A/N: Hey, I did promise that I would get this up, and I don't break my
promises! Once again, thank you to all my great reviewers! As some of you
are authors already, I don't need to tell you how much it means for people
to tell you that they enjoy what you write or to give you advice on what to
say. For those of you who aren't authors, let me just say that it's a great
feeling and you should keep it up, even if it's just to say I don't think
this part works well. Please, please, please keep reviewing, and I'll
reward you appropriately ;o)
Disclaimer: Only Dr. Jameson's my idea, and he's based on my doctor, so I can't really claim him either (sigh) Oh well!
BIG THANKS!!! Yay to my beta Spazy Sange for her help.couldn't have done it without you!
Chapter 6: Locks Without Keys (Exploring Malfoy Manor - Part I)
It was ten am the next morning when Draco was discharged with a clean bill of health from St Mungo's. The doctor in charge had prodded and poked him until Draco was sure that the man was taking some sick pleasure out of causing him pain. He was just preparing to hit Dr. Jameson and make a run for it when the man stopped and sat back down in his chair.
"Well young man, you've made an amazing recovery. I've never seen a case as severe as yours pull through before, you must be a very strong individual! Of course, the fact that Dr. Granger was the doctor on call the night you came in obviously helped a great deal. The best doctor we've ever had that young girl, absolutely amazing."
The doctor's speech trailed off into nothing as Draco stopped concentrating, for some reason he'd felt a huge swell of pride when Dr. Jameson was talking about Hermione. He grinned at his own stupidity, 'Like you have anything to be proud of! It wasn't you who was there, encouraging her all throughout her life was it? Don't be such a fool and get back to the task in hand.'
The doctor was still talking about the severity of his injuries and Draco was finding it hard to concentrate. There was a knock at the door, and a nurse came in smiling broadly.
"Sorry to interrupt you sir, but the transport for Mr. Malfoy is here." She turned to Draco and winked. He was slightly confused by this, but extremely grateful for any excuse to escape the clutches of the boring Dr. Jameson.
As he stepped out into the corridor, the nurse turned to him and said cheerily, "We always give the patients ten minutes of him talking then come and rescue them!"
"I'm very glad you do," Draco said half smirking and jokingly kissed the nurse's hand. He was slightly surprised by her reaction, but mildly pleased. She turned bright red, and giggled
"Ooh Mr. Malfoy, I've heard stories about you! Get on with you now back to your room and pack; I'm a married witch I'll have you know!"
Draco gave another of his famous smirks and turned to go round the corridor, only to catch out of the corner of his eye, the nurse smile and sigh. 'This is GREAT!' Draco thought, 'Women are practically offering themselves on a plate!' This was an immensely satisfying thought and he was very happy when he walked into his room, where the happiness was only intensified. Hermione was standing, looking out of his window, seemingly deep in thought. 'Maybe she's having second thoughts about coming with me, or maybe she's completely changed her mind and has come to tell me she's not coming or maybe.'
The escalating paranoia of Draco's thoughts was abruptly cut off by Hermione's voice.
"I see you got trapped by Dr. Jameson. In that case, I'll forgive you for being late. Come on, hurry up, the cab is outside waiting and I don't want to have to pay loads extra because you can't get your ass in gear."
"Alright then, I'll pay loads extra because I can't get my ass in gear." Draco replied and began gathering up his bags. While he was doing this, he noticed Hermione's own small bag, it couldn't have contained very much at all, and Draco's heart sank.
"You're obviously not staying long then." He commented, pointing at Hermione's bag.
"Not necessarily. I didn't know how long you would want me to stay, so I charmed this bag to transport what I wanted from home, so I have access to all the stuff in my apartment."
"Wow, that's an impressive spell!" Draco said, stunned by her ingenuity and pleased that she wasn't only planning on staying one night.
"I found it in this really great book of old spells that I bought on holiday two years ago. I can get it to show you when we get back to your house if you like."
"I would like that a lot Hermione." He smiled, turning back to his bags, and missing the emotion that flashed through her face.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
When Draco had finally got all of his stuff together, after much nagging from Hermione, they made their way down the stairs, and towards the front door of the hospital. Just as they were about to step outside and down the front steps, Draco stopped.
"What? Is something the matter?" asked Hermione, confused by his sudden halt.
"If I take one more step, I'll be leaving behind everything that I know. This must be what it's like being born; you leave behind this safe, warm place to go out into this place that you know nothing about."
Hermione was annoyed that she hadn't thought about the significance of this event for him. She was more worried about what he might remember when he got to Malfoy Manor. 'That's great Hermione, always three steps ahead, as usual.'
"You're not leaving EVERYTHING behind, you've still got me." she said, and smiled at him. 'God, look at her Draco, I'm sure you never did anything to deserve this, I must have been a saint in a previous life or something. Look at that smile, I must have been so blind not to notice this when I was a kid.'
"Thanks." he said, suddenly realising that he'd just been staring at her, without responding, and she was starting to look worried.
Together they walked down the steps, and onto the pavement below, Hermione stepped forward and spoke to the cab driver, and then turned to Draco. She motioned for him to get into the cab, and looked confused when he shook his head.
"Ladies first."
'He thinks of you as a lady, he thinks of you as a lady.' Hermione's mind chanted in an annoying singsong fashion. 'Hee hee, you're in there girl, go for it!' Hermione was becoming distinctly annoyed with her mind as she slid into the car, followed by Draco.
The cab set off, and drove quickly until it was out of the centre of London, and on a quiet road. Then there was a loud bang, and they were driving through the peaceful country lanes of Derbyshire. The cab worked in a similar way to the Knight bus, and would pop straight back to London when it had dropped off Draco and Hermione. The cab turned down a long gravel drive and halted in front of an imposing building of grey stone. The house was enormous, bigger than Buckingham palace, and was facing directly into the morning sun.
There were huge oak doors with large iron handles, each carved with a picture of a sinuous dragon. Hermione gasped, and was stood, completely in shock, while Draco paid the cab driver. When the cab had driven off, Draco turned and stood with Hermione, for some reason, not awed by the immense building and took her arm.
"Shall we?"
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Draco stepped up the small step to the front doors, then stopped and turned around.
"Did I have a key with me or anything, when I came in?"
"No, you didn't have anything." Hermione replied, suddenly realising the problem that they had, where were they supposed to go, if they couldn't get in?
Draco turned to the doors again, and decided to try the handle, just in case. He reached out and placed his hand on the cool, smooth metal and turned it, not expecting it to do anything. The dragon, carved onto the handle grew warm and hissed "Welcome Master Draco", and the door swung open.
Hermione had stepped up behind Draco, just in time for her to see the dragon speak to him. He turned to look at her with wide eyes, and she looked back, just as amazed as he was.
"Wow, that was.was.fantastic!!!!" Draco enthused, pleased by his house already.
"Yeah, it was, I've got one question though, what if I get locked out, and you're not here? If you're the only one who can open the door..."
"Are you really that likely to be here without me though?" Draco asked and regretted it as Hermione flushed, obviously embarrassed.
"Well, we could see how they work and try to get them to recognise you if you like." He added hastily, trying to get off the subject, he didn't want to upset her enough to make her want to leave. "Just don't go letting any of my many mortal enemies inside!" He joked.
Hermione smiled, and nodded, putting her hand on the handle of the other door to push it open. Both she and Draco had their hands on the handles at the same time, and the dragon on Hermione's handle hissed, "Name"
Hermione looked at it shocked, and then her quick mind suddenly figured out the puzzle. "Miss Hermione Granger" she stated clearly, and both the dragon on her handle and the one on Draco's grew warm.
"Step back a second and close the door would you Draco?" He instantly complied, and a slightly apprehensive Hermione stepped up to the now closed door and turned the handle. "Welcome Miss Hermione." the dragon hissed, and the door swung open.
"Good, my house likes you." exclaimed Draco, with a pleased expression on his face.
"Well, I guess that a person who already has access to the house has to put his hand on one handle, and the new person has to put their hand on the other handle and then they can be granted access. What an interesting spell, I'm going to have to research that some more, I wonder where it came from."
Hermione's voice trailed off, and Draco could see her thoughts already working out places she could find information, what books she could look in. He'd never seen her so completely absorbed in anything before, and he felt like laughing. It was so weird that she could be so excited about a door of all things, but at the same time, it was so endearing that he wanted to hug her and never let go.
A roll of thunder from the increasingly black sky overhead brought them both back to the situation in hand. Hermione pushed open the door as far as it would go, and then ran back down to the drive to grab her bag, and help Draco with his. They ran together back up to the house and just as they stepped through the door, the rain came pouring down.
"That was close." Hermione observed, and they both stood, just looking at the heavy rain for a few minutes. The drops were fat, and the rain was so heavy that you couldn't see more than a few metres in front of you. A sudden gust of wind blew the rain into the house, and onto the two people that stood together in the doorway. They leapt back and swung the door closed, laughing at the sudden drenched state of the other.
Hermione pulled out her wand, and dried herself with a quick charm, and Draco did the same. Then, by some silent agreement, they turned as one to look at the room in which they stood. It was a large entrance hall, square in shape, with a floor made of grey flagstone. The walls were also made of grey stone, slightly softened by large paintings and tapestries, similar to the ones in Hogwarts. There were four flights of stairs leading upwards, one from each corner of the room, presumably leading to the four wings of the mansion, and two flights of stairs leading downwards, the two flights of stairs faced each other, and one must have lead to the kitchen, and Hermione didn't want to think about where the other one lead.
"Are we gonna explore?" asked Draco, curious about the place where he grew up.
"Yeah, if you want. Shall we leave the bags here and come and get them when we've decided where we're sleeping?"
"That sounds like a plan to me. Come on then, lets get started or we'll never get finished."
Draco set off up the staircase nearest to him, and paused, waiting for Hermione to follow. She seemed reluctant to go up the stairs, so he went back down to where she was standing.
"What's wrong?"
She shrugged and frowned slightly. "I don't know, it's just strange to be inside Malfoy Manor, and I don't feel like I should be here. I know it's probably stupid, but this house gives me the creeps."
"You don't have to stay if you really don't want to." Draco said, looking disappointed. 'See, she's only been here five minutes, and she's already looking for excuses to leave. You shouldn't have made her come with you, Draco, you're an idiot.'
"No, it's fine, I'll stay. Just. just don't leave me behind okay?"
"I promise." He replied, smiling at her. He held out his hand, and Hermione took it, together walked up to the top, and made their way down the long corridor at the top of the stairs. *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Throughout the first wing of the house, Draco held Hermione's hand, and he loved the fact that she didn't try to make him let go. He was fascinated by his house, but couldn't take his mind off the fact that something must have happened to make Hermione afraid of it. Also, there was something bothering him about the second staircase that lead downwards, he didn't know what it was yet, but it didn't seem good.
The first wing was all guest rooms, beautifully furnished and each of them dust free and ready for use.
"You must have house elves; they'll probably be in the kitchen Maybe we can go and see them in a bit?" Hermione asked, looking hopeful.
"Of course we can, we have to let them know we're here, so they can make dinner for us. Tell you what, we'll do the second wing, and then go down to the kitchens, okay?"
"Okay." Hermione replied, and they made their way down the stairs into the entrance hall, and up the second flight of stairs. Halfway up, Hermione moved to look at a picture, and pulled her hand out of Draco's. 'Oh shit! I didn't mean to do that! Great, I'm never going to get him to offer his hand a second time.'
Draco kept his face impassive, while feeling disappointed that she'd let go of his hand. 'Come on, she wasn't going to hold your hand forever now, was she! Get over it you stupid boy!'
Hermione still walked closely by Draco, as they came to the first room in the corridor. It was another bedroom; only this one was obviously lived in. It wasn't Draco's room, but Lucius'. It had a large four poster bed, with black sheets on it; all over the ceiling were dark magic symbols and spells to keep out intruders. Draco freely stepped into the room, but when Hermione tried, she couldn't step through the door. It was like walking into a brick wall, and Hermione yelped in pain, and put her hand to her forehead. There was a burning pain shooting through it that only diminished when she stepped back from the door. She slid to the floor on the opposite side of the corridor, still holding her head, in an attempt to stop the pain.
"Hermione!" Draco yelled, "Are you okay, what happened?"
"I can't go through that door, it hurts. It's okay, I'll stay here, and you look in that room."
"I don't want to leave you out here on your own, it's fine, we'll leave that room."
"No! It's your dad's room, and you want to look around! Go ahead; I'll be fine out here until you're finished." Seeing that Draco was about to protest, she interrupted. "I won't take no for an answer. Go!"
Draco looked torn, and she could see that he really wanted to go and look in his father's room. He needed the clues to his past that his father's room may provide.
"Only if you're sure."
"I'm sure, I'll be fine, you go and look around." Draco smiled at her, and she smiled back, before wincing at the pain in her forehead. She closed her eyes, and heard the rustling of Draco's clothes as he stood up. She felt him kiss her forehead, and the pain diminished somewhat.
"I'll be right back, I promise."
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Draco stepped once again through the threshold of the room; he looked around at the dark and depressing décor. 'How could anybody live in this room, it'd make me want to kill myself.' It was a plain room, with very little clutter or even furniture, just a bed, a chest of drawers and a bedside table. One small door in the wall lead to a wardrobe, and another lead to a bathroom, where there were minimal toiletries.
There was something bothering Draco about the room, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He looked around, and tried to visualise his father in the room, only it was hard, with no face to put on him. Suddenly, it came to Draco in a rush of understanding. That was what was wrong with the room. It was completely impersonal; there were no photos, no pictures, nothing that would indicate that his father had a wife and child. The drawers and bedside table contained nothing that could help Draco, just clothes and dark magic items.
Draco left the room, and headed back out to Hermione feeling sad and angry. She was still sitting on the floor, but she was no longer holding her head, she had leaned back, resting against the wall, and had her eyes closed. She was deep in thought and didn't notice Draco coming out of the room towards her.
He stood there, just watching her for a while before slowly and silently walking towards her. Draco's mind was quickly flashing through her possible reactions if he kissed her, so many of them were bad, did he dare risk it? Just as he made up his mind, Hermione looked up, spoiling his plans.
"Are you done in there now? You don't have to rush because of me you know, take all the time you want."
"No I'm done, there was nothing in there, not even any photos. I don't think my father was particularly attentive, except when he was beating me." Draco's voice sounded sad, and his hand unconsciously went to his back. A rush of sympathy went through Hermione, and she stood up and hugged him tightly. Draco's shock was evident, but after a few seconds, he carefully put his arms around Hermione, and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of her hair.
"He obviously didn't deserve a son like you. He's not worth it, forget him."
"I know, it's just. he's my father you know, and you can't help feeling sad when the person that's supposed to love you most doesn't care at all."
She squeezed him even harder at these words, then reluctantly let go.
"Come on, we should keep going. Maybe there'll be more helpful stuff in your room."
The corridor was slightly shorter than the first one, and with fewer rooms, only four, but the rooms were much bigger. This was obviously the family wing, although Hermione wasn't sure why there were four rooms when there were only three people in the Malfoy family. The next room along the corridor was Narcissa's room, and it was far more pleasant than Lucius's room, and Hermione was able to enter, although she paused at the doorway.
"Do you want to do this one alone?" she asked, trying to be tactful, not wishing to intrude where she wasn't welcome.
"No. I want you to be here, I need you to be here, moral support and everything."
Hermione decided to take the opportunity offered to her, and slipped her hand into his.
"I'll always be here if you need support." she whispered, and together they entered the room. It was a complete contrast to Lucius's room next door. It had pale lavender walls, and the four poster bed had white sheets, with a lavender throw, the chest of drawers and bedside table matched the pale wood of the bed, as opposed to the dark wood of Lucius's. There were photos everywhere, crowding every surface, of Draco mostly, some of her and Draco, and one of Lucius.
Draco sat on the bed, and let go of Hermione's hand to pick up an especially beautiful picture of himself and his mother. They were outside, and it was early summer, Draco was about two and had fine white-blond hair. His mother was a young woman, not yet marked by her years of abuse, and was smiling. Every so often, she would kiss Draco on the head, and he would smile and laugh, it was a totally happy childhood scene, and Draco loved it.
"At least my mother loved me." He said wistfully as he put the photo back in its original position. He sighed, and the overwhelming sadness at his mother's death returned almost blinding him with pain. Hermione sensing his need to be alone turned to the chest of drawers and looked at some of the other photos that were arranged neatly on the top. They were of Draco at various ages, and in most of them, he hadn't yet developed the scowl that Hermione knew so well from her school days. It was only when he got to be about ten that his face changed from that of a carefree child.
The sound of Draco standing up distracted her from the photographs, and she turned around. His eyes were dry, but full of pain, and she didn't know how to make it stop hurting, this wasn't like some medical illness and she felt angry at her helplessness. She turned back around and walked out of the room, leaving Draco to look for any clues to his past in his mother's room. Although it felt wrong to go through his mothers drawers, he thought that she wouldn't min, considering the reason that he had to do it.
Quickly he found what he was looking for, his mother's journal. He slipped it into his pocket to look at later, when he had more time, and more privacy. He stepped out of his mother's room, to find Hermione looking at him with a strange expression on her face.
"Are you alright?" He asked, sounding worried
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Let's keep going."
The next room didn't show anything exciting, it was almost like the guest rooms in the other wing, only larger, and obviously for more important guests. It was the last room that proved the most interesting. It was Draco's room. Hermione had been expecting a dark room, full of Slytherin colours and dark arts materials, so she was pleasantly surprised by the room that she walked into.
It was light and airy, much like Narcissa's room, and Hermione could tell that she'd had a hand in the decorating. The walls were white, with silver woodwork; a reference to Slytherin without being overwhelming. The wood of Draco's furniture was pale, and his four poster bed had a white bedspread with a silvery green comforter. The walls were plain, with only a picture of a sunset over mountains to break the monotony of the white. It was neat and tidy, although Hermione suspected that this was the house elf's doing rather than any neatness on Draco's part.
There was no apparent dark arts material about, although Hermione hadn't looked at the bookshelf that was on the far side of the room. There were no spells to prevent her entering and the whole impression of the room was that of a nice, normal young man. 'Hmm, not quite what you thought he was then, eh. Who would have thought that Draco's room could be so. so. normal? I had expected at least one 'Die Mudblood's' poster. Maybe things aren't always as they seem.'
Once again, deciding to leave Draco on his own, Hermione quietly exited the room to wait on the ornately carved seat outside in the corridor. Draco wondered at Hermione's sense of tact. 'How is it that she knows exactly when to back off, and when to come closer? Maybe that's why she's such a good doctor. That and the fact that she's a genius. There's more to this girl than meets the eye.'
Draco's room was characteristically plain, although he did have some photos taped to the wall above his bed. There were several of him and Narcissa when Draco was younger, and a few of Lucius. There was also a few of him as an older youth, with a variety of girls and one of him with two stocky boys who looked about as clever as pond scum. There was also a school photo with the whole of his year in it, taken the year they left Hogwarts; each student had their name written beneath them in curly silver writing.
Draco looked for himself, and found he was stood with the same two stocky boys as in the picture before, smirking like mad at the camera. He raised his head from the picture to the mirror opposite his bed and smirked. 'Some things don't change then obviously.' he thought. The smirk he had now was exactly the same as the one he'd had as an eighteen year old boy. Draco turned to the picture again, looking for Hermione this time. He found her in the middle of two boys, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
She was looking right into the camera, and was smiling a slightly sad, yet happy smile. 'I bet she was sad to leave Hogwarts.' Draco thought, accurately guessing the reason for Hermione's sadness. Hermione was very beautiful in the picture, with masses of brown ringlets blowing in the breeze. A sudden movement in the picture made Draco look back at himself, his picture self was glaring at the three students above him with undisguised hatred. He was slightly taken aback by the strong emotion his picture self displayed, and turned away from the photo.
He searched his cupboards and his wardrobe for a journal, and finally found it underneath the mattress of his bed. Draco took one last look around and stepped out into the hallway.
"I'm starving, come on Mya let's find some food!!"
Disclaimer: Only Dr. Jameson's my idea, and he's based on my doctor, so I can't really claim him either (sigh) Oh well!
BIG THANKS!!! Yay to my beta Spazy Sange for her help.couldn't have done it without you!
Chapter 6: Locks Without Keys (Exploring Malfoy Manor - Part I)
It was ten am the next morning when Draco was discharged with a clean bill of health from St Mungo's. The doctor in charge had prodded and poked him until Draco was sure that the man was taking some sick pleasure out of causing him pain. He was just preparing to hit Dr. Jameson and make a run for it when the man stopped and sat back down in his chair.
"Well young man, you've made an amazing recovery. I've never seen a case as severe as yours pull through before, you must be a very strong individual! Of course, the fact that Dr. Granger was the doctor on call the night you came in obviously helped a great deal. The best doctor we've ever had that young girl, absolutely amazing."
The doctor's speech trailed off into nothing as Draco stopped concentrating, for some reason he'd felt a huge swell of pride when Dr. Jameson was talking about Hermione. He grinned at his own stupidity, 'Like you have anything to be proud of! It wasn't you who was there, encouraging her all throughout her life was it? Don't be such a fool and get back to the task in hand.'
The doctor was still talking about the severity of his injuries and Draco was finding it hard to concentrate. There was a knock at the door, and a nurse came in smiling broadly.
"Sorry to interrupt you sir, but the transport for Mr. Malfoy is here." She turned to Draco and winked. He was slightly confused by this, but extremely grateful for any excuse to escape the clutches of the boring Dr. Jameson.
As he stepped out into the corridor, the nurse turned to him and said cheerily, "We always give the patients ten minutes of him talking then come and rescue them!"
"I'm very glad you do," Draco said half smirking and jokingly kissed the nurse's hand. He was slightly surprised by her reaction, but mildly pleased. She turned bright red, and giggled
"Ooh Mr. Malfoy, I've heard stories about you! Get on with you now back to your room and pack; I'm a married witch I'll have you know!"
Draco gave another of his famous smirks and turned to go round the corridor, only to catch out of the corner of his eye, the nurse smile and sigh. 'This is GREAT!' Draco thought, 'Women are practically offering themselves on a plate!' This was an immensely satisfying thought and he was very happy when he walked into his room, where the happiness was only intensified. Hermione was standing, looking out of his window, seemingly deep in thought. 'Maybe she's having second thoughts about coming with me, or maybe she's completely changed her mind and has come to tell me she's not coming or maybe.'
The escalating paranoia of Draco's thoughts was abruptly cut off by Hermione's voice.
"I see you got trapped by Dr. Jameson. In that case, I'll forgive you for being late. Come on, hurry up, the cab is outside waiting and I don't want to have to pay loads extra because you can't get your ass in gear."
"Alright then, I'll pay loads extra because I can't get my ass in gear." Draco replied and began gathering up his bags. While he was doing this, he noticed Hermione's own small bag, it couldn't have contained very much at all, and Draco's heart sank.
"You're obviously not staying long then." He commented, pointing at Hermione's bag.
"Not necessarily. I didn't know how long you would want me to stay, so I charmed this bag to transport what I wanted from home, so I have access to all the stuff in my apartment."
"Wow, that's an impressive spell!" Draco said, stunned by her ingenuity and pleased that she wasn't only planning on staying one night.
"I found it in this really great book of old spells that I bought on holiday two years ago. I can get it to show you when we get back to your house if you like."
"I would like that a lot Hermione." He smiled, turning back to his bags, and missing the emotion that flashed through her face.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
When Draco had finally got all of his stuff together, after much nagging from Hermione, they made their way down the stairs, and towards the front door of the hospital. Just as they were about to step outside and down the front steps, Draco stopped.
"What? Is something the matter?" asked Hermione, confused by his sudden halt.
"If I take one more step, I'll be leaving behind everything that I know. This must be what it's like being born; you leave behind this safe, warm place to go out into this place that you know nothing about."
Hermione was annoyed that she hadn't thought about the significance of this event for him. She was more worried about what he might remember when he got to Malfoy Manor. 'That's great Hermione, always three steps ahead, as usual.'
"You're not leaving EVERYTHING behind, you've still got me." she said, and smiled at him. 'God, look at her Draco, I'm sure you never did anything to deserve this, I must have been a saint in a previous life or something. Look at that smile, I must have been so blind not to notice this when I was a kid.'
"Thanks." he said, suddenly realising that he'd just been staring at her, without responding, and she was starting to look worried.
Together they walked down the steps, and onto the pavement below, Hermione stepped forward and spoke to the cab driver, and then turned to Draco. She motioned for him to get into the cab, and looked confused when he shook his head.
"Ladies first."
'He thinks of you as a lady, he thinks of you as a lady.' Hermione's mind chanted in an annoying singsong fashion. 'Hee hee, you're in there girl, go for it!' Hermione was becoming distinctly annoyed with her mind as she slid into the car, followed by Draco.
The cab set off, and drove quickly until it was out of the centre of London, and on a quiet road. Then there was a loud bang, and they were driving through the peaceful country lanes of Derbyshire. The cab worked in a similar way to the Knight bus, and would pop straight back to London when it had dropped off Draco and Hermione. The cab turned down a long gravel drive and halted in front of an imposing building of grey stone. The house was enormous, bigger than Buckingham palace, and was facing directly into the morning sun.
There were huge oak doors with large iron handles, each carved with a picture of a sinuous dragon. Hermione gasped, and was stood, completely in shock, while Draco paid the cab driver. When the cab had driven off, Draco turned and stood with Hermione, for some reason, not awed by the immense building and took her arm.
"Shall we?"
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Draco stepped up the small step to the front doors, then stopped and turned around.
"Did I have a key with me or anything, when I came in?"
"No, you didn't have anything." Hermione replied, suddenly realising the problem that they had, where were they supposed to go, if they couldn't get in?
Draco turned to the doors again, and decided to try the handle, just in case. He reached out and placed his hand on the cool, smooth metal and turned it, not expecting it to do anything. The dragon, carved onto the handle grew warm and hissed "Welcome Master Draco", and the door swung open.
Hermione had stepped up behind Draco, just in time for her to see the dragon speak to him. He turned to look at her with wide eyes, and she looked back, just as amazed as he was.
"Wow, that was.was.fantastic!!!!" Draco enthused, pleased by his house already.
"Yeah, it was, I've got one question though, what if I get locked out, and you're not here? If you're the only one who can open the door..."
"Are you really that likely to be here without me though?" Draco asked and regretted it as Hermione flushed, obviously embarrassed.
"Well, we could see how they work and try to get them to recognise you if you like." He added hastily, trying to get off the subject, he didn't want to upset her enough to make her want to leave. "Just don't go letting any of my many mortal enemies inside!" He joked.
Hermione smiled, and nodded, putting her hand on the handle of the other door to push it open. Both she and Draco had their hands on the handles at the same time, and the dragon on Hermione's handle hissed, "Name"
Hermione looked at it shocked, and then her quick mind suddenly figured out the puzzle. "Miss Hermione Granger" she stated clearly, and both the dragon on her handle and the one on Draco's grew warm.
"Step back a second and close the door would you Draco?" He instantly complied, and a slightly apprehensive Hermione stepped up to the now closed door and turned the handle. "Welcome Miss Hermione." the dragon hissed, and the door swung open.
"Good, my house likes you." exclaimed Draco, with a pleased expression on his face.
"Well, I guess that a person who already has access to the house has to put his hand on one handle, and the new person has to put their hand on the other handle and then they can be granted access. What an interesting spell, I'm going to have to research that some more, I wonder where it came from."
Hermione's voice trailed off, and Draco could see her thoughts already working out places she could find information, what books she could look in. He'd never seen her so completely absorbed in anything before, and he felt like laughing. It was so weird that she could be so excited about a door of all things, but at the same time, it was so endearing that he wanted to hug her and never let go.
A roll of thunder from the increasingly black sky overhead brought them both back to the situation in hand. Hermione pushed open the door as far as it would go, and then ran back down to the drive to grab her bag, and help Draco with his. They ran together back up to the house and just as they stepped through the door, the rain came pouring down.
"That was close." Hermione observed, and they both stood, just looking at the heavy rain for a few minutes. The drops were fat, and the rain was so heavy that you couldn't see more than a few metres in front of you. A sudden gust of wind blew the rain into the house, and onto the two people that stood together in the doorway. They leapt back and swung the door closed, laughing at the sudden drenched state of the other.
Hermione pulled out her wand, and dried herself with a quick charm, and Draco did the same. Then, by some silent agreement, they turned as one to look at the room in which they stood. It was a large entrance hall, square in shape, with a floor made of grey flagstone. The walls were also made of grey stone, slightly softened by large paintings and tapestries, similar to the ones in Hogwarts. There were four flights of stairs leading upwards, one from each corner of the room, presumably leading to the four wings of the mansion, and two flights of stairs leading downwards, the two flights of stairs faced each other, and one must have lead to the kitchen, and Hermione didn't want to think about where the other one lead.
"Are we gonna explore?" asked Draco, curious about the place where he grew up.
"Yeah, if you want. Shall we leave the bags here and come and get them when we've decided where we're sleeping?"
"That sounds like a plan to me. Come on then, lets get started or we'll never get finished."
Draco set off up the staircase nearest to him, and paused, waiting for Hermione to follow. She seemed reluctant to go up the stairs, so he went back down to where she was standing.
"What's wrong?"
She shrugged and frowned slightly. "I don't know, it's just strange to be inside Malfoy Manor, and I don't feel like I should be here. I know it's probably stupid, but this house gives me the creeps."
"You don't have to stay if you really don't want to." Draco said, looking disappointed. 'See, she's only been here five minutes, and she's already looking for excuses to leave. You shouldn't have made her come with you, Draco, you're an idiot.'
"No, it's fine, I'll stay. Just. just don't leave me behind okay?"
"I promise." He replied, smiling at her. He held out his hand, and Hermione took it, together walked up to the top, and made their way down the long corridor at the top of the stairs. *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
Throughout the first wing of the house, Draco held Hermione's hand, and he loved the fact that she didn't try to make him let go. He was fascinated by his house, but couldn't take his mind off the fact that something must have happened to make Hermione afraid of it. Also, there was something bothering him about the second staircase that lead downwards, he didn't know what it was yet, but it didn't seem good.
The first wing was all guest rooms, beautifully furnished and each of them dust free and ready for use.
"You must have house elves; they'll probably be in the kitchen Maybe we can go and see them in a bit?" Hermione asked, looking hopeful.
"Of course we can, we have to let them know we're here, so they can make dinner for us. Tell you what, we'll do the second wing, and then go down to the kitchens, okay?"
"Okay." Hermione replied, and they made their way down the stairs into the entrance hall, and up the second flight of stairs. Halfway up, Hermione moved to look at a picture, and pulled her hand out of Draco's. 'Oh shit! I didn't mean to do that! Great, I'm never going to get him to offer his hand a second time.'
Draco kept his face impassive, while feeling disappointed that she'd let go of his hand. 'Come on, she wasn't going to hold your hand forever now, was she! Get over it you stupid boy!'
Hermione still walked closely by Draco, as they came to the first room in the corridor. It was another bedroom; only this one was obviously lived in. It wasn't Draco's room, but Lucius'. It had a large four poster bed, with black sheets on it; all over the ceiling were dark magic symbols and spells to keep out intruders. Draco freely stepped into the room, but when Hermione tried, she couldn't step through the door. It was like walking into a brick wall, and Hermione yelped in pain, and put her hand to her forehead. There was a burning pain shooting through it that only diminished when she stepped back from the door. She slid to the floor on the opposite side of the corridor, still holding her head, in an attempt to stop the pain.
"Hermione!" Draco yelled, "Are you okay, what happened?"
"I can't go through that door, it hurts. It's okay, I'll stay here, and you look in that room."
"I don't want to leave you out here on your own, it's fine, we'll leave that room."
"No! It's your dad's room, and you want to look around! Go ahead; I'll be fine out here until you're finished." Seeing that Draco was about to protest, she interrupted. "I won't take no for an answer. Go!"
Draco looked torn, and she could see that he really wanted to go and look in his father's room. He needed the clues to his past that his father's room may provide.
"Only if you're sure."
"I'm sure, I'll be fine, you go and look around." Draco smiled at her, and she smiled back, before wincing at the pain in her forehead. She closed her eyes, and heard the rustling of Draco's clothes as he stood up. She felt him kiss her forehead, and the pain diminished somewhat.
"I'll be right back, I promise."
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Draco stepped once again through the threshold of the room; he looked around at the dark and depressing décor. 'How could anybody live in this room, it'd make me want to kill myself.' It was a plain room, with very little clutter or even furniture, just a bed, a chest of drawers and a bedside table. One small door in the wall lead to a wardrobe, and another lead to a bathroom, where there were minimal toiletries.
There was something bothering Draco about the room, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He looked around, and tried to visualise his father in the room, only it was hard, with no face to put on him. Suddenly, it came to Draco in a rush of understanding. That was what was wrong with the room. It was completely impersonal; there were no photos, no pictures, nothing that would indicate that his father had a wife and child. The drawers and bedside table contained nothing that could help Draco, just clothes and dark magic items.
Draco left the room, and headed back out to Hermione feeling sad and angry. She was still sitting on the floor, but she was no longer holding her head, she had leaned back, resting against the wall, and had her eyes closed. She was deep in thought and didn't notice Draco coming out of the room towards her.
He stood there, just watching her for a while before slowly and silently walking towards her. Draco's mind was quickly flashing through her possible reactions if he kissed her, so many of them were bad, did he dare risk it? Just as he made up his mind, Hermione looked up, spoiling his plans.
"Are you done in there now? You don't have to rush because of me you know, take all the time you want."
"No I'm done, there was nothing in there, not even any photos. I don't think my father was particularly attentive, except when he was beating me." Draco's voice sounded sad, and his hand unconsciously went to his back. A rush of sympathy went through Hermione, and she stood up and hugged him tightly. Draco's shock was evident, but after a few seconds, he carefully put his arms around Hermione, and closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of her hair.
"He obviously didn't deserve a son like you. He's not worth it, forget him."
"I know, it's just. he's my father you know, and you can't help feeling sad when the person that's supposed to love you most doesn't care at all."
She squeezed him even harder at these words, then reluctantly let go.
"Come on, we should keep going. Maybe there'll be more helpful stuff in your room."
The corridor was slightly shorter than the first one, and with fewer rooms, only four, but the rooms were much bigger. This was obviously the family wing, although Hermione wasn't sure why there were four rooms when there were only three people in the Malfoy family. The next room along the corridor was Narcissa's room, and it was far more pleasant than Lucius's room, and Hermione was able to enter, although she paused at the doorway.
"Do you want to do this one alone?" she asked, trying to be tactful, not wishing to intrude where she wasn't welcome.
"No. I want you to be here, I need you to be here, moral support and everything."
Hermione decided to take the opportunity offered to her, and slipped her hand into his.
"I'll always be here if you need support." she whispered, and together they entered the room. It was a complete contrast to Lucius's room next door. It had pale lavender walls, and the four poster bed had white sheets, with a lavender throw, the chest of drawers and bedside table matched the pale wood of the bed, as opposed to the dark wood of Lucius's. There were photos everywhere, crowding every surface, of Draco mostly, some of her and Draco, and one of Lucius.
Draco sat on the bed, and let go of Hermione's hand to pick up an especially beautiful picture of himself and his mother. They were outside, and it was early summer, Draco was about two and had fine white-blond hair. His mother was a young woman, not yet marked by her years of abuse, and was smiling. Every so often, she would kiss Draco on the head, and he would smile and laugh, it was a totally happy childhood scene, and Draco loved it.
"At least my mother loved me." He said wistfully as he put the photo back in its original position. He sighed, and the overwhelming sadness at his mother's death returned almost blinding him with pain. Hermione sensing his need to be alone turned to the chest of drawers and looked at some of the other photos that were arranged neatly on the top. They were of Draco at various ages, and in most of them, he hadn't yet developed the scowl that Hermione knew so well from her school days. It was only when he got to be about ten that his face changed from that of a carefree child.
The sound of Draco standing up distracted her from the photographs, and she turned around. His eyes were dry, but full of pain, and she didn't know how to make it stop hurting, this wasn't like some medical illness and she felt angry at her helplessness. She turned back around and walked out of the room, leaving Draco to look for any clues to his past in his mother's room. Although it felt wrong to go through his mothers drawers, he thought that she wouldn't min, considering the reason that he had to do it.
Quickly he found what he was looking for, his mother's journal. He slipped it into his pocket to look at later, when he had more time, and more privacy. He stepped out of his mother's room, to find Hermione looking at him with a strange expression on her face.
"Are you alright?" He asked, sounding worried
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Let's keep going."
The next room didn't show anything exciting, it was almost like the guest rooms in the other wing, only larger, and obviously for more important guests. It was the last room that proved the most interesting. It was Draco's room. Hermione had been expecting a dark room, full of Slytherin colours and dark arts materials, so she was pleasantly surprised by the room that she walked into.
It was light and airy, much like Narcissa's room, and Hermione could tell that she'd had a hand in the decorating. The walls were white, with silver woodwork; a reference to Slytherin without being overwhelming. The wood of Draco's furniture was pale, and his four poster bed had a white bedspread with a silvery green comforter. The walls were plain, with only a picture of a sunset over mountains to break the monotony of the white. It was neat and tidy, although Hermione suspected that this was the house elf's doing rather than any neatness on Draco's part.
There was no apparent dark arts material about, although Hermione hadn't looked at the bookshelf that was on the far side of the room. There were no spells to prevent her entering and the whole impression of the room was that of a nice, normal young man. 'Hmm, not quite what you thought he was then, eh. Who would have thought that Draco's room could be so. so. normal? I had expected at least one 'Die Mudblood's' poster. Maybe things aren't always as they seem.'
Once again, deciding to leave Draco on his own, Hermione quietly exited the room to wait on the ornately carved seat outside in the corridor. Draco wondered at Hermione's sense of tact. 'How is it that she knows exactly when to back off, and when to come closer? Maybe that's why she's such a good doctor. That and the fact that she's a genius. There's more to this girl than meets the eye.'
Draco's room was characteristically plain, although he did have some photos taped to the wall above his bed. There were several of him and Narcissa when Draco was younger, and a few of Lucius. There was also a few of him as an older youth, with a variety of girls and one of him with two stocky boys who looked about as clever as pond scum. There was also a school photo with the whole of his year in it, taken the year they left Hogwarts; each student had their name written beneath them in curly silver writing.
Draco looked for himself, and found he was stood with the same two stocky boys as in the picture before, smirking like mad at the camera. He raised his head from the picture to the mirror opposite his bed and smirked. 'Some things don't change then obviously.' he thought. The smirk he had now was exactly the same as the one he'd had as an eighteen year old boy. Draco turned to the picture again, looking for Hermione this time. He found her in the middle of two boys, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
She was looking right into the camera, and was smiling a slightly sad, yet happy smile. 'I bet she was sad to leave Hogwarts.' Draco thought, accurately guessing the reason for Hermione's sadness. Hermione was very beautiful in the picture, with masses of brown ringlets blowing in the breeze. A sudden movement in the picture made Draco look back at himself, his picture self was glaring at the three students above him with undisguised hatred. He was slightly taken aback by the strong emotion his picture self displayed, and turned away from the photo.
He searched his cupboards and his wardrobe for a journal, and finally found it underneath the mattress of his bed. Draco took one last look around and stepped out into the hallway.
"I'm starving, come on Mya let's find some food!!"