Author's Notes:
Here's Chapter 14 for you all. Sorry, it's a few hours late but I've been out all day because IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! Also, because it's the month of my birth (and I'm going on holiday from 13th - 20th) I'm going to upload chapter 15 on 11th August and chapter 16 on 21st August.
Follow me on Tumblr (bigdswisdom . tumblr . com) for updates, sneak-peaks of upcoming chapters, polls and answering your questions.
FOR YOUR FIRST QUESTION, SEE THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER.
As always, I dedicate this fanfiction to all my readers.
I dedicate this chapter to roni2010, Marya, HogwartsNewsie92,Zalia, Reptilegirl, Nevrane and DeceivingAura.
Love, Dumbledore's Wisdom.
P.S. Enjoy Xx
"Narcissa, you have a wonderful library." She compliments her Mother-in-law but her smile soon falls at the expression of pure anger on her face.
Narcissa keeps walking towards her until she stood a few inches away.
"You little bitch. You think just because The Minister forced my son to marry you that you can come into our home like you own the place." She huffs out a laugh in disbelief. "My sister should never have tortured you." Narcissa yanks her wrist up with her scar still on the show.
Hermione's eyes widen as she tries to pull her arm out of Narcissa's grip.
"She should have killed you and saved us all this grief." She spits on her scared wrist before dropping it like she'll catch an incurable disease if she held on to it much longer.
Hermione wipes the dripping saliva on her dress as she takes a few steps away. She slowly reaches into her bag for her wand.
"Draco will be back soon." She warns her but Narcissa just laughs.
"What do you expect my son to do? Protect you, defend you. He's my son. He'll never love you. How could he? You're a filthy little Mudblood who doesn't deserve him. You're going to taint our bloodline and I'll personally make sure that my son has nothing more to do with you or your half-blooded spawn." She growls at her.
Suddenly, Hermione's back hits the bookshelf behind her. She spots Narcissa's wand in her hand, hidden up the sleeve of her robes. She doesn't know what she's capable of doing but she's not going to wait around to find out.
Without a second thought, Hermione whips her wand out of her bag, wordlessly casting the expelliarmus charm as she points it at Narcissa, who doesn't have the chance to retaliate as her wand flies across the room. Hermione takes the opportunity to run. She throws the door open just as Draco reaches for the door handle. They both jump in surprise but Hermione doesn't stay still for long enough to find out if what Narcissa said was true. She runs towards the back door, which is closer than the front door, past the kitchens where Mitty calls after her.
She hears Draco call after her as well but she just keeps on running, unsure of where she's actually running to. As soon as she's out of the gate she disapparates to the one place she knows Draco won't be able to enter if he tried to follow her. The Burrow.
She runs down the Weasley's garden path, wand still grasped in her hand. Throwing the kitchen door open, she runs straight into a surprised Molly Weasley's arms before bursting into tears.
"Hermione dear, what's wrong?" Molly asks, gently stroking the hair.
"I'm sorry Molly. I didn't know where else to go." She cries into her shoulder.
"You're always welcome here." She mutters, hugging her tighter. "Did that boy do something to you?" She asks nervously.
Hermione shakes her head, trying to calm down. Once she's managed to stop the tears, she pulls away, drying her eyes with her cardigan sleeve. Molly produces a tissue from her apron then leads her to the dining table.
"You sit down and I'll make us some tea." She orders her down onto the bench as she goes about making them a pot of tea.
Once she's done, she sits down opposite Hermione, pours them both a cup of tea waits for her to start talking.
Hermione stares down at her cup of tea. "We were supposed to have lunch at the manor today." She mentions before taking a sip from her tea. "Narcissa had been polite and civil at The Partner Ceremony. I thought maybe she would accept me as her daughter-in-law but… but…" Hermione shakes her head not wanting to finish.
"What did she do Hermione?" Molly asks seriously but Hermione continues to shake her head. "Did she threaten you?" She asks placing her cup down on the table. "Because if she did…" Molly starts.
"No, she didn't. Not really." Hermione interrupts. "She told me Bellatrix should have killed me in their library." She rubs her hand over her scar remembering how she had felt after Draco had kissed it.
Was that all just a lie? A cruel joke? She could honestly see herself growing to love Draco one day in the future, but was his Mother right? Would Draco never love her? Would he leave her and their child after the birth? Would he leave her to raise the child on her own?
"She said WHAT?" Molly shouts angrily. "How dare she say such a thing? I wish I could do to her what I did to that sister of hers." Molly takes another sip from her tea. "What else did he say?"
"She said that Draco will never love me because I'm a filthy little Mudblood who doesn't deserve him and that she'll personally make sure that he has nothing to do with me and our 'half-blooded spawn' when it's born. Then she spat on my arm." She sniffs then wipes her nose.
"Oh, Hermione. I'm so sorry you've been forced to marry into that family. I'm just thankful that his father isn't there as well." Molly points out and Hermione nods.
Suddenly the back door creaks open. Both Molly and Hermione glances over to it to find Draco stood there with anger in his eyes. Molly jumps out of her seat putting herself between Hermione and Draco.
"What are you doing here?" Molly asks, angrily brandishing her wand from her apron and pointing it straight at Draco.
Hermione peers around Molly to see Draco stood with his empty hands raised above his hands.
"Did my Mother really say that?" He asks moving his angry eyes to look at her.
"Hermione doesn't lie." Molly spits at him but he ignores her.
"I'll kill her," Draco growls and in a quick flash he's lying unconscious on the floor.
"Molly, what did you do?" Hermione asks, urgently running towards Draco.
"I stupefied him. He threatened to kill you." Molly explains.
"He was threatening to kill his mother, not me." Hermione clarifies.
"Oh, well he should have been clearer," Molly mutters shoving her wand back into her apron.
"How did he even get past the wards?" Hermione wonders aloud, brushing his hair out of his face.
"I changed them so he could enter. He was invited to dinner on Monday." Molly explains.
"Can you fetch me a cold flannel, please? I can't take him back to the estate like this." She points out.
"Of course, although I don't know why you're bothering after what his Mother did to you." She tells her.
"He's not his Mother and he's not his Father either. I've gotten to know a different side of him these last couple of days. A side of him that I never knew existed. Whatever Narcissa said to me, she said to hurt me. I'm certain." Hermione explains, watching Draco's eyes wander beneath his eyelids.
Molly brings over a small bowl filled with water and a flannel. Hermione gently dabs the flannel over Draco's forehead and eyes, trying to wake him from his unconscious state. After a few minutes, his eyes open and he smiles up at Hermione before glancing around his surroundings.
"What happened?" He asks, groaning as he tries to sit up.
"Molly thought you were threatening to kill me so she stupefied you." She explains. Draco's eyes dance around the room as he thinks before they return to their previously angry self.
"I was threatening to kill my mother." He growls standing up wand at the ready in his hand.
"For God's sake Draco, put your wand away. You're not killing anyone." She orders him and he reluctantly does as he's told.
"Please believe me when I say that nothing she said was true." Draco pleads.
Hermione gives him a small smile. "I know. She told me you'd never protect or defend me and here you are proving her wrong." She chuckles a little. "How'd you find me anyway?" She asks.
"I followed your tracks. It's quite easy when you know how." He shrugs.
"Would you like some tea, Draco?" Molly interrupts them.
Draco stares at Molly for a moment as if remembering he's in The Burrow, before nodding. "Yeah. Thanks."
"Both of you take a seat. I'll make you some snacks since you didn't get to eat your lunch." She says busying herself in the kitchen.
"You don't have to, Mrs Weasley. I'm sure we can find something to eat at our house." Draco tells her.
"Nonsense dear, you're here now and to be honest, I miss having people to make food for. I went from having four children in this house to none in the space of a day. Well, Ronald sleeps here but he doesn't spend his days here." Molly explains.
"Oh yes, Pansy told me she hasn't seen him since Thursday morning." Draco comments.
"I don't know how he expects to fulfil this idiotic marriage decree if he never spends any time getting to know her." Molly shakes her head as she butters some slices of bread. "Oh, I saw The Daily Prophet this morning." Molly turns to wink at them.
"Ergh, don't Molly." Hermione groans. "We were disapparating to a café for lunch and Draco didn't know where it was." She explains.
Molly stares at them both for a moment before going back to making their snacks.
"Well, I'm glad you're both giving this whole marriage thing a go. Ronald's already told me he's getting a divorce as soon as they have a child." She shakes her head disappointed.
"How's George and Percy getting along with their wives?" Hermione asks curiously.
"Magnificently. George and Angelina came around for dinner last night. They're so cute together, even though… you know… she dated… at school." Molly tries to explain.
"Yeah, I know. He took her to the Yule Ball." Hermione tries to make it easier for her.
She notices Draco's confused facial expression so mouths 'Fred Weasley' at him to which he nods in understanding.
"What about Percy and… Audrey, was it?" She asks.
"Hmm, that girl is a walking conspiracy theory, spouting all these lies about The Ministry. I hate this decree as much as the next person but her theories are just outrageous." Molly continues to ramble on but Hermione ignores her turning to face Draco who's already looking at her.
Draco leans towards her. "Conspiracy theories." He whispers.
"I think we should pay them a visit," Hermione whispers back.
"Aww, what are you two whispering about?" Molly asks placing two plates in front of them.
"Nothing," Hermione answers far too quickly to which Molly just chuckles.
"If you need anything I'll be upstairs doing a bit of tidying." She tells them before heading upstairs.
"What was Audrey's maiden name?" Draco asks as looks at the contents of his sandwich.
"She didn't poison it." Hermione quips at him.
"How do you know, she did just stupefy me?" He reminds her which makes her chuckle. "And we're not going to mention that fact to anyone else. Ever. Understand?" He glares jokingly at her.
"Of course not." She smiles at him sweetly knowing full well she's going to tell Ginny next time she sees her. "I think Audrey was called Rankin. Yeah, Audrey Rankin. Why, do you know her?" Hermione asks curiously.
"No, but I thought I might." He finally bites into his sandwich after thoroughly checking it out.
"Well, we've been invited to a dinner here on Monday afternoon so I'm sure we'll get a chance to talk to her then. In the meantime, I think we need to have another look in your library." She sighs, defeated.
"Really? You want to go back to the manor." He asks confusedly.
"Of course not but this is important. We need to find more information out about the law behind marriage decrees." She answers.
"I've been thinking about that actually. If my Mother heard that Ministry Officials were coming around looking for certain books, she would have hidden them in our secret attic." Draco explains.
"You have a secret attic?" She quirks a questioning eyebrow.
"Yeah, it's next to our actual attic." He explains. "No one expects there to be another attic next to an attic." He smirks.
She laughs in disbelief. "Okay, so when do you want to go back." She asks, hoping he doesn't suggest anytime soon.
"My Mother's been going to bed early recently so how about tonight, around eleven to make sure she's actually sleeping." He suggests.
"Tonight?" Hermione asks nervously. "Wait," She leans closer to Draco, "you want us to break into the manor and possibly steal one of your father's possessions."
"It's not really breaking in, it's my family's Manor." He whispers back. "And since my father is in Azkaban I doubt he's going to miss a few books if we actually find anything." He smirks at her.
"Wat the fuck is 'appenin 'ere?" A slurring voice comes from the backdoor.
Hermione jumps away from him in shock from being caught this close to Draco. She turns to face the door to find an obviously drunk Ron stood, glaring at Draco.
"Ron, how are you doing?" Hermione stands up.
"Wat's ferret doin' in ma 'ouse?" He asks as he staggers through the door.
"It's not exactly your house anymore weasel." Draco points out.
"Don' talk t' me in ma 'ouse." Ron fiddles with his pocket before pulling his wand out.
"For goodness sake, Ronald, put that away before you hurt yourself," Hermione tells him off.
"The only person Imma hurt is 'im." He growls.
"Don't fool yourself weasel, you can barely cast a charm when sober." Draco raises his eyebrow. "Or do I need to remind you about the slug incident." He laughs.
"Move outta way, 'Mione." Ron pushes past her.
With a simple flick of his wrist and a mutter of "Expelliarmus," Draco disarms Ron, catching his wand mid-air before he's even thought about what curse to use.
"Gimme ma wand back," Ron growls making a start for Draco.
"Just go home weasel." He tells him.
"This is ma 'ome." Ron yells.
"No, it's not. If The Ministry find out you're not living with Pansy, you'll be sent to Azkaban." Draco explains. "So just go to Pansy."
"Fuck that bitch." Ron huffs, stamping his foot.
"Ronald Weasley, I taught you better than that." Molly scolds her son. She snatches his wand from Draco, hands it back to Ron then pushes him out of the door. "You're not sleeping here anymore. Go to your wife."
Molly turns back around to face them. "Have you finished your snacks dear?" She asks picking up their empty plates.
"Yes, thank you, Mrs Weasley." Draco thanks her politely.
"You're welcome. I hope to see you both on Monday but if you don't mind I need to get Arthur's dinner ready for when he comes home." Molly explains.
"Oh, of course. We'll see you on Monday." Hermione hugs her goodbye before they both leave through the back door.
Thankfully Ron has already gone. She can't be dealing with both him and Draco right now. As they reach the edge of the wards, Hermione reaches out for Draco's hand but he moves it away from her reach.
"Wait, can we walk a little?" He asks pointing down the lane.
"Erm, sure." She answers confused.
"I want to talk to you." He mentions as they set off down the lane.
Hermione's heart drops as nerves flood her stomach. "What about?" She asks as calmly as she possibly can.
"I want you to know that no matter what my Mother or anyone else says. I'm not divorcing you once our child's born unless you want me to and if you do then I want joint custody of our child. I want to be a father." He admits looking straight ahead.
Hermione stares at Draco completely awestruck. She definitely didn't expect him to say that.
"I… I…" Hermione stutters not sure what to say.
"My parent's marriage was arranged by their parents. They didn't particularly like each other at first but they made it work for my sake and eventually they grew to love each other. It's not our… our future child's fault that we're in this situation. I can't see why we can't make it work either." He continues to talk.
"Are you comparing us to your parents because need I remind your that your father is in Azkaban and your mother threatened me today?" She asks offended.
He turns quickly to face her. "Not at all. Just, if they did it, we definitely can." He tells her.
"Well, I'm not going to divorce you unless you give me a reason to," Hermione tells him then grabs hold of his hand and disapparates them back to the gates.
Draco decides right then that he's going to try his very best to never give Hermione a reason to leave him. He's sure that one day he'll love her and she'll love him. If she leaves him, who's ever going to love him again? It's also very uncommon for people to get divorced, he remembers how much the Slytherin's bullied Blaise because his Mother had been divorced four times. He doesn't want their child to be punished by the other children at Hogwarts.
Once they get to their house, Hermione unlocks the door for them both then locks it again once he's entered.
"I need to go shopping again. We need more than just the essential in our fridge and cupboards." She tells him.
Draco nods. "I need to get a few things for tomorrow as well." He mentions.
"What's happening tomorrow?" She asks confused.
Of course, she doesn't know. Why would she, he never told her? All he said was he'd cook for her. Well, there's no point telling her now, she'll just get annoyed that he kept another thing from her.
"I'm cooking dinner for us. We haven't had a proper meal since The Partner Ceremony." He reminds her.
"Oh." She sounds excited. "What are you cooking?" She asks curiously as they exit through their backdoor.
"Nothing special." He mutters.
"Okay." She replies, sounding upset. "We should go to the market first then." She leads them over towards the market they bought their essentials in.
He gets handed the basket again as they wander up and down the aisles. He puts in the things he needs. Some spaghetti, mince, tomatoes, garlic cloves, a baguette and a bottle of red wine. Hermione also puts in some eggs, ham, sausages, fish, carrots, potatoes, beans and a tub of ice-cream.
"That'll keep us going for the next couple of days." She tells him as they walk to the till.
He can't help but notice how nervous the cashier looks as he taps the prices into his till. He keeps looking up, giving him an unsure look. The next time Draco catches him doing it, he flashes the man a smirk which makes him cower slightly. Just as he thought. The man's absolutely terrified of him.
"What was wrong with him?" Hermione mumbles as they carry their shopping across the grass back to their house.
"Me. He was scared of me." Draco admits.
"Really?" She questions. "Well, I suppose he has every right to be. You do have a certain look about you and your past doesn't exactly help your case." She adds.
"Thanks." He rolls his eyes sarcastically.
"He might warm up to you the more you shop there." She suggests as they enter their house.
They unpack their shopping quietly. Once he's finished, Draco heads into the living room where he picks up the book he had left on the coffee table and went back to reading. Hermione pauses for a second as she walks through the living room before carrying on up the stairs. A few hours later, he realises that he hasn't heard any movement upstairs for a while so he places his book back on the coffee table, stretches as he rolls off the couch and heads upstairs.
He finds Hermione lying on their bed, fast asleep. He smiles to himself as he goes over to the wardrobe. Even though they're not really breaking into the Manor, he doesn't want to be caught either so he takes out a black jumper, which he pulls on over his shirt, and replaces his brown leather shoes with a black pair. He finds his black woolly hat near the back which he pulls on so he can check all his hair is covered. It's impossible to sneak around when your hair's almost luminescence.
"You look like a burglar," Hermione comments from the bed making him flinch slightly.
"We don't want my Mother to catch us tonight so we have to wear black. Do you have anything?" He asks still trying to tuck his hair under the hat.
He desperately needs a haircut. It's starting to look like it did in the third year which is a style he never wants a repeat of.
"Probably. Let me look." She tells him, climbing off the bed.
He can hear her rummaging through her side of the wardrobe as he tucks the last few strands of hair into his hat.
"Here we go. I've got a black pair of leggings and a black oversized jumper. I can wear them with my black plimsolls." She tells him brandishing the clothes from the wardrobe. "I'll go get changed now." She adds making her way to the bathroom.
He gives himself a once over to ensure all his hair was hidden before lounging on their bed, awaiting Hermione's return. She enters a few minutes later, arms wide, showing off her outfit. She spins around dramatically before striking a pose. He lets a small smile form on his lips as he rolls his eyes.
"It's six o'clock. What are we going to do for another five hours?" She asks, climbing onto the bed next to him.
He shrugs. "I'm pretty comfortable just lying here for now." He replies with a deep sigh.
"Are you tired?" She asks, turning onto her side to face him.
"No, not really. I just prefer not to spend too much time thinking." He explains closing his eyes.
He can almost feel the frowning on her face as she asks, "Why?"
"There's some memories that I'd prefer not to relive through so I like to keep my mind preoccupied so I don't have to." He reluctantly explains.
"Memories from the war?" She asks nervously and he nods.
"We've all got memories from the war but I've found the best way to move past them is to spend a few minutes reliving them. It's how I was able to even set foot in the manor again after… after what happened there." She explains.
He turns to face her, opening his eyes. "I wouldn't know where to start, there's too many of them in here." He prods himself in the forehead.
She reaches over, taking hold of his hand. "Pick one." She tells him and there's a certain sparkle in her eye, nothing like Dumbledore's but kind of similar, that makes him trust her. He closes his eyes again, letting the memories flood his thoughts and he picks one at random.
"It was during our seventh year, the year you didn't come back. Snape put the Carrow's in charge of punishment, then volunteered my help. At first, I was proud to be chosen but after a few weeks the punishment got worse and worse until just after Christmas when Alecto used the p[rsty]q]qsry]qqqqqqqqqqp[cruciatus curse on a second year Gryffindor girl. Her screams haunted my thoughts for weeks after that. I don't even know what she did in order to be punished but I highly doubt it was bad enough for the cruciatus. I could have stopped her. It was just the three of us in the room but I was too scared of what she'd do to me if it even attempted. Too scared of what my Father would say when he found out. Her parents didn't send her back last year. I heard they moved to America and she goes to the American North West Institute for Wizards and Witches." He admits.
He doesn't want to open his eyes for fear of seeing the absolute disgust on Hermione's face. He would say he wishes he could go back in time and save that poor girl but he knows he would still have been too scared of his own punishment. He finds that having talked about it out loud to another person has helped. His heavy heart feels a little lighter now that he's confessed and if it weren't for the fact that Hermione probably hates him now, he'd tell her all his terrorising memories.
She suddenly squeezes his hand to bring his attention to her, which reminds him that they're still holding hands. Slowly, nervously, he opens his eyes to find Hermione smiling at him.
"How do you feel?" She asks, squeezing his hand again.
"A little lighter but still guilty." He admits.
"Why don't you try sending her an owl?" She suggests. "Do you know her name?"
"Sally Lagan." He answers without thought.
He doesn't think he'll ever forget her name.
"There you go. You could write her a letter and apologise. If she does attend the American North West Institute, it'll find her." She suggests.
"And if she doesn't?" He asks her.
"Then at least you tried." She smiles a small, soft smile that tells him everything is going to be okay. "Do you want to pick another or is one enough for today?"
"I think one a day is more than enough for now." Draco shakes his head.
His first memory was a bad one but there's certainly a lot worse hiding away in his head that he's not sure Hermione would want to hear him confess to.
"That's fine but I'm going to make sure you do this every day. You don't have to tell me but even reliving it all in your head will help. Now, do you want a snack before we go breaking and entering?" She asks making him roll his eyes as they both climb off their bed.
"We're not doing anything illegal." He reminds her as he straightens his hat.
"Of course, we're not. That's why we're both currently dressed in black about to go sneaking around a house in the middle of the house." She retaliates as they walk down the stairs. "Would you like an omelette? We need to use the rest of the eggs up." She asks.
"Okay." He lets a small smile play on his lips as he watches her collect the ingredients and set about making their dinner.
He leans against the counter watching as she hums along to a familiar tune and cooks. Her hips swinging slightly, in time to her humming. He takes a step closer to her before thinking straight and walking around the counter to sit at the table. He doesn't quite know what came over him but for a second, he felt the urge, the need to place his hands on her hips and bury his face in her hair. What in Merlin's name is he thinking that for?
He turns to look out of the window overlooking their garden to distract him. Since it's only just gone half six and it is June, so it's still very light outside. They'll have to leave before half nine so to not look too suspicious when leaving the estate. They don't need a nosey neighbour to catch them and tell a reporter. Another article in The Daily Prophet is the last thing the need right now.
Hermione places their plates on the table before taking a seat next to Draco. She halfway through hers when she remembers she's supposed to be meeting Derek and Verity tonight at eight o'clock.
"Oh, crap." She curses jumping out of her chair as she checks her watch. It's nearly seven o'clock. She's got plenty of time.
"What's wrong?" Draco asks, confused by her sudden outburst.
"I completely forgot that I'm supposed to be meeting Derek and Verity tonight at eight. I don't know his house phone number so I can't call and cancel." She explains as she hurries to finish the rest of her dinner.
"Can't you just not show up?" Draco suggests with a shrug.
"I know you don't like him Draco but he's my friend. I can't just stand him up." She explains as she washes her plate up with a spell this time.
She needs to go get changed. Leaving Draco to finish his dinner, she races upstairs to their bedroom to rummage through their wardrobe. She finds a casual black dress that she can easily wear for both socialising with her friends, and break and entering. She quickly pulls it on, keeping her leggings underneath, adding a pair of flat black boots instead of her plimsolls. Just as she sits in front of their mirror, Draco enters their bedroom and sits on their bed. Hermione pulls her wand out, tapping her face a few times as she mutters a couple of beauty spells. Ginny had taught her some in fourth year ready for the Yule Ball. Just basic spells like concealing, mascara and lip gloss.
"Why are you wearing makeup?" Draco asks suspiciously.
"It's been eight years since I last saw Verity, I want to look nice." She explains but really she wants to impress her. Prove to her she's not the nerdy, bushy haired, bookworm she was at primary school. Or at least pretend she isn't just for tonight. She wants to show Verity that she's changed in the last eight years.
"How long will you be out?" He asks.
"Maybe two, two and a half hours. I'll meet you in The Leaky Cauldron at half ten and we'll wait there until eleven o'clockish before disapparating to the Manor. Okay?" She asks.
He sighs before answering with a simple, "Yeah."
"Great. I better get going. I want to pop by my parents' house and pick up a black cardigan that I didn't think I'd need." She mentions, racing down the stairs with her jumper to find her bag.
She hears Draco follow her down the stairs as she shoves her jumper in her bag. She's taken to keeping two purses, a Muggle purse and a Magic purse. One for each set of currency she needs to carry around with her depending on which world she's spending time in. Tonight, she's going to be in both so she checks that they're both there.
"I'll see you at half ten in The Leaky Cauldron." She reminds him as she rushes out the front door letting it slam shut behind her.
She quickly walks to the gate where she disapparates to the alleyway behind her parents' house. The lights off in the kitchen so she hopes that they're in the living room and not already in bed. They've been working really hard recently since they took Wednesday off for The Partner Ceremony. She slowly opens the backdoor, which is unlocked, and makes her way through the dark kitchen and into the hall. She notices light coming from beneath the living room door. She enters the room making her Dad jump.
"Hermione! Jesus Christ child." Her Dad says, hand on his heart. "Are you trying to kill me?" He mutters.
"Where's Mum?" She asks, sitting down on the couch.
"At Grandma Betty's helping with the kids. Louise got back together with Darren." He raises an eyebrow at her.
"Again!" Hermione sighs shaking his head.
"Yeah, it's not easy for them at their age to be looking after under five-year-olds." Her Dad mentions.
"Well if you need any help with them, Draco and I aren't busy." She offers.
"Speaking of Draco, where is that husband of yours?" He questions.
"At home. I'm meeting Derek and Verity for a few drinks." She mentions.
"Verity? You hate her." Her Dad points out.
"I did in primary school, maybe she's changed," Hermione suggests. "Anyway, I came for a cardigan that I left here." She tells him as she heads up the stairs.
She finds it in her wardrobe with a few other clothes she didn't want to bring to the estate. She pulls it on and goes back downstairs. She's got about twenty minutes before she's due to meet them so she sits back down on the couch to watch some TV with her Dad.
"Where are you meeting them?" He asks at the end of Antiques Roadshow.
"The Buffalo at eight o'clock." She answers.
"I don't think your Mum's going to be back anytime soon so I'll walk with you and grab some dinner from Howards." He announces, turning the TV off and grabbing his jacket and wallet.
They walk in a comfortable silence for most of their walk until her Dad nudges her elbow with his.
"How have you been? I haven't seen you since you and Draco had that argument." Her Dad asks.
"We're fine. We had a talk and I think we roughly know what we're doing." She tells him.
She knows he worries about her. More so since she's their only child.
"Care to share?" He urges her to tell him.
"Erm, well we found out a lot of people are getting divorced once they've had a child. We've both come to the decision that we're going to try and make the best out of this situation for our future child." She admits.
"I'm glad you're going to try but don't stay with him if you don't want to just for the sake of your child. It won't end well if you do." He warns her.
"We have a lot in common Dad and I feel as though I could grow to love him but I'm a long way from that place right now." She tells him.
"Do you know how Draco feels about you?" He asks.
She shrugs. "We'll I know he feels something for me. He got jealous of Derek when we went to Mrs Morris' Café and he showed me his softer side this morning. The side of him I know I could fall in love with if he showed it more often."
"Jealousy's never a good thing for a relationship." He points out.
"I know but at least it proves he cares enough to get jealous. I've already told him he has nothing to worry about with Derek." She says.
Her Dad just nods in reply as they come up to Howards.
"Will we see you on Tuesday's at Uncle David's?" He asks.
"Yeah, we'll be there." She hugs her Dad before waving goodbye and crossing the road.
She's never been inside The Buffalo and she's not sure she wants to right now. There's an outdoor seating area full of people already drunk and smoking with their children running around with shoes on. She tries not to be a snob so she rolls her shoulders back and pushes the door open revealing an unpleasant, smoke hazy bar. Since she's early, she grabs herself a stool at the bar and orders herself a coke as she waits.
QUESTION #1:
I'm wanting to make one of Hermione's cousins a wizard of a witch but I can't decide who.
Sophie: David's daughter. 8 years old. Her mum left her a month after birth. She loves reading, not afraid to speak her mind, very clever, idolises Hermione.
Lauren: Louise's daughter. 4 years old. Her mum was 17 when she gave birth to her. She's shipped off to Grandparents with her brother a lot so her mum can go out partying. She's confident, clever, very protective over her brother, quick at making friends, nervous around her mum and her boyfriend.
Craig: Louise's son. 3 years old. His mum was 18 when she gave birth to him. He's shipped off to his Grandparents with his sister a lot so his mum can go out partying. He's extremely shy and nervous around new people, loves his sister more than anyone else, struggles to make friends at nursery and is nervous around his mum and her boyfriend.
You have the personalities and backgrounds history of each cousin so please choose for me. Comment who you think.
Thank you so much for reading.
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