Magnets// Dramione

Once A Gryffindor, Always A Gryffindor

Harry was staring at Hermione flabbergasted. Ginny's jaw was also a little slack but Hermione was more worried about the expression on her best friends face. It was almost like a look of betrayal. "And you said yes?" Harry whispered, though Hermione could tell he was barely controlling the tone of his voice. He probably wanted to scream and shout and possibly run across the Dining Hall to give Draco a piece of his mind, or maybe just punch him in the face.

"The Headmistress asked me to be Head Girl and honestly, it has been one of my dreams Harry. I didn't want to give it up just because..." She paused. She didn't want to say because of Draco but thats where that sentence had been going. She frowned at herself. Obviously, McGonagall had seen something in Draco that Hermione couldn't. She had seen a leader, a good person and while Hermione believed Draco was a leader (he had after all lorded over a small group of Slytherin antagonists for several years) she wasn't exactly sure if Draco had changed enough to be considered a good person.

"But Head Girl with Draco as Head Boy?" Harry demanded. "We hate him." Harry looked so pissed off that Hermione reached out and grabbed his arm across the table so he wouldn't try to do something stupid. Ginny also kept one hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, keeping him in his seat in the Dining Hall.

"It's going to be fine Harry. I'm sure Draco and I can act professional with one another while on the job. I'll just try to avoid him when I'm going to my room."

"And everywhere else in this damn school." Harry said with a huff, gesturing around them. "He shouldn't have come back. I don't know what it is McGonagall sees in him."

"Calm down Harry. You're not the one who is going to have to interact with him. You'll just have to deal with the fact that Hermione does and you're not being a very supportive best friend right now." Ginny chastised. "Hermione just told us she's Head Girl! Isn't that exciting?" Hermione tried to make her smile as wide as Ginny's but could only get it up halfway as high as hers.

"It'll be fine Harry. Maybe Draco has changed. We'll never know unless we talk to him." Harry scoffed.

"I'm never going to talk to that git." He said, going back to eating his food. "I'd rather die... Again." Ginny hit Harry's arm as he shoved a forkful of vegetables in his mouth. Hermione sighed as she absentmindedly picked at the roll on her plate. "But, I am happy for you Hermione." Hermione looked up at him and smiled.

"Thank you Harry."

----

"What's got your knickers all in a twist?" Pansy asked as she sat down next to her best friend in the Dining Hall. Draco gave her an annoyed look as he stared almost menacingly at the food he had placed on his plate. "Somebody take all the good rolls?" Pansy asked, taking a bite out of her own piece of bread, noting that Draco didn't have one on his plate.

"No." Draco grumbled. He had been feeling skittish ever since he got back to Hogwarts. He felt like everyone was staring him down, talking behind his back, calling him a bastard or a wanker for being on Voldemorts side during the battle but Draco had been scared and his parents have always been the ones on his side, up until recently, and he just wanted to feel safe somewhere. He hadn't cared if Voldemort destroyed the school or killed Potter, even though he knew he should have. Draco just wanted to get out of the battle alive and if that meant defecting to Voldemort's side and leaving just as the battle got heated then so be it.

But Draco now realized that made him a coward and maybe it also made him a bastard, a wanker, a git. He had left his friends, his school, unwilling to protect the people he loved or the school he loved all because he feared for his life. Just because Voldemort made him a Death Eater, didn't mean that Draco had to obey him in those final moments. So if people were really talking about him behind his back, it sickened him to know that everything they might be saying, was true.