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 parked the car and turned towards him. "Do you mind lowering the wards?" He nodded. After climbing out of the car, he cast the necessary charms and went back to the car to ride with her up the long driveway. She seemed to get anxious as they approached the intimidating grey stone house looming in the distance. Her fingers stopped tapping to the rhythm of the music and instead clenched around the steering wheel until her knuckles were white.
"Granger?"
"Huh," She quickly looked at him before turning back towards the manor. They were almost there, the gravel crunching underneath the tires the only noise other than the soft echo of the end of a song.
"Are you alright?" He watched her brow furrow before she gently nodded her head.
"Yeah," It came out as a near whisper. "Your mother has been kind enough to meet me at café's for planning up to this point." She parked the car, still peering out the window at the intimidating façade'. "I haven't-Not since-" Her anxiety was traveling off her in waves, and Draco could see her trembling.
"We boarded up that room. No one has been in there in years." He breathed out the sentence into the silence of the car. Slowly he reached out a hand and laid it on her shoulder. The gentle touch caused her to jump, but then she leaned into it, seeking the comfort he was offering. "If you would like, I can take the box thing inside. You can stay in the car." She was shaking her head 'no' before he finished.
"I need to see it before the gala anyway." She slowly undid her buckle, and with a couple deep, steadying breaths exited the car.
Draco was amazed at her strength. There were rooms in the manor that he had been 'corrected' in, and he still avoided those spaces as if his life depended on it. He would go through the servant's corridors and staircases to avoid some of the deeper stained memories. Draco even had a good portion of the manor completely remodeled, and still dodged them as he crossed the old house. And here she was, this beautiful strong woman who was about to willingly enter a space that she had been tortured in for the possibility to help children she had never met.
He lifted the new stereo system from the boot of the car, stacking three boxes of various sizes on top of each other before crossing the courtyard over to the front door. The door, sensing the approach of its master, opened before he even crossed the top step. The pale marble floor shone in the late afternoon sunlight, and the portraits on the walls began to whisper feverishly among themselves.
Granger hesitated at the doorway, her fingers digging into the jumper she wore before taking a step across the threshold. Draco gave her a smile, which she returned, much to the enjoyment of the pixies that had begun to take residency in his stomach. The wolf wagged its tail at Draco, proud that his human was finally pleasing their mate.
The pair crossed the main entrance hall, ignoring the hissing whispers of the old purebloods hanging on the wall. The walls were a deep slate grey, and the ceilings were vaulted in most of the house. Draco led her down a main hallway to a large set of cream doors at the very end. "Can you get the door, Granger?" He asked, adjusting the weight of the box as it cut into his arm at an odd angle.
"Huh-oh yes of course!" Granger, who had been caught gaping at some of the architecture, jumped to help him. She pushed open the door leading into the Great Ballroom. The area was as large as the Great Hall back at Hogwarts, with the wall opposite the entryway completely made of glass. The windows led out to the gardens, which at this time of the year were grey and dull green. The only pop of color out there were the strings of fairy lights which were just beginning to shine bright and clear in the darkened sky.
The floor was a white colored marble that shone iridescent like that of a pearl when you walked over the top of it, and off to the side was a small stage, clearly intended for a small string quartet or suitable band. There were tables that were stacked off to one side, out of the way in storage.
The most magnificent piece to the whole ballroom was the fireplace. The hearth was large enough to hold a small muggle car, and the surrounding mantle was made of a deep dark stone, with silver filigree. Granger crossed over to the fireplace, distracted by the carvings of knights in battles with giant beasts. Above the mantle hung a portrait of the current Malfoy family. Lucius was not present, clearly feeling the presence of a muggle-born enough to vacate his portrait.
The other two, having not been infused with memories yet, just gazed down at the pair. Still enchanted to move, the painting Narcissa stroked the young Draco's hair back and out of his eyes, before turning and nodding briefly to Hermione.
Moving to the stage, Draco set down the box, and took the time to rub the spot on his arm where the box had stabbed him. He watched the witch as she brushed her fingers over the hearth, smiling gently at the carvings. Hermione turned towards him, eyes bright, before she backed up and peered up at the painting, her fear of his home forgotten amongst the excitement of seeing the ballroom.
The painting version of Draco sneered down at her from where he stood next to his mother, the pale platinum of his hair seeming to glow in the otherwise dim room. Draco frowned at his canvas counterpart, suppressing the urge to incindio the damn painting where he stood. Draco watched Hermione's reaction, and nearly laughed out loud when she gave the painting a rude hand gesture before sticking her tongue out at it.
"Mature, Granger." Draco drawled, a smirk tilting half of his face.
"Hey, he started it!" She defended herself, pointing at the portrait in a move that looked positively juvenile.
"Well, the painting is supposed to be me when I was younger, so yeah I'm sure he did." Draco laughed, turning back towards the unopened boxes. "OK, so are you going to help me set this stuff up, or am I just going to have to attempt it on my own."
Frowning up at the painting one more time, she quickly came to stand next to him, before bending down to the boxes. Hermione looked at each box, before trying to pull the smooth tape off of the cardboard. "Do you have a box cutter, or a knife?" She asked.
Not knowing what a 'box cutter' was Draco summoned a knife from the kitchen, before placing it in her awaiting hand. She cut through the cardboard and began to set up each of the pieces of equipment. The long black 'wires' were plugged into the main system, and then set up to project the sound out of the speakers. Finally, she crowed in triumph, seemingly finished other than a singular black wire in her hand. She held the end in one of her hands, standing up and stretching before glancing around at his walls.
"Oh for the love of Merlin and Morgana!" Granger threw her hands up abruptly before letting a string of curses flow through her mouth. She then stomped towards the door, summoning her bag as she went.
"What?" Draco followed behind, trying not to be amused at her frustration.
"You don't have electricity here." She nearly shouted, stomping her way down the hallway.
"No, we don't."
"I can't plug in the blasted stereo system without electricity." She went to the front door, flinging it open and half jogged to her car. "I have to go get a generator that will work with an extension cord, and then I have to bring it back here." She growled, throwing open her car door and sliding in.
Draco followed into the seat, putting his safety belt as soon as he was situated. "I should have remembered to get one at the store, but of course I forgot. Because the world is out to get me today." She threw the car in gear and tore off down the drive.
"Salazar, Granger. Please, slow the fuck down." Draco's eyes flashed at the passing blurs that were trees, flinching as she took another obscenely sharp turn.
"This is all your mother's fault. I told her it would be simpler just to use a band, but she had to get all proper. 'Oh, but Miss Granger do you want simple, or do you want to impress people.'' Hermione mocked his mothers superior tone, much to Draco's amusement.
Sooner than was probably safe, they were outside an old hardware store in the center of a small muggle town just outside of the manor property. The building was relatively small, with brown siding, and doors that were covered in dust. Hermione charged in and asked the grizzled man behind the store counter about a gas or solar powered generator. The man stroked his greying beard, and walked down one of the aisles in the store. He spoke with Hermione for about fifteen minutes about wattage, and other strange words Draco had never heard before.
Finally, the man reached a calloused hand down and grabbed a large, red, square piece of machinery. The older man grunted with the weight of the machine, dropping it on a rolling trolley before bringing it up to the counter. There he talked more with Hermione. The witch was polite, smiling and laughing in all the right places, but Draco could tell she was anxious by the way her foot tapped ever so slightly on the linoleum flooring. Eventually, the conversation came to a natural close, Hermione paid for the 'generator', and they were back on the road towards his house in under thirty minutes.
"That was easier than expected, based on your reaction I thought we were going to have to drive halfway across Britain, and then barter with a troll to get that rock in the back." Draco smirked at her as she drummed her hands on the wheel. She glared at him for half a second before turning back to the road. They were thankfully driving at a normal speed, and Draco didn't feel the urge to hang on the door handle for dear life.
"I'm sorry for how I reacted," Hermione sighed, turning the car after signalling and adjusting the heat a little. "I have just been so stressed about this gala. If everything goes right we could finally get this program up and running." She paused, chewing on her lip for a second before continuing, "If it doesn't, Hudson threatened to shut the whole program down. I have to somehow convince at least three other Ministries to allow their children to come to Hogwarts, a place that was recently the location of a war. Not to mention that I have less than two weeks to get everything together, and there is still the matter of the werewolf. I feel so guilty that I haven't spent enough time trying to help this poor person who obviously needs it. I can't even begin to think about the fact I still have to move my stuff out of Ronald's flat." She stopped, glancing over at Draco. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to unload on you like that."
He shook his head and grabbed hold of her shoulder, "You know it's ok to ask for help." She swallowed, and her hands tightened on the steering wheel.
"You don't understand, Malfoy. If I ask for help then that means I can't handle it, and I can handle it. I have to be able to handle anything." She took a deep breath, and her shoulders raised up a little, "I can handle it." She looked like she had that day, years ago, on the battlefield. Her face wasn't covered in soot, and there were no tear tracks on her face. Her clothes weren't ripped, and she didn't have blood staining the denim on her legs. But her face...it was the face. Like a Valkyrie ready for the battle ahead, eyes shining and resolve making her eyebrows crinkle. She looked powerful. She looked determined. She looked beautiful.
"This is partially my mother's fault, and for that I apologize." Draco turned to look out the window at the passing scenery. Night had finally fallen, and the only light on the road they were driving down was the moon. It draped over the night like a pale blanket, keeping all the secrets of the forest contained within it's silver threads.
To most it would seem a comfort. The light it emitted illuminating the area, while still maintaining darkness in the deepest reaches. To Draco it was a countdown that mocked him. It's crescent face laughing at him as a permanent reminder that the transformation was always imminent.
"You're mother is...intense." Hermione laughed, before continuing. "I thank my stars that my mother was never like that." She went quieter at the end, her face covered in a wistful look.
Feeling emboldened by the day they had. Feeling strengthened by the knowledge that they had spent hours together with not a single real fight, Draco decided to push his luck. Remembering a conversation he had not so long ago, with a certain ginger friend of his, he took a deep breath and forced the words past his lips, "Granger, what happened to your parents?"
Hermione's gaze snapped to his. She stared at him, her eyes wide and mouth gaping like that of a fish fresh out of water. She must have stared at him for a moment too long, because she didn't see the stop sign that they rolled through...or the truck that was coming from the other direction, its bright headlights a beacon in the night. For a second the world seemed to stop spinning as it slammed into Draco's side of the car. She screamed, and Draco's heart stopped at the horribly familiar sound of her voice wrapped in terror.
A/N 2: As always reviews are welcome but not necessary. I love you all and hope you have been enjoying it so far. Any comments left on this chapter will be responded to next time!