Draco Makes a Friend
"Hello, Pigwarts," Draco greeted Jessica's companion. He still thought the name she had chosen for the piglet was ridiculous.
Pigwarts returned the greeting with a little oink. The piglet had his own stall in a tower specifically used for the pets of Hogwarts' occupants.
"Jessica is missing," Draco informed the creature, speaking to him like he was human— one thing Draco learned in his life was that animals were incredibly smart and people often underestimated their intelligence. "I know pigs like yourself have exceptional sniffing skills, so I'm hoping you can help me find her."
Pigwarts responded with a snort. Draco didn't speak pig, so he took a gamble that he had understood his task.
Draco settled the tiny thing into his arms, noting that the piglet couldn't possibly weigh even two pounds.
"Ready to find Jessica?" he asked Pigwarts encouragingly.
Another snort.
"Alright, we're going then."
He got strange looks while traveling through Reading. Riding the bus and walking the streets with a piglet probably wasn't a thing Muggles saw everyday. Pigwarts didn't seem bothered. He was nestled in the crook of Draco's arm, peacefully looking around as they traveled. Occasionally, he'd make a grunting noise, but besides that, he was quiet.
"This is it," Draco told the piglet when he stepped into the gate belonging to the home for abandoned Muggle kids. He set Pigwarts down to get to work. "Don't let the kids near you," he advised, somehow knowing that the kids would want to play with Pigwarts should they see him.
With permission from Mrs. Hunter, Draco and Pigwarts searched the property for the missing girl. Draco had difficulties keeping up with the beast. Pigwarts could run really quick. After a while, Draco grew frustrated, wondering if his thoughts on Pigwarts had been wrong. He had followed the piglet in and out of the building three times before the pig stopped outside of a large shed. The door had a paddock on it, locking it shut.
Draco lifted a brow, doubtfully. "She can't possibly be in here?"
Pigwarts argued with a grunt.
Reluctantly, having no idea why he was at all trusting a bloody baby pig, he unlocked the paddock without even needing his wand to do it. He creaked the door open just enough to stick his head into the shed, holding his breath. The shed was filled with boxes, tools and many objects that Draco couldn't identify.
"She's not in here," he announced quietly to the piglet.
Pigwarts slipped into the shed, refusing to accept Draco's report. He disappeared under a bench and started snorting.
Draco pulled the door wide open and slowly stepped inside the building. If he was being honest, he was terrified of what he was going to find. Since the war, his thoughts would often warp into terrible nightmares.
"Jessica?" he called out, creasing his brows, noticing how scared his voice sounded. "Are you in here?"
Please answer me.
His silent plea was answered by a thud. Pigwarts squealed so loud that Draco was sure his heart jumped out of his body. The pig was pacing back and forth, his nose skimming the dusty floor boards.
Draco's eyes settled on a wooden box, tucked under the bench. Metal tool boxes were piled on top of it, and the metal rattled with another thud.
"Jessica!" Draco gasped out in horror, unearthing the wooden box. He threw open the lid to see the missing girl hogtied and gagged. Her face was wet with tears.
"Merlin's beard and the stars," Draco muttered, hauling her out of the box. He released her bindings and removed the gag. She wrapped her arms around him, stuck in a series of whimpers.
"Who did this to you?!" he demanded as his horror was replaced with anger.
"It was those girls!" she cried. "They went to take my things, just as I said they would and they were shocked with the spell Miss. Granger enchanted them with! They told me that I was a demon!" She pulled from him, looking at him. Tears streamed down her face. "Am I a demon?" she squeaked, horrified with the thought.
Draco gently cupped her ears, forcing her to look at him. "You listen to me, okay? Are you listening?"
She sniffed and a shaking sob escaped her lips. "Yes, sir."
"You are not a demon. Muggles just don't understand magic, and they never will. So they say the first thing that comes to their mind to help them manage the knowledge. That's it. Nothing more. You're a witch, and if you work and study hard, I believe you're going to be one damn good one. Understand me?"
She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment, squeezing out the last of her tears.
"Then say it," Draco ordered. "Tell me you're not a demon."
Very slowly, she whispered, "I'm not a demon."
"Now louder. Firmer. Sell it to me, as if your life depends on it, tell me you're not a demon! Believe it, Jessica!"
She squared her shoulders off, narrowing her eyes. "I am not a demon!"
"You're a witch." He removed his hands from her, not even caring that they were damp with her Muggleborn tears. "And now it's time to get you to school."
As he turned away, he felt her entrap him with her arms. "Thank you for saving me, Professor!" she said in pure gratitude.
Draco never considered himself a hero until right then. He hesitantly tapped her back, uncomfortable with her compliment. "It's my job," he admitted, not knowing what else to say.
"Well, you're good at your job."
Draco sent a message off to Granger to alert the woman that Jessica had been found and that he was going to take her to the train station in Hogsmeade since she had missed the stop at King's Cross.
While Jessica wouldn't experience the Hogwarts Express until the holidays, Draco felt that she should get to boat across the lake with the other first years. It'd be another two hours before the train would arrive though, so they browsed the shops in the tiny town, and Draco explained that in her third year, she'd get to come here with her friends to hang out.
She scoffed. "Like I'll have any friends!"
"You'll have friends. We all have friends when we're young."
Jessica tilted her head at him, frowning. "Don't you have friends now?"
He looked ahead, setting his jaw. "When you get older, people go their separate ways. Friendships tend to dissipate."
"But then don't you make new ones?"
"Most people do, yes."
"This is excluding yourself?"
Draco shrugged. "Haven't had time to make new ones, I suppose."
Not like anyone would give me the time nor the day.
"I'll be your friend then," she offered.
Draco rolled his eyes. "I'm your teacher, we can't be friends."
"Look, I'm not expecting you to give me good marks based on our friendship. That'd be cheating, but I need a friend and you need a friend. I don't see anything wrong with that."
"We need friends our own age, Jessica."
"Funny that, if I was forty, and you were sixty—"
"Sixty?! How far apart in age do you think we are?!"
Jessica tossed her head back. "I'm talking hypothetically here!"
"Well, hypothetically, we are only seven years apart!"
"Okay, okay, what I'm trying to say is, if I was forty, people would encourage me to have a friendship with a much older person. But when we are young they demand us to be with our peers, then everyone gets upset when we don't pay any attention to our elders. It's quite confusing."
"I see your point, but I'm not your elder."
"I just can't see the harm in being friends with a teacher. It'd probably do more good than harm."
Draco sighed. "Fine," he agreed just to make her shut up. "We can be friends. But one little snivel about your grade, and it's off!"
Jessica smiled. "Sounds good! Let's shake on it!"
She extended out her hand for him to take.
Draco groaned. "Must we?"
"We must!" she insisted, laughing at his reluctance.
With a grunt, Draco took her tiny hand into his, noting how soft and young it felt against his own.
Jessica led the shaking motion. "Friends."
"Friends," Draco returned, hiding a smile. "But you're still required to call me Professor Malfoy."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course!"
Never in his life had Draco befriended a Muggleborn. It was a good thing his father was locked away in Azkaban. If he found out, who knew how many curses the man would send his way.
The Hogwarts Express pulled up to the train station, and Rubeus Hagrid started his yearly hollering for first years.
"That's your queue," Draco informed Jessica. "Let me take Pigwarts."
She squeezed her piglet to her chest. "Can't he come with me?"
"There's a chance he'll drown," he warned her seriously.
Her eyes turned into saucers. "We are going to swim?"
"No, boat, but children your age are rowdy. It's possible you may tip the boat and fall in."
Jessica swallowed hard. "I… don't know how to swim."
"Then sit real still," Draco instructed her, taking Pigwarts from her.
He watched as she disappeared into the crowd of first years. He saw Hans only because of the boy's incredible height, but Nathaniel couldn't be seen in the crowd. The Muggleborns blended well enough.
Draco then walked up to a thestral, pulling out a package and unwrapping it. He held out a small piece of meat, and the thestral eagerly swiped the gift.
Draco hadn't been able to see thestrals until Vincent Crabbe had died in the Room of Requirement. Crabbe may not have been the smartest Slytherin Draco had associated with, but he had been a loyal friend, and Draco missed him.
It was Draco's fault he was dead.
"Hey," a voice brought Draco out of his sad thoughts.
He hesitantly wiped at his wet eyes, annoyed to see that Granger had climbed up into the carriage he was occupying. Everyone else was packed in the remaining carriages, some even had eight students— probably done to avoid him.
She came to his because he had the room.
"How'd it go with Jessica?" Granger asked when he didn't say anything and attempted to ignore her presence.
"She's not going back there," he growled as anger built up from the pit of his stomach. "I don't care what you have to do, but she's not going back there."
"Why not?" Granger was alarmed now.
"Those cretins tied her up and locked her in a shed! She could have died in there! But thankfully Pigwarts found her!"
At the mention of his name, the piglet released a happy snort.
"They thought she was a demon, Granger! A demon! Why do Muggles always think we are evil! Do they not know of good magic?!"
Granger scrunched up her face, irritated with the topic. "Sure they do. It's just… harder for them to believe that someone who can do magic would do it for good and not for personal gain. And it certainly doesn't help when accidental magic is typically done when a Muggleborn is upset, thus it often becomes violent."
Draco sighed. "She can't go back. I've heard stories about what those Muggles did to Potter, and they were his family."
"It's honestly hard to believe that Draco Malfoy cares so much about a Muggleborn," she considered, tilting her head at him with an unreadable expression on her face.
Draco grunted and looked down at his hands. "Apparently, we are friends now— at least until she gets upset over a bad grade in my class— we shook on it and everything."
"Did you now?" Granger sounded shocked.
Draco nodded, still looking at his hands.
"So it's not just because it's your job?" Granger sounded deeply amused by this. Draco swore he could hear her lips stretch into a smile. "It's not just For the Effort in Repairing and Restoring the ExceedinglyTerrible image of Draco Malfoy?"
He finally looked at her, just to show her how serious he was about this. "My name is ruined, it may never be restored. I've accepted that. As her teacher, my job is to teach her the basics of this world. Her personal life is not my problem. But as her friend, she's not going back there. Whether you assist me on this or not, I'll make sure she won't return to those awful Muggles. She doesn't deserve such treatment. She needs to be treated like the witch she is, and those people—" he said this in disgust, unwilling to consider those horrible girls as the same specie as him. "— aren't going to do it."
She nodded, agreeing with him. "She won't go back there then," Granger simply stated.
He smiled in relief. He knew Granger would do everything she could to make sure Jessica wasn't going to go back.
"Good," was all that he said, and the carriages began their journey to the castle.