Blood Magic - Golden Trio Era

68. Start of Fifth Year

As she soaked in their large bathtub, her friends filled her in on news that they hadn't told her while in prison. Hermione and Ron were to be the new Gryffindor prefects. Pansy was a Slytherin prefect. Amy thought that was strange considering they were all wanted criminals until that morning. Maybe Dumbledore had a plan afterall... Their new book list came in and one book stood out. Their DADA book looked incredibly basic. Oh well, they were learning much more advanced magic on their own anyway.

That evening, Winky spent most of the time hugging Amy's leg.

The next day they decided they'd all go back to school. They'd already missed the start of term by a week and were eager to get a sense of normality back. Plus, they wanted to publicly reapprear straight away now that they had been 'officially' cleared.

Snape met up with them in the morning and filled them in on the new DADA teacher. She was a Ministry plant and, according to Snape, absolutely insufferable.

He escorted them all into the hall for breakfast. They were quite a large group nowadays. People didn't know what was more surprising. The criminals who mysteriously had their charges dropped or the three girls who had died walking back in beside them.

Amy was getting a little tired of making a dramatic entrance at the start of each year. She saw the new DADA teacher at the front of the hall, she was dressed in a disgusting amount of pink. The woman was glaring at the group with a hateful look. Dumbledore looked at them with a slightly uneasy look. He knew that he'd been unable to help and suspected they'd resorted to extreme measures to have their charges dropped.

They ignored the looks and all sat together at the end of the Slytherin table. It was the only table with enough free space for them all.

Slowly the usual chatter returned to the hall.

After a while, while the group was animatedly chatting, Malfoy swanned over to Amy. He took a seat opposite her. Most of the group looked but continued chatting. They'd all be paying attention to him but wanted to give the impression that they weren't listening.

Amy looked at him curiously. Hermione was on her knee and Pansy to her left, both looked at Malfoy. Helena and Luna on her right just continued their conversation.

"Father says you worked together to have your charges dropped." He said quietly. His usual smug look wasn't present. He wasn't here to peacock, like usual.

"Your father told you?" Amy asked, honestly surprised. Does Lucius know how much Draco likes to boast?

He nodded. "He was impressed. He never complimented a mu- muggleborn before, but he couldn't stop talking about Granger. Apparently the two of you were partners on a particularly hard mission..?" He said, looking at Hermione. Amy was also looking proudly at her. She'd only heard snippets of what had happened. Hermione and Lucius had joint leadership of the operation to subdue some of the higher aurors.

Hermione smiled and nodded. "Despite our wildly different worldviews... I have to admit, your father is extremely talented and efficient."

Draco looked pleased. "What I don't get is why..? You're clearly not working for the Ministry and you're not Death Eaters. Oh don't be surprised, I'm not blind! Of course I know where my father's allegiance lies. I just don't understand why you'd have joint missions..."

Amy smiled and made sure no one was listening.

"Lets just say that myself and Voldemort had a shared interest in seeing the Ministry brought under control..."

A knowing smile passed over Malfoy's face.

"So that's why your charges were dropped..." He said thoughtfully. "So you are in contact with the Dark Lord?"