Harry Potter and Future's Past

Chapter 7

The last class of the year just happened to be Potions and Draco Malfoy was still smarting from Potter and Granger making a fool of him the previous night. He could see the mudblood talking to Potter and decided to incite a bit of panic into her. With a sneer at Hermione he leaned over to Crabbe and Goyle and said loudly "Of course, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Now, father's been friendly with the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority for years ‐ old Griselda Marchbanks ‐ we've had her round for dinner and everything…"

"The same exact words he used last time," Hermione grumbled as she remembered the panic that had coursed through her two years ago when he'd said them. "You'd think with what we've changed they would be a little different. Then again small minds have little imagination."

Harry glanced at the ferret and turned back to his wife. He could feel her anger at Malfoy.

Hermione had to bite down the retort she wanted to say to the pompous Slytherin. She knew it wasn't time yet. "I really really hate that Ferret," She growled to her husband. Neville placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her in support. Hermione smiled back. One of the things they had talked about Tuesday night after Umbridge and Malfoy had left the Gryffindor common room was how nice it would be when Neville did better than Malfoy on his OWLs.

"How about if I put him on the spot by betting him you, a muggleborn, will do better than he does on the tests?" Harry asked Hermione.

Hermione was about to agree when a reason not too struck her, "No you better not. His father might be able to bribe someone to make a difference in yours or my grades if his son's honor is on the line."

"Lucius wouldn't do that," Harry replied.

"Do you really want to take that chance over something as petty as this?" Hermione chided him. "Besides by the time he gets the results he will have most likely taken the mark and he won't care."

"Do we try to save him?" Harry asked. "Keep him from taking the mark this time?"

"If you have some brilliant plan to do so I'll listen, but he's not high on my caring about list at the moment," Hermione huffed as she shot another glare at the blond-haired idiot. "There are too many other people who suffered because of him and his father; those are the ones I'm more concerned about. I'd prefer to see him under the same curse his aunt performed on me," Harry could feel her anger surge and then it subsided. "Being the target of his crap again after all we did just brings back all the wrong he did. Think of Bill. Remember his face? Just because the ferret thought his family was more important than the whole wizarding world. He's a coward and I'm not going to waste effort on keeping his arse alive."

"Wow Hermione, language. His mother did save me in the forest."

"Only to save her son, which only proves his mother cares for him even if he is lower than scum," Hermione retorted. "Remember how much your aunt loves your cousin; it doesn't mean he or she is a good person does it? If your Aunt had saved your life for the sole reason of protecting your cousin would that have made up for all the years previously?"

"I..." Harry stopped to think about the analogy and realized the truth of the statement. "True, but let's see where that one leads. If we have some way to keep the mark off Draco without too much effort, we'll try it."