Memories - Dramione story

Chapter 5

Blaise's POV

My first night at Hogwarts as an 8th grader ended up being better than I expected. Even though I had to share a dorm with other houses, things were pretty calm. 

There seemed to be no one left in the dorm but me and Draco, who's bed curtains were still closed. Standing up from my bed, I started preparing myself to go to breakfast. Then, I approached Draco's bed and shut the curtains open. 

«Stand up lazy bastard, we didn't have breakfast yet and we better eat before class», I said in a rather calm way for words that would be considered as being quite harsh by some people.

I watched as he turned in bed and buried his head in his pillow.

 «M'not going», he mumbled. 

«What, are you too scared of what will happen when people discover what you did?», I asked with a mocking tone. 

As soon as I finished my sentence, he stood up and looked me right into the eyes.

«Can you even imagine what a reaction this will cause? If I'm here when people receive the letters, everyone will think that all I wanted was to have the spotlights on me and that all of this was just for show. I better come to such a simple thing as 'breakfast' only when things soften up», he said, anxiety clear in his voice. 

«What you did is very risky anyway, and you know it. Some people will think that you just did it for praise or popularity anyway, and this is especially true for the Slytherins around you», I answered.

«I want at least someone to believe me. If they don't, I would have tried. Even so, I would have deserved the consequences», he told me before sighting and sitting back on his bed. He was clearly desperate. 

«I believe you» was the last thing I told him before exiting the dorm.

Weirdly enough, I was pretty excited to see what today's breakfast would look like, although I worried about Draco a little bit. I entered the Great Hall and sat at 8th-year's table next to Theodore Nott. Filling my plate with food, I observed my surroundings. The mail has not arrived yet. About twenty minutes passed before a first owl entered the Great Hall, landing right in front of Neville Longbottom. Many other owls followed, way more than the usual amount of owls. There were probably more than 50 additional owls. 

I watched as Neville opened his letter, curious to see his expression when he would see that Draco, his ex-bully, had donated him 25 000 galleons. 

...

Hermione's POV

I ate breakfast calmly while I read a book about advanced transfiguration techniques and didn't pay much attention to my surrounding until I heard someone gasp loudly. I lifted my eyes from my book, trying to understand what kind of event could make someone gasp that way. 

The sound seemed to have come from Neville, who was holding a letter in his hand and looked very impressed. Another owl landed in front of him. Slowly, he took the letter that the other owl brought him and opened it. His eyes widened and he froze. Other owls started landing, but I didn't pay attention to them. One landed in front of me, which surprised me, because my parents couldn't write to me after I obliviated them, which meant that I shouldn't receive mail from anyone, knowing that all the people who could possibly write to me were my friends, and they were all at school. I took the letter and put it on the table, ignoring it. I was way too worried about the content of Neville's letters. What could make him react that way? Ron, who had also seen his friend's reaction and who had also received some mail, slowly took the letter out of Neville's hands to read it. Ron being close to me, I could easily read the letter. It was written in beautiful cursive handwriting and was signed by... Draco Malfoy. As soon as I saw Malfoy's name, I started reading as quickly as I could, wondering what kind of bad thing he had written to Neville to make him react that way. 

Dear Neville, 

I know that receiving a letter from me may seem very unexpected, but you have nothing to worry about. I am writing to you because I wanted to tell you that I'm very sorry for all I did to you in the past. I know that no amounts of money will be enough to compensate for what I have done, but this is all I can do; I transferred 25 000 galleons to your Gringotts vault.

Hoping for forgiveness,

Draco Malfoy

I stared at the letter for a while, not being able to believe what I read. The Great Hall was becoming noisier and noisier as people opened their mail.

«Who says it's true? There is no proof that he did it», I stated, skeptic. 

«That's the thing, there is proof», Neville said with a trembling voice after he regained his senses, handing me the other letter he received. 

The letter was from his grandmother. It said that she had received a letter from Narcissa Malfoy explaining the situation, and after achieving to verify the amount of money in Neville's vault at Gringotts, she saw that 25 000 galleons really did get transferred to Neville's vault. 

Ron and Harry also received a letter similar to Neville's. The one that I received was very probably from Malfoy too. I opened it. It was, indeed, from him.

Dear Granger, 

I have not forgiven you for that punch in the face yet. Knowing that you are very intelligent, you probably know what this letter is about. You told me to find a way to prove to you that I'm sorry, so this is what I'm doing, although I would have done it even if we wouldn't have had our conversation from two weeks ago at Flourish and Blotts. I transferred 100 000 galleons in your vault. To be honest, I don't deserve your forgiveness, so you don't have to forgive me, even though it was probably not in your intentions anyway.

In hopes that you don't make any weird assumptions,

Draco Malfoy

When I finished reading my letter, I looked around me, analyzing the situation. The 1st-years were looking quite confused, probably because none of them received a letter from Malfoy and couldn't understand what was going on. They were the only ones that he had never met. The younger the students, the less likely they were to have one of his letters in their hands, probably because he never really talked to them. Almost everyone at our table had received a letter.  Almost all of the teachers had a letter and a shocked expression. Some students were crying whilst others were happy. Most were shocked and a lot of people seemed not to believe what was going on. Malfoy himself wasn't there. From what I understood, he had transferred huge amounts of money to people he had hurt in the past, but why? Did he really feel that guilty for what he had done? How much money did he give? Over 50 people received money from him, probably more, which meant that he has very likely given millions of galleons if he gave huge amounts of money as he did to me and Neville to each one of them. How rich were the Malfoys?

Then, I remembered what he did at the end of the war. I remembered that moment when Harry had jumped out of Hagrid's arms in front of Voldemort while everyone thought he was dead, even Voldemort himself, and Malfoy had run towards him to give him his wand. Draco Malfoy helped Harry Potter. What happened in his head to do this? A change of heart? What could have been strong enough to make Malfoy betray Voldemort at the last second in such a way, guaranteeing him death in case his plan failed? Why, if he disagreed with Voldemort's plans so much, didn't he do anything before? Why do such a move, a move that very probably changed the outcome of the war in a drastic way?

There was one thing I was sure of: I would find out why he did this, no matter what, because there surely was something wrong. There probably was a bigger reason than guilt. 

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