Hey!
Thanks for lovely reviews.
Thanks to my lovely best friend who is still BETA-ing this crap for me! YAY for my best friend.
Read, review (how much of a crap of a chapter was it?) and enjoy!
PS: introducing you Astoria Greengrass, and I assure you we are not going to see her much, and I assure you in next chapters she won't even be there…
Rennervate!
Chapter 12:
Now here they were sitting under a large tree that cast shadows upon them, protecting them from sunlight that suddenly burst from the clouds. Hermione and Draco sat side by side, their backs to the tree, while Scorpius sat before them; cross-legged. They have been out for about thirty minutes and Draco and Hermione already had a tad bit of a raw and now Scorpius was laughing his head off.
"Didn't you have one of those? He looked like he ran into a wall face first."
"Oh please Malfoy, he was a really cute cat. He protected us when we were in need of him," defended Hermione; her cat, from Draco.
"What was his name anyway? Cookie?" asked Draco looking at Scorpius, who in turn was smiling like mad and shrugged. Draco looked back at Hermione and asked once again. "Shark? Really Granger, he was creepy."
"His name was Crookshanks, and he wasn't that creepy," she stopped abruptly when Draco chuckled. There he was once again…leaving Hermione breathless. He so rarely slipped off his mask, that it made him more special. She wanted to reach out and kiss him senseless, but…not only Scorpius held her back, because he was there, and she shouldn't even think of kissing him, let alone kiss him for real. He was married. Hermione didn't want to be a third wheel or worse a whore.
She blinked as that thought crossed her mind. Was she something like that for Draco? Taking care of his needs when his wife wasn't around? She looked at Draco who was now talking and laughing with Scorpius. She tilted her head to the side and thought. Was she?
There was a 'pop' and she was pulled out of her thoughts as Binky trotted towards them.
"I is sorry, masters and missy. But Master Draco, you have a guest."
"A guest?"
"Yes, it is missy Greengrass."
"Oh God," groaned Draco. "Thanks Binky, I'll be there in a minute."
There was a slight 'pop' and Binky was away from the awkward silence. Hermione was speechless; she shook her head and looked at Draco. "So…" she didn't even know what to say. She felt betrayed.
It seemed like Draco knew about Astoria's visit, because he was now standing up and preparing himself to go back. "Are you coming?" he asked Scorpius, without even looking at Hermione.
"I'll come later, I'll just finish this sandwich and I'll come," said Scorpius glancing at Hermione's blank face.
Draco just nodded and walked away; leaving them both alone.
"Hermione?"
"Hm? Yes Scorp, what is it?" asked Hermione her voice a bit husky from the lump that formed in her throat.
"Why are you suddenly sad?" she hated Scorp that moment, for being that observant.
"I'm not that sad, Scorp. Just….forget it," Hermione said and attempted to smile, but failed miserably.
Scorpius frowned and offered her his hand, "Let's go in."
Hermione nodded sadly and stood up too, leaving their picnic blankets and all behind. She hated to give Binky extra work, but at the moment she didn't care. She and Scorp walked inside the Manor and after a moment they discovered that Astoria and Draco were in the Drawing Room. As soon as Scorpius saw his mother he left Hermione's hand and ran into the room. Hermione stood rooted to the place and watched the happy Malfoy family.
Astoria Greengrass screamed a Malfoy and an aristocratic woman. She had a very slim body, brown eyes and brown-blackish hair. She was very beautiful. Hermione knew her sister Daphne Greengrass, who was in the same year as Draco and the Golden Trio. But that didn't mean that they were close friends, after all Daphne was in Pansy's gang. And she was one of the girls who always taunted her and her bushy hair. Now Astoria was a year younger then the whole lot of them, but she looked like she could've been Draco's sister.
Hermione frowned when she saw the interaction between Astoria and Scorpius. The woman only shook his hand. No kiss on the cheek, no hug, no pat on the head, just a formal handshake. She narrowed her eyes and thought; was the woman that heartless to not even pat him on the head? After all he was her only son? Or was he?
Hermione took a deep breath and walked in walking towards the family confidently. She saw that Astoria was wearing a very expensive looking suit, which showed off her body curves. Her hair was pulled back into a very tight bun at the crown of her head. She cast her eyes to Hermione when she reached them. She stared her and then leveled her gaze on Draco's.
"This is Hermione Granger; I hope you still remember her, from our school days."
"I know perfectly well…who she is," her eyes snapped back to Hermione form. Her eyes run on Hermione's body like she was a furniture and she wanted to buy it, but there was something unpleasant seating on it. "What is she doing here, Dragon?"
Draco actually balled his fists and calmly replied. "She's here to help me raise our child. She works for me and she looks after Scorpius."
"You mean she works as a…nanny?"
"Not precisely a nanny," said Draco and looked at Hermione briefly. "She is a tutor too."
"You hired a tutor without even consulting with me?"
"Well, you aren't even around, you are always out and you always f-"
"Malfoy," Hermione's cold voice cut him off short. "I don't think it's wise to talk about this in front of Scorpius." She hissed to him. He gave a nod to her; 'you are dismissed' sign. Hermione sighed and took Scorpius' hand in hers and without a backward glance walked out of the Drawing Room.
She couldn't breathe. Her hold on Scorp's hand tightened s much that he yelped and snatched his hand away from hers. She grabbed his hand once again and walked him towards his bedroom. She needed time to think alone, not to be around anyone, especially Scorpius, because he was the double copy of his father's. She called Binky and told her to look out for Scorpius while she was away.
Away, she meant in her own rooms. She practically flees the room just to be away from them, from memories, from Scorpius' steel grey eyes, that looked just like Draco's. She was panting by the time she entered her room, locked the door and put the most powerful silencing charm ever. She turned her back on the door and looked around her rooms. It was grand…and grey. Just like her heart at the moment.
She sighed and slid down the door, seating on her bum. She pulled her knees to her chest, put her forehead on them and sighed. Why was she feeling so emotional? It wasn't like they were together? Right? They just…fucked each other senseless and that was all…wasn't it? She couldn't hold back the image that waltzed into her mind…seeing the Malfoy family together. Yes, they didn't exchange any kinds of affection towards each other, but it still hurt Hermione to see them all together.
What if Astoria decided to stay? What if Draco would go back to his old self? What would happen with Scorpius? After all the treatments; first the surgery and then chemo, would start in a few days. Was she going to stay back and help the family out or was she going back home to her own family? Who needed her the most?
After a moment of thinking she got up and walked towards her wardrobe. She pulled out her truck from there, put it on the floor and started to pack. She packed every single cloth she had there, but left some of clothes out, she would be prepared for everything the Malfoy family had for her; she would leave or stay behind.
There was a knock on the door. She froze in her movements and breathed in calmly. She stood up and walked towards her door. She cancelled her silencing charm and unlocked the door. She opened it and there he was standing in front of her with all his glory.
"Can I come in?" his voice was low, almost a whisper.
Hermione made a way for him to walk in, shaking her hand in 'come in' gesture. He nodded and past her into her room, not going further in. She banged the door shut and once again put up the silencing charms, she was sure by the time the both of them ended the whole Manor would've been able to hear their voices. But she was smarter and that's why she put up the charm so no one would hear them.
"You…just left the Room," stated Draco. Hermione nodded, not looking at him and continued packing. "Why did you left? Why-What's happening here?" he stopped short when he saw that Hermione was placing her books in her track. "You're leaving or something? Your mum wrote?" When Hermione didn't answer him, he walked towards her and grabbed her by her elbows. "God damn it look at me! Tell me what's happening here?"
"Maybe it's you who should tell me 'what's happening here'?" she told him coldly, looking him into the eye. "Maybe you should be the one explaining to me what's Astoria doing here? Maybe you should be the one to tell me, why the fuck you haven't told me that she was coming back?"
"Why does it matter so much?"
"Why does it…?" Hermione trailed off and looked at him with surprise. "Malfoy, you can't ask me the most stupid questions now! You have to answer my questions!"
"Why?"
"Why? You are actually asking me that?"
"Well, yes. Why would I answer to your questions when you are not giving me any explanation yourself? What is wrong with you?" to his horror Hermione's eyes started to water. "Hermione, what's wrong? Please tell me!"
"Have I ever been someone special in your life, Malfoy? Or were you just using me for your needs and you assumed I wasn't that important to you so you wouldn't tell me about Astoria?"
"Well you knew she would come back some day, didn't you Hermione? Please don't be mad at me," Draco told her softy and crashed her to him, holding her close to him.
"Why I always end up crying because of you, Malfoy? Why you always give me this unbearable pain?" she asked, her voice muffled, tears running down her cheeks soaking Draco's white shirt.
"I don't know, baby. I really don't," he kissed her hair and put his cheek on it. "But I don't want you to cry; not now, not ever." She gave him a slight nod and hugged him back, finally.
"Is she going to stay?"
"Yes, but not for long. We are going to do our divorce paper."
"What?" she pulled back and rubbed her face, trying to clear the blur out of her eyes. "You are getting a divorce? Why?"
"It was the time. We don't love each other, she's always away and she has cheated on me countless times, but now I've had enough. I don't want her around anymore, she can have all the money that I have, I don't care, and I just want her out of my life completely."
"This isn't because of me, right?" asked Hermione. She needed some sort of an answer so she could shake of the guilt that decided to form around her heart and chest.
"Partly," said Draco truthfully looking down at Hermione. Before she could talk he said quickly, "You gave me the courage to tell her that I want a divorce. That's why you are 'partly' into the game. But I promise when this will end, you can have everything and anything you'd want."
"I don't want anything," she huffed and walked away from him. She stood in front of her grand window and looked out. The sky was bright with sun. She felt him before he wrapped his arms around her, putting his head on her shoulder and kissing her cheek.
"You don't even want me now, do you? Because I made you sad and angry," his voice was soft, and Hermione closed her eyes, rubbed her cheek to his and sighed deeply.
"You wouldn't have been you, if you didn't make me angry."
He chuckled and kissed her cheek again and tightened his hold on her. She could live with this, she mused when he kissed her cheek again, but when he was divorced once and for all.
