Fated: Chapter Eleven
Disclaimer: Only the plot is mine. The characters, setting, and everything else belong to JKR.
With a heavy sigh, Hermione closed the book she had been reading and set it down on the table. She clasped her hands together and stretched her arms in front of her, flexing her fingers so that her knuckles cracked. Letting her arms drop to her side, she rolled her shoulders and winced. She was sore after spending so many hours hunched over reading the assorted books the room contained on dryads, but the knowledge she had gained from them was well worth it.
Hermione had started with the two that Malfoy had handed her before he had fled. Ceola Malfoi's journal at times resembled a bad romance novel. She spent many pages describing her dreams of her mate and how she knew he would come to help her save her home. Hermione had rolled her eyes often while reading that portion as Ceola would often wax rhapsodic over the hero she believed fated had chosen for her. It had got so bad that Hermione had wanted to shout for the silly witch to stop waiting for her wizard and do something.
However Ceola's dreams had come true. Sylvain Malfoi had indeed lived up to that dryad's fantasies. After bonding with her, he had taken up her duty as his own. He curried favor at court and was rewarded with what was the heart of the Malfoy estate. Over the years, he managed to expand his holdings, utilizing both his wit and his wand to do so. In her journal, Ceola exulted how her mate was the sword she wielded in protection of her forest. Hermione hated to admit it, but the dryad's strategy of letting her wizard do all the work was a winning one.
Hermione didn't think she could stomach it herself however. Although Ceola had written pages and pages about how she spent her days in the forest, communing with the trees and healing the lands ill, Hermione couldn't see herself lazing about talking to trees while there was real work to do. But then she supposed that was the difference between now and then. Witches were more empowered now, and Hermione had always taken advantage of that fact.
Sylvain's journal had been almost as melodramatic as that of his mate, albeit in its own manner. He waxed on and on about what an honor it was for him to be chosen to share his dryad's duty and how it proved the power of his bloodline. Sylvain was also far more graphic than Ceola when it came to describing their bedroom activities. Hermione did her best to skip those parts. She really didn't want to know what Malfoy's ancestors had got up to when in private.
Both journals had really shed a light on Draco's actions for Hermione. She understood now that his family held dryads in high regard; in addition to Sylvain, only one other Malfoy had been the chosen mate of a dryad and he was held to be one of the most powerful wizards of their lineage. She could see how Draco would be proud to share that distinction. Furthermore, throughout the years, the Malfoy family had continued to protect both the forests on their lands and elsewhere. That was also why Draco was always there to lend her department a helping hand. The Malfoys had evidently felt it was their duty to carry on both Sylvain's and Ceola's work.
That explained a lot really—especially Draco's reaction to her revelation that he was her mate. He had been ecstatic, not because he loved her or anything silly like that, but because he felt it was confirmation that he was worthy of the Malfoy name. He had been just as eager to consummate their bond as she was, because he believed that to be his duty. And Hermione knew all too well just how seriously Draco took familial duties—she only needed to think back to his actions of their sixth year to gauge the strength of his commitment to that.
So he would stand beside her, out of duty and pride, but there would be no real affection in his heart. No, scratch that—there would be affection perhaps, seeing how he didn't dislike her, but he wouldn't love her.
Hermione let out a soft moan and rested her head in her arms. She was being silly, and she knew it. Just a few days ago, she had thought that her mate had despised her. Now being faced with a lifetime together with him truly being fond of her—it was an embarrassment of riches in comparison.
It was just too bad she couldn't talk her heart out of wanting more. It was such a greedy thing, her heart. It wasn't enough for her just to have her mate—no, it wanted Malfoy to love her as desperately as she loved him.
Hermione allowed herself one last sigh before standing up to put away the books. As fascinating as they had been—especially the few snippets she found about the origin of her kind—she needed to get away from them. The reality of Draco just being with her because he felt it was his duty wasn't something she wanted to linger over. She didn't want to wallow in self-pity; she wanted to be move on and be grateful that she at least had him. And the best way for her to do that was to keep busy.
She stepped out of the back room and turned around to figure out how to close the entrance. Before she could lift her wand, however, the fireplace slid back into place, concealing the room once more. "That's handy," she remarked to herself.
Hermione strode across the library towards the entrance. She stopped in front of the doors. Getting something to eat sounded like a good idea, but the only thing was she didn't know how to get to the kitchen from here. She wrinkled her nose. I should have asked Draco for a map before he left. That would have been the practical thing to do. But no, my mind was hung up over more immediate needs—for all the good that did me. Oh well. Must ask about that the next time I see him. For now...well maybe taking a look at the corridor will jog my memory.
She shrugged her shoulders and then pushed open the door. She looked to her right and then to her left, but there were no landmarks that she remembered. She glanced at the walls but they were bare of any portraits for her to question. Lovely. Well perhaps it's best I stay here. Don't want to get lost and all. But just then her stomach grumbled loudly, letting her know in no uncertain terms that staying put wasn't an option.
Hermione closed her eyes and tried to remember the path Draco had taken. Let's see...we turned right to get to the door, which means I should go left now. I think. She took another minute to get her bearings and then set off, heading down the left corridor. It wasn't long before she reached another intersection. She came to a halt. She didn't remember taking any turns this close to the library so she decided just to go straight for now. After all, worst case scenario, I can always turn around and make my way back to the library, she thought. Before she could take another step, however, a voice rang out from behind her.
"Oh there you are, Hermione!" cried Narcissa. Hermione turned around and was relieved to see the blonde witch approaching her. "My apologies for not checking on you earlier. I only learned a matter of minutes ago that Draco had left you in the library." The older witch sighed in exasperation. "Silly boy didn't even think that you might not be able to find your way around the manor."
"It is somewhat larger than my flat," Hermione noted dryly.
Narcissa rolled her eyes. "You have no idea how long it took me to learn how to get from my bedroom to the breakfast table when I first married Lucius," she stated. "It didn't help that my darling husband thought that I was playing some sort of kinky version of hide and seek with him."
That was more than Hermione ever needed to know. She coughed nervously, not knowing quite what to say. "So did you ever get a map then?" she wound up asking.
"No," Narcissa said shortly, "nor did I ever get to put up sign posts. Lucius insisted that the manor's layout was an integral part of its defense, and any map made would invariably fall into the wrong hands. But then Lucius always believed in taking paranoia to new levels. But enough of my reminiscing. You must be starving by now. Let's get you something to eat."
"That sounds good to me," Hermione agreed. She willingly followed the older witch's lead. She answered Narcissa's questions along the way absently for she was focused upon remembering the path they were taking. That way the next time she was in the library she would be able to find her own way out. Of course she only would be able to make it to the kitchens from there, but she had to start learning her way around somehow and this seemed as good a place to start as any.
Hermione raised an eyebrow as Narcissa walked past both the dining room and the kitchen, stopping instead at a small room off to the side of the kitchen. "I prefer to eat here when I'm just by myself," the other witch explained. "The dining room is simply too big for just one person—or even two for that matter. And as for the kitchen…well I would rather not bother the elves. The poor dears can't work if I'm around as they're too busy trying to anticipate anything I might need."
The older witch strode towards the table in the center of the room and then clapped her hands together. "Dot!" she called out, and a small house elf dressed in an apron appeared. "Hermione here hasn't eaten all day, I believe, so do have the kitchen send some of her favorite things along with a pot of tea for myself."
The house elf simply nodded her head and then disappeared. In a matter of minutes, a small feast was resting on the table. Hermione held back a sigh as she took a seat across from Narcissa. There was no use in complaining about the house elves. For one, she didn't want to insult her hostess, especially not when the witch was also the mother of her mate, and what was more, the elves wouldn't appreciate such interference any way. She took solace in the fact that the treatment of the elves was monitored as part of Lucius' early release from Azkaban, and so they could no longer be punished by being locked up in the water tower or worse.
Hermione filled her plate and then looked over to Narcissa, who was calmly sipping a cup of tea. "You're not hungry?" she asked.
"Oh no," said Narcissa. "Not at all, I'm afraid, otherwise I would have something. I had a late lunch—earlier than yours but still late—with Draco, you see."
Hermione froze in place as a million thoughts raced through her mind, not the least of which was that evidently Draco had time for his mother but not for her. More proof of what I feared, she decided. However she was too proud to let her dismay show, and so she soldiered on with her meal, determined to put on a happy face.
Thankfully Narcissa hadn't seen the brief flash of pain that had crossed Hermione's face, and she continued to talk. "Draco has a tendency to lose himself in his work," she explained. "His father was much the same way before I finally convinced him to hand over the reins to Draco. That's probably where Draco picked up that bad habit, so I make the effort to drop by his office at times and see that he gets a proper lunch. I think he appreciates it, but you can never be certain with that boy. He knows how to hide his feelings well." The blonde witch shot a sly glance over at Hermione. "Though something tells me that he wouldn't mind it at all if you were the one to interrupt him at his office in the future."
Hermione half-choked on the bread she was eating. "I'm not so sure about that," she muttered once she had recovered.
"Oh?" Narcissa lifted up one elegant eyebrow at that remark. Then she glanced to the side and over at Hermione's hands. "I see. Silly boy. That will be remedied very soon, if he knows what's good for him," the older witch said with a twitch of her nose.
A chuckle sounded from behind them. Hermione twisted around in her seat and saw that Draco was standing in the doorway, his arms crossed across his chest and a slight smirk upon his lips. "You have no idea how much it warms my heart to come home and find that my two favorite witches in the world are speaking of me."
"And how do you know that we were speaking of you?" his mother asked him. "We could have been speaking of any number of wizards that both Hermione and I know. This is why you have a reputation for having a large ego."
"I think the key words there are 'could have been'. You could have been, but if that were truly the case, you would have said as much," was Draco's reply.
"There is such a thing as being too clever for one's own good, son of mine."
"I know. Father always said I got that from you."
Narcissa set down her cup with a large sigh and then rolled her eyes. "You are both impossible," she declared. "It is truly a wonder that I have any semblance of sanity left."
Draco opened his mouth, but then evidently thought the better of it as he didn't say a word.
"In any event, now that you are here, I will let you keep Hermione company while she eats as I still have so much to prepare for tomorrow," Narcissa said.
Hermione whipped her head around. "That's right!" she cried. "The party is tomorrow! Is there anything you need me to do?" she asked.
"Nothing for now, my dear, as I have it well in hand. Thank you for asking," Narcissa replied.
"But there must be something I could help with," said Hermione. "It doesn't seem right for me to be relaxing the entire day while you're so busy."
Narcissa shook her head from side to side. "Don't worry about it. I have all the help I need. Please do eat though and keep up your strength as I do expect to see you there." Suddenly a large smile appeared on the older witch's face as she winked at Hermione. "And if you find that you want to make any additional announcements at the gala…well an advance warning would be very much appreciated." With that, she waved good bye, leaving Hermione alone with her mate.
"That's Mother for you," said Draco with a snort once Narcissa was no longer in earshot. "I love her, but I have to admit that she never stops scheming." He shrugged ironically. "Though this time I'm rather certain I know what she's up to. She was hardly subtle the way she berated me at lunch."
Hermione bit her lip. That was a bit of a sore point with her. She knew it was very silly—how could she get jealous of Draco meeting his mother for lunch—but it still rankled. "Did you have a nice lunch?" she asked, although she really didn't want to know.
Malfoy looked at her through half-lidded eyes. "No, I didn't. Being on the receiving end of a lecture from Mother is never any fun. I would have much rather come home and taken my lunch alone with you."
"But you didn't," Hermione couldn't help but point out.
"No," said Malfoy, "because I rather thought your head would still be buried in a book. As it is, I'm rather surprised to find you here rather than still in the library."
"I got hungry."
"I see," Malfoy said. He watched her silently as she continued to eat. "I suppose I should have anticipated you stopping for lunch, seeing how much energy you burned up last night."
Hermione flushed. She really didn't want to talk about their bedroom activities, not with the way Malfoy had fled from her advances this morning. She shrugged her shoulders. "This may come as a surprise to you, but I usually stop for lunch, no matter what I might be researching. I need to keep up my energy and all."
"Oh! Is that your excuse? And not something else?" His drawl left little doubt what he was referring to, and Hermione's blush only deepened.
She decided to change the subject. "So, to get back to my original question, did you have a nice lunch with your mother?" She didn't quite growl, but it was close.
"I do believe I already answered that." Malfoy narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't tell me that you're jealous."
"Of course not!" Hermione knew as soon as the words left her mouth that she wasn't fooling anyone, least of all her mate.
"Well you shouldn't be. And believe you me, if I had known Mother was planning to ambush me, I would have made my escape before she even entered the building, much less my office." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Don't ever tell her that I told you this, but Mother can get awfully bossy at times. You know she has already started planning our wedding, right?"
"Wedding?" Hermione echoed. For once in her life, she found that she didn't know what to say. It was one thing to know intellectually that she would one day marry her mate; it was another thing to confront the reality that said marriage would be occurring sooner rather than later.
"Yes, our wedding. You were planning on making an honest wizard out of me, I hope."
She choked at that. "I don't think that's possible," she muttered.
Her mate threw back his head and laughed. "You know me too well, my love. I am far too Slytherin for that."
Hermione clenched her fork in her fist. She didn't like the sound of that. It was as though he was already planning on—she shook her head fiercely, determined not to think of such things. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by her mate, who then proved that he knew her all too well.
"Fidelity and honesty are two entirely different qualities, I believe," Malfoy said in a short, brittle tone. "I may never be completely honest in my business dealings, but I swear to you, I will always be loyal to you."
Her heart leapt for joy at that statement, but that washed away a second later as she remembered what was driving him—duty and nothing else. The best she could hope for from him was affection, not love. Still it was more than she had had the day before, and so she resolved to be grateful for that much. "Thank you," she said, looking up to meet his eyes. "I know I'm being silly and all but…thank you. It means so much to me to hear you say that."
Draco smiled gently at her as he made his way to sit down beside her. "Never fear, my nymph," he said as he pressed a soft kiss against the top of her head. "I promise I'll make you happy."
"You already have," she told him.
"Not happy enough. I fear I might have given you the wrong impression the way I left this morning," he said.
She stiffened in her seat. She really didn't want to have this conversation ever. It hurt too much to think of the way he had rejected her. Even now the pain was deep enough to move her to tears, and she was proud enough to not want him to see her cry. "I understand why you left," she said in a small voice. "You're a very busy man, and you had business dealings to deal with."
"But never too busy for you, my love, and don't you forget it. While it's true that I did wind up doing some work today once I got to the office, the real reason why I had to leave was so that I could pick up something at Gringotts. This." He withdrew a small, velvet box from the sleeve of his robes and pushed it towards her.
A small gasp escaped Hermione when she saw the box. She knew very well what was in it—the Malfoy engagement ring. "You…you don't think it's too soon?" she asked her mate breathlessly.
"Do you?" he asked. "I am fortunate enough that you will always be mine, and though I know it hasn't been that long since we first bonded…well if anything I think that my proposal is long overdue. As does Mother," he added with an eye roll. He opened the box for her and took out an elegant emerald ring, which he slid on to her hand. "There. It fits perfectly." He lifted up her chin with a finger so that her eyes met his. "I do hope, my nymph, that you will find it in your heart to be my bride."
There wasn't any way she could say no to that.
"Yes," she said. She jerked her head away from his grasp so that she could look down at the ring adorning her hand. While she loved Malfoy and truly wanted to be with him forever, she couldn't shake the feeling that everything was moving so fast. No, she thought. It's not that everything's moving too fast per se. It's that everything is changing so fast that it feels like I'm losing control of my life. And I don't like that, not one bit.
"Somehow," said Draco, "you don't look half as happy as I thought you would." Her attention returned to her mate, and she was startled to see his shoulders drooping in disappointment.
So she put on a smile and pushed her worries aside. "But I am happy," she stated. "It's just that…I never thought that you and I…that we would ever be together and so it's still so hard to believe that this is real." She smiled shyly up at him and then impulsively drew him into a kiss. Before she knew it, they were back in their bedroom with her in his arms, as passion raged fervently between the two lovers once more.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Much thanks to everyone who reviewed the last one. :D