Chapter Fourteen
Hermione awoke the next morning with mixed feelings. Her mum had been triumphant all evening about how successful the trip to Malfoy Manor had been. Her dad seemed to have relaxed a little more too, calmed by her apparent ease with Draco Malfoy. She herself had been a little amazed by the fact that he and Professor Snape could talk about rugby of all things, even if they did prefer different codes.
But lying in bed now, she wasn't sure how she felt about it all. Yesterday seemed as if it had been an afternoon out of time. She'd been so worried about returning to Malfoy Manor and then Malfoy had been so nice that it had completely thrown her out of sync with everything. He had never been like that with her and whilst it had put her at ease, she now felt unsure. Was everyone right about him? Had he truly reformed? Had she been clinging unnecessarily to all this anger and hatred for so long for no reason? She wasn't sure how to feel about that, either. It felt as if the past few years had been a waste of her life. She was now confused about so many aspects of this whole situation and cursed that she had to go into work when all she wanted to do was lie in bed and analyse what on earth was going on.
The best thing about being a witch was all the time that Hermione saved on commuting. It meant that she got a whole extra hour in bed and didn't have to worry about squeezing herself onto a train going into central London with hundreds of other commuters. She walked downstairs and settled down for a leisurely cup of tea and some toast. Her mum was humming whilst flittering around the kitchen.
"How are you feeling this morning, Fuzzy Bear?" Matthew asked, looking up from his newspaper.
"Okay," she mumbled in reply, hoping neither of her parents would notice that she was feeling a little down.
Of course her hopes weren't realised, and her mother whirled round and gave her a penetrating stare. "What's wrong, Sweetie?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"Don't give me that, I'm your mother, I know something's not right. Come on, open up!"
Matthew just sat opposite Hermione with his level gaze settled on her face. She knew she was cornered and was going to have to tell them what was going on.
"I just feel a little strange after yesterday."
"Well that's bound to happen, isn't it?" Rachel said.
"I don't know," she said huffily. "I'm confused. Why was Malfoy so nice? He's never nice to me. And Narcissa Snape was just strange. She's always been so superior every time I've seen her, leaving me in no doubt where she thinks my place in the world is, but yesterday she was welcoming and warm. The only one who was normal was Snape. He still managed to make me feel like a silly schoolgirl over the Wolfsbane Potion."
"I don't know how Narcissa and Draco were in the past other than what you've told us, but since we've met them, they've been nothing but polite and friendly. Isn't it possible that they really have changed? Narcissa has gone out of her way to welcome your dad and I and to make us feel comfortable in your world."
Hermione rubbed her forehead. "I know and this is what confuses me. Just two months ago, everything made so much more sense to me and now I feel like my world is topsy-turvy."
Rachel smiled and patted her daughter's hand. "You just need some time to get used to the change, Sweetie. Spend some time with Draco and I'm sure your feelings will work themselves out."
She gave her mum a weak smile. Rachel got back up whilst Matthew leant forward and grasped his daughter's hand. "You know I don't like to agree with your mum too much - it goes to her head - but I think in this case she's right. Try to trust your gut instincts, Fuzzy Bear. What's it telling you about Malfoy?"
With that, her dad managed to get to the bottom of why Hermione was feeling so bewildered. Her gut instinct yesterday had told her to trust Malfoy and she'd relaxed in his presence. But her brain continued to scream warnings about their past which had come out in a series of bizarre nightmares last night; they had all starred Malfoy in some sort of Death Eater form.
Whilst Hermione liked Ernie, he wasn't one of her closest friends and she didn't feel the need to confide in him. It was at times like this that she was very glad about that. She needed some hours of normality, without questions about her counselling or her feelings towards Malfoy. Unfortunately for Hermione, those hours soon passed and before she knew it, Ron and Harry were banging open her office door.
"All right, Hermione, lunchtime. Grab your coat and your bag!" Ron yelled after barging the door back on its hinges.
"Why, hello to you too, Ronald. How nice of you to so calmly request my presence at lunch," she said, smiling.
"Sorry, sweet Hermione. Would you like to accompany us on our quest for nourishment?" he said sarcastically.
Ernie laughed whilst Harry rolled his eyes.
"Now that you've managed to ask me with at least a modicum of grace, then yes. Where are we going?"
"Dunno. Harry, got any ideas?"
The three of them finally settled on a small little café that was off the beaten path. It was usually pretty quiet which the three of them loved. It was a perfect place to talk and the fact Harry and Ron had barged into her office meant that they wanted all the juicy details about yesterday's visit to Malfoy Manor. This was probably because she had sent them an owl in a panic on Friday night after she found out that she had to go, and they had both sent reassuring responses back to her. She'd also had an owl waiting from them when she returned yesterday and she'd sent back a fairly positive reply, which she knew had probably scared them a little.
Once they'd all ordered and sat at a table, Harry and Ron stared at Hermione expectantly.
"Well as you can imagine, I did have a mini-meltdown and it was highly embarrassing. Snape actually had to step up and take charge," she said, shuddering.
Ron grimaced. "He scares me every time I go to visit Malfoy. He's always just lurking in the parlour. I swear he married Draco's mum just so he would still be in our lives, freaking us out."
"So what happened?" Harry asked, getting them back on track and away from Ron's anti-Snape rant.
"Malfoy took me out to the garden, I calmed down and we talked. Then we went back in, had tea and then he took me to visit his elves," she surmised.
"Oh, did you see Coco? She's like a female Dobby when it comes to Harry. I always keep meaning to ask her if she's actually related to him. She always fawning over Harry like he's the messiah," Ron remarked.
Hermione giggled as Harry glared at his annoying redheaded best friend. "Have you quite finished, Ron? Got it all out of your system? Can I continue to ask Hermione the important questions now?"
Ron went bright red. "Er… yes, I guess so. Besides, here's my potato. I'm hungry. You talk, Hermione."
Harry and Hermione both turned away from Ron who was now happily tucking into the largest jacket potato that Hermione had ever seen.
"So what did you and Draco talk about?" Harry asked.
"Counselling. He told me to stick with it even though I am feeling delicate and emotional about it right now. He said that he hated it at first but that it proved to be really good for him. He also told me a bit about his life in the Muggle world."
"So that's positive then," he commented.
"Well yes, I guess," she replied.
"What do you mean you guess?"
"I don't know. I just feel really weird about it all today. He made me feel calm and relaxed and I had a good time."
"And now you're confused because it's Malfoy and you shouldn't feel any of those things around him?" Harry remarked.
Hermione just nodded.
Harry smiled and nodded his head in acknowledgment. "Been there and done that. It was the same with us," he said, pointing his bread at Ron. "When we first started being around Draco in a friendly environment, it felt unnatural. This was the kid who had been my main rival at school and to sit and joke with him was strange. But you can't think too much about it because you'll just give yourself a headache. If it felt right then just go with it."
"You sound like my dad. He told me to follow my gut instinct this morning."
"I always said your dad was a wise man."
"That's only because you're scared of him," Ron said thickly.
Harry just hit him around the head. "Look Hermione, the whole point of you going to the counselling and everything is so that you can deal with your issues and not feel hatred anymore. I don't think you should try to hang on to any of the hostility just because you think you're being too friendly with Draco too quickly."
This made a lot of sense to her. It was true that she was worrying a lot about yesterday because she thought that she should still be feeling uncomfortable around Malfoy. She'd only had a few counselling sessions and had thought that her progress would be a lot slower than it was.
"So you don't think it's too fast to be letting all that anger go?"
"You always were a quick study, Hermione. Who knows what's normal with you?" Ron said.
"Thanks, I think," Hermione replied drily.
"Here's a chance to test out if yesterday was a fluke or not. Draco just walked in," Harry said, pointing out the tall blond currently standing at the counter.
As if feeling three pairs of eyes on him, Malfoy looked up and spotted them staring at him from the corner. Hermione gulped a little as he smiled in their direction and walked towards them.
"Potter, swap seats with me!" Malfoy ordered when he got to their table.
Harry just raised a brow in response.
"If you think I'm sitting next to that heathen whilst he eats that potato, you have another think coming. I'll end up covered in tuna and cheese," Malfoy stated.
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. He got up mainly to keep the peace but also because a plan was forming in his mind to help Hermione out and it would require Ron finishing his lunch quickly. He and Hermione had each had a normal sized sandwich and were already done.
Harry flourished a flowery bow as he pulled his former chair out. "Here you go, delicate little princeling."
Malfoy made much of showing he was taller than Harry before he sat down. He placed his takeaway coffee cup on the table in front and ringed his hands around it. "Shouldn't the Ministry be collapsing with all three of its heroes out to lunch at the same time?"
"Do you even have a job, Malfoy?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Yes, I work at Serpentine Potions."
"Oh," she said before rallying, "So you do the tea and coffee run for the proper workers, then?"
Malfoy smirked at her. "Retract those claws, Kitten. I own the company along with Severus and Blaise."
Now she felt foolish and blushed, pouted slightly and looked at Harry who suddenly swore and looked at his watch. "Shit, Ron, I completely forgot! but Kingsley came by earlier and moved the Auror team meeting forward a couple of hours. We're meant to be there in ten minutes."
Ron quickly gulped down his mouthful of food and stuffed the remaining enormous piece of potato in his mouth.
"Ronald, that's disgusting," Hermione said. "No! No, don't talk to me until you have finished chewing. I do not wish to be sprayed."
"No time to wait for that, Hermione. We'll catch up with you later," Harry said before dragging Ron out of the café with him.
She was now left with just Malfoy for company and felt incredibly awkward. "Er… well I'll just get the bill and get back to work."
Malfoy stayed her arm as she went to get the waitress' attention. "I think Harry would be hurt if you just destroyed all his fine acting by leaving straight away."
She frowned in confusion and saw that he had a smug smirk on his face. "What do you mean?"
"He just lied about the Auror meeting to leave you and me alone. He seems to think he had a reason to do so."
"How do you know he lied? You don't work in the Auror department. The meeting may well have been moved forward."
"Because I just walked most of the way here with Adrian, who would know if the if that was the case. He was planning on spending his lunch break with Angelina Johnson in Quality Quidditch Supplies."
"Oh," she said, a little vaguely before repeating the same word with a lot more emphasis and anger.
"Precisely," he replied. "Now, why, Kitten, did Harry think we needed to talk privately?"
Hermione squirmed a little, not really wanting to talk to the snarky Slytherin about how confused she was feeling about him today. She decided to settle on lying outright. "I don't know."
Malfoy looked at her completely unimpressed. "You may want to try that again without wringing your hands together, which completely gives away that you're lying."
"What if I don't want to tell you? Harry has no right to try and force me into speaking to you about things that I'm not ready to," she said sulkily.
"So it's about yesterday, then?"
"How do you know?" she asked before cursing herself for completely giving it away.
"Because you wouldn't be Hermione Granger if you hadn't stressed out and over-analysed everything that happened yesterday."
"Well, did you not find it at all strange?"
"Not really, no. I was pleased that you didn't find it too stressful and that you managed to relax at some point, at least."
"Why are you being so nice?" she whispered before looking away, a little embarrassed by the question.
She heard him sigh before his fingers took hold of her chin and turned her back to face him. "I'd rather say this whilst you're looking at me so you can't try and persuade yourself later that I was really being sarcastic and didn't mean a word of it. Believe it or not, Granger, I don't hate you. I'm sorry for all the hell I gave you in school. I was a mean and arrogant little kid with a chip on his shoulder and I hated the fact that you beat me at everything when I was pure-blood and you were Muggle-born. That's not an excuse, just the truth."
Hermione searched his face, looking for any sign that he was lying to her. She couldn't see anything. It was the most open that Hermione had ever seen Malfoy's face. She nodded slightly and he let go of her face.
"So, can we look to put the past behind us and try to get to know each other? You know, just in case we do actually have to get married?" he asked.
She huffed a little at that and folded her arms. "I'm not marrying you. I'm going to break that curse!"
Malfoy gave her a half-smile. "And I don't expect anything less from you, Kitten, but spending a little time together wouldn't exactly kill us."
"It depends. If you keep on calling me Kitten, it may well kill you," she said.
Malfoy laughed at that. "But I can't help it. You make it so much fun."
"I guess I can suffer being in the same room as you without having to leave."
"Why, how magnanimous of you, Kitten."
"Don't push your luck though, Malfoy. Irritate me too much and I can revert in behaviour," she threatened.
He shot her an amused glance. "If you noticed, Sweetheart, I never was too worried about your previous behaviour. Although that Stinging Hex did hurt."
"I would apologise for marring your perfect face but you deserved it."
"It is perfect, isn't it?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Get over yourself, Ferret Boy. You're not that attractive."
"I'm wounded, Granger. Mind you, that's coming from a girl who dated Ron Weasley. I don't think you have much taste in the looks department."
She narrowed her eyes at the smirking blond before asking the passing waitress for the bill. Malfoy stood up, picking his coffee up from in front of him. "I'd really like it if we could try and start again, Granger, and I am sorry for all the shit I gave you at Hogwarts and for how you were treated by my family during the war. My behaviour was unforgiveable and I don't blame you if you refuse to have anything to do with me."
Now she felt conflicted. She had hated this man for so long. Malfoy had represented so many bad things about her life but here he was apologising for the harm he'd caused her. He'd been really kind to her yesterday and was continuing to show that he had a sensitive side to him. Empathy was something she'd never have associated with a Malfoy but now he was showing an understanding of her feelings that - for someone who'd been best friends with Captain Oblivious, Ron Weasley, since she was twelve - she found pretty impressive. Her father had told her to go with her gut instinct and that instinct was currently telling her to give Draco Malfoy a second chance. If he messed up this time then she would annihilate him.
"I'd like that," she responded shyly.
He gave her a dazzling smile before nodding and heading out the café. Hermione was happy to note that the confused feeling that had plagued her all day had disappeared. Maybe Harry wouldn't be receiving a little visit from her after all. She was pretty sure that he was expecting her to turn up all, guns blazing after pulling that stunt. She decided it would be more fun to let him wait the afternoon out. The expectation of bumping into his angry friend would leave him on tenterhooks all day. She cackled to herself rather evilly.