Disclaimer: Like I keep saying, JKR rules this one. :)
The next morning found Hermione in the living room concentrating hard on the book she was reading on Legilimency. There was a part which intrigued her, and she couldn't stop thinking about it.
'The complicated art of Legilimency requires one to be very controlled and aware of their actions. Upon entering one's mind, the legilimens can pore over any memory that has ever crossed that brain and can choose what to view. Often, when legilimency is in action, the legilimens casting it can see irrelevant memories and thoughts that he hadn't decided on seeing. The subconscious is to be blamed for this. If the subconscious mind is not clear, and the caster still has his own thoughts attached, then those thoughts rise first from the receiver. Therefore one must remember to clear all his mind and subconscious thoroughly before practicing legilimency.'
So was that why she was reliving the memories which included Draco every time he entered her mind? That meant he wanted to know what she thought about him. Could that be? Hermione was curious. Did it really matter to him then, what she thought about him? Maybe he felt something for her too, she couldn't ignore the fact that she had caught him staring at her, studying her quite a few times. She decided that it made her happy knowing that he cared what she thought about him.
She was glad she had befriended him last night. He really deserved a friend after everything he had been through. Everyone had had someone in difficult times. She had Harry and Ron and they had her and so many others. He had nobody. She was still attracted to him but knew that was the limit and she wasn't going to act on it. She couldn't imagine why he would think of her in that sense. He was way different from her even after changing for the better. So there really was no use. He had accepted her friendship and that was it. She would help him and support him. And in time, she hoped that the flutters in her stomach would subside.
She was brought back to reality by Ginny who seemed to have been standing there talking to her for a while. ''Where had you drifted off to woman? I am really beginning to wonder what's wrong with your head! You looked like you were doing an O.W.L. in your daydream.'' she huffed.
Hermione blinked and said, ''I am sorry Ginny, I was ...a bit lost. What's up?''
''You have an owl waiting for you Mione and you haven't even noticed!'' replied Ginny.
Hermione looked over and saw that there really was an owl, an eagle owl actually, sitting on the drawer next to her bed, waiting patiently. She knew it was Draco's and so she hurriedly untied the letter after taking it from the owl and tried to read it before Ginny could draw any more conclusions.
Granger,
I cannot come over today as I have an important appointment at the Manor. As our meetings are important to your goal, you can come meet me here if you want. Ask Potter and Weasley too. I presume you know where it is after your last time here. If you don't remember the address, let me know.
D. Malfoy.
Hermione pondered over this new arrangement for a moment, noticing how he had scratched out the mention of their visit to the manor because of the snatchers. She didn't want to recall that terrible day. So she went over to find Harry and Ron and told them about Draco's message. Harry said, ''What do you both think? Should we go there?''
Ron shrugged, ''The trial is tomorrow, so we know that one day is wasted already, and Hermione wants to see her parents soon. I think we could go, after what dad said maybe Lucius Malfoy won't bother us.''
Hermione smiled. She was glad her friends were at least considering the possibilities. She didn't want to say no to Draco because that would make him think she had just pretended to befriend him.
''Then we are going to Malfoy Manor?'' she asked.
Ron replied, ''I am not sure about coming. George finally agreed last night to go to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and I think with a little persuasion he'll agree to re-open it. I hope you understand how important this is...''
Hermione said, ''Of course we understand Ron! It really is a good thing and very important. I won't mind if you don't come, but try coming if you can okay?'' She smiled at him. She knew how much Ron and the rest of them had worked at persuading George. He too needed that change; it had been too long since George had gone out.
''Alright, you go with George Ron. Hermione and I will go to Malfoy Manor. And while I am there, I'll talk to Lucius Malfoy too and see for myself what he is like now.'' said Harry.
Later that day, Ron and George left for Diagon Alley while Harry and Hermione sent Draco a letter. They decided it would be best that Draco come and apparate them to the Manor as they really weren't sure where it was and didn't want to end on the wrong side of the continent. So at around half past 3, Draco arrived at the Burrow. Harry met him down in the backyard while Hermione was still in her room with Ginny. ''He is here. Hurry up Hermione!'' Ginny exclaimed entering the room. Hermione rushed over to pick up her wand and turned around to leave when Ginny giggled and said, ''Have fun darling. Try keeping your hands off each other in front of my boyfriend. I don't want him to have an attack so soon!'' Hermione rolled her eyes. ''Can you ever think of anything else Gin? He is just a friend. Nothing more. Get over it!'' Hermione was at the door when she heard Ginny say, ''Yeah? If that's it then why does someone go all red every time I mention it? You can lie all you want Hermione, but you can't ignore how your stomach tingles just by looking at him.'' She winked at Hermione and pushed her out of the door.
Hermione couldn't help but think about that all the way till the main door, where she saw Harry was waiting for her and a little ahead (her stomach did little flips again), Draco stood watching. Their eyes met when she reached the door, and she instantly remembered how his arms had felt around her. She couldn't stop the blush that she knew was starting and so she hurried up to them. Draco spoke once when they were standing together. ''For us to apparate, we'll have to hold hands. Never thought I would live to do something like this.'' he said sarcastically and laughed.
Harry responded, ''Yeah. Who would've thought! Anyways, let's go.'' Taking Harry's hand in his right, Draco turned and stared at Hermione. She smiled a little at him and took his left hand. She couldn't help notice how nice his hands were. With a turn, they were gone.
They arrived on a little path that led to the gates of Malfoy Manor. Walking past and through the front lawns, they entered the entrance hall which was beautifully decorated. There were some paintings along the walls, which stared openly at Harry and Hermione. ''Let's go to the Library shall we?'' Draco asked walking straight and then taking a left. Hermione and Harry followed him to find a huge room with rows and rows of bookshelves. Hermione felt a little faint just at the sight of it! It was beautiful, with a warm fireplace and old but comfortable looking armchairs, expensive rugs and tables. It wasn't anything like what Hermione had imagined the Malfoys to have. It had a warm feeling to it, like the entrance hall. Maybe it hadn't felt like this the last time because of all the death eater activity going around. Hermione looked around to see that Harry and Draco were both looking at her in an amused way. She hadn't realized until now that she had a huge grin plastered on her face. Recovering quickly and controlling the itch in her hands to pull down the nearest books to read, she said loudly, trying to sound indifferent, ''Nice collection Draco.''
Not being able to control themselves any longer, both the boys started laughing uncontrollably. Hermione stared at them for awhile before observing that she had never seen Draco Malfoy laugh. He would smirk all the time and smile occasionally, but there had never been any laughing. She smiled as she looked at both of them, laughing together even if it was at her expense. They stopped eventually, and Harry said, ''We all know it's more than just nice for you 'Mione! It must be bloody brilliant to you. But let's do what we came here for, you can look at those books later.''
Draco raised an eyebrow at the later Harry mentioned but swallowed his comment. Instead he said, ''Potter, before we start, I wanted to talk about something else too. You see, last night I found out that Bellatrix Lestrange left me her whole fortune.'' He waited to watch their faces. Hermione was a little surprised while Harry's expression had filled with hatred just at the mention of her name. He nodded for Draco to continue. ''I don't want to touch anything that is hers. I am going to let the ministry search and confiscate everything that is illegal from her vault and house. But then after that I'll still have to deal with the money and the house. So I have decided to convert all the gold into muggle money and donate it to muggles.'' He smirked as he finished.
Hermione just stared at him and Harry opened his mouth and closed it twice before finally exclaiming, ''Are you a Malfoy or an impostor? Something doesn't seem right here! You are supposed to hate muggles!'' Draco grinned. ''I don't hate muggles anymore... Change of perspective you may say.'' He looked at Hermione then continued. ''I love this idea because nothing would kill her as much as this, her precious pure blood gold going to the muggles. Just the thought of it makes me sort of satisfied.''
Harry grinned back. ''It is a brilliant idea! I never thought I'd agree with you on anything Malfoy, but you should do this!''
''Neither did I. So I want you to tell me how and where to give it away because I know no one who knows anything about muggle money or even muggles.'' said Draco.
Harry nodded and looked at Hermione. ''You could do that bit right? The hospital your parents work at or used to anyway took donations didn't they?''
Hermione replied, ''Yes I am sure they do. We could go visit.'' She smiled brightly at Draco and said, ''I am so happy that you are finally seeing a different light. What do your parents think?''
''They are just about to find out. I didn't tell them because I wanted a confirmation from you two first.'' Draco said. ''They might be here any minute now, with Aunt Andromeda. I told them you were coming here..''
He trailed off when the door opened and Lucius Malfoy entered followed by Narcissa and Andromeda.
Andromeda and Narcissa smiled at them while Lucius just nodded. ''Hello Mrs. Tonks. How are you?'' Hermione smiled. ''I am good Hermione dear. Lets all sit down shall we?''Andromeda said directing them all towards the chairs.
Once they were all seated, Draco spoke. '' I want you all to know, I have decided what to do with the Lestrange fortune. I am not interested in using any of it because I don't want to imagine its source or whatever they did to obtain it. So I am going to convert it into muggle money and then just donate it to muggles.'' Lucius looked bemusedly at his son, while Narcissa and Andromeda gave similar reactions. They both took in sharp breaths and exhaled. Andromeda laughed, ''That will torture her! What an idea Draco!'' Narcissa smiled at her son. ''I am glad that you are not what I was afraid you would become. But surely Draco, you wouldn't want her to come back from the dead to haunt you, do you?''
Draco smirked. ''You need to have a soul to become a ghost, Mother. I highly doubt she had one. And it gives me pleasure in knowing that she will be writhing in agony at the thought of what I am going to do.'' Lucius smirked similarly. ''I knew you would think something like this Draco. You are a Malfoy after all.''
Draco smiled at him. Harry and Hermione were dumbfounded. The change in the Malfoys was obvious. Narcissa looked over at Harry then and said, ''Mr. Potter, I would like to thank you for offering to help in the trial tomorrow. Its really a very kind gesture.'' Harry smiled at her ''Its fine Mrs. Malfoy. I am just going to speak the truth.'' He looked at Andromeda then, ''Mrs. Tonks, Where is Teddy?''
''He is upstairs dear. You must see him, with his hair changing colors every few minutes nowadays! He looks angelic.'' Andromeda replied.
Distant popping sounds caught their attention then. ''It must be the Ministry men apparating. They said they would be coming.'' Lucius noted getting up. Narcissa and Andromeda followed him out. Draco said, ''They have come to hand over the will to me today, that is why I couldn't come over the Weasleys. Potter, if you don't mind, will you come with me and discuss my proposition with the will, because I am not sure how the charity system works.'' Harry said, ''Yeah sure. I would do anything to get back at Bellatrix.'' Draco looked at Hermione, ''You've been awfully quite Granger. It doesn't suit you unless you are reading. You are free to browse through the library while we are gone.'' Smiling apologetically at Hermione, Harry followed Draco out.
Hermione stared after them. What was going on here? Since when were the Malfoys one big happy family? Why had she always thought of them as cold and cruel? It was weird to see them like this. It was as if they were almost normal! But she had also felt a little pang when she had looked at them talking like that to each other. She missed her parents so much. She was fed up of bottling her feelings. She wanted to talk her heart out to her mom like she used to and take advices and opinions from her dad. It was almost a year since she had last seen them. Whenever she thought of them, she felt like a hot knife was being pressed inside her body.
Wiping away the stubborn tears that had flowed their way down her cheeks, she stood up and took out one of the books from the nearest shelf. Sitting back down, she opened the book to distract herself. On the top right corner of the first page were the words – Draco Malfoy – written in what she knew was his hand. Tracing the words with her finger, she looked at the title of the book and was surprised to find it to be a book on her favorite subject, Arithmancy. It took her 2 minutes after that to get totally absorbed in it.
Author's note: I know its hard to imagine but I think that Lucius and Narcissa must have been normal parents. Even if they were Voldy supporters and all. So I just attempted to make it look like that. Please tell me what you think. Review!
