CHAPTER SEVEN
"...you said..."
-Adele
A fortnight had passed since Hermione and Lucius' brunch 'date' and Draco's morning with Dean and Cho, and the two were the same as they'd been since they stopped being enemies...
Friends.
Draco tried some of his go-to tactics to appeal to her, but as she wasn't Pansy (who positively melted when complimented on her looks) or a random Muggle (with whom he could pretend to be literally anyone to appeal to her) he was at a bit of a loss, and decided hell, maybe it wouldn't hurt to do as his mother suggested.
Which is why he spent half of Monday morning checking his watch, waiting for a certain delivery to arrive at their shared 'office.' (More like a double-wide cubical.)
"Draco?" asked Hermione, thoughtfully. She, too, was elbow deep in paperwork, and was chewing the end of her quill. She had a streak of ink across the bridge of her nose and her hair was particularly unruly today, presumably due to the humidity. He thought she looked cute.
"Yes?"
"How can a woman tell if a man is interested in her?"
His heart skipped several beats as he mentally worked to formulate a reply.
"I suppose, if he asks to spend time with her..." he started. She cut him off.
"Yes, that's what I was thinking. And he has asked. And we've been spending time together. But-"
"He?"
"Yes. We started having meals together as he says he's interested in helping to pass that house-elf protection legislation we're drafting, but the more time we spend together, the more I suspect he's interested in me socially. But just when it seems something might be there - some spark - he mentions a lady-friend and hurries away. The odd thing is, as far as I can discern, he's not seeing a lady. If he is, they're keeping it very quiet. But if he's not, do you suppose he's pretending to be to make me jealous?"
"Er..." Draco glanced at his pocket watch. The delivery was due any minute. He wished he was a Legilimens like his mother, as he had no idea whether she was indeed seeing a man, or if she was referring to him. But how could she know his intention today was to pretend he'd started seeing someone in an attempt to make her jealous?
"Men don't really think we women fall for nonsense like that, do they? Do you? I mean, if I fancy a man, I fancy him. I don't need him to pretend to have another woman in his life so I'll feel threatened and throw myself at him."
Oh, Draco thought. Maybe she was using his mother's tactic on him! Maybe there was no man she was seeing who was possibly pretending to see someone else. Maybe she'd invented this mystery man to suss out whether Draco was interested in her. A small smile crept across his face. It quickly died.
"I'll admit, I was the jealous type when I was younger. Sixth year, I wanted to claw out the eyes of both Ronald Weasley and Lavender Brown for snogging each other all over the castle, and I did start seeing someone else to make him jealous, but I was seventeen years old, then! I'll be twenty-one next month, and I swear that year on the run aged me by an additional half a decade. I simply cannot imagine a grown man behaving the way I did as then." She swirled her quill in the ink absentmindedly. "He's infuriatingly complex. I can't see myself as the sort of witch he'd even want, nor could I have ever dreamed I'd end up interested in him, but every time we see each other, I start to think there's possibility there, if for no other reason than to help me be over Ron, you know? Someone new and exciting to keep the mind off... the past? Except there's a past there, too. A different sort of... and... Oh, Merlin!"
Shite. There must really be another man.
"Draco, you're a good friend, so please be honest with me. Would a grown man pretend to have another woman in his life to make a potential new one jealous? What do you think?"
"Er... I think..."
There was a rap on the wall of their cubical. A young, uniformed delivery girl poked her head in. "Draco Malfoy?"
"Yes?"
"Delivery for you, from..." The girl checked the card hanging off the basket and immediately went pink. "From 'your sexy secret lover.' Sent an hour ago, no response requested. Sign here."
"Your what?" Hermione snorted back a laugh. Draco went the same shade of pink as the girl as he quickly scrawled his name on the line. When he'd told Goyle to send it time-stamped after he was already at work because he wanted her to think it was from a sexy secret lover, he hadn't expected the card to literally read 'from your sexy secret lover.' Salazar's balls, Goyle.
"Oh, Draco!" Hermione managed to hold back her giggles until the girl accepted a sickle and left. "I had no idea you had a sexy secret lover!"
"I don't," he snapped. He tried to wave Hermione away from the basket, but her eyes lit up when she was it was full of fancy chocolates, each spiked with a different expensive alcohol.
"Who is she, Draco?" She plucked out a firewhisky-infused dark chocolate heart. "Do I know her?"
"No. She's no one. She's a Muggle."
"She can't be." Hermione took a bite of the chocolate and closed her eyes. "Ohh, it's pure bliss."
"Why can't she be a Muggle? You think I'm still anti-Muggle?"
"I think a Muggle couldn't have found that new Diagon Alley chocolate shop." She tapped the logo on the box. "Is she a secret? Is your sexy secret lover a secret even from me?"
"Why shouldn't she be?" He scolded himself. That came out harsher sounding than intended. "Will you tell me the name of this man who might have another woman on the side?"
"No, no... Not yet, that is." She spoke casually but smiled shakily and he got the distinct impression she was keeping something important from him. While he had not inherited his mother's talent for Legilimency, he was naturally intuitive.
"Is he a friend of mine? Is it Blaise?"
"Blaise? No! Draco!" She bit the rest of the firewhisky heart in half. "How about this: I'll keep my friend a secret and you can keep yours one, and if either of us decides the person we're seeing is more than a mere fling, we'll reveal their identities... we'll go on a double date. Yes!" She snapped her fingers. "That's an excellent idea! If you think there's more to your relationship than... than what would result in being labeled 'sexy secret lovers,' and if I confirm both that my... dinner date... is as interested in me as I might be in him, we will meet at a restaurant, the four of us, and make each other's acquaintances then. A big reveal. It'll be fun!"
"Yeah," said Draco, mentally kicking himself, envisioning Goyle in a dress and wig, trying to pass for Sexy Secret Lover Girl. "Sounds fun."
That Friday, after work, Draco joined his mother and father for dinner at Malfoy Manor, at their insistence. It was unpleasant and awkward from go, at least as far as the youngest Malfoy was concerned.
"How is your work, Draco, darling?" asked Narcissa. The house-elves had prepared one of her favorite dishes for the main course, a roasted leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, and she and Lucius were both drinking.
"I'll have a glass of wine, too," said Draco to an elf after starters were cleared away. He was tempted to ask for something stronger but did not wish to concern his parents.
"How is your latest paramour, Cissy?" asked Lucius, eying her over his own wine goblet. "Reginald?"
"Rochester," she corrected, running her forefinger long the rim of her glass until it whistled. "I'm afraid I don't know how he is these days. We're through."
"Oh?" He rose both eyebrows as if casually curious, but Draco caught the way the corner of his lip tried to turn up into a triumphant smile. "Sorry to hear that. What happened, my dear?"
"He had a tendency to take me out but go home with other women." She glared across the table at her estranged husband as if this behavior from her lover was his fault. "I can only take so much public humiliation."
Lucius put on an expression of exaggerated surprise. "Is that so? Funny, as I recall, public humiliation used to be something that interested you greatly, though I suppose it is different in reality than in fantasy."
Narcissa's eyes flashed dangerously. Lucius smiled almost sweetly. Draco considered apparating himself directly to the bottom of the pool and refusing to surface until he was alone in the Manor. These two were a lot to take individually, and together, they were downright exhausting.
His mother had clearly dressed up tonight. She not only looked much better than she had the last time he saw her, she looked better than she usually would to have a casual dinner at home. (Her former home.) She wore a lush dark purple gown, for one thing, a form-fitting one with diamonds lining the low neckline and a slit up the the thigh, with silver stilettos and impeccably done makeup, her hair swept up into an ornate braid. She apologized upon her arrival, expressing that she'd just left 'a friend' and hadn't time to change before coming over, as she considered it unforgivably rude to be late, but Draco was sure his father knew as well as he did that this was bollocks.
Not that Lucius was any better.
He hadn't worn the dirty bedclothes since the day Snape dragged him unwillingly from his bedroom with the threat of a co-shower, but he also didn't typically bother getting into more than his button down collared shirts and trousers, perhaps under an open wizard's robe with his dragon hide boots, but tonight he wore an outfit she'd purchased for him years ago, with an imitation snakeskin vest and real pearls in place of buttons. His hair was brushed and looked fuller than it had weeks ago... Draco suspected Severus helped him out with a potion for that.
"I've only just arrived home myself," Lucius said when greeting her at the door. "An afternoon with a lady friend ran late. Fear not, though, we skipped the midday meal and worked up an appetite, thus I am more than ready for dinner."
Draco had quietly thumped his forehead agains the hallway wall and wished it was over already. (He was dressed as he had been at the Ministry. Pale blue shirt, dark blue trousers. Nothing fancy... though he had been wearing blue with a lot more frequency since Hermione mentioned it happened to be her favorite color.)
"We do this for you, you know," his mother had said, kissing his cheek in greeting. "It's important that we always remember we're a family, no matter what happens between your father and I. Someday we may have grandchildren, and I do not want any tension lingering between us. I would feel just awful if the little ones had to miss out seeing him for Christmas because I didn't feel comfortable inviting him to my home with the rest of you."
"Brilliant," Draco had replied. "My future children will be so relieved."
"Your wine, Master Malfoy."
He jolted. He'd been lost in thought, intently ignoring his parents at present. The elf placed the goblet beside his plate, looking him over with wide, sympathetic eyes. "Anything else, sir?"
"Kill me?"
"Beg pardon?"
"Nothing. Go on." He waved her away. His parents, still at each other, hadn't noticed the interruption, nor had they realized their son was mentally checking out.
"I suppose I should be thankful you were courteous enough to wait until I was asleep to bed other women. Most of the time. When you were home."
"This is fun," said Draco, before taking a long sip of the wine. "So glad we get together to do this."
"Tell me, Cissy, now that you've laid down for more than half a dozen Quidditch players, is there a particular position you feel suits you best? Not Keeper, clearly. Perhaps Beater?"
"I'd say you already know all my favorite positions, Lucius, darling, but honestly you're getting up in years so I can't be certain you're capable of remembering that far back."
Draco downed the rest of his glass in two gulps and snapped his fingers for the elf, who appeared at once.
"More wine. Is the lamb ready?"
She shook her head, which made her bat-like ears flap. "Soon, sir."
"Not soon enough."
"Misty will return with more wine."
"Bring the bottle, please."
"Draco, darling, you've spent enough time listening to us... catch up." Narcissa glanced surreptitiously at Lucius. "Have you managed any progression with that witch you were interested in enticing? Did you take my advice?"
"Your advice backfired. Now she thinks I have a girlfriend and wants us to double-date. She says she might be seeing someone too, someone she's been spending time with."
"Delightful!" Narcissa clapped her hands together under her chin. "She didn't mention this man before your conversation?"
"Not exactly. She-"
"She invented him, same as you have your lady friend. She is sussing you out, trying to beat you at your own game. There's not man she 'might be' seeing. You're the man she's spending time with! Talking about her 'friend' in an effort to get you to reveal more about yours is a ploy, Draco, darling!"
"I agree with your mother," said Lucius, surprising them both. "Witches invent other wizards all the time to make men jealous. That's the reason your mother let herself be photographed with Roosevelt half a dozen times as of late. She was trying to get my attention."
"And that's the reason your father told me he'd been having brunch with a 'lady friend' when he knows as well as you and I do that he was sharing french toast with Severus Snape."
"I was with a lady friend," he said tersely, narrowing his gray eyes in her direction. She waved a hand dismissively.
"Of course you were, Lucius." She reached across the table to pat his hand as if with sympathy. "And I'm sure she's lovely."
"Don't patronize me, Cissy. I was indeed out with a woman, and if you must know, yes, she's lovely."
"Alright dear." She winked at Draco. "Your father was out to brunch with a woman who mysteriously vanished before I arrived, one he's never been photographed with, despite the Prophet's obsession with featuring us in their society and gossip pages. A woman he just happened to bring to my favorite brunch place, where he knew Rochester and I regularly-"
"I didn't know a damn thing about you and Roosterfeld!"
"Rochester!"
Lucius' lip curled. Thankfully, at the moment the elf returned with more wine so he could refill his goblet.
"Hand to Salazar," he said, hand raised as if testifying to it. "I was out with a woman. A beautiful, intelligent one at that. If you want the truth, the reason I've been careful not to be photographed with her is because I wished to spare your feelings." He spoke his next words in a savage tone that churned Draco's stomach. "The fact of the matter is, she's less than half your age, Narcissa, a well-known and well respected woman, a beautiful and brilliant witch, who deserves neither your ire nor your judgement."
"So chivalrous of you, Lucius, protecting both her identity and my feelings." She batted her dramatically darkened eyelashes and chewed her dark red lower lip, wearing an expression of feigned innocence. "I do so appreciate the gesture, love."
He kept right on as if she hadn't spoken.
"But all through the meal, Narcissa, I fed her berries and cream and felt up her thighs under the table while she wriggled for me until her little whimpers of pleasure became so pronounced, a waiter had to remind us we were in public."
"Oh, please." She chortled and removed a pack of cigarettes from the small beaded bag on the empty chair beside her. She lit one with her wand. "You expect me to believe that?"
"Why wouldn't you believe that?"
"Oh, Merlin, I don't know." She took a drag and blew the smoke downward and away from Draco, who coughed anyway. "Could it be because I know without a doubt that you haven't managed to make a woman whimper with pleasure since before Bella was broken free from Azkaban? Yes, that must be it. You haven't made a-"
"I seem to remember you whimpering with pleas-"
"SHUT IT!" Draco stood and slammed his hand so hard on the table, the dishes rattled. "I cannot take another moment with the two of you like this. I have to leave. You finish dinner without me. Or don't. Kill each other, snog each other, make each other cry, I don't care what you do, but leave me out of it!" He downed the entire second glass of wine in several huge sips, put the goblet back on the table, and wiped his mouth with his white cloth napkin, which he then threw down to his chair. "Good night!"
"Well," said Narcissa, looking as shocked by this outburst as Lucius felt. "He's certainly high-strung these days, isn't he? The poor boy, things must not be going well with that witch he fancies."
"I don't know what to do with him." Lucius sipped what was left from his own wine and reached for the bottle by Draco's plate. "He's at an impossible age."
Draco considered storming off to Goyle's family home or Dean's new flat, but ultimately, there was only one friend he wanted to vent to, which is why he found himself on Hermione's doorstep, knocking, hoping against hope that she wasn't spending a cozy night at home with her mystery man.
She was wearing pajamas when she opened the door, a big bowl of popcorn cradled in one arm, a bottle of butterbeer in the other, her wand sticking out of her messy bun.
"Draco! Come in! I was just... uh..."
"Sleeping?"
"I was about to watch a movie, actually." She jerked her head toward the television, which was set in a large cabinet lined with books. "Have you ever seen one?"
"I've seen a telly before," he said. They had them in Muggle shops and pubs sometimes, but he'd never actually sat down with the express purpose of looking at one. He shut the door and followed her to the worn but comfortable brown couch. He'd been in her flat before, but the doors hiding the television away were usually closed. Currently there were a man and woman frozen on the screen, riding some sort of motorcycle and smiling. The entire picture was in grayscale and the words "Play," "Scene Selection" and "Extras" ran along the side of the screen.
"What brings you here?" she asked.
"My parents." He sighed. "I had to get away from them."
"Oh?" She shot him a look of concern. "They were... together?"
"We were having dinner together. Or trying to. But they can't leave each other alone. Not two minutes goes by without one cutting down the other. I wish they'd either reconcile or divorce, because I cannot live with this in-between much longer."
"That's... terrible." Hermione sighed through her nose, her lips pushed together so hard they were starting to go white. Her brow was furrowed and she looked momentarily lost in thought.
"Something wrong?"
"No!" Her face relaxed, she even smiled, but it was a shaky one, like in the office the other day. "I don't understand why... It's nothing. Would you like to stay and watch the movie? If you'd rather go out, I'll get dressed, but I've been looking forward to-"
"Let's watch the movie." He had no desire to go out, not even with Hermione. Not tonight. Staying in - especially with Hermione - seemed a much better alternative. And the popcorn smelled amazing.
"This is called Roman Holiday. It's an old romantic comedy, a classic, featuring several old Hollywood stars, some of the biggest. I've never seen it before. I have it because I sent away for..." Her cheeks went slightly pink. She placed the popcorn bowl on the small table opposite the couch, beside a plate of homemade chocolate biscuits. "Would you like a drink? I have butterbeer, or if you'd rather, wine or-"
"Butterbeer is fine," he said quickly. The very thought of more wine made him feel slightly ill. He didn't usually drink much of it, as it was an acquired taste (he assumed, as his parents seemed to have acquired it while he did not) and he worried more might make him sick. She handed him the one she'd already opened and hurried into the kitchen for another, calling more information over her shoulder.
"I joined a Classic Romance of the Month Club," she confessed, as if this were something to be embarrassed about. "On the first of every month, they mail me four DVDs - DVDs are little round discs that... no, it's too complicated, I'll explain when I show you..." She popped the top on a butterbeer, grabbed a handful of napkins, and returned to the couch, where Draco was sat. "About once per week, to unwind, I watch a movie. On the twenty-ninth, I mail them back and await new ones. Last week's was Casablanca and the week before, It Happened One Night. I'm excited this week because I like the actress, Audrey Hepburn. She was lovely! In Sabrina, she fell in love with a man when she was very young, but over the course of getting to know him better, she ended up realizing she was better suited to his brother, that she was with the wrong man, and when they finally..." Hermione abruptly cut off. Though Draco was staring up at her with rapt attention, she suddenly felt silly sharing this with him. "Like Roman Holiday, it's a classic. For Muggles." She sat beside him and reached for the old knitted blanket her grandmother made her when she was a baby. It was big enough to cover two people so she spread it across their laps.
"To protect the couch, and our clothes," she said, but he didn't need the explanation. He was happy to be under a blanket with her, even if it was to watch some silly Muggle invention that would no doubt bore him. She bent up her knees, balancing the biscuit plate on top of them, with the bowl precariously positioned between them. He kept both feet on the floor, his butterbeer bottle between his knees.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Sure," he answered. He reckoned it wouldn't be the worst way he'd ever spent an evening. A Muggle movie - a classic romantic comedy, no less - sounded bloody stupid, but he'd survive.
How very wrong he was!
Stupid, it was not! Scarcely ten minutes after Hermione noxed the lights and selected Play with the help of a rectangular black box, Draco found himself completely enraptured in the story of a runaway Muggle princess in Rome (and the reporter who recognized her). They shared the popcorn and biscuits and when the butterbeers were gone, she used her wand to start the elective kettle for tea. (Another intriguing Muggle contraption.)
They laughed out loud at parts and he peppered her with questions about the Muggle world during others, and at the end, he felt a twinge in his belly that told him he was moved by the unexpected conclusion, though he'd never admit something so silly.
"I loved it!" Hermione said as the credits rolled. She turned to him with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I loved it more than The Philadelphia Story!"
He didn't know what this meant, but those seemed to be happy tears, so he smiled.
"It was really good. Are all movies like that?"
"We can watch so many, Draco! I'll introduce you to all of my favorites, and-"
A sharp rap at her door surprised them both.
"Who could that be?" She placed the popcorn bowl on the table, wrapped herself in the blanket, and went to the door, peeking through the keyhole.
"OH!"
"Who is it?" he asked.
The person knocked again.
"Hermione?" called a familiar voice. "It's Lucius."
"Lucius?" Draco was on his feet and to the door in a flash, almost as if he's apparated there. He tore it open before Hermione could respond. "Father?! What are you doing here?"
"Draco?" Lucius shook his head, quickly composing himself. "Draco! Good. I was hoping you would be here. I got the address from one of my Ministry connections - forgive me for invading your privacy, Miss Granger." He nodded at Hermione over Draco's shoulder. She nodded back, looking somewhat dazed. "Draco, your mother is worried about you, after you stormed out like that tonight, creating such a scene." He tutted as if to a petulant child. "She first asked me to find you, then changed her mind, as she does not want you to feel smothered. She's afraid you'll resent her for sending me to track you down, as you're an adult now and free to come and go as you please. But for her sake, come back with me to Malfoy Manor. Unless she was too upset to wait, she's still in the library, pacing."
"I'll see her this weekend," said Draco testily. "We're watching a movie."
"A movie?" Lucius cocked an eyebrow. "What fun. I'll leave you two friends to it, then."
There was an awkward silence, during which no one quite made eye contact with anyone else.
"On that note, goodnight, son. Miss Granger."
"Goodnight, Father."
"Goodnight... Mr. Malfoy." Hermione, not Draco, closed the door as Lucius made his way down the walk, back toward the safe apparition point (away from Muggles' prying eyes).
"Can you believe him?" asked Draco furiously, throwing up his hands, heading back toward the couch. "Coming here to check on me, trying to drag me home to Mother! After ten, and from a friend's house, one to which he was not invited! And getting your address from a contact. Treating me like a child! What was he thinking?"
"Yes," said Hermione quietly. She brushed aside the curtain, watching Lucius until he disappeared around the corner. "What was he thinking?"
A/N:
Thank you to everyone reading, reviewing, following, and adding to faves! I'm glad to see such a great reception for this fic thus far - I was worried that toeing the line between Dramione and Lumione would be too much of a turnoff for readers. :) I hope you're enjoying and that you don't mind a slow burn. If you're a Dramione fan, I posted two prompt-inspired HGDM one-shots this week, and also started a short Draco/Hermione humor fic (5 chapters) that starts when they're already engaged, called If You Can't Stand the Heat, rated T. Thanks again for reading! And thanks in particular to those who have reviewed thus far: roon0, Sundaegirl99, clarasnotlikely, PopularCats, thfourteenth, skyeryder01, HarryPGinnyW4eva, kalilje, pgoodrichboggs, Calindy, Guest(s), AngelAzazel88, kittkatt08, IGOTEAMEDWARD, Francesca, MoonlitSnowFox, annapsarudaki, Alice1420, ForsakenKalika, Jces999, Nastytashy, Adela-Elli, lilikaco, Redbeardswoman, sassanech, Kat, malugargula, houstonclay, lun27, thewinnowingwind, and The Gryffindor Hatstall. Your feedback is my motivation and reward and I greatly appreciate all of it!
-AL
