Draco is OOC in this and I'm not sure how you will like that, but I needed him to change in order to make this story work. And their love isn't going to come straight off the bat. Thanks to princessdza for the wonderful reviews.
Hardships
Chapter Three
Draco Malfoy looked at the girl who had just fainted on his driveway. He knew it was Granger, but she had changed so much. Her hair was like silk – the dark curls coming down to her waist. Her figure was alluring, and the glimpse he had caught of her whiskey colored eyes had made him drunk. He wasn't sure why she had fainted; but he supposed it was because she was surprised at finding him there. Normally he would have said that she was ultimately afraid of the Famous Draco Malfoy; but not this time.
He changed from the whinny spoiled rotten boy to an honest understanding man. The hardships he had gone through this summer had taught him a big lesson. He realized that image wasn't everything; he decided he didn't care what others thought about him anymore. His father was killed in battle. The moment he died, his mother told him of the horrible things Lucius Malfoy had done in his miserable life. Things that Draco had never been informed of before. Like the fact that his father was a death eater, or that he tortured people for fun. His crackpot father, or "the man who made me" as Draco often referred to him of now, had filled Draco's head with all sorts of terrible things about people; like the fact that muggleborns should always be referred to as mudbloods, and that they were bellow everyone else.
His mother had also told him that Draco had been under the imperious curse many times in his life, sometimes for more than 3 months at a time. Draco hated his father now; he had put Draco through so much pain and torture. He used to think that image was everything, but apparently it was not; Draco he decided he didn't care what others thought about him anymore. His mother had, unfortunately been tortured to death. So Draco was on his own now. He had a whole empty boring mansion and loads of money and he had no clue what to do with his life. But the first thing, he decided, was that he was going to make it up to Granger.
Lifting her feather light body, Draco carefully carried her into the Malfoy Manor. He laid her on the plush couch so that he could go get some butter beer and chocolate frogs from the kitchen. As he was returning, he saw Hermione stirring. Quickly sitting down on the large couch beside her feet, he watched her intently as she woke up. He nearly laughed out loud when he saw her dazed expression. She looked at her surroundings wondering where in the world she was, until she saw Draco. Then she flopped her head back down and closed her eyes, as if to say "let this be a dream". Then Draco did laugh, causing Hermione to snap it back up again.
She looked at him, shooting daggers with her eyes.
"What do you want Malfoy?" She asked, venom dripping from every word.
"Well," Draco replied, "I saw you faint on my driveway, so I brought you inside. Butterbeer?" he offered a mug to her. She accepted it grudgingly, but only because her throat was parched. Draco just stared at her, a demented smile on his face, like he was about to laugh. There was no trace of his trademark smirk.
"So what brings you here to this part of England?" Draco asked.
"My family moved," Hermione quietly stated.
"Well, that must suck," Draco started, trying to get a reaction out of her, to find out her emotions; surprisingly, now that he knew that muggleborns weren't bellow him he wanted to know all about the straight A student sitting afore him, "After all, you're moving to a big new, fabulous mansion that some people would kill for."
"Very funny. I had to move out of the house that I've lived in since I was born all because my parents got transferred here. I didn't even get a say in the matter. We have to be fully moved in by the 28."
"Wow and today's the 22. That's a lot of hard work."
"Tell me about it. But my parents don't mind my running of. They actually like unpacking things."
"Mine Didn't. They always used to get the house elves to do it... To put it frankly, if I had to move tomorrow, I would be more than happy. Hey, do you want a tour of the Malfoy Manor?" Draco asked a slight smirk on his face that made Hermione laugh.
"Sure." She suddenly wondered why she was being so nice to Draco. He certainly seemed to have changed… he was really different. I could get used to his new attitude on things… she followed him up the stairs on their grand tour.
Ron and Harry flooed their way over to Hermione's house. Harry, of course, fell flat on his face. Ron, having flooed most places all his life, made a perfect landing. They took in their surroundings and their mouths dropped. Nothing was there.
"Merlin! What happened here?" Ron said, mostly to himself. "Where's Hermione?"
"Maybe we have the Wrong house Ron." Harry suggested.
"No, I've been here loads of times before."
Harry looked out the window to find a for sale sign planted in the middle of the yard. "She moved Ron! She's not here anymore. Maybe we can ask the ministry for her new location?"
"Ya, it's worth a try... But I don't know why she didn't say in her last letter… she wanted us to come pick her up here today." Ron mulled over that thought… anger decorating his freckled face. What if something happened to her? Oh boy and this was the year to tell her how I felt…
"Oh my god it's gorgeous!" Hermione exclaimed as she viewed Draco's backyard. The lush green grass and the numerous trees, ponds and creeks made for the most relaxing sensation. Hermione was literally lifted off her feet… until she saw the flower garden. She walked over to it, oblivious to Draco staring at her with a puzzled expression. Draco's flower garden had every single flower and more than what Hermione had had in hers. A light breeze floated across her face, transporting her back to another garden, another time…
"Mommy, can I help you plant the flowers?" a 3 year old Hermione tugged on her mothers dress.
"Sure sweetie. Do you know how?"
"Uh-huh." Hermione stuck her finger in her mouth.
She grabbed the shovel and dug a hole that was a little too big. She placed the plant into the hole, and didn't bother to fill it up with dirt. She then drowned the flower in water.
"See mommy? I did it!"
Her father chuckled. "You sure did pumpkin. But you have to make the hole a little smaller, and then fill it up with dirt. You see? Then you only need to put a little bit of water on. Okay?"…
Draco placed his hand on Hermione's shoulder, snapping her out of her reverie.
"Sorry... I was just umm… lost in thought." A blush tinged her cheeks.
"That's alright. Let's go back inside. I'll show you the art room."
They headed back up the stone steps into the cool darkness of the manor. Hermione followed Draco down the hall to a cozy room. Artwork plastered the walls, paints and pastels littered the tables, paper was scattered all over the floor.
"Kind of messy isn't it?"
"Ya, well my mom hasn't come in here in a very long time."
A small 'Oh' was Hermione's reply. Draco turned away from her and studied a lifelike picture of a storm. Hermione couldn't resist the urge to draw him, eyebrows furrowed, forehead in knots, a faint pout on his lips as he tried to gather the meaning of the painting. Silently grabbing a pallet and pulling up an art canvas, Hermione started to paint Draco's puzzled reflection. She was halfway done, and when Draco started to move, Hermione yelled "Hold that pose!" and Draco's handsome features once more became perplexed.
Hermione tried very hard not to laugh; she found it was a hard thing to do. Finally, she finished her work of art, and was contemplating whether or not to show it to him. Deep In her thoughts, she didn't notice that Draco had finally become restless with holding the same pose, so he sauntered over behind her to peer over her shoulder at the painting.
"That's a really good painting you got there," Draco commented, and then laughed when he saw Hermione jump.
"Don't do that!" Hermione exclaimed.
He held up his hands in apology. "It really is a good picture you know. I never knew that you were an artist."
"Only my parents know… last time I tried to tell someone they threw it back in my face. Harry and Ron don't even know…"
Draco felt special; he was the only person that knew that Hermione possessed such talents.
"Do you want to keep the painting?" Draco asked?
"No, that's alright, you can keep it. Ill paint another one some other time…" then realizing what she had just said she hastily added, "if you want me to of course." Then blushed again as she saw Draco's raised eyebrows. "I should get going... my parents are probably wondering where I am…"
"I'll come knocking on your door tomorrow don't worry... its boring when there's no one around." He gave her a lopsided smile.
"Harry! We got a reply back from the ministry! They found out where Hermione is."
"Already?"
"Ya, we can go get her tomorrow. Then we'll find out why she didn't bother to tell us she was moving."
"Look Ron, they gave us a map too… there's only one other house on her street… WAIT A MINUTE! She lives next door to MALFOY!"
Okay this story is kind of jumpy… a little bit longer… I would have updated sooner but I got really sick (that's for chapter 2 as well but I forgot to add it. Sorry guys.) so read and review and tell me what you think :D
