Her teacup clinked against his.
"Would you care for some tea, Granger?"
"No thank you, Malfoy."
Her right eye twitched seeing the house elf take away her teacup. She
had come to terms with the fact that most house elves were happier
enslaved with much reluctance. She tried not to look at Malfoy's
smirking face, and remembered why she was here in the first place.
Ministry business. As the Minister of Magic, Hermione Granger took it
upon herself to personally inspect Malfoy Manor. After all, The Mind
of Brilliance was better than any Auror, and she was sure she would
find some Dark Artifacts. She took
one step and fell down with a thump. She blamed her mishap on Ginny
Weasley's shoe collection, which although extensive, consisted of no
shoe with a heel less than six inches. Oddly enough, when she hit the
ground, it seemed hollow. Aha! There lay a Muggle trapdoor. The cat
was out of the bag now. Literally. There lay an impeccably groomed
half-kneazle. Hermione self-consciously patted her own wad of untamed
bushy hair. Was that broccoli in the corner? There were only one
two people Hermione knew who had a particular fondness for broccoli. One was her, the other was
"Crookshanks!".
She turned to Malfoy. " You horrible man, you stole my kneazle!"
"And he obviously likes my care better than yours, look at his fur."
"How long have you had him?"
"..since seventh year"
Hermione groaned. "Well, now that I've found him, I'll be taking him
home to his home. Which is with me."
A windowpane shattered at Malfoy's shriek.
"...but you don't have any Kneazle things, like food and hair gel."
So that was his secret! Hermione made a mental note to take a trip to
Diagon Alley afterwards.
It would take her about a week to get all the necessary items for Crookshanks.
"Fine. You get him for another week." She saw the house elf standing
in the corner
"But I'm visiting. Every day." She watched with
satisfaction as the smirk slid off his face.
Hermione strode out as Malfoy sat down at the kitchen table with his
head in his hands, and if he had watched her leave, he would've seen a
tube of hair gel in her back pocket.