Chapter 25
Draco watched his father watch the car that carried his mother and Hermione away until it was out of sight, and sighed. He tried to remember when he'd last known his parents to spend even a single night apart and realized that they probably hadn't since those weeks following the war when Lucius had been confined to a holding cell in the Ministry. And before that it was when he had been in Azkaban. Despite how he assiduously he tried to hide it, he knew those days still haunted his father.
Draco sighed again; he hadn't anticipated feeling so reluctant to leave the man alone, but they couldn't stay here and he couldn't imagine anything he could say to convince him to come with them. Lucius was as stubborn as they came and he'd rather stay here drowning in his dark memories than accept his son's pity.
Draco eyed the little boy running around the entrance hall at a speed that defied explanation, given his short legs. "Father, I have to get him out of here before he breaks something that can't be fixed."
Lucius leaned heavily on his walking stick. "What do you plan to do with the creature all weekend?"
Draco rolled his eyes. "You understand he's here to stay, right? Hermione thinks of him almost as her own. There's a reason that Andromeda asked me to watch him this weekend. Hermione has things pretty well child-proofed at home so I'm taking him there. My lovely wife has left me sheaves of parchment including lists of things I can do to keep him entertained. I'd be insulted if I wasn't so grateful," he said, watching the whirling dervish of a little boy- he was starting to think Hermione's stories about the kid's mother weren't the exaggerations he'd assumed them to be. He'd turned his hair blond again, it gave Draco pause. "Did I ever have this much energy?" he asked wryly.
His father looked visibly surprised by the question.
"You were energetic, but then again I do not remember you being quite this boisterous. However, I will admit that I did not spend much time with you at this age."
Draco just nodded, unsurprised. "Truly, we need to go before Teddy does something I can't undo," he said as he watched the kid run at full speed into a wall and then bounce off, giggling the whole time. He walked over to collect the toddler and then paused, mid-step. "If you don't want to stay here by yourself, you are welcome in Scotland with us."
"I'm an adult, I will be fine in my own home, by myself," Lucius answered tersely.
Draco let out a frustrated breath. "I'm not afraid to admit that I will miss Hermione this weekend. If you are not prepared to admit the same about Mother, that's fine, but I'm not blind. And I want you to know that despite everything, the one thing you taught me- the best thing you ever taught me- was to love and treasure your wife. Your feelings for Mother have never been a weakness in my eyes. Good day Father." He nodded curtly and held out his hand for Teddy who, surprisingly, immediately ran over and took it. "Have a good weekend Father!" he called out swinging the babbling little boy into his arms.
Draco didn't expect a response and it was a good thing, because he didn't get one.
He missed Hermione, though it didn't feel like she was exactly missing, she was always there, it was more like he was stretched too thin. Everything was more difficult without her physical presence. However, he had a surprisingly good time with the kid. He didn't have any experience with children and he couldn't have anticipated how fun it would be to simply play with the little boy who found such joy in the smallest of things. It was refreshing.
But he was exhausted. By late Saturday afternoon he needed some kind of break because Teddy showed no signs of slowing down and he felt dead on his feet. So he flooed Ginny. She had offered to help him out on his weekend babysitting, but he had stubbornly told her he wouldn't need it. He was throwing in the towel.
But he still had some pride left so he checked in the mirror to make sure he didn't look as worn out as he felt, and that the kid hadn't somehow managed to turn his hair a funny color again, and then he placed the call. "I was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner," he asked her when she answered the floo.
She laughed right in his face. "Merlin, Malfoy, who do you think you're fooling? Come over here for dinner instead, you need to get out."
So much for appearing nonchalant. "I hadn't intended to impose," he said stiffly, he wasn't sure how he felt about going to Potter's house, even if the man himself wouldn't be there.
She rolled her eyes. "You aren't imposing, I'm here by myself while Harry's on assignment, you know that. But if it'll make you feel better, bring that lovely elf of yours with you. One of her meals will be a fair trade for crashing my lonely evening."
He considered that, if he refused her rather gracious invitation- she could have taunted him a lot more about his obvious cry for help, and he would prefer a change of scenery anyway- because of Potter, then he would be acting as immaturely as Potter had been lately. He sighed. Being the bigger person was hard work. "She'll be thrilled," he told Ginny simply, hoping she hadn't noticed his internal struggle.
A little less than two hours later and Teddy was dozing off in Ginny's lap. He was devouring the last of the pudding and he looked up to see her regarding him apprehensively, which was completely bizarre coming from her. She was probably brashest person he'd ever met.
"I can put him upstairs for a while, I was hoping we could talk?"
"Okay," he shrugged, equal parts intrigued and concerned; he wasn't anxious to return to his empty bed. And he liked Ginny though he had really only known her for a few weeks, and so he realized that if she wanted to confide in him, she must have felt like her situation was dire.
"Thank you," she said, reaching over to cover his hand with hers and giving it a squeeze.
He just nodded, still slightly uncomfortable with such open affection from anybody other than Hermione. Though Ginny had made it very clear that he'd have to get used to it. He watched her carefully carry Teddy up the stairs with a thoughtful frown on his face.
She returned quickly, smirking at him. "Congratulations Malfoy, you may have nearly killed yourself in the process but you wore the kid out, that's hard to do."
He shrugged and hoped Hermione hadn't told her friend about the extensive instructions she felt it was necessary to leave him. But then he was quickly distracted by the way she sat heavily back into her seat her playful expression falling. She just looked at him for a moment and then she began to speak.
He didn't know what he had expected her to say, but her rushed, "I'm thinking of postponing the wedding," was certainly not it.
He just stared at her, she flushed and looked away. That had obviously been difficult for her to say.
"Effie!" he called. She appeared immediately. "Please go fetch a bottle of the black label Ogden's"
"Of course!" she said, popping away.
"That stuff is expensive," Ginny protested faintly.
"You just told me you were thinking of postponing your wedding. I believe that's the sort of thing you only discuss over the finest firewhiskey. I assure you that I can afford it and that my wife would insist on nothing less."
If possible her face fell further at this pronouncement and she looked very close to tears. Draco just sat quietly until Effie returned and then poured them each a generous amount of whiskey and waited for her to start talking again in her own time.
"Do you tell her everything?" Ginny eventually asked.
He merely cocked one eyebrow.
"Hermione," she clarified, "she says that you don't lie to each other."
"We don't, with our bond it would be too difficult, and too painful. But we respect each other's boundaries. What I suspect you're asking me is if I can keep your confidence, and I can. If you are about to tell me something that you don't want repeated to Hermione, then I won't."
"That's part of it," she admitted. "But I'm also just wondering how that works."
"How what works?"
"An honest relationship."
Draco's eyes went wide with surprise. "You don't think that Potter is honest with you?"
"I'm not sure he's even being honest with himself." She sighed, taking a sip of her drink. "He and Ron are living in the past and I'm just not sure I can forget how they treated their best friend. I love him, I'm just not sure that I trust him, not with the rest of my life."
"Why are you telling me, of all people, this?"
"Who else am I to talk to? All of my other friends know Harry too well, I would be putting them in the middle. I like my teammates and I consider us to be friends, but I don't know if I trust them with this, it would be juicy gossip if it got out."
"But you trust me?"
"Yes, because if you said anything it would get back to Hermione and you know she'll feel guilty, like this is her fault, and you would never do that to her."
He considered that. "I also wouldn't say anything because I know you don't want me to, and I consider us to be friends. I'll keep your secrets, snakes are good at that, actually."
She nodded. "I consider us to be friends as well," she said, wiping her eyes.
"So, this is about the way he's treated Hermione?"
"It more like that the way he's treated Hermione has opened my eyes to some things about him that I think I've been willfully blind to."
Draco just nodded, because frankly even he had been surprised by the callous way the savior of the wizarding world had treated a woman who was supposed to be his best friend. Draco had never worshipped Potter the way so many people did, but he had thought he was more fair minded than he'd been behaving lately.
"He's stubborn and closed minded," Ginny continued, "he lets his temper get away from him too often, and while he's generally a pretty humble person, I think he's gotten too used to people just doing what he says," she let out a bitter little laugh, "he's genuinely baffled that Hermione won't up and leave you just because he doesn't like you. He thinks he's the wounded party here! Like how self-centered can you be?"
"Ginny, I know I'm a selfish bloke, but that almost sounds delusional. Does he, " he hesitated, "do you think he needs to see a mind healer?"
"Maybe, I don't know. I don't think he's truly mentally ill, if that's what you're asking. It might help if he talked to somebody, but he's always refused in the past. I mean, we all dealt with the war in our own ways, and sometimes I think Harry's way of coping was just not really dealing with it at all. Like I said, he's living in the past."
"I'm sorry, I don't think I quite understand."
"Has Hermione ever talked to you about their time on the run?" she asked, her voice hushed.
Draco swallowed thickly and just nodded. That had perhaps been the most difficult conversation he'd ever had.
"Harry doesn't like to talk about it, I've learned more from Hermione and Ron both than from him. But I've been thinking a lot about it lately, especially after that little speech Hermione gave at your house about not depending on her anymore and wanting her own life. I never really considered how terrible that time must have been for them, they were all each other had. For months it was just Harry and Hermione in that tent, scared and starving with no end in sight and," she looked him straight in the eye, "can you even imagine?'
He just shook his head.
"And she never gave up or left him, or wavered in any way from what I can tell, even after my brother did. And that's so admirable, but I think Harry's come to expect it from her. Ron's allowed to mess up, but he fully expects Hermione to be this unshakable force at his side for the rest of his life. And the moment she did something he didn't like, he turned on her. After everything they've been through together. How can I trust he won't do the same to me one day?"
Draco didn't have anything to say to that, but luckily she didn't seem to notice.
"And my brother only makes it worse!" she wailed. "You know that Lavender was Hermione's roommate at Hogwarts?"
"I did remember that, yes," he confirmed.
"Did you know that she was terrible to her? I spent a lot of time in Hermione's dorm, I had a tough first year and she was really good about helping me catch up with my schoolwork, and after that she became kind of like a big sister. Anyway, it was constant. Always these little comments about her appearance, how Harry and Ron were only her friends to get her help with their assignments. Just lots of little things to undermine her confidence. She spent most of fourth year insinuating that she must be putting out for Viktor to be interested in her, because there couldn't possibly be any other reason. I think she dated my brother solely to get under Hermione's skin. She's just one of those people who has to be putting people down to be happy, and at Hogwarts, Hermione was her favorite victim."
"Well, you've successfully convinced me that I should add Brown to my hit list, but what does this have to do with Potter and Weasley?"
"Hermione didn't say a word when Ron got back together with Lavender. And I knew she didn't want to be with him anymore, but I figured she would be upset that he would be with somebody who could be so awful to her. And she just said that she only cared that he was happy, and that her relationship with Lavender shouldn't dictate his. She rose above it, but Harry and Ron didn't even consider doing the same thing for her. And just, what kind of people does that make them?" she sobbed.
Draco watched her, horrified. He really wasn't built for this, but he couldn't just sit there and watch her cry. So, very slowly, he slid down the bench and put an arm around her. She slumped against his chest and began to cry harder. It was less uncomfortable than he would have imagined, he actually felt like he might be helping.
"I don't know what to do," she finally whispered.
Draco considered how to respond to that but was distracted by a disturbance in the hallway, and then Potter and Weasley burst into the kitchen, wands drawn. His veela reflexes were quick enough to pull himself and Ginny both out of the path of Weasley's stunner, but Potter's cutting curse caught him across shoulder. And for the first time since his initial transformation, he found himself lost to his veela instincts.
He pushed Ginny behind him, out of the line of fire and transformed with a rather dramatic ripping sound, which signaled the destruction of his shirt and robes. He barely noticed, he was seeing red, certain he'd never been quite so enraged in his life. He'd been holding back for Hermione's sake for weeks watching helplessly as she mourned friendships that no longer seemed worthy of her time or the investment she'd put into them. He'd had two different women cry on him because of these two idiots who'd just burst into the room throwing around spells around with no regard for anybody or anything. What if Teddy had been in the room? And Ginny had been emotional, unprepared, and vulnerable to attack. That cutting curse would have done far more damage to her than it had him. It was time to teach them a lesson and get a little revenge for his mate in the process.
He quickly disarmed them both with one flick of his hand while they were too shocked by his sudden transformation to even try to stop him. The wands made a satisfying clatter as they fell to the floor behind him. He knew from Hermione that Weasley's wandless skills were non-existent and Potter's were ruled by his emotions. They didn't stand a chance. With a little push of his own magic he shoved them up against the wall and held them there.
"You really should have paid better attention when you were told I was a veela," he began, his voice a low menacing hiss. "Did you really think I'd be so sanguine to yet another attack from one of you? The last time was a gift Potter! Because my mate wanted to handle things her way. Well, I've seen how much respect you have for her, so it's my turn," he explained with a sneer, all the time slowly approaching until he was looming over them.
Weasley's eyes were wide and frightened but Potter still looked defiant, so he gave him another little magical shove, he had no desire to physically lay a hand on either man. They repulsed him.
"What is the matter with the pair of you?" he asked, lettin his wings flare out dramatically. "I'm well aware of your feelings about me, but do you really care so little about your own fiancee's safety?" he looked at Weasley, "for your sister?"
"We thought you were attacking her!" Potter defended hotly.
He snorted. "You really do live in your own world, don't you? This house is unplottable, how would I have even found it if she hadn't invited me here?" He laughed mirthlessly. "And I, unlike you, don't break into other people's homes. Ginny is my friend, you were the one attacking her. Just be happy that Hermione is in France and Teddy is upstairs, if either of them had been in this room when you came in here throwing around spells like wand happy first years I might not have been able to refrain from killing you. I'm still trying to convince myself that either of your miserable lives is worth preserving."
"What do you care about Teddy?" asked Potter with narrowed eyes, once again proving his stupidity.
"Teddy is my mate's godson, therefore he is mine to protect. If you had bothered to do any research into our situation, or I don't know, talked to Hermione instead of just cutting her out of your lives, you might understand this better. But I can tell that you haven't, and I doubt you will do either in the future. So, let me make it very clear, you so much as look at somebody I love in a way that displeases me and I'll kill you. Magical governments are notoriously reluctant to punish veela acting in defense of their families, so don't push me," he said, giving them yet another little shove for emphasis.
Weasley looking satisfyingly terrified, but Potter still appeared slightly mutinous. However, this was a wizard who'd repeatedly stood up to the most powerful dark lord to come about in a millenium while he was still just a teenager, so Draco had to reluctantly admit that this was probably the best he could hope for. He'd said his piece and showed him what he was capable of both physically and magically. He was about to release them when he heard a faint pop of apparition, though he didn't actually need to hear it to know that Hermione had appeared in the kitchen behind him, he felt her presence right away.
"I can explain," he said.
"Whatever you've done, I'm sure they deserved it," she answered immediately.
He looked over his shoulder at her, surprised by that easy answer.
She just shrugged. "I trust you."
He let out a sigh of relief and took a couple of steps backward. She rushed into his arms and he enfolded her protectively in his wings. And then everything was right with the world again. He breathed her in, his heart and his soul settled. And then a sharp smacking sound echoed throughout the kitchen and he turned to see Potter holding his cheek. Ginny had obviously just slapped him across the face and was now repeatedly kicking her brother in the shins. He turned back to Hermione, her eyes were wide with horror and fixed on his sliced shoulder.
"You're hurt! I thought you were hurt, that's why I came back, but then you seemed okay! But you're bleeding!" she said frantically, dabbing at the wound with the hem of her sleeve.
He rubbed her arms soothingly. "This is nothing, I think what you felt was my anger."
"You've still been hurt Draco!" her eyes went hard. "Which one of them did this?" she hissed.
He knew he couldn't refuse her, he would have wanted to know the same thing in her place. "Potter," he said reluctantly.
And, just like he knew she would, she pulled out of his arms and approached the other wizard, and then without hesitation she struck him across the other cheek and leaned in threateningly. "Haven't you given him enough scars? Hurt him again, in any way, and I'll make Voldemort look like a fond memory."
Draco was satisfied to see that Potter looked far more frightened of Hermione than he had all the magical power he'd just seen Draco display.
She turned to her friend. "Are you okay Gin?"
The witch nodded, but there were tears still streaming down her cheeks.
Hermione looked at Draco. "I can't be here anymore, can we go home? Where's Teddy?"
"He's upstairs asleep. I'll keep him tonight, I'm in need of somebody to snuggle with and it's certainly. It going to be Harry. And I think you two need some alone time tonight," Ginny answered for him, she attempted to smirk suggestively, but the effect was ruined by her obvious emotion.
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked.
She nodded.
"If you need some place to get away you are always welcome to come to us, and you can call Effie if you need anything at all," Draco interjected, making the offer he wished he'd thought to make earlier.
"Thanks," she nodded. "I'll probably take you up on that, I just need to clear my head before I make any decisions.
Hermione looked back and forth between them curiously but he just shook his head, this was not the time to explain. So with a quick hug for her friend, and pointedly ignoring the other wizards in the room, she stepped back into his arms and he popped them home.
Author's note: Satisfactory? Some of you asked about Hermione's dress. I've made a Pinterest board for this story. It's the same name, RiverWriter, over there, and the board is titled- shockingly- "His Veela Heritage." You can find the inspiration for her dress as well as some other things from this story over there. Sorry, this site won't let me simply post links. Thanks for reading!