A/N- Hello! Thank you so much for the lovely reviews. You guys are the best!
Once again, a load of thanks to jessierose85. She is one fast beta!
Disclaimer- I own nothing of Harry Potter. It belongs to JK and JK only. But the featured story is fortunately mine.
"You make an excellent lad, Granger"
"The blond bimbo look suits you, Malfoy. You look quite pretty."
They stood in front of a huge mirror in Draco's bedroom, scrutinizing themselves with laughing eyes. Draco has disguised them marvelously. A single tap with his wand here and there and he had transformed himself into a woman and Hermione into a man. Hermione was now a tall, muscular brunet with a heavy mustache while Draco was a slim, long haired blond who looked like a female model out of a fashion magazine. Hermione rolled her eyes at him. He just had to be beautiful even as a girl.
"We look bloody brilliant don't we, Granger." He said still admiring himself in the mirror.
"I'd say we do. Now stop twirling like a girl and let's go."
"Just perfecting the act Granger dear! Do you think I should grow my boobies a little bigger?"
"No, Malfoy, I think if you grow your boobies any bigger, you won't be able to see in front of you at all. You can barely see your feet as it is." Hermione said laughing.
"Granger, don't be mean just because you can only dream of having babies like these." Malfoy said gesturing at his chest.
"Oh shut up you prat." Hermione held out her arm for him, "now, shall we?"
Malfoy obediently took her arm with a shy smile, "of course, darling."
They apparated to Diagon Alley, deciding to pose as a married couple with a new born baby. Ameera seemed to have no problem with Draco and Hermione's reversed gender selves. She was quite content to lounge in their arms in turn.
It was close to mid day, the peak time for business in Diagon Alley, but the shops and streets were strangely bare and an eerie mist and darkness hung over the sky. People walked hurriedly in hushed silence. It had been like this for the last two years since Voldemort's return had been announced official. Hermione missed the sunny, crowded streets and the colorful stores. Many shops were closed down due to owners going missing. People hardly spared them a glance as they rushed by, and Hermione found Moody's "constant vigilance" drum in her head like mantra.
One look at Draco confirmed that, like Hermione, he too was feeling the impending sense of doom in the air. But he tried to make light of situation saying tersely, "Granger, this is the only chance you are ever going to get to rip me off my galleons. So make the most of it and hurry up please. I don't want to be Voldemort's food any time soon."
"Very big of you, Malfoy. Does this mean you still have your inheritance?" Hermione asked carefully.
"Yes, I believe I do." He was silent for a moment, and then continued softly, "it's a good thing that most of my father's dealings were with muggles. A death eater family does not fare too well these days in the Wizarding world."
Hermione sent him a shocked look, opening her mouth but unable to say anything. Lucius Malfoy associating with muggles? The very idea was preposterous.
Malfoy clicked his tongue impatiently, "cut the goldfish act, Granger. Stupid does not suit you. Yes, the Lucius Malfoy did do business with muggles. My father was a very clever man see? He always did what had to be done. This turned out well unlike his other acts as in, choosing Voldemort over his family." he said bitterly.
"He killed your father." Hermione said quietly.
"Yeah, he did." Hermione notice that his voice strangely lacked any kind of emotion as he said, "And now he is after my mum."
Hermione suddenly felt too frustrated with all the little snatches of information that he was providing. "Malfoy, will you just come out with the whole thing already for Merlin's sake?" she demanded heatedly.
"I said not today, Granger. We have shopping to do remember? Come on now, I know a shop for the best designer robes. If you're going to stay with me, your style has to be up to my standards."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
***
Despite his offer, Hermione refused to buy anything remotely expensive. She went into the moderate shops, insisting on bargaining for every product she bought. Draco was appalled, ushering her desperately to a corner claiming that Malfoys never bargained. They paid top galleons. Hermione consoled him in turn, saying that that the shop keepers didn't really know that a Malfoy was paying for the things.
Challenging Draco Malfoy was not really the best way to get what you wanted because, at the next shop, an irritated Draco left Hermione alone and took Ameera to the most famous baby shop in Diagon Alley. There he proceeded to buy designer baby cloths, gold rattles, the softest diapers, the trendiest stroller and etceteras. He felt that Ameera truly deserved the luxury because the poor baby had been wearing nothing but poorly transfigured items since her birth. Transfiguration was sadly never one of Draco's better subjects. McGonagall would never have much to do with him anyway and the old lady was quite intimidating.
Draco also went overboard and bought a beautiful, white, vintage sundress for Hermione with spaghetti straps and a black silk cloak with silver embroidery. He figured he would have some fun coaxing her to wear it. Or more like threatening and blackmailing.
Hermione bought a number of comfortable dresses and some simple sets of robes for herself and other home items. And books of course despite Draco hissing in her ears that he had a well stacked library at home but Hermione insisted that the books were newly published and she doubted he had any baby books in his stock. She was a new mother after all and she needed to study the subject to be good at it. She was absolutely bewildered at the amount of stuff that Draco had bought for Ameera. She had no idea about the dress yet.
Three hours later, they apparated back outside of Draco's house, Ameera lying happily in her new stroller. Hermione looked around her in awe, regarding the place for the first.
It was a small oval island, a grey, rocky, cliff rising from the middle, claiming more than three quarters of land. Dense forage of trees and bushes lay thickly on either side and the house was tucked under the very foot of the cliff. The island itself was a few feet above the sea, a rocky ledge guarding it against the rough waves. Wind swept over the island leaving a queer moaning sound in its trail.
"What is this place?" Hermione asked in wonder.
"It's an island off the north west coast of Wales. My father bought it for me as a seventeenth birthday present." Draco said.
As they walked up to the front door, Hermione asked, "Why are you living here? What happened to the Manor?"
"Oh, the Manor has been closed up temporarily by the Ministry." He said nonchalantly. "Voldemort was supposed to turn it into his headquarters, see. My mom is currently living with my aunt Andromeda."
"But I thought they weren't on very good terms."
He held the door open for her, saying dismissively, "Strange, the things you are forced to do when it comes to survival."
It was almost dark now. Clouds had gathered heavily in the western sky. Lightening slashed the horizon every once in a while. The wind had picked up violently. Hermione and Draco rushed inside as the first raindrops started to fall.
***
A/N- Thank you for reading.
Sorry but no memories in this chapter. It would have been too long.
I have realized that the timeline for this story seems a bit confusing. But they will be sorted through the memories. So please wait for them.
