Because of you

Chapter 17

Hermione, Ginny, and I walk into the Three Broomsticks. I see that Harry is sitting in one corner of the room and Ron is in another. Ginny looks at Hermione and I before walking over to talk to Harry. Ron glares at me, but I ignore him. I'm only worried about Hermione right now. Bloddy hell I hope nothing goes wrong.

"I'll be fine Draco." Hermione whispers before letting go of my hand and walking over to sit across from Ron.

I can't watch this, so I choose to go sit outside. It's a little cold outside, but nothing I can't handle. I'm really nervous right now and I know that I shouldn't be. I trust Hermione completely and I know that she won't take that wretched troll back. She wouldn't to that to me, right? Better yet, she wouldn't do that to herself... at least I hope not. All she did was love him and all he did was hurt her. She wouldn't put herself through that again... would she?

No Draco. Now's not the time to doubt yourself. I shake my head and try to focus again. Hermione loves me. She loves me and not him. He's just trying to get her back but it isn't going to work. It won't. It can't. No matter what he says, she loves me and not him. She won't take him back. Hermione's not that stupid. She wouldn't...

"Draco?" A voice calls from in front of me.

I flinch at the sound of my name and refuse to look up. That voice is so familiar. Too familiar. It aches to know that she's here, but at the same time I've really missed her. Then again, I never thought that I'd actually see her again. After everything with the war and being in a relationship with Hermione, I never thought that my mother would want to see me again.

"Draco? Is that you?" My mother asks again.

"Yes. It's me mother." I say while still staring at my feet.

I'm not entirely sure what to do right now. The obvious thing would be to stand up and see if she hates me or not, but today's already a bad enough day as is and I really don't want to know if my mother hates me. It's been so long since I've seen her. It seems like forever since I actually spoke with her. I'm just not sure what to do. Hermione is inside the Three Broomsticks with Ron and here I am, sitting outside with my mother waiting for me to do something. Could this day get any worse?

"Draco dear, please stand up." My mother says gently.

I slowly stand up, but I still refuse to look at her. It's been too long. I'm not sure what to do. I have to tell her about Hermione, but I'm not sure how she'll react. Everything is just too much right now. I'm worrying about how Hermione's talk with Ron is going and now I'm worrying about how my mother will respond when I tell her that I fell in love with Hermione. With a muggleborn?

"Draco," My mother says quietly, "I know. About everything."

"E-ever-everything?" I stutter.

"Of course dear. I haven't forgotten about you. You're still my son and you always will be. No matter who you love."

I stand in shock. I'm not even really sure what to say. There's no way that she could possibly know! Is she toying with me? Does she want me to admit it so that she can hate me forever? What's going on here anyway? Why is she even here? I'm understanding any of this and it's really upsetting me! I just can't think right now!

"How could you know? What are you doing here? Why are you here?" I ask in a rush.

"I've been trying to look after you Draco, that's how I know. I'm here because I have something very important to tell you and I wanted to tell you in person." Mum answers calmly.

"What is it?"

"It's about your father."

I pause for a second. Something about my father? Has he been released? Did he escape? Is he dead? Why does all of this have to happen in one day? Why can't my life just be normal for once? I'm always get in stuck in situations like this one and I have no idea what to do or say right now. I'm not even 100% sure what's going on right now!

"What about my father?" I whisper.

"The Ministry has pardoned his crimes. They've released him Draco." My mother beams.

"That's... that's... I'm happy for you."

I look down at the ground again. My father is out of prison now? He's been pardoned as well? What will he say when he finds out? Worse yet, what will he do? I don't want to see him. He's the one that forced me to be a Death Eater and he forced me to follow in his footsteps. His failures are what caused The Dark Lord to turn to me. I almost died because of him! He almost made me a murderer! I don't want to see him! I can't see him...

"Draco. Don't worry. He doesn't know anything. He does want to see you though." My mother whispers as she puts a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't want to see him." I say firmly.

"Draco. He's your father."

"He's a monster. I don't want to see him!"

"Draco."

"No mother! I won't see him."

"If you change your mind, you know where we are."

"I know."

Mother wraps her arms around me and pulls me into a hug. I hug her back and I suddenly realize how much I've missed this. I've never really thought about it actually. Missing my mother. We haven't really spoken since the war ended so I guess I just never thought about missing her. It aches now though. Now that I remember that she actually does care about me. Now it hurts.

"I'm going to miss you, Mum." I whisper into her shoulder as I try to keep the tears at bay.

"I'll come and visit you every once in a while, Draco." Mum says as she hugs me tighter.

"I'd like that."

Mum steps back, but keeps her hands on my shoulders. She looks at me with the proud eyes that I used to see everyday. I smile at her and she smiles back. We stand there for quite awhile until the door to the Three Broomsticks suddenly bursts open. I turn my head and see Ginny running out of the building, Harry, Hermione, and Ron stay standing just outside of the doors. Hermione looks over at me and I give her a questioning look. She doesn't say anything, she just looks away and stares at the ground. My eyes scan her body to see what's wrong and that's when I realize that...

A/N: Hello! I know! I know! Cliff hanger! Please don't kill me! It will all be resolved in Chapter 19. Chapter 18 is the conversations that went on in the Three Broomsticks and then we'll find out just what Draco realized ;) Thanks for reading! I promise I'll update soon to keep you in as little suspense as possible!