Chapter 33 - The World Cup

Early evening before the Quidditch World Cup - Malfoy Manor

After leaving Flourish and Blotts in a hurry, Draco ordered Wally to bring him back to Malfoy Manor at once. His mother greeted him at the foyer right as he crossed the threshold.

"Draco, you're home." Narcissa had her arms outstretched to her son for a quick welcome back hug. "How was your trip?" she asked. Her gentle smile changed to a concerned look when Draco didn't answer her question but instead held her outstretched forearms with both his hands in a firm hold.

"Is father home?" He asked urgently.

"Yes he is, he should be in his study." Narcissa replied. When Draco made to move past her, she whipped around and held on to Draco's forearm. "Draco, dear, is something the matter?"

Draco paused and ran a hand through his hair. He threw a quick glance at Wally and decided it was best to keep their conversation private. "Wally, you go take my purchases and arranged them in my personal library."

Wally beamed and exclaimed "Right away, Master Malfoy!" before popping away with the stack of books that had already been delivered to the Manor before their arrival.

Draco returned his attention to his mother. "I bumped into a classmate at the bookstore." he said quietly. Even though the Manor is generally safe to discuss private matters, he figured it's better to be safe than sorry. "She was wearing something quite peculiar which I suspect came from father. I can't keep living my life this. If Father wants me to be a part of his plan, I can't be kept in the dark and be blindsided. I refuse to play a game in which the rules are not only kept from me but also everchanging."

Narcissa nodded in understanding. "That's fair, Draco. I do think you're old enough to be more involved. You're growing up so fast." She planted kiss on his forehead. "Here, let's go speak with your father together."

Narcissa hooked her arm around Draco's and they made their way up the stairs to head for Lucius's study.

With two knocks, Narcissa opened the door and poked her head inside. "Lucius, dear, Draco has a matter to discuss with you before supper."

"Come in." Lucius grunted from behind his desk, looking up from some paperwork that was sprawled across his desk.

Draco cleared his throat and walked closer to the desk as Narcissa gently shut the door.

"Father, I bumped into Granger today by chance. She was in the possession of a Gringotts key. It looked to be a key to a Nott vault judging from the jewels and design. Did it come from you?"

Lucius chucked. "Did she realize it was the key to her vault?" He stood up and nodded. "Yes, it did come from me. I merely returned it to her as a Christmas gift."

Draco groaned "Father, you can't just send things to her without an explanation. She had zero idea it was a vault key and thought it was a charm. She wore it as a necklace, out in public."

"Oh dear," Narcissa blanched slightly and shook her head, "that's hardly socially appropriate. Flaunt your wealth, yes, but not your whole vault key. That's just tacky."

Draco look pointedly at his Father. "Fortunately, the people around her didn't notice and thought it to be a charm necklace. But I reckon any respectable Pureblood would be able to tell like I did in with one glance."

"Well it never occurred to me that she couldn't tell." Lucius defended.

"Father, she knows barely anything about our world!" Draco threw his hands up in emphasis. "In fact, she nearly had Wally cause a scene in the book store. She was trying to dismiss the poor elf from doing his job." He pinched his fingers together, "Wally was this close to banging his head against the bookshelf."

"Maybe I overestimated her acclimation to the Wizarding World." Lucius admitted.

Narcissa agreed. "The girl's only been in the Wizarding World just over three years. We can't expect her to understand things that are second nature to us."

"So Father, please, if you're going to pull something, you need to tell me. I can't be operating in a reactive nature, especially for something as sensitive as this. Granger and her whole family are as good as dead if her secret were to come out."

"Point taken, Draco, and I appreciate your bringing it to my attention. Going forward, I won't keep things from you regarding Hermione." Lucius promised. "You deserve to know if you're the one guiding her and watching over her during the school year. Severus can only do so much as a Professor."

Draco nodded. "I owe Granger an explanation though. Am I allowed to tell her?"

Lucius thought about it before replying. "I'll let you make the judgement, Draco. Given how you've treated this matter, I will put trust in you to handle things properly. Just make sure it's clear that she is to keep it a secret, even from her closest friends. The more people that know, the more danger she is in.

"Understood, Father."


Early evening before the Quidditch World Cup - The Burrow

The next few hours proved torturous for Hermione. After finishing their school shopping, Hermione went back to the Burrow with the Weasleys for a sleepover with Ginny since the Quidditch World Cup was the next morning. After supper, the whole Weasley family were discussing Quidditch tactics between the two playing teams, their starting player lineups and the odds of each team to win the Cup. Hermione, with a book in hand to keep up with appearances, kept quiet for most of the evening, thinking to herself. But if anyone were to pay any attention to Hermione, they would've noticed that she didn't turn a single page of her book the whole night.

Hermione was sure that Malfoy knew something, but when will she get the chance to see him to ask? If she had to wait thirteen days for the start of term, she was certain that her curiosity would drive her mad first, gnawing at her insides and keeping her awake. Afterall, what are the chances of landing a huge fortune under your name in a world you never knew existed until just three years ago? It was clear that Malfoy knew at first glance that the key that everyone thought to be a charm was actually a Gringotts key. The only Gringotts key she ever encountered was Harry's and it was not ornate like this one at all.

Hermione was so desperate that she was about to ask Harry to borrow Hedwig to owl Malfoy, though with reluctance because she knew it'd certainly start a fight. She was in such a pinch until realized that being the Quidditch fanatic that he was, Malfoy would likely be at the Quidditch World Cup tomorrow. She just had to find him amongst a whole sea of people…


Her worries from the night before were unwarranted after all. Hermione, Harry, and the Weasleys bumped into the Malfoys quickly enough after arriving to the World Cup Stadium.

"Father and I were invited to watch the Cup by the Minister himself, in his private box." Draco revealed, all the while looking past the herd of redheads to catch Hermione's eye who was standing towards the back of the group. She gave a small nod in understanding to Draco's relief before he recoiled his body with a small grunt, feeling a sharp jab in the gut by Lucius' scepter that concealed his wand.

A warning, Draco realized.

"Do not boast, Draco." Lucius said evenly. Then back at the Weasleys he remarked snidely, "Well, enjoy the Cup, Arthur. I do hope the forecast was wrong about rain. But if it does let down, you lot will be the first to feel it."

Draco threw a smirk at Harry and Ron's directions before turning around to fall in step with Lucius.

"The Malfoys are such prats," Harry muttered to Ron.

"Like father like son. They're both from the same snake pit." Ron agreed.

Molly tried to cheer up the mood. "Aw, don't let those two ruin your World Cup experience! Now come along now. Let's head to our section. You all hold on to your tickets now." Molly handed each member of the group a ticket.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm going to pop to the loo really quick before the game starts. You all can go ahead." Hermione told Molly.

"You want me to go with you?" Ginny asked.

"I'll be fine. I don't want you to miss the pregame events going on."

Arthur, who was at the front of the group pushed his way over. The crowd was getting thicker as the spectators were all making their way to their seats after finishing their purchases at the concession stands.

"You know how to find your way to us based on the location on the ticket?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, I've been to a baseball game before and the seating arrangement is very similar." Hermione replied.

Arthur perked up. "Oh, I've heard of this "baseball" it's a muggle sport right? You'll need to explain to me how it works. The rules have me all confused you see."

Hermione laughed. "It's no problem, Mr. Weasley. I'll tell you all about it after the Cup." Hermione waved them off and headed in the other direction. "I'll be back before you know it!"

"What's baseball like?" Hermione overheard Ginny ask Harry.

"Well erm… a part of it is like having beaters trying to hit the ball from a person that throws it, a pitcher, really hard into the field, then they run around to touch designated points called bases…"

"So does the pitcher try to throw the ball right at the beater person to hit them?"

"No, if the ball actually hits the beater on purpose, they get to move to the first base…"

"Oh, where's the fun in that?"

Hermione chuckled as she walked away from earshot.


Lucius held out a hand abruptly to stop Draco after they arrived at the box level of the stadium.

He lowered his head by Draco's ear. "Don't be so hasty, Draco. You won't be able to let anyone into this level without a proper ticket invitation." Lucius pulled out two golden tickets from his coat and nodded over to the bouncers guarding the entrance to the hallway of the suite. He handed one to Draco.

"I'll be more careful, Father. You're right."

Lucius took off his hat and dropped it on Draco's head. He also tucked his scepter under his arm and pulled Draco's coat collar a little bit higher to hide most of his blond white hair from view.

"Go finished your unfinished business and be very careful-" Lucius continued quietly before pulling Draco closer and warned flatly, "-and don't let yourself be rumored about."

"Yes, Father." Draco replied and shoved the golden ticket into the depths of his pockets.


It was much harder for Hermione to push past the crowd without the Weasley boys acting as a human shield for Ginny and herself.

Hermione groaned to herself. How am I to catch up to Malfoy in this crowd?

She looked up at the signage and saw that at least she was going in the right direction towards the suite level. She was so concentrated on the signs that she didn't pay attention to where she was going and walked directly into someone.

"Oof, I'm so sorry." Hermione quickly apologized.

"Way to run right into me, Granger." drawled a familiar voice. Oh, it's just Malfoy.

"You do not know how grateful I am to run into you. I was beginning to get worried as how I'd find you in the crowd."

"Here follow me." Draco whispered before grabbing her wrist leading her one level lower back to the concession floor. "We'll attract attention standing here. Try to stay behind me."

With the crowd, it was hard not to be pushed close to Malfoy especially since she didn't want to lose him in the masses. Hermione noticed that he was wearing a hat that he didn't have on earlier and the beacon that was his hair that normally alerted everyone around that he's a "Malfoy" was hidden away.

"Did you have to rile the Weasley family like that earlier?"

"What? How else are we supposed to rendezvous?" Draco said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Or do you rather this wait until the start of term?"

"You're playing the bad guy again aren't you?" Hermione half murmured to herself.

"What?" Draco asked, unable to hear her clearly over the noise of the crowd.

"It's nothing." Hermione said a little more loudly to dismiss the issue. "I don't think I would be able to hold out for three weeks. I was so close to borrowing Harry's owl to send a message to Blaise."

"Why Blaise? You can just owl me directly." Draco pointed out, slightly miffed that her first go-to person would be Blaise.

"Because Harry would kill me if he found out I sent Hedwig over to Malfoy Manor. I already think he wouldn't be too pleased if I contacted Blaise personally. Neither of my friends are on good terms with you Slytherins. Harry is a little better than Ron, but still."

"You do have a point."

The crowd started to thin out as Draco steered Hermione into a large area under the main staircase.

"Watch you step, the lighting gets dim here."

Hermione stuck close to Draco, holding onto the fabric of his coat. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she noticed that this area appeared to be for storage. There were boxes locked behind fenced off sections and each of the sections formed a hallway that ran through all the way to the other end of the length of the staircase. The walkway was three arm's length wide and there were cross sections so that one may go to the left or right storage area. She peered down one of the cross sections on her right and she gasped.

She nudged Malfoy in the ribs and hissed, "Malfoy what are you playing at. Why are we here?" Even in the low light conditions, she can see the corners of Malfoy's lips curl upward into a smile. "Why are there people snogging left and right?"

"What? Nervous are we?" Draco teased. "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. This just happens to be the place where we can get the most privacy without anyway over hearing because, well, everyone here has their attentions occupied elsewhere. Or rather, with someone."

When Hermione still looked unsure, as evident by the pout on her face, Draco added. "Oh come on, you know we can't use magic outside school. No one else can hear what I'm about to tell you. It's that important."

"Fine." Hermione muttered stubbornly. After a bit of silence, Draco found an area with no one around in the near vicinity.

"Let's talk here." They turned left to one of the cross path but didn't go all the way to the end wall like some of the other couples. "Let's not go too deep into the walkway, I want to keep an eye on who's coming down the main path."

Draco spun her around to face him and with both hands firmly on her shoulder, pushed her lightly against the fence surprising her. Hermione gasped and stammered. "I… I thought you said you weren't going to do anything."

Resting his left forearm on the metal fence on her right and leaning in close against her left ear he whispered, "We still have to look the part, Granger. You'll manage. Now tell me, were you a good girl and didn't let anyone else see the key around your neck yesterday?"

A shiver ran down her spine. Hermione looked down at her trainers and fidgeted with her fingers, ashamed. "You're not going to like it…"

Draco groaned, "Ugh… what's the damage?"

Hermione recounted what happened at Gringotts.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache forming. "What am I going to do with you, Granger. The Goblin should be fine, but I don't trust Potter and Weasley to keep their trap shut."

Hermione bit her lip. "Harry should be okay… but it's hard to tell with Ron." She looked up at Draco, "Who would leave me that much money?"

"Granger, from now on you need to believe me." He said earnestly. "We may have started out on the wrong foot but I was… mislead by my Father." He sighed. "You really can't tell anyone else about this. Do you promise?"

Hermione looked into Draco's eyes that were searching hers. He seemed sincere enough and she nodded hesitantly.

"I need your word," Draco said quietly, in a near whisper.

"I promise."

"You come from a strong magical lineage, Granger." Draco continued, his voice low. He smirked when Hermione's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "A Pureblood lineage." he added.

"That can't be possible," Hermione whispered, her mind swimming. "I was born in Muggle London, my parents aren't magical, in fact they grew up at orphanages and spent all their life as Muggles-"

"That's because they're Squibs," Draco interjected. "Your father is a Squib from Ancient House Nott and your mother a Squib from House Greengrass. You're actually my Grandfather's god-granddaughter and before he passed, Grandfather broke his unbreakable vow's secrecy clause to tell my father to protect you at all costs."

Hermione was quiet for a few seconds, processing the information. "Protect me?" she nearly screeched, her eyes welling up slightly with hot tears. "You've been making my life a living hell these past three years, Malfoy. Is this all some kind of trick, a lie, to mess with me?"

Malfoy's voice quavered a bit then, but what he said next moved Hermione. "I wouldn't use my Grandfather's death to perfect a lie. Do you know how painful a death one has to endure after breaking a secrecy clause? I'm not proud of what I've done, Granger, but in my defense, Father told me you were a Mud- Muggle at first so that the other Purebloods wouldn't target you. A part of it was for me to keep an eye on you." He held on to her shoulders again, somewhat tightly. "I swear I didn't know a thing. I… I apologize, Granger. I'm sorry I hurt you these past few years. Can we start over?"

Tears were falling down her face now. "Are you sorry that you targeted me when you thought that I was a Muggleborn or are you really sorry for tormenting a Muggleborn?" She hiccupped violently from her crying and continued as quietly as she could, "If not me, would it have been someone else? Colin Creevey? Penelope Clearwater?"

Draco's heart ached as if it took a beating with every question she threw at him. Granger was right on point because in his mind, he knew it was the former. When he didn't answer, Hermione nodded to confirm that she could guess exactly what his answer was even if he stayed mute.

Hermione sniffed loudly and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Draco reached inside his coat pocket and handed her a handkerchief that looked undoubtedly expensive. "Here." he nudged it towards Hermione.

Just to spite him Hermione blew her nose into the handkerchief, loudly. "I'm still mad at you." she muttered, before nodding to the wadded up handkerchief scrunched up in her hand. But part of her understood that most Purebloods would behaved this way since their ancestors had passed down generations of teachings to only bear hatred towards Muggleborns. Being lenient towards a Muggleborn would be an exception and socially frowned upon in their circle. "I'll get this cleaned before giving it back to you."

"You can stay mad at me, I deserve it after how I've treated you. But just try to remember that I'm on your side." Draco said with a sigh. "And you can keep the handkerchief as a peace offering."

Hermione stuff the soiled handkerchief into her pocket. "What now?"

"Let's talk about what will happen when we get back to Hogwarts. No one else can know your true lineage, Granger, it would only pose danger for you and your parents. If word gets back to the Notts and Salazar forbid Theo's father that there is a Squib branch of the family, they'll do everything in their power to eliminate you and your parents."

Fear was evident in Hermione's eyes when her thoughts naturally flew to the safety of her parents.

"And when we're back in school," Draco rubbed his forearm nervously, "I'll have to go back to bullying you in public. It'll be like none of this has happened."

Hermione pouted and was silent at that and hugged herself tightly with her arms.

"It's really all for your protection." Draco blurted. "I promise that I'll keep it in check and I am… so sorry in advance if I do anything to hurt you emotionally. Just know that from this point on, I really don't mean it. I hope you can understand."

Hermione's softened at his confession.

"I'll talk to my father and Snape about Potter and Weasley knowing about the Vault. For your safety, it may be better to suppress their memories."

"Snape is in on this?" Hermione was surprised.

"Yes, he knows about your true lineage and we suspect Dumbledore and McGonagall does too, even if they're hiding it."

As their conversation was coming to a close, there was some commotion further down from where they had entered. There were some bright flashes and Draco tensed before cautiously poking his head out towards the main hallway.

"Reporters! It's Rita Skeeter!" Someone hollered several paces down. There were pitter patters of steps and Hermione saw some couples run past them as there were more flashes coming up from behind.

Draco cursed under his breath, "We need to go, Granger. Rita Skeeter is ruthless and she'd win the tabloid lottery if she finds us here. Can you do something about your hair?" He nodded up towards her hair that was let down. Hermione quickly pulled a hair tie from her wrist and put her hair up in a knot. Draco then flipped the hood of her windbreaker jacket up and zipped up her jacket up to her chin for added security.

Draco grabbed her wrists again and held it in front of him. "They're getting closer and we're going to make a break for it." he told her his plan urgently. "You run out first and make a sharp left to the main hallway. Run all the way to the other end without stopping and whatever you do, don't look back. Blend into the crowd when you can and I'll see you back at Hogwarts."

Hermione nodded frantically and Draco pushed her out, "Go, and run!" A few other youngsters passed by and just as Draco ran out next, he almost collided with them and the girl had flailed her arms up out of shock and nearly grazed Draco's face. With his Seeker reflexes, he dogged out of the way but the girl's fingertip still clipped the edge of the hat that his father had put on him. Draco managed to snatched it up in midair as it fell, but as he did, there was an unmistakable sound of a click of a button followed by a bright flash.

There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as Draco shoved the hat back on top of his head and blinked a few times to readjust his eyes after being blinded by the camera flash. He knew he couldn't let himself be caught by the reporters that were closing in on them, so even though his vision hadn't recovered, he ran towards the exit with the others as fast as his legs would carry him.


A/N: Merry Christmas, 2020. It's been a long time. Wishing my readers good health during these hard times.

Thank you to those that still send DMs and Reviews. It means a lot to me to get encouragement to continue to write.

-Cookie