It's All So Strange Ch. 1: The Storm

Everything had started out very nice. I had walked under the gazebo without a care in the world. Rain pattered down around the roofed semi-building while the rainwater rolled down the tiles above and onto the ground around it. I could see the people walking around on the streets away from the gazebo as they tried to get out of the rain. The park was it's loveliest in the rain and the smell was always a welcoming scent and worth the cost of damp clothes when returning home. It was so beautiful, but then that's when I heard the thunder that my paradise soon faded to a nightmare.

I froze in place by the gazebo's railing as I stared out towards the sky I found myself unable to move. Through the corners of my eyes I could see the streets becoming more bare, and only with the first flash of lightning could I tear my eyes from the darkening clouds. I tore my white knuckles away from the railing and backed away into the center of the gazebo. I looked around seeing very few people left on the streets, and the number of cars dwindling by the minute.

I found myself starting to tear up and cursed myself. Out of everything I had been through a simple thunderstorm had broken me. I'd been afraid of them since I was a kid and even after nineteen years after birth I was still a coward when confronting them. The thundering grew louder in my ears as it approached and the flashes of lightning became quicker and more repetitive. In this moment I knelt down and soon sat back as I wrapped my arms around my knees and put my head down.

I refused to sob but let my body shake with fear. The cold autumn wind grew harsher and faster around me and I hugged myself tighter. Tears slowly rolled down my face and into my lap as I sat their and cried out of cowardice. With each flash of lightning I flinched and each thunder clap I bit down on my lip trying to keep from making any sound.

Then I let of a gasp as I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched at the touch. I tore my head from my knees to look up at the hooded black figure in astonishment. I soon pulled my shoulder away from the mans touch and backed away slightly.

"Malfoy." I looked up at the blonde Slytherin.
"Granger." He replied slightly taken aback.
"What are you doing here." I forced myself to stand and look away from him while I wiped the tears from my cheeks.
"I saw a girl curled up in the middle of a thunderstorm." He replied dryly.
"Aren't you a hero." I mumbled my face flushed from embarrassment as I shakily stood up.
"Why are you out here anyways. You should be inside, you know, not in the middle of a thunderstorm."
"I like the rain." I looked at him.
"Doesn't look like you like this kind of rain." He tucked his hands into his jacket pockets.
"This rain is just fine." I retorted crossing my arms.

The next moment a clap of thunder happened above us and I found myself stumble in place.

"Sure it is." Draco looked at me and then to the ceiling as he began to take off his jacket.
"What are you doing, it's freezing out here."
"I'm aware of that." He approached me and I looked up at him skeptically while backing away only to flinch at a lightning flash.

Then I became surprised when Draco stopped and held out his jacket to me. I only looked up at him and met his eyes while keeping my hands at my arms. There was a long pause before he stepped forward and draped the jacket over my head, arms, and shoulders. I stared up at him un-moving except the flinching and shivering in the storm.

"You're nearly a statue. C'mon Granger." Draco stepped forward again to grab my arm and pull me towards one of the gazebo arches. I stopped him and stood my ground right before leaving the safety of the roof and shook my head at him. "You're still stubborn as hell." He wrapped his right around my shoulders and with his left hand he lightly pushed down my head as he dragged me into the rain.

"I want to go back." I whimpered as each step became harder to take. I felt my legs shaking beneath me as he walked me along the pathway towards the street.

"No you don't. It's only a little further Granger." He pulled me closer when I stumbled and quickly rushed to get me to the side of the road.

Soon after he stopped and I stood shaking beside him. I felt his left hand leave my head and I was able to look up at a sleek long black limousine in front of us.

"You're fine now Granger just get inside." Draco moved his right arm from my shoulder and he urged me into the back of the vehicle.

I stumbled inside and scooted over to the far left and hugged the left-side door. Draco slid in smoothly next to me and closed his door behind him. He leaned back and looked forward at the driver.

"Fafer take us back to the manor."
"Yes sir Master Draco."

Draco turned to look at me seemingly relaxed with the situation. "Are you alright Granger?"

I sat half curled in the seat pressing up against the door. The sounds of thunder and the flashed of lightning seemed muffled in the expensive vehicle and allowed me to slightly relax. "Yes. I'm perfectly fine."

"Good." he turned back to stare at the window letting his arms fall at his side.

I stared at the blonde boy in awe and confusion. How could this be the same muggle-hating narcissistic jerk that I had known all the previous years? Where was the sarcastic, rude, git who tormented Harry, Ron, and I for years ever since we started at Hogwarts? Instead of an annoying blonde jerk sat a decent young man who had just let a muggle-born into his limo and given her his probably expensive jacket. Draco simply sat there drenched looking out the window, his hair was plastered down onto his forehead and his white V-neck t-shirt had been drenched to his skin.

"What happened to you?" I stared at him.
"Pardon?"

"What happened to you? You actually cared about who you saw in the storm, and you didn't even know it was me. Then when you found out it was me you didn't call me a Mudblood or refuse to touch me or act like you were burned. You just stayed there and even forced me from that gazebo when I was hardly able to walk. What happened to the annoying git from Hogwarts?"

"Nice to know your opinion was so high of me Granger." Draco sat up looking over at me. "And I think that person was gone after Dumbledore died."

"You were the person who was trying to kill him." I glared daggers at him.
"I know, but I only did that to save myself. Voldemort would have killed me if I refused."
"So you were still selfish."

"You don't get it Granger." He rounded on me, his calm composure breaking. "I was forced into being a Death Eater. My father raised me to hate mudbloods and muggles. He was a damn Death Eater himself and dragged me and my mother into it with him. I grew up on the dark side because of my father, I wouldn't have believed all that crap about pure blood if he hadn't imprinted it on me since birth. When Voldemort called and he was reborn that was when it all became a living hell. I was forced into the dark army and then he cursed me with the mark and told me I was to kill Dumbledore. I was terrified." He turned his gaze from me and my heart slightly sank. "I didn't want to kill Dumbledore, but I was afraid for my life. Then after he died, I knew that the war had begun. I had to watch Voldemort torture and kill people I knew and some who I cared for deeply." He turned back to meet my eyes. "I watched my own aunt carve into your skin with her knife. I watched her carve that name I had called you for years and see how terrible the word actually was." Draco looked down at his hands that were now in his lap. "Even after Voldemort died we had remained in hiding for a month to make sure that he was actually truly gone. Then once we came out of hiding my father was arrested and was sent to Azkaban for being a Death Eater."

"Draco... I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I was a git and I know it. I probably deserved it."
"But your father-"
"He was a git about 90% of my life, don't feel bad.

I moved my legs so I could shift my whole body to face him. "No, Draco I'm so sorry this happened to you. I was so rude towards you and you didn't deserve it."

"You're unbelievable Hermione. After all that shit I pulled throughout our school years, you still have it in your heart to forgive me."
"You just called me by my name." I stared at him.
"And you had called me by mine."

A long silence ensued and we both soon turned to our windows and proceeded to stare out them the rest of the drive. I stared at the moving scenery and wondered why Draco would be riding in a limousine when he was a wizard and could apparate wherever he pleased. I thought though that maybe it was because it was less flashy in a way, and less obvious that a wizard was in the midst of muggles. Most of the wizarding world intertwines with the daily lives of muggles and in muggle London, and I supposed that posing as a rich muggle instead of a rich wizard attracts less attention.

My thoughts were soon interrupted by Draco's driver Fafer. "Master we've arrived."

Draco turned and opened his door and shut it then soon came around the vehicle to open mine. I nodded a thanks and stepped out still clutching Draco's jacket, although the rain appeared to be sliding off a barrier high above us. I looked forward to the black gates of Malfoy Manor that stood tall in between large long hedges on either side and felt a chill up my spine. Now I felt afraid for a different reason.

"Here." I turned and saw Draco holding out a blindfold to me. "The only room that hasn't been remodeled yet is the main dining room that leads to the dungeon. We'll have to end up passing through there, and you don't have to see it if you don't want to."

I looked up at him and took the blindfold from him only to stare down at it. Then I looked back up at him and shook my head. "I'll be fine. I won't need it."

"Suit yourself, but keep it on you in case you do." He turned and led me through the gates to the manor's front doors.

The manor walls were tall and of pure white marble. I followed Draco forward to the main dining room and froze in the empty space. There was nothing in the room anymore for it was bear and about to be remodeled but to me I saw it's past. I looked at the space and could see myself lying on the floor while Bellatrix lay over my body as she carved into my flesh with her knife. Draco soon grabbed me and pulled me away while forcing me forward and to look at the staircase we approached.

Draco grabbed my arm and pulled me up the white staircase and we soon entered a large white room covered in deep greens, silvers, and blacks. A piano was to the left in the corner and I saw various music sheets in frames on the walls. Then underneath us the carpet was a deep rich green velvet. We crossed the carpet and Draco led me down a series of hallways until we reached a large opening with only a single door in it's center with the letters 'D.M' in gold painted on the front.

He led me inside the room and I found it was extremely spacious. Most of the decor matched the colours of the rest of the house despite the blue of the Tutshill Tornadoes posters on the left wall. Dracos bed was king sized and was decorated in Slytherin colours along with his dresser, bedside table, rug, desk, and leather couch. To the left was a green door with a black hook and to my right was a plain white door with a gold handle.

"My mother does not know you're here yet, so I'll have you stay here until I am able to tell her. No one ever enters my room without my permission and there's a spare bedroom connected to my room which you can only get to through my bedroom, so you'll be safe there."

"Thank you Draco."

"I'll get you some dry clothes from my closet, I'm sure there's something that might fit you out of the clothes my mother bought me that I never wore." He looked down at me. "Go ahead and check out the other room while I find some." He turned on heel and opened the green door and disappeared into the large closet.

I turned around and walked towards the white door. I reached for the gold handle and opened it to find a large bedroom only slightly smaller than Draco's. I walked inside and watched as the pure whiteness of the room filled with red and gold with touches of pink. The room was similar to Draco's in what was located inside. A queen sized bed, a medium sized dresser, a red closet door, a medium sized desk with a chair, and a large red rug. All of the items had seemed to not even be there before I opened the door, everything appeared to be pure white to match the walls. Then it hit me.

"It's enchanted." I smiled standing in the doorway.
"You're correct."

"It's an impressive room, If I do say so myself. I enchanted it well." I turned to see Draco walking towards me with a small bundle of clothes in his arms. He held them out to me and I took them from him thanking him, our hands brushing in the process.

"The shirts probably a bit big but it was an old one from a few months ago, I only wore it once to please my mother, blue isn't much my colour. Then all the pants I had would be to big to fit you, so I settled for a brand new pair of black boxers that my mother got me a year ago. I hope they'll suffice until your clothes get washed and dried."

"Draco they'll be fine, really, thank you." I looked down at the clean shirt and the still packaged boxers then back up at him. "I'm going to go change." I quickly turned around and closed the door behind me bewildered. I found my heart racing after his hand brushed my own, but I didn't understand why.

After Hermione shut the door I let out a long sigh before returning to my closet door and grabbing a light green V-neck t-shirt and pair of black sweats from a dresser then stripped down to my underwear before putting them on. I looked back at the white door Hermione was behind and shook my head before I fell back onto my bed. Why of all people did it have to be Hermione Granger that I found in the middle of a thunderstorm? How was it that the great Hermione who helped defeat one of the most powerful dark wizards only to be brought to tears by some bad weather? Why did my heart have to race when I saw her light up when I said her name? She seemed so fragile and innocent when I brought her to my manor. Her face was full of fear when she looked at the empty dining room and her eyes were full of fright when she had first faced me.

I couldn't help thinking about that scene over and over again in my head. The moment I first realized it was Hermione curled up on the ground. She had looked at me with tears running down her face, her eyes were red and puffy, and she was shaking like she had seen a dementor. Then there was her expression when our hands touched. Her eyes went wide and I swore I saw her face go red. Even I could still feel a warmth on my hand from where she touched it and I found myself confused. I heard the other door open and I sat up seeing Hermione dressed in my clothes. I couldn't help but feel a bit of warmth seep through me. This was going to be a long night.