Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Thanks for all your reviews. They make me smile. I ventured out into some new writing territory this week, with a couple of short Seamus/Hermione stories, "Finnegan's Wake" and "Charming." I'm fairly pleased with them for first attempts at the pairing. I had the day off today and finished this next chapter of Mugglefied and started the next one.
Chapter 54: Starting
Hermione stood behind Draco, rubbing his shoulders. It had been several days since they left his mother's house. He'd professed that it didn't bother him. That he he didn't care. He'd even told her to let the Weasleys know they'd be coming over for Christmas, definitive that nothing would be patched up with his mother in four months. "I just don't know how she can eat and sleep in that house every day as if nothing's wrong. As if unforgivable nightmares didn't happen there." Every time he promised himself he wouldn't think about it anymore…words fell out of his mouth. He was starting to feel a bit unraveled.
"I don't know, Draco. I'd be just as happy if we never went back there. But I'm worried about you. She's your mother." She found herself looking over at the music box he'd given her at Christmas—it was always on her nightstand, though she hardly ever played it. What would she give to have her mother hum to her again?
"Not if she won't accept you she's not. Hermione, let's leave it alone. There's more important things to worry about." He reached up and took both her hands, squeezing them in his and she leaned down to kiss him. "I still haven't told Theresa I want to quit."
"Are you sure you want to?"
He wasn't sure.
"You could stay there, you know. It wouldn't be a terrible thing. We could get another flat near here," she said gently.
Slumping back in his seat, Draco rested the back of his head against Hermione. "I enjoy it well enough, but…" he hesitated. "I don't think I could keep up the pretense indefinitely. I like the people I work with, but I don't feel like I can talk to them about anything but work. My backstory would fall apart if anyone looked at it too closely. And I don't have the general knowledge I should to move fluidly in the Muggle world." There were gaps that it would take a lifetime to fill. "How did you ever manage? With all of your relatives who didn't know? Your neighbors?"
She slipped her arms around his chest, leaning down. She breathed him in and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. They'd covered this ground before. "I mostly didn't. I spent less and less time with them 'til I hardly went home for holidays at all. And when I was home, I didn't seek out my neighbors or extended family unless I absolutely had to—like for weddings or funerals. I know at least one cousin thought I'd gone off to a posh school and thought I was too good for the rest of them. It wasn't that…I just didn't have anything to say. I couldn't talk about how well Charms was going, or how much I disliked our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. My parents were always supportive, but they didn't really understand."
Draco nodded. It was what he was afraid of. He could keep working at the library. But friendships would only ever be work-deep. It was all too complicated to try to do more. And he wanted more. He realized he had little desire to see any of his old "friends" again. He was going to have to make new ones. He'd never been very good at that. Lackeys and hangers on, sure. Friends? That was another story.
There weren't as many people around the table as there had been at Christmas, but the legs still groaned with the weight of the food on it. Draco and Hermione sat on one side of the table, and Ginny and Neville were on the other. George had begged off Sunday night dinner because he had to work, and Harry was babysitting. Molly and Arthur sat at each end. Mashed potatoes, a roast chicken, and all the trimmings were piled on.
"This is all delicious, Mrs. Weasley," Draco offered, as the Weasley matron added a second serving to his plate.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it, dear. It's so good to have you and Hermione back here, isn't it, Arthur?"
"Oh yes."
Draco began asking Molly about some of the cooking spells she used and if she had a book he might be able to borrow; he didn't want to be too sure of his welcome in this new arrangement. A little flattery never hurt, and besides…if he couldn't talk Hermione into a house-elf the spells would come in handy. At the other end of the table, Arthur was quizzing Hermione on her plans with the werewolves. He was still uneasy about her visits to Azkaban and even more perturbed when she mentioned that she was organizing a meeting with a larger group. He seemed discomfited when she said she wasn't taking an Aurors with her, but she wouldn't be dissuaded. She was limited to a four person team, and three spots were taken. She turned the conversation aside, asking Neville what his plans were now that he was done with school.
"Continuing to help Professor Sprout for the time being. It'll be good to have Harry back there as well."
The conversation meandered, and even surrounded by former Gryffindors…Draco was mostly at ease. He bristled a little when Neville asked him about McGonagall's conditions that were mentioned at the trial.
"I haven't heard from her yet, but I suspect she wants me to act as a warning to all the good little witches and wizards. Talk about why it's important not to try and take over the world and all that," he said drily. "I'm sure I'll be hearing from her soon." Draco forced himself to take another bite of his dinner and did his best to turn the conversation aside, asking Ginny how things were going in the joke shop and what new terror they'd be gracing the world with.
He found his eyes occasionally straying to Ginny's hand, getting patted by Neville during the conversation, or sneaking a biscuit off his plate when there was plenty of biscuits at the other end of the table. He wondered that no one else seemed to be noticing it, and resolved to be sure to torment the Weaslette later. It was only fair after all she'd put him through over the holidays. He did his best to keep the smirk off his face.
Draco and Hermione were lying in bed, and he traced lazy circles on her back with his finger. Getting up and starting their day just seemed like too much trouble when they could lay in bed together. They had a little time before they had to face the day. "That meeting you're arranging with Belby…I heard you say at dinner the other night that you need a fourth. I'm coming with you."
"Are you sure?" she asked, raising her head. "I wasn't going to make you go. There are other people I can ask. I know how you feel…because of Greyback. I wasn't going to put you through that."
He leaned forward, kissing her forehead. "I've not always been the bravest in the past, but, how can you imagine you'd be going into this sort of danger and I wouldn't be there?"
She sighed softly. "You've come a long way."
"We both have."
She curled up closer to him, breathing deeply. The sheets were soft against her skin. "You're sure you want to go?"
"I'm sure. Tell me about what we'll be doing," he said, planting another kiss on her lips.
Hermione's head rested on his arm. "Still working out the details with Belby, but it will be you, me, Belby, and a wizard he knows who suffers from lycanthropy. We'll go to the forest and try to establish peaceful contact. I'll offer what help I can…" She trailed off. "It's hard to know until we get there. I've gotten McGonagall to agree that if a child with lycanthropy wanted to study at Hogwarts, they wouldn't be turned aside. That was a harder fight than I expected. A lot harder. There's so much I want to do. Mostly what I can offer right now is Wolfsbane potion, and a place for their children at Hogwarts. I'd like to offer them back everything they've missed over the decades they've had to live rough, outside of wizarding society—train them in magic and provide some of the educational staples they may have missed. Get the laws changed to end the discrimination…"
"It sounds like you need a whole training facility and staff."
She sighed, leaning over to kiss him. "I do. Assuming anyone wants my help. They very well may tell me to just shove off and that they're happy as they are. I've got information from Percy and Arthur on who at the Ministry might be sympathetic to the cause, but it would still take a while to move anything into action. There are so many unknowns. Belly is going to be giving me advice on how to prepare before the meet up, for whatever preparation can be done, but I have a feeling quite a bit of the meeting will mostly be flying by the seat of our pants."
"I'd rather use a broom," Draco pointed out.
Chuckling, she kissed him again. "Time to get up, or even with Apparating to work, and heating the tea water by magic, we won't be ready in time."
Lunchtime found Draco at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Months after their release, he was surprised to see the calling mirrors still flying off the shelves. Even on a Tuesday, the place was full up with Hogwarts students looking for their non-mandatory essentials to take back with them for the fall term. Who could face charms without some fake wands? Or potions without some Puking Pastilles? The shop was doing a brisk trade, and Draco found the Weaslette talking to several customers at once. He waited patiently off the side, content with having caught her eye. She knew he was there.
He watched her neatly dispatch them with ease; some were sent out with their purchases bagged, others sent to other corners of the store for more merchandise they just had to have.
"Quite a crowd here," he observed.
"Yes, there usually is. Did you need something?"
He couldn't help smirking. "So, you and Longbottom? I'm surprised your parents weren't all over you the other night."
The redhead grimaced and started rearranging things on the counter. "They haven't noticed yet. They might have noticed at dinner the other night, but fortunately, I had you and Hermione there to distract them. Anyway, I doubt you came all the way down here in the middle of the work day to get a rise out of me about Neville. What do you want, Malfoy?"
"I need to talk to George. Is he in?"
"He's in the back. You can go on through. Let me know when you and Hermione are moving out so I can take the flat. I want to get out of the house," she added, motioning him through the door behind the counter. "And don't you breathe a word about Neville."
He suppressed a smirk; he hadn't expected it to be so easy for the Weaslette to confirm his suspicions about her and Longbottom. He strolled to the back room. His lunch hour was running out and he needed to talk to George or there was no way he'd be able to have the conversation he intended to have this afternoon.
The redhead was at his workbench and there was a small explosion before he looked up, his eyebrows slightly smoking. "Malfoy, what brings you in?"
"I'd like to make a proposal."
A slow smile curled across George's face; the sort of smile that someone was in for an unpleasant surprise. He found a flesh colored false ear on the table and raised it up. "I'm listening."
It was all Draco could do not to roll his eyes at the pun, but he put on his most charming smile and began to outline his proposal.
Author's Note: Funny note here. For the next chapter, I was looking up what the most popular book was in 1999 when this story takes place. The most popular book in 1999 according to several lists…Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Certainly can't reference that one in this story!
