School Exchange (Drarry) ✓

Chapter 11

Draco seemed troubled since he had transferred to Hogwarts. Harry got worried when he was reading deep into the dark arts. Hermione had gotten extremely quiet around him, sometimes even making excuses to avoid Draco.

2 days later, Blaise was still exclaiming about how he couldn't believe that Lucius Malfoy was his father. Draco would either reply with 'you never asked' or a simple shoulder shrug, but never pursued it. Not until Friday night after dinner, at the library, and Hermione was getting increasingly worried with the number of dark arts material on the table.

"Draco, you aren't thinking of actually going into dark arts, are you?" Hermione asked carefully.

"Don't you find it incredibly ridiculous that everything outside of the approved list of spells, a mere 200 page book, is considered dark magic? There's so much more to magic, yet we are limiting ourselves to the simple pieces of magic that make life convenient and fail to push the boundaries and create more possibilities for us."

"Perhaps for good reason, seeing that most spells outside of the approved list can seriously injure people or damage society."

"Just like a miscast confringo, or a merciless aguamenti. It's not the type of magic that matters, but rather the intent behind it." Draco countered. Hermione opened her mouth, then closed it, opening yet another textbook to read. "It's about my father, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure how else to put it but, your father quite literally allied with the dark wizard who killed Harry's parents and threatened to eliminate people like me." Hermione sighed.

"My father is a changed person. A good person."

"Of course you would say that, he's your dad!" Thankfully, no one was around to hear the shrillness in her voice.

"And how are you any better than him, judging him based on one choice that he made without seeing his actions for the past decade, just like how he wouldn't have seen past your blood status in the past?" Draco's voice was low, upset. Harry takes his hand under the table and squeezes. "My parents, they made bad choices. But they have never once taught me to be against non-pureblood magicfolk. And if the dark lord returns, and it's 99% confirmed that he will, it's in our best interests that we are working together. At the end of the day, both sides did horrible things and it's best we own up to those right now, or people like you and people like me will hate each other and that's silent preparation for even more wars ahead."

"I'm sorry." Hermione said finally. "I shouldn't have avoided you for so long."

"That's quite fine." Draco was back to his usual, smiling self. "And the answer for question 3 is boomslang spleen, not skin." He whispered to Harry. Finally loosening his grip on Draco's hand, he almost knocks over a bottle of ink while changing his answer.

***

The Hogsmeade trip with Draco went well. At least, Harry envisioned a minimum of 200 scenarios that could've been worse. Harry brought him to the quidditch shop first, and while Draco wasn't as crazy of a fan as he was, he certainly knew his games and could appreciate the sport well. Lunch went well too, aside from a few strange stares. The most awkward thing was probably how he wanted to hold Draco's hand, but was scared to mess it up. Sure they've held hands in secret, but not longer than a minute. Harry still didn't understand how tightly he was meant to hold on to, and if they should be interlocking fingers and how and everything. Draco, on the other hand, seemed relaxed and happy the whole way through, never running out of things to talk about. He got them both ice cream and insisted on paying for Harry's share 'because he already paid for lunch'.

And now, back at Hogwarts while walking to the great hall, Harry felt as if some tension had been lifted off his shoulders and was happy to see that Draco enjoyed himself.