Chapter Two
You had Your Boots On
June 12th
Fourteen year old Hermione Granger wiped away her tears and went to her appointment with her Head of House, Professor McGonagall. She was outside the woman's door when she heard the soft voice of Professor Lupin and as she began to understand the words he was speaking, she felt her anger grow.
At the end of her first year at Hogwarts, she had been questioning but had, in the end, believed that authority figures might know best. At the end of her second year, she had doubts but had conceded to Ron's supposed knowledge of the magical world he had grown up in. This year, a year filled with more and more proof that the adults in this world were either criminally negligent or willfully ignorant had driven her to do what she did best. Research the answers to her many many questions in books. While the library had only a spattering of the answers she needed, Hermione had been rather surprised to find out that there was a magical library in Diagon Alley.
When she heard Professor Lupin telling Professor McGonagall that he was heading to Hogsmeade, she stepped up and knocked on the door.
"That must be Ms. Granger, she requested a quick meeting." Hermione heard the older witch telling her former Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. "Please enter."
Hermione did so and quickly greeted both of her professors. "Professor McGonagall, Professor Lupin. Do you want me to come back later?"
"No, I was just heading out," Remus announced and Hermione saw the sad expression on his face and impulsively did something that shocked all three of them.
She stepped over and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged the man. She felt him tense up and quietly whispered "Please, please don't forget to stay in touch with Harry. He needs all the contact he can get with his parents' old friends."
"Ms. Granger, this isn't appropriate." A shocked Minerva McGonagall announced as she glared at the young witch.
Hermione released her professor and nodded saying "I know that but for once I don't care. You were a great teacher, Professor Lupin."
With that, an embarrassed but touched Remus Lupin ducked out the still open door and Hermione heard it close before she turned to her Head of House. "I am not sorry for hugging him. I only did what Harry would if he hadn't been so convinced by those muggles who raised him that human contact of any form was wrong."
"It is still improper young lady." She was told.
Hermione couldn't help thinking that there was a heck of a lot more improper things going on at Hogwarts than simply hugging a well-liked and kind teacher so she just ignored the statement and sat down in the chair across from McGonagall. "Professor, I have decided to drop Muggle Studies. It is over fifty years out of date and frankly, I already had muggle history classes at my primary school. With dropping Divination, I have come to the conclusion that I must turn in my time turner."
With that, she removed the silver device and handed it over to Professor McGonagall who had a slight frown on her face even as she accepted the necklace. "Ms. Granger, what do you mean that the class is fifty years out of date? I will have you know that it was considered too radical and derided as fantastical when it was instituted by Albus when he became Headmaster."
"Professor according to Hogwarts a History he was appointed Headmaster fifty years ago. Muggle life has changed a lot in the last fifty years yet the class hasn't been changed to reflect that." Hermione earnestly stated. Standing, she asked to be dismissed knowing that nothing she said would change things.
"Yes, of course." With that Hermione left, unaware of the thoughtful expression on Minerva McGonagall's face. Returning to her dorm to finish packing, Hermione listened to the excitement of her fellow dorm mates and Ginny Weasley who had come to speak to her regarding their summer plans and she couldn't help feeling angry with the entire adult muggle world at their obviousness.
June 12th later that evening
Harry was not happy to be locked into his bedroom but after he had reminded the Dursleys about his escaped murdered of a godfather and how he might decide to pay him a visit, they had left him alone. He had been shocked when his aunt had unlocked the door later that night and insisted he fix himself something for dinner. Being told to cook himself a piece of chicken, a baked potato and ordered to eat the broccoli that Dudley had refused to even place on his plate, Harry finished his meal and was ordered back to his room.
"Stay there boy, unless you are using the bathroom we don't want you to exit that room. That damn ruddy bird can fly but only at night and I don't want to hear a single complaint from the neighbors about it." His uncle snapped.
So Harry had returned to his room and had sat back on his bed and grinned. He had his trunk in his bedroom. It was a tight fit but that was fine because it meant he would be able to do his homework early. Thinking on his homework had him thinking about Hermione and he decided that he would send her out a letter the very next evening. He would have sent Ron one but Mrs. Weasley had been rather unhappy with Ron and the twins as they had gotten off the train so he was going to wait a few days for the woman to calm down.
Going to his trunk, Harry randomly pulled out a book and got comfortable as he could and began to read. A bit bored but knowing this was all his entertainment for the summer, Harry began to reread his History of Magic textbook. At the end of the chapter, he found that he knew the answers to the questions it posed and with a slight grin at being correct, moved on to the second chapter which dealt with the development of the Ministry of Magic.
June 14th
Two days later after arriving home, Hermione was thanking her parents as they entered the Leaky Cauldron. Her father ordered them two butter beers on her recommendation while her mother reminded her that she only had two hours in this library.
Hermione nodded and once through the passageway rushed to the other end of the alley and into the rather large building. She huffed and puffed when she was directed to the top floor for the first set of books she was looking for. Returning to the lower level to search for the government and deportment books she needed, she growled in anger when she saw the sign thanking the Malfoy family for the huge donation of books and galleons to build the addition. Returning to the front counter, she was given her new magical library lending card and told that when the two weeks were up the books would just magically be returned to the library.
The witch working the counter handed her the new library bottomless bookbag that automatically lightened the weight of books and handed it to Hermione. She thanked her and was walking at a more sedate pace to the Leaky Cauldron rather pleased with herself for getting her errand done in twenty minutes. She was passing the apothecary when she heard her name being called from the doorway. She saw Neville Longbottom standing there with a woman wearing the exact same outfit that they had seen on Professor Snape during the boggart lesson and it took all of her control not to giggle as she greeted her classmate.
"Grandmother, this is Hermione Granger. Hermione this is my Grandmother, Augusta Longbottom." Neville said formally.
"Ms. Granger, your name and young Mr. Potter's comes up frequently in my grandson's letters. It is a pleasure to meet you." The woman replied with a smile on face as she held out her hand to shake Hermione's.
"It's an honor to meet you," Hermione replied unaware that they had gained an audience in the tall blond couple who were exiting a nearby bistro. "Neville has told us a great deal about you."
"Hermione, is everything okay?" Neville asked. Seeing her confusion, he asked, "Well we only got home the day before yesterday."
"Oh, you mean why am I in Diagon Alley?" She asked then with a smirk said "Well where else would a bookworm be then searching for a library? I was going through withdrawal."
"With what?" Neville inquired looking confused.
With a laugh, Hermione said "It's a joke but it means that I was missing my books. In truth, I was doing some research into arithmancy and some other magical topics for which Hogwarts doesn't have a real complete selection on so I came to visit the magical lending library. It's my summer project."
"Oh, I understand doing that. I am working on supervising the house elves in my family greenhouse. We only really use it for herbs but I want to venture into some of the flowering plants and these great muggle plants that I heard about that have magical uses called cactuses."
"You mean cacti." Hermione said eagerly and willing to explain about muggle things to her pureblood friend who always listened patiently when she did so. "Wait, really?"
"Yes." Neville said. "My uncle is planning on taking me to purchase some plants for my birthday."
"You seem to have an interest in these uh, cacti, Ms. Granger." Augusta Longbottom said with a kind smile on her face. This Hermione was not a beauty yet but it was clear that that would change as she grew into her own looks and Augusta was very happy that Neville seemed very comfortable around her.
"No, not me. Neville can tell you, Herbology is one of the few classes that I don't quite get in the practical sense. My mom, however, well she loves plants. Anyhow, Neville, you should talk to her. She is upgrading our small conservatory and due to Crookshanks, she wants to get rid of her cacti garden. The Smithfield Botanical Gardens approached her about them but she isn't too fond of the woman in charge of it."
"What is a Crookshanks?" Mrs. Longbottom asked.
"My cat, he's half kneazle and all trouble but Mom adores him so if the choice is the plants or my cat who is only there two months of the year, my cat wins. I think she is hoping I will decide I want an owl this upcoming year so that she can keep Crookshanks at home." Hermione said with a wry grin.
"Have you told her that Harry lets you borrow Hedwig whenever you want so that isn't likely," Neville said with a laugh.
"No, but it might be a moot point," Hermione said with a sigh. Looking around, she saw the back of the tall woman but never noticed the man behind her as she leaned in and said "Crookshanks was uh, spending a lot of time with Millicent Bullstrode's cat at Hogwarts. I heard Millicent telling Daphne Greengrass in Runes that her cat is pregnant. I think Crookshanks overcame the chastity barrier at Hogwarts."
Both of them blushed and Mrs. Longbottom chuckled as she understood the issue. "Have you spoken to Ms. Bullstrode yet, Ms. Granger?"
"Yes. If the kittens are partly kneazle, she is going to contact me. The thing is, it turns our Mrs. Norris, Mr. Filch's cat should be called Mr. Norris because he is a possible father." Hermione admitted with a laugh. To her shock, Millicent had been relieved to find out who the potential sire of her cat's kittens and had even been relatively friendly with Hermione as she promised to contact her if the cats looked like the half kneazle.
Hermione looked at her watch and then said "Oh dear, I have to get going. My parents only allotted me two hours to do what I needed and I still have to pick up some parchment for my summer homework."
"We will walk you down that way, Ms. Granger." Mrs. Longbottom announced as they strolled towards the stationary store and the couple exiting the bistro separated. The wife towards the millinery and the husband towards the magical library rather curious to know what the mudblood had borrowed.
As Hermione and her parents exited the Leaky Cauldron an hour later, her mother was speaking rather eagerly about guiding young Mr. Longbottom in his interest in cacti while her father had been rather pleased by the young man's grandmother's explanation of certain parts of the magical world. Oh, they had met the Weasleys but Arthur Weasley hadn't been able to answer their questions in a coherent manner. This elderly woman had done so in spite of his initial uh, rejection of her wearing a vulture on her rather enormous hat.
June 25th
Neville was standing nervously beside Hermione as they waited for her mother to join them in the conservatory. It was his first time in a muggle home and he didn't want to do anything wrong in spite of Hermione's assurances that he would be fine. Her mother joined them and after requesting that Neville call her Jean, they quickly went to work as she taught him about the various muggle plants she grew in her garden while Hermione went to curl up on a nearby rattan sofa.
He had been amazed at her summer reading list which had included books about the Ministry and its various branches as well as books about how things differed between the two worlds. Once they had been finished and Hermione's mother had offered to send him grafts of her various dwarf fruit trees, Neville saw a large snowy owl flying in through the sunroof and landing directly in front of Hermione.
"Hello, Hedwig," Hermione said as she removed the attached letter and took out an owl treat from her pocket. The bird bowed its head after taking the treat and flew off to the nearby elm tree to await her answer.
Neville saw the way that Mrs, er rather Dr. Granger seemed entranced and heard her calling for her husband. "Dear, that beautiful owl returned."
Hermione's dad entered the room and saw his wife point out the glass wall towards their favorite shade tree. Neville was amused to find out that it wasn't only Crookshanks that they coveted but Harry's owl too.
"Neville, are all animals in your world as beautiful." Dr. Granger asked.
"Not quite, I mean, at least not..." Neville regrouped while Hermione read her letter. "There are some that are more magnificent, more beautiful because of their innate power. Unicorns, of course, are beautiful but Hippogriffs while magnificent are rather deadly and the same thing with dragons and thestals."
"Hermione did happen to mention that dragons are real." Her father said in a dry tone that had Neville remembering how Hermione knew that fact.
Wincing he quickly stated "I like the guard peacocks that I saw at a magical zoo once when we were in Greece but the only ones here in England belong to the Malfoys. They are really rare and Mr. Malfoy is well known for refusing to breed them. He even got called into court over it because he has a very rare set and the government wanted some."
Hermione who had finished her letter, couldn't help giggling. Seeing her parents looking her way and Neville's own wry expression she said: "It's just, well Draco kind of reminds me of a peacock."
Neville snorted as he tried not to laugh but he ended up holding his stomach as he lost it while telling Hermione "M-mr Malfoy's b-birds a-are a-alb-albi-albino p-p-peacocks."
Hermione stared at Neville certain he was joking but then their eyes met and she fell over as it hit her why he was laughing. The two teenagers were laughing so hard their stomachs ached so they missed the sound of someone knocking on the door but a confused Dr. Granger went to answer it.
Greeting Augusta Longbottom, he informed her that they were in the conservatory and led the way there. Seeing her surprise at the state she found her grandson, he said: "They were discussing a Mr. Malfoy's peacocks and for some reason, the fact that they are albino peacocks sent them into hysterics."
A small smile graced her lips before she regained control then Augusta answered "They aren't the first. Let's just say that the Malfoy family's peacocks resemble them a bit."
Augusta asked to speak to Jean for a moment and when they were in the small den, she handed Hermione's mother the small envelope. "Has your daughter mentioned that there are still some very dark prejudices in our world against muggleborn witches and wizards?"
Nodding, Jean somberly stated "My husband I tried to talk her out of returning to Hogwarts after finding out about this issue. I was very unhappy that the witch who came to speak to us about our daughter attending Hogwarts didn't inform us of that fact."
"Minerva McGonagall means well but she does have a tendency to ignore it, she wants to believe that it has ended. It has to a certain extent, the laws have changed and there is legal equality for all witches and wizards. However, while laws change, what is in the hearts of those who make the law often doesn't change as quickly." Augusta said. "Even some who would say that they are all for equality like Albus Dumbledore have blind spots. The reason I am mentioning it is that I am a member of a group that is involved in guiding and mentoring bright young witches."
"Something like the Junior League?" Jean inquired and seeing the other woman's confusion she explained what being a member meant.
"Yes and no," Augusta answered. "We are called the Society of Vesta. It's partly a support of the old Wiccan magical ways and partly a network of witches who work to better our world. We are from all strata of society. We had our annual meeting the day I met your daughter in Diagon Alley. There is a council of ten witches who decide what our program for the upcoming year will be."
"Before we continue, would you like a cup of tea?" Jean asked as she watched out the window. Her husband and the two teenagers were outside as Hermione demonstrated her bicycle for young Neville while the owl flew off she would guess to its owner carrying a letter from her daughter.
"No thank you. I have spent the entire afternoon drinking tea as we sorted through the acceptance notes of the various levels of initiates." Augusta said and with a wink suggested something a bit stronger.
Jean poured them each a dram of whiskey and they were soon seated in front of the window watching the trio outside.
"Now, I will try to explain why I am telling you about our society," Augusta said. "The ten witches are lifetime appointments to the council but another twenty-five witches are members. If you dishonor your vow in any way you are magically removed. Members are not on the council. We choose council members from outside the membership and the potential captio is assigned a witch apprentice. These are chosen from Hogwarts second and third-year students. Basically twelve and thirteen-year-old witches."
"You want Hermione to be an apprentice?" Jean asked.
"It's a bit more than just my nomination. Each member of the council is allowed to recommend only one witch per year. You must receive at least two recommendations and if no witch receives two, we don't choose apprentices that year." Augusta stated.
Seeing Jean understood, Augusta continued to speak. "This year we have two potential captio members. One will be chosen. To be the chosen one, you must honor your Hearth, your Home, and your Family. Both potential captio have weaknesses. They are assigned their apprentices based on those weaknesses."
"Your daughter has a connection to both families. One is through her friendship with Mr. Weasley and the other is slightly different." Auguata replied feeling a bit awkward as she tried to explain. "The second potential captio is a pureblood witch whose family is rather dark. She however while a bit arrogant is the choice of many of our council. What she is unaware of that her own grandmother nominated her for membership on the council when she was your daughter's age."
"Should you be telling me this?" Jean asked biting her lip.
"Normally no," Augusta stated. "This is anything but ordinary, however. This young woman's family was blackballed fifteen years ago at the request of her own grandmother after her family tried to perform a dark ritual using her. It was a blood ritual requiring virgin blood."
She saw Jean Granger turn green and reached out to pat the woman's arm. "There is nothing to worry about regarding Hermione. I promise. The Black family was desperate because the patriarch of the family had died and had left the entire estate to their black sheep of a son. A black sheep who believed in equality and who had turned his back on the family. It's a long story and I am sure that the true story of Sirius is something your daughter knows a bit about, at least according to Minerva McGonagall who told the council the truth this week. Either way, this young witch was to be used in a dark ritual to turn the heir dark but it would have killed her."
"My God." Jean's appalled statement had Augusta nodding grimly.
"Hestia Black wanted to save her granddaughter and knew of a young wizard. The very arrogant and rich wizard was in love with her niece and he had a betrothal contract with the family. Thank Merlin or this young woman would most likely be dead." Augusta said with a dark sigh. "Hestia contacted him, she didn't tell him the entire story just that there was to be a ritual that would kill his betrothed. He in his arrogance saved her. I won't tell you that part of the story because that is their personal business but he did save her. The Black family however poisoned Hestia for interfering."
Augusta continued "The young woman and man married and their son attends Hogwarts with your daughter. They are far from perfect and in truth are part of that particular pureblood sect that is openly disdainful of muggleborn witches. However, I would be willing to bet that none of them have ever spent any time with a muggle and I intend to change that."
"I don't want my daughter around anyone like that." Jean protested.
"Yet you let her stay at the Weasley home." Augusta quietly stated. Seeing the woman's eyes narrow, she said "Even the Weasleys in spite of their label as blood traitors have issues with muggles. Oh, it's more covert but it does exist. My grandson has repeated certain statements that the younger Weasley children have told him and while I am sure that is unconscious behavior, they do have a sense of superiority over muggles."
Jean reluctantly said, "I have read between the lines of my daughter's letters and wondered a few times about things like that."
"I find the muggle world a bit scary myself but I am set in my ways at my age. However, I want better for my grandson. My son and daughter made a point of spending at least one night in the Muggle world before the war took them from us." Augusta said sadly.
"What does any of this have to do with Hermione?" Jean asked.
"Your daughter had an end of the year interview with her Head of House that got the woman thinking for a change. Add that to the situation with Sirius Black and a rather interesting tale regarding a hippogriff named Buckbeak and I think she is the perfect witch to convince a set of pureblood bigots that they are wrong."
When Jean started to protest, Augusta said: "Then there is the issue of poor Mr. Potter."
"Hermione's friend, Harry?" Jean asked.
"We were informed during a roundtable meeting with our advisers this week that the Headmaster has stepped over the line of his authority and left young Harry in an abusive situation. One that no one but your daughter has tried to fix. She was thwarted by the Headmaster yet again last week but the letter she sent to the proper authorities reached someone who wasn't happy. They have decided to step in and are using that same pureblood couple to do so because they are the only family with the bloodlines to be able to interfere and not because they purebloods but because they are distantly related to the boy through the Black bloodlines."
"This boy is a Black?" Jean asked frowning.
"All pureblood magical lines are related in some convoluted manner or another. Young Harry's grandmother was the cousin of my late friend Hestia. Even more complicated is that young Harry's godfather is his blood godfather which means that Black blood was spilled to protect him. So this couple and their son are the only three that can protect the boy in our world. At issue is that the boys are constantly battling and that the father lost one of his house elves to young Mr. Potter."
Augusta left out Lucius Malfoy's political leaning, she was sure that when he finally found out who was behind the ritual that almost killed his future wife he would want to destroy Bellatrix Black and his former and possibly future master himself.
"Are you sure it would be safe for the boy to be related to them?" Jean asked.
"Yes and that is why tomorrow if young Narcissa succeeds in her interview she will be assigned Hermione as her apprentice if you agree. To not only give your daughter the support of myself and the Vesta accolates but according to our seer, if this is done, your daughter will one day be the Minister of Magic in our world."
"What? How?" Jean asked shocked at what she was being told.
"Our seer, she saw your daughter befriending a Malfoy and peace being achieved. That she would help guide our world into the new century and beyond with Mr. Potter standing as her partner." Augusta said. "There is a prophecy that says only when light and dark stand together, when Black meets White will peace, knowledge and equality be achieved."
"White?" Jean turned pale and said "My maiden name..."
"Is white?" Augusta said with a knowing nod. "We know. Your family line contains several squibs going back at least ten generations, Dr. Granger. When I nominated your daughter in our meeting, her name was announced not twice which is the requirement but of the nine living accolates on the council, she was nominated five times. It has been years, since the time of Rowena Ravenclaw herself that this happened."
Knowing that Jean didn't understand the honor, Augusta just continued to tell her the rest. "While Minerva McGonagall wanted her paired with Molly Weasley the other initiate if she passes, I feel that Hermione would be much better served by apprenticing with the Malfoy family."
"My first instinct is to tell you no, that this is too much pressure to place on a fourteen-year-old girl but my daughter over the last few years has matured far beyond what I ever expected," Jean replied. "I will leave it up to Hermione and I am sure her father would agree.
Augusta nodded and said "Great. I will put her name down. If Narcissa passes her interview I will nominate Hermione for the position as an apprentice. At which point, Narcissa and she will have a meeting. You should know, we will have to put your fireplace on the floo network so that she may travel between the two homes. I will also be giving her a note to allow her to perform underage magic"
"So we would be able to see what she is learning?" Jean asked delighted by that idea.
"She will only be able to perform magic here or at Malfoy manner and no one outside of the magical world or yourselves will be able to see her do magic, but yes," Augusta said as they stood to go join those outside. She could see Neville was slowly mastering the bicycle and she was considering purchasing one of those muggle devices if he wanted.
June 28th Malfoy manor.
Lucius was growing frustrated with his son as he ordered him to bring his transfiguration textbook down to his study. Once there he ordered Draco to read and be prepared to answer his questions by the end of the chapter. Sitting at his desk he looked over the reports he had from his various division heads. Malfoy Industries was doing well but they had not had an innovative product released in several years and he wasn't happy with the way that all of his Department Heads seemed to consider the status quo acceptable. Putting the reports to the side, he saw the list of books and frowned trying to recall why he had them. Hearing his wife entering the study, he looked up to see she was holding a book. "Narcissa?"
She smiled at her husband and son before telling him. "I was reading up on the Interview from what little is known and I realized that I have to head to Gladrags to pick up a pair of shoes before my interview today. I ordered Tiki to bring you lunch at noon. Draco, when I passed by the doorway to your room, I saw that you hadn't obeyed my request to pick it up yourself. You are being punished and I told you not to have the house elves do it. So I am adding another week to your punishment."
With that, she left and Lucius looked over at his son, shaking his head in annoyance. Draco was intelligent but he was lazy and Lucius was not happy at his continued disregard for proper manners nor for how he hid behind his name instead of standing on his own two feet.
The incident with the hippogriff and the Granger girl were just two examples. He had only been so intent on dealing with the stupid creature because of how his son had run his mouth off. Otherwise, he would have let it stand because he had seen his son's memory of the incident and it had infuriated him at his stupidity. If Draco hadn't taken the class to get over his irrational fear of various creatures over his objection, Lucius would have been furious with his son. Instead, he had been proud of him for facing his fears head-on.
Why on earth that old fool Dumbledore had placed his idiotic Keeper of Keys as a teacher had been allowed he still didn't understand. The requirements of teachers having at least a NEWT in the course they taught were still in place and the man had blithely ignored them like he did anything he wanted to. Then there was the fight with the Granger girl, his son had been blindingly angry after being beaten up by a mudblood. Lucius was angrier that he had been beaten up with simple fisticuffs by a girl. Still, at least, Draco had had the sense not to attempt to hit the annoying mudblood girl.
If he had done that, Lucius would have spanked his bottom until he couldn't sit down. He had taught his son that hitting females was wrong, no matter their status. Still, lately, it seemed as if Draco was deliberately doing anything and everything to challenge his parent's authority. Hearing Draco letting out a loud sigh as he finally turned the page in his textbook, Lucius looked at son and saw he was staring out the window at the Quidditch pitch. Ignoring it, Lucius returned to the list in front of him from the library and it came to him.
This was the list of books that that mudblood girl had removed. He had been rather curious because of her comment about the inadequacy of the Hogwarts library. It had been a regular complaint while he had been on the Board of Governors. He had been rather curious because he had found that several books on the list of ones that the students wanted to be purchased were books that he knew had been in the library during his own years at Hogwarts making him very curious as to why they weren't available any longer.
Still, finding out she was reading books regarding the ministry, the divisions of government and their responsibility including St. Mungos and Hogwarts had him curious because all of these books were supposed to be in the Hogwarts library at least when he had sent an anonymous inquire to Madam Price about them. The last book had him mulling what he knew about the girl. This book was about magical bonds and parenting. She was too young to be pregnant, and even if they had heard her talking about her tom cat, he knew that animal husbandry books were elsewhere.
So Ms. Granger why were you interested in guardianship requirements and bond requirements, Lucius thought to himself even as he set the list aside and went back to reading his division reports with a heavy sigh that sounded remarkably like his sons.
Malfoy Manor, later that evening
Draco went to his room, annoyed at being ordered to change into dress robes. He hated his life, he hated how his parents were always ordering him around and he hated living in the middle of nowhere. Changing his clothes, frowning as he put on the dark green dress robes his mother had purchased for him in Slytherin colors knowing that they did nothing for his coloring. As he messed around in his room hoping his parents would forget to call him down, he saw his broom and muttered that it wasn't fair that he was stuck doing what his poxy parents wanted him to do. He hated that his father had removed his wand at the beginning of summer and that he was being required to obey the no wands outside of Hogwarts deal.
He was sure that Harry bleeding Potter didn't have to behave like he did. He was sure that HE was allowed to have his wand all summer long. He probably didn't have to go out in public and pretend to care about stupid crap like his mom getting appointed to some stupid society of the whatever. He didn't want her to be busy this summer, he wanted her to spend it with him like other kids parents did.
He heard all about it as those Weasels bragged about their mom cooking for them and how she spent the entire summer with them. It wasn't fair. He was worth more than any stupid red-headed lumbering git like Ron Weasley yet, he was stuck spending his summer inside doing revising for classes he had already passed and even worse, horror of horrors, forced to clean his room himself.
Hearing a pop that signaled a house elf, he turned to glare at the idiot.
"Mister Draco, your mother is waiting at the front door. Your father, Master Malfoy says if you don't hurry up you will be standing in the corner all day tomorrow." The house elf announced.
Draco stomped down the steps, still muttering about the indignity of being threatened by a house elf and how he hated wearing these idiotic robes. He saw the glare in his father's anger darkened gray eyes and his own dark blue eyes flickered as he glared right back.
He saw his father looking at his mother and then heard the comment about how on earth were they going to deal with two teenagers in the house for the summer and he found himself feeling a bit lighthearted, maybe, just maybe one of his friends were going to spend the summer here at Malfoy Manor. So in a bit better mood, Draco followed his parents to the apparation point and felt his father's hands on his shoulders as he side apparated him to his mother's favorite restaurant.
He even found it within him to mutter congratulations to his mother about her poxy club, even if he really wished she wasn't going to be so busy with it this summer. Who knows, maybe having one of his friends there would relieve the boredom he normally felt during the summer. He stayed in a good mood or relatively good as they ate their rather delicious dinner, right up until dessert was delivered. Hearing what his father was saying and the horror of what his mother told him had Draco thinking that all of this was a nightmare.
What other reason could there be for him to have heard his father announcing that Hermione the know it all Granger was going to be spending time at HIS HOME this summer? Working up into a right lather as he forgot they were in public, he snarled at his father "Well why don't you just invite Potter while you are at it if you want to ruin my summer?
"Speaking of Harry Potter..." Lucius explained what was going on and to his shock, his son's face turned several rather interesting shades of red, then white and finally as Draco forgot to breathe, the boy passed out muttering that he really, really hated his life.
"Oh dear," Narcissa said hiding her need to smirk, distinctly reminded of three-year-old Draco when they had told him he couldn't ride the peacocks like they were horses. He had reacted the exact same way.
Lucius went to pay their bill and returned, reaching out to hold onto so he could side apparate their son home. Once in Malfoy Manor, he carried the boy to bed and closing the door returned to where his wife was seated in the garden. "When did our son turn into a drama queen?"
Resting her head on his shoulder, Narcissa said "Lucius, he is following in his father's footsteps. I seem to recall an incident fifth year when Tomas Zabini asked me out..."
Lucius bent and kissed his wife, stopping all further talk about how his own little temper tantrum in Charms class had resulted in his standing in front of the entire class starkers. He could still hear Flitwick's nervous comments as the half Goblins handed him a transfigured robe. There were some things that the grown-up dark wizard liked to pretend never happened.
Narcissa let him distract her in a rather enjoyable manner for the next few hours until they were curled up in their bed in the master bedroom then just as Lucius began to drift off to sleep, she whispered "You matured, at least partly, hopefully, he will too. Or at least before he ends up naked and challenging the Head Boy to a wizards duel."
Lucius was too close to sleep and could only protest her reminder by saying "I wasn't naked."
"No, you at least still had your boots on." She answered with a half smirk on her face as she tucked her head down under his and onto his shoulder as she hid her need to giggle.
TBC