Thursday, June 20th 1.20pm.
Harry hurried along to Hermione's office, wondering why his friend had requested a meeting. He had spent the morning at Puddlemere United's stadium working with the security team in place there to try and figure out how the killer had gotten Oliver's body onto the pitch without being caught.
Reaching Hermione's office, Harry checked with her temporary secretary it was okay to enter before he knocked once and pushed the door open. When he opened the door he was surprised to find Hermione and Draco sitting on the sofa in the corner of Hermione's office. He had expected to find his friend at her desk buried in her work, that was how he usually found her whenever he visited her in her office.
"Harry, sit down." Hermione greeted her friend. "Did you have any luck this morning?"
"Some, we think we know the route the killer took. We're working on confirming it." Harry said taking a seat opposite the pair. "What's the emergency?"
"No emergency." Hermione smiled. "We were just wondering if we could tell Draco's mother about the case."
"Why? No offense Malfoy, but your mother bugging you about the papers is not really my main concern right now."
"Not for that reason, Potter." Draco rolled his eyes at the raven haired man. "We thought she might be able to help us with information about the Parkinson's, or any of the other Death Eater's you're looking into."
"That's actually a good idea. We're still working on the list Hermione gave us. But we've been so busy we haven't had a lot of time to do much with it." Harry said, thoughtfully. "Can she be trusted to keep it confidential?"
"Of course." Draco said.
"I give my permission then. Hopefully it will provide a break in the case." Harry said standing back up. He had a boat load of work to do, and not enough hours in the day to complete it. "Let me know if you get any new information."
After Harry had left, Draco wrote a quick note to his mother requesting that him and Hermione pay her a visit.
"Are you sure about this? Going back there." Draco asked.
When Hermione had first suggested the plan to visit his mother over lunch he had been sceptical but her enthusiasm had won him over. However when he mentioned the Manor her demeanour had changed and she was a lot more nervous about her idea.
"Yes, I'll be fine." Hermione said, even though she was unsure how she would react once she was in the house that had haunted her dreams for months.
"If you want to leave when we get there just say and we'll go." Draco said, he didn't want to put Hermione under any more stress.
"I will, thank you." Hermione smiled. "What are you going to tell your mother about the story in the paper?"
"The truth, that it's not true. And that my job is to purely to protect you from the killer." Draco said. "Not that'll she'll believe me."
"Why not? It's the truth." Hermione said, shrugging her shoulder.
"Mother will be able to tell that there's more between us than me protecting you." Draco explained.
"Is there more?" Hermione asked.
"Definitely, I don't go round kissing people I'm protecting." Draco said. He sensed Hermione was unsure of his intentions towards her. "And I definitely don't talk about my past."
"Really." Hermione said softly. She had known the previous night that it had taken a lot for Draco to confide in her about his marriage.
"Really." Draco moved closer to Hermione and entwined the fingers on their hands that were between them. "Only a small handful of people know about the baby. And you're the first person I've ever told, the first person I've ever let see how much it devastated me."
Hermione wasn't sure how to reply to Draco. He had just opened his heart to her and she knew that it was extremely difficult for him to do so. Deciding actions spoke louder than words, Hermione reached up and kissed Draco softly. Draco pulled Hermione closer to him and deepened the kiss, producing a soft moan from the brunette.
Just as they were getting into the kiss, an envelope appeared in front of Draco. Reluctantly tearing themselves away from each other, Draco opened the letter and read what his mother had to say.
"Mother says she'll be delighted if we would join her for afternoon tea at three o'clock."
Thursday, June 20th 3.00pm.
Hermione's heart was hammering as she stood inside a large ornately decorated room at Malfoy Manor. Her and Draco had flooed into the Manor mere moments before and she had yet to regain her composure.
Before Hermione had a chance to recover, a tall elegant blonde woman swept into the room. Her hair was styled neatly on top of her head and she was wearing the most beautiful robes in deep sapphire with flecks of silver running throughout the design.
"Draco, darling." Narcissa exclaimed, hugging her son. "It's good to see you."
"It's good to see you too." Draco responded, smiling warmly at his mother. "Mother, I'd like you to meet Hermione Granger."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Malfoy." Hermione said, mustering up all the courage she could find.
"And you, my dear." Narcissa smiled. "But please call me Narcissa."
Hermione smiled, relaxing in the woman's presence. Like her son she seemed to have changed for the better since the war that nearly tore her family apart.
"Why don't we go into the back garden and you can tell me all about your budding relationship." Narcissa said, beckoning her son and Hermione to follow her as she swept out of the room.
Draco put his hand on the small of Hermione's back as they followed Narcissa through the large house. He could sense she was uneasy and was hoping to offer her some comfort. Draco's comforting presence combined with the fact that Narcissa had obviously redecorated the entire house made Hermione feel better at being in the place where she was once tortured.
Arriving in a large open plan kitchen, Narcissa opened a large glass door and Hermione found herself staring at a very large and very beautiful garden. While Narcissa led them to a glass table with four chairs around it, Hermione admired the wonderful garden.
There was a large portion of neatly cut grass, surrounded by beautiful rose bushes of various colours. Hermione could see a large pond that seemed to back onto a mini orchard. Also in the distance she could see what appeared to be a maze cut into immaculately trimmed hedges.
"You have a lovely garden." Hermione said, politely.
"Thank you. I spend most of my spare time out here." Narcissa said. "Let's get some refreshments, Pixie."
Hermione started to protest when Narcissa called for a house elf but found herself speechless when the elf appeared next to Narcissa. The elf was wearing a lovely light blue summer dress and was obviously not mistreated in any way. Hermione watched as Narcissa very politely asked the elf to provide refreshments.
"All the elves at the Manor are free elves. They're treated well and are all paid." Draco leant over to Hermione and whispered in her ear. He had noticed how surprised she had been by the elf's appearance.
"Thank you, Pixie." Narcissa smiled at the small elf when she returned with a tray loaded with goodies. "Please, help yourself." She told Hermione once the elf had disappeared again.
While everyone sorted their food and drinks, Narcissa smiled at her son and his new lady friend. She had noticed the way he had explained the house elf's appearance to her, getting much closer to her than was necessary.
"Well then, would you care to fill me in on the latest events of your life Draco." Narcissa said, sipping on her earl grey tea.
"It's not what you think." Draco said, explaining about the recent murders.
"That's terrible." Narcissa gasped. "How are you coping?" She asked Hermione.
"Okay, it's scary but I'm sure Harry and Ron will catch whoever is doing this." Hermione said. She sounded a lot more confident than she felt.
"And what about your son, this must be hard for him." Narcissa could remember reading about Hermione having a son only a few years after the war had ended.
"I'm not sure it's really hit him yet. So far it's a new adventure with someone new to play with." Hermione said. "He's far more interested in playing with Draco to think about why he's with us."
"I'm sure he'll be fine, young boys are surprisingly resilient." Narcissa said.
She was thrilled to hear that Draco had formed a connection with Hermione's son. Despite the earlier protests of a romantic relationship, there was clearly something going on between her son and Hermione. Narcissa found she didn't object to her son having a potential relationship with a muggle born. Her ideas on blood purity had never been as resolute as her husband's and since the war she had all but abandoned the archaic beliefs. Instead of a seeing a witch who was unworthy of her son when she looked at Hermione, she saw a strong independent witch who could be exactly what Draco needed to bring him back to life.
Since his divorce two years ago, Narcissa had been seriously worried about her son. He had thrown himself into his job, becoming head of his department seven months after he signed the final divorce papers. He never dated anymore and only went out with his friends on the odd occasion.
Narcissa was worried that the miscarriage Astoria suffered shortly before their divorce had affected Draco far more than he liked to pretend. While her son had put on a brave face and supported his wife during the traumatic time, Narcissa could see how much it had broken him.
"We do have an ulterior motive for coming today." Draco said, pulling Narcissa's attention back to the present. "We need your help."
"What with?" Narcissa asked, curious as to how she could be of assistance.
"First off, The Parkinson's. Mrs Parkinson's dead." Draco said.
"That's dreadful. I can't say I was particularly fond of Gloria but it's still sad. How's Pansy?" Narcissa said.
"Missing. One of the investigation team is trying to find her." Hermione said, nibbling on a mini lemon cake.
"You think Pansy's involved?" Narcissa asked, shaking her head in surprise. She had known Pansy since she was a young girl and never would have pegged her as someone who could get involved in something so cold and heartless.
"Maybe, she does have reason to hate Hermione. She prosecuted her father, leaving the family penniless." Draco said, watching as his mother's eyes widened in surprise when he mentioned the money.
"What do you mean penniless. Gloria was showing off pictures of her new villa in the south of France for weeks before her and Pansy left."
"There never was a villa. Pansy and her mother were living in the poorest part of wizarding Paris." Hermione explained. "I take it no one knew this."
"No, no one. One of the girls would have mentioned something like this." Narcissa said. Once a month she had dinner and drinks with some long term friends, mainly pure blood women who had nothing better to do than gossip about other's less fortunate than themselves.
"Have you heard anything about the Parkinson's since they left?" Draco asked.
"No, as far as I know no one has heard anything from them. I can subtly ask next time I see the girls." Narcissa offered, she was quite taken with the idea of playing detective.
"When will that be?" Draco asked.
"Tomorrow night."
"Good. We were also wondering if you could help us with some family background on these people." Draco said, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket. "Is there anyone you can think of that might want to avenge them being sent to prison."
Narcissa took the paper off Draco and examined the names on the list. She thought back to the years when Death Eaters were regular visitors to the Manor and what she could remember about the men she tried to avoid.
"Yaxley and Macnair were both unmarried with no family. I'm sure Derek Crabbe had a sister." Narcissa sat deep in thought for a while before speaking again. "Yes he did, she was younger than him. I don't know if she ever married though, I never actually met her."
"How do you know about her?" Draco asked, he could never remember Vince mentioning an aunt while they were friends.
"Zoe used to complain about her, she hated the woman. Apparently Derek's sister didn't like the fact that Zoe got an old heirloom as an engagement ring. She felt it should have been hers. It caused a lot of bad feeling between the two women." Narcissa said, before turning back to the list.
While Narcissa was thinking about the next person on the list, Draco quietly explained to Hermione that Zoe was Vincent Crabbe's mother and that she had abandoned her family some time during their second year at Hogwarts.
"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you about Rabastan." Narcissa looked at her son who shook his head. The less he had to talk about his deranged aunt's family the better.
"Now the Carrow's were brought up by their uncle. I don't think he's dead, but during the second war I'm sure I heard one of them say he's housebound." Narcissa said, passing the paper back to Draco. "I don't know his name I'm afraid, they just used to call him Uncle C. I don't know if the C was for Carrow or a first name."
"Thank you. You've been a great help." Hermione smiled at Narcissa.
"You're most welcome." Narcissa smiled back at the younger witch.
"We really should be going. We need to give Potter the information we have before we go and pick Ryan up." Draco said.
Narcissa watched with a smirk as Draco helped Hermione stand up from her chair, his hand unnecessarily brushing against her side. Narcissa stood and offered to walk her son and Hermione back into the front parlour.
"Thank you, once again. Tea was lovely." Hermione said to Draco's mother as they arrived at the fireplace.
"You're most welcome, my dear. Hopefully you can come again." Narcissa said, throwing her son a pointed look. "Maybe next time you could bring your son, I'm sure he would love to explore the garden."
"We really must be going." Draco interrupted his mother before she could drop any more hints about future visits. "I'll see you soon mother."
Draco hurriedly kissed his mother on the cheek and ushered Hermione into the floo network, eager to get her away from his interfering mother.
Narcissa watched Draco and Hermione leave with a large smile on her face. For the first time in over two years her son was genuinely happy, and the reason was clearly Hermione and her son. Narcissa hadn't failed to notice the smile that played around her son's lips as Hermione talked about Ryan, he was clearly becoming attached to the young boy.
Heading back to the garden for another cup of tea, Narcissa couldn't help but hope that things worked out for Draco and Hermione. Her son deserved to be happy and from everything she knew and had read about Hermione, she also deserved happiness. Hopefully they could find it in each other.