A/N - Hello all! Year four is (probably) going to be twenty-two chapters in length and all I have left to finish is the last chapter. Because of that, I'm going to do my best to post two chapters a week. Saturday and Tuesday/Wednesday. I'm not 100% on second day, it probably will depend more on how work went than anything. Follow the story if you want to know right away, otherwise check back periodically.
And now for the normal things. If you haven't read the first three years of my version of events, please do so. Otherwise you're going to be very confused.
I'm not JKR nor do I make any money from any of this. I find it just a fun way to relax and make the voices in my head be quiet. :)
Let me know your thoughts. Happy reading,
~L
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A month into summer and Hermione Granger still couldn't explain why she felt like she did. When Daphne Greengrass arrived to visit, she was welcomed by Draco Malfoy. The blonde Slytherin hugged her dorm mate tightly and whispered words of gratitude for his safe recovery. As far as Daphne was concerned, Draco had only been home for a month after being cursed during a quidditch match the year before.
She quickly wiped a stray tear from her cheek before turning and doing the same with Hermione. "You're not totally ok yet, why?" Daphne leaned back and looked closely at Hermione who shrugged, trying to play it off. "I won't let it go Hermione."
"It's nothing, I'm sure it will be fine." Daphne looked at the faces of Draco and the other boys who lived at Malfoy Manor and saw the disagreement in all of their expressions. Hermione, in a bid to get away from the conversation, sat on one of the couches and waved Daphne to sit next to her. Hermione suspected this would happen and made sure a stack of the latest muggle magazines sat on the table in plain view.
"Nope, calling you out." Hermione glared at Daphne, but before she could say anything Daphne continued, "You were scared for him, we all know that. And we all understand, you felt it the most, but we all worried about him. What did you tell me on before we got on the train?" Hermione shrugged and again tried to not answer.
Instead of Daphne, Draco stepped in front of Hermione. "What did you tell Daph, Hermione? I want you to get better, but I can't if you don't talk to me." Hermione's eyes held tears and she tried to stand. She gave a weak attempt to pull her hand from Draco, "Hermione?"
Seeing herself backed into a corner, Hermione could barely admit it, "I was upset I abandoned you. No, I am upset I abandoned you. I promised you I would be there for you and I wasn't." It took everything Hermione had to not to spill the beans about Draco being home the entire second half of the year, somehow she stopped herself just in time. Draco pulled Hermione to her feet and into a hug. He looked at Harry Potter and moved his head toward where the adults were. The dark haired boy bolted from the room to find Narcissa or Jean, probably both.
"You didn't, I knew where you were all the time. You didn't abandon me." Draco felt Hermione almost slipping into an uncontrolled state, so he sat and pulled her into his lap. They slowly rocked as he continued to murmur into her ear. "Hermione it's ok. I promise." She shook her head. It was then Draco realized it had nothing to do with him but with how Hermione viewed everything from the year before. It was how she remembered everything. "Come on, let's take a walk."
After standing, they slowly made their way toward the garden. "So I don't think it's me who needs to forgive you." The young witch stopped and looked at the boy, "I think it has to be you. You think you abandoned me, even if I don't think so. You are so twisted up about it, I can't make you believe me." He shrugged, hoping it was enough. Her sniffles slowed and she accepted the handkerchief Draco offered her.
"What do you mean Draco?" He pulled her back to his side, she noticed for the first time, she needed to look up to see his eyes. How much had he grown while she was away?
"I think you see some failure that I don't. I can't tell you it didn't happen because I'm not the one who made you believe you failed me." It was twisted, a bit convoluted, but Hermione understood and thought it made sense.
"How do I do that?"
"Believe me, that's all." He stopped and placed himself in front of her, "I know I told you this last year, but you are who saved me. I knew, I totally and completely knew you would be the one to save me. So I kept myself focused on you. And never before, during or after, did I ever think you abandoned me." Hermione seemed to be listening, "I was bloody bored without you and Harry and Blaise, but that was because of the curse. Again, nothing to do with you." He tried to gauge her thoughts on his comments, "OK?"
"I don't know."
"Well, it's not often I hear that." He smirked, trying to get her to smile, "But it's better than where we were earlier. Let's go find our mums and see what they think." Hermione sighed knowing it was finally time for her to admit everything.
"Fine."
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The day after Hermione was forced to admit what bothered her, Remus Lupin appeared for the next defense practice. Over the prior school year, Remus spent time with Draco, tutoring him in defense. In addition to the standard curricula for third years, Draco requested Remus to help him with a few other things. Remus agreed with the caveat of Draco not trying anything new alone. In agreement, Remus started the tutoring off with silent casting. With such a useful skill, Draco spent a good portion of his time practicing only that.
For the first couple of summer visits, Remus assessed the abilities of the other children and noted both Harry and Blaise seemed quite advanced. Hermione, as expected, knew everything a student just finishing third year should know. She excelled in the theory portion and got the hang of the practical after a few tries. By the fourth visit, Remus was ready to move on to a new topic.
"So I have already been working with Draco and he knows what his assignment is." The blond wizard stood and raised his wand, with intense focus, Draco flicked his wrist and a light appeared on the tip of his wand. "Bravo Draco, very good!" Draco released a relieved sigh, he'd been getting better, but it was hit or miss on actually getting the spell to work.
Hermione's expression, wide eyed wonder, made Draco smile. "Thanks Remus. I need to keep working though, I want to be consistent." Remus waved Draco over to the side and the boy returned to his practice.
"As you may have guessed, in addition to practicing what you've already learned, we are going to work on silent casting." Remus spent a long time explaining the reasons the skill was so desired. "Finally, if you are ever in a dangerous situation, this is one way to get the advantage without anyone knowing."
The three others nodded in agreement, it seemed like a good idea. They all started with lumos, none of them succeed by the time the class ended. "Don't beat yourself up over it. As I'm sure you heard from Draco, he still isn't consistently able to do it. It's to be expected. So like Draco, I'd like you to spend the rest of the week working on this. Just try to cast lumos silently."
"Thanks Remus," the children chanted as they all turned their focus to their wands. He chuckled as he started to clean up his papers. Once the room was clean, the werewolf looked at the four children, "Upstairs, we are done for now." They followed the order without dispute.
On releasing the group, Remus found Narcissa Malfoy sitting in the parlor. "How did it go?"
"You shouldn't see any of them for a bit. They seemed quite intent on figuring it out." At Narcissa's wary glance, he smiled, "Still lumos for all of them. Draco's getting it, but he said he wanted to be consistent before moving onto the next spell." At Narcissa's relief, Remus waved and returned to his home. The witch gave the children another few minutes before she sent the boys to get ready for dinner.
"I should go too," Hermione stood, but halted at Narcissa's hand.
"Your parents are coming over for dinner, sit with me while we wait for my triplets to return." Hermione smiled at the nickname Cissy gave to the boys. "Have you had a chance to watch the recordings of the Olympics your Dad made?"
Hermione's expression became a bit closed off making Narcissa laugh, "Very good, but to your unasked question. Who do you think told Jean about Lucius and his sudden need to work with the manager of the Norwegian office?"
"You and Mum are setting them up!" At the devious little smile that crossed Cissy's lips, Hermione sat back. "Why didn't you let me know?"
"At the time, it was just Lucius and Rich." Narcissa shrugged, "But then Draco was home and I knew you'd need to know. But what was the point with you at school. Now, was the best time."
"Thank you Cissy. I'm sure Mum has something in the works, but I'll make sure." At that the pair heard the unmistakable sound of three boys rushing down the stairs.
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By the time June came to an end, the children found themselves in a comfortable routine. During the day they would work on their various classwork. Hermione and Blaise were intent on taking their Potion OWL by the Yule holiday at the latest.
Draco and Harry spent a good amount of time on their NEWT Potion work as it was significantly more difficult. As far as Severus was concerned, not that the boys knew it, they were on track for taking their NEWT by the end of the upcoming school year. Both were showing some very impressive talent as of late.
They each continued to work on their various Transfiguration projects, but only met with Minerva once every other week and that was more an informal discussion. The parents decided the children now had enough on their plates and pushing for advancing any more would be detrimental to them. The only other school topic was defense. All of the children met with Remus once a week. It seemed they all had ideas on things they wanted to learn.
Each child also spent time learning more about their Houses and what would be expected of them when they claimed their respective headships. Only Draco and Hermione were faced with the prospect of not knowing when they would assume the role. Harry and Blaise would step into the role when they turned seventeen as their houses currently did not have a head. These were the only times the children didn't discuss what they did during the day, each took their role very serious.
In addition to everything else, the children still found time to be children. Harry and Blaise seemed to have more free time and spent every second they could in the air. Both boys were intent on being a viable option for their houses's first team. During the last year both played regularly, but were substitutes for the starter.
"What was Draco's excuse today?" Harry leaned back on his broom, playing with the training snitch he just caught.
"Something about Lucius wanting him to review something or other. I told him he could do it later but he seemed adamant on doing it now." Blaise shrugged before having to dive at the quaffle Theo throw at the hoop. "Bad form Nott, I was answering Harry's question." Theo smirked and caught the quaffle after Blaise tossed it back.
"It's his loss." Harry figured Draco was practicing while the rest of them were at school the prior year and he was a bit jealous of the hours Draco would have had. Harry flicked the snitch and counted to fifteen before beginning his next hunt.
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While the boys were flying around, Draco sat in the library watching them. He wanted to be out there, but he found himself nervous. A nervous feeling he never had before when he looked at his broom. "Ok Draco, tell me what's going on." Hermione stood in front of him with her hand on her hip. He didn't even realize she entered the room.
"Don't know what you're talking about."
"Not going to work, it was a short while ago you didn't let me use that excuse. So I'm returning the favor. What's up?" Hermione sat next to Draco and took his hand in hers. They sat in silence and Hermione watched her boyfriend gnaw on his lip.
"I don't know really." At her almost response, he lifted his other hand, "I'm trying to explain, I just don't have the words. So I'm working on how I can tell you." She nodded and vowed to not interrupt. "Thanks." Smiling, Hermione brushed her lips over his cheek.
"Take your time, I'll just sit here holding your hand. I don't mind it." The boy smiled and Hermione relaxed, it was a genuine smile. One she missed.
"When I think about flying, —" Draco tilted his head toward the window and where their three friends were zipping around, "— I get a very uneasy feeling. Like a really bad case of nerves." Draco's eyes dropped and Hermione realized he was embarrassed.
"Well, that does explain why you've been avoiding the others. I'm sure if you …" whatever she was going to say was interrupted by him shaking his head.
"No, I can't tell them."
"Fine." Hermione placed her head on his shoulder and waited for him to calm. "We'll think of something else." Hermione wasn't sure what that something else was, but she would figure it out. The pair remained on the window-seat watching their friends until it was time for dinner.
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Two days after admitting his fear, Draco woke to find Hermione sitting on his bed. "Hermione?"
"Sorry, I had a thought and I think it will work." Draco blinked, he was used to Hermione jumping to old conversations and he could normally track her train of thought. But, at four in the morning and only being awake for maybe two minutes, he was a bit out of sorts.
"I'm sorry? What will work?"
"Your fear about flying. I think if we fly together you can build up your confidence again." Hermione's smile showed how pleased she was with herself. "I still don't love it, but if we worked together I might not hate it as much. You know all the technicalities of flying and can tell me about them. It might take both of our minds off of it for a bit."
Draco rubbed his eyes, now he was awake and looked at the girl, she was willing to face her absolute fear for him. Face it so he could get over his own fear. In light of what she offered, he needed to give her something.
"There's more to it than just flying." As she leaned forward, Draco knew he had Hermione's attention. "I've not told you about this yet. When Harry and I were younger we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up." Looking out the window, which was pointless as it was still dark, Draco sighed, "We wanted to be professional quidditch players."
"Draco, you can still do that. I'll make sure of it." Draco chuckled and moved to be sitting next to Hermione, instead of laying on his bed with her sitting on the edge, "That's not my dream anymore, at least not the part about being a player. The family owns a quidditch team."
Hermione blinked, "You own a team? How do I not know this?"
"I didn't know about it until relatively recently. Why Dad didn't say anything before, I don't now. I didn't ask, I was too excited about the fact I didn't have to try and buy one." She chuckled and thinking about it, she could see Draco going out to try and buy a team. When she thought on it a bit more, she knew Draco would have already started to put his plans into action, they would be fourth years meaning there were only a few more summers before they finished Hogwarts. "Since then, I've been looking at the contract and figuring out what I needed to do in order to take over the team."
Realizing something, Hermione nodded, "To own a team, you need to be able to fly or they won't respect you." Draco nodded. "Nothing is easier, we practice in the early morning before the boys are awake. An hour or two is probably the most I can handle anyway."
"You're the best Hermione." Sitting on his bed, Draco began to play with the charm bracelet she never took off. It was then he realized something, "Wait! How did you get here? Don't tell me you walked!"
"No silly, I flooed over, although I didn't think about if there were any alarms on the floos. I guess not since I didn't see your parents. Maybe next time I'll just call Kitmu and ask him to bring me." Draco shook his head.
"Yes, use Kitmu but let's not mention this. If anyone knew, mum and dad would eventually find out and then there would be alarms on the floos. I'd rather keep this option open."
"Deal, I guess I should have Kitmu take me home."
The elf looked slightly displeased at seeing the witch in Draco's room, but was ok when she explained why she came over. He was also upset Draco never told him about his fear. Shaking his head, Kitmu brought Hermione home and told her to just call him in the future.
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July saw the Malfoy family, their two wards and the Grangers leaving Wiltshire for their summer trip. This year would be much shorter than the prior year. The family would spend ten days in same chalet in the Pyrenees. Lucius and Rich began to give each other intense looks as they each plotted on how to make sure their training proved better.
Hermione continued to give the boys a knowing smirk. While Harry and Blaise laughed, Draco began to formulate his own plan. While he was home, he took to running the stairs everyday. He also worked with Kitmu to set up a section of the hallways where he could run sprints. With him being relegated to the house, he couldn't run outside for fear of him being seen. None of his friends were aware of his training and he knew he would have the advantage. It helped his growth spurt made him taller now, most of the growth was in his legs making his strides longer than Hermione's.
When they arrived, Narcissa and Jean immediately left telling the family they needed to remain inside until the surprise was ready. The Grangers and Malfoys kept switching between glaring at the other family and whispering plans. While their families plotted how to win against their closest friends, Narcissa and Jean went about setting up the surprise. After watching the Olympics with Jean and learning which events Hermione favored, the pair of mothers set up a biathlon course. The course included muggle rifles since Rich could not use a wand.
"Ok, —" Jean paused when she entered the chalet to find everyone already dressed in the newest and sleekest outfits used by athletes. She chuckled as Rich and Lucius glared. "— So you both decided to try and be more aerodynamic, wonderful. No one has the advantage then. Just like no one will have the advantage on the course. Cissy and I made some changes." Her smirk made both Grangers pause, Jean was sneaky and it seemed like she did something. She waved for everyone to follow her out the door and they did. All eager to see just what was in store for them.
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