A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any characters/locations related to the franchise. That all belongs to J.K. Rowling. I hope you enjoy the only thing I do own...the plot. Also M rating for language and possible sexually explicit scenes (really just wanted to be safe with the rating).
Hermione had left after their handshake. She had told him she would be by next week so they could start brewing wolfsbane. Draco had told her that it wouldn't be necessary to start so soon, but she had cut him off and told him to be ready. He had agreed with a grunt, and waved her out of his office. By the time he had made it back to the Manor, he was ready for a hot shower He was convinced the day couldn't get any longer. He was wrong…yet again.
No sooner had he crossed the main entrance hall than he heard his mothers soft commanding voice, "Draco dear, come sit with me?" It wasn't really a question. So, even though all Draco wanted to do was collapse in bed, he dropped his foot from its position on top of the first stair and took a deep breath. He walked towards the main sitting room, adjusting his cufflinks as he went until he was standing in front of his mother.
The room had pale cream walls, and a small fireplace off to one side. It was currently crackling, its flames tinted a beautiful light blue. There were various straight backed chairs positioned around a small table, his mother currently seated in one, her tea cup balanced perfectly in one hand.
He could smell the scent of jasmine wafting from the cup, his mother was having trouble sleeping yet again. Like Draco, Narcissa had been plagued by nightmares in the years after the war. They had really begun to seep into her soul after the death of her husband, it seemed that lacking the comfort of another person through the night had really been taking its toll on the older witch.
She never brought this up to Draco, but he had noticed that she was spending more and more time in this sitting room with a cup of calming tea than she used to. Especially this late at night. "Mother, what are you still doing up?" Draco whispered, concern etching itself across his pale face as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek before lowering himself into the chair opposite of her.
Narcissa waved off his question with her hand, before flicking her wand at the tea. Narcissa Malfoy nee' Black could not be asked to pour tea like a muggle, he smirked at the thought. Her magic flowed around the room, brushing him like a cool breeze as the tea cups filled themselves, and added sugar the way he liked. "Thank you." Draco smiled, politely.
"You are welcome, dear." Narcissa eyed him until he took a sip of the tea. Once she was satisfied that he was happy with the way it was prepared she sat her cup down quietly on the table. "Are we going to discuss last night?" She raised her eyebrows, her lips a thin line.
"I'd rather not." Draco sighed heavily, knowing that he really didn't have much choice in the matter either way. When Narcissa wanted to know something, she would figure it out one way or another.
"I would, Draco dear. Proper English if you would please." She admonished, correcting his grammar while casting a spell on napkins so that one found itself in Draco's lap. "Do you think it is wise to maintain your silence on the matter?" Narcissa folded her hands into her lap and tilted her head inquisitively.
"Mother, what would you like to know?" Draco let his shoulders slump and set his now empty cup on the table. He watched the teapot excitedly fill it up while the sugar dish pranced over and put two spoonful's in. He loved when his mother animated dishes. Her personality always penetrated the china, making the dishes seem livelier than if he were to animate them himself.
"If you are alright for starters." Her blue eyes searched his face, sighing as she saw the cuts and scrapes. "Are you alright, my dragon?" Draco nodded, his throat tightening at his old childhood nickname. She hadn't called him that since she had imperio'ed him so many years ago. She had begged his forgiveness for casting an Unforgivable on him, but he had thanked her for it profusely in the quiet of their library many nights ago. Right afterward he had explained to his mother about who his mate was, and she had listened as he had ranted and raved about not wanting her. Now, in the quiet of the sitting room she seemed to want to listen again, so he began to tell her.
"No, I am not." He choked out, "She…she broke her engagement." Narcissa nodded, waiting for him to continue. "For years I have told myself that it was ok to ignore her, and to hate her because she was in love with another wizard. But now, she isn't." His fingers wrapped around his robes at his wrists, pulling the fabric until it bunched in his hands. "How dare she." He demanded, his eyes flashing. He quickly stood up and paced around the low table, the sugar scurrying back to its place on the tea tray as he passed by.
He was not sure where the anger was coming from, but now that it was here it was burning through his veins like the Curse. He felt like the fire was roaring within him would never die, and his face quickly flushed. "How dare she break the bloody engagement. I had a good thing going mum. I could just ignore her, and she could ignore me and we could be bloody happy." He winced slightly at his lie, his mother gave him a severe look.
"Is that where the wolf took you? To her?" His mother asked, her eyes narrowed slightly glancing over his face.
"Yes."
"Mmmm," His mother hummed, twisting her mouth in thought. "Smart wolf. You have not been happy in some time, Draco." She raised her hand, cutting him off as he began to speak. "I have watched you fight this connection with Miss Granger for six years. Don't you dare stand there and lie to me that you have been happy!" Draco stopped pacing and stared down at his mother, her blue eyes flashing dangerously like the flames dancing just next to them.
"I-"
"Stop." She stood quickly, flicking her wand and banishing the tea spread to the kitchen. "If you make the decision to not be with her I cannot stop you. I vowed to your father the night she was dragged in here before us, soaking tears into my floor, that I would never stand in your way when it came to her, and I have stood by that vow every day since. I will not, however, watch you lie to me like I am one of your daft friends. You are my son, and you will tell me the truth!" Draco lowered his head, properly scolded. His hands clenched down at his sides, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths.
"I can't be with her. We don't deserve to be forced together." He whispered. Narcissa nodded once and walked over to her son, having no energy to correct his grammatical contractions. Standing on tip toes so she could reach, she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders. "But, I think I could have loved her, Mother." Narcissa nodded again, his arms wrapped around her middle. "If things were different."
"You have a chance, Draco." Narcissa murmured in his ear. "A chance to prove to this witch that you are not who she remembers. A chance to truly be happy." He stiffened slightly under his mother's soft voice. "If you asked for my advice, I would say take that chance. Merlin knows you two both deserve to be happy." After another pause she released Draco, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, darling. I will see you in the morning." Draco nodded, his mind deep in thought, pondering if he should take his mother's advice.
The next few days had passed by in a blur. After many nights spent tossing and turning, unable to sleep, Draco had decided that he was not going to make a move on Hermione, and that he would just get through the month of 'helping' her figure out who the werewolf was, and then go back to ignoring her like he had been doing.
Tea Tuesday was upon him once again, and like every Tuesday before this one he opened his door just before eight and waited. Like clockwork the door to the lift dinged, and the rushing smell of autumn rain hit his nose. He breathed in deeply and waited.
Hermione walked past him, her navy blue heels clicking across the linoleum, her short legs crossing the room to stand next to Potter's office. Draco eyed her while she waited for her best friend to open the door, and noticed that instead of the usual two cups in her hand she had a cardboard drink holder with three paper cups. His eyebrows furrowed further when Harry came to the door, took one of the beverages and then smiled before turning back. Hermione then twisted on her heel and met his eyes. Draco flushed red at having been caught staring and quickly lowered his gaze as she walked back towards his office.
His mind started to run rampant. Close the door? No that would make it obvious you were closing it on her. Go to the potion? No, one look at its pale grey surface and she could tell exactly what it was, and he didn't have an answer as to why he was already brewing wolfsbane before she had asked.
He settled on standing swiftly from his desk and browsing his bookshelf as if he was looking for an important piece of research material. He waited until the clicks of her heels stopped next to his door, glancing at her figure standing on the threshold of his office out of the corner of his eye.
"Hello, Malfoy. Ready to get started?" She smiled brilliantly holding out a cup for him to take.
"Actually, I do have a job, Granger." He quipped, walking towards his desk and taking a seat. She grinned at him again before crossing towards his desk and setting the tea he hadn't taken onto the wooden surface.
"Harry told me that you could be given my 'case' as a top priority." She sat down on the same chair as she had last night and took a sip of her cuppa.
"Did he now?" She nodded, and leaned back before reaching into her bag and taking out a large, dark leather portfolio.
"I thought we would start with what we know." She began, balancing the portfolio on her knees, "They are solid black with silver eyes, and stand approximately 5.5-6.5 feet tall at the shoulder." She passed over a piece of paper to him which held a description of him in werewolf form. He read her small paragraph, complete with a short section on his behavior that night.
"How long did you watch the wolf?" Draco asked, his eyes racing along the page.
"Not long, when they entered the…well when they came close to my house I lost sight of them, and decided to go to Harry's house, in case they broke my protective enchantments." She glanced down at her page before looking back up at him.
"I think we should ask around with werewolf support groups to see if any werewolf matching this description has been seen." Draco nodded his agreement. "But, they won't meet for another week or so because the wolves need time to calm down after the full moon. So, until then I thought we could work on the potion." She stood and was about to make her way over to the cauldron bubbling in the corner of his office before Draco inserted himself between her and the wolfsbane.
"I thought we could work on the potion at-" Draco tried to think of anywhere else that had a fully functioning brewing station, but he was coming up empty. The only other place he knew of that had everything they would need would be… "The Manor." He watched as realization dawned on her smiling face. The grin slipped from her cheeks and her hands wrapped around the paper cup in her hands like it was an anchor and she was adrift.
"You want to work on the potion…at your house?" She scrunched her eyebrows.
"Uh-no that's not…um I meant…" Draco again wracked his mind, trying desperately to figure out another place to work on the potion. Finally, his thoughts grabbed hold of a location, he winced slightly when his mind settled on it, but it was better than the manor…barely. "I meant we could work on the potion at Spinner's End." When Hermione's brows furrowed further Draco explained, "Snape's old house." Her mouth formed an 'o' in recognition before she nodded.
She tried to peek around his shoulder again, but he leaned over so her line of sight was blocked. She gave him a suspicious look before huffing out a breath, "Alright. I finished my work this week already since most of it is preparation for the gala. So, as long as it is alright with Harry for us to work off campus that shouldn't be a problem." She gave him a small smile, looking one more time at the cauldron in the corner, before turning around, her hair nearly smacking him in the face in the process. She left the office, presumably to clear the trip with his boss.
Draco ran a hand through his hair before muttering to himself about how stupid he was. He snatched his cloak up from his chair, and sent a memo to Theo, letting him know that he would have to cancel lunch. By the time the tiny parchment airplane was leaving his office she was back, her brown eyes watching him intently.
"What?"
She blinked several times as if clearing her thoughts, "Nothing. You ready?" He nodded, throwing his satchel over his shoulder and led her towards the lifts.
"Have a nice time, Malfoy." Potter called from his office, a massive smug grin spread across his thin face. Malfoy gave him a rude hand gesture behind Hermione's back, hearing the deep throaty chuckles of his boss as they entered the lift, and left the Ministry.
Twenty minutes later the two of them were standing on the edge of the old grey three story house, having apparated together. Draco quickly released Hermione's shoulder as if it had burned him, turning to face the ancient structure. He ignored Hermione's narrowed eyes and started to make his way towards his godfather's house. Its pale stone walkway was slightly overgrown, and there was a small herb patch off to the side that looked like even the garden sprites had abandoned.
It had been nearly seven years since Draco had stepped foot in this house other than to tell one of his house elves to maintain the structure. The elf occasionally asked Draco's opinions on what to do with the old house, but overall Draco had avoided the place. He wasn't sure why it had been so long since he had been there, but he was sure it probably had to do with the many memories that soaked into the wet, gray walls.
It was ironic that this place was one of the few areas that held no poor memories for him, aside from the night he had almost killed Dumbledore, and yet it was the only place he had avoided. Like the happy memories would cut into him even more than the ones where he had been tortured. He knew that opening the door in front of him, without Severus' sneering face on the other side, would be openly admitting the other man was gone. It was not something he had had to really come face to face with…until now.
Hermione walked over to the edge of the sectioned herbs, mumbling to herself about which plants Snape had been growing before he had died. "Mistletoe, Dittany, Chomping Cabbage." She glanced at Draco who made his way to the door. "He grew a lot of healing herbs."
She whispered as if not to break the serenity of the scene before them. Almost as if she expected their old Professor to come around the edge of the house in a flourish, sneering about how it was prudent for any useful potions master to keep his herb garden well stocked with an abundance of healing herbs. Draco smirked a little, his thoughts drawn back to the first time his professor had taught a young Draco to properly gather mistletoe berries.
"He used to tell me that he loved potions because you could take something simple and meaningless, like those berries," He motioned towards the mistletoe, "and mix it with a bunch of other things simple and meaningless and make something wonderful. A mixture of things that didn't matter to create something that did." Hermione watched him while he spoke, a fond smile gracing her lips.
"You really miss him, don't you?"
Draco shrugged, feeling like he had let a little too much emotion slip out. He turned from her and forced the tightness in his eyes away. Facing the door he then waved his wand at the harsh black wood, which shuddered in recognition of his magic before opening with a loud, offensive creak. The noise echoed through the quiet street, causing both Draco and Hermione to flinch and check behind them.
Of course the wards protecting the property from the nosy eyes of the neighbors held strong, and the only reaction to the noise was the increase in Draco's pulse. He swallowed tightly, knowing that there would be no scent of a brewing potion to meet him once he walked in. He tightened his jaw, and slowly put one foot in front of the other. The walls were dryer than they used to be, with less mold. Surely the work of having an elf whose only job was the upkeep of this downtrodden home.
As if summoned by Draco's thoughts, a younger house elf with ears that stood up almost straight into the sky, and bright clear yellow eyes the size of tea saucers approached from the kitchen. "Master Malfoy, Twiden was not expecting you. I will make tea right away." The elf wiped his hands nervously on his crisp black pillow-case, its long nose jiggling slightly with every motion.
"I am sorry that I did not send a message ahead of myself, Twiden. It was an unexpected visit to me as well." Draco motioned behind him to Hermione who was watching the exchange with interest. "Can you make enough tea for both me and Miss Granger." The elf's eyes flashed nervously towards Hermione. Just as recognition dawned on the poor creatures' features, Draco's eyes widened in panic, "No, no no no…" Draco sputtered, but the elf had already started to tear up.
"I tries to be a good elf." The pitiful thing wailed, "I tries. I cleans and I dusts…please don't let her take me, don't let her free me." The elf cried out, grabbing its ears and twisting them. "Please Master Malfoy-"
"Twiden, stop." Draco shouted at the elf, letting the magic of the command rake into the little creature's frame. Immediately the creature dropped his hands to its sides, but still shifted its feet nervously, "No one is going to free you or take you away." He pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and his thumb before motioning to Hermione. "Are you, Granger?"
"No," Hermione began, speaking quickly, dropping to her knees in front of the creature. "If you are happy and well treated with Master Malfoy, then I have no reason to take you. Besides I don't work for that department anymore." She soothed the elf in low tones until the poor thing was hiccupping instead of bawling. "That's it, chin up." She rubbed it's shoulders until the creature was once again standing steadily in front of them, no tears in sight.
"Tea?" The elf asked, its voice cracking a little on the edge.
"Tea would be lovely," Hermione smiled, standing again by Draco. Draco's fingers released his face with a drawn out sigh, and motioned for her to follow him down the hall. They went up a crooked staircase that creaked at every turn, until they came to an old room that had once served as Severus' potions lab. Taking a deep breath, and preparing himself for the rush of memories, Draco opened the thick wooden door and stepped inside.
A/N 2: Thank you so much for reading, feel free to leave comments below. I appreciate all the kind words and encouragement I have received from this community :)