The Mysterious Malady of Mrs. Malfoy
Hermione Granger wakes up one morning to find herself in a house with none other than Draco Malfoy, and absolutely no recollection of how she got there. Soon enough she finds out that two years are missing from her memory, and there are a lot of things she's missed in that time- like the fact that she married Malfoy. A tale of magic, mayhem ,and Malfoys.
Hermione Granger stretched out in her bed, arms going lazily over her head as she greeted the new day with a yawn. Today was going to be a good day, she could feel it. If memory served correctly, it was one month before her nineteenth birthday, the first real birthday that she would be having since Voldemort was defeated.
She opened her eyes and sat up, and then she screamed.
Where was her bedroom? This was not the room she'd gone to sleep in. Where was she? Hermione swung her legs over the edge of the huge bed and stood up quickly, fighting the nausea that came from getting up too fast. Looking around, she frowned. It was a beautiful room, but surely not hers. There were no picture frames, notes, or anything else that could help her get an idea of whose room she was in, or why.
Crossing the room and opening the largest door before she could change her mind, Hermione stumbled out into the hallway. It stretched on a long way on either side of her, but Hermione thought she could make out the opening of a staircase to the right. She headed that way, running her fingertips along the wall as she went. Sure enough, there were stairs where she'd thought she'd seen them. It was a gigantic sweeping staircase that deposited her into a grand marble foyer.
She kept walking, taking in what little ornamentation she found in the house. For such a large place, it was almost shocking how sparsely decorated it was. Hermione heard the soft clink of china. She turned immediately towards the noise, resolved to find the source and determine what was going on. As she headed in the direction she'd heard the sound, a quiet rustling of papers caught her attention in the room just ahead of her. Without thinking, Hermione hastened through the doorway, intent on finding out who or what was there. What she found shocked her.
Draco Malfoy looked up from the small table in a nearly bare kitchen area, and smiled at her. "Good morning, love," he said simply, and returned to reading his newspaper. Hermione felt as if the world were dropping out from under her. Surely she was dreaming.
"Malfoy?" she asked incredulously. "What do you think you're playing at?"
"Malfoy?" he looked up, confusion and amusement displayed on his face. "I haven't heard that in a while. Why the bad mood, Granger?" Malfoy smirked, but somehow it was softer, and the way he said her surname seemed more teasing than anything else.
"I think you know exactly why, you overgrown ferret! I woke up in that giant bed upstairs-"
He cut her off. "Yes, I know, you woke up alone. But I told you last night I was going to have to go in to the office earlier this morning. I know you haven't been feeling well lately, so I was going to let you sleep."
"What would you know about how I'm feeling lately?" Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, "I was fine until this morning, thank you very much!"
"Which is exactly what I mean," Malfoy drawled softly, standing up and walking over to her. He put one hand on her forehead, and she stood there, shocked that her pureblooded enemy would willingly 'pollute' himself with the likes of her. "Now, then. Let's get you back to bed- you feel a bit warm, and it's obvious you're still not over whatever this illness is."
Taking her hand gently, he led the still dumbstruck Hermione back up the stairs and down the long corridor to the room she'd woken up in. She made no protest when he lightly pushed her into bed, and pulled up the covers around her. "I'll see you when I get home, love. Call Dilly if you need anything, and don't think about stressing out over missing work. I'll call Roberts and make sure he knows you're sick." With that, Malfoy dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head, and left the room.
As the door shut behind him, Hermione blinked twice in her confusion, and dissolved into tears without really even knowing why.
When Hermione had finally pulled herself together, it was nearly lunchtime. For a moment, she nearly followed Malfoy's advice and called for Dilly- whatever that was. Deciding that she'd rather not risk what would undoubtedly be some cruel joke, Hermione headed back down to the kitchen area she'd seen Malfoy eating in earlier.
It was really almost pathetic how little was in the kitchen. Hermione searched the few cabinets for anything edible, coming away empty handed, and very much empty stomached. Her fingers had just touched the handle of the refrigerator door when a loud crack sounded behind her. She whirled around, wide eyes taking in the house elf, who was garbed in a pristinely white towel with a silver 'M' and staring straight at her.
"Master Malfoy said Misses was not to be overworking herself!"The elf squeaked in a scandalized tone, "Dilly must insist Misses returns to bed!"
Hermione found herself in an argument with the creature. "I will not go back to bed, and I am fully capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much!" she swatted away the thermometer the elf was pushing at her.
Wait- this was the perfect opportunity! Grinning to herself, Hermione bent and removed a sock from her foot. She'd see just how Draco Malfoy liked it when she saw through this sick joke of his and freed his elf to boot. Her smirk growing wider, she handed the cloth to the elf. One second passed… two seconds… Nothing was happening. It'd worked for Harry, so how was this elf somehow immune to clothing?
The elf in question was staring at her curiously. "Misses would like her socks washed?"
"But you're… you're free," Hermione said, "You can go now."
The elf seemed to think she was crazy, or that whatever 'sickness' she apparently had was taking its toll on her. "Dilly is a free elf," it said slowly, "Misses would not allow Dilly to serve unless Dilly was being paid."
Of course. Malfoy wasn't completely stupid- and it had been foolish of Hermione to underestimate him. He would have made sure there was a free- though still brainwashed- elf to 'serve' her.
Her eyes narrowed as she pondered what to do from this point. "Alright then, Dilly," Hermione said slowly, "I'd like some toast with marmalade, and some tea."
Dilly seemed satisfied that Hermione was seemingly normal enough again, and popped away with a short curtsey. Hermione exited the kitchen area, determined to do some exploring while the elf made her food. Passing back through the grand foyer, she entered next into a large ballroom that was completely empty save for the gigantic mirror on the wall that made the already spacious room seem even more so.
Less than five minutes passed before Dilly apparated with a small pop to where Hermione was wandering, proclaiming that her late breakfast was served. Hermione was rather disappointed, as she'd hardly gotten to explore her surroundings, but went with the elf back to the kitchen to eat.
As soon as she entered, the she could detect the delicious scent of steaming hot eggs. The smell of the food was enough to make her suddenly ravenous, as if she hadn't realized that she'd been hungry until she'd sat down to eat. Dilly even had to pop back to the kitchen to get another omelet for Hermione, even though all she'd said she wanted in the first place was toast. The tea was exactly how Hermione liked it, which normally would have gotten her know-it-all brain going, wondering how Dilly had known her tea preferences; however at the moment she was too busy devouring everything the elf put in front of her to care.
When her hunger was sated, Hermione leaned back in her chair and rested a hand on her stomach. She was pleasantly stuffed now, if a bit overfull, but that was only to be expected when you didn't eat anything until it was nearly lunchtime.
She was just about to call Dilly in to ask where the library was- surely Malfoy would have one in this giant castle of a house- when a cool voice floated in from the doorway, prompting her eyes to snap back open from where they'd been lazily drifting shut.
"Well, I see someone's feeling better," Malfoy raised a pale eyebrow at her as he leaned against the doorframe, smirking.
Hermione gulped, not looking forward to any kind of conversation while she wanted nothing more than a good nap after her large meal. But oh Merlin, he was back, and she could just feel that something was going to happen. And somehow, Hermione wasn't sure just how bad that something was going to be.
So there you have it- the first chapter of my newest story. I hope you enjoyed it! And with any luck you enjoyed it (or hated it, I suppose would work too) enough to leave a review! Thanks for reading! ~Lily