A Man Can Change - A Draco/Hermione Story

The Rings

I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS: J.K.ROWLING OWNS THEM, this is just a fanfic written by a huge HP fan.

Hey guys! Like I said, a new entry every couple of days now! This one is still from Draco's point of view! Enjoy!

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Outside of the Great hall, in the corridors, Potter stopped and spun around to face Draco. Draco realised Potter couldn’t see the small package in his hands, because he was looking up at him expectantly and he held his wand defensively, pointed towards Draco.

      “I’m not going to fight you Potter. I have something here from my mother. She told me to give this to you.” He held the box out to Potter, who took it reluctantly. He slipped his wand into his pocket so much that it poked out a little at the top, enough for a good grip if he needed to grab it in a hurry.

      The little packaging was black, with a green dyed rope around the outside to hold the wrappings together. Potter slowly un-wrapped the package in front of Malfoy, cautious of what was to come out of the box. Malfoy of course knew what was in there, he had watched his mother wrap it up, and he had been in their heated discussion about whom it should go to.

      As the wrappings were pulled away, a small, ancient looking black velvet box was revealed. Potter now looked extremely confused.

      “Malfoy...Is your mother proposing to me?” He asked in a very serious tone.

      Draco burst into laughter and doubled over against a stone wall that led into the Great Hall. ‘Of course that had been his first reaction’, Draco thought. He had handed Potter a box from his mother that turned out to be small and decorated in such a way for a ring to be held within.

      “Seriously Potter? She’s not bloody proposing to you!” He was still doubled over in laughter, but was trying to compose himself.

      “Are you sure?” Potter asked.

      “Of course I am. Now just open the bloody thing, I haven’t got all day you know.” Potter seemed to see sense in what he was saying and noticed the more “Malfoyish” tone that Draco just used. Potter looked like he felt more relieved now that he had said that to him.

      Opening the box, Potter’s eyes went wide. He knew what was inside, a large silver ring, very much like his own but there was no snake on it, instead there was a small, silver, enchanted hourglass with very fine grains of golden sand. Potter looked like he didn’t know what to say, as he obviously didn’t know why he was receiving it.

      “It’s called a Significance Ring. Basically the ring chooses the wizard, just like a wand does and if chosen by the ring, it means that this person is going to change the lives of many. Obviously you have already done that, before we have given you this ring, but the ring comes in handy for everyday life also.” Draco picked up the ring and showed Potter the grains of sand that sat completely still, “It works the same way as a normal hourglass in a way, and the grains of sand in this count down the time to a significant event, even if you don’t know what the event will be. The event can also be only significant to you, or to those close to you, and the event may be large or small.”

      Draco almost didn’t want to hand it over to Potter. It had been in his family basically forever. He had heard of others that floated around, even though they were very rare, finding new owners but this ring had never found a new wizard to weld it.

      “This has been in my family for a very long time, yet it hasn’t found a new master yet. The last person to have it was my ancestor, Brutus Malfoy. He lived a long time ago and he started the anti-muggle movement that’s gone on for generations.”

      “I thought you said that the ring chooses the owner who is going to change many lives for the better.” Potter finally spoke up.

      “I didn’t say that the owner specifically changes lives for the better, just changes lives. And of course an anti-muggle movement like the one he created has changed lives for centuries, and unfortunately it wasn’t a good life changing event. Anti-muggle movements, what was my ancestor thinking?” Potter’s eyebrows shot up about fifty feet above his head when Draco said this, he looked like he couldn’t believe his ears. Draco ignored it.

      “Anyway, my mother thinks that because no one has ever wanted it to leave the family, it hasn’t found a master capable of life changing events. It doesn’t even want me, which must mean my life isn’t going to have any largely significant things that will change the world in it. She wants you to try it on because you have already changed the world we live in, and she thinks you’re capable of doing more.” At last, Draco handed the ring over to Potter, who took it gently and stared at it for a few moments before placing it on his right ring finger, the same place where Draco kept his ring.

      As soon as it was on properly the outside of the hourglass glowed for a few seconds before returning to normal, only this time, the grains of sand were positioning themselves at the top of the hourglass, before starting to steadily fall down.

      Draco couldn’t believe it, the ring had really been meant for him. He knew his mother would be thrilled about it finding a new owner, but also sad at the same time that it would no longer be in the Malfoy family as it has always been. From this day on, until it found a new owner, it would be passed through future generations of Potter’s.

      “Malfoy, this is… I’ll have to write your mother a thank you letter, this is amazing.” Potter said while tapping gently on the hourglass, perhaps to see whether or not the grains would move if disturbed.

      Draco brought his own right hand up into his sight and stared at his Snake Ring. This too, had been in the family for generations but it did something a little different, yet similar at the same time to Potter’s Significance ring. Draco’s snake ring was a special ring that detected Dark Magic around its owner. This ring also finds its owners but they are always Pureblood wizards, and it usually chooses a wizard who is set to be around Dark wizards, which Draco has been his whole life.

      Whenever Draco is around Dark magic, the ring will pick it up and the Snake starts to slither on the spot. The pace at which it slithers depends on how close the Dark Magic is. So when the Dark magic is a little far away, it slithers slowly warning the owner, and when it is close, the Snake starts to slither faster until it’s at its fastest and the Dark Magic is basically on top of you.

      When Lord Voldemort had been around, and he had been made a Death Eater, the snake would never cease slithering and it would always be at a fast pace, even in his own home, in which Lord Voldemort spent part of his time. His own Father and Aunt Bellatrix both set it off at home too.

      Since the war had ended, it hadn’t moved one bit, and frankly, Draco was glad for this. He has had enough Dark Magic for one lifetime.

      “She would like that Potter. She’s always talking about you these days, gets quite annoying actually. You’ve got a new fan.” Malfoy answered after looking thoughtfully at his own ring.

      “You must want to kill yourself all the time then.” He commented, still staring at his new ring.

      “Not as much as you think I do.” Potter looked up and stared at Draco. He had that confused look of his on his face again. Draco found pleasure out of confusing Potter, as he had with Granger, and smirked at his ex-enemy. Draco felt like he wasn’t enemies with Potter anymore, not after saving both his mother and himself from imprisonment, and saving himself from the fire in the Room of Requirement.

     After a moment of silence between them, Draco heard fast paced footsteps behind him. Granger was walking towards the hall but skidded to a stop when she saw Potter and himself staring at each other with strange looks on their faces.

      “What’s going on here?” She asked. Draco felt a warm sensation in his stomach as he looked at Granger, but he ignored it and answered her before Potter.

      “We were just talking. Where did the green go Granger? I told you it looked good on you.” Draco smirked at her, before nodding at Potter and walking off, back into the Great Hall for breakfast.

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