-1Disclaimer - Well, surely you get the idea by now!
The First Few Days
Cassandra Capulet, Editor
The first Witch Weekly Wife Swap is now officially underway! As we explained in the last issue, the Wife Swap entails two women swapping lives and families with each other for two weeks. For the first week, the family continues to live by its normal rules, but in the second week, the wives are in charge of everything that happens within the household.
Our first family contains Ronald and Hermione Weasley, and their four children Joseph, Aimee, Benjamin and Kathryn. Ron and Hermione are perhaps better known as the best friends of Harry Potter, the wizard known for defeating You Know Who almost twenty years ago. Ron now works for the Department of Magical Games and Sports, while Hermione works part time as a Healer, after giving up full time work after the birth of her second child. Joseph and Aimee currently attend Hogwarts School o Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The family chosen to swap with the Weasleys are Draco and Pansy Malfoy, with their two daughters Christina and Lucia, ten and eight respectively. Draco has run his fathers business since his death eight years ago, and Pansy is a stay at home mum.
The first few days of the swap have passed, and both families appear to have coped well with the change. It has been revealed that there was a little tension between both couples while they were at Hogwarts together, but it has been put down to inter-house rivalry, with Hermione and Ron being proud Gyffindors, and Pansy and Draco being faithful Slytherins.
Draco explained the feud to us…
"It's nothing more than the usual rivalries you get between houses. You know, everyone wants to win the Quidditch Cup, and the House Cup, there are scuffles over house points, that sort of thing," he laughs, "and what with my being the Slytherin quidditch team's Seeker, and Ron and Hermione being close friends with Harry Potter, who was Gryffindor's Seeker, plus Ron becoming Keeper in our fifth year, things were bound to get a little heated between us."
"Draco wasn't particularly nice to us in school," Ron told us, before grudgingly conceding, "but then we weren't exactly friendly to him either. It was a mutual thing, really. But then with the war and everything, we were all on the same side and realised it was stupid to keep hold of petty grudges from school."
Ron screwed up the article before he had finished reading it. It made him sound like a petulant teenager, while Draco was once again the Golden Boy. It felt like being back in one of Snape's potion classes. And they'd found a way to slip Harry into it, again. This was supposed to be about him and Hermione now. He threw the magazine at the wall of his office, before he realised he was acting exactly like that petulant teenager.
Hermione devoured the article as soon as it was delivered, bemused by Draco's apathy towards it. She sighed, satisfied that her family were getting on well with Pansy, and hoped Pansy would feel just as comforted by the article. That was, after all, the only means of communication with her family until the swap was over. Draco knocked on the door of her bedroom, before opening it slightly and looking around it.
"Hermione, I wonder if you would like to join me for dinner tonight?" he asked, before adding swiftly, "after all, Pansy and I do go for dinner alone once a week." Hermione smiled.
"That would be superb Draco. Do I need to dress formally?" Draco laughed.
"It's not a state ball Hermione! However, we will be going to Heathers, so dress however you feel appropriate! Be ready to leave at around eight, once the children are in bed." He bowed, mock-formally, and left the room. Hermione glanced at her watch, and seeing it was five thirty, decided to have a soak in the bath in preparation. The girls were playing happily in their playroom, and so Hermione didn't have anything to do.
At eight on the dot, Draco entered the living room, where Hermione was waiting, dressed in a beautiful deep red dress. Draco, wearing a black suit and shirt with a white tie, took her hand and kissed it. She blushed and stood up. Draco took her arm, and without uttering a word apparated them to the foyer of the exclusive restaurant. Hermione had only ever been there twice before with Ron, Harry and Ginny; once to celebrate her engagement and once to celebrate Harry and Ginny's. Draco smiled at her.
"Have you been here before?" he asked, as if reading her mind.
"Oh, a few times with Ron, Harry and Ginny." she replied airily, as if they frequented it. For some reason, she did not want Draco to know that they actually usually went to the Leaky Cauldron, with both families believing their money was better spent on their homes, their children, than on meals in fancy restaurants. The thin witch at the desk greeted Draco by name, and led them through a door, to an intimate table in the corner. There was a small stage with a dance floor at the front of the room, where a band played soft, romantic music. The lighting was soft, and each table had a single white candle flickering in the middle. Hermione swallowed nervously, it was certainly very romantic. Yet she was with Draco Malfoy.
By the time they had finished their meal, Hermione's nerves had disappeared. The conversation had been light and easy, and they had exchanged stories about their homes, families, jobs, and all sorts of other things. Draco had made sure Hermione's wine glass had been kept full at all times, though it seemed he had drunk very little himself. After coffees, Draco suggested they leave. Hermione stood, and Draco helped her into her coat, taking her arm as they walked to the foyer. He was behaving like the perfect gentleman, and Hermione couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Arriving back at the Manor, Draco and Hermione sat in the living room, continuing to make small talk.
"Draco," Hermione asked, her vocal chords lubricated by the amount of wine she had drunk, "May I ask you a question?" Draco nodded, looking confused. "Why do you have so many anti-muggle, dark arts books in your library?" For a second, Hermione thought she saw a flash of anger in his pale eyes, but it disappeared as soon as she noticed it.
"Hermione, you know what kind of wizards my family were, what kind of wizard I was before, well, you know."
"I understand that," Hermione interrupted him. "But you turned your back on that; you came to us, telling us that. And you have young children now Draco, surely that's not the type of thing you want them seeing?" Draco bit down on the inside of his cheek, trying to keep his anger in check.
"They have always been there Hermione. Always. Since I was a child, since before I was born. Do you suggest I simply throw them away, get rid of family heirlooms, in a sense?" Hermione was shocked. "I think I'll go to bed. Good night Hermione."
Hermione frowned, speechless at his outburst. She had seen a flash of the old Draco Malfoy she knew from her schooldays, and she wasn't sure she liked it.