Hermione turned back to face Draco and smiled when she saw his glare. "Come on, I want to see Lissy. Oh, don't look at me like that, Malfoy, you're going to be living with me now." Draco had been glaring at her with obvious irritation and the look was so familiar that Hermione couldn't help but laugh. She walked towards him and latched on to his arm, walking them through the gate - making sure he was the first to touch it, just in case.
"You're the one moving in to my house, Granger. I think you'll find that you're living with me." Draco argued, moving slightly to remove his arm from Hermione's grasp as he walked.
"I thought you had an apartment in Muggle London. As far as I'm concerned, this is your mother's house, not yours." Hermione chuckled, catching his annoyed expression.
They walked along the pathway to the front door, and Hermione began looking around. There was a large tree in the distance, alone in the centre of the lawn, surrounded by what appeared to be peacocks. She smiled at the sight of them. It's beautiful here…
"I have an apartment and a house," he said, drawing her attention back to him. "The apartment is for when my mother starts pestering me about things, or when she has guests… or for when I decide it's time for another drink. The manor is for dinner parties and tea parties and other… formal events." He picked a flower from a bush nearby and studied it. "You know, where everyone dresses up and has dates." He handed her the flower; a rose.
Hermione chuckled, taking the rose, sniffing it - it smelled sweeter than any rose she'd ever smelt before - and slid it carefully behind her ear when she discovered it was thornless. "And when there are dinner parties, you're either at them, standing in a corner avoiding your date, bored out of your mind, or getting piss drunk alone in your apartment, right?"
Draco stared at her. How the bloody hell did she figure that out? No one ever does! And she swore!
When he still didn't answer, Hermione laughed. "No one ever notices, do they? They're too caught up on the newest gossip spreading through pureblood society to notice their host is missing and his date is flirting with old, rich businessmen, intent on stealing their money."
Draco continued to stare at her as she figured out the inner workings of every dinner party he'd ever attended. She really is a bloody know-it-all. Wonder what book she read all that in…
"If you're done staring at me, your mother is watching us." Hermione said, looking away from him, up the path towards the manor. She had a small smile on her face.
Raising an eyebrow, Draco followed Hermione's line of sight up to the front door of the manor, and saw his mother standing there, a chocolate-covered Felicity perched carefully on her hip, smiling down at them as they walked slowly up the stairs to her.
"Oh, good, you're back! I was beginning to get worried! I came back from the paper to find this little dearie-" she shifted Felicity gently on her hip. "-eating chocolate cake all alone in the parlour and I started wondering where you two had gotten to. I saw the letter that Ron sent, and I was immediately concerned. I hoped you were both alright."
Draco was staring at his mother, confused, and Hermione voiced his thoughts right away.
"She was completely alone?" When Narcissa nodded, Hermione turned to him, looking downright furious. "You left my daughter alone? What the hell were you thinking?"
Trying to keep calm, Draco shook his head, which only seemed to make Hermione angrier. "I left her with the house elves – they were under strict orders to look after her." When she didn't look convinced, Draco's voice raised slightly. "I wouldn't leave her alone like that!"
Struggling to keep herself calm, Hermione lowered her voice, making her sound even more deadly than before. "Where the hell did your house elves go, then? Why weren't they with her? Why was my daughter, who I left in your hands all alone in someone else's house?"
"I don't know. I was with you the whole time. I can't be expected to know why the house elves left her. I told them to look after her." Draco's voice was equally as deadly as he responded. Hermione opened her mouth to yell at him, even though she was well aware of her daughter and Draco's mother watching curiously, but before she could make a single sound, a house elf suddenly appeared in the space between them, wearing a bright purple wig and large orange novelty glasses, sobbing. Hermione, had the situation been different, and had she not been furious with a certain blonde-haired, pale wizard standing before her, would have laughed at the house elf's strange attire. She managed a small smile though.
"Ziggy is sorry Master Draco, sir! Ziggy has lost Young Mistress! Ziggy was playing hide-and-seeks with Young Mistress and had gone to hide, sir, and when Ziggy was not found, went looking for Young Mistress, but Young Mistress was gone! All that was left was Young Mistress's cake! Ziggy is very sorry, sir! Ziggy is so very sorry that Ziggy failed Master."
The house elf continued to sob and yell, but Draco promptly knelt down so he was closer to eye level with her, and told her to 'be quiet'. When she didn't, Draco cast a Silencing Charm.
"Just nod for yes, and shake your head for no; you were playing hide-and-seek?" he asked, giving Hermione a pointed look. Hermione blushed and look at the house elf that was still shaking with silent sobs. Ziggy nodded, mouthing silent excuses and apologies.
"And Felicity was to come looking for you?" Ziggy nodded again, silently mouthing more apologies. "And when she didn't, you went in search of her?" Ziggy nodded once more.
"Ziggy, look at my mother," Draco ordered. Reluctantly, Ziggy did so, and let out a silent squeal and jumped, pointing at Felicity. Draco removed the Silencing Charm and the house-elf's cries were louder than ever.
"Young Mistress is here! Oh, Ziggy is so pleased to see Young Mistress! Ziggy thought she had lost her! Ziggy has ruined the Young Mistress's game now! Ziggy will go hide again!"
Before Ziggy could disappear, however, Draco loudly cleared his throat.
"Ziggy, what did I tell you before I left?"
"Master told Ziggy that Ziggy must look after Young Mistress and do whatever Young Mistress asked, sir," Ziggy replied obediently. "And Ziggy did what Master asked, sir."
"Thank you, Ziggy. You can go now; take Felicity. Mother, I think you'd better let Felicity go and play before we lose all our house elves. We may never find them otherwise."
Narcissa smiled at Felicity and gently placed her on the ground beside Ziggy, who took the toddler's hand and led her back inside, both of them laughing and skipping.
Hermione stared, blushing slightly, after her daughter, purposely avoiding Draco's gaze.
"Granger," he said, crossing his arms. His tone demanded that she listen to him.
Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at him, crossing her own arms. Narcissa stood back, watching them with an amused expression.
"Yes, Draco?" She made a point of using his first name like an insult, but in a way that Narcissa wouldn't pick up on. To anyone else but Draco and Hermione, it would have sounded almost like a pet name. His glare made it clear he got her point, and his inability to speak was due to his fury over being made fun of in front of his own mother and trying to keep control of his temper when she so obviously infuriated him. Hermione took advantage of his silence and smirked at him, much like he used to do to her back at school.
"Now, now, Draco, you know better than to try and take advantage of a woman who was only concerned about the safety of her daughter, don't you? I think it would be an insult to Narcissa here if you tried to do that, and right in front of her no less." Hermione smiled as Draco's eyes narrowed, and in a sudden burst of courage, she stepped closer to him and pushed herself up onto her tip-toes to whisper in his ear, placing one hand gently on his chest, above his arms, allowing him to smell the incredibly sweet scent of the rose behind her ear. It was sickly-sweet to him; enticing at a distance, but dangerous if you got too close. "Not all roses have thorns, Draco, but each one has its own dangerous defences." She patted him gently on the chest and stepped away, smirking as she took in his dazed expression. "It would do you good to remember that, I think," she said, and turned to a very amused-looking Narcissa. "How did the meeting with Rita Skeeter go, Narcissa? Is she going to run another story?" Hermione smiled, gesturing to the open door and waited until Narcissa had stepped through it to look back at Draco, still smiling sweetly. Draco's expression had not changed a bit. Her grin widened as he tried to focus on her.
"Coming, Draco?" she asked, placing her hand on the frame of the door, looking back at him.
Blinking rapidly to bring himself back to the present, he nodded, and gestured at the door.
"After you, Hermione," he smiled back at her, using the same tone as her as he said her name.
With one last fleeting smile, Hermione trailed after Narcissa, who had turned back to see why she was no longer being followed, and Draco came in soon after, shutting the door magically behind him. Following them into the parlour, he noticed the looks they each sent him as he sat down in an arm chair beside the fire; the one his father used to use.
Bloody buggering hell, these women will be the death of me, he thought, conjuring a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey and drinking straight from it, not bothering with the glass. If I don't kill myself with Firewhiskey first, that is. Which way would be less pleasant, or less painful, he wasn't sure, but he was pretty certain he didn't want to be the one to find out.
A/n: No, he's not an alcoholic. This is just a harmless bit of teasing between... whatever these two are.
How do you think the meeting with Rita went?
R&R&L sweeties!
~Originalitys