CHAPTER SEVEN: FAMILIAR FACES
Hermione was exhausted by the time she got back in her room, her family had bonded over with their house elves, and had eaten their fist house elves made meal (which was of course, to the satisfaction of her family) and now she was back in her room finally ready to for bed.
As she went under the covers, she suddenly remembered the letter she had left unopened when her cousins were in her room so, taking the envelope from under her pillow; she opened it and began to read:
Mione,
We're so glad you're finally back!
We have a lot of catching up to do! Let us know when you're free and we'll meet up! We miss you so much!
Love,
Harry and Ron
P.S.
Mum wanted to let you know what we'll be having a party two Fridays from now so be she said you better be there! She's making your favorite chicken potpie! So you really got to be there or I'm eating all of that!
Love again,
Ron
Hermione smiled, she had missed her boys and it wasn't easy to send owl posts when you live miles away so they rarely were able to talk, Harry and Hermione did occasionally send emails to one another though and even though Ron was bad at it in the beginning, Harry was able to teach him the basics of it, of course Ron being Ron, every time she corresponded with them, it was always Harry who talked to her and Ron just told Harry what he wanted to say to her instead of sending her an email himself.
Stowing the letter on her bedside table, she decided to send her reply tomorrow when she wakes up, especially since she noticed that the owl who delivered the note was now nowhere to be seen, 'maybe Tippy sent it to the owlery to rest for the night' she thought, and so she drifted off to sleep.
Draco Malfoy looked around his family's manor. A lot had happened here, mostly dark and unpleasant events but at the end of the day it was still where he grew up, it was still where his family lived.
After the war, the Malfoy family was freed of any crimes during the war, even though it was known that they were death eaters (even though Narcissa never took the dark mark), it was found out that the Malfoys had only done so in order to protect their family and that despite the public display of torturing their victims, once they were kept in the dungeons, away from other death eaters, the Malfoys had taken care of them, even to the point where they had contacted the order to attack the manor and rescue the prisoners when they got too many, soon after an attack was made and not only were the prisoners rescued but also the Malfoys.
While Narcissa and Draco came under the protection of the Order, Lucius had stayed and acted as a spy for the order, his role as a spy became the very reason for the Order to win the war against Voldemort in the Battle at Hogwarts.
Of course, even though the truth of their side had been revealed during their trials, some people still refused to believe what the truth was. So after being freed of all charges, the Malfoy family took their important belongings and fled to America to recuperate and lay low (or to lay low as only the Malfoys could, socializing with the American elite witches and wizards) for a while.
Narcissa looked around her home as she took off her cloak; her house elf lippy appears and takes it from her "Lippy welcomeses Young Master and Mistress Malfoy back!"
"Thank you Lippy, it's good to be back, how was everything been since we left? I trust there were no problems?" she said as she looked at her elf and walked further into the manor.
"No mistress, after yous left, we protectes the manor, no one got inside after the ministry peoples left. We keeps the manor cleans and the gardens perfects just the ways yous likes it" the elf said, beaming at their accomplishments while their masters were away.
"That's very good Lippy, please make sure to take the rest of my things back in the bed room, and take some chamomile tea up as well, I'm feeling rather tired from traveling back here from America and I would like to rest for a while, perhaps take a nap, Also, if it would be okay with you dear" she said as she turned to Draco who still stood exactly where he did when they entered the manor, "I'd like to have dinner in my room, if you would like to join me for dinner, you know where to find me." She said.
"It's fine mother, I'm rather tired myself so I might just sleep in for the rest of the day, I'll try to drop by your room later if I wake up." Draco said as he moved forward and called another house elf named Dibbo. As soon as the house elf popped in, he instructed the creature to take his belongings up in his room and to bring him a cup of tea and a light sandwich in his room as well.
After the elves popped away, he offered his mother his arm as he led her up to her room.
"Draco, I know moving back here is very difficult but I'd like you to give this home another chance, I promise, once your father arrives I'll do a major renovation. I can't live in the manor's darkness anymore as well. Please, please consider staying." She said as they mother and son duo walked up to their rooms.
"I can't guarantee that mother but I need to get my bearings on the wizarding world here before making my final decision, I'll stay until I figure things out." He replied. They didn't talk the rest of the way after that, both deep in their own thoughts until they arrived in Narcissa's room and then he went to his own room.
NEXT DAY
Hermione woke up early the next day, last night during dinner, she and her cousins had planned to go on a morning run around the manor grounds so at 5 am sharp. It was their tradition every summer, no matter where their family vacations were, to always set at least one morning for a jog. As she got off her bed, she went inside the bathroom and washed her face, brushed her teeth and changed into a pink shirt, a black jacket, running shorts and her running shoes, she also stashed her wand inside a smaller bag which she also charmed with an undetectable extension charm and put her iPod, wand and lip balm and extra hair tie in and put the bag inside her jacket's front pocket. After that she combed and tied her hair into a ponytail and by 5:30 am, she was out of her bedroom door.
By the time she reached the stairs, Alaia and Phillip had caught up with her already.
"Good Morning Herms! Race you outside!" Phillip said as he immediately ran down the stairs before the two girls could even take one step down.
Hermione shook her head and laughed, it was always their antic when she and Phillip were young, they would compete in everything but in the end they always had each other's back.
"Ugh please Minnie, it's too early for competition, save it for when we actually start running." Alaia said, clearly her cousin was never a morning person but always joined them in their morning jogs because it had become some sort of a tradition within them cousins.
Hermione locked her arm in her cousins and led her down the stairs "Come on, let's go see who else is already down there."
Once they arrived outside, they saw that Thomas and Phillip were already there and that the two youngest were also on the way out, if the sound of two people racing down the stairs were any indication.
Once they were complete, they all began to warm up and stretch and after that they all began their morning jog.
When Draco woke up the next morning, he hadn't expected to be shocked, at first he didn't realize where he was, only that he was not in his room in America, then he remembered that they were back in the UK and he lay back down and cover his head with a pillow. It wasn't a very Malfoy thing to do, but he was alone and in his room, he could afford to do un-Malfoy-ish things there.
After acting so un-Malfoy like, he got off his bed and walked into his bathroom to prepare for the day. After taking a shower, he found that Dibbo had laid his clothes down for him already so he wore them and went on his way to see his mother.
As he was walking down the hallway, he noticed that the curtains that were so often closed were now open. As he looked at the view presented to him, he was glad that even after they left, the gardens were still as beautiful.
He did notice one thing different from this view though, at the end of their property, stood a huge manor and from the looks of it, he was looking at the back portion of the property. He thought back to the times when he would sneak a peak under the curtains or whenever he flew outside if he ever noticed the manor, surely a manor with a property as large as that is hard to miss, right? When Draco could no longer think of whether or not he had seen that manor before, he decided to ask his mother about it. Surely they would have known that they had a neighbor after all the years they've lived here, right?
When Draco arrived at his mother's parlor for breakfast, he saw that his mother had yet to arrive. So he went and sat down at his usual seat at the table whenever he and his parents took their meals there.
It wasn't long until he heard the clacking of his mother's heels growing louder until she reached the parlor.
"Draco darling, you're up early dear." She said as she made her way to her son to greet him with kiss and hug which Draco reciprocated.
"Yes, well I suppose I'm still on a different time zone. No matter, I see you're up early too." He said as he guided his mother toward her usual chair.
Once his mother was seated, he made his way back to his seat and as soon as he sat down, the house elves began to pour hot breakfast tea in their cups while they took their servings of food into their plate.
As the breakfast table was cleared of food, the house elves leaving only a tea and a few breakfast scones while Draco and his mother talked idly.
"So what are you planning to do today?" Narcissa asked as she stirred her tea with a teaspoon after adding a bit o honey into the teacup.
"I don't really have any plans mother, I'll probably just get reacquainted with my room, maybe take a walk in the garden, how about you?" he asked as he stared at his teacup before lifting it and sipping some of its content.
"Well, it seems that some of my friends have heard that we have arrived and sent owls earlier this morning requesting to meet for tea or lunch so I might just write them to come over as I have no desire to be seen out in the wizarding world just yet." She said as she requested a house elf to fill her teacup halfway with more tea.
"Alright, I'll keep out of your way today then" he said as he began to stand up, "mother, before I forget, I know this seems silly, but on my wing, I noticed the curtains were open and I never noticed that we had neighbors." Draco asked as he turned around to face his mother who was still sitting at the table.
"Neighbors? We have no neighbors, has someone built a house near the property? The wards around the property prevents muggles from inhabiting any immediate area that surround the whole estate, so it would have been impossible for you to se a house to consider a neighbor." She said, looking a bit confused.
"Well, it's not really a house, it's more like a manor, which if you think about it, seems silly of me to never notice it. I mean I fly around the estate a lot so I would have seen a manor as big as that from up in the air." He said.
"A manor? That's impossible! The only manor that was supposedly near this one is the Garrott Manor, and everyone knows that place disappeared almost a long time ago when the last descendant disappeared! Unless…" Narcissa said as she stood up and approached her son. "I want to see this Manor." She said as she half ran and half dragged her son up to his wing.
Hermione sat on a stool while her hand supported her chin by her elbow as she chatted with Alaia and their mother's while waiting for breakfast to be served.
"Finny, are you sure you don't need any help? I can make Hermione's bacon" Helen said, she wasn't used to having help around her house, even though her family had capable means to get a maid, she never did so when she married and had a family of her own.
"No miststress, you is my mistress, I is take cares of yous and helps yous. I knows how Lady Hermione likses her Bacon, I is watched you when you firsts gets here." Finny said as she added a new batch of uncooked bacon into the frying pan.
"Mum, let her be, I learned the hard way back in Hogwarts that if you force them to accept your help in any way, they'll ban you from entering the kitchen." Hermione said as she snacked on some peeled oranges the house elves had laid out for the girls and mothers to munch on while they waited on the men to arrive. However once the food was ready and none of the men came down, Henrietta called for her house elf.
"Lowe" she called, immediately after she called out the name, the house elf appeared, bowing down to her, "Please inform all of the men still sleeping that breakfast is served and if they want to get some food into their system before leaving, they better get themselves down here now." She instructed.
"I shalls do that now mistress" Lowe said bowing again before popping away.
"I didn't even get to say thank you" she complained, "she always pops away after I tell her something!" Henrietta said as she stood and grabbed a glass on the counter and filled it with water.
"It's so odd to have people waiting around your beck and call, even weirder when they're house elves." Alaia said to Hermione, "I still feel like everything is so surreal!" she added.
Hermione nodded and said "I know how you feel, I used to spear head this campaign back in school, the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare or S.P.E.W., and let me tell you, the only thing I got out of it were a lot of angry and wary elves! The elves at Hogwarts even refused to let me enter the kitchens for fear that I might free them!" Hermione said, at this Finny and another house elf, gasped and looked at their new lady of the manor, fear evident in their big round eyes, Hermione noticed this and added "of course in the end I had to let go of S.P.E.W. and accept the fact that the elves are happy with what they do. I won't free you if you don't want me to but I will request you all to wear cleaner pillow cases if you don't want proper uniforms" she said looking at Finny, the other house elf and Lowe who had just arrived to inform them that everyone was already at the table.
As they made their way to the breakfast room where everyone was at, Alaia and Hermione had asked their mother's permission if they could go back to town as they were the designated buyers by their cousins; and buy a few drinks and chips as they were planning on chilling by the pool with the rest of their cousins for the day while the adults went about their own business. Once they got their mother's permission, they went and had breakfast with the rest of the family.
Draco was lying in his room tossing a small stress ball up as he caught it before hitting him in the face when all of a sudden; there was a knock on his door.
"Hey mate! Long time!" said the man who stood outside his bedroom door.
"Blaise! What are you doing here?" Draco asked as he opened the door more to let his friend inside, once he was in, he closed the door and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Well, mum and I got back two months ago, mum found out you guys were back so she's down stairs with your mum right now, I suspect Nott and Greengrass' mothers are on their way too. You know our mothers." He said as he took a seat at the armchair at the corner by the window that faces the bed.
"Well, I suppose you're right. Our mothers are inseparable." Draco said as he went to the bookshelf and grabbed a book to read. "How's everything been since I left?" Draco asked.
"Wouldn't know really, as I said, we've only been back two months, but I suppose everything seems to be a lot better, Diagon Alley's getting back to its feet, Hogwarts is still opening this year, I suppose the only thing that's changed is that there are a lot less purebloods now out and about than before" Blaise said, his hands clutching the arm rest rather hard. "They think that just because of what your last name is, you're already bad. Can you imagine, fighting and winning a war that was about prejudice only to have the winning side be prejudiced to those purebloods who had nothing to do with the war but had the unfortunate circumstance of being associated with someone who fought for Voldemort."
"Well, what can you say, Karma's a bitch." Draco said. When he didn't hear a reply from Blaise, he looked up and saw him staring at him with a confused expression on his face. Realizing what he just said, "it's muggle expression I learned back in America" he explained.
Blaise's eyes suddenly widened with shock, as he processed what Draco had just said, "Did you just use a muggle expression?" at the shrug of Draco's shoulder, he continued "My Merlin! Draco Malfoy, did you associate with muggles while you were in America?" he asked, clearly amused at what he was getting from Draco.
"I did. When we stayed in America I decided to live away from my parents, I felt like I needed to get away from them; from their influences, I realized I never really had the right to judge muggles and their way of life cause I've never tried it so a few months after we settled there, I moved out, got a small job and tried to understand muggles a bit more." He said as he put the book back in the bookshelf and turned back to his friend, "turns out they aren't that bad. I began to appreciate how they live, and they're pretty ingenious you know, inventing a lot of things because they don't have magic. Some of them are pretty advanced stuff, even their hospitals are better than ours." He said.
"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day where a Malfoy would praise and appreciate muggles. The world has changed!" Blaise said jokingly to which he earned a punch in his arm.
"Whatever, why don't we go out and fly for a bit, like old times sake, we could catch quaffles like we used to." Blaise offered.
"Sure, why not. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway." Draco said as they two best friends made their way out of the bedroom.
Hermione and Alaia got back to the manor with an armful of paper bags filled with soda's and junk food and three matching tote bags that were perfect for the beach or hanging by the pool.
Out of nowhere, Tippy and Cassy; Alaia's house elf, appeared out of nowhere and took the groceries from their mistresses. After thanking the house elves, Hermione instructed them to place the junk food in separate bowls and to keep the sodas in a chiller filled with ice and set it on the pool area. After the house elves disappeared, the girls went to their respective rooms to change into their swimsuits, and carrying their tote bags with their essentials inside it and made their way to the pool where their cousins were now lounging about.
AN: So, I know this is a little bit of a light chapter with little events happening, but please remember that this is just a light fan fic where I can show Hermione's family more since there's not a lot known about them in the books and movies. But well, next chapter will be interesting (sort of, I think) I promise! :)
