At this point Harry was starting to breathe heavily.
He felt rage surging through his body. His blood boiled at the memory of what Draco had done, what he helped with. The image of all the Hogwarts students that were murdered the night the Death Eaters stormed into the school, and Dumbledore… Harry almost choked at the thought of him. In his nightmares he still saw Dumbledore fall off the Astronomy tower, lifeless… dead.
"Harry you don't understand… It's not like that." she was saying, speaking rather softly, probably intuiting what he was thinking of. "Remember what Sirius told you: 'People aren't split into good people and Death Eaters.' And he was right. Some people may be worse than others and some may be too far gone to be helped, but I don't think that is Draco's case. I do not believe he is beyond help! He…" Hermione opened her mouth to say something else but suddenly decided against it.
Slowly, Hermione's voice penetrated Harry's mind, bringing him back to the present.
"What I don't understand is why YOU have to be the one to help him.", Harry retorted angrily. "He is not alone, Hermione, and he definitely isn't suffering from some trauma. He is just a stupid git who happened to get himself into something too big for him and is now crying for help at the first sign of hardship".
Their eyes locked and they remained like that, in what seemed to be a staring contest, for several minutes. Ron gulped, remaining silent. A joyous laugh came from the other group of people, probably Ginny laughing at something George said. Harry and Hermione continued to look at each other ignoring everything around them.
Hermione was upset. Not with Harry or Ron specifically but with their stubbornness, especially Harry's, and their short sightedness. Sure, Draco had been a prick and a douchebag when he was in school, he called her mudblood and other names every chance he'd got; but he had also been a child when it all started. She was sure he couldn't have remained untouched by the horrors of war. Even the worst people have their own traumas.
Everything put aside, she still hadn't forgotten how he lied to his father and aunt when she, Harry and Ron were brought to the Malfoy Manor. That had to count for something, right? He couldn't be as rotten as he seemed and do something like that without having anything to gain from it. Thus, she felt they had to at least try to help, try to fix whatever damage had been done.
"Harry, we owe them at least this much." she said aloud, continuing her trail of thoughts.
She saw Ron looking at her confused, but Harry caught his breath, narrowing his eyes slowly without breaking contact with hers. He knew what she was talking about, she was sure of it. She knew him all too well by now.
"What he did at the Manor, what his mother did for you in that forest… We owe it to them to at least try." she insisted. "I'm sure you must agree with me, or at least a small part in you does, because otherwise you wouldn't have relayed the message or told me about the offer."
Harry continued to silently stare at her, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Ron frowned and scoffed but he remained silent.
Hermione realized she had stroked a sensitive chord with Harry by reminding him of those particular events. She knew he hadn't completely forgotten either, but that he chose not to dwell on them that much during the war or afterwards for that matter. She knew he would soon see her reasons, but she also knew that she'd do this with or without their consent.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Harry let out a loud sigh.
"So, you're that determined to go through this?" he asked.
"Mhm." she nodded.
"With or without our approval?"
"Yes." she said, nodding again, firmly. "I just hope you would both trust me enough to believe that I will stop if I find out that he neither needs nor deserves my help."
After another moment of silence, Ron was the first to speak.
"Well then, let's look on the bright side. You'll be able to transform him into some hideous creature if he doesn't behave, or better yet, curse him into the next century", he sniggered.
"Ron!", Hermione exclaimed, slapping his shoulder lightly, but smiling as well.
"Oh no, Ron is right.", Harry agreed, grinning evilly. "Or you let us know and we'll be more than happy to make the white ferret 'bounce'."