Another story of fate

Chapter 12

Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom and Dea Amaretto spent two weeks of Christmas vacation together, enjoying their vacation at the Longbottom family estate. Mrs. Augusta graciously allowed her grandson and his best friend to stay, but keep quiet about the presence of the Malfoy offspring. However, Lucius Malfoy himself did not mind keeping quiet about it.
After the incident with the assault, he barely calmed the enraged Marisol, who was ready to sacrifice herself just to break the engagement. The next day, Malfoy Sr. arrived at Hogsmeade and from there made his way to the castle. Scolding his son in the presence of Snape, whom he considered a good friend and ally, Lucius promised that if Draco allowed such freedom again, in the summer he would live in the basements of the house.
Greengrass, Goyle and Crabbe were punished in their own way.  They helped the aforementioned Professor Snape clean the flasks and clean the classroom without using magic until the end of the semester, so, leaving for the holidays, they enjoyed the long-awaited freedom.
Pansy Parkinson got expelled, and then, on reflection, reinstated. Her parents were very angry with their daughter, apologized for a long time to Aurora and Marisol Amaretto, sending them gifts, depriving Pansy not only of Christmas, but also of her summer trip abroad. She was to spend the whole summer in the mansion, without going anywhere. During the holidays, the students noticed Parkinson helping Filch.
Draco remembered with a faint smile the "hard labor" of the Longbottom estate, sitting in the Hogwarts Express.
On the first day Dea and Neville locked him in the library and ran away to play snowballs outside and build a snowman. Mrs. Augusta, gritting her teeth, released the poor boy and gave him hot cocoa. When the pranksters returned, they were very surprised at the pleased Malfoy. Fortunately, they avoided the hassle.
The first week, the guys couldn't find a common language with each other. Draco spoke out against Potter and the company and Neville defended the Gryffindors.  Neville would curse the entire serpentine house, especially Malfoy, who couldn't help but wanted to get into a fight. Dea only made fun of them. Draco publicly apologized, had an educational conversation with his classmates, so no one touched her, and she could not be angry with the obnoxious blonde.
In the second week, Dea's old teachers arrived with Amaretto the elder. Aurora Amaretto turned out to be a woman of advanced years, inside which incredible energy splashed. She not only played various fun games with Neville and her granddaughter, but also managed to teach her and conduct lessons. One evening, after sending the children to bed, she and Augusta gathered in the living room to have a cup of tea.

“I don’t know who Dea went into.” - she confessed to her friend.  - "From childhood she loved to study. Imagine, one day Dea memorized a spell all night and didn't leave the study room. She tried to make every topic we taught her bounce off her teeth."

August, silently, nodded:

“I remember Dea tried to teach a complex spell to Neville, but he never gave in. Then your granddaughter left him, locked in the healer's room. He repeated it, but destroyed the poor thing's abode. It was then that I realized that he was most likely not a squib."

Aurora laughed. She loved her granddaughter with all her heart and tried to put in all the knowledge that remained, so she was happy with the baby's zeal not only to receive it, but also to teach others. Mrs. Amaretto specially invited teachers to help Dea get through the program faster by connecting Draco and Neville to the classes. On them, Malfoy learned that Dea was going through a difficult course, but did not envy. It hurt him that Neville had long been aware of and even supported his girl-friend. Why, then, did he find the obvious information himself only now?
Studying together, Draco could not even imagine how much the girl had advanced in her studies. How many years ago did they start to teach her? Of course, there was a lot Dea didn't know. Sometimes Draco would tell her elementary things, but she was not offended, but eagerly absorbed knowledge. At the end of the class, the teachers gave a joint project, over which the guys worked all night, and handed it over in the morning.
Smiling, Malfoy remembered how angry Dea was that nothing would work out, how Neville reassured her, how he tried to find a solution to help the team.