AN: Hi! Sorry. I know I don't really do this but... This doesn't feel like a great chapter for me so I will be uploading an extra one hopefully tomorrow to make up for it. It's fine just kind of explanation-y and I didn't get to devote my time to edits this week. I promise you will LOVEEEEE the next chapter though. Steady forth good men!
A few hours later they had collected a sizable amount of shrinking toadstools and were sitting on the edge of the marsh and the floodplains in Longbottom's greenhouse. The tricky little semi-sentient mushrooms had a habit of popping back into the ground if you weren't quick enough to swipe them. As such, the two of them were very tired and taking a break by a picturesque shore.
Long verdant grasses were patched along the break in the trees edging the water. They provided a lush carpet up until the abrupt drop off onto steep muddy banks. The humidity of the swamp was blown away by the cooling breeze coming off the large river. There was a rare glimpse of sky in the otherwise canopy packed greenhouse and he was currently laying back and enjoying it. Hermione was to his left reading a book she had pulled out of her bag while he watched the clouds soar over the glass roof.
"I am going to ask some questions." He stated settling further into the grass.
"Oh are you?" She didn't even bother to close the book.
"It's only fair after that enormous favor I did for you, taking you out like that."
"And enormous favor… really?" She scoffed and Malfoy couldn't help but feel a little proud that he was rubbing off on her.
"Really. I mean did you even see the bill from the Menagerie-"
She jumped immediately, scrambling for her purse. "I am so sorry. I had totally forgotten-"
"That things cost money?" He teased. " Don't worry about it. I am loaded, remember."
"Well you are black mailing me." She responded but stopped shuffling around in the bag, returning to her book.
"You don't have to answer, not if you don't want to." He thought for sure her prolonged silence was a no as he traced the outline of the trees, drawing abstract shapes and shadows with his mind.
"I suppose it's fair, but only if I get to ask you questions in return."
"Deal." He answered immediately. She had a lot more to prove than he did.
"Fine, make it quick. I am reading about flickflan feathers and don't want to lose my spot." She responded as if she even stopped reading.
"Why potions?" He asked casually. It seemed like a nice way to ease in.
"I was good at them. And they have better versatility than cast magic. I had a project I was working on at the time, when I had completed it I was basically already here. You?"
"Professor Snape really liked me. Don't know why." He paused thinking of his previous head of house. He shivered at memories of long nights spent in the dungeons under the watchful eye and sharp tongue of Severus Snape. "I was a right prat."
"You still are." She responded with a smile in her voice.
"Anyway." He shot her a glare she didn't see and continued. "I was gifted in it to begin with. When he started offering me extra lessons I took them to spend more time with him. It made me feel special."
"You mean superior." Hermione teased.
"That too." He chuckled back. He thought for a moment before asking the next question. "Why did you know how to cast an unbreakable vow? It's not exactly common magic."
"Coincidentally, that involved your favorite teacher." She paused to flip a page. "After the war Harry wanted to know if Snape really had to kill Dumbledore or if there was another way out. No surprise, unbreakable vows are unbreakable."
Draco openly flinched. He supposed he deserved that. "That was my fault."
"Don't feel too bad. The old man was dying anyway. It bothers me he put himself in the position to offer you the choice anyway. You choose the right one for what it's worth. Speaking of which, how did you manage to fix the vanishing cabinet?"
"A threat to your life will do that to you." He responded pushing forward. "I was able to look at the runes that had been destroyed and partially recreate them. It took some trial and error though. Not unlike that magic mirror you are so fond of."
He turned over questions in his mind, trying to find something that provided valuable information but also something she would answer. He gave up after a moment and decide to satisfy his own curiosity. "What happened to you and Dung-brain?"
"Ron I assume?"
"Is that your question?" He teased before nodding. She somehow seemed less defensive about Weasley than Potter, the opposite of what one would expect. "You don't have to say."
"Ah well… it's not that painful. We just kind of… didn't work. Never worked, I guess. The world was moving so fast and we were so young. When the war spun down there just wasn't much nuance to it. It was like we had been following a path that we had been forced down then suddenly turned loose with no direction. It was... unsustainable."
"Hm." He responded thoughtfully. It was a thought worth considering. He supposed it made sense that Weasley stopped looking for her before Potter. Draco could think of very few ex- love interest he would want to help hunt down if they went missing.
"How did you end up with Blaise and Theo?" She had stopped flipping pages so at least she was entertained. "They're pretty fun guys but I didn't really remember them spending time with you at school."
"Ran into Blaise during the battle. He had been locked up with the other Slytherins. He came to stay with me while things cooled down afterwards." It was enough of a half truth that Draco didn't feel guilty. "We both found Theo a year or so later when that story about the time turners broke. Blaise knew he was a bloody genius with potions and we were just starting up so we cleaned him up and recruited him."
"How… opportunistic." She responded in an unapproving tone. He restricted his chuckle at her nativity.
"It was what it was. After a little while it was clear he had more in common with us than not so we all kind of just fell in. I like them." He added unprompted. "They have their own problems but they're good men."
"I agree surprisingly." Draco was suprised to find some small part of him warm at the realization that she got on with his friends. He may have thought more about it if he didn't have a bigger objective in mind.
"Why don't you talk to Harry?"
"I already told you." She responded before the question was even completely out of his mouth.
"You didn't tell me anything and you know it." He barely had time to recover before she fired a question back.
"Do you think we could have been friends? Immortality obsessed megalomaniac aside?"
"It's not your turn." He sighed, clearly recognizing the boundary.
"Don't care." She smiled with an evilness that would make Snape blush. "Answer."
"I mean blood issues aside… I don't know. You were smarter than me." He grimaced as he thought of how badly she out paced him their first two years. "I hated that."
"How you must suffer today." She nodded sympathetically and he threw a blade of grass that got stuck in her hair.
"But I don't know. Maybe when we were older. If you had been sorted into Slytherin or Ravenclaw of course. Never as a Gryffindork."
"Hm." She responded following a passage with her finger.
"What do you think?"
"You really want to know?" She questioned with a smirk.
"Well now I do."
"Well, if there were no war you'd still be that horrible boy who bullied me. Over the years I would learn to ignore it. You would have taught me that other people's opinions don't matter. I'd grow up and marry… I don't know Krum. And I'd come back to our 10 reunion ready to rub it in your face and be shell shocked when you laughed and told me the only reason you picked on me was because you liked me." She finished dramatically never looking up from her reading.
"I will have you know that I picked on you because you were unbearable and I was a shameless devotee of my father who was too stupid to question my parents or their opinions." He scoffed at the very idea. "I am deeply offended that you think I am carrying some sort of torch for you."
"You asked." she responded with a shrug. "That's how it goes in films. Your turn."
"Fine." He rolled his eyes and shifted gears to a lighter topic. "Why me?"
"'Why you' what?"
"Why did you pick me that day in Delhi?" It had been bothering him for ages. After all she knew it was him from the very beginning and offered him the vow anyway. "I know you needed someone idiot enough to fly you into a thunderstorm, and I know you didn't have Potter. But out of all the people in the world who could have helped you why me?"
"Well, it really was for the broom. Part of it was that I was getting desperate and just didn't have any more options as far as skill level." He preened a bit at that. "But I think another part of it was that when you entered my shop you looked exactly like your old self. A spoilt, arrogant, self absorbed-"
"Okay I get it. I am not following your logic though." He pouted as she settled back down.
"When you asked for my help it changed. You looked… I don't know. Tired. You looked like me." He thought about the answer for a while.
"Will you tell me what you need help with?"
"Pass." He responded instantly.
"But I can help you. You can return to your old life."
"I said pass." He huffed. He had honored hers. Silence extended over the course of minutes. He had started to drift off as he stared at the sky.
"Have you ever thought about going back?" Her voice sounded strange, enough that he forced his eyes opened.
"Hm?" He responded airly. The wine Luna had served them at lunch had been enjoyable but now was sending him into quite the steep crash.
"Like to change things?" She responded. He finally tilted his head up to read her expression. She was staring out past the banks and her book. Even upside down she looked lost in thought.
"Like that time Blaise decided that I would look wonderful in pink?" He questioned lightly. "I bet you would go back to that time third year I got a better score than you on our final exam for potions."
"You did not!" She snapped, instantly returning to this world.
"Did so. You got an O with a remark that it was nearly perfect." He returned to staring at the clouds. "I got an O with a comment that it was perfect."
"That was the exact same mark." She responded, swiping at his hair. Her fingertips barely brushed it but it was enough to fall into his eyes. He scowled at the annoyance.
"No. You needed improvement. I was perfect." He slowly pushed the hair out of his face in a way he knew exuded grace before settling into a smug smile. "That was the real reason you punched me that year and you know it. You've always been such a poor loser."
"You tried to kill Buckbeak!" She cried.
"The disgusting creature mauled a child."
"And tried to get Hagrid fired!" She responded with more exasperation.
"He let a child get mauled." He answered with a shrug. "I never did figure out how you ingrates got away with that scot-free."
"Time turner." She responded, back to her thousand yard stare.
"Nasty things, though now your question makes more sense." He offered as he shut his eyes. He had traveled via a time turner once, when he and Blaise picked up Theo. They knew they couldn't undo anything major but it was only after a mishap with a single tripping jinx that led to disastrous consequences that they swore it off entirely. After fixing the Eiffel tower of course.
"Sometimes I wonder if we could go back. Stop it all from happening." Her voice had grown far away again while he frowned at the idea.
"Bad things happen to wizards who mess with time. Leave it be Granger."
"Yeah." She responded with a sigh still seeming out of it. "You're right. I am going to go for a wander. You'll be here when I get back?"
He nodded his head and heard her footsteps fade away into the wind. He was contemplating a nap when a throat cleared. He didn't jump. He already knew who it was.
"Longbottom." Luna would have been humming. Hermione just left, and last he checked dogs could not clear their throats.
"Malfoy." He waited from his position in the grass. After a few minutes he began to wonder if the other wizard had left yet. "Well are you going to get up?"
"That depends. If I don't, are you ever going to leave me alone?" He sighed as he sat up. Neville was standing in front of him with his arms crossed. He was looking off to the side with the air of a man deep at odds with himself. His dark hair was plastered against his clenched neck muscles. Draco was willing to be he was clenching his jaw."You aren't about to confide in me or some other nonsense are you?"
"Why do you have to make everything so difficult." Neville said as he glared down at him. Draco figured he may as well stand. The herbologist hadn't hexed him as of yet but there was a first time for everything.
"Hermione says the same thing. I consider it a natural gift." He heaved himself to meet the other man's gaze. No wand was drawn so he slipped his hands into his pockets to keep them from making any aggressive twitches. "What do you want?"
Neville grimaced and opened his mouth as if to say something before shutting it again. Draco waited for two more iterations of this before growing annoyed.
"Well succinct as always. You should consider teaching."
"I liked you better when I never saw you." Longbottom responded with a sigh of his own. "I just wanted to say thank you."
Draco thought of how Luna had changed in the last few weeks. It wasn't anything particularly drastic to him, just a bit more sing-song and nonsensical, but he imagined that to Neville it was a huge difference.
"No big deal. Just some sticks and dirt. She's blood." He offered with a shrug. He didn't deal with gratitude well.
"It was more than that and you know it."
"Glad she's doing better." The silence stretched out but the brown haired boy still hadn't left. "Well I should-"
"I also need to thank you for my mom." Longbottom practically spat out the words.
"Pardon?"
"My mom. She's… better than she was. That was you."
"Last I checked I wasn't a mind healer." Draco responded suddenly interested in his own shoes.
"You updated the ward. You donated the supplies. You brought in the centaur..." He trailed off as if he was fighting to admit something. "She actually speaks to me now, you know."
Draco pushed down the surge of jealousy. "Good."
"Mostly nonsense of course. But it's so much more than I had. Paired with what Hermione did-"
"That's nice." Draco quickly wanted this conversation to end.
"Anyway. I was afraid Luna was going to end up like that someday." It was difficult not to hear the pain in Neville's voice. "She was starting to speak more nonsense than reality."
"How could you tell?" Draco scoffed. She may be a genius but most of his interactions with her felt like a great practical joke.
"I knew her before…" Neville trailed off. It may have been the longest conversation the two of them had ever had.
"Would you ever use a time turner? To go back and change all that." He hadn't thought of it in years, but one errant question from Hermione had thrown it back on his mind.
"No. It may have changed everything. But we're okay now. Better a small generation of people who aren't quite right than all of Britain falling." Draco risked a glance at the other man. He looked forlorn, staring at his own shoes.
"How do you get through it? You seem so normal compared to everyone." And he was. Even he and Hermione had their own mental ticks, not that they were overt. Neville seemed to be the only cogent one in their merry band of cock ups.
"I've got you fooled then." The other boy just laughed and shook his head. "I haven't been normal since the day my parents disappeared. I just have more practice with it. You'll get there. You all will."
"Or die trying." Draco thought back to that horrid color of off-white that was Hermione skin, lying near-dead by her floo. Had it really only been a few months ago?
"I suppose that's an option too." Longbottom cleared his throat again. "In any event I just wanted to thank you. And let you know as long as you keep it secret and above board. When this is all over with Hermione, you can come back here. I figure we owe you at least that much."
"Thanks." Draco choked out in surprise, not hat he hadn't been hoping for this very thing. It was no mistake that the other boy had merely tolerated him until this point. He clearly had a much higher capacity for forgiveness than Draco.
"I just wanted to tell you before... I don't know the details of the arrangement but I figure the end must be coming up soon." Draco scowled, instantly guilty. He wanted to tell her... but he wanted a lot of things. "You can trust her, you know."
"I know." Draco responded automatically. And he did trust her. It was just…complicated. "It's not really my story to tell."
He matched Neville's gaze and they hung there for a moment. There was a measure of respect to it. They both held themselves as pinnacles of their fields, born for greatness and blowing past those demands just to spite them. There was another layer to Neville's eyes. To Draco's surprise he recognized concern.
"Well... I hope when you two come out of this…"" He trailed off breaking the moment. "I just hope you two come out of this okay. You're welcome anytime. Just owl before stopping by. We can let you know if... anyone else is here."
Draco would like to think once freed he and Granger could still be… well if not friendly at least civil. But he supposed that depended on how she saw it. Sure she traded barbs and threw good-natured insults his way. But was that really how friendship worked for her? She had spent her life surrounded by love and kindness. Compared to those relationships, his own were practically skeletal. He didn't even know how to make friends that weren't inseveribly linked by a dark past which, big surprise, was his fault too.
"Hey Longbottom." The botanist glanced over his shoulder lazily. "The offer from a few years back still stands if you ever want to come back to the present. Theo can't find a halfway decent herbologist on this side of the ocean."
Neville smiled sadly. "No, there's not really a place for any of us in your world. I am surprised you are struggling along so well as is."
There was a crack of apparition and the man disappeared leaving his one liner floating in the air. And that was how Granger found him sometime later, staring up at the clouds with a pensive sadness floating around him and a distinct lack of questions.
0000000000
Things were going well. Theo and Blaise were arranging the press release for Hermione's potion. It looked like it was going to be a huge hit. Theo had even been discussing looking into clinical uses. Blaise had really taken over the spearhead on the company lately. Draco himself just couldn't really bring himself to care much about his private clients and often just left their orders sitting on his reception desk with a note of consumption instructions. Instead he was spending more and more time at a familiar workshop looming over London.
He jumped when green flames erupted from the floo. Nearly spilling a whole bottle of ghoul's oil into the pixie repellent potion Hermione was teaching him to make. The witch in question looked up from some sort of sales ledger she was reading in equal shock. He was mentally prepared to duel, already pulling out his wand. The more time he spent here, the more obvious it became that for whatever reason, no one other than him and Hermione stepped foot in her workshop. He would question why, if he hadn't lived through the attacks of the last war. He himself had stormed through unsuspecting soul's floo with semi-regularity.
However, when the flames died down and a small brown package jumped out of the soot and onto the dingy rug.
"It's mine." He stated, rushing over to the paper wrapped parcel. He picked it up carefully, though there was no need to treat it with such delicacy.
"I was unaware this was your new post box." Hermione scoffed as she returned to her reading.
"Oh don't be so uptight. It was a personal-direct delivery. They would have delivered it to the minister's office if I was there when it was sent." He unwrapped the corner just a bit to see the silky black fabric catch the light.
"Is it anything fun? Or just more Snape Grease. Oh. I'm sorry, hair gel." She smirked and flipped a page.
"Sod off Granger." He shrunk the package and slipped it into his pocket. Tomorrow was Sunday and it was shaping up to be a good one.
World Building with Om
Shrinking Toadstools
Little red and white mushrooms that grow at the base of swamp trees. When they detect danger they shoot back into the ground making them impossible to retrieve. Gatherers must sneak up on them from the other side of the tree and pounce before they are noticed.
Personal Direct Delivery
An expensive form for package delivery that will ensure your mailing item is sent via floo to wherever the person is. Each package contains an individual tracking charm in order to find it's recipient.