Mrs. Granger hadn't expected her adoption of Draco to be an easy thing. The years of abuse he'd endured had been handed to him wrapped in false claims of parental love and paternal demands.
To make matters worse, Lucius had spent Draco's entire life training him to hate people like her. Keeping him from the people who could free him from the abuse he didn't understand that he was suffering.
Mrs. Weasley had asked for her help, though. And how Draco felt about her kind was, she thought, beside the point.
"Well, its time for supper. Draco, if you'd give me a hand."
"Do I look like a House Elf to you?"
"No," Hermione told him. "House Elves are better looking."
"Look who's talking," Draco shot back. "The last time you saw your shadow, we had six more weeks of winter."
"I fixed that problem the day you turned me into the Walrus From Hell." Hermione pointed out.
Mrs. Granger smiled.
"What the hell are you smiling at?" Draco asked.
"You two." Mrs. Granger replied. "Draco just got here an hour ago, and you're already acting like brother and sister."
"No we are not!" Draco and Hermione shouted in unison.
The doorbell rang and they heard the voice of Mr. Granger speaking with a voice they recognized as Snape.
Ten minutes later all four Grangers and Snape were seated at the table.
"So, Draco," Snape asked, "how are you getting on with your new family."
"Why do I need a new family. There was nothing wrong with the old one." Draco started eating. Clearly he thought the matter was over.
"I think," said Snape, "that something is very wrong with a father who keeps his son locked up and naked in his room just so he can stick it up his arse whenever he wants to."
"My father loves me." Draco argued.
"Fathers who love their children don't hurt them." Hermione pointed out.
"And how would you know?" Draco asked. "Your father's a dentist."
"Dental discomfort has nothing to do with it." Snape cut in. "Draco, I thought you be having trouble accepting the truth. That's why I came here. Now, would I lie or mislead you?"
"No." Draco admitted.
"So you'd believe what I tell you?" Snape asked.
"Yes." Draco decided.
Snape looked him in the eye. "Your father raped you."
Draco fell silent. He didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to accept that Lucius Malfoy had been anything other than a good father. Lovemaking. That's all it was. And he'd learned that lovemaking was how people showed affection. So his father did love him. But Snape never lied to him. And Snape had said than Lucius had raped him.
Snape must have lied. Why would Lucius rape him. There was no reason for him do anything as cruel as that.
There was also no reason for Snape to lie.
"No," he shook his head. Memories of each moment under his father's thrusting body came back to him. This time, Snape's words "Your father raped you." echoed in his mind, changing how he saw the events.
Mrs. Granger saw that Draco was biting his lower lip, which was trembling. She knew he was finally accepting the truth. She moved to his side, to be there when the tears finally came.
She held him when he could no longer hold them back. Stroked his hair and rocked him until his tears were replaced by soft snoring.
Mr. Granger carried him into the bedroom and put a pair of clean pajamas on him. Although he prided himself on being a real man, the injuries he saw on the young Slytherin's body brought angry tears to his eyes.
Mrs. Granger pulled back the blankets and put her new son to bed. Kissing his forehead, as she adjusted the bedclothes, she bade him good night.
Snape and Hermione looked around as Hermione's and Draco's parents returned.
"Sound asleep." Mrs. Granger told them as she sat down and resumed eating.
"I don't ever want to hear that boy's ex-father mentioned in this house." Mr. Granger told them all. "Not ever."
It was a request he didn't need to make.
-Chapter Five: A Family of Friends
Mrs. Weasley fussed over her sons as she led them into Flourish and Blotts to get their new books.
"Mrs. Granger," she waved to Hermione's mother and her family. "How are your children?"
Ron, who had not been told about Draco, looked confused.
"They're both well." Mrs. Granger replied as Draco approached.
Ron drew his wand.
"Mom," Draco asked, looking up at Mrs. Granger, "would it be okay if I got a pet?"
"Tell you what, you and Hermione take Crookshanks over to the pet store and see if there's a pet all three of you agree on."
Draco nodded, then called over to Hermione. "Hey, Sis! Come on! You and 'Shanks can help me pick out a pet!"
Ron watched Hermione and Draco head over to the pet shop with the cat with a confused expression on his face.
"He's come to grips a bit fast, hasn't he?" he heard his mother ask.
"If Snape hadn't come that first night, I doubt he would have accepted it, even now." Mrs. Granger admitted. "What about his mother?"
"St. Mungo's." Mr. Weasley told them. "When she learned the truth, she went insane."
"Would someone explain to me just what the hell is going on?" Ron asked. "Why is Draco Malfoy..."
"Draco Granger." Mrs. Granger corrected him.
"Whatever," Ron grumbled. "Why is Draco ask..." he blinked. "Draco Granger?"
"We adopted him at the beginning of the summer." Mr. Granger explained. "At your mother's request."
"Mom?" Ron asked.
"The last thing Draco needed, Ron, was you getting on his case. I know how vindictive you can be. So, I didn't tell you."
"I don't want Draco as a brother-in-law!" Ron cried out, not realizing at first what he had effectively told the shop's current patrons. When he did realize what he said, his face turned to the same shade of red as his hair and he ran out of the store.
He collapsed onto a bench and sat there, turning things over in his head. "Oh, man." He groaned.
"What's wrong, Ron?"
Ron looked up and saw Hagrid standing over him. "It's too embarrassing."
"I got outed as a half-giant." Hagrid reminded him. "Whatever you're dealing with, it can't be that bad. Can it?"
"I guess not," Ron smiled for a moment, then frowned again. "I'm in love with Hermione."
"Everyone knows that already." Hagrid told him.
"And when do I finally figure it out?" Ron put his face in his hands and pouted it the direction of the pet shop. "A few weeks after her mother adopted Draco Malfoy."
Draco Granger came out of the petshop with Hermione. He was carrying a small bundle of golden fur which Crookshanks was licking at happily as though the cat had found a good friend. Nine bushy tails wagged happily. A paw batted playfully at Crookshanks' nose, pinned it, and the nine-tailed pup took playful revenge by licking the cat's nose.
"Blimey, Draco," Hagrid said, "that's a kitsune that is. They're very expensive."
"I've always wanted one," Draco admitted. "But I wasn't allowed to as a Malfoy."
"So, what's her name?" Hagrid asked, having noticed the gender when she'd rolled over to get her tummy rubbed.
"Vasilisa." Draco replied. "It's from a muggle story I read over the summer."
-Chapter Six: Try, Try Again
Harry Potter had seen many weird things during his years at Hogwarts. Still, seeing his rival chatting with his dearest friends did throw him a bit.
"Hermione?" he asked, joining them."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, determined to let her little brother (she had discovered his birthday was a few months after hers) have a new chance at befriending Harry) this is my brother, Draco Granger."
"That explains your letter." Harry realized. "I'm sorry I didn't write back. Things got a bit busy. Dudley got arrested. Uncle Vernon told the police that I did it and that I attended St. Brutus's like he told everyone else. So Dudley got off and I got into trouble. But then they called the head of the center to testify and guess what?"
"What?" Draco asked, scritching Vasilisa behind the ears.
"It was Snape." Harry told them.
"This year's turning out to be full of surprises." Draco observed.
"And school hasn't even started yet." Hermione agreed.
"Is everyone ready?" Mrs. Weasley called to them all. "Time to catch the train."
"I'll see you all at school." Hagrid promised as they were hurried off.
"You too, Hagrid." Draco called back, cheerfully.
"Hey, Ron," Draco asked as they headed to the entrance to Diagon Alley. "How are we getting to the train? I mean I know I was wrong about your family and that they're nice, but nice doesn't pay the bills."
Ron smiled as the group stopped in front of a small blue and white microbus with a rather elegant triple-W logo on the side.
"Uh oh." Harry muttered.
"Ron," Hermione asked, pointing to the logo. "That doesn't mean what I think it does. Does it?"
Ron nodded. "This car is a prototype from the new automotive line at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
To Harry's surprise, the car didn't seem to have anything unusual about it.
"It runs on the magical energy normally put out every day by wizards." Fred explained from the driver's seat "The same forces that caused you to crash Dad' car in your second year would make this baby's motor purr like a kitten."
"And it has a few surprises." George hinted as they pulled up to the train station and helped them onto the train. "But we'll show those to you some other time." He called after them as the train departed.
The twins watched their parents apparate then got back into the microbus.
George frowned at a red button on the dashboard.
"I hope they never have to use it." Fred agreed.