AN: I love you all lots. So please don't be annoyed! I started college and everything went out my head. Terribly sorry for the delay. I hope everything is settled now and I'll start posting regularly again but not as frequently. I have written the ending but I think it's terrible so I'm rewriting it. OH and I forgot to say big cookies to BEX DRAKE who was my 100th reviewer. Always a very very special moment. Thanks darling!
YingnYang (I did, thank you very much),DragonGirl81 (now that would be predictable), CleverWitch (I doubt you'll know which one to pick until I do... and I haven't picked yet), DarkRaven Haven(Hermione has just lost a friend and another one just appears. Very handy for some), Bex Drake (I hope you find home), Dragon Navi (Or is Hermione falling for Nott?), Frog, afrongillo, beLilytrix, Marian(That's lovely to hear!), Sami Sue (Deepest thanks! And I love your way of explaining my fic. Some reviews I feel like you know more about it then I do! And was Draco ever not demanding? You'll have to wait a little longer for Draco's discovery. He's not all knowing yet.)
Chapter Thirteen
Requiem
Even as she arrived, through the floo network, she could hear the soft singing. Mournful harmonised choir, live music drifting through the balconies. Song about sweet death of a hero. Hermione walked out into the main part of the Abbey. Dumbledore's glow was outshone by the reddish large glow of the alcove next door. She felt her face burn as she saw a large picture of a grinning Ron starring out at her over the heads of many mourners.
Mercury pulled her hand quietly. It could have been the first bit of affection she had shown her new guardian. Hermione smiled down at her with all the warmth she could muster for the child. They began to move, quickly, Hermione anxious to avoid the attention of the mourners. Sympathy she could not stand.
They came out into the darkened night. An eerily glow came from the now thin slither of moon, it's light dulled by the black smokey clouds. Luckily there was no rain yet. Hermione pulled her hood up and Mercury closer to her legs as they began to walk round to where she knew he'd be waiting. She past a weeping woman, collapsed by the side of the Abbey.
The wrought black iron gate creaked against them entering. They ignored it and past into the fenced area of graves. Three new plots were dug, though Hermione knew not for whom. He was standing by the fence, his back to the steeply rising forest behind him. His hood was up by she could feel his eyes burning into her skull. And then Mercury. The tall dark figure walked towards them, his cloak flicking out with his stride.
"Hermione." He spoke softly his face down turned towards the small child who stared up at him with contempt. It was a mirror to Draco's own face the first time Hermione had seen him. "Mercury." He spoke quietly with a hint of contempt. He pulled back his hood to reveal his face. Mercury jumped back, letting go of Hermione's hand.
Hermione turned and knelt down in front of the child smoothing her hair and talking in her softest voice. "Mercury this is your father." The child examined the man standing several feet above her.
"You're dead." She told him with anger in her voice. She came back forward with an air of attempted intimidation, as if to bully him into agreement. Hermione drew back from the two to watch from a distance.
"Very observant of you." Draco remarked looking at Hermione. "Don't believe everything Nott tells you." He looked back down at his daughter, who smirked back up at him. Hermione wondered if she had just missed some great moment of Slytherin or Malfoy bonding. Smirks exchanged they walked to join Hermione who had taken up residence on top of Draco's grave. He looked slightly miffed at this but made no comment to either end. "Potter was careless with his secret keeper." He told her. She shrugged, slightly confused at seeing both Malfoy faces staring at her with almost identical expressions. " I need to know where Bellatrix Lestrange is. I don't care how you find out but you need to." He told her with the deepest importance expressed.
"In return?" Hermione asked feeling slightly embarrassed with both sets of harsh grey eyes upon her.
"In return, Miss Granger, I will give you information as regards the weakness of the Dark Lord's forces." He told her in a persuasively quiet tone of voice. Hermione nodded.
"Okay, fair trade." Their business was concluded, but none made an attempt to move. "Draco." She said suddenly looking up suddenly, only to see him staring down at his daughter. A small though of happiness traced through her before she continued. "Draco, I... I want, need to know what you are." She told him levelly.
"Oh Miss Granger." He mocked smirking. "You don't have a clue what you need. But if you want to know, I haven't a clue what I am. I can tell you I am currently more powerful than your wonder boy and probably anybody else in this little world. I have had more killing curses thrown at me in the last weeks than the Dark Lord in his lifetime. And yet I am still here; radiantly beautiful with no stupid scar. Wonder at me."
Hermione felt like hitting him. But he was too far to reach without getting up. Instead she insulted him under her breath. Mercury laughed. "Dad," Malfoy jumped sky high, "Are you going to stay around?" Mercury asked using all those eyes that she had. Hermione began to realise the true genius of the Malfoy child then and there. "Because if you are I want to live in a mansion."
Hermione choked back a laugh. She received a double glare before Draco began to dig his grave... again... Whatever. "I don't know, but the mansion is not a nice place to live at the moment." He told her before moving away towards Hermione. "Now why don't you go off and laugh at the poor graves over there," He pointed out of the gated graveyard to where the Weasleys and their relatives had a small patch for their ancestors, unlike most pureblood wizards who had their graves in their family land. Mercury scowled bitterly, but did without question her father's bidding. "Now Hermione." Draco advanced on her sitting on his grave. She suddenly felt very vulnerable. "Did you know that your looking absolutely horrible?" She relaxed. "But don't worry," He said noticing her relaxing, "I can fix that."
She felt a little brush of warm air pass by her shoulders. Her eyes turned to Malfoy quickly to see whether this was truly his doing... She gasped. He seemed to be almost glowing. Power seemed to rush to him and centre around him. And she an instant she believed his words. He was powerful. So, so powerful. She felt like there was a thousand tiny fingers brushing past her shoulders and her hair. Like a small hairdryer on her shoulders blowing her skin warm. Then she felt the fabric by her skin changing. She stood almost as if on instant, and the feeling intensified. The feeling of the warm cotton was being replaced by a cold silk, so soft on her skin. And her outer cloak, instead of being her warm winter cloak from Hogwarts became a large black elegant graceful witches cloak of which she could walk the proudest halls and feel no shame.
And all that time she kept looking into those grey eyes. "Now you're beautiful Hermione." He told her smirking. She looked down, numb with shock. She was wearing a light turquoise gown which brushed the muddy floor, with the black warm cloak over the top. Her hands rose to her hair and she felt it pulled back into a layered style on top of her head, with one or two strands hanging down to add venerability. She could not feel herself be she knew herself to look radiant. Or as radiant as Hermione could ever. But she felt Draco's gaze on her in a different way. He looked like he was entranced with his creation.
"Thank you." She said quietly. "They're beautiful." She told him, placing her hands numbly at her sides.
"You haven't seen your underwear yet." He told her stepping towards her, his eyes still fixed upon her. His voice did not hold the suave it should when speaking those words, merely honesty and enchantment. They kissed. Sweet and short, like lovers who have been in love for years but still feel something so strong. Perhaps they were those lovers...
She smiled as they broke apart, and felt him reciprocate in a honest and true smile. Hermione knew then that although neither would ever say it, this was it. This was l... this was beautiful.
--
The house was a moderate sized building. Only two hundred years old to Hermione's eyes and wizarding through and through. The property was out of sight from any other buildings, only reached through a dirt road off the road that wound it's way along the cliff. The building was once white but someone had painted it over into a nice pale blue which would match the sky if the day were pleasant enough. A old stone wall bordered the grounds and small gate remained open banging slightly in the wind. Flowers of deep greens grew throughout and up all the walls, with only spots of blue and yellow colours to be seen in amongst the dense green. Well at least Mercury will be at home.
She had not thought how to explain her new attire to Nott, Theodore so had instead put a glamour charm on herself. Mercury had asked for no explanation and Hermione got the feeling she had been watching them all along. And she also had a feeling Malfoy knew she had. Perhaps taking the girl to meet her father had not been the best thing. She knocked at the door, which swung open at her touch. Mercury walked past her carrying a rucksack of her things, most of which had come from transfigured Weasley clothes, though Hermione was loathe to tell her so. Hermione, herself carried in a large suitcase which contained all the things that Remus Lupin had been able to gather at their previous home. Harry had dealt with all that. And she was grateful, common sense had not come easily today. The hallway was not as large as she would have thought. Actually it was quite small.
The door at the far end opened and light poured in from a kitchen beyond. "Glad you came." Hermione thought she heard sarcasm in his voice. She felt a little colour rush to her cheeks. He took her bag and led them up the stairs. The hallway upstairs was equally as small and drab as the one below. "In here Mercury." He opened the door to a large room. The walls were a pale pink, white lace bordering all the linen. It was truly disgusting. Mercury walked in with a look equal to Hermione's own before plunking her stuff down on the bed and walking over to the window. The sea swelled and broke on cliffs that stood only ten feet from her window. "Get to bed, Mercury, its late. The bathroom is next door. On the right. I'm on your left." He told the girl closing the door into the sweet pink.
He gestured beyond to a room opposite. She opened the door with a small feeling of excitement. Her room was a deep reddy brown, very dark. Very dark wood made the furnishings and she could feel the age that this room was decorated in. The room itself was very large even with the dark colour and furnishings attempting to make it smaller. "Thank you." She said to him, walking into the room and turning back to him, trying to make herself look as grateful as she could.
"It use to be the master bedroom. But I didn't like it." Oh wonderful. "There's a bathroom through there. But don't use the bath. The showers all right. The water is very hot." He placed her heavy case at the bottom of the bed, before turning to look down at her. He really was very tall. And his eyes matched the wood. Dark, deep brown. "Please put your things away. Make this your home." He leant down as if to emphasize the words before leaving without a word.
Hermione shut the door behind him. She couldn't decide whether to smile or cry. She choose neither instead pulling her lovely red pyjamas, which Harry had chosen for her, from her case and walking into the bathroom. It was a small room, and the window was clear onto the lane beyond. It was all so unfamiliar and old. But time would change that.
The stingily hot water awoke the tension in her back and she felt it relax her muscles one by one. The shower was one from the fifties or earlier and the shower curtain was unhung in places. Hermione had not the energy to fix it. So she was hot on her back and frozen on her front. But she was happy. Perhaps there had been a flame lit tonight that would never extinguish? Giving her an emotion to feel when she could feel nothing more.
--
Hero Dead!
Ronald Weasley, best friend of Harry Potter was murdered last night by the Dark Lord's forces.
Hermione turned the paper over to find the normal sports pages on the back covered with tributes to Ron. It was the morning after the night before and she felt refreshed. The bed had been more comfy than anything she had ever slept upon and she awoke with the smile she had gone to sleep with. There was no sign of Mercury yet, nor Nott but she had heard some creature walking about in the front of the house.
In the morning she had found the kitchen was the room from which Nott had come in last night. It was large, and Hermione gathered from this that all the room in the house were large but the hallways. Strange. It had stone flags as flooring which froze any feet without shoes on, therefore making Hermione curl up her feet beneath her. She was eating a slice of toast when Nott entered, his hair mussed up much like Harry's first thing in the morning. She was missing him.
"Morning." She said lightly. He snorted and laid another paper in front of her. It was the Daily Prophet but with nothing about Ron anywhere. "Wha-"
"It's the paper from yesterday." With no more explanation he disappeared out the back door into sunshine. She looked after him for a second, as he started off down a well-trodden path towards the cliff. Hermione assumed it was a cliff path leading down to the small beach below. She jumped as she heard barking. A large dog with shaggy grey and black hair ran to Nott's feet and played around. She remembered him saying he had a dog. He looked dirty. Sand stuck to his underside and mud danced up his tail, understandable as the ground was wet having rained during the night. But now the first sunshine rained down on the southern coast of England. She turned back to the newspaper.
Multiple Homicide at Azkaban--