Chapter 2
'Bored,' thought Draco Malfoy disgustedly. If he had one word to sum up his current life, it was completely utterly and stultifying bored. His father had been the decision maker as well as the guiding force within the household, but he was gone. Lord Malfoy was in Azkaban. His sentence had been reduced from the Dementor's kiss, to life in prison, and then down to 27 years. Draco reasoned that by the end of the decade, his father would have negotiated his sentence to under a decade. Of course, it would be just long enough for him to have lost his status as Lord Malfoy… which was fine by Draco, but terribly upsetting to his mother.
Narcissa Malfoy felt she couldn't be the real "Lady Malfoy" once the title had been forfeited by her husband, and so she was on a campaign to make sure that there was a 'proper' Lady Malfoy at the end of her tenure in that post. His brief relationship with Pansy Parkinson had come to a screeching halt when it was abundantly clear that the girl was willing to do anything and marry anyone to keep herself out of prison following the fall of the Dark Lord. Draco was still stunned that she had actually taken the mark. Her whirlwind romance and subsequent marriage to Teddy Nott had all the gossip rags wagging their tongues.
No, his current problem was a simpering sycophant with a great body, money, and little else. Astoria Greengrass was everything that Pansy was not: Sophisticated. Mature. Cultured. Well spoken. And, boring. He could tell what the girl was going to say in response to any question almost before he asked. If she had an original thought, it was either so long ago that she forgot it or she had chosen never to utter it again. Worse, far worse in his opinion, was that his mother was enamored with her and thought her the perfect candidate to assume the title of the new Lady Malfoy. She had even gone so far as to invite Astoria to live at Malfoy Manor when both of her parents had received sentences in Azkaban.
He realized he should be doing something productive with himself. The work of protecting the Malfoy estate from claims due to war retribution had been difficult, and he was genuinely proud of the work he had done to get there. He had even earned the title of Barrister. But while interesting, especially when his own inheritance was at stake, he had found no further incentive to continue to delve into legal issues. Without profitable employment, his skills lay idle, his brain unfocused, and his personal space invaded by an overbearing matron and her latest protégé. All of which left him with one, very large problem...
He had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and he was going buggering stark raving mad.
He needed a profession.
Or a hobby.
Immediately.
Hermione apparated from the street by the Ministry directly to the gates of Malfoy Manor. She was certain she was far enough away from the wards not to alert anyone to her presence. She had been thinking about getting the book for a long while, and well, quite frankly, she hadn't had any good ideas on how to do this, whatever this is.
She was a barrister, though, and so was Malfoy. Draco. She shook off the tremor that the last name caused her. Her time spent at the mercy of Malfoy senior caused her to hate even the name. First, she needed to get in the house, and her best bet to do that undetected would be to go into the house and study the layout, and where certain wards started and stopped, and use a few well-placed revealing charms to sort out what was there. Focusing on her breathing allowed her to let go of the little seed of panic that had gripped her at the thought of Lucius. Yes, that would work; she would simply refer to everyone by their first names. Even in her own mind.
She strode briskly up to the gate, only to find it locked. Drawing her wand, she discovered muggle misdirection spells, magical being barriers, and a few mild protection barriers making those with ill intent toward the family to become confused. Well, as she didn't seem confused, the magical barrier must be reading her intent to take the book as non-malicious. And really, it wasn't she thought, since she would return the book as soon as she could. But, the most troubling aspect was the strong anti-apparition barrier just inside the gate. She could not apparate past the gate, and she could not get to the door to call upon the house. She wondered what she needed to do to get someone to come to the gate?
"Dragon." The sound of his mother's lilting patrician tone brought him from his thoughts. "There is a mudblood at the gates. The ward that doesn't allow Ministry employees to come to the front door went off, but there is only one employee, so I think that the house didn't see it as a threat."
Draco was annoyed. The houses wards were keyed to him, and now that his mother mentioned it, he felt the soft buzzing somewhere in his skull, but obviously it wasn't a high-ranking employee, as it was barely noticeable. An auror or above would have been giving him a headache already. Of course, his mother looked askance at him for not noticing he thought sourly. As the lady of the house she was keyed into the wards as well, but the way she was looking at him for failing to notice was irritating. It wasn't as if he left them all in danger from an auror's search party.
The drudgery of dealing with a ministry oaf would be far more preferable to dealing with his mother's condescending criticism he thought.
"I was deep in thought, mother, and didn't notice. I'll check the gate. Why don't you and Astoria prepare tea? If the employee has business within the house, it could be a bit dreary." He suggested to his mother with a sigh.
"Fine, Draco. But don't let your manners go if they are annoying you. I want you to make a positive impression on Astoria." He rolled his eye at his mother's retreating back, and raised his wand, casting a complex spell to open a small hole in the wards to allow himself to apparate to the inside of the front gate. With a swirl of his robe and a soft 'pop' – he was on his way.
Well, Herminone thought pensively, maybe she should just call? But, she had no idea how one would announce themselves at a manor. Being a muggleborn could be a disadvantage when it came to the unwritten traditions and rules of the wizarding world. And what would she give Mal… Draco and his mother as the reason for her presence? Hermione hardly had a moment to contemplate that before the crack of apparition brought her attention to the blond man standing just inside the gate.
She flinched slightly in surprise, while her brain worked furiously to figure out something to say. Draco certainly had changed a great deal from his school days. Gone was the adolescent's rounded face, replaced with a firm jaw line, platinum hair styled a bit less severely than she remembered, and flashing grey eyes. She read something in his eyes in that brief moment. Amusement? Annoyance? She couldn't be certain, but his cold mask of formality fell into place almost instantaneously.
Draco was not impressed by the slight witch in a brown cloak and sensible shoes eyeing his front gate determinedly. She had oval shaped glasses and curly-frizzy hair… wait? Was that the brains of the golden-trio? Granger? Why would she be out at the manor? It must be serious to get her to this place again; his thoughts going back to the heinous actions of his sire… he quickly brought up his occulmency shields. That is not something he wished to contemplate.
"Granger, what in Merlin's name are you doing at the gate?" he asked quietly, hoping she hadn't seen his bemusement as he noticed a range of emotions flicker across her face: surprise, fear, determination. Yes, very determined. Well, he was bored. This could prove amusing …
"I… I want to speak to you privately, if you don't mind, just for a few minutes." she hedged, trying desperately to come up with something to ask the boy about. No, not boy, he was her age, and very much a man. Well, they were both barristers, right? She could ask him about… oh, her current case, of course. She'd try stroking his ego a bit and see.
"You don't just drop in on people unannounced, Granger. People are busy. They have lives. It's rude, not that I would expect anything less from the likes of you!" he snapped.
Hermione blushed furiously at the lecture. The prat was right, and she wasn't covering herself well at all. She struggled to figure out how to get into the house, but was coming up woefully short. And, that was not something she did often. It was annoying.
"Fine. You're busy-doing what, I can't possibly imagine, as no one has heard so much as a peep from you in months. But obviously all those woeful monologues about how much you have changed, and wanted to do things to help others, well that was just bollocks, wasn't it?" she said with some heat, trying to cover up her embarrassment at being caught out on her atrocious behavior. She should have sent an owl. But like that would have gotten her anywhere….
"You, want help from me? On a case? You have to be off your nut, Granger." he said snidely, watching as she blushed slightly and shifted her weight. Of course she was lying, he knew that, she certainly wasn't clever enough by half when it came to dissembling, but he found himself slightly intrigued. Merlin, he was intrigued by Hermione Granger telling a lie. His life really was over, wasn't it?
"Well, really, it's just research. I know you amassed quite the library on magical beings, and there is a book that I would like to borrow, or just have a few minutes to look at, if you could." she said sheepishly. Well, that was about as useless a lie as any; she hated that she was being so transparent, and not coming up quickly with ideas to get her where she needed.
"I see." he said studying her. He had wrapped one arm across his torso, and one elbow rested on his wrist, supporting his arm in such a way that he could tap his lips while he thought. She obviously wanted to see his library, or something inside the manor. Of course, the manor had been searched many, many times, but Granger, despite her inability to lie convincingly could be more clever by half. He did have a number of things tucked away that no one had been able to access, but he doubted that even Granger had enough time on her hands to do the meticulous research needed to find out about the Manor's secrets. Letting her in, however, would surely incense his mother and might upset Astoria as well. He let a small smile play across his lips. Maybe being with an uncouth mudblood who was ten times smarter than her would be enough to drive Astoria from the Great Hall and to her rooms, or better yet, to force her and his mother shopping. If he played his cards right, maybe he could get a few days to himself to come up with a hobby or some other pursuit. It certainly was worth a try.
Hermione watched Draco closely, as he seemed to be thinking very carefully about her request. Not comfortable with the tale she had concocted this far, she kept quiet rather than take the risk of alienating the man further.
"Oh, very well. You can come up to the library, just don't expect me to do any work for you. Oh, and you have to have tea with mother. That's the deal." He said, striding away, not even watching to see if she was following him. An absentminded wave of his hand opened the gate, leaving his fellow barrister free to follow in his wake.
