"Ducky? Before you leave, there's something I wanted to talk to you about," Narcissa said as Draco kissed her cheek Sunday morning after breakfast.
"Yes, Mother?"
"I was wondering if you would mind if we pushed your birthday celebration up to this Friday evening," she answered, jutting her lower lip out slightly. Draco eyed her for a moment. What did she have up her sleeve?
"Of course, Mother," he said warily. Narcissa smiled and clapped her hands together.
"Wonderful, darling," she said, rising to her feet quickly before Draco could ask any questions. "I must go and make all the arrangements!" Before he could say another word, she was gone.
"Hmm," Draco mused, "I wonder what's she's playing at."
He went to the dining room door and listened hard. He could hear his mother's footsteps going down the corridor to the left-hand side, and he crept after her. Before he reached the door to the drawing room where she had disappeared, however, a soft voice came from behind him.
"Tut, tut, Draco, you know better than to spy on your mother."
"Father," acknowledged Draco, turning around. "I should think you'd be more disappointed that I'd gotten caught."
"Come with me to my study," Lucius said, sweeping away in the opposite direction. Draco had no choice but to follow.
When they reached the study, Lucius seated himself behind his big mahogany desk and motioned for Draco to take the seat across from him. Draco sat, and Lucius folded his slender white hands in front of him.
"Now, Draco, is there anything you want to tell me?" When Draco didn't answer, Lucius chuckled.
"I know about her," he stated simply. Draco raised his eyebrows. So his father had been paying attention.
"There's no hiding anything from you, Father," he replied.
"Do you really mean to marry this…girl?"
Draco thought for a moment. He carefully worded his reply.
"She is who I have chosen."
"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," Lucius said darkly. "You're playing with very old, very dark magic. The contract is not so easy to get out of."
For a moment Draco just sat staring at his father. Was he saying that Draco couldn't avoid the contract?
"Is there no way out, then?" he asked, doing his best to sound nonchalant. Lucius inclined his head slightly, and Draco could tell that it meant "I wouldn't tell you if there was."
There was a split second when Lucius' eyes met Draco's and something flashed there. Battle lines had been drawn in that momentary flash, Draco knew, and he also knew he had been dismissed. As he stood to go, he also knew what his father's eyes had betrayed.
He was angry, oh yes, but he was also alarmed. Draco left his father's personal study feeling several things at once. First, elated because he knew his plan would work, for why else had Lucius been trying to scare him so with all his "dark and powerful magic" business? Second, he felt duly cautious because now his father was on his guard and would probably try to foil his plan.
In short, this was now war.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday passed quickly, a bit too quickly in Draco's opinion. He was constantly on his guard around his parents, but there really wasn't any need to be, as he soon found out. Lucius seemed, if anything, to have forgotten their little conversation. But Draco knew better.
He is up to something, Draco mused on Thursday morning as he left the Manor. But he wasn't worried; his new plan was already in place.
For the last few days, he had been spending quite a lot of time with his mother, talking about Hermione. He knew if he could get her to believe he was in love he'd have a better chance against his father.
So he had gone to Narcissa and done his best to play the part of the lovelorn youth. He had told his mother how he couldn't stop thinking of Hermione, how he couldn't sleep at night, how he couldn't imagine a future without her (not completely untrue, as he really wouldn't have a future if she weren't a part of his plan).
He talked about her eyes, her hair, her skin, and found that he didn't even have to lie to say nice things about her. She wasn't half as bad as he'd always thought, he thought to himself. He told his mother how intelligent she was, how they could talk for hours, and how she had gotten so excited over the library in the Winter Castle.
In fact, he was surprised at how easy it was for him to pretend he was in love with her.
Hermione sat behind her desk in her office, trying to work but unable to concentrate. Her mind kept drifting.
She was going to the Manor with Malfoy tonight. Sorry, she was going with Draco to meet his parents tonight.
Nervous wasn't the word. It didn't seem to encompass what she was feeling. Apprehensive? That was closer.
It would have been bad enough if this were a nice, normal relationship and she had been going to meet the nice, normal parents of her nice, normal boyfriend.
Instead, she was in a screwed-up fake relation-situation-thing, going to meet the evil, homicidal parents of her egotistical, self-serving boyfriend-person. Blarg.
The thing that made it worse was the last time she had seen Lucius Malfoy, he'd been wearing a Death Eater's mask. Oh sure, he'd gotten out of Azkaban for giving up names of fellow Death Eaters and valuable information on where to find them. But Hermione thought he deserved to rot in prison anyway.
She smiled as she imagined him hanging from his thumbs in agony next to Rita Skeeter. It was enough to cheer her up.
"I see you've been thinking about me, pet."
"Huh?" Hermione said stupidly, looking up just in time to see Draco settling down in his usual spot with a smug smile on his handsome face. Wait a minute. Handsome? She really needed to get a grip on her inner wording.
"Draco," was all she said before returning to her neglected papers with a renewed vigor.
"As much as it flatters me that you sit in your office all day, daydreaming about me with a smile on your face," he continued, kicking his feet up on her desk casually, "don't get too attached. This whole affair ends tomorrow night."
Hermione felt a jolt of something deep in her stomach (probably indigestion, she reasoned) as she realized that he was right. After the celebration tomorrow, she was free. She would never have to look at Draco Malfoy again. She couldn't understand why this didn't sit well in her stomach.
"Thank goodness," she managed to say. She checked the clock on her desk. 5:30. Draco had come to fetch her, and they would Apparate to the Manor together.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked her, his eyebrows furrowing together. "You're not backing out on me, are you, because—"
"Relax, I'm not backing out on you," Hermione answered crossly, stacking her papers and placing them on the edge of her desk. She stood up, smoothing her robes. "Are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Draco replied, rising to his feet, and they exited her office together.
"Ducky, darling, you're late," Narcissa Malfoy said as she hugged her son. She jutted her lower lip out in a mock-pout. She turned to Hermione and stretched her arms out to envelope her in a hug.
"And Hermione! Draco has told us so much about you," she added, holding Hermione at arms' length now. As Narcissa released her, Hermione turned to Draco with an amused look.
Ducky? she mouthed, raising her eyebrows. Draco blushed, turning quickly away. Hermione had never seen him blush before. Maybe this won't be so bad, she thought.
"Miss…Granger." She recognized before she even saw his face. Or maybe blast-ended skrewts will fly out of Draco's arse, Hermione thought darkly, thinking that this would be an excellent retribution for him for putting her through this.
"Mr. Malfoy," she said aloud to the white-haired man as she turned around. Lucius smirked and surveyed her.
"I understand that dear Draco enjoys your company?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. Hermione felt a flush rising in her cheeks as she realized that he must have seen the pictures in the paper and read all that was written about her and his son.
"Yes, Father," Draco said from somewhere beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. "As a matter of fact, I do."
Hermione's heart fluttered. Damned indigestion. But it couldn't be denied that he was rescuing her. He had to, of course, for the sake of appearances, but still Hermione was grateful.
The rest of the evening was much of the same. It couldn't be said that what passed between Lucius and Hermione was civil conversation, but they had managed not to kill each other by the end of the night, so Hermione considered it a success.
Draco had insisted on sitting close beside her all evening and calling her "love" and "darling" and "pet" every other sentence. She rather thought he was laying it on a bit too thick, but she played along. She even once patted him on the leg just above the knee and left her hand there until it was time to leave. She thought she saw him blushing again, but she couldn't be sure.
"Mother, Father," Draco said at last, rising to his feet and pulling Hermione with him, "I think it's time I escort Hermione back to her apartment."
"Nonsense, Ducky, it's much too late for you two to be tripping about the streets of London," Narcissa said with an airy wave of her hand. "Hermione will stay here tonight."
"No, no, I mustn't," Hermione said quickly, looking at Draco in alarm. Do something, she tried to say with her eyes. Looking back at Narcissa, she pleaded, "My job at the Ministry—"
"—will go on without you for one day, darling," Narcissa finished for her. "Draco has told me how they run you over up there. Simply scandalous. You can be sure that will be taken care of on Monday," she added with a smile. Hermione had to smile back. She decided she rather liked Draco's mother.
Hermione cast one more glance at Draco and saw him roll his eyes and smile rather sheepishly. She wondered if his mother always had this effect on him, for he was acting quite unlike himself tonight.
"May as well give in, love," he said in reply to her raised eyebrows. "Mother can be very determined sometimes."
Narcissa clapped her hands together and immediately rang a small bell that was sitting on the coffee table between them. A house elf came cowering into the room, and Hermione screwed up her nose. So they still have house elves, she thought. She had almost changed her opinion of Draco's mother again when Narcissa spoke to the elf.
"Please fetch me one of my new nightdresses, the ones I bought on Tuesday, you remember, and bring it here for Miss Hermione," Narcissa said kindly to the elf. Well, at least she was nice, Hermione thought, her respect for Narcissa growing. Her apprehension was growing as well. She was going to spend the night in the Manor.
"Hermione, darling, your room is just here," Narcissa said almost thirty minutes later. After Draco and Lucius had retired and the house-elf had returned with the aforementioned nightdress, she had shown Hermione down a long, high-ceilinged corridor and they were now standing before a dark wooden door. When Narcissa pushed it open, Hermione let out a small gasp.
The bedroom was large, with huge windows lining the far wall and a large, comfortable looking four poster bed on the wall to the right. The bed hangings and comforter were a pale green, as were the curtains and the rich looking winged chair that sat on the left wall and faced the windows. A door to the left seemed to lead to a small bathroom.
"Yes, I suppose it is a bit small, but it'll have to do," Narcissa said, apparently misinterpreting Hermione's gasp. Blinking, Hermione turned to Draco's mother.
"No, it's beautiful," she breathed, gesturing around her. Narcissa looked pleased and bade Hermione good night, shutting the door behind her.
A/N Here is another lovely preview for you.
Before Hermione could say or do anything, he was standing at the open bathroom door. Their eyes met, and a moment passed where his mouth hung open in shock, and she fervently hoped the bubbles were covering her enough.