Flowers in The Garden
PART II
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters. I don't even HAVE flowers in my garden (dead, 'cause my house is getting renovated).
(A/N: Gomenasai! Sorry I didn't update for so long… I blame homework and writer's block!)
"Well done mate, well done." The person said.
Draco slowly turned his head and found none other than his best friend Blaise Zabini.
"Awh, it's my favorite dolore nell'asino. How was your trip?" Draco replied.
Blaise Zabini, or formally Captain Zabini was the son of a rich Italian merchant who fell in love with his African slave. His family came to England when he was born, in hope to find good fortune, escape from war and a clean start.
Blaise sat next to Draco, taking off his hat that covered his thick, black hair and putting it down.
"It was fine until that banshee of yours sent me a letter while I was on business." Blaise grumbled. "Why did she have to write like a plebeian? She wrote like an old, drunken, blind man. And she told me about that supposed engagement."
"So what are you here for?"
"To ask you," Blaise turned to him, grabbed Draco's shoulders and shook him back and forth as hard as he could. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't, I was a month old when my parents agreed to the marriage. I was engaged to Parkinson even before I could have met her."
Blaise had a sympathetic look on his face before he said: "As a good, true and logical friend, I think you should run."
"What?"
"But then again," now he had a confused look on his face: "Who was that woman?"
"Oh, Hermione Granger." Draco said with a dreamy look.
"Then run with her."
"What?"
"Run away with her. I highly recommend it. But it will be too risky seeing that we are dealing with the she-devil." Blaise said. "But still, live a little! You act like you are seventy when you're only seventeen!"
"Blaise," Draco said in an exasperated sigh. "I don't intend to run. I have to face it like a man and I have to do my duty. The Parkinsons are very rich and have many connections."
"Well so do you!"
"Think about it, two pounds are better than one." Draco said.
"Isn't that heads?"
"With Parkinson it wouldn't make any difference."
The two friends laughed and entered the mansion to catch up on things.
It was the nineteenth hour of the day, the Parkinsons and Malfoys once again gathered in the Malfoy Mansion. The women were taking turns to play instruments and sing, as the men had their cigars, playing cards and talking about business.
As Draco put down his cards, admitting defeat in the game he played with his father and future father-in-law, he glanced at the clock. He couldn't wait until he could go downstairs and actually have fun.
Half an hour had past, Draco left the card table after one last game and left the room. He had told the guests and his parents that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest in his room. He walked over to his room, and he needed to find a way to go downstairs to meet Hermione, and be back by midnight without getting caught by his parents, or worse, Pansy.
As he closed the double-door, he leaned on the door and looked around the room. Everything in the room was practically gold or yellow. The floor he stood on was marble that looked like it was slightly yellow from the candlelight, the king-sized bed had gold blankets, a pale yellow comforter and white sheets. He looked around his wardrobe. In a drawer there were extra sheets. He had an idea.
He ripped the sheets in half and tied them end to end, opened the French doors leading to the balcony and slowly lowered the sheets down. The balcony faced the garden and he could see Hermione and her friends crowd around the sheet dangling from the balcony. They all had curious and confused looks, but when Draco leaned in and waved, they all smiled and Hermione even waved back.
Draco used to go with Zabini on business trips by ship, and he was used to going down the rope ladder to the small boat that would take him to land. But he was definitely not used to going down the white sheets from a second floor balcony. He nearly slipped and fell, due to the fact that the sheets were smoother than the rope he was used to hold on to.
At last he reached the bottom, where Hermione and the orphaned children cheered.
They danced for hours around the camp fire, laughing, talking. Draco got a chance to warm up to the Grangers and the Weasleys, who treated him as if he were one of them.
He mostly danced with Hermione, with no objections from the Weasleys, Grangers or Potter, which Hermione told him was a rare thing, as they all were very protective of her, and that way they must really trust Draco.
He heard the grandfather clock in the mansion softly chime twelve times. He saw that the others were all retiring back to their rooms, or in this case, caravans. It seemed like the best opportunity to be alone with Hermione. One last chance.
As everyone entered the caravans, Hermione was extinguishing the camp fire and started to go to her caravan herself, but Draco caught her by her arm.
"Wait, I want to show you something." Draco said.
"But I have to go, they might worry…" She said hurriedly, but was soon cut off by Draco, as he put two fingers to her lips.
"Shh, don't worry, it will take only half an hour." Draco said reassuringly.
She paused for a moment, looking towards the caravan. But as she looked in his eyes, she seemed to be lost in his eyes, then she slowly nodded and became herself again.
Draco ran holding her hand, as Hermione was dragged along, trying to keep up. As they ran, Draco still hasn't figured out where they were going. Was he taking them to the cherry blossom forest? No, it was spring, they would've died by now. The lake? No, it would take hours, they would come home the next day, and he had a wedding to go to the next day…
Draco suddenly stopped. The wedding…
But as Draco fell into a trance, looking straight and thinking about the wedding, Hermione, who was next to him the whole time, gasped and clasped her mouth with one hand.
"Oh my goodness, Draco…" She said, breathlessly. "It's beautiful…"
"Wh-what?" Draco said as he realized where he was. "Oh, of course it's beautiful!" He quickly said in a proud voice.
It was a garden, with many rose bushes, with roses in all kinds of colors. Behind the rose bushes were apple trees, circling the whole garden, behind the trees was a steel fence with vines entwined around them. Right in the middle of the whole garden, was a man-made pond with lily pads floating at the surface, and when Draco saw the full moon reflected in the pond, he thought that God was on his side, to make the perfect scene for the perfect girl that he had found.
"Come on," Draco said, pulling her hand once again and leading her to the pond. He took off his shoes and rolled up his pants. Hermione, seeing this, got wide-eyed.
"What? You want us to go bloody skinny dipping?" Hermione shrieked. "It's in the bloody middle of the night!"
"What?" Draco said, confused. "Why do you think that we would…? Oh. OOOOOH..." Draco continued with a mischievous grin. "You know, the only reason you would imply me trying to skinny dip is because you want to…"
"Why do you think that I would think of something so… so…" Hermione searched for the right word. "UGH!" She cried out in frustration and stomped her foot on the ground.
Draco just laughed, leaned on a tree and tried to not fall.
Hermione turned redder than the reddest rose that she could find in the whole garden. Humiliated, she had to think of some way to retaliate. She cupped her hands together, scooped up some water and splashed it all over Draco.
That did it.
Draco stopped. Completely shocked as his moment of victory was broken by a splash of water in his face. He blinked several times, trying to clear his vision, to which he found Hermione laughing in front of him, her hair, which was put up in a bun, became messy, with strands of hair falling. She clutched her stomach and her words were cut off by laughter every time she tried to speak.
"You should see your face…" Hermione said, then saw Draco's face. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no…" Draco approached her with a mischievous grin.
"Oh, you saw this coming." Draco said, with his hands behind his back. "Two can play at that game."
"What game?" Hermione said, with a faint laugh, afraid of what would happen next. "I see no game…"
"You know what I'm talking about…" Draco took another step, as Hermione stepped back.
"I have to warn you… I know origami!"
"Japanese paper folding?"
"Oh bugger."
With that, Hermione fell backwards into the pond.
"God, this is freezing!" Hermione cried.
"Well what do you expect? Combine midnight, wind and water, do you expect to feel fuzzy and warm in this blasted weather?"
Hermione gave him a glare.
"Alright, alright." Draco said, raising his hands in defeat. "Come on, I'll help you out."
He leaned towards the pond, bending his knees and stretching out a hand for Hermione to grab so she can get out of the pond. Unfortunately, she had other plans.
"Really?" She said, innocently. "No thanks, how about," she said, grabbing his hand. "I help you!" She pulled his hand, and he came falling into the pond.
He sunk for a good few seconds, before his head emerged from the water. He caught his breath, then he laughed.
"I can't believe you! How can you do that to me? That was not fair." Draco said, accusingly.
"Me? You started it!" Hermione replied.
"You were the one who implied that we go skinny dipping! But you know what, you got your wish."
"I did not…" Hermione said, then she paused. "Anyway, we're not even skinny dipping! We still have our clothes on!"
"What, do you want me to take them off?" Draco said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Oh bugger off." She said, before going for Draco and pushing his head down, trying to drown him, before she swam to the other side of the pond.
When Draco's head emerged from the water again, he shouted at Hermione.
"What in God's name are you trying to do? Kill me?"
"Why? Me? Why would I do such a thing?" Hermione said innocently from the other end.
"Dear little Hermione, so young, so childish." Draco said in a fatherly manner. "Get your act together, or do you want a spanking?"
"What, no!" Hermione said and she swam away again as she saw Draco swimming towards her.
After their little 'game' they decided to sit at the edge of the pond, but their feet still dipped in the cold water. Hermione rested on Draco, as Draco hugged her who was shivering.
Draco then decided to take off his coat and put it around Hermione. Not the brightest idea, but he thought it should do.
"Draco, you do realize that the coat is making me even colder?" Hermione said.
"Well, this is revenge for pulling me into the pond." Draco replied.
"But… Never mind." Hermione said, as she realized if she argued they would have another dip in the pond again.
For the next few minutes, they sat there in silence, their minds blank. They just stared at the view of the garden, not knowing what to say to each other.
Sick of the silence, Hermione sat up and tried to strike up a conversation.
"So," she said. "Who's the lucky woman who will have your hand in marriage?"
"Pansy Parkinson." He said quickly.
"Oh." Was all she said.
"But that woman is a witch!" Hermione continued. "How could you marry her?"
"My parents had already decided that when I couldn't even walk. My God, why does everyone have to ask me that?" Draco said, annoyed.
"Sorry…" Hermione said, faintly.
"It's okay." Draco said. "Anyway, I have to marry her for the fact that she knows a friend of a friend of a friend's sister of a friend that knows the queen."
"The queen of England?" Hermione asked, curious.
"No, the 'queen' is Millicent Bulstrode-Nott's nickname." Draco replied. "Wife of the head of trading."
"I see…"
"Now you're turning into me. Draco said.
"What?"
"Remember? 'I see…'"
"Oh bugger." Hermione said. "What next, my hair will turn blond?"
They both laughed, then they stayed silent again.
"Is this the last time I'll see you again?" Hermione asked.
"Might be. But don't you travel around England? We might bump into each other some time." Draco replied.
"We might bump each other for a very short time. You are getting married to the most stubborn woman in England, remember? The second I step on the ground within a 500 yard radius she'll set off trying to get rid of me."
"That's true…"
Hermione made a point, Draco won't see her again, ever. Not even a slight glance. Thoughts rushed in his mind, flashbacks of last night, that morning…
"Then run with her."
"Genius, Blaise." Draco muttered. He held her hands and motioned her to get up as he stood up himself.
"Hermione, this might sound weird, but I have this growing attraction to you…"
"What?"
"This might even sound even more weird, but I want both of us to run away. Together."
"What?" She said, more of an exclamation rather than a question.
"Well I don't want to be stuck with the woman I do not adore for the rest of my life, I want to be with you!" Draco explained.
"But… But…" Hermione stuttered, tears forming in her eyes.
"Come on, it'll be great!" Draco said. "I have a very powerful last name, whenever I say it to anyone else, they will let us board their ship or train! We could travel all around, not just Europe, but the whole world!"
"But you have your duty!" Hermione said, making him go silent.
"Duty? Don't you think I should be out there? I'm still young, I could be going to India right now!"
"But your parents have already chosen your fate."
"Who gives a bloody damn about my parents?" Draco said. "They don't care about my well-being, they just want more money, that's why I have to go through this bigoted marriage tomorrow."
"But you have to, it's your family…"
"I don't, I'd rather run away with you..."
"Look," Hermione tried to make sure he won't run away. For his sake, at least. "They way I was brought up, family is everything, they do care about your well-being…"
"They do a great job not showing it…"
"Just don't run away!"
"And what are you, my mother?"
"It's just…" She tried to find the right words.
"What? There's nothing!" Draco said. "There's nothing blocking my way to be with you, except the marriage of course. Now we can be together if we just run away…"
"Draco!" Hermione said, slapping him from his rambling trance.
Draco touched his cheek where she slapped him, still in shock.
"I love you, really, I do." Hermione said. "But this is the best for you. You have to go through the marriage. You will go through it."
"But, what good will it do for you?"
"I'm not doing this for me! This is for you!" Hermione said, as the tears started to fall. "If I become selfish and run away with you, then you'd get in trouble, the whole village will track you down. And when they find you, you will be forced to marry her anyway!"
"But…"
"There's no other way. It all comes to this. The easy way or the hard way."
"I prefer the hard way…"
"Will you just shut up?" Hermione shrieked.
That did it, he quickly stopped talking.
"Either way, you will marry her. Unless you actually tell your parents that you don't want to, and yes they will understand you." Hermione added. "Just don't tell your father, your mother will understand, her being a matchmaker in her day. Don't ask, my mother knew her. Long story."
"The point is," she continued. "I love you, and I don't want you to get in trouble, I'm sorry." She ran towards the caravan, leaving Draco to just stand there, speechless.
"Good bye, forever."
(A/N: Gah, this took so long to make, writer's block. Meh.)
