AN - Hi friends! Just a note, I'll be away for this weekend with no internet access so I won't be able to post or reply to any PMs. I'm hoping to be back to posting on the 7th or 8th. Again, J K Rowling created these wonderful characters and such, I'm merely a fan. Thanks for reading!
- Chapter Seven - June 18 1929 -
- Propitious Purebloods -
Everyone stood stock still. The four of them didn't know what to do; it was such a weird adjustment to make. Hermione's words still rang in Luna's ears. Luna began quietly humming to fill the silence.
"We need a plan, everyone, in the broom closet." Hermione commanded the others. Two of them obediently followed the strong-willed witch; one wizard trailed hesitantly behind.
The broom closet was both magically enlarged and stuffed with comfy chairs, and warded to avoid awkward meetings with a janitorial wizard. Luna brightened it with better lighting. She plopped down into a particularly squishy chair and gazed around at her friends. Magic was a wonderful thing.
Draco looked exceedingly uncomfortable even though he was seated in a cozy green wing-back. Justin was staring at his feet in a tan coloured wicker chair. Hermione was tenting her fingers to Luna's right in a purple velvety seat.
Luna thought to herself that this was an odd mix of magical folk to be seated in a broom closet of all places, back to a time that Luna wasn't exactly sure what to expect from. This adventure would certainly help her to understand wizarding past much clearer.
Hermione started to speak but Draco cut her off. "-Granger, I have no idea what you're doing, but if it means taking down the Dark Lord, I am in." His usual drawl was replaced with an almost respectful tone. Luna cocked her head to the side and looked to Hermione to see her friend's answer.
Hermione huffed and fixed a steely gaze on Draco, "I have absolutely no reason to trust you Malfoy. You joining our mission was a mistake and we'll just have to adjust our planning a little bit. You are foul and I hate that I have to work with you now." Her venomous words seemed a tad harsh, but Luna knew how much the young man had hurt her friend during their Hogwarts years.
"Maybe this is a blessing in disguise," Luna broke into the conversation, "Draco has many talents and I'm sure he could be very useful if his heart's in the right place…" She looked over to the blonde and smiled blandly.
"That's the issue Luna." Hermione sighed. She rubbed her temple and continued. "Malfoy is only saying these niceties because he's stuck here. Otherwise, I'm sure he would be perfectly fine defending Voldemort's honour."
A crash of a knocked over chair made Luna jump. She really hated violence; frankly, it scared her more than the dark did. Fighting was such a waste of time.
Draco was on his feet seething. "You have no right to assume what I believe, Granger!" His words matched her biting tone now. Luna shrunk in her seat and Justin slowly placed a comforting hand on hers. "I want revenge for what he did! You are not the only one who was wronged by the Dark Lord!"
Hermione stood up too, her stature barely making it up to his chin. "You have no idea how much pain I've been through because of your beloved Dark Lord! You're such a spoiled git! You have no idea!" Her words cracked like dropped pottery at the last sentence. Luna knew exactly who Hermione was thinking of in that moment.
Justin stood up as well, Luna watched the young man force some space between the two quarrelers. "Stop it you two!" He yelled. The unusual outburst from such a peaceful wizard was met with astonished silence.
"Both of you are so blinded with hatred that you aren't even listening to each other! Honestly…" Justin scoffed at the pair. "Now, let's plan the next step, we can't stay in a broom closet forever.
As he made his way to sit back down, Luna grabbed his arm said a quiet "thank you" to him. There was a thick silence in the small room for a couple of minutes.
Luna bounced out of the chair and grabbed the battered notebook from the floor. She glided over to Hermione and offered it to her. "So, what are we going to do?"
After about an hour, Draco was clear on the plan and felt an alarming sense of insanity emanating from the frizzy-haired witch. In his mind, the plan had many holes in it but, it would have to do because he was still considered the enemy and therefore had no say in any matter.
The four of them were to settle into a quiet life in Hogsmeade and adopt Tom Riddle while he was little. In raising him to be a loved and considerate wizard, Hermione believed that she could challenge a notion called "nature vs nurture" and shape pseudo-Voldemort into a respectable young man. Draco was slightly caught up in how kindness and the outdoors really didn't have much to do with their plans, but maybe what Granger was talking about was a muggle thing. It was such a long term plan with so many variables. In Draco's eyes, Granger had set them up for failure.
In short, Draco Malfoy was now fully convinced that Hermione Granger was clinically insane. The task set in front of them was gargantuan.
Draco felt ashamed of his earlier outburst. That witch made him angry like no one else could. He really would rather not work with the scrappy remainders of the DA but he didn't have anyone else to turn to. Any allies he used to have had gone mad with iniquity or were killed for being weak. Blaise Zabini, his only true friend, had gone into hiding with his mother shortly after the war got ugly. Draco was forced to associate with the sickly sweet and stupidly heroic Gryffindors.
"Okay, you think you're so smart Granger. But, if this is such a good idea, how come Dumbledore didn't do it?" Draco sneered at her. Albus Dumbledore was never a man that Draco wanted to kill, when he was tasked to do so at such a tender age, he began to doubt where his father's loyalties lay.
"He wouldn't have thought this was 'for the greater good'." She replied shortly as she scribbled some stuff in the battered notebook.
"And you believe it is?"
"We're here aren't we?"
"I guess so."
The group Apparated to Hogsmeade and immediately stepped apart from the closeness. They gazed around, adjusting to the oddly familiar setting. The Hogsmeade they were used to was quite often bustling with Hogwarts students and scattered villagers. Hogsmeade in the late 1920's was a little less built up -more quaint- and had the main framework of what the four of them were used to. Thatched cottages were sparsely aggregated at the end of the main road and split off in different directions leading to more rural housing.
A light breeze floated by indicating the freshness of the springtime. It was around dinner time, but none of them seemed to be hungry. That was what happened with war, even wealthy wizards such as Draco himself barely ate a thing.
Granger started walking towards the post office, obviously in hopes of an official to talk to. Draco didn't follow. He turned to go towards the Three Broomsticks. When the Frizzy Witch sent him an angry, questioning look, he shrugged and said, "I learn much more from a group of drunk people than one post office worker. I don't know about you though, Granger." Colouring slightly, Beaver Teeth stomped towards Draco and began following him to the local pub.
Upon entry, the group felt a dramatic difference in time period. Their clothing was completely off. Now it was Draco's turn to colour. Even though his family name had lost it's esteem, he had almost two decades of upbringing telling him that he was much better than others. How could Granger have been so foolish as to not prepare for the time period shift? It was just like her to have such an obnoxious oversight.
As Draco was inwardly cursing the grating Gryffindor, he felt a small tap on his shoulder. He spun around gripping the wand in his pocket when he saw Loony. She smiled genially at him and motioned towards a darkish corner near the entrance of the pub. In her hands she offered a vintage set of robes in a dark green colour.
Over her shoulder, Granger was smirking at him as she said, "You're lucky I packed a couple extras for each of us. That one was going to be Justin's second set."
Draco looked over to see Justin putting on a light golden robe that suited him perfectly. What a tosser Hufflepuff he was.
Granger, now dressed in an old looking maroon outfit pushed past him and made to talk to the wizards and witches in the pub. Loony followed behind her, wearing a similar set but in azure, and they headed towards a cluster of giggling young women at the front of the bar.
Draco reluctantly motioned for Justin to join him as he made his way towards a table filled with a particularly rowdy bunch of young wizards. They looked to be half drunk by now even though it was only mid evening on Tuesday. These were the type of folk that Draco was aiming to seek; he was very pleased to find such manipulatable minds. Finding a place to stay for the night would be much easier than he had initially thought.
He nudged Justin and whispered, "just follow my lead. We need a place to stay and beating Granger to the chase would be hilarious." Draco raised his eyebrows invitingly at Justin..
When he received an excited grin from Justin, it amazed him how quickly Justin fell into the trap of trusting others Draco turned to the small crowd of men and opened his arms. "Hi lads," Draco put on a warm smile, "do you mind if we join you? We're travelers and we decided to stop by for a pint or two."
Upon overwhelming reception, Draco and Justin sat down at the table and motioned for the waitress to bring over another round. Draco took this time to look at all the wizards sat at the table in various states of sobriety, or lack thereof.
The most sober of the men introduced himself. "I'm Cygnus Black." He was a handsome man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties. He appeared to be a leader of sorts in this particular group of wizards. "That's Caractacus Burke," Cygnus motioned to a man with thatch like brown hair. Caratacus gave a slight wave and continued a conversation with a dark haired man beside him.
"That man there is Rosier, he's killed a muggle or two in his life… personally I wouldn't want to dirty my hands with filth that like… but keep an eye on him" Draco could feel Justin tense up at the man's words.
Cygnus wrinkled his nose and then moved on to the last wizard at the table, "And this here is little Caspar Crouch." Cygnus smiled down at the young lad who couldn't be more than sixteen. "I'm looking after him for a few months as his parents have recently passed. He's shaping up to be a nice young lad. He might just be good enough to wed my darling Cassiopeia in a few years."
Caspar had worried blue eyes and chestnut hair that almost covered them. He waved nervously at Draco and Justin.
"What about you two?" Cygnus narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. It was more of a command than an invitation.
Draco smiled at Cygnus and put on his pure blooded persona for the man. It felt quite natural for him to speak this way. "I'm Draco Malfoy, a distant cousin of Abraxas', this is Justin Finch- uh, Justin Flint." His near mess up caused nerves to tingle down his spine. Letting Cygnus know that Justin was not of pureblood would ruin any chance of friendship and put them into incredible danger. Draco nervously flexed the fingers in his left hand.
"Ah, a Malfoy," Cygnus seemed to be appeased by the name while disregarding Justin altogether, "you said you were travelling? Do you two need a place to stay?" The man cocked his head to the side in polite questioning.
Draco couldn't help but let a triumphant grin escape his countenance for a brief moment. "We wouldn't want to impose…" He looked to Justin who had a smile that matched Draco's short lived one.
Justin spoke for the first time, "We also have two lady friends with us as well." Draco inwardly cringed at the thought. "Would that be a bother?"
"Not at all, it would be of no inconvenience to me at all. I have plenty of house elves and my wife is very a very complacent witch." Cygnus' eyes traveled across the bar and winked. A burst of giggles from the other side of the room signified that Cygnus' wife was there, along with many high-pitched friends. Draco thought this odd; maybe all of the tales that he heard of witches staying home at all times in the past were false.
Draco chanced a glance at how the girls were doing in hopes for them to see his success. He hated to admit it, but Draco felt a certain satisfaction when he beat Granger at something.
He saw Justin excuse himself and make his way over to the witches. Justin leaned in to Granger to whisper something that Draco could bet money on was that they had scored a place to stay. He had to contain a bark of laughter at the look of aggravation on the Huffy Hairball's face.
It was all too hilarious until Draco realized that he and three companions would be casually staying at his late great-great grandfather's manor.
