Draco Malfoy rolled over in his sleep, willing the noise to stop. He was quite comfortable under his heavy green and silver duvet, his head buried in the enormous, feather-soft pillow.

Draco groaned. He rolled over and squinted through the darkness in direction of his window. He could make out a faint outline of an owl, but he couldn’t be sure. He sighed in annoyance before sitting up slowly. He shivered slightly when he pushed his duvet away from him as the cold air stabbed at his forearms and face. He padded over to the window and threw it open. Sure enough, a proud-looking barn owl hopped inside and ruffled its feathers in Draco’s direction; clearly it didn’t approve of being made to wait in the cold night.

‘Now, what are you doing here at this time of night?’ asked Draco, peering closely at the seal on the letter the owl had clasped in its beak. He recognised it; it was the Hogwarts seal.

Draco hesitated before taking the letter gingerly, as if were going to blow up in his face. He took a deep breath before breaking the seal and taking out the heavy, yellow parchment. It read:

Draco stared at the letter. He felt slightly numb. This has got to be a joke, thought Draco; I can’t go back to Hogwarts, not after everything. He stumbled forwards and collapsed onto the window seat. He held the letter up to the moonlight, as if checking for any proof that this was a fake Hogwarts letter. When he found no such thing, he smiled to himself. This was his chance to prove that he had changed and that he was no longer a Death Eater.

The next thing Draco knew, he was being shaken awake. He groaned and shifted onto his back. He opened his eyes and he saw his mother, Narcissa, smiling slightly at her son. Her long, blond hair was tied back into a ponytail and her pale, blue eyes were searching his face. He blinked sleepily and smiled groggily back.

‘Good morning, Draco,’ she smiled. ‘Why are you asleep on the window seat and not in your bed?’

Draco looked around and saw that he was sprawled across the window seat, his long legs trailing onto the floor. He grimaced as he sat up, his bones cracking as he did so.

‘I got a letter and must have fallen asleep.’

‘Where was the letter from?’ asked his mother, squeezing onto the window seat to sit by her son. Draco bent down and picked up the letter from where he dropped it. He handed it to Narcissa. She picked it up and frowned when she saw the broken seal.

‘Hogwarts…’ She looked sideways at her son, blue eyes staring into grey. ‘They have asked you to go back?’

‘Yes,’ answered Draco. ‘But there’s more…’

‘Oh, yes?’

Draco took a deep breath and said quickly, ‘I’m scared, Mother.’

Narcissa’s smile faltered slightly at the tone in her son’s voice. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said, ‘Why, Draco?’

‘I don’t know whether I can go back, not after everything that has happened. I tried to kill Dumbledore for goodness sake! I gave others grief when it wasn’t warranted, just because of their blood status. I’m not the same person that I was then, Mother. I’m afraid others won’t see that.’

Narcissa pulled her son into a hug. She whispered in his ear, ‘You don’t have to be afraid. If you are not the same person, it is your duty to show everyone who doubts you. Your father would be proud of you for facing what scares you the most,’ she added, her voice wobbling slightly at the mention of Lucius.

Draco pulled away from his mother and looked to his right, where a picture of his father rested on a shelf. Lucius Malfoy was standing regally, his back straight and his face passive. The steely grey eyes that Draco had inherited pierced his son even now, when Lucius wasn’t there with them.

Still looking at his father’s picture, Draco mumbled, ‘Would he be?’

‘Of course he would be, Draco.’ She paused before speaking again, ‘I knew your father since my first year at Hogwarts, when he was in his second year. Even then, he was never one for showing his emotions. I know he sometimes gave you a hard time, but he only wanted what was best for you. He wanted you to achieve your very best in life.’

She patted his cheek before rising and heading towards the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she said over her shoulder, ‘I am so proud of you, Draco.’ And then she was gone.

Draco stood up and stretched. He had better get dressed if he was going to Diagon Alley.

Let’s just hope nothing bad happens, he thought to himself.

No one is staring at you, Draco thought to himself, you’re just being paranoid.

Draco shifted his eyes sideways and saw an elderly witch staring at him, her eyebrows contracted to form an angry scowl. ‘They shouldn’t let scum like you back on the streets!’ she yelled, shaking her fist in his direction.

‘Gran!’

Draco turned slightly and saw a girl running up the street towards the elderly witch. She had long, blonde curls and pale skin.

‘You can’t say things like that to people!’ she hissed. She grabbed the elderly woman’s shoulders and wheeled her towards the doors of a nearby shop. ‘Mom and Dad are waiting in the ice-cream parlour, go and join them. I’ll be out here, making excuses for you again,’ she added quietly.

Once her Gran was safely in the ice-cream parlour, she turned around and walked up to Draco.

‘I really am sorry about that. I can’t take her anywhere,’ she said sheepishly. Then she added, ‘She’s slightly batty…’ She raised her finger to her temple and wiggled it in a circle.

Draco smiled tightly. ‘You don’t need to apologise. I get it all the time.’

‘People shouldn’t be spoken to like that, no matter what they have done.’

‘You wouldn’t say that if you knew who I am,’ said Draco, before turning away from the girl and walking up Diagon Alley towards Flourish and Blotts. He hadn’t walked far when the girl called after him.

‘I know who you are, Draco Malfoy.’

Draco turned and looked over his shoulder at her.

‘I just chose not to judge a book by its handsome cover.’ She smiled slightly at his shocked face, before ducking into the ice-cream parlour after her Gran.

Draco grinned to himself; Handsome?

He was just about to enter Flourish and Blotts when he realised he hadn’t asked the girl for her name.