Chapter 13: Centipedes!
A/N: Just for the record, the reaction to centipedes (not the disturbing orange ones that are outside under rocks, but house centipedes) in this chapter is actually a pretty accurate representation of what happens to me when I see one... They're just so... leggy and fast and terrifying! *shudders* And they can bite and I'm pretty sure they want my soul for some kind of greater evil purpose...
Seriously though, I once saw one so big I swear I could see the evil intent in its eyes... And he was in my bedroom. *shudders* I slept on the couch for days.
As always, thanks to harrypotterluver123 for betaing. The format went kind of screwy when I got it back through the DocX, so if there's a space that's off here somewhere that's why. I've been on buses for five hours and I'm too tired to focus and reread it a second time...
Also! Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed! And I have a new story, you should look into it. I'm trying my hand at the Veela storyline thing in it.
~Frosty
"There's a bloody miniature menagerie living here." Ginny said in awe, looking around the kitchen of Grimmauld Place at the assembled animals. She'd come over to visit her boyfriend for the day – her family didn't ever let her stay overnight and insisted they wouldn't until she graduated Hogwarts next year. Instead of just Harry, she'd found this little circus of creatures.
"They came with Hermione," Harry sighed.
The redhead turned her piercing gaze onto him. "Hermione's here?" She asked worriedly. Hermione wasn't one to just give up and leave when she'd committed to something – even something she hadn't committed to willingly. That she was staying with Harry instead of at the Manor said that something was really wrong.
"Yeah, Malfoy's been looking all over Europe for ways to divorce her."
Her eyes darkened with anger at the blond moron before softening in sympathy for her friend. Sure they didn't always coexist harmoniously, but Ginny had really thought there was something there between those two besides the obvious animosity.
"Is Hermione all right? Is she here right now?"
Harry shook his head. "No to both. She works too much to hide the fact that she's not taking this well. The hours she works are getting ridiculous; she was only back yesterday for around eight hours before she was off to work again."
They both watched as Cupcake pounced on the scone Ginny had been eating with her tea. The tiny dragon rumbled triumphantly before flying off with his prize, followed jealously by the miniature lions. Crookshanks took the opportunity to hop up onto a kitchen chair and place his front paws on the table, he seemed to think he was going to be taking part in the conversation as well.
"Mrrrow," the cat said, eager to give his own input to these people who were completely missing the obvious.
They two at the table just watched the orange feline for a moment. "That cat just gets weirder and weirder," Harry mumbled.
Ginny nodded solemnly. "I think he'd worried about Hermione just as much as we are. I have no idea how he even understands the situation, but I think he's worried."
"I don't think there's really anything we can do for her besides murder Malfoy." He paused, head tilted to the side in contemplation. "If we make it look like an accident and he dies, all of her problems are solved and as an added bonus, Malfoy would be dead."
His green eyes narrowed as he remembered Malfoy nearly dropping him into a pool of piranha and then letting him drop to the floor. Not to mention the years of torment throughout school.
"I don't know... Something like that might make her sad. I mean, they were getting on well for a while there and you know how Hermione is about sudden deaths of people she once cared about."
Frustrated, Harry let his head fall to the table with a thump. "I just don't like seeing her hurting so much when there's absolutely nothing I can do to make her feel better. If it wasn't Malfoy we were talking about, I'd think she was heartbroken."
"The ferret's an awfully sneaky one; it's possible he somehow managed to weasel his way into her heart. I don't think it's broken though; I'd say bruised at best, maybe cracked."
"I still say we murder Malfoy," Harry muttered. Hermione had been through quite a bit recently, what with her forced marriage, the loss of Ron and then his attack, and all of this following a war that was hard on everyone. It wasn't fair that every time she seemed to manage to get herself comfortable, almost happy in a situation, she'd lose it again.
Crookshanks grumbled his disagreement and made a very thoughtful suggestion of his own, but Harry assumed the feline was merely asking for a piece of scone. He set a piece down under the half-Kneazle's dainty, pink nose and turned back to Ginny to discuss what they could do about Hermione.
Looking from the piece of scone to Harry and back again with disgust and irritation, Crookshanks growled his frustration. He left them to their planning; knowing whatever they came up with wasn't going to work because it wasn't the right plan. The feline paused in his departure of disgust, ran back for the scone, gave them one last look of loathing, and trotted away. His owner was smart, she'd figure everything out eventually and then he would get head pats for having been right all along.
Hermione loved her new job. She loved that she had a staff who looked up to her as someone who genuinely cared about the Magical Creatures they worked to help, she loved that feeling she got when she brought about justice for a deserving creature, but most of all, she loved the long hours. The cases she took on were expansive and time consuming and filled her with a sense of accomplishment that had been eluding her since she'd written her final exams at Hogwarts.
Immediately upon being first appointed to her post, she'd renamed the department. 'The Department of Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures' made it sound like they were something to be monitored, not beings. They were now 'The Department of Magical Creatures; the creatures didn't need 'control' or 'regulation', they needed a department that was looking out for their needs.
"Leaving now, Mrs. Malfoy?" Her secretary, Claude, asked her as she exited her office. His question was entirely sarcastic, as she should have gone home hours ago.
She frowned at the man. "Claude, we've been through this. Don't call me Mrs. Malfoy, it makes me look around for Narcissa. And didn't I send you home hours ago?"
Hermione knew she'd ordered the man to go home a long time ago, around when they were officially finished for the day. It was now dark outside and much too late for many other people to be in the building.
He was completely unperturbed by her attitude towards him, knowing she was just tired and irritable, not actually upset with him. "I call you Mrs. Malfoy because it amuses me to no end to watch that frantic glance around the room you do."
"And you haven't left yet because...?" Her arms were crossed and her eyebrows were raised unconsciously echoing an expression she'd learned from Draco.
"I had some paperwork to sort out. I'm leaving now boss lady." He told her with a grin.
Hermione sighed and shook her head at his antics, but walked towards the Floo.
After her long day, she tiredly retreated back to Harry's house and found him sitting at the table with Ginny, who was already giving her a sympathetic look. She loved Ginny like the sister she'd never had, but the presence of the redhead was only going to make what she was about to say harder.
She'd come to a decision that day while filling out her paperwork; she needed to stop taking advantage of Harry's hospitality and return to the Manor. She may be unwanted there, but that was where she was supposed to be living until Draco either accepted that he was stuck with her or he managed to get that divorce, leaving her free to live somewhere else.
"Hermione," Ginny exclaimed when the frazzled former Gryffindor entered the room. Smiling, the redhead hopped up and clung to her friend tightly.
Hermione was proud of herself; she didn't cry one single tear, whereas last week she would have cried several in the soothing embrace of Ginny. Progress was being made. It seemed that all she had to do was work herself into the ground while allowing the passage of time to soothe her hurt heart.
When Ginny released her and sat back down at the table with her tea, Hermione poured a cup and joined her two friends.
"I'm going back to the Manor tonight."She announced.
Harry inhaled some of the tea he'd been sipping and started choking. "You're what?" He gasped when he'd finally regained his breath.
"I'm moving back to the Manor. It's not like I don't spend most of my time at work anyway, and until Draco manages to divorce me or accepts that he can't I shouldn't keep staying here and taking advantage of your hospitality."
"Hermione, you know you're always welcome here," Harry said.
Wordlessly, she got up from her seat and hugged her friend. "I know Harry, but I feel like I'm running away and hiding here, and you know how I hate feeling like that."
Ever the brave Gryffindor, Hermione was not one to run and hide. Now that she'd realized that was what she'd been doing, she planned on putting an end to her act of cowardice. Immediately.
Cupcake burst into the room in a tumble of flapping wings and tiny claws, startling Ginny. The dragon curled into his usual place, settling around Hermione's shoulders with a hum of happiness.
"Do I even want to know?" Ginny asked, looking at the tiny scaly creature warily. It had seemed kind of dangerous while it had been stealing the scone, but now almost looked cuddly– something hard to do when covered in scales and multiple dangerous pointy bits.
"Long story," Hermione said, waving off the question. She didn't want to recount the beginning of her relationship with Cupcake; it hurt a little to remember when she and Draco were almost getting along. She was going to miss that almost friendship -if not more- that they had developed briefly. For a while, she'd even convinced herself that they were capable of falling in love.
Her friends tried to stop her, but they eventually let her return to the Manor. The first thing she did upon stepping out of the Floo was change the lions back to their former size. They stretched gratefully, seemingly glad that they were no longer miniature.
She glanced at Cupcake to see if he was watching them jealously, but he was once again asleep. He was a lot more docile when he was tiny and didn't seem to mind his reduced size at all. Maybe he'd been so angry all the time before because he'd been sad that everyone was afraid of him? She didn't see where the barbequing helpless songbirds came in, but it was possible that was just how dragons played and he hadn't yet realized that not all creatures were as fireproof as he was.
A scream tore through the air jolting Cupcake awake and causing Hermione to whip out her wand and run in the direction where the noise had come from.
The Gryffindor got to the library and ripped open the door just as Narcissa let out another scream. Hermione began frantically looking around the room for what horror could possibly make the stoic Narcissa Malfoy scream like that, but her search turned up no obvious threat.
"Narcissa, what's wrong?" Hermione asked wearily. The blonde woman was perched on a table, hugging her knees to her chest as if allowing the limbs to stray too far from her body would cause some horrible monster to appear and tear them off.
"Centipede," she said, pointing a shaking finger toward a dark corner of the library.
Hermione lowered her wand and looked at Narcissa in disbelief.
"Why don't you use your wand?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"Don't just stand there and ask questions, get it!"
Before Hermione could do anything, Cupcake stood up, arched his back in a cat-like stretch and launched himself into the dark corner with an excited growl. In one bite, he'd taken care of the small bug that so terrified the woman who had stood up to one of the most powerful Dark Wizards of all time.
When the blonde woman saw that the creepy-crawly was no longer a threat –not that it ever really had been- she put her feet on the floor and her cool facade fell back into place neatly. It was a wonder the people around her didn't get whiplash from her rapid mood changes.
"I have a slight... dislike of centipedes," Narcissa explained coolly.
They both watched Cupcake prance back over to them proudly, having consumed his kill with vigour. Not too long ago, the Dragon would have been able to accidently squish the thing and now he was hunting and eating them. Hermione was a little worried that the dragon's stomach would have problems digesting the unusual nourishment.
"And you are just a lovely creature!" The Malfoy matriarch cooed as she picked up Cupcake. It seemed that the incident in the garden, and the one with the floors in the foyer when he was full-sized were apparently forgotten in the wake of his recent 'heroism'.
Hermione was surprised that the frosty woman was showing so much affection towards the dragon that she had been so angry with not so long ago. She'd been sure that the grudge between the two was going to be a lasting thing, but she'd never taken into account strange phobias, so it was understandable that her calculations were off slightly.
"If you want, you can keep Cupcake with you for a while. I know if I disliked anything that intensely, I'd want a creature with a habit of eating them to accompany me for a while." The brunette offered.
Narcissa smiled at the girl gratefully. She was kind, and not at all the unsophisticated Muggle they'd thought she'd be. If Draco wasn't being so distant with the poor thing, Narcissa believed that the young woman could be happy married to him – they'd certainly seemed pretty happy coming back from their vacation. She even believed that, in time, she and her husband could accept the girl.
"Thank you," the older woman said, nodding her head.
Hermione nodded back, leaving the room again. Narcissa Malfoy wasn't so bad, she was human after all. It was comforting that someone usually so put together forgot about her magic in the face of a tiny bug.
She'd been living back at the Manor for an entire week before Draco returned.
In addition to the customary Monday night dinners with the older Malfoys, Hermione had taken to having tea with Narcissa some afternoons. After Cupcake had spent the day with her, the blonde woman had calmed down enough to relax without the dragon there to 'protect' her. When she'd returned him to Hermione, she'd also extended an invitation to tea. It had quickly become obvious that Narcissa was just as lonely as Hermione was in that big Manor, possibly more so because she didn't have the wonderful friends the Gryffindor had been blessed with.
Draco found them that way, daintily sipping from their teacups while Crookshanks and Cupcake looked on jealously at the tiny sandwiches in the middle of the table on a silver platter. Hermione had long since given up rolling her eyes at such over-the-top representations of opulence. The feline was only faking the look of jealousy so that Hermione wouldn't expect Narcissa was sneaking him food, he didn't want the food to stop and knew it would if his owner saw. Ever since that trip to the vet when the evil man had proclaimed that he was overweight and needed to stop eating people food Hermione had been cutting down on the treats he got.
"What the hell is going on here?" He demanded, looking to his mother while obviously avoiding even a glance at Hermione. It figured that he'd run away from confrontation instead of just talking to her about whatever it was that had made him decide to try and divorce her.
"Language, Draco." Narcissa chided.
Crookshanks glared fiercely at him from Narcissa's lap were he'd been comfortably resting, basking in her attention and eating the dainty cucumber sandwich pieces she'd been passing him. The cat didn't particularly like the vegetables, but he enjoyed the bread.
Draco rolled his eyes, but didn't comment further. In all honesty, his outburst had been because he was worried that his mother was up to something that would end in danger for his wife. He didn't want anything to happen to Hermione despite the way he was acting towards her. Now that he was set on divorcing her, he no longer had to worry about his parents trying to off Hermione, but drinking tea with his mother when she didn't absolutely have to was just tempting fate. Sometimes the Gryffindor was too... Gryffindor for her own good.
His silver eyes moved suspiciously from the brunette to his mother and back again. What could that woman possibly hope to gain from striking up a friendship with the wife he was trying to divorce?
"Would you care to join us for tea?" Narcissa asked when the silence after his arrival had stretched out too long to be comfortable.
He sat reluctantly, not wanting to leave Hermione alone with his mother, even though the barmy Gryffindor was obviously comfortable with the woman– far more comfortable than he'd ever been. He continued resolutely ignoring the presence of the brunette, but accepted the cup of tea his mother handed over.
"Excuse me Narcissa, I have to... be somewhere else." Hermione announced, setting her cup down and leaving the room.
When the door shut behind the Gryffindor's retreating back, Narcissa turned to her son with a disapproving frown. "You're so caught up in finding a way out of your marriage that you don't have the sense to appreciate that you could be happy with her. What happens if you finally manage to get out of your little marriage with her? I can tell you; you're going to end up in an arranged marriage with a Pureblooded girl you don't even know. Do you really want that?"
"This is what I have to do Mother," Draco insisted, a little louder than necessary. The determination in his voice made it obvious that there would be no persuading him otherwise. He always had been stubborn, the trait had first shown itself when he was barely a year old and had decided that he wanted the cookie his father had refused him. A burst of accidental magic had melted Lucius' hair and Draco had flat out refused to change it back until he'd eaten four cookies.
Narcissa followed the direction of his eyes and noticed the shadow under the door. The poor girl wasn't near as sneaky as she thought she was.
Outside the door, Hermione sighed sadly. She knew it wasn't polite to listen at doors, but she wanted to know what was going on, and eavesdropping had seemed like it would be the only option. Narcissa's words to her son had surprised her; sure they kept each other company for tea a few times a week, but Hermione hadn't thought it was the kind of thing that was capable of upturning a lifetime of prejudice.
With a sigh, the brunette left them to the remainder of their conversation. Despite living in a house of them, Hermione wasn't a Slytherin and she knew it was wrong of her to be listening at doors.
Draco was irritated. First he found out that his mother and Hermione had struck up some sort of friendship over centipedes of all things and then the orange demon had taken to following him around giving him accusing glares. The creature was blaming him for trying to do the right thing. It was no wonder so many people just went about their lives exploiting and manipulating others, being good was hard.
"I'm doing this for her own good," the blond insisted, glaring right back at the feline.
Crookshanks huffed an unimpressed sneeze and went right back to glaring.
Sighing, Draco made his way to the kitchens to find a morsel with which to bribe the cat. He was hoping a salmon steak or something could persuade the creature to stop making him second guess himself.
When he opened the door to the kitchen, he really wished he hadn't. Sitting at the small table reserved for snacking between meals and informal dining, were Hermione and his father. They didn't even seem to be glaring or insulting or any of the things he'd come to expect from the two. It appeared they were just eating their pancakes in companionable silence, and for some reason, Hermione was covered in chocolate frosting.
Before either of them could notice him peeking in the room, Draco quickly shut the door.
"I'm gone for just over a week and the world turned upside down," he told the orange demon in disbelief.
If he wanted the answers he so dearly needed for his piece-of-mind, then there was only one thing Draco could do; talk to Hermione. He had a feeling she wasn't going to be pleased with him ignoring her for so long.