Chapter 28: Correspondences
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
Hermione sat staring at him, eyes blinking a little too quickly as she processed what he was saying; hopes of meeting a refined Lucius dissolving almost as soon as she'd considered them. Draco sat next to her on the couch, watching her, waiting for her reaction.
"Did Narcissa know?" She finally said.
"I don't think she did this morning. It's why I waited until the last minute to tell her about you. So she wouldn't have time to owl him and receive one back with his opinions. I wanted your first meeting to be as natural as possible and I just thought if I waited to tell you both, that it would be one less thing on everyone's mind."
She nodded, feeling like maybe she should be annoyed, but seeing the logic behind his decision to keep the information to himself, "Do you think it will change her interest in getting to know me? I thought today went well and it would really be a shame if Lucius could turn her so quickly. Before we had a chance to get to know each other more."
"I think the fact that she's met you now will make it more difficult for her to let his opinion overshadow her experience," he said with moderate confidence, "My mother loves my father very much, but she connects with people in a way that he does not. Not knowing you, perhaps she would let his opinion sway her to be less open to connecting with you, and maybe not, maybe I'm not giving her enough credit," he added in as an afterthought, "But since she's already started forming a connection with you, I think she's less likely to accept my father's opinions without presenting him with her experience and trying to get him to see reason."
"But he won't, will he?"
Draco paused before answering, "I don't think so. I think if six years in Azkaban haven't tuned him in to the error in his ways, I'm not sure my mother will be able to."
There was silence for another moment, "So what does that mean?"
"I don't know," Draco said honestly, "If he'll meet with us, I think we should, if you're still willing, knowing where he stands."
"I haven't changed my mind."
Draco noticed her voice didn't waver. She was sticking by her decision and he nodded, "Alright, then I think we give it one good attempt to clear the air. For him to realize that you're more than good enough for me — too good for me, if we're taking my opinion into account here — and we see what he says. I had hoped before all this that Azkaban would change him. I've already seen the evidence that it hasn't, but I feel I need to give him his chance to realize he's wrong. Maybe talking in person would help. And if not, at least everything will be on the table and my mother will see he's never going to change and we can go forward from there in some way."
"I'll stand by your side and I'll keep my head high. It's not going to be pleasant, knowing already that he doesn't think we should be dating based solely on my blood status, but I think we have to show a united front to him to get him to understand that this is happening with or without his approval. We'll get through it."
"I know," Draco said quietly, "I'm sorry to even have to ask you to come face to face with my father after everything he's done."
"We handle these things together," she said, taking his hand, "And maybe Narcissa will talk some sense into him between now and then. You never know."
Draco gave her a weak smile at her optimism, "Right, maybe."
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
"She's got it!"
"Whoa, look!"
"Awesome!"
Draco and Hermione's heads swiveled as shouts of excitement met their ears about an hour into the Dueling Club meeting Tuesday evening. Hermione's lips broke into a smile as she watched a silver fox run joyfully around the room.
"Well done, Fiona!" she clapped and everyone else joined in, whooping and cheering for the first patronus to materialize in the club. Fiona lowered her wand as the fox disappeared, looking smugly ecstatic, similar to how Draco had looked when he'd finally succeeded. Her classmates crowded around her, patting her on the back and asking what it felt like.
"It seems so simply now, really," she responded, tossing her hair over her shoulder as Marielle pushed through the students and flung her arms around Fiona's neck.
"That was amazing!" she gushed, stepping back, her hands grabbing Fiona's and squeezing them lightly as Fiona's smugness all but dissolved and they shared an excited giggle between them.
Hermione and Draco had joined the crowd now and Draco waved a hand above his head with a whistle, "Alright everyone, give Fiona some air," he said as the group all backed up a few paces and turned to the professors, "Great job, Fiona. How does it feel to know your patronus is a fox?"
"It feels right," she said with a contented nod, a sparkle prominently in her eye.
"And do you have any tips you can share with everyone else about what helped you produce your patronus?"
Fiona turned to her classmates, not at all one to downplay the theatrics of the situation, "I just thought of a memory that gave me pure happiness. I let myself be totally a part of that memory, focusing on the thoughts I had in that moment, the sensations I felt, the things that I could smell and see and feel, and I threw all that positivity into the spell. I think before, I was remembering the memory, but I wasn't letting it be a part of my moment. I could replay it, but I wasn't there. You just need to tune out everything else that's going on in this room and just be with your thoughts and your memory and let that guide you."
"Very well said," Hermione said sincerely, "Alright, with those words of advice, everyone back to your spots and let's take two minutes of quiet time for everyone to center themselves again and then we'll restart our practicing.
The club was only slotted for two hours, backing up to within half an hour of curfew. But tonight, as the end of the meeting came closer, no one had any intention of calling it a night. Sixteen more students had produced a patronus in the last half hour. So many had been close before Fiona's success and it had seemed to pull out the confidence some of the others needed to cross that threshold. After Fiona, Zachary had been the next success when a fully formed electric eel erupted from his wand, not a snake as Draco had originally thought. The tally of successful patronuses so far included ten of the seventh year students, a few of the sixth years, Zachary and Marcus from Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw boy, two fifth year girls, a Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and a third year Hufflepuff boy.
Draco and Hermione reconvened to decide if they should round everyone up to call it a night, but another outcry of excitement caught their attention as they looked over and saw a dolphin jumping about the room as everyone looked around to figure out who cast it. There was a half second of silence as all eyes fell on Patrick, arm outstretched as he watched the patronus follow his wand movements. Draco and Hermione shared a look of shock before the noise level in the room picked up all at once with words of congratulations as everyone crowded around Patrick, as they had with each other student who had been successful so far.
"Maybe we just let them practice up until curfew," Draco suggested with a grin as they walked over to join the group.
By the time curfew hit, there were nine more students that joined the ranks of those who cast successful patronuses, which were floating all over the room. All of the seventh years and the majority of the sixth years, with the exception of Gabriel, Christian and a Hufflepuff girl named Coraline, had mastered the spell with a handful of the lower class years on their heels.
Draco whistled loudly and the attention in the room turned to the front with disappointed looks, knowing they were likely ending for the day.
"Alright everyone," Hermione called, "We've gone as late as we possibly could tonight, but it's time for everyone to get back to your common rooms as quickly as you can! We've seen such amazing progress tonight with at least a third of you completing successful attempts. Next week will finish out our month on the Patronus charm and after that point, if you'd like to keep working on the spell individually, feel free to reach out to myself or Professor Malfoy and we can try some one-on-one or small group meetings. Given we're going to continue with Patronus charms next week, we will be postponing our monthly duels until the week following."
"That said, off to bed with you!" Draco concluded as everyone started grabbing their belongings and waving as they filed out of the room to get back to their common rooms before prefects caught them out of bed after curfew.
Hermione and Draco returned to the dungeons together that evening, high from the excitement of the meeting. They were recollecting the patronuses they could remember as the door clicked shut behind them, still in awe that Patrick had mastered the spell even before a lot of the older students. They shrugged off their teaching robes and hung them by the door, Hermione's long skirt underneath flowing as they turned for the couches, but their conversation was interrupted by an abrupt pecking at the window as Hermione paused mid-sentence and they stopped in the middle of the living room, heads turning towards the offending noise.
"That'll probably be your mum," Hermione said with a strained voice.
Narcissa had sent a message on Monday that she had, indeed, owled Lucius the Thursday prior to tell him that Draco was dating Hermione and had received a very displeased owl back that Sunday morning. Narcissa had owled Draco, chiding him about keeping her in the dark and asking if he intended to speak with his father and how he planned to handle the situation before she responded back to Lucius. Draco had sent an owl back Monday night promising to finally send Lucius a response and that they should all meet once he was released. He'd asked his mother to let him correspond with Lucius before she did and to keep an open mind, regardless of his opinions. He'd ensured to include in the message that Hermione had enjoyed getting to know her and sent along her well-wishes.
Draco walked over to the window, opening it and removing the message from the owl's leg as Hermione grabbed a few pellets of owl feed from the jar on the shelf and fed them to the grateful bird. Draco walked over to the couch, unrolling the parchment and sitting down to read. He was silent as his eyes scanned the page, barely aware of Hermione sinking into the couch cushion next to him to read over his shoulder.
Draco,
I will let you correspond with your father to make a decision of how to work through this before I respond back to him. Please do so without haste as I don't like to go too long between messages. Of course I was disappointed to hear his reaction, but he is still my husband, and your father, and I do believe we all need to convene before any drastic words are exchanged. His opinions will not overshadow the lovely woman I met on Saturday, as I would hope you would already know. Please send my regards to Hermione.
With Love,
Narcissa
Hermione let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding as she read, "Well, that's good at least that it didn't seem to change her mind about me. At least not yet with him still in Azkaban."
"I'm still not quite sure what to say to my father," Draco sighed, "I know I told her I'd respond to him soon, but I have no idea how to say what I want to say in a respectful and productive way."
"I can talk it out with you," Hermione suggested, "Or if it's something personal you need to do, I would understand."
"Well it involves you so it doesn't feel fair not to let you be a part of formulating the response. I'll think about it overnight and tomorrow we can sit down together and talk through it to draft something."
Hermione saw the dejected look in his eye at how his family was handling their relationship and she took his mother's letter from his hands and set it on the coffee table before taking both of his hands in hers, "This is uncomfortable. We knew it was going to be. But we can talk about this stuff. We can navigate it, okay? I know you wish things had been different, but this is the hand we've been dealt and we're going to play a hell of a game with it."
Draco let out a chuckle, "You're a little blindly positive sometimes, you know that, don't you?"
"Well it counteracts your negativity, so you're welcome," these issues were going to come up and they needed to learn to acknowledge and deal with them, and also to put them down and keep living their life without a constant cloud over their heads.
He looked at her wryly before he broke one of his hands away and lifted it to the back of her neck, pulling her forward slowly and capturing her lips, letting his breath heavily out of his nose, "I love your blind positivity. It's refreshing."
She grinned, their eyes locking for a brief moment before they both closed again and their lips were back together. Hermione's free hand moved gently along Draco's leg as he caught her bottom lip between his and nibbled it lightly, enjoying the feeling of her hand traveling along the outside of his pants and curious where it might venture next as he felt himself becoming more aroused the higher it moved. All thoughts of the letters with his parents were vanishing as they were replaced with much more vivid thoughts involving the girl in front of him.
Hermione, however, had just meant it in a comforting gesture and around mid-thigh, her hand turned course and moved back down to his knee as she took in the sensation of his soft lips against hers and the warmth his hand brought to her neck. After a few more lingering kisses she pulled back looking contented that he'd let himself cheer up a bit, "I'm going to make some tea for us before bed."
Draco watched her walk towards the kitchen, confused at first as he realized she hadn't even been trying to get him in the mood. The only problem was that now he was in the mood. His look of confusion slowly turned into a devious smile as he pushed himself off the couch and followed her.
She was reaching up for the tin of tea leaves in the cupboard when he wrapped his arms around her from behind. She jumped a bit in shock, not hearing his stealthy entrance to the kitchen before she laughed. His hand moved the hair on her shoulder to the side so he could reach the skin below. He started planting kisses down her neck as she lowered her hands from the cupboard and placed them on the counter in front of her.
"And what exactly do you think you're doing?" She asked slyly.
"I believe I'm taking advantage of you in the kitchen," he responded between kisses, his hand moving to the zipper on her skirt, unzipping it slowly as she processed his actions.
"And what makes you think I want to be taken advantage of?" She said matter-of-factly as though this wasn't something they'd talked about when he'd badgered her about what kinds of sexual experiences she'd like to explore.
"The fact that your skirt is on the floor and you haven't moved," he said in a low voice that gave her goosebumps, his lips moving to her collarbone.
"Maybe I just wanted some tea and an early night in bed." His hands were slipping the straps of her top off as he kissed across her shoulder and it took everything in her not to melt onto the floor.
"Just say 'flobberworm' if you really want me to stop," he said, practically smirking against her skin as she fell silent, "That's what I thought," he pulled her shirt up and she lifted her arms for it to come off. She went to turn around but he held her firmly in place, "I think right here is good, if you're not opposed."
"Oh," she felt her heart rate elevating, he was going to take her right there in the kitchen against the counter, "Yes, right here is just fine," she breathed.
She let her underwear fall to the ground as he stepped back a few inches to remove his own clothes. It was almost shocking how quickly he could disrobe when she was naked, but she wasn't at all upset by it as she felt him press against her again. He tilted her head to the side and recaptured her lips as she moved her legs a bit apart subconsciously.
"I love you," he said in her ear as he pressed himself into her slowly, her head falling back onto his shoulder with a gasp as he worked his way in and out of her warmth until he filled her completely.
"I love you too, Draco," she whispered, one arm snaking around the back of his neck as he pushed her flush against the kitchen counter and a moan escaped her lips. She let her mind blank and felt herself meld together with him in a beautiful, sporadic moment of passion.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
"So what did you write to your father?" Harry asked as he and Draco were walking back from Hogsmeade on Friday night, Hermione and Ginny spending the evening catching up over cappuccino in her room.
"Well I told Granger all the things I'd like to say about telling him to leave his bigoted bullshit where it belongs, buried with the Dark Lord, and to be a man and own his mistakes and grow from them instead of acting like a child."
"I'm guessing she helped you make that sound a bit less angry and a bit more 'let's give ourselves a fresh start'?"
He shot him a crooked smile, "Yes, she's much better with words than I am. I wrote him and told him I'm happy and that he needs to respect how I chose to move forward with my life. I reiterated that Granger is well respected in the wizarding world, incredibly intelligent and that I care for her very much. And I suggested we all sit down so he can get to know her and try to see past his predisposed notions when he arrives back home."
Harry nodded as he thought for a moment, "Do you think he will?"
"I'd be surprised if he sits down with us willingly. My mother will probably talk him into it, though. And it probably will not go well."
"But at least then you can say you tried?"
He met Harry's question with a heavy sigh, "At least then we can say we tried. I just don't know what my mother will do once she realizes we're not going to find common ground."
"But I mean… she knows Lucius," Harry said uneasily, "She must know he's not going to come around to this. She must be thinking about that already."
"She's always wanted to see the best in him, no matter what he did. I'm sure in her mind she's reassuring herself that he just needs to come back out and be a part of what he's been sarcastically calling the 'new world' before he comes to his senses and starts moving forward like everyone else and accepting the things he hasn't in the past."
"So it might be a bit of a shock to her as well if it doesn't go well."
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Was Hermione pretty open to meeting with Lucius?"
"She knows I'll have to deal with him so she wants to be a part of it. I'm not sure she even knows what she's getting herself into."
"Well if he tries to give her any crap, at least you know she'll give it back with even more sting and grace."
"She just shouldn't even have to come face to face with him again," Draco said darkly, "She literally fought against him at the Ministry of Magic. You all did. Not to mention all the other stuff that I was present for as well. I can't help feeling guilty about what being with me means for her."
"It means she's happy, Malfoy," Harry said simply with a shrug as Draco looked over at him flatly, "I'm not kidding. She's the happiest I've ever seen her. Like a giddy school girl when we talk about you. And I can promise you I've never seen her talk about anyone like that in the twelve years I've known her."
"She gives me too much credit then."
"And you don't give yourself enough," Harry patted him on the back as the final word as they reached the Entrance Hall, "Come on up and say hi to the girls?"
"Sure," Draco sighed with an appreciative smile back, dropping the previous conversation, "I think I've only been up to Gryffindor Tower once when I went to go find Granger during the holidays. We usually spend the nights in the dungeons to avoid any awkward run-ins."
"Well she hasn't unpacked much more since then so don't be shocked."
They chatted on their walk up before arriving at Hermione's door, which was open a crack already.
"Good evening," Harry announced their entrance as Hermione and Ginny, mid-laughter, looked up from their conversation, snuggled into the couch.
"Draco, you came up!" Hermione beamed at him, her eyes a bit glossy.
"What've you got in those cappuccinos?" He asked with a chuckle.
Hermione had jumped off the couch and was slinging her arms around his neck, her mug tipping precariously, "Well, after a cappuccino, Ginny suggested hot chocolate and then she said it would go great with some firewhiskey, and here we are!"
Draco grinned at her, leaning down for a kiss before he pulled back, mostly still nervous he was about to get doused with a hot beverage, and they walked over to the couch to join Harry and Ginny. Ginny had climbed onto Harry's lap at the far end and was talking animatedly about something as Hermione flopped down on the other side and Draco and Harry shared an amused look.
"I was telling Ginny that she and Harry should join us at the Alchemist Den with Pansy and Nev one night!" Hermione said, pulling Draco down to the couch with her, the four of them barely fit there together, but Hermione paid that no mind as she draped her legs over Draco, who had gotten the lucky middle seat. His hand moved to rest on her thigh, thoroughly enjoying what they'd stumbled upon.
"That would actually be a good time," Draco said, looking over at Harry with his eyebrows raised, "Fancy an evening in a blazer sipping cocktails and dancing?"
"Well that would certainly be different than our usual Saturday night."
"It sounds fun, doesn't it Harry!" Ginny said with a giggle, "We can have an extravagant meal, I'll put on a nice dress and you can spend the evening telling me I look dashing as we blend with high society."
Draco could tell she thought it was a bit silly, but there was also something in her voice that sounded truly excited and intrigued.
"Well how could I say no to that," Harry answered with a grin, giving in much too easily as Ginny swooped down for a solid, exaggerated kiss.
Draco turned back to Hermione, who looked ecstatic, and he couldn't help but laugh, "Sounds like you'll have to send Pansy an owl and find a good weekend."
Harry and Draco had ended up pouring themselves drinks and joining Hermione and Ginny back around the coffee table as the four of them stayed up late into the night telling stories and making plans. Draco had glanced over at Ginny at one point and noticed she seemed so natural now, much more comfortable since they'd hung out a few times. He made himself a promise that he would pull her aside in the coming weeks and let her say anything that was on her mind one on one so that they could hopefully move forward in their friendship with a clean slate and enjoy all the plans that were being made over firewhiskey.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! I've got the rest of the story written so I wanted to give you the update that we've got 3 chapters left! Working on editing so I can get it posted for you :)