Late July
Draco lay on his narrow bed and stared at the sun slanting through his window. His body hummed contentedly with the light aches of weeks of heavy labour followed by the deep sleep of the truly exhausted.
True to her word McGonagall had assigned him a veritable mountain of tasks which he had tackled with obsessive focus. From the first full day in the castle Draco had fallen into his familiar pattern of rising before dawn and working through until dusk. There was so much to be done, but his toil was worth it - within days the castle began to revive around him, tentatively coming alive again under his hands.
There were a few others in the castle besides himself and McGonagall; some of the teaching staff were helping with the repairs and many of the students had stayed over to assist also - either because they wanted to restore their school, or because they no longer had homes to go to. Draco didn't know quite how to deal with a bunch of people who knew some alternative version of him, so he avoided them all, and he did it so skillfully that it was over a week before he bumped into another human soul.
"I didn't believe it, but it's true" Neville said.
The Gryffindor was hovering in the corridor outside Draco's rooms, his brawny arms stuck in his pockets, and his long face looking surprisingly young and innocent without the twisting scars that had split the other Neville's brow and dragging at his eyelid. His awkwardness gave Draco a pang of nostalgia. From long practice Draco translated the leg shuffles as wanting to talk. It was reassuring that that at least had not changed.
"Come in Longbottom, let me make you some tea", he waved Neville in and settled him on the one faded velvet armchair in his room. Neville picked at the loose threads as Draco busied himself heating the water and laying out the mismatched teacups.
"How can I help you?" Draco kept his eyes down, letting Neville build up courage. It always amazed him that someone so brave in life-or-death situations could be so shy and reticent in interpersonal ones.
"Professor McGonagall came to find me today" Neville was blinking, eyes wet "she's going to announce tomorrow at formal hall that Malfoy had survived after all and was staying at the castle under protection. But the only problem is I was there when Malfoy died, I carried his body back afterwards, so she told me the truth... that you're Draco Malfoy, but a different Draco Malfoy. I mean it doesn't make much sense but..."
Draco waited for Neville to find his words, preparing tea for them both. A splash of milk for himself, milk and three squares of sugar for Neville. Whilst he busied himself, Draco's mind worked furiously. Neville knew the truth? Perhaps it was not such a dire secret after all. Merlin it would be good to be himself for once, to stop hiding from everyone, to have one person with whom he not to watch every word and gesture.
"I was there when Malfoy died. I shouted at them to stop, but they were all mad with anger. And you... he... just stood there and didn't even try to shield or run away" Neville rubbed his eyes and took a long swig out of the cup Draco handed him "it was like he gave up. The battle was all over. It should have all been over! I keep having these dreams when I'm almost fast enough, and I keep seeing your face. I mean - we were never friends, and you were a right git sometimes and did some stupid things, but you didn't deserve that."
Neville trailed off into silence, his expression tortured and eyes distant.
Draco chewed at his lips and tried to find the right words to stop the idiot from punishing himself.
"Longbottom - you need to stop all this tedious self-castigation. If you are anything like the Neville Longbottom from where I come from - and no I'm not going to go into that - then you did your best, and your best goes well beyond the capability of most. Despite the rumours, you are not superhuman. Sometimes horrible things happen and we can't stop them. I know better than most that it's tempting to look back and say 'if I did this, or that, I could have stopped this terrible thing from happening' but that's just arrogance. We aren't seers to prophesy the future, and we can't change the past. Don't try to take responsibility or blame for what happened away from the people who killed him."
Neville nodded and looked down at his cup, then downed the rest of his tea, complete with uncouth shaking of the cup to get the last of the sugar sludge out.
"It's good, thanks Malfoy"
"You're most welcome Longbottom. Now we've covered that you can fill me in on the gossip before you bugger off back to work. You'll have to resign yourself to not getting the details of where I've come from and how I'm afraid – McGonagall may have given you the highlights, but I've been ordered to keep quiet on the subject"
Neville was acquiescent as ever. Draco found out that he had accepted an assistant position to Professor Sprout and wanted to stay on and become a teacher. Hermione was in Australia with Harry trying to track down her muggle parents, but would be joining them in a week or two. Ron was helping at his brother's shop over summer. Neville was a bit vaguer about the Slytherins - apparently most of them were thought to be laying low to abroad - justifiably nervous of the anti-Slytherin sentiment sweeping wizarding Britain. But many others of their year would be returning to sit their NEWTs and redo seventh year.
After he had run out of updates, Neville paused and seemed to be agonising over something
"Spit it out Neville, I can only say no"
"I was wondering if I could come and visit some time" he asked with an awkward cough "I can see what McGonagall was saying now. You are the same but different - I didn't notice much at first. And it's not just physical differences, but you're being nice to me. Malfoy was never nice to me"
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Yes you can visit - but only on the condition you don't tell your little friends where you found me. I'm not in the mood for being pestered with questions or accusations. And you'd better call me Draco or it will get confusing"
Neville nodded, then dragged himself out of the sagging chair and reached out a hand.
"Thankyou. And it's good to meet you.. Draco"
"You too Neville"
Draco watched the Gryffindor leave with a faint smile. Neville was a bit of a lump, but there was no denying his kindness and loyalty. The prospect of having that friendship once again left him with an annoyingly warm feeling.