Always

Trouble

It had been a while, they were all sitting there and talking. Draco had started to take part in conversations and was now quite comfortable. Sometime later, they were joined by Harry and Ron. All the time, Harry eyed Draco with great suspicion; his doubts grew even more when he saw Draco laughing with his friends. They were his friends. He would never let Malfoy hurt them, ever again. He waited until they had all gone to dance again. Now only Harry, Draco and Hermione were sitting there.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry growled.

"Harry, I don't think this is the right-" Hermione began, but Draco cut her off in midsentence.

"Thank you, Hermione-" She gasped, for she had not heard her name taken with such politeness from Draco. "- but I think I'll answer him myself.

"Er...Harry, I'm just here to say that I'm...er...sorry for all that I did. And I want to start a new life.... With friends." His own words sounded distant and alien to him, as if they were spoken by someone else. Saying all this had taken a lot of courage and determination. He had almost decided to not say any of this, just keep his old sneer on his face and walk out of the party. But the friendly nature of Ginny, Luna, and Hermione had boosted his confidence and given him hope. Hope, that things could be normal for him too.

He was determined to not let anyone ruin the probably happiest day of his life.

Harry decided not to react. His scowl remained intact, and he simply turned to leave to go to Ginny, leaving Hermione and Draco standing there.

Seeing Harry leave, Hermione turned to Draco, unsure of what to say. She really did believe that Draco had changed. She could see it in his eyes. They were full of guilt and remorse.

"Draco-" She began.

"No, Hermione. Let it be. I know how I've been all these years. It'll take a lot more that my apology to make everyone to believe that I've changed. Thanks for believing in me. Frankly, I was I bit surprised when you were being civil to me. And...."He hesitated. "I'm sorry for behaving the way I did to you, all these years... I shouldn't have called you a 'mudblood' or- or anything that I did. And if it means anything to you, you're the brightest witch of our age that I've met." Saying this, he left to get a drink.

Hermione stood there, flummoxed. She could not have expected this from Draco. It made her believe in what she thought.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny had been dancing slowly when Ginny asked, "So, I saw you standing with Draco earlier. How'd it go?"

"I don't trust him, Gin. I know you do now but-"

"Who said that I do? I don't fully trust him, harry. But I saw loneliness in his eyes, harry. And I don't want that to happen to anyone. Not even Malfoy. So I decided to give him a chance. Anyways, I do believe that he has changed, even if it is a teeny tiny bit. It shows in his body language. No one is that good an actor, Harry. I have decided to trust him, and I think you should too."