Chapter 9—The Queen

Anxiously, Hermione watched Draco but continued to smile at him in a pleasant manner as if to convince him that nothing out of the ordinary was happening. I can't believe he just dropped that cup, though!

Draco gaped at her in silence for a moment, then looked around and stepped forward, shutting the door behind him so that they were both standing outside on the front stoop. "GRANGER!" he exploded. "What in the bloody hell…have you lost your mind? I thought we had agreed…you promised, Goddamn it!" He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "Merlin's bloody blue balls!"

Oh…this is bad. He's so angry, he not even able to complete a sentence properly. "Draco, please…give me a chance," she said in an entreating manner.

"Why should I? Especially when you promised you wouldn't come! What the hell? I thought you bloody Gryffindorks were honorable and never went back on your word!"

She bit her lip. "Well…technically, I didn't go back on my word," she began.

"Technically? Technically? What in buggeration is that supposed to mean?"

"What I promised is that I wouldn't come WITH YOU to the Manor. I never said that I wouldn't come on my own."

Draco opened his mouth to retort, but the rebuttal never came. "Blast," he finally said, more to himself than to her. Looking at her with suspicion, he continued, "And you came up with that…technicality all on you own?"

"Well…not exactly. I was talking to Blaise, and—"

"You talked to Zabini?" Draco exploded once again. "Granger, I thought you'd have a little more sense than to listen to a bloody idiot like Blaise Zabini! I've got a good mind to—"

"Master Draco, is you okay? You dropped your cider!" A house elf was standing in the doorway, looking back and forth between Hermione and Draco with wide, concerned eyes.

Wonderful…a diversion... Hermione stepped forward with a smile. "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. And you are..?"

The house elf looked up at her, transfixed. "Me name's Tooky, Miss Hermione," she squeaked.

Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed Hermione by the shoulders, pulling her back. "And Miss Hermione was just leaving, Tooky," he said pointedly.

"I am not! I have been invited for the weekend by your mother," Hermione protested.

"Ohhh…" Tooky's face dawned with recognition. "Then you is the guest that Mister Lucius said we was expecting for dinner! Come in, come in, Miss Hermione, can I takes your cloak?"

At this point, Draco was quite beside himself. "My father said that we were expecting her for dinner?" he said in disbelief.

Taking advantage of his consternation, Hermione once again stepped past Draco and into the foyer, shuffling the bundle in her arms so that she could remove her cloak and fold it neatly as she handed it to Tooky. Tooky took the cloak from her with shining eyes. "Very good, Miss Hermione! Can I gets you some hot spiced cider?"

"Oh no, you don't—don't get too comfortable, Granger."

"Yes, Tooky, that would be splendid! Thank you very much."

As the tiny house elf scurried off to get the hot cider, Draco turned to Hermione, still rather miffed. His arms were folded and he was glaring down at her. "All right, Granger, if you're so hell-bent on staying, I guess there's nothing much I can do about it," he growled.

"Good…at least that's finally settled," she said, her voice sounding more confident than she felt. He was really angry with her—this weekend was not off to the best start.

He turned and began to head towards the drawing room. "Come on, then," he said in a terse manner. Hermione took a deep breath and began to follow him. Looking up, she noticed the huge chandelier looming portentously over the center of the large room. She halted rather suddenly and stared up at it, remembering…

The death grip on her hair had pulled her head up at such an awkward and painful angle that it made the chandelier dangling overhead swim dangerously in her vision. She could feel the cool metal of a blade being pressed to her throat.

"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it!" You have been inside my vault at Gringotts! Tell the truth, tell the truth!" Bellatrix's shrill scream echoed in her ears.

Draco was watching her with a shuttered look on his face. "You okay?" he asked.

Hermione took a deep breath and steeled herself. She could handle this, and it was high time she faced the demons that still haunted her occasionally in her dreams. She nodded. "I'm fine."

His gaze flicked down to her arms—he had just noticed that she had been holding a bunch of flowers the entire time. "What the hell is that?" he demanded.

She looked down at the bunch of small white flowers, wrapped with a white satin ribbon. "They're a type of Narcissus flower. For your Mum," she explained. "I didn't think the daffodils were as fitting, so instead I got—"

"Paperwhites," he interrupted.

"Yes," she said, surprised.

"Miss Hermione! Here is your cider! I hopes you likes it!" Tooky had entered the room once again and handed a huge mug of cider to Hermione with such reverence that Hermione was touched by the gesture. "Thank you, Tooky, I'm sure I will." She took a sip of the steaming cider, which was positively delicious. "Tooky," she said, looking down at the little elf in wonder, "this has got to be the best cider I've ever tasted in my entire life!"

Tooky was gazing up at Hermione as if she were a combination of The Weird Sisters, Viktor Krum and Santa Claus. "I is so glad you likes it, Miss Hermione! Can I gets you anything else?" she squeaked with excitement.

"No thank you, Tooky, I'm fine," Hermione said as she took another sip of the cider.

Tooky looked up at Draco. "Mistress Narcissa says she'll be right down, Master Draco!"

Draco grimaced. "Fan-bloody-tastic…" he was muttering to himself.

"Draco, Darling, you didn't mention that we were to have a guest for the weekend!" Hermione looked up to see Narcissa Malfoy gracefully descending the spiral staircase, her rich emerald-green silk robes floating about her as she walked. She stopped a few feet in front of Hermione and looked at her with a combination of curiosity and thinly-veiled distaste. "Welcome to the Manor, Miss…Granger, is that correct?"

Hermione hadn't seen Narcissa Malfoy since that fateful night at the Manor, but so much had happened that evening that Hermione felt like she was getting a good look at Draco's mother for the first time. The woman was utterly breathtaking. Her hair was the same white-blonde as Draco's, and it hung to her waist in a long, perfectly twisted coil adorned with a string of emeralds. Her eyes, a deep piercing blue, were turning an ice cold blast on Hermione that made Draco's cold glare look downright rudimentary. Hermione struggled to find her voice under the frigid ocular assault. "Yes…Her..Hermione Granger, ma'am," she said in a hesitant voice.

Narcissa pressed her lips together into a thin line. "Ah, yes. The…muggleborn," she said, with just the right emphasis on "muggleborn" to imply another word.

Hermione held her ground. Plastering a polite smile across her face, she stepped forward, shifted the cider mug in her hands, and handed the bouquet to Narcissa. "Here, Mrs. Malfoy, I brought these for you."

A brief flicker of surprise flashed in Narcissa's eyes as she took the proffered gift. As she looked down at the prettily wrapped bundle of flowers in her arms, she remarked in a quiet tone, mostly to herself, "Paperwhites."

Hermione gave Draco a questioning look but he simply looked back at her, his face maddeningly blank.

Narcissa looked at the flowers once more before handing them rather quickly to Tooky. "Take these and put them in my crystal vase in the library," she instructed the little elf. "Yes, well, Draco, why don't you get our…guest…settled properly in one of the guest quarters. I must get back to the dinner preparations." And with that, she regally swept from the room.

Draco quirked an eyebrow at Hermione. "So…you survived your first encounter with the Ice Queen," he remarked in a flat voice.

"She was absolutely stunning, Draco! You look so much like her," she couldn't help gushing.

The tiniest smirk touched the corner of his lips. "Mmph. Don't try to butter me up by stating the obvious, Granger." He turned towards the spiral staircase. "Come on, let's get going," he said as he began to ascend the stairs.

He was still being rather brusque with her, but at least that tiny smirk showed the beginnings of a crack in his armor. She took another big sip of her mug of cider (mmm…scrumptious), let out a deep breath and began to follow him up the stairs.

Draco led her through a series of corridors until they finally reached a set of large oak doors. "We'll stick you in the Red Room," he said, opening the door. "That ought to make you feel right at home." His tone was sardonic as he stepped aside to give her a good view of the room.

Hermione gasped at the sumptuousness of the quarters. The room was decorated primarily in a rich wine-colored velvet (hence the name, Red Room, she realized) and the four-poster bed was one of the largest she'd ever seen. It was also covered in about 50 pillows and the bed was turned down to reveal pristine white satin sheets. There was also a huge bay window with a seat (perfect for reading, Hermione thought) with flowing tasseled panels that reached from the high ceiling to the floor.

"Does it meet with your satisfaction?" he asked her in a mocking tone.

"Of course it does…" she said in wonder as she gazed about the room. Draco was watching her with an odd expression on his face. Time to clear the air a bit, she realized. First she turned to set her now empty mug of cider on a nearby end table.

"Draco," she began, turning back to him, "I'm so sorry I upset you, but I just couldn't stand to abandon you to your parents at such a…difficult time. I only did it out of caring for you."

He was still glowering at her, but perhaps not as harshly as before.

"I love you, Draco."

He looked away from her and shifted his feet awkwardly.

Please don't be angry… She took a step closer to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Draco?" she ventured in a small voice.

"Dammit, Granger!" he burst out, and with a quick forward movement he tumbled the both of them onto the huge bed and began kissing her furiously.

Hermione sighed and began to return his kisses with enthusiasm. Then when she felt his hand sliding over her hip and creeping towards her bum she realized with a jolt just where she was. Great Merlin, Draco is laying on top of me on a BED… With a gasp, she rolled out from underneath him.

Draco rolled over onto his back, letting out a frustrated sigh as he stared up at the canopy of the bed. "Granger," he said in a tight voice, "you're going to be the death of me."

"I really am sorry, Draco."

He rolled onto his side and gave her a wicked grin. "Well…feel free to make it up to me," he drawled, patting the space right next to him on the bed.

Hermione bit back a smile and sat up. "Oh no, you don't."

"Bugger."

In an attempt to steer his mind away from its current focus, she asked, "So, does your family dress for dinner? At my home it's a casual affair, but something tells me that here it must be…different," she finished lamely.

He turned onto his back and stretched. "Fancy dress costume," he murmured as he folded his hands behind his head.

"WHAT?"

He looked over at her with a scornful expression. "You heard me. Fancy dress costume, Malfoy tradition. We used to have a decent sized dinner party, but since the beginning of the War, Mum started getting really careful about who she invited…" he trailed off. Hermione was staring at him wide-eyed, which made him smirk in amusement. "It's Halloween, Granger, don't tell me you didn't bring a costume."

"Merlin, no…I didn't even think about that…" she bit her lip. This is going to make me look even more unfavorable to his parents if I don't come up with something really quick…

"We could do a hair-growing charm on you and you could go as Lady Godiva," he drawled with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.

"No…I'll come up with something…I'll have to. How much time do I have until dinner?" she asked, looking around wildly.

"A couple of hours."

"Okay…I should be able to have something ready by then…" she leapt off of the bed, pulled out her wand and began to search about the room. Draco was still on the bed, watching her with a bemused look on his face.

"Draco! Why are you still here? Get out—I have a lot of work to do!"

Draco scowled and climbed off the bed. "Okay, okay, don't go all ballistic. I owe my Mum a chess game, anyway…" He headed towards the door and as he passed her, he took a light smack at her bum. Hermione was so preoccupied that she didn't even react.

"Later, Granger…can't wait to see what you'll come up with." And with one last smirk, Draco closed the door behind him.

What I'll come up with…Merlin's Pants…WHAT am I going to do now?