It horrifies me that it's been well over a year since I last updated this fanfiction, and I'm disappointed with myself that I didn't keep updating, though I kept on writing. I was on the search for a beta and didn't have much luck securing one. I've been working on my blog for the past year and half, hence why I've barely had the time to look for another beta after another. I had a few chapters written up and ready to go, but I really wanted someone to go through them.

I gave up because I got a review quite recently from an guest reader lightly berating me of abandoning the fanfic and my heart broke because I felt so awful for leaving you all hanging. I'm just going to have to deal with reading my chapters thrice over to make sure there weren't any errors before uploading them.

Draco still couldn't believe his luck. The atmosphere here was entirely unsuitable for it, but he just could not get rid of the grin that was threatening to break his face in half. He walked out of the courtroom a free man on the condition that he assist in the clean-up of Hogwarts, and true to his word, here he was.

No one seemed all too keen to work with him today, shooting hateful glares his way upon as soon as they saw the unusual smile that graced his aristocratic features. It unnerved them to the point where they believed that he was up to no good.

Draco had taken to trailing after Professor, now Headmistress, McGonagall throughout the castle for the first hour as she tried to find a group for him to work with but the search was starting to prove fruitless.

"Draco," McGonagall addressed. "I just remembered that the Astronomy tower has yet to be seen to. The foundation was weakened when the side of the castle exploded so it might be a good idea to work your way up to the top. I don't know how much has been done but there will surely be debris and rubble that needs to be cleared away."

"Sounds perfect to me, Professor." Draco gracefully accepted. Working alone was far better than being critically judged by everyone else, and he couldn't imagine getting any work done if he was forced to work with people that loathed his guts. It seemed that the woman in front of him thought the same too, though she had been rather pleasant to him this morning.

"I'm pleased to hear that. I'll leave you here, I have to go and supervise the courtyard. We found two more bodies under some rubble earlier this morning and it's been dreadful. If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to send me a… can you conjure a Patronus?"

"No."

"Right, just send out some red sparks and someone will be up to help you out." Finished McGonagall. "Be careful and good luck."

Draco nodded and watched the professor as she departed. Just as she disappeared down the stairs he tried to get a grasp of where he was, as it had occurred to him that he lost track of how many floors they had bypassed, and due to the destruction, they all more or less looked the same; rubble strewn all over the floors, broken glass glittering menacingly in their window frames, paintings burned or torn beyond recognition, all of the suits of armour lay in heaps here and there and doors to some of the classrooms had been blasted off their hinges.

The castle couldn't properly heal itself unless it was cleared of the debris because, like an infection in a wound, it slowed down the healing process. The clean-up would likely go for a few days going by the scale of the destruction and the size of the castle. On this floor he spotted a team sifting through the rubble, sorting bricks into neat piles and vanishing the crumbled stone, wood splinters and spots of dried ink and… was that blood?

Draco shuddered and rushed up the stairs, occasionally glancing out of the windows as he passed by them. By the time he reached the foot of the tower, he had gone up five flights of stairs and breathing heavily.

Withdrawing his wand from a pocket in his trousers he inspected the length of it. Potter had approached him only the previous day and suggested that he Disarm him and win back the allegiance - only then would the wand truly work to its fullest potential. It didn't feel like it used to, but it was much better than Draco had ever hoped and he could only wish that, eventually, it'll start feeling like an extension of his arm once again.

"Bit dangerous, isn't it?" Someone said liltingly behind him and he turned around carefully to find Luna approaching him.

"Slightly." Draco smirked, turning back to survey the damage. "What brings you up here?"

"I saw you and Professor McGonagall on your way up, but I was in the middle of something so I couldn't catch up. Thought you'd like some company. I saw the looks on everyone's faces when they looked at you."

"Yeah…" Draco's face fell. "Everyone hates me."

"It'll take time."

"You think so?"

"I know what it feels like to be the outsider." She said blithely. "I know so. You're better off not thinking about them."

Draco tightened his grip on the hawthorn wand.

"We should get started."

"Oh, yes. Let's."

"Reckon the floor is strong enough to handle our weight?"

"There's hardly any damage on this level compared to the others and we were fine downstairs. Hogwarts tries her best to protect her students, you know, so I'm sure it'll be safe enough." Luna raised her wand up to face level and clamped it gently between her teeth. She swept up her hair and quickly braided it, tying it halfway down the length with a lime green scrunchie.

"Okay, we'll just take it slow and careful then. You do that side, and I do the other and we'll work our way out and meet in the centre. We'll worry about the artworks and furniture later."

Luna nodded, taking her wand out of her mouth, grasping it lightly as she pointed it at the floor in front of her. Draco turned away and found that the mortar between the stone were indeed starting to crumble and the layer of dust, crushed glass and debris from the ceiling above coated the floor like parasites. So Draco began working on the square meter below his feet, vanishing the dirt. The results were instantaneous, as a golden thread bloomed in the mortar, weaving and branching out between the bricks. In its tracks were newly mended joins, the cracks no longer visible.

"I didn't expect the castle to start healing this quickly." Draco pointed out.

"It's like magic." Luna said lightly and Draco smiled softly. He honestly could not remember the last time anyone had spoken to him as comfortably as Luna had. Deep down inside, he knew he would have a lasting friendship with her as long as he didn't screw it up.

Taking another step further, he took a moment to look at the staircase that lead to the top and his heart sank. Who was he kidding? It was a horrible idea to return to Hogwarts for his last year, let alone hope that the Wizarding community would gradually begin to warm up to him. He killed Dumbledore. He started the war. The war started right here in the very tower he was standing in. How on earth did he ever begin to think that he would be accepted as a fellow human being?

They all died because of him; Professor Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Charity Burbage, Crabbe, Scrimgeour, Colin Creevy, Lavender Brown… the Weasley twin, Fred… his godfather… their deaths were all on him. He belonged in a cell, paying for his sins, he understood that now. He didn't deserve to be free, didn't deserve to experience happiness when so many others had their families ripped apart and were in indescribable pain and sorrow.

What could he do now? Should he leave Britain for good? Live in the Muggle world? Become a hermit? He supposed he could live like a Muggle, at least that way he could be near his parents. He didn't even have basic life skills such as cooking for himself. How would he survive? How did they get around from one place to another without brooms or even the Floo network? He had heard of those giant metal boxes on wheels but they sounded crude and dangerous. How was he supposed to get a job when he had no marketable skills? What kind of jobs were there any-

Draco was pulled out of his frantic reverie when he felt pressure on his upper arm.

"-aco? Are you okay?" It was Luna who was shaking him, concern evident on her face and Draco dropped his head shamefully. He didn't even deserve her friendship. He pulled away from her.

"No…" he murmured mournfully.

"What is it?"

"I'm not coming back." he said.

"Why not?"

"I have no right to be here. Why should I? I'm a criminal, a monster." Draco frowned, the words tasting sour in his mouth. "Everyone died because of me. If I hadn't granted the Death Eaters entry into Hogwarts, Dumbledore wouldn't have died. The war wouldn't have happened because of me. I watched as prisoners were tortured and killed before me and I couldn't do anything to help them."

"Listen, Draco. You're anything but a criminal. Voldemort was the monster here, not you. Who was the one that saved my life, along with Ollivander's, over and over? Who was the one that delayed, and thus, prevented Harry, Ron and Hermione from being killed at the Manor? Who was the only one that paid respect for all the dead as their bodies burned? Who was the one that couldn't raise their wand against innocents?"

Draco kept his head bowed, the words circulating in his mind.

"Look at me, Draco." Luna commanded softly, and reluctantly Draco looked up to meet her gaze. He almost hated the gentle expression she wore. "Dumbledore was already dying, and he knew of your mission all along. He also knew that you were a good person deep down inside, and that you couldn't kill him. He knew the invasion was inevitable one way or another, because once he was gone, the war would begin for real. There was no way around the war. You didn't start it, Voldemort did. He started it from the moment he began his rise to power."

Draco clenched and unclenched his fists, worrying his bottom lip.

"You have every right to be a student here at Hogwarts, and you should believe that."

Luna suddenly threw her arms around him tightly, throwing him off balance and he blinked owlishly at the sudden display of affection. He didn't know how to respond. How does one respond to a friend embracing them like that? He had been raised to remain aloof and proper, and he had never had a person aside from his mother treat him with genuine compassion. Not even Parkinson was this friendly towards him while she obsessively made it her goal to become his future wife.

Draco awkwardly patted Luna on the back to return the sentiment, as he didn't know whether it was appropriate to return the hug with the same enthusiasm that Luna had. Luna snorted and stepped back.

"You are so stiff. It's like I'm trying to comfort a stone gargoyle." Luna smiled, turning away. She resumed her work on the floor. Draco stared after her bemusedly before picking up on his share of the task at hand, feeling somewhat lighter now than he had previously. Who knew that words had a way of lifting burdens?

A few hours later, Luna and Draco were at the top of the tower, finishing off the last of the paintings. It had gone quicker than initially expected because the higher they went in the tower, the less damage there were. They headed back of Form

As soon as they reached the ground floor they briefly scanned the area for the Headmistress, wishing to inform her that the task had been completed. It took a few tries of asking students and adults for information on the woman's whereabouts, as none of them were keen on speaking in Draco's presence. As soon as they received sneers, they knew to move on before things escalated. Draco hated having to retreat like a coward, but he knew best to not retaliate. Any slight reaction on his part was clause enough for anyone to report him, hoping to have Draco sent to Azkaban to serve the sentence they believed he deserved.

Just before they gave up they decided to try and ask another, noticing the way the wizard had been glancing their way curiously every minute or so. They meandered over to where he sat on the floor, next to a decapitated suit of armor. He had been absentmindedly polishing the helmet with the sleeve of his robes as they approached him. The young man stiffened as soon as they entered within a five foot radius, and Draco sensed rather than saw that things were about to go downhill.

"Hello, Justin. Do you happen to know where Professor McGonagall is?" Luna asked politely, as if greeting a familiar face, failing to notice that the man's lips had curled distastefully. Draco recognised the person, having seen him in several of his classes over the years. He was a Hufflepuff, and had been in the same year as Draco, though Draco could not recall his full name.

"I'm not telling you. As if I want to give this Death Eater the chance to kill McGonagall off." Justin spat and the helmet clattered to the floor as it slipped out of his hands. Seemingly propelled by the clanging noise that the helmet had made, he pushed himself from the floor. As soon as he had drawn himself to his full height, his lips had turned into a snarl.

Fearing for Luna's safety, no matter how friendly she had treated the guy, Draco clasped her arm and pulled her behind him. Draco clenched his hands, restraining the urge to arm himself with his wand, though Justin had already drawn his own.

"Why the hell are you with that traitor?" He snarled, pointing his wand squarely in Draco's chest. Draco breathed deeply, bracing himself as he stared down at the piece of wood. He could have sworn he saw sparks spitting out of the tip as if the wand had sensed Justin's rage.

"Why on Earth are you being so rude?" Luna defended. "He's not a traitor!"

"Yes, he is. He has a bloody mark on his arm, right there!" Justin gestured with his head, indicating Draco's arm. Draco glanced down and saw that the sleeve had ridden up and the mark was partially visible, on display for all to see. Horrified, Draco wrenched the sleeve down as if the sight of it burned him. "He fought for the Dark Side, his family kept you prisoner, and he's killed people-"

"It's none of your business," Luna said shrilly, stepping out from behind Draco to situate herself squarely between the two and now the wand was touching the centre of her chest. "He does not need-"

"Luna, move out of the way." Draco reached for her arm again, attempting to push her away from the point of the wand. This seemed to have backfired, Luna yanked her arm from his light grasp, causing Justin to flinch and raise his wand in alarm.

"Expelliarmus!" Justin's wand flew out of his hand and he whirled around to meet the attacker.

Draco was surprised to find that it had been none other than Dean Thomas that had cast the Disarming Spell. Draco had not seen him at all during the day, and either way, he was the last person had expected to see defending his sorry arse. Thomas had been standing at the top of the marble staircase when he cast the spell. Now he was making his way to them, an irritable look on his face as he stared disapprovingly at Justin.

"What the hell is going on here?" said Thomas. He shoved the wand back in Justin's unsuspecting hands, crossing his arms.

"Hello, Dean." Luna greeted cheerfully, as if there hadn't been a confrontation of any sort. "We were simply asking around for Professor McGonagall's whereabouts. We tried asking Justin here, but as you could see, he reacted rather rudely without provocation."

"Why?" This, Thomas aimed at Justin.

"He's a bloody Death Eater, that's why." He spat. "He belongs in Azkaban with the lot of them."

"Oh, does he?" Thomas asked dryly. "I suppose you think the same of Professor Snape."

"Well... I don't-"

"Get lost and don't let me hear you talking bollocks about Malfoy."

Justin snapped his mouth shut, and then hurried away, his face contorting into that of frustration.

"Bloody idiot." Thomas muttered. "If only I had the ability to give people detention during the summer holidays."

"But you're not a pref-…" Luna paused for a second before grinning. "McGonagall made you Head Boy?"

Dean smiled sheepishly in response. "Yeah, just now. She took me up to her office to tell me."

"That's wonderful news, Dean!" Luna threw her arms around him enthusiastically. "Your family will be so proud of you!"

"Thanks, Luna."

"Congratulations, Thomas. I must admit, it's quite unexpected."

"Yeah, never in my wildest dreams could I have expected to become Head Boy. I mean… I'm not exactly the brightest, nor the most responsible. But, Professor McGonagall said she chose me because she wanted to make next year more inclusive of muggleborns and halfbloods. She said that, out of all the options she had, since a handful won't be coming back next term, she found me the most responsible."

"That makes a lot of sense." Draco commented.

"So that means that the Head Girl is-" Luna began.

"Yeah, Hermione. No surprises there." Thomas finished.

"That's fantastic, you two would make wonderful leaders."

"I hope so… wait, are you smiling?" Thomas asked suspiciously, and it confused Draco out of his silence. "That looks genuine, right, Luna?"

"Yes, it is." Luna remarked delightfully. Draco's face fell as soon as he realised they were talking about him. He did, indeed, smile like a fool when he heard about Hermione's promotion. "It's rather becoming on you, Draco."

"Shut up."

"Aw, now he's blushing." Thomas cooed mockingly. "Is it a full moon, or something? I don't know how much more my heart can take."

"Piss off," Draco said waspishly.

"All joking aside, McGonagall is in her office. If you want to report that you've finished what you were working on, it's not necessary. She's been inundated by paperwork sent in from the Ministry so she doesn't want to be interrupted. She told me to tell everyone that, as soon as they've finished the area they were working on, they could go home."

"Ah, is that so?" Luna asked.

"Pretty much. The castle looks pretty clear by now, from what I've seen. There are a few places that haven't been finished, but there's people on them already. Tomorrow we're working on the furniture and décor."

"We'll be here." said Luna.

"Good to know." Thomas blew out a gust of air. "I'm stuck here until everyone's done for the day. I wish Hermione was here. She'd keep me company, at least."

"If she knew she was the Head Girl now, she'd be here in a heartbeat… She's in Australia at the moment, you know." Luna commented.

"In Australia? How come?" Draco secretly thanked Merlin that Thomas had been the one to ask, because the same question was on his tongue, on the verge of slipping out.

"As soon as she finished helping out at the Ministry with the trials, she left for Australia. She wanted to find her parents, restore their memories, and make up for lost time."

"Restore their memories?" Draco's eyes widened, because this time, his concern for Hermione had made its presence known by him asking that question. However, it didn't look like the others paid it much notice, as if they were engaging in a casual conversation among friends, as if he had never been their enemy. That was such a strange concept to be experiencing, Draco noted. Two years ago, if he even so once showed concern for her wellbeing, at the very least, he would have been subjected to a lot of suspicion.

"As soon as the war began, she knew she had to go on the run with Harry. She didn't want to risk her parents' lives at the hands of Voldemort, so she wiped herself from their memories and sent them to Australia."

"That's…" Draco mumbled. "I didn't…"

"That's sad. I can see why she left as soon as she could."

"Exactly. Ron's not too happy about it, he needs her here, you see, but he understands."

"Yeah, I was gutted when I found out about Fred. He was brilliant."

Draco let his thoughts drift as Thomas and Luna continued to talk. For some odd reason, it was difficult for him to process a lot of new information at any one time, as if his mental capacity had been stretched and teased every which way during the war that, now, he could no longer compartmentalise everything like he used to. During the war, his mind was always in a state of fear, overwhelmed by stress, horror, depression and anger. He couldn't remember the last time he felt impassive, untroubled by the trivialities of life.

And now, here he was, obsessing over the fact that Hermione was halfway across the planet. She was alone, and anything could happen to her. And the Weasel had the gall to be unhappy about her wanting to find her parents? And her parents, how did she even have the strength to erase almost two decades of memories? Draco couldn't even imagine wiping a day from his mum's mind, let alone half of her life.

'I suppose it's better than thinking about the possibility of them being tortured, or murdered.'

Draco turned the direction his mind was going in by shifting to other subjects. He wondered what the weather would be like in Australia. He'd heard tales from his father's business partners, about how, in summer, it would get so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement. He could recall someone telling him about Melbourne having four seasons in one day.

"Draco? Are you coming?"

"Oi, Malfoy, you there?"

"Huh?" Draco blinked, confused as to why Thomas and Luna were now several steps away, their bodies turned towards him. Several minutes must have passed since he lapsed into his thoughts, and it appeared that they were meant to head somewhere. "Uh…"

"C'mon, we're going upstairs. I wanted to show you the new Slytherin quarters."

"New Slyther- what?"

"Merlin, you're helpless." Thomas muttered. "I'll explain on the way."

Draco frowned, feeling rather dumb at the moment. He followed them, listening attentively.

"Long story short, we're moving the Slytherin residence up to the second floor. It's never been done before. Professor McGonagall believes it'll help with house unity by giving you lot a more inviting and warm home. She thinks the dank gloominess of the dungeons is depressing and unwelcoming. Her words, not mine."

"I think it's a great idea." Luna pointed out. "You'll have sunlight, at least."

"On the second floor? But what about the dorms?"

"You know the third floor corridor that was out of bounds? They've sectioned that off to serve as part of the Slytherin dorms."

Within minutes they reached the second floor and Thomas led them to a large painting of Merlin, flanked by a suit of armor on each side.

"Open Sesame."

"Open Sesame? Really?" said Draco dryly. Merlin gave them a small nod, waving his hand.

"I couldn't think of anything better. It's not as if it needs to be guarded right now."

Draco suspected that entrance into the new Common Room would be similar to the one in the dungeons. His suspicions were proved correct when the image of Merlin slowly vanished, revealing a doorway. Instead of a tunnel, however, it opened right into the Common Room. Along the entire back wall, there were tall windows, draped in deep emerald green velvet. Right now the curtains were all open, tied back to let the sunlight flood in. A flash of silver caught Draco's eye, and he realised that the hems of the velvet had been embroidered with silver threads.

Underneath the windows were groupings of green leather wingback chairs, surrounding small round tables. There was a fireplace on each side of the room, with three black tufted sofas arranged in front of each fireplace. The two side walls were covered with the familiar tapestries of medieval witches and wizards. He recognised them as the ones from the old Common Room. It appeared that all of the furniture and artwork had been removed from the Slytherin Dungeon, so they could replicate as much of the original Slytherin home without the sinister vibe.

Draco found a pair of doorways, one on his left with a stone carving of a beautiful witch at the top, while the other, at his right, had a similar carving of a wizard. Draco assumed they led to the dormitories. He turned around to find that the wall behind him was completely lined with shelves, filled with magical texts both old and new, and artefacts such as silvery telescopes, bell jars containing snake figurines, and marble busts of famous witches and wizards. In front of the bookshelves were a handful of tables with baroque chairs in the same green leather as the wingbacks.

Draco rather liked the room, admiring it for its grand yet cosy quality. Instead of a green tint to everything, it was shrouded in warm lighting, and from the ceiling hung a massive silver chandelier, with dozens of candles merrily flickering away.

"So basically, we have Years One, Two and Three on this floor through these doors, and there's a staircase that leads to the dormitories for Years Four through Seven. We had some trouble trying to figure out how to fit the newest batch of First Years together with last year's. Any permanent fixtures meant we would have to rotate the years every year. We decided on making the First Year dorms bigger using Extension Charms, and fitting more beds in them. None of the dorms in the Slytherin Wing has been made up yet but we're going to start on those tomorrow."

"It's great so far." Draco commented. There weren't any skulls or dark artefacts on display here, which made a significant improvement on the mood of the room. He could almost say it felt homely. In fact, it reminded him of the Manor in all its glory before the war began.

"I agree. It doesn't look gloomy at all. It actually reminds me of the Ravenclaw Common Room. We don't have those chairs or sofas, though. They look awfully comfortable."

"I may or may not have taken a very short nap on one of these sofas earlier…"

"Bloody Gryffindors, resting their arses on wherever they please." Draco snorted, smirking. His comment held no malice, and the others smiled back at him.

He supposed this year might turn out better than he initially expected, and now he was feeling hopeful. He looked forward to September 1st.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I can only hope you won't hate me for good for not updating this in so long. If, on the off chance that there's another hiatus, please leave me a review biting my head of for being a horrible author.