One-Way Ticket
Chapter 26: One-Way Ticket
"And then I realised...he intended to get me drunk and steal the money of me. He must've noticed the lack of license then. Opportunistic bastard."
"So that was what it was all about!" said Hermione, as the two descended into laughter on the way home.
They were nearly there, just several twisty streets separated them from their home, the windy roads flanked with cars and trees thick with the blooms of summer. Occasionally a few silken glitters of yellow and green fell from the boughs in leafy confetti bunches and fluttered to join their comrades on the ground. A pavement littered with the leaves of summer, occasionally crunching through as Draco and Hermione walked home.
A leaf landed in her hair and Hermione felt her mouth catch onto a grin as Draco swept it back, his gaze lingering on her for perhaps a moment longer.
"It was quite an adventure...I...I was really worried there for a second," said Draco, his heart fluttering as he remembered the moments spent on the floor, lying after being KO'd hard.
"Really? I knew you thought you could handle yourself but I thought you'd be worried for real there for a moment. It does sound horrifying," said Hermione, a smile lingering on her mouth.
"Yes, but...that tour of the city. Seeing more of the muggle world and everything, seeing your neighbourhood..." Draco's voice had a hint of a steely tilt to it, as he continued. Hermione could feel her own breath slowing down, a warning increase of her heart as she heard the next words come out.
"It made me realise several things. And perhaps I should have realised them earlier. I...you knew I grew up in Slytherin, under my family's wealth and legacy. And shape me a lot it did. But along with it, was this expectation to further the family legacy and follow our political views, which at that point, involved prioritising purebloods and halfbloods, over muggle borns or muggles. And of choosing partners to support these views and choosing otherwise would be seen as betraying them..."
"I thought you hated halfbloods..." Hermione's voice was coming out in a whisper. This was the first time they had ever talked about this topic. They were lucky the streets were majorly deserted.
"It's only muggle borns we hate. Because the integration of their parents requires new bank accounts to be opened in the wizarding world, new explanation of how major services work from a witch or wizard. From a pureblood perspective there's a degree of mistrust that they wouldn't like the wizarding world, would be disenamoured with it and blab to their muggle friends, or betray us. Purebloods have more to lose if that happens, as we have no footing in the muggle world. So that degree of mistrust has always been there..."
"I'm beginning to understand..." murmured Hermione softly, thinking that perhaps this was a piece of the puzzle she had been missing all the time whilst Draco had been teasing her and probably others...
"Which was used and exploited by..." Draco swallowed, "Pureblood families have had a degree of mistrust and perhaps more tension between muggle borns and us than any other group. But it was mostly used by ... the Dark Lord, in order to hook us in, and eventually use our own economic resources and political power for his own benefit." Draco paused, "when our parents began supporting the Dark Lord, it had seemed a good idea at that time. But over the years, mother has been slowly saying he's just using us for this benefit, and his true political views are not of those. He just saw a weakness we had and exploited it into his advantage to gain power. She thinks he's true views are something else. But we're too hooked in to leave...doing so would cause great problems for us now..."
Hermione nodded, suddenly she saw Draco, the boy who had always teased her, caught in the shadows of both worlds, wanting to support his family's afflictions and wanting to leave. "So you're family...supports him? I mean, of course I knew that, but-"
"We are one of the many. Not a key player at the moment, but we are affiliated with him. I...before coming to Hogwarts, I always thought I would date a pureblood, or halfblood but pretend it was pure. Those sort of details can be glossed over upon marriage you know. Life was...going to be simple. Go to Hogwarts, do well in studies, get on the Quidditch team, maybe date a girl I liked, but, it's always been in my mind to date a pureblood or halfblood, I completely didn't notice the muggle borns. When in fact...there's no reason why we can't be. Personality and chemistry does play a part, and I think..." said Draco, "being in the muggle world has made me realise how much freedom there is. And how another world exists entirely, separate from these age old prejudices of the wizarding world. I think I realised if it weren't for those, and I entered Hogwarts just looking for a girl who was an erudite with studies and cared enough about them just like I did, who was charming and witty, and made me smile...it would have been you Granger. If it weren't for those prejudices you would've been a good candidate to date and...maybe I would've dated you...the broken portkey has been a real one-way ticket of seeing, in more ways than just one..."
"Really? All these years? The teasing?" asked Hermione, unsure of what to say. A shower of leaves fell from around her, and cluttered through the patch of sunlight falling through the trees and illuminating a patch of pavement. A faint drizzle had started, the first sign of rain after a summer of scorching heat, and fell in tiny but cooling raindrops that derelicted upon touch with their skin and hair. A faint plodding through the canopy chorusing like a thousand froggy croaks, each picking up as the other died.
"Come, we should be home," she said, lacing her fingers through him as they began a slow meander home.
"I think you've always known. And...I want to date you. If you want it. I mean...the muggle world has been amazing and opened my eyes to so many things. Especially the freedom of existence and how I could have, and should have dated you if I had the freedom of choice. I understand if that's not something you want to do," said Draco curtly, "but I would always be happy to date you should you want to give it a chance..."
"Always," said Hermione, surprising herself all of a sudden, memories of how well they walked or laughed came to mind, maybe they were a good pairing afterall, "I've always wondered..."
Draco smiled, they kissed under the swirling leaves and rain, a burst of momentary happiness under the bright sunlight. And broke apart what seemed like an infinitely long time later.
"The relationship...how will we manage at Hogwarts..." said Hermione, "especially with increasing tensions and..."
"That's up to us to figure out. We can either keep it going or lie and pretend on the surface, or...come out with it. Whichever's better, but...we'll manage. One way or another," said Draco, "speaking of which. Chudley Cannons or Puddlemore United, which one do you support? I've always wondered..."
And so the air ran rifle with the sounds of talk over much overdue topics and laughter floating through the fresh breeze as the two meandered home.
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading and following, and of course, the few reviews that this story gathered. I know I've complained about the low (or what I think is low) number of reviews at times (53 by this chapter), but thank you so much for the support and interest in this story. Even if author's don't say it, it definitely makes a difference to see people reading, following, and reviewing, and those reviews have lit up my day and helped this story along. I can't believe I've pretty much finished it (there's only one more chapter after this). This is the first multi-chap story I've ever finished, and it's quite an experience to finish something I started. At times I thought it was cringey or I had grown up a little from when I first started writing it, but I kept going because I thought there was interest and wanted to complete it to do this story justice. But anyways, I hope you've enjoyed it, this story and everything, and can't wait to post up the last chapter. Also, I did change the storyline a little as I went, so I actually removed the sections where Hermione and Draco were exploring the muggle world that I originally asked ideas for (amusement park, etc, as well as the Selina story arc etc) because I just thought it wouldn't fit in with the mood of the story after this, and ultimately I thought the mood was more important than minor story arcs that might not match the overall mood or direction of the story. So sorry for the people who came up with suggestions - I did genuinely think I was going to write them at that time, but I changed the storyline and everything since. Please don't go too hard on me for that, just be glad I finished the story despite difficulties with time and everything.
Once again, thanks for reading and please review if you have something to say! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and have a good day~~
-Whymsicalbell
P.S. I based some of the dialogue of a JK Rowling interview where she said part of the reason why Draco teased Hermione so much over the years was because he had a small crush on her but couldn't have her. And if it weren't for the age old prejudices, since Draco was always looking for an intelligent witty wife, it might've made sense to date her, so that might've been why there was so much tension. Even if he didn't know it at that time. Isn't that a cool fact for us Dramione shippers? :P