Hermione slept for 12 hours straight and Draco had gone inside his house to hide before she woke up. He wasn't known for his 'bravery'. They misunderstood each other and they both had drawn the wrong conclusions. She had said she found him out. He assumed she meant his true identity when in actuality, she was referring to his and Vera's nonexistent relationship.
Alright, so maybe he was partly at fault at that. He noticed Gavin's attentions on her so he in turn let himself be attended by Vera. She was flirty and touchy, but it didn't mean anything to her. It just helped that she was gorgeous. So Hermione was affected, was she? He reveled in that knowledge with a bit of delight.
He tried think about when, where and how it all went wrong, but he couldn't think straight. All he could think about was that fact that he and Lisa had let Hermione Granger know who he really was in the most ungraceful way possible.
He paced his living room floor. It was morning and he was too restless to sleep.
Cade and Lisa went home for the night but they would be back first thing in the morning to check on her and on him. Cade was smirking at him knowingly as they left. Draco merely flipped him off before slamming his front door closed.
He did also manage to sneak inside Hermione's room at some time around past three in the morning, just to make sure she was okay. He did not in any way watch her sleep and/or listen to her breathing... for more than thirty minutes. He stumbled out of the room when she suddenly moved in her sleep. He didn't wait around to see if she woke up or something. Just in case she did, he didn't want to be found. She'd just call him a creep or a stalker or a psychopath or all of the above.
He ran a hand over his face. He had gotten used to his beard that he couldn't even remember his face without it. He hadn't felt his naked cheek in the longest time. He particularly liked the scruffy look, but a beard was always itchy as bloody hell and it sometimes drove him crazy to the point of him slapping at his jaw in annoyance.
He stopped pacing as soon as he realized his train of thought wasn't making any sense.
He should just bleeding man up... Hermione was sick, all alone in her cabin and there was no one to take care of her. Oh, fucking screw it, Draco Malfoy, just do it. You know you want to! His mind taunted. Fine, he screamed to himself inwardly.
He grabbed another pepperup potion just in case, along with a restorative potion. He should also make her some soup... yeah, that should be good, along with some crackers. She would probably be hungry. And chocolates... she might appreciate that.
An hour later, just about the sun was rising he strolled in the cottage, straight up the stairs and into the bedroom carrying a tray with the potions, a bowl of soup, crackers and a couple of chocolates. He laid it on the bedside table before he sat down on the bed next to her.
She looked better than last night, thanks to the pepperup potion. His hand hand went up to smooth out the wisps of hair form her face before it settled down on her shoulder. He gently shook her awake.
Immediately, she stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
Soft, was what entered his mind as he watched her slowly gain consciousness. "How are you feeling?"
She blinked up at him.
He felt his heart thudding against his chest in a painful way. Fuck, she's getting ready to hex me... I certainly have not thought this throu-
"Sore," she said, her voice soft and a little husky from sleep. "Hungry."
He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "You've been asleep for more than 12 hours now," he informed her. "I bought you some soup and crackers."
She yawned and she immediately slapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "Sorry." She pushed against the bed and sat up to lean against the headboard.
He stood up from the bed to fetch the tray. He placed it on her lap.
"Thank you," she whispered.
He smiled faintly. "The blue bottle's the pepperup potion just in case you might need some more, but it looks like your fever has gone down. The green bottle's the restorative. I figured you'd be needing exactly that."
She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them she chuckled softly. "I always knew that something was off about you as Dane Mackenzie. Open the drawer, go on, it's alright. There's a folded parchment- " she stopped and blushed when he held it up.
"Involved in the Second Wizarding War, Slytherin entered possibly between 1987 to 1989, Slytherin Quidd- " he read from her list and his eyes widened incredulously as he sat back down beside her legs on the bed. "You've been investigating me?"
"Kind of," she muttered. "I have no ulterior motives. I just wanted to know why you have a fake identity."
He frowned deeply.
"I think I've begun to suspect that I knew who you were all along but I always dismissed it. You can ask Lisa, I have probably told her half a dozen times how much you remind me of you."
"I don't know what to say," he confessed. "I'm just glad you didn't freak out."
"It's okay, Malfoy," she said softly. "I stopped freaking out a long time ago ever since I started working with the Hit Wizards."
He tilted his head to one side. "Thank you for being gracious about it. Except I have one favor to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"Don't call me Malfoy."
She nodded and she flashed him a quick grin. "Only if you don't call me Granger. It reminds me of someone who used to annoy the hell out of me."
He grinned back at her. "Deal."
They fell into silence when Hermione's hunger overcame her and she nibbled on the crackers. "Oh," she suddenly said.
"What?"
"Cade and Lisa know, don't they? We were having lunch last week when I recalled the encounter during second year, you know, when you called me a mudblood."
He had the grace to blush. "Listen. About that- "
She cut him off. "Let's just forget about it, okay? Anyway, I was laughing then and they asked what I was laughing about so I told them. When I mentioned your name, Draco Malfoy, they started cackling like a couple of hyenas."
Draco drew back in surprise. "That explains why they keep teasing me about buying anything to get my way, or something. I never made the connection."
Hermione started laughing. "I remember like it was just yesterday. Merlin," she gasped. "Good times."
He gaped at her. "What do you mean 'good times'? You a loon or something? What's so good about those times?"
"Oh come on, lighten up. It's actually funny to me now - the insults, the hexing and everything. It all seems so trivial now. We were completely different people then. We were kids."
To him, it wasn't trivial. Everything was dark memory. He was and always would be pretty much fucked up. His brain had blocked out the happy and good times (if there had been) and chose to concentrate on the bad and the worst things. "Yeah," he said lightly and he stood up. "I know you must be hungry. Finish your soup and get some rest. If you need anything, I'll be right next door. Lisa and Cade would probably be here in an hour or so. They'd be bringing in breakfast for you."
She nodded gratefully. Before he walked out, she called him out. "Listen, I really appreciate everything you did. It's very thoughtful of you."
He bobbed his head once and then he was gone.
She frowned at the empty doorway before she consumed her soup and crackers. She downed the restorative potion and killed the after taste with the chocolates he provided.
Draco Malfoy. Wow.
She lusted after him. She spent time with him. She kissed him. She beat herself up over him.
And all along it was Draco Malfoy.
She knew she should be freaking out... but she wasn't. She was thinking about the fact that Vera was just his flirty employee and not his girlfriend. She felt... exhilarated! But no, that was a side effect of the restorative potion. She was just glad that they weren't together.
She placed the tray aside and leaped from the bed. She took a quick shower and dressed. She decided that she wouldn't think about him for a while as she continued to get ready for a day in the library with Goldie.
When she had fixed her bedroom, she went downstairs and a peek outside the window saw that Cade and Lisa had just pulled up into the driveway. Indeed, they were carrying two picnic baskets. She opened the door to greet them and she was unable to keep the bright smile off her face. Merlin help her.
"I see you're fully recovered," Cade commented silkily as they went inside cottage familiarly and into the dining room.
Hermione followed the two of them. "And then some. Malfoy - I mean Draco - gave me some restorative potion a couple of hours ago."
Lisa's eyebrows shot in surprise but she didn't say anything.
"What have you got there?"
"Breakfast," Cade said exasperatedly, rolling his eyes.
The women exchanged amused glances before they set the dining table for the breakfast. Cade usually had his moments. The two of them laughed when he screamed from outside the main house for the resident to get his arse in the cottage so they can eat. Draco was glaring at him as he trotted after Cade in his usual working attire in casual robes that suspiciously looked a bit like muggle fashion.
"I forgot how annoying you really are, Alastair," Draco said as they walked inside the cottage. His eyes went immediately to Hermione who was already sitting on the small table for four beside Lisa, and they shared a smile.
"I'm hungry," was all Cade said. He didn't even wait until Draco was able sit down before he sat down and started piling his plate.
There were poached eggs, gurty milk, Cornish potato cakes, hog's pudding, toasted bread, sausages and bacon. It was a feast good for eight people at most. The others followed suit as the heady aroma of the food had clawed on their hunger.
"Hermione, Gavin and Boyd told me you went by at the house yesterday," Cade said after ten minutes of silence.
"I was looking for Lisa," she admitted. "But you two were out of town."
Lisa nodded. "I took Alessia shopping for some robes. We also bought school supplies and books for her last year at Hogwarts."
"Boyd told me," she said. "Which reminds me, I volunteered yesterday as a somewhat librarian at the Little Dunwoodie Library."
"Really?" Draco asked in surprise. "That's great. Beats bumming around the cottage all day."
"I'm at the brink of insanity if I don't do anything soon," she confessed sheepishly. "I actually came by the local Auror station first." She felt the annoyance flash through her as she recalled her encounter with the buffoons. "They suggested I go to Twittling Taddling Robe instead."
The two men burst out laughing.
Hermione glared at the two of them, her feminist side taking over, but refusing to be baited to she just concentrated on her gurty milk. "So after that, I walked to the library and I met Goldie."
"Ah, Goldie. Nice lady."
"Who's Goldie?" Lisa demanded as she re-buttered her toast.
"The librarian," Draco sighed. "But of course, you wouldn't know that. You've never been to the library before."
"Of course not. There's nothing to do in the library."
Hermione pursed her lips. "Anyway, I'm also going to translate runes on the side if there any interesting ones. If there are good ones, I think I will have it published."
"You mean Ancient Runes?" Cade said incredulously. "Who in their right mind would want to do that?"
Draco cast an amused glance at him as he heard Hermione growl under her breath directly across from him. "I think you should watch your words, mate. You don't want to get hexed."
Lisa smothered a laugh with a napkin and took pity on her fiancé. "Boyd also told me something today, Hermione. He said he's got a chocolate frog card with you on it."
Hermione squirmed in her seat. "I'd like to talk about something else please."
Draco frowned at her. "How are you going to the library?" he asked smoothly. He was curious but the look on her face made him realize that she didn't want anyone to pry.
"I'll walk."
"No, you're not. What if it rains again?"
"There's this such thing called an umbrella."
"I'll take you."
"Wha- ?"
"I'll take you there. What time do you have to be there?"
"Nine."
He nodded.
"Do you always like to boss people around?" Hermione asked.
"Yes," Lisa and Cade quipped. "Always," Cade added, grinning.
"But not as much as you do," Draco replied cheekily to Hermione.
"I'm glad that you two are getting along," Lisa said suggestively and then her tone changed to laughter. "I'm really getting sick of hearing the two of you complaining about each other to me."
Draco and Hermione shared a sheepish look. "We had a bad start," Hermione said, flushing slightly. "Then we had some sort of truce and then a misunderstanding again. I guess I can't stay, erm, mad at him after he kind of took care of me while I was sick."
"Of course not." Lisa smirked knowingly. Hermione didn't have any idea that Draco had confided in her about everything the two of them.
Two hours later, Cade and Lisa had gone, Draco had gone back to his house and Hermione has finished dressing properly for her day with Goldie at the library. In her bag, she brought quills and parchments and one of her school textbooks on Ancient Runes. She was ridiculously giddy at the thought of spending seven hours in the library!
Draco knocked on her door around quarter to eight in the morning. She smiled up at him in greeting and turned to lock the cottage behind her. A few moments later, they were in the blue truck and on their way to the main street.
"Why did you change your name?" she asked softly, but she was turned toward the window of her door. "I know it's none of my business. You don't have to tell me if you don't have to."
Draco didn't look at her. "You're right about that not being your business but it's alright if I tell you... because I really don't know. When I came here and Cade saw me, if I had told him my name, he would probably turn me away or something and I would be forced to go back to Wiltshire."
"Oh, in your home."
"Just where I grew up," he corrected. "Little Dunwoodie is my home now."
"Cade's very nice. I don't think he would have turned you away whatever your name is. After all, it's just a name."
He suddenly stopped the car. Hermione lurched in her seat and braced her hands on the dashboard as she flew against the seatbelt. She turned her furious glance at him but she was left stunned at the haunted look on his face. "There's more to that. You know that. Or I'm wrong. You don't have any idea- " he broke off and he shook his head.
She simply stared at him.
"Fuck," he cursed softly. He put his hands back on the stirring wheel and kicked the truck back into gear.
"Okay," she said in a soothing voice. "We won't talk about it." Yet, she added silently to herself.
He didn't say anything else as he continued to drive faster. In less than five minutes, they were already in front of the library. He sighed. "Wait." He promptly climbed down the truck to go around to her side. He opened the door for her.
"Thanks," she muttered, avoiding his eyes.
"I'll be back for you later. Closing time, right?"
"You don't have to- "
He shot her a look. "Humor me, Granger."
She immediately shut up. "Hermione," she reminded him in a small voice and she quickly pushed her way inside the library, her heart thudding against her ribs in an almost painful manner. She took deep calming breaths as she walked over to the front desk. Goldie was already sitting there reading the Daily Prophet. She looked up when Hermione came around the desk and sat beside her.
"Good morning," Goldie greeted good-naturedly.
"Good morning," Hermione replied a little shakily. "Can I have a look at that when you're done? I haven't seen a single one ever since I came here. I am not on subscription yet."
"Sure," the older woman said. "If you want to get started with work, I have books waiting to be put back in their places. We'll split them up. After that, we have to re-organize the catalogues upstairs. There were kids who did research and messed them up yesterday morning."
Hermione nodded. "I'll get started on the books now, if you want."
"Sure."
Hermione got up and walked over to the books that were sitting in a pile on the far end of the front desk.
As she walked around the library and put the books back to their respective aisle, she thought about Draco's haunted expression. It made her shiver. He looked so... lost and empty then. Before she met him, Cade had said that the war had taken its toll on him, or something along those lines. She felt guilty immediately as she recalled that day on the beach when he told her about his past with Lisa... his running away and everything else. She had no idea that something like that with Draco Malfoy. Although he acted like a complete bastard during the battle, she pitied him when she saw him in the Great Hall with his family looking unsure of their place.
At his family's trial, she testified for him as well as Harry and Ron. He looked pretty much alright, except that he refused to meet their eyes, kept his eyes downcast and she deduced that he was embarrassed, his butt had been saved a number of times by people he most despised. She also noticed then that he looked quite a bit sick, as if he hadn't slept for two weeks.
When it was over, he left Wizengamot without even waiting for his parents. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy approached the three of them and wished them well... she, Harry and Ron were astonished but Hermione recovered and bid them the same even if they looked down on their nose on her with barely concealed indifference. In an act of bravado, Hermione smiled up at them before she sauntered up to Ron and walked out with him, leaving Harry to trail after them in amusement.
She hadn't thought of Malfoy after that. There were random times of course, when she was at the Ministry eradicating pro-pureblood laws that she thought of him, hoping that he would lose his prejudice and that should he bore children, teach them not to degrade those of with muggle heritage.
What she found instead was 9 years later, Draco Malfoy - unmarried, estranged from his family and not only non-prejudiced but a nice person (to selected people) as well - despite the fact that he tends to be a bit of a snob, sometimes arrogant, insulting and bossy... but then that was probably the best one could get from Draco Malfoy.
That thought made her smile and she continued on her day at the library on a brighter note.
Like always, he was early. At quarter to four he strolled through the library doors. He didn't look worse for wear when she left him on the pavement several hours ago.
"Hello, you two," he greeted unsmilingly, although his words held a cheerful note.
"Hello," Goldie replied. "Came to borrow something today, Dane?"
"No. I'm here to get Hermione."
Goldie's eyes shot up in surprise. "Oh?"
Draco shot Goldie a secret smile and winked at Hermione. Hermione rolled her eyes. "Why don't you look around? I'm just going to finish this last rune." Hermione tapped her finger on the big old dusty book on the table in front of her. Draco shrugged and she lowered her head back on the book.
Ten minutes later she finished and packed up her bag again. Goldie already killed half of the lighting source of the room and she has stood up from her place on the desk.
"We can close up now," Goldie told Hermione. She smiled as Hermione sheepishly grinned and buried the book in her bag with a charm to fit inside as well as the quills and parchments. "Thanks for the help. You two can go now. I'll lock up here."
"See you tomorrow, Goldie!" Hermione said as she slung the bag over her shoulder and Goldie returned her sentiments. She approached Draco who was already waiting by the front door of the library. "Let's go."
Draco smirked a little as he straightened from the wall. He went ahead to opened the door for her and stepped aside so she can pass by.
"You know, you really don't have to do this. I can always walk. It's not that far."
"Here we go again," he muttered, rolling his eyes upward in exasperation. "Just shut up about it, okay?"
"I just don't want you to feel obligated just because I'm your tenant," Hermione explained.
Draco stopped walking and turned around to face her. He grabbed her by the arms and fought the urge to shake her. "I could just throttle you, you know that? I want to do it."
Hermione flushed under his stare. "I - just - alright, alright. I just hate being dependent on other people. Why don't you just teach me how to drive those trucks of yours?" she suggested thoughtfully.
"Sure," he said silkily. To be honest, he was a little disappointed. He thoroughly enjoyed being in her company regardless of how he was kept being reminded of the past. That morning when he dropped her off, he almost had an attack, but somehow when she continued to speak, it was prevented.
"Some time this week?"
He nodded. He realized that he was still holding onto her arms and immediately dropped his hands from her. "Want to go say hi to Boyd?"
She flashed him a quick grin. "I was just about to suggest that."
"You like him that much?"
"He's an awesome kid. I really do like him."
Draco snickered as they crossed the narrow street. "Never pegged you for a pedophile."
"How crude," she gasped out and she hit him on the arm, hard. He yelped. "Serves you right, you sick man. I do not appreciate remarks like that. I ought to hex you."
"Lighten up, Miss Granger." He rolled his eyes.
She pursed her lips and didn't say anything until they finally reached the gates of the primary school.
Draco laughed. "Can't take a joke, can you?" Instinctively, without him realizing it, his hand reached out to touch her head briefly before it trailed down to her shoulders and pulled her to his side. He pushed opened the gate while still in that position. "How about dinner so I can make it up to you?"
Hermione wasn't sure why the way he was just casually slinging his arm over her shoulders loosely felt natural. She didn't even think about it as she relaxed against him. "That depends. If you're planning to take me to Phyllida's, I might have to decline. The waitresses there are rude."
He laughed again. "How about a change of scenery? There are plenty of good restaurants in Little Starling."
"Oh?" Her eyebrows shot up. "I am a little curious about that town..." ever since Vera mentioned it. She still felt embarrassed about that assumption and she tried not to think about it at all.
"Is that a yes?" He tilted his head to look into her eyes.
She sighed in mock defeat. "It's a definite yes." She ducked from his arm when the children started pouring out from the entrance of the school. Boyd was one of the first ones out.
"Boyd!" A male voice called out before Hermione or Draco could. They turned to see Gavin dragging his broom along to the farthest left, near the bushes against the fence.
"Gavin! Oh - Dane! Hermione!"
Gavin turned and looked at them. He waved them over. They walked to Gavin's side at the same time Boyd was skipping there. "What are you two doing here?"
"We thought we'd say hi to Boyd. We were at the library," Draco told Gavin.
"Oh you two are plain awesome! Thanks for dropping by!" Boyd said enthusiastically as he squeezed himself between Draco and Hermione. He was giving them a hug in a way.
Gavin smiled at the two of them. "Why don't you two come on home with us for dinner?"
Hermione and Draco looked at each other.
"Yes, come with us!" Boyd said excitedly. "Let's play Quidditch!"
Draco shrugged and smiled apologetically at Hermione. "Can't refuse that."
Author's note: Finally we can get this show on the road! Look up for Dramione moments! I'm really excited to finally develop a romance between these two. By the way, thank you all for the reviews. I really am glad that the lot of you are enjoying my third attempt in writing a Dramione story.