"Happy-" Hermione glared at Ginny. They were the last three who hadn't crossed the threshold of the Manor; the gateway anyway. The tour group was already admiring a fountain and some were pointing at a white peacock. Hermione turned. "I am leaving. "
"He's not here." Ginny whispered urgently, though there was no one around to hear her. "Please."
"Please what? What was your plan Gin? Get us closer together?" Hermione was angry, she felt manipulated. But her insides were jello and her anger was fast disappearing.
"Mione. If Gin says he's not here, it can't hurt-" Harry interjected as he walked up beside Ginny; a gesture which told Hermione that Harry was on her side. Obviously.
"Are you bloody kidding me, Harry Potter." Hermione directed her anger to Harry who recoiled a little. "And you."
"Listen. I knew he wouldn't be home okay? I thought maybe you can learn a little about him." Ginny shrugged, her palms held out in defence.
"And what? I'd just fall into his arms the next time I saw him?" Hermione stomped her heel. The group was being urged onward now, away from the peacock. Hermione glanced at the grounds and curiosity was fast overtaking her anger.
"Come on, you can leave if you don't like it in there." Ginny said gently as she held out her hand. Hermione sighed. She could just leave when she wanted to. It was safe, no one was holding her here. And this was Draco Malfoy's home, his home after the war. Nothing like before.
She felt her hand grasp around Ginny's before she had made up her mind and they walked after the tour group. They entered just as Nilla was explaining where they would be touring today and how they would end their day with dinner in their dining room, made by the freed house elves who chose to remain with the Malfoys because of loyalty.
"He freed them." Hermione said to no one in particular. Ginny looked at her and raised an eyebrow, Hermione blushed.
They wandered down the corridors and Hermione's eyes were pulled to witches and wizards, many of whom had white blond hair and silvery eyes, all haughty and had no issues displaying their disapproval of parties being paraded through their home. That didn't stop Hermione intaking all their details.
Everything about the Manor felt old. The floors were cobblestone, but smoothed in the corridors. Some rooms were hardwood floored, and others were slates of marble. Everything was rich and beautifully made. It was all suited to their rooms, fitting well together and pleasing to the eye. Hermione found herself touching the rich furnishings, her fingertips cataloguing every material she recognised and admiring the artistry behind them all.
Hermione also noticed that the furnishings were much less extravagant than the Vie's and more practical, their elegance was in their choice of wood or texture in their patterns. It wasn't needlessly expensive, but rather tasteful.
Hermione wanted to ask Nilla if Draco was really not here, but she held her tongue. She trusted Ginny, and then not long after heard it from Nilla's mouth that Draco was not expected until the next day, so the tour group would not have the opportunity to meet their host or have dinner with him.
Through the corridors, Hermione saw less of the white haired wizards and witches and now more likenesses of people she recognised. There was Blaise, who Ginny smiled at and moved on, Harry none the wiser. There was Pansy, in Draco's company in what looked to be the Yule Ball, there were portraits of teenaged Crabbe and Goyle, which must have been painted before Crabbe was consumed that day by the uncontrollable Fiendfyre.
Hermione frowned as a portrait of Astoria came into view, where she was looking adoringly at a woman who looked very like her, and familiar to Hermione. She realised it was her sister, and then felt jealousy pang through her because it only affirmed his engagement to her in her mind. That opinion was only faltered by the appearance of a young Theodore.
And unmistakably, there was Theodore Nott Jr., his arm slung across Draco's shoulders as they laughed, Crabbe and Goyle running into the portrait to throw spells at them as they dodged and ran away, laughing with a teenaged innocence long lost.
It was at the end of the corridor that the party of viewers came to a halt, all heads turned to a large portrait of Draco, and on either side of him, his parents in their own frames peering fondly at their son. The portrait of Draco looked down at them all, not smiling, but not unkind, until his eyes landed on Hermione. And Hermione saw what she came to recognise was a smile, because the corner of his mouth had tugged upward.
How recent was this portrait? Hermione stared at him, and he stared at her. Everyone in the tour party turned to look at Hermione. Nilla fidgeted.
"That's right. You went to school with the young Mr Malfoy." She said hesitantly. Hermione thought maybe she was afraid she was wrong. She looked away from Draco's stare and met Nilla's eyes and nodded.
Nilla's face softened at the nod and her cheeks immediately pinkened as she looked up at the large portrait. "Is he really that handsome?" Someone asked, Hermione wasn't sure who. Draco's portrait's eyes never left Hermione as Hermione looked back at him and nodded.
"He is." Hermione felt Ginny's elbow in her side but was surprised when she looked around to shove her away that it was Harry.
"Mr Malfoy has left most of the Manor untouched, this portrait gallery- corridor is one of them."
Hermione noted that as the explanation why Theodore - and Hermione supposed, even Astoria- would be allowed to remain with him and his younger self.
"Is Malfoy gone most of the year?" Ginny quipped beside her where she ducked from Hermione by using Harry as a human shield.
"He is!" Nilla said brightly. "It is one of the reasons he has allowed us to add his Manor to the tour, he is very gracious."
"I'm sure he'd stick around more if he got married." Ginny raised her voice louder than Hermione would like, not that the tour group would know any better. Hermione managed to find Ginny's toes and she stomped on them to which Ginny yelped but laughed.
"You're right. The young Mr Malfoy visits his friends overseas very often. I have heard the family talk about how much the young man needs a wife, and we have seen him grace the Prophet, though not of late."
"Wasn't he due to marry that Greengrass girl?" An old woman said very slowly, her syllables so rickety it was almost lost. Hermione hung onto Nilla's next words.
"Indeed. Yes, there was an announcement some years ago." Nilla said, her face momentarily going far away as she recalled what news she did remember. "Alas, I do not have more information for you."
When they approached the drawing room, the doors looking the same on the outside as Hermione remembered them on the inside, she paused. She willed her feet forward but they refused to budge.
"I'll wait." She told Harry and Ginny as the doors closed automatically after the tour group entered. Harry looked at her and then at Ginny.
"I'm not leaving you." He said and he held out his hand and squeezed hers.
"No, no please. I just need a moment. I'll be okay alone." Hermione reassured him with a slight squeeze herself.
It was only as the chatter of the tour group died down after the doors shut that the voices wafted toward her and her body moved toward it.
"-tomorrow, but it's today instead." Hermione recognised his voice and she pressed her back to the wall, cool against her palms as she ignored the guilt she felt because of eavesdropping. A woman's voice responded.
"So that's why you're here a day early. Not because you want to see me." Hermione recognised Astoria's voice from their conversation a little over a week ago. She felt her insides go cold. Astoria was here, at Malfoy Manor. She wasn't wherever Draco had said he was escorting her to. She was living with him. They had to be engaged.
"Astoria-" Draco's voice went soft and pleading, Hermione felt her stomach lurch and she stepped forward, tripped, and yelped. She stood quickly, covered her mouth and walked quickly down the corridor the way she remembered coming from. She heard footsteps behind her, but she didn't slow, and when she burst into the cool air, she continued walking.
"Hermione!" Draco called after her. She stopped, but only because he sounded so pained. She turned and met his eyes. He was smiling a little. He stopped abruptly as she turned and her own body was stiff, her hands unsure how to act were fiddling together, tugging at her fingertips and then twisting them. She had returned his smile, but against her will because she was also thoroughly embarrassed.
"I thought you weren't here. If I had known, I'd have never agreed to-" Hermione said quickly, her own lungs fighting for air to get the words out.
"No, I came back a day early." Draco said, his eyebrows raising in a way that pled for Hermione to stay put. This made her irrationally angry.
"You have a beautiful home-"
"How have you been-" They both said at the same time and their eyes darted away from each other, conversation was difficult to maintain. Hermione looked back to him, feeling the heat rising in her chest and crawling up her neck to her cheeks.
"Shouldn't you be with your fiance?" Hermione asked, she tried to be gentle and not let her jealousy shoot venom at him, because he didn't know.
"My fia- Astoria?" Draco looked over his shoulder. "No. No." He laughed a breathy laugh and ran his hand through his hair before he awkwardly shifted on his feet. He was wearing a white shirt and black trousers, with black dragonhide boots that met his calves halfway up. "I take care of her. Her family."
"She said you were engaged. This looks like you are-" Hermione felt her shoulders slump, embarrassment threatened to wash over her.
"She tells everyone that because before we learned about her blood curse, her mother promised my mother- without asking me- and she has taken that as a promise. This was a pre-war arrangement and I never agreed. Plus, Volde-" Draco hesitated.
"Voldemort." Hermione finished confidently.
"Voldemort was defeated." Draco smiled. A train of thought ran through Hermione's mind. Blood curse? Arranged marriage? He's not engaged. Hermione shifted on her feet and then pulled at her thumb, her eyes refusing to meet Draco's for longer than a second at a time.
"I'm sorry she has a blood curse. That sounds like a lot of responsibility." Hermione managed to string together.
"Well she wasn't sure if she would have it, because there wasn't a one hundred percent chance of it, but it manifested later than usual. I've been taking her to doctors for it." Malfoy thrust his hands into his pockets, his shoulder went into a tiny shrug that Hermione found adorable. "I came back early because the doctor couldn't see her tomorrow. I didn't know you'd be on the tour."
"I didn't know I was coming here." Hermione admitted.
"Where are you staying?" Draco looked over her shoulder.
"There's a camp. That's how this part of the tour works." Hermione looked over her shoulder in the general direction of the camp, where she wished she was right now and not under Draco's hot stare.
"That's silly, the tour should have their group stay with us." Draco's voice was genuinely astonished and Hermione looked up and met his eyes finally, holding his stare and feeling her cheeks bloom.
"I should go." She said, one foot shifting so she could leave.
"But the tour-" Draco jerked his thumb back at his Manor.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you." Hermione called over her shoulder as she walked away from him, even as the string, invisible but strong, tugged inside her chest and urged her back.
"Do you want me to escort you?" Hermione heard his feet in the gravel behind her.
"No, it's okay. Thank you! I'll see you around." She wanted to call him Draco, but she willed her feet forward and strode up to the gate which opened to her no problem.
Her heart didn't calm down, even as she sat alone in her tent, a cup of tea warming her hands.
Half an hour later, Harry and Ginny made an appearance.
"Fuck, we wondered where you were." Ginny slid into the bench beside her while Harry busied himself with the kettle that had gone cold since Hermione had made her cup.
"I-" Hermione started. Her mind was preoccupied by learning that Draco wasn't engaged, that he had become a thoroughly good person, and she was in fact irreversibly in love with him.
"Malfoy told us you left." Ginny leaned into Hermione and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"You saw Draco?" Hermione looked around at Ginny.
"We did. The tour group's back for lunch, then a walk on the grounds and forests around here, before we go in for dinner at the Manor. But we don't have to go." Ginny said kindly, gratitude poured from Hermione and she smiled. Then curiosity and guilt clawed its way through.
"Well I'm going to dinner." Harry quipped, his back to them as he spooned sugar into a mug. "And I think Hermione should come too."
"Well of course you're going." Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry but only Hermione could see. " You're invited to play Quidditch in that magnificent field of his."
"Oh, as if you weren't?" Harry threw over his shoulder. Ginny looked at Hermione and her lips curled inward and she bit them.
"We're going to dinner, and an impromptu Quidditch match between old rivals." Hermione recounted carefully. "And you're telling me, this wasn't planned?"
Hermione realised the excitement she felt was her wishing the day would never end.
"Malfoy-" Ginny paused, grinning, "I mean, Draco , said something about a library." Hermione wanted to wipe the smirk off her face, because the butterflies she was trying desperately to calm were almost bursting through her with happiness.
"I forgot about the library." Hermione shook her head.
"Because Draco distracted you." Ginny laughed, and dodged Hermione's half hearted flick of her tea.