Anyone But Me

Chapter Twenty-Two

She sat there quietly, waiting for him to begin. Hermione knew the answer must be multifaceted. You didn't make such a choice lightly, or for just one reason. That would make it all the harder to start in such a way that she would be able to understand, so she stayed silent. Allowing him the time he needed to gather his thoughts.

The heat in the room made it feel like there was roaring fire only a few feet away even though the fireplace remained unlit. It had to be another bit of magic that the Room of Requirement held because the rest of the castle was drafty and most students resorted to multiple layers to fight off the chill. She removed her hat, gloves and cloak before setting them on the arm of the couch.

When she was finished he leaned forward and put his elbows back on his knees, which allowed his forearms and wrists to hang limply towards the floor. Draco sighed again before starting to talk to the ground instead of directly to her. "I... Could you imagine, if only for a minute, what it would be like to grow up in my world? A... A world where you are told, from the second you could understand, that muggles were not only beneath you but needed to be because they were so dangerous?"

She kept quiet. She knew he wasn't actually seeking answers. He was reverting back to his defense mechanism of asking questions instead of giving a direct answer. Except this time he was answering her...

"What if you were told routinely about what happened during the Muggle World Wars? How they were... How they are able to destroy entire cities in an instant and leave toxins in the very air and water that caused horrific ailments that magic couldn't hope to fix. That it is madness to allow them the opportunity to do something equally as heinous again, even more so because wizardkind is the logical next target for their hatred when the Statue of Secrecy is inevitably broken. Is it so hard to imagine the fear and subsequent anger a young child would have growing up when it came to anything having to do with that group of supposed barbarians?"

He glanced over at her, making sure she was still paying attention.

"Now how would it feel to be told you had to cohabitate with the children of such monsters? The little spies that were sent in to collect intel for their government so the attacks against you and yours were quick and unnoticed. Tainted little abominations that had stolen their magic from a witch or wizard. Would you welcome such potential for evil into your own mists willingly?"

Her eyebrows came together as she seriously considered the implications of everything he said. And it was hard for her to come up with a scenario where she would ostracize a whole group of people, much less an individual, the way Muggleborns were. Especially over something they couldn't control.

As if he could plainly read her thoughts he snorted and continued. "You would... Of course, you would. What about your friends? Could you imagine any of them forgiving and forgetting?"

Her silence was answer enough for the both of them so he just scoffed before continuing. "What if the man you idolized your whole life told you that the only way to protect your family was to learn from the muggles' past and do something preemptive? Enslave the evil and put them in their place so they wouldn't be able to destroy the world with their cruelty. Kill off their spies so they would never be able to rise up and inflict that kind of destruction again... Do you see how that could leave a lasting effect on an impressionable young mind? Especially when the person feeding it to you was your own Father? The man every child is taught to love and respect."

She had started to bite her at her lip as his story of questions went on. It was unreal how badly she wanted to let the anger take hold and floo to Azkaban to hex the ever loving hell out of the man who had brainwashed his son with such a twisted version of the world.