long novel, and like many long stories, it takes awhile to get going. The real plot doesn't even begin until Chapter Five because I feel there were so many loose ends in "Deathly Hallows". I've tried to get most of those out of the way in the first four chapters before launching off into the story of the Ron/Draco/Hermione love triangle and it's effect on the next generation children.

I have spent a lot of time revising the early chapters because, frankly, I did not have enough experience writing fiction when I began this tale. Therefore, I ask, beg, plead with anyone starting this to read at least the first six chapters, and to know that the pivotal chapter in the story is Chapter Nine, "The New World". If you stick with it that long and still don't like this book, I won't blame you for giving it up. I deserve it!

Finally, as we all know, the characters and many of the settings in the Harry Potter Universe are the creation of J.K. Rowling. I don't own them, nor do I make any money from this writing exercise. Any character or setting not found in her seven original Harry Potter books was created by me, but I don't pretend to claim a copyright on anything in this story.

Now, please enjoy "Dangerous Journeys"!

BOOK ONE, PROLOGUE: SUNRISE

They sat huddled close together in the Great Hall, three platinum blonds with thin, patrician faces and lean bodies. Overhead, the enchanted ceiling was turning into a bright and cloudless sky, in marked contrast to the ugly gray yesterday. All around them was a cacophonic mix of grief and celebration as families discovered that loved ones had lived or died, and the bodies of the dead were removed to await arrangements.

The body of the Dark Lord had been set aside, now just the shell of a former Hogwarts student named Tom Riddle, killed by his own failure to understand the dark magic he thought that he controlled. Another fifty-four students, teachers and family members had met their deaths at the hands of his followers in the great war between light and dark, but the light had won and the room was filled with sunlight. The house-elves and teachers, under the direction of acting Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, had begun the process of cleaning and repair, and members of the Order of the Phoenix were working to restore the government of the Ministry of Magic under Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"They will be coming for me soon," said Lucius Malfoy, still imperial in both posture and speech. "There is no way, at least for the present, that I can escape being returned to Azkaban. But at least, they have driven away the dementors and will no longer use them to guard the prison." He looked away from his wife and son. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking, what he was feeling.

"No!" cried Narcissa Malfoy, tears streaming down her face. "We have earned the right to more consideration than that. In the end, we did not support Voldemort. I even turned against my own sister. I saved the life of Harry Potter!"

Narcissa Malfoy had indeed saved Harry Potter's life. When he had first been struck down by Riddle, it was Narcissa who told the former "Dark Lord" that Potter was dead. It was a lie. She had only been interested in getting into Hogwarts Castle to see if she could find their son, Draco.

"And I refused to identify Potter, Weasley and Granger for the Dark Lord at our house," added Draco Malfoy. Draco had spent nearly two years in fear for his own life, and that of his mother. Even now, he held onto her hand as though she might evaporate.

"In the end, it will not matter," Lucius said, sounding more like a deposed king resigned to his fate than the survivor of a terrible war. "We have come to the light too late, I believe...at least too late for me. The dark magic, the racial hatred of Muggles and those who were not pureblood...those things are in the genes of the House of Malfoy and the House of Black. We have done terrible things in their name, and we will be punished."

"It all sounded so grand, didn't it?" he asked his wife. "Surely those of us born of witches and wizards must be superior to those born of Muggles! How can it be otherwise? How can such people deserve magical ability? Weren't we born to rule the world?"

"How wrong! How wrong!" Lucius actually pounded on the table in frustration as he realized for the hundredth time since the fight in the Ministry what a terrible mistake he had made.

"What we must do now is make amends as best we can. We must take whatever punishments may come. We must change the way we think and the way we act. We cannot do it all at once. It will take a tremendous amount of time for each of us, and I do not know if it is possible to change one's very nature. But we must try."

Lucius Malfoy and his family had undergone a serious change of heart in the spring of 1996. After an aborted attempt to use Harry Potter to retrieve a prophesy from the Ministry of Magic, the Malfoy family had fallen out of favor with Riddle. Once one of the top Death Eater lieutenants, Lucius had been reduced to little more than lap dog status. The family home had been seized and used as a headquarters by the dark army, and all three had been physically and mentally abused.

Soon, it became clear to them that Riddle's true objective was to kill them. But, to make it seem justified to his other followers, his strategy had been to force them to accept almost impossible assignments. When they failed, as he was sure they would, then he would make examples of them. From that point on, their only goal had been to survive the war, and when they could, they had chosen paths that actually helped the resistance.

"Draco, my son, you will return to Hogwarts, if they will have you," Lucius continued. "You must complete your education, and finish your seventh year. I think you should concentrate on international relations and Muggle studies. You might even consider studying in the Muggle world after you graduate.

"My dear Narcissa. I will do all in my power to keep you out of prison. You must blame Bellatrix for everything. You must claim that she and I both had you under the Imperius Curse. We will tell them how you helped Potter by fooling Riddle in the Forbidden Forest, and everyone saw that we did not fight this time with the Death Eaters. There is plenty of wealth in our vault. You will have the Manor, and the resources to work for good causes. If you choose wisely, you can restore some honor to the Malfoy name. Do you understand? Do you agree?"

"Yes, Lucius," said the still beautiful and haughty woman, raising her head to look her husband in the eyes.

"Draco, in the long run, it will all be up to you, no matter what your mother and I can accomplish from here," Lucius continued. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father," replied the blond young man. He was obviously not as sure as his words.

"The House of Malfoy was a great House for hundreds of years," Lucius said. "I have brought dishonor on our house because I misunderstood the reasons for our greatness. I thought that blood was more important than good works. I thought that pride was more important than love. I thought that death could be defeated. I thought that dark magic, old magic, was more powerful than the light. In all those things, I was wrong, and I now charge you to undo the damage to our house. Will you try to do that for me, son?

"Yes," said Draco as tears began to stream down his face. He was shaking. It was impossible to tell if it was from remorse or fear.

"I have not been the best of fathers," Lucius said.

"Father, that's not true..." Draco began.

"No, Draco. Hear me out. I have spoiled you in too many ways; taught you that wealth can buy power and success; abused you when you did not do my bidding; exposed you to the greatest dangers imaginable, including the risk of your very soul. Your well-being and happiness were all I ever wanted. I went out of my way to make sure you had everything you ever wanted, but everything we wanted was tainted by our blood."

"I believed that by earning power, even if it was tainted with the dark side, I was earning you a place in history. Instead, I nearly cost you your life. Learn from this. Power is nothing without love. Find true love, and your happiness and power will come from that as it has for Harry Potter."

"Now it is up to you overcome both your nature and your nurture. You are going to be left on your own for some time to come. I am sure they will hold both your mother and me until I can convince them of her innocence. I think your first step must be to make amends with Potter, Weasley and Granger, and I think you must do that at once if you ever hope to achieve a normal life in our world," Lucius said.

Draco looked over in the direction of the large group of redheads. The Weasley family was always easy to spot in large gathering of people. As usual, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were among them. Draco's glance fixed on Granger. He could not believe how defeated she looked. She had been on the winning side, yet everything about her posture and the expression on her face would have passed for the sorriest loser in the war.

He had always thought of her as smart and brave, even when he treated her badly. Now she looked thin and wasted, with her arms wrapped supportively around Molly Weasley. For the first time, he began to see the difference between his family, and theirs.

He had no way of knowing how keenly she felt the loss of so many friends, and of Fred Weasley. All he knew was that suddenly he felt sorry for her. He felt sorry for Hermione Granger who he had tormented and called a Mudblood for six long years. He was not sure what it was, but he felt a silent tug at his heart. Then she looked up and locked eyes with him; he could not hold the glance; he looked quickly away as if caught in something dirty.

Two Aurors approached. The number of people in the Great Hall was thinning out as people were assigned duties, or sought to find privacy and rest. It was nearly mid-morning, and many people had not slept for almost two days.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy," said the youngest one. "I'm Auror Dirk Truncheon. I'm sorry. We've been instructed to take you into custody. All over England, Death Eaters are being arrested while we investigate your roles in all these troubles, and decide what must be done. Will you come?"

The little family rose as one. "We are ready," said Lucius, still proud but resigned to whatever fate had in store for him. The Auror took Lucius' cane and wand. Malfoy stiffened and gave a small bow. Narcissa raised her head proudly. Father, mother and son embraced, and with tears streaming down all their faces, Lucius and Narcissa were led away. No bindings or spells were needed.

As the house-elves and Ministry cleaning crews continued to repair the damage from the Battle of Hogwarts, magically removing the dust and debris, and setting the paintings and armor back where they belonged with waving wands and cleaning spells, Draco made his way down into the dungeon and the Slytherin quarters. He, like everyone else, was exhausted. In the green and silver common room, and in his bedroom, he found he was quite alone. Not another Slytherin had remained to fight on the side of Harry Potter.

DJDJDJ

BOOK ONE, CHAPTER ONE: REDEMPTION

The day after the Battle of Hogwarts was recalled in the memories of virtually everyone in England as one of the most beautiful days ever. It was May in the Muggle year 1998, and spring blessed all with her fullest glory.

Harry Potter had slept for nearly eighteen hours. Kreacher had brought Harry, Ron and Hermione sandwiches, pumpkin juice and pudding in the Gryffindor common room, and all three had crawled off to bed. None of them had slept since they left Bill Weasley's cottage. When he awoke, sun was streaming in through the dormitory windows, Ron was snoring away on the next bed over, and Neville Longbottom was dressing.

"You were bloody brilliant, Neville," said Harry, still stretched out on his four-poster bed. "That was the bravest thing I ever saw, pulling out that sword and killing the snake. And you were on fire! Good for you saving the Sorting Hat while you were at it."

"Nothing compared to you, mate," Neville said, but he had a broad smile on his face. "Just a couple of true Gryffindors at a hard day's work."

Ron snorted. "Are you guys really ready to face the world again?" he asked. He certainly was not. For one thing, there was Fred. For another, he was hungry again. And then, there was Hermione.

"Ron, unfortunately, there is still much to be done," Harry said. "Life isn't very fair, is it? We ought to be thinking about a very long holiday instead of worrying about burying some our family, rebuilding Hogwarts, finishing school and finding careers. I guess I was mental yesterday to think I'd had enough trouble!"

The boys all finished dressing, and as they entered the common room, Hermione and Ginny came down from the girls dorm.

"Where's the rest of the family," asked Ron. He knew Ginny had stayed with Molly and Arthur long into the night.

"McGonagall found them some guest quarters," Ginny said. "We'll have to meet them right away to make some plans about Fred," she added sadly, as a tear formed in her eye. Both Harry and Hermione immediately put their arms around the youngest Weasley.

"How are Mum and Dad," Ron asked. He felt a little guilty about going off with Harry and Hermione to Dumbledore's office, even though he knew it had to be done.

"Torn up," his sister replied. "Mum can't stop crying and shaking, and Dad just can't seem to find any words for anything."

"Ginny...I'm so sorry!" Harry said. "It's all my fault. If you want to be angry with me, I understand. This is my entire fault. I never chose this, but if I had never been born...if he had just left me alone...if he had killed me too..." Letting go of Ginny, Harry turned sadly away, feeling his heart tear as he broke the embrace.

"No Harry." Ginny almost shouted. She hit him on the back, as hard as she could. He staggered from the blow. "It is NOT your fault. We all knew what we were doing. None of us wanted to live in a Riddle world."

"Fred wanted to fight. Do you know he died with a smile on his face? We're sad now. We'll miss him forever. But with or without Harry Potter, every member of the Weasley family was prepared to lay down their life to stop the dark side." Ginny wasn't crying any longer. The look on her face was defiant, but the look in her eyes was one of love. And you, you prat..."

Harry didn't know what to say. He wanted to take her in his arms, hold her, kiss her, and tell her why he had made her stay away from him. But he knew this wasn't the time or place. "You and I have to talk. Not now, though. Take all the time you need. Just know that I love you as much today, maybe more, as the day you kissed me goodbye."

"Maybe I'll let you apologize," she said. There was a long pause as each of the five was alone with his or her own thoughts.

"Listen you guys," Harry said. "I know being with your family is the most important thing you have to do, and it's important to me too. But can we all spend a few minutes here before we go downstairs? I'll ask Kreacher to bring our breakfasts here...I'm still starving!...and I have some things I have to discuss with all of you."

"Kreacher, could you come here to us, please?" asked Harry, and there was a loud crack as the house-elf appeared in the common room.

"Yes, Master Harry. What can Kreacher do for the defenders of house-elves this morning?" the tiny wizened creature croaked in his bullfrog voice. He was still wearing Regulus' gold medallion around his scrawny neck.

"Can you please scrounge us up some breakfast, my friend?" asked Harry.

"Master has called Kreacher his friend!" rumbled the elf, and Harry thought he saw a tear trickle down the long old pointed nose. "We have the kitchen working again, Master Harry. Kreacher and Winky will be right back." Mumbling to himself ("Master has called Kreacher friend. Kreacher does not deserve such an honor from Harry Potter!") Kreacher disapparated with another loud pop, only to return moments later with Winky, and enough food to feed most of London.

"OK, look. We have to make some plans," Harry said. "First off, I'm going to go find McGonagall and see what the plans are for the school. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to finish, and that means coming back here next September."

"That's what I want to do," Hermione agreed. "First, though, I've got to go to Australia and get my folks."

"Yeah, I guess I'll come back too," Ron smiled. "School's not my favorite thing, but I'm not sure what else I want to do. It's either that or try out for the Cannons! And, Hermione is not going to go to Australia by herself, either." They smirked warmly at each other.

"I don't know if I can even think right now," Ginny said. "There's Fred and Mom and Dad to think about. And then," she said, turning towards Harry, "there's you!"

Harry felt his face turning a burning red. "Uh, Gin, we'll talk about that last part just a little later, but one thing...I only broke up with you to protect you, and I do want you back if you'll have me!" Once again, there was an embarrassed silence in the red and gold room. Ginny started to cry again. "Harry, you know that's all I want," she said. "We can work it out, I know we can."

"All right, hopefully we'll all be back at school, so that's settled. Now, second, I've got to talk to the Malfoys. "I don't know how genuine their turn around really is, but it seems to me they've only been doing what they were doing out of fear. Draco really helped us out when he confused Riddle at their house, and I told you how Narcissa lied to him in the Forest, even if it was only because she wanted to find Draco.

"I think if we are all coming back, and they have really turned towards the light, we are going to have to help Draco," Harry said.

"What! No! That prat!" exclaimed Ron.

"Light side or dark side, he IS still an egomaniacal ferret face," added Hermione.

"Yeah, but I think his parents are going to be out of the picture for awhile," said Harry, "and if we are truly going to rebuild Hogwarts into the kind of place we all want it to be, I think we are going to have to find a way to include Draco Malfoy in our plans."

"I don't like it," Ron shouted. "We can't trust him. He'll say whatever he thinks we want to hear just to get in. He's Slytherin. They're experts at getting what they want, no matter how, and no matter who they hurt along the way."

"It's not easy for me to accept him either," Hermione said. "Here's the thing. Now that the war is over, our main goal has to be helping things get back to normal. We have to help rebuild the school. That's why it's wicked that all of us want to come back together, but it's also why we will need Draco Malfoy. Maybe you think we can bring back the school without Slytherin House, but I don't. It's not Hogwarts without all four Houses. That's why we need him if they'll let him come back, because, believe me, they are not going to allow most of the Slytherins back in school."

"There's an old Muggle saying, 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer!' and that's what we need to do here. I know he's treated us like shite, but now we need to turn him around, maybe even make him our friend. With his help, we can change the way things have been between the houses. Without him, it all goes back to the way it was during the war."

"You might think this is too sudden a change of heart for me, but I've been thinking about it a lot the past year...not Malfoy so much...but the whole school situation," Harry said, "and I think this is part of the answer, depending on what McGonagall tells me."

"What about you, Neville?" asked Harry.

"I don't really know," Neville said. "First off, some of us in the DA were here all year, but I don't know if we're going to get full credit. If we do, I suppose I graduate, but Professor Sprout has offered me a herbology graduate assistantship, so I think I'll be here next year either way. Right now, my main priority is to find Gram and then go see my folks in the hospital."

"OK," said Harry. "Let's do this. Ron and Ginny, you've got to be with your family. Let me know what the plans are for Fred as soon as you all decide. Hermione, can you please contact Luna, Cho and the other DA members. Maybe Neville can help you once he touches bases with his Gram. I need to know who is still around and what they are going to do."

"Certainly," said the smartest witch of her age.

"Also, I need you stay here a minute more, Hermione," he said. "I need a private word."

"I'll deal with McGonagall, the other teachers, and as many of the other families as I have to," said Harry. "The main thing I want to do is just get back to being plain Harry Potter, Hogwarts student. I've had enough of this "Chosen One" business, and it's someone else's turn so far as I'm concerned," he added.

"Well, I wouldn't plan on staying out of the "Daily Prophet" just yet, if I were you," Hermione said with a smirk. "For one thing, I think I've been noticing a green-shelled beetle crawling around on the window sill over there, and think that damn Rita just now flew out the window!"

DJDJDJ

"Hermione, I'll need your help tomorrow morning," Harry said once they were alone. I want to put the Elder Wand back with where it belongs, and that means I need to get into Dumbledore's tomb. Then I need to close it up so no one will get in again."

"The Hallows have to be our secret. I don't want anyone to know what they are, or what has become of them. I don't even want Ron to know where the stone and wand are. They might be a huge temptation to any witch or wizard who knows too much about them. You're the only one I trust."

"Sure, Harry, you know you can count on me." They gave each other their biggest hugs. "Let's get down to breakfast and get some more food that isn't based on mushroom stew!"

After breakfast, Harry found Acting Headmistress Minerva McGonagall in her old office, apparently attempting to enchant some paperwork back into its files.

"I thought you might be upstairs in the Headmaster's rooms," Harry said, as he knocked on the side of the door.

"Ahh, Mr. Potter! Just the man I most need to see right now," she said.

"And I you," he replied. "Too many people are looking to me for answers and I don't know anything. What are the plans?"

"The price of being heroic, I'm afraid," McGonagall answered. "Well, first of all, I don't think we can finish this school year. There are too many families with too much tragedy to attend to. Also, I do not think we can complete repairs quickly enough. There is a gargoyle lying on its side by the Headmaster's door who can barely function!"

"What I am going to recommend to the Board of Governors, once we find out who they really are now that this over, is that they grant advancement to all the students who actually were able to attend the whole year," she said. "Of course, that means that you and Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger still have a seventh year to complete."

"We've already talked about it, and that's what we want to do," Harry said with a smile. "Frankly, for Hermione and me, even though we're almost adopted children to the Weasleys, Hogwarts is more close to a home than anywhere else. Hermione, though, is going to retrieve her Mum and Dad."

"Good, good!" exclaimed the Headmistress. "Now, Miss Lovegood completed less than half a year, so I am going to suggest she repeat. And then, that brings us to the problem of Draco Malfoy. I don't know how you feel about them, but his mother and father are criminals, and regardless of any recent changes they may have made in the ways they think, they are going to have to pay a price for their past actions. Strictly speaking, Lucius Malfoy is nothing more than an escaped felon as it is. I am not yet certain how we want to treat Narcissa and Draco."

"I think I'll want some input into that if possible, Professor," Harry said. "I plan to talk to them next. They have done some things you don't yet know about, and I just need to get a couple things straight with them."

"Of course, dear boy!" McGonagall said. "I know if he were still with us, Dumbledore would want, and would accept, your judgment. I'll make sure you get your say with the staff and with the Board. So you think we should probably plan to try to re-admit and reform Draco?"

"I don't yet know for sure," Harry said, "But I'm leaning that way. I think we will need those Slytherins who no longer rely on dark magic if we are going to rebuild Hogwarts."

"Mr. Potter, I could not agree with you more!" McGonagall said.

DJDJDJ

Harry had to ask around, but he found that Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were being held in a guest room. Next, he went looking for Draco, and found him by himself in the green and silver Slytherin common room. The room was in total disarray, and it looked as though the residents had beaten a hasty retreat, which in fact, they had.

"Hello, Malfoy," Harry said. He tried to offer a smile.

"Come to gloat, have you Potter?" asked Malfoy. He was staring down at his shoes.

"I'm not sure yet," Harry said. "I think that depends on you and your family. I think you should come with me to see your Mum and Dad, and we'll talk about it. I suppose it's no surprise to you that your parents have been arrested?"

"I was there," the blond boy replied. He slid his hands through his silver blond hair as he recalled them walking off with the Aurors.

"Walk with me, then," said Harry, and he led Malfoy through the still dusty castle halls to the room where his parents were being held.

"May we please see the Malfoys for a few minutes," Harry asked the same two Aurors who were now guarding the hallway.

"Should be OK for you, Mr. Potter," said young Dirk Truncheon. "Don't know about him, though," he said, looking scornfully at Draco. "By the way, congratulations. Don't know if I got to say it yet. Hope you're planning to join us some day!" he added.

"Thanks," said Harry. "I think so. Look. About Draco. He's with me and it will be OK. He hasn't got any weapons on him and I don't think we can sneak Lucius and Narcissa past you guys. But I've got to find out some things from these people, and I need Draco just as much as his parents."

"OK, Mr. Potter," said the second Auror. "But please don't be long. To us, these are still very dangerous people."

Harry and Draco were admitted to the room. Narcissa rushed forward, her platinum hair streaming behind her, and threw her arms around her blond boy. Lucius just raised his head, staying in his seat.

It was a small room, but not uncomfortable. It was one of those that had been used to house the Beauxbaton girls during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and was a small bedroom with two twin beds, and a smallish bathroom towards the side. There was a window, and by fortune, it looked out over the lake, where the giant squid was currently doing the backstroke across the rippling water.

"Better quarters than Azkaban, I guess," Harry said. Lucius Malfoy was staring at his toes.

"So, Potter, I see you haven't lost your talent for riposte; come to add to our misery?" Lucius said. "As you often warned me, it looks like I picked the wrong side." He slowly raised his head and looked at Harry.

"Well, Lucius," Harry said, dropping all pretense of respect for the older man, "that's one of the things I'm here to find out. Just how genuine is this supposed conversion of your family?"

"Oh, it's genuine all right," said the father. "Potter, after I failed to get the prophesy from you at the Ministry of Magic, my family and I were living on borrowed time. The Dark Lord..."

"Don't call him that!" Harry exclaimed. "He was just Tom Riddle, a wizard gone bad, not some king of the sorcerers!"

"Have it your way," Malfoy continued. "OK, Riddle then, already doubted me because I had not tried to find him after you survived his killing curse. That's why he tried to use that fanatic Barty Crouch to kill you in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. And then he blamed me again for letting you escape from the cemetery."

"After that, he made Narcissa and me let him use our home as his headquarters. He swore he would kill us in the most painful way he knew if we turned on him, and of course, Sissy's sister was his most trusted disciple. It was almost impossible to work against him. I am not an expert in occlumency, and frankly, no one in our family is very skilled in the mental arts." Narcissa Malfoy stood, walked across the room, and laid her tiny white hand on her husband's shoulder.

"At any rate, he then told Draco that his mission was to kill Dumbledore at Hogwarts, because Death Eaters could not penetrate the school's defenses. Draco tried several things, but was destined to fail, and my son was certain he, his mother, and I were about to be killed. Then Draco found a way to sneak a few Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and Snape killed Dumbledore. But, we had seen by then that Riddle intended to kill us no matter what, and that he would simply cook up another mission at which we would eventually fail. This would have happened, I am sure, even if his plans for domination of the wizarding world had succeeded."

"So, we had little choice but to change sides, although we could not do so openly while Riddle lived." Lucius concluded. Malfoy stood, turned away from Harry, and then turned back and locked his stormy eyes with Harry's emerald orbs.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't have expected an altruistic reason," Harry exclaimed.

"Now, wait," Lucius said, "you must understand. We have seen the error of our ways. I can't say we are completely free of blood prejudices, Mr. Potter, but I think we have learned that it's not so much what you are born to, but the choices you make, that determine who and what you are. We have made some very bad choices. I know I am going back to prison for those choices. But I have asked Draco and Narcissa, if you who have won will accept them, to spend their lives trying to restore some measure of honor to the House of Malfoy. But, even you cannot expect an overnight conversion."

"Potter...you know me. You have seen how I can act. You must know that begging does not come easy to a Malfoy. But I am begging you Potter...pleases give my family the chance at redemption that I don't deserve and won't ask for myself, Lucius said. "If you and your friends can help Draco learn to think more like you, maybe he can overcome the way I raised him, and then he might be saved." Narcissa laid her head on his shoulder.

"Draco," Harry asked, "why did you refuse to identify us for Riddle that night at your house?"

"Ahh, you noticed that did you?" Draco said, still a little haughty. "I may be many things, and many of them unpleasant, but I am not a Judas. I am not a killer. I just don't have that in me. I could not be the one to kill Dumbledore, and I could not send my fellow students, even my greatest rivals, to their deaths. I could not have that on my conscience. We have been involved in these dark things as a matter of survival, because my insane aunt would have been the first to kill us if she suspected disloyalty. We have wanted power, it is true, but mostly, we just want to live."

"Narcissa, I know the only real reason you told Riddle I was dead was because you thought it was the only way he would let you go to Hogwarts to find Draco," Harry said. "But you must have known that if you let me fool him, I would destroy him in the end. Was that truly your plan? You must have known he would kill you all if I failed. Some gamble on your part, I'd say!"

She smiled faintly. "I thought it was our only hope," Narcissa said. "I just thought if I could get you a second chance, perhaps you would win. I had no idea that it was always your intention to sacrifice yourself, or the reason why. None of us knew about Riddle's horcruxes, although perhaps we should have figured it out. I didn't know if you were truly strong enough to defeat him, but I knew if you did not, the House of Malfoy would die."

"We are not perfect people. You could not grow up a Black, and not believe at least a little of what the old families believed about blood purity, and the superiority of wizards over the rest of the magical world. But I no longer believe those things. I have seen how evil those ideas are. Lucius has asked me to use our wealth to help make the world a better place, and if you will help to guide me, Harry Potter, that is what I plan to do."

"You know, Sirius and Regulus grew up as Blacks, and they were able to disavow blood purity. We can do it too. I would be most happy if you, of all people, would look after Draco for a while. Perhaps, with your guidance, he will see what you see in the world. Who knows? Perhaps you will even be associates, if not friends, one day."

"OK," Harry said. "These are the things I was hoping to hear. It's a lot better than a bunch of threats and lies, you guys! And, I do believe most of what you say; at least, I believe you believe it. I'll talk to my friends, the Order, and the Ministry, and we will see what we will see. Draco, will you come with me for minute, please. I'll see if the Aurors will let you come back when I'm through with you."

Outside, Harry took Draco far down to the end of the hall, outside of hearing range for the guards.

"Draco, the others and I talked this morning. We want you to come back to school if the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic will permit you to enroll. There will be a hearing, I'm sure. All of us are going to speak in your defense. Will you pledge yourself, right now to me, to come back and help us rebuild?" Harry said.

Malfoy looked at Harry for a long time. He seemed to be considering whether or not there could be a trap somewhere in the question. He and Potter had hated each other for so long that it seemed almost incredulous that "The Chosen One" was now offering him another chance.

Then his thoughts turned to Hermione Granger. Here was someone who he had always though of as inferior. A girl. A Muggle-born. A bookworm. Average looks. Why was he so damn fascinated with her? Why did he see this offer as not just a chance to redeem the family name, but a chance to get to know Hermione Granger? Was that what he really wanted.

"OK, Potter. We may not be friends yet. But I see what needs to be done, and Father has asked me to return respect to our name," Draco said. "Yes, if you can get them to let me back in, I will work with you and the others, and we will see what the future can bring us."

At that moment, the Earth rotated around to a position so the Sun shown brightly through the window at the end of the hall, casting brilliant light on the smiling faces of Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and Draco Malfoy, who had once been his enemy.