It had been two days since Draco asked Hermione out and work on Monday had been slightly awkward. Not necessarily in the bad way, in more of a tense way. There seemed to be a lot of unspoken feelings between the two even considering their letter-relationship. He was aware that she had possibly been in love with the letter-Draco but he wasn't sure how exactly she felt about him.
Anyways, it was Tuesday now and that evening was Draco's last night to clear the last of his things out of the Manor. He had found a flat in Harry's building that had apparently been vacant for ages because the main window looked right into the flat of a man who lived in the building next door, and he was apparently a frequently indecent man. Draco didn't see a problem with this as he could simply cast a charm to keep the man unseen and it was only temporary after all. Plus, this flat was in the Muggle world and having Harry around would certainly be a help.
He got to work before Colin and usually had a few minutes to himself with Hermione which was nice. He wanted to ask her if she'd be willing to come by the Manor and pick up the rest of the books he had donated and possibly snag a few more. He was nervous beyond reason. The last time Hermione had been to the Manor, the only time Hermione had been to the Manor, she had been brutally tortured by his Aunt. He took a few deep breaths before entering the shop.
"Morning Draco!" Hermione called from the front.
"Morning!" He peeled off his coat and made his way to the front. "Hey I was wondering if I could ask you for a favor?"
She looked at him with her big brown eyes and he felt at ease instantly. "Yeah, of course what is it?"
"Um, well I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't want to but, tonight is my last night in the Manor and I have to get the last of everything out, and I still have quite a few books that need a home. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to drop by and pick some up for the store?"
She pondered for a moment. "I'd love to, but on one condition."
"And what is that?" He asked with a small smile.
"I get to keep one book for myself."
He smiled furiously. "Of course, you can keep as many as you like."
"Thank you, what time would you like me by?"
"Would you be willing to just come home with me after work?"
"That would be best because if I go home there is a great chance I will fall asleep."
"Not sleeping well lately?" He asked with concern.
"Not necessarily unwell, just been busy and been up late thinking a lot."
"Thinking? About what?"
"Life. It's been very odd lately."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear it." He said wittily as their usual banter commenced.
She laughed, "Not a bad odd, a good odd. But nonetheless a lot of drama that I'm not accustomed to."
"You're not accustomed to drama? You do realize you were best friends with Harry Potter all throughout school? If that's not a dramatic lifestyle I'm not sure what is."
"Not that kind of drama. Dealing with Dark Lords is no sweat off my back but dealing with relational drama is not exactly my forte. There is surprisingly more now than there ever was in school."
"Really? I thought Weasley surely created plenty of it for you."
She scoffed at him sarcastically. "He certainly did sixth year, and rather a bit fourth year as well," she added as a second thought, "but other than that I've never had to deal with boys and their crazy emotions." She said teasingly as she wiped down the counter.
"Ah yes, us and our crazy emotions. Speaking of that, how's your mystery man? You reply to his apology yet?"
"I figured this would crop up eventually, and yes, as a matter of fact, I have."
"...And?" He asked impatiently. He wanted to act the interested friend even though he was perfectly aware of her answer.
"I asked him to meet me this Sunday at noon, right out front."
"Out in front of the shop?" He asked.
"Yes… do you think it a bad idea?" Her brow was quizzical again as she began seeking out his counsel.
"Not a bad idea per se, but it might be risky letting him know where you work."
"Why would it be risky?"
"Well then he would come in everyday and try to talk to you as often as possible." Which was true, very true.
"Well I didn't say I was going to tell him I worked here, I just told him to meet in front of it."
"Ah, yes that's much better." He nodded as Colin came in, a few minutes earlier than his usual arrival time.
The day finally came to an end and Colin made his way out the door unceremoniously. Hermione lagged behind, cleaning up the last bit and locking the door. Draco was waiting in the back room for her. She put her coat on and followed him out the back door. It was a bit snowy out, or rather the remnants of snow were pushed up against the sides of buildings and roads, but it was still chilly. They casually made their way to the apparition point, making friendly small talk about the day.
"Well," Draco said offering her his hand. "You ready?"
She nodded in agreement and took his hand, they were gone in an instant.
They arrived in the foyer of the Manor. It was dark and dismal and everything Hermione had remembered it being. Except bare, it was completely empty, a shell. There was no furniture and everything had been taken off the walls. The carpets had been rolled up, there looked to be three of them by a wall on the other side of the room. It felt depressing to be back. She was under much nicer circumstances the second time around, of course, but still a bit difficult.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked, his face looking more concerned than ever. "You can leave if it's too hard for you, the last thing I want is for this to be hard for you."
She gave one last look around the room before meeting his worried gaze. "No, I'm fine. I just never thought I would be back, and here I am. Although this time I'm glad to be here." She smiled at him reassuringly.
"Okay, good. The library's this way." He said as he began to walk down a very dimly lit hallway with very little to recommend it. They walked for a minute or so before Draco stopped in front of ornate mahogany double doors on the right. He pushed open one of the massive doors and ushered her inside. It was brighter in the library, warmer because of all the book covers that gave it color and life. There were an array of books scattered in stacks on the floor, still no furniture though she could imagine many high-backed, plush leather chairs and possibly a desk made of fine, polished wood.
"Do you like it?" Draco asked as he came up behind her and silently offered to take her coat.
"It's lovely, a little too dark for my taste, but book-wise it's lovely." She said with teasing honesty. "So where are the books you wanted me to take off your hands?"
"You're looking at them." He said standing next to her.
"And where exactly is it that I'm supposed to be looking?" She said, mildly confused.
"The whole library." He said casually.
"The WHOLE library?!" She turned to him, utterly shocked. "You're willing to donate all of these to the shop? There has to be hundreds of them!" She said passing him to survey a shelf filled with potions books.
"Yes, well I don't need them. I saved my favorites, but I've read most of these or I find no interest in them. You might as well put them to good use."
She turned to him, her eyes feeling a bit too watery for her comfort. "Draco, thank you. That's so incredibly kind, this is so generous."
"Well I'm glad you like it." He said smiling at her. She turned to face the shelves one last time. She didn't notice that his gaze lingered, he watched her as she pulled a book of the shelf and flipped through the yellowing pages. She was content, and so was he.
They were about two hours into packing up all the books and they were almost finished, they had about three shelves left. They were putting them into boxes and then would apparate the boxes to the store, the poor back room was about to explode from massive overstock. Hermione was currently sitting on the ground holding three hardcover leather books trying to find the best way to arrange them into the current box she was filling. Draco was on the other side of the room pulling books off the shelf that fit the category of his box. Hermione had decided to make it easier on themselves come unpacking time, they might as well pack books of similar genre together. (The amount of books on Potions was incredible. He and his father had both been very accomplished at it.) Draco glanced across the room at Hermione as much as he could manage without being noticed. She was, thankfully, very ingrained in her work. She rarely looked away from the task at hand and he admired that about her. He himself was a very distractible person, especially when there was a particularly pretty girl in the room, and he was certainly preoccupied now.
She had tied her hair up about 45 minutes into the whole ordeal and she had done so rather haphazardly, but to him it looked stunning. There were shorter curls that managed to escape the bun and they framed her face perfectly. The Manor was unfortunately chilly from the lack of furniture and the sophisticated air, so he had started a fire and now her cheeks were a bit rosier than usual.
"Hey, Hermione, can I ask you something?"
"She looked up in a bit of a work daze. "Yes, of course, is something wrong?"
"Well, I asked you here to help me clear out the books and all and I'm going to finish the rest of the house once you leave but, is it okay if I come in late tomorrow? They're demolishing the house and I need to be here for it. I kind of want to be here for it." He said, a bit nervous.
"Of course, Draco, " She said standing up and setting her books on top of the box, "Do you need Harry or I here with you?"
Draco felt all warm inside at the thought that she would want to be there for him, but he felt this was between him and his past, a part of his life that he wanted to forget and didn't want her to be a part of. Unfortunately, she was, but he had considered their friendship a fresh start. "No, no, it's okay I'll be fine. I don't think I'll cry if that's what you're thinking, but I do think it's more of a personal thing. I'll be fine though, thank you for asking." He said with a reassuring smile.
"Are you sure you'll be okay? You can take the rest of the day off to get settled." She said trying to compromise.
"It's alright, all of the things I'm keeping have been stashed away in my flat, so I'm as settled as I'll ever be. I'll be into work no later than 11 o'clock, I promise."
She smiled at him, small and sweet. "Well, I'm happy for you. I think this is exactly what you need."
"I agree."
"What are your plans for the place after it's all blown to bits?" She asked, they had begun to make their way to the window seat which looked out over the gardens and they took their seats next to each other.
"I'd like something smaller. I mean, I assume it'll be just me for a while but I'd like to get married and maybe start a family someday and I'd like there to be room enough for that. But the Manor is ginormous, it's unnecessarily huge and overwhelming. I'd like it to be brighter as well. I've spent my whole life in a dark, cold, emotionless home and I'm ready for a change." He looked at her when he mentioned the marriage part. He imagined that life with her would be a dream, and that he really didn't deserve what he had with her right now, much less anything more serious.
"I feel like you're the type of person who has very specific ideas about things but doesn't bother to share them, like floorplans. I've bet you've got it all mapped out."
"I've got an idea of what I want, yes. I'd like to go about it the muggle way, though. Have people actually build the house instead of just swishing and flicking. People in the village always give me odd looks cause they don't know where I've come from. People walk by here all the time and don't know there's a house, but I don't feel like being cordoned off anymore."
"Well I think that's a splendid idea, and I can't wait to see it, I'm sure it will be lovely." She said gently as she got back up and made her way back to her box of books.
Draco stood at an exceptionally large distance from his home and watched as a group of wizards surrounded his home, lifting their wands in unison. He watched with satisfaction as sections of his house started to crumble. It started to sort of implode. It wasn't as violent as imploding, more like receding into itself at an alarmingly fast pace. But within minutes, his childhood home stood before him, demolished into a twelve foot pile of grey dust. He stood somewhat reverently on the land that the Manor had once been, to pay his respects to the Malfoy name, but he could barely contain his happiness as he had just witnessed every terrifying memory, every depressing day, every scarring scenario, turn into a heap of dust at his feet.
He took a deep breath and looked out over the wide expanse of land. Manor-less. It was a wonderful sight. The white-rock beneath his feet looked plain and barren, much less elegant without a black, stone manor sitting atop it. He heard one of the wizards call him from a few feet away and turned to go confer with the group of men who would be rebuilding his home.
They spent several minutes going over plans. They discussed the number of rooms, how tall the windows should be, the different types of materials they should use, and it took about an hour. Draco glanced at his watch, he had given himself a nice cushions and it wasn't even 10:30 yet. The workers departed and he stood in silence for a few moments, watching as the wind picked up and began blowing away the ashy remnants of his home.