In the howling night wind atop the Astronomy Tower, Draco opened his shell, just a little.
He began to tell her what he had done:
How he had discovered the knowledge of Horcruxes in that small black diary, with her help in translating it;
He told her precisely what the Horcruxes the Dark Lord had made truly were;
He told her that the diary Harry had destroyed in second year had been a Horcrux, and that Sirius Black and Kreacher had recently destroyed Hufflepuff's cup and Slytherin's locket;
He told her how he had retrieved a Basilisk fang from the Chamber of Secrets and single-handedly destroyed Ravenclaw's diadem, a story known until now only to himself;
He told her that he had been secretly assisting Dumbledore, working quietly with Sirius Black in an effort to find Marvolo Gaunt's ring;
He told her how desperately he had wanted to trap the Dark Lord's soul, to stop him doing further evil, only for that soul to have escaped after all...
Of course, he still held some things back.
He carefully avoided details that touched on other people's privacy, such as his mother Narcissa's part in stealing the cup, or the young Dark Lord's deception of the Grey Lady.
He carefully concealed the secrets of his past life... secrets too sordid, too strange to share.
He offered up only those secrets that made sense, only the facts already plain to see. Even so, it was enough to leave a fourteen-year-old girl speechless.
With something like a death wish, he tried to lay bare a part of his darkness for her to see... his confusion, his fear, his breakdown, his helplessness.
Even his sorrows. He could not confide in his parents, given their history as devotees of the Dark Lord, as staunch pure-bloods and Death Eaters. They would never support him. Never.
Sure enough, her warm brown eyes were beginning to change, showing something like surprise...
Filled with tremendous unease, he gritted his teeth and went on, watching her closely all the while, his heart trembling with dread.
He waited for fear to appear in those eyes, for distance, for indifference, before she left him for good.
These were frightening, complicated, weighty secrets, enough to alarm anyone who heard them.
These secrets went far beyond what any fourteen-year-old witch ought to have to bear.
He asked himself whether he could have borne it, at fourteen. The answer was no.
How could she possibly be expected to bear all this? It would be perfectly understandable if she fled in fright, away from the tower, away from him in the darkness, away from him and the great secret he carried, Draco thought bitterly.
But he was wrong.
After a brief moment of surprise, Hermione Granger's eyes showed no fear at all, but instead grew brighter and brighter with excitement and delight.
She even said to him, "Draco, why did you not tell me sooner? I could have helped you destroy the Horcruxes!"
"What?" he asked her, incredulous.
"I said, I want to help you destroy the Horcruxes! I can help you deal with him!" She smiled at him with delight, as though he were some newly discovered star she had finally managed to observe in the night sky, or some dusty treasure unearthed from ancient ruins.
How could Hermione not be overjoyed?
For three years now, all her vague worries and doubts about him, all the whispered speculation she had heard... that he was some wicked, ruthless Slytherin Dark wizard... had finally been laid to rest.
Now Hermione could be entirely certain that Draco Malfoy had never been a boy obsessed with the Dark Arts.
He had no connection to evil whatsoever. He did not, whatever the rumours said, support Voldemort.
He carried a great secret, but it had never been darkness; rather, it had been a startling kind of light.
Draco, he had light in his heart. He deserved her regard, every last bit of it.
He was the finest boy she knew. Even if he thought of her as a little sister, he was still the finest, the most capable, the most deserving of her affection.
The dear boy stared at her blankly, seeming not quite to understand what she was saying. He was only intent on watching her with his damp, clear eyes, his lips trembling slightly.
"I always thought you were rather remarkable, just a bit secretive. I knew you had been doing things behind the scenes, but I never guessed anything on this scale. But do you truly believe you can destroy every Horcrux single-handed, and fight off the Dark Lord and his followers besides?"
Hermione took his hand and laughed softly. "Have you never thought of finding someone to share this burden with?"
"But..." he hesitated, feeling both delighted and disbelieving.
His lonely, helpless heart was held fast in the grip of Hermione Granger's unwavering gaze.
"No buts, I am going to do this with you!" she said again, her eyes sparkling as she smiled at him.
These were the most moving words Draco Malfoy had heard since his rebirth.